Fordi, 30 Winter 547 (8/7/02)

Here it is the new year, with another chaos storm blowing in big changes, and as usual I'm observing it all from the safety of the library. Another island's illusion wall has now crumbled, and I rowed over for a quick look, but I never got further than the beach where I helped clear out some pebble-throwing wendies, dodged stones from a mommy sasq and bolts from an ether cloud, and managed to chain a couple of folks back to town. From numerous reports it seems that Melabrion has a keep on this island, which I gather is the actual location of those mines we've been exploring lately. My rock researches are going slowly as well, although I got more donations of samples from clanmates Hepta and Thrax; my storage bill this year is going to be a whopper, but it's all in the interest of Science, so I suppose I shouldn't complain...

Soldi, 67 Winter 547 (8/16/02)

I've managed to stagger out of the library for a bit of prospecting this past zodiac, but that's about it. Other than taking out two of the three beasts in the next Fighter Circle test, I don't think I've "killed" anything for the past moon or two. I did manage to find a metal for the first time in a while; now I need to hunt another down to bring my chain supply back up to spec. Another chaos storm has blown through as well, but so far I haven't heard of any new discoveries on par with the opening of Melabrion's Island last time around. And I haven't done any work on my "rock project" recently...

Soldi, 26 Spring 547 (8/28/02)

The intervals between getting out of the library have grown even longer lately, and are likely to remain so for at least the immediate future. The few times I have been out I've only been able to stay around for a short time, and I haven't really had time to do anything interesting, other than help out with chaining on a couple of quick rescues, one of them my first visit to Melabrion's Keep, where Thrax and I helped chain out a number of fallen exiles, including our clanmate Kamik. It seems that the mud golems throw rocks, but despite my bumbling and drawing rocks onto the fallens we finally managed to get everybody dragged back to town and healed, thanks to the timely arrival of Horus expert Lorikeet. And now here it is Spring already, and a Chaos Storm is expected any moment now...

Terrdi, 71 Spring 547 (9/8/02)

It's starting to look like I'm going to miss most of the action this year, although things might change and I might start getting out of the lib a bit more at some point; but not soon. One advantage of being in the library all the time is that I have completely missed out on the latest great debate around town, which seems to have something to do with which mystic sucks the most (a point of honor amongst mystics, I gather). I'm not sure what the correct resolution of the argument should be, but I rather suspect that after everybody settles down and starts talking to each other in a calm and understanding tone that we will be able to agree that all mystics suck just about the same.

Merdi, 38 Summer 547 (9/22/02)

After finally getting out of the library for a bit to do some prospecting and flower gathering, I have now managed to bring my supply of chains and potions back up to the levels mandated by "Rescue Fighter Committee" regulations. Of course I haven't done much else during this time, other than failing the Fighter Circle test (again), going on an couple short hunts to the Valley and Melabrion's island, and trying to help Worm out on Tenebrion's Island and ending up surrounded by a ton of undine, including some nasty greater wraiths. Stormtalon managed to chain my fallen carcass out of the main crowd of undine, but then he had to wander around the island looking for a healer and ended up trapped himself, although with some fallen for shields and a bit of luck he was able to keep to his feet until help arrived and we all got rescued.

Lundi, 49 Summer 547 (9/24/02)

By a strange coincidence I managed to wander out of the library at the same time as several other clan members, and we immediately held a spontaneous clan meeting, which is the only kind we ever have. Nothing definite was decided (it never is), but I think I got enough folks to agree that I should submit our museum project to Musea, perhaps we can get it put up by the end of the year or early next. A few of us wandered down to inspect the site in the museum, and then out of the blue came the announcement that our fellow Zou, Hepta, had been promoted to full mystic! She has certainly been one of the harder working mystics, and her talent with locating fallen exiles has helped many people (including myself). And I'm sure she will bring some sense into the Mystic Council, which has of late had a bit of an image problem, especially since they are trying to organize a deal with the 'Brion brothers for that Ethereal Portal thingy. As is now traditional beer was served in town, and the new mystic showed off her spiffy new duds.

Lundi, 22 Autumn 547 (10/10/02)

I've managed a few more impromptu hunts the last couple of zodiacs, but that's about it, other than hunting up a few coins from time to time. I have heard from Lundar that a recent FMOCR was able to gather enough supporters to get a stone, adding to the number that the Mystic Council is collecting to trade with the 'Brions. Along with a number of other exiles I don't really feel a great deal of trust for the wizardly brothers, and I certainly don't think that they should be given the stones unless they are a bit more forthcoming about their goals and plans for the future. In the meantime I am continuing my own plan of research on the more ordinary rocks I have been collecting; I now have three complete sets, and still not a clue as to how to use them. I wandered over to Fire Island the other day and tried showing them to a Voolcon, but all the little fellow did was chitter excitedly...

Soldi, 63 Autumn 547 (10/20/02)

I keep meaning to sit down and catch up with my diary, and then I realize that there's not really much to catch up with. My rock researches are at a standstill, although I have been interested to hear about a new alchemical expert who helped some exiles with another, unrelated quest; perhaps he could help me with this one as well? I did get a couple more rocks donated by another helpful exile, so I have quite a few of the more common ones. Last week I saw the aftermath of a scarmis invasion, a number of exiles were fallen in the Queen's Chamber in the Hive, along with wall-to-wall scarmis bugs; we didn't have a lot of troops about, so the lucky exiles templed and the unlucky had to depart. And then just yesterday I went on a Valley hunt for the first time in a while, it was a bit more difficult than I remembered from my earlier trips, or maybe I'm just getting weaker, but we managed to finish off the sasquatches (thanks to some excellent running by Fantasia) and make it to the exit at last.

Lundi, 30 Winter 548 (11/3/02)

I have been making it out of the library a little bit more these days, but now I've gotten out of the habit of keeping up my diary, and once you start doing that it's very hard to get back on track. I'm not the only one who is falling behind on this sort of thing, Koric has become even more infrequent than I, and poor Baba has all but vanished from Puddle. On the other hand, a number of younger exiles have stepped in to provide more timely chronicles of events, and Para's excellent ThoomCare Media Network provides a central clearing area for keeping up to date. A lot has been going on, there have been chigger invasions, newbie games, a new year, and the Feast of Tsrrin. This time around I managed to avoid my traditional depart, I was in town for part of the undine infestation but I managed to link up with a group of exiles and we rescued a fair number of folks who had gone over to the dead side. I also managed to collect a complete set of candies this time, and had the excellent idea of trying the Fighter Circle test wearing the drake costume; it almost worked, too, I feel that I'm getting closer to actually passing now. And I managed to add another rock to the collection, now if I can pick up another black rock I'll have four complete sets!

Gradi, 45 Winter 548 (11/6/02)

Another chaos storm has blown through, and one of the changes that I have discovered after the event is that the Zouclougeist Alliance exhibit in the museum is now installed. The item in question is just one of the many that the ZA has hidden away, but it is one of the larger pieces and will no doubt make the museum a popular spot for those of us who wish to contemplate the inner mysteries of the cult of the Emperor Duck. I've been spending a little more time looking for rocks, and I made a feeble attempt at the giant crawler challenge, but was unable to locate sufficient lobsters to satisfy the requirements. I suspect that Chef Haricot is behind the challenge, and that the crawlers we collect today end up in the bisque tomorrow.

Sombdi, 63 Winter 548 (11/11/02)

After my near success with the Fighter Circle test last moon while wearing a drake costume, I decided to try again this time around using the power of the undead to deter the beasts, so before the test I made a quick visit to the wraith in the undine cavern under the East Field hut, something I almost never do, and acquired the frightful aspect of the undine. Now, I don't know if it was the disguise or the recent lessons from Detha that did the trick, but the blood wyrm seemed uncertain about attacking me and hung back a bit, while the wraith and the fire beetle were unable to land any telling blows, leaving me with almost full health and only the blood wyrm to finish. Having a fair amount of health I dispensed with finesse, pulled out the great axe, and started swinging away, knowing that my Regia training makes me more than a match for the big lizard. In short order I was proud to hear the announcement that I had (finally) reached Fifth Circle! An impromptu party was organized in town by Bon Temps, and much beer was consumed...

Sombdi, 84 Winter 548 (11/16/02)

A number of exiles have mentioned my passing the Fifth Circle test (at last), for which I thank them, but then the almost inevitable next question is "how did you do in the Sixth?" Well, since I know I have no chance of passing (or even killing any of the beasts, for that matter) I haven't even tried yet, and probably won't until I start getting "most were weaker" messages again, as that is usually a sign that I am getting close to being able to do some damage in the test. In the meantime I've started doing a little beast collecting for Vaun Gutturt, it doesn't really pay very well but it is an interesting problem to locate and collect the beasts requested by Haricot. Most recently I had to collect two GCP in a row, somebody must be asking for a big bowl of plankton soup!

Terrdi, 26 Spring 548 (11/24/02)

As usual my recent life has been a bit boring compared to the exciting encounters with wandering portals, malfunctioning kuyems, and fallen 'Brion brothers that I have been hearing about from other exiles. I have been doing a bit of hunting for giant crawlers as part of the challenge, but so far the best score I've been able to manage is a rather discouraging 23. The hard part is finding enough of the darn things to kill, there are a number of places where they hang out but they are widely separated and so far I haven't been able to hit enough of them in time. While passing through the River Tunnel on one of these hunts I decided to check out Smuggler's Rest, where I foolishly stuck my toe in the surf and was instantly felled! Lucky for me J'nder was on rescue duty and quickly located me, but I had taken such a pounding in the waves that I had to get chained to town for a mass heal. Perhaps I need to get some training from Master Surfus to avoid this sort of problem...

Soldi, 79 Spring 548 (12/7/02)

Out and about a bit recently, lots of ore hunting in the passes to replace a metal from a chain that broke a while ago, which finally paid off after only a dozen or so stones. I even tried looking for ore in Greymyr Village itself, but all I found were a bunch of angry myrs and (on one occasion) about a hundred hungry vermine, one of which managed to fell me after a few myr stones had softened me up, and there's nothing worse than falling to a vermine, I had to play "twenty questions" for quite a while before my location was determined and Serco swung by to chain my sorry carcass to town. I even managed to tag along on a couple of hunts, including my first visit to the Snowy Dale and a quite productive visit to 'Noth Island. And then just today I finally found that crumbly black rock I've been looking for, now I've got a whopping four complete sets, so I think I'm going to stop trying to collect more and concentrate on finding some use for all this rubble.

Gradi, 40 Summer 548 (12/19/02)

Well, despite my good intentions I have been mostly remiss in keeping up my diary, and I don't expect things to improve any time soon. I have been out of the library now and then, with a couple of hunting trips to the usual spots, but all the really interesting things are happening to other people, Sor got knighted and is now on a vision quest, and Bon Temps bought himself a horn (which I must confess I had my eye on, I was just too cheap to part with all those coins). In the meantime I'm working a little on some pathfinding and hunting for more creatures for Vaun, which has taken me to some spots I haven't been for a while, including the good old hive; you'd think with all those ants digging away it would have gotten bigger by now, but it seems pretty much the way I remember it from all those years ago...

Fordi, 2 Autumn 548 (1/1/03)

Well, I'm back in town after taking an extended Bawkmas vacation, not that most people would notice since I spend so much time in the lib these days anyways. So far I haven't heard any rumors of much going on while I was away, other than potatoes and the reopening of the "cold and snowy" hunting ground. I have been working a bit on my pathfinding studies while on my trip, and have doubled my skills from "good to see you" to "persistence is paying off," so I can now open several paths that I couldn't even see before. And I was very pleased to see Axell in town recently, she was helping with a lava room rescue. I managed to fell one skel before falling, and shortly after somebody managed to get out through the hole I had opened and started pulling people out of the soup; we managed to get everybody out who hadn't sunk too deep in the magma.

Terrdi, 42 Autumn 548 (1/11/03)

As usual I'm only making it our for fairly short hunts these days, popular locations include the Valley, the passes surrounding Melabrion's Keep, and the Cove north of Umbrion's Keep. I have been hearing a lot about expeditions to the interior of Lyfe Island, but so far I haven't heard of any remarkable discoveries in that area; and as far as I can tell all efforts to penetrate further east have pretty much ceased, and we are no closer to finding our way to the rumored library or the Orga Stronghold. I have seen reports of doings closer to town, with drake raids and chigger invasions (which I was lucky enough to avoid), including the horrible Juliosaur, which is surely a bigger threat to Puddleby than all the lyfes and orgas put together. I have been told that it is not possible to kill this beast, but I have confidence that if it can be killed, it will be killed, and since I'm much too sensible to get anywhere near the thing I have decided to encourage my fellow exiles by putting a 1,000 coin bounty on the first Juliosaur to be destroyed. Let the carnage begin!

Merdi, 71 Autumn 548 (1/18/03)

I got to tag along on a trip to 'Noth Underground the other day, led by Yor, which (hard to believe, I know) is the first time I've ever been down there, and I have to say I wasn't impressed, you could tell that the caverns were t'rool dug rather than being carefully constructed by dwarves, even the most drunken of dwarves could have done a better job of tunneling. We didn't see a lot of 'noths down there, but a couple of the ones we did meet were pretty strong, and there were lots of those annoying rippers. Other than that I've been enjoying some good luck, I managed to find two metal-bearing ores in the same day, and with the price of metal up in the 500 coin range that's pretty significant; and then when I had to drink a red potion after an unfortunate encounter with a cave cobra, my first trip to the meadow turned up an uli flower for the replacement. Being a dwarf I know that my good luck can't last, so I'm expecting something really bad to happen any day now...