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New ChallangesAfter the initial shock has worn off from the destruction i saw I sit by candle light writing of the terrors laid before us... These new portals that have brought us new challenges will be the bane of many for some great while to come. I have used three dozen excellent healing kits yesterday and today and though the blood has stopped the bruises are lingering, the acid still burns, and I have little protection left to cover either.... My first reconisense was right after the great portals subsided bringing in the changes that we are now just discovering... with great care i strolled east of town to discover how safe my neighborhood still was. At first I encountered normal fare at regular spaces... nothing I couldn't handle but with a few shots from my bow. Then glimmering in the heatwaves over the hill ahead... it had to be a mirage.. standing off in the distance was what appeared to be a shreth. This great beast was stubborn to show up in my field of vision and suddenly it was upon me.... Hearts skip beats in such moments and mine skipped a great deal as i backed off and it gave up its pursuit... now that i know i wasn't seeing things i knew i had discovered a new beast... with better preparation i dispatched it with ease. and went deeper into the swamps to find more. Not much further down the hill that i was surveying i crossed paths with a fellow traveler Rossby. After healing him from a run with shadows we sat to compare notes... "I haven't seen a single new critter" he admitted "although i know now that the Umbris and Pans stick like glue to your heals" We shook and parted to take separate tracks around a small hillock when his message comes that he spotted something strange.... With the Bolstered ego you get from traveling with companions we went to investigate the piles of bones we saw lying in the gully... these were not the remains of old warriors that we had grown accustomed to seeing in this strange world. such sights would not have raised the hairs of our neck so easily... getting quite close now four grotesque figures spring from the ground and we retreat in utter horror. Knowing some magic my companion lures one towards us... not one but 2 arrive very quickly... they run as if on fire and the acid dripping from there swords leaves a glowing trail behind them... two Skeleton Bone lords at rank 71 come to charge us and we boldly stand our ground not knowing what was in store.......... With great spells being layed upon us we were forced to split apart and try to break up the attacking pair... one soon backed towards it's resting site and at least we prevailed over the remaining offender. Back at full health but still feeling the evil of lingering spells we step down to investigate the others... now they are clear to see and with the two lords there is a Great skeleton... ranked 84 he throws level 6 spells at us repeatedly... I try my bow in hope of distracting it from my companion and it worked... he is distracted enough to come for me but i could not hit him. I switch back to my trusted and rather dented cestus and the two of us manage to crush him back into the pile of bones he was. I had had enough and the two of us were low on supplies... we portalled to town in great haste not wanting to attract the attention of the other two creatures. I time of rest followed... mostly waiting for the spells to shed away and my magic armor to be effective again. After learning some level 6 spells myself i was ready to try my old stomping grounds. I was gearing up for a trip to the vault when my dearest friend messages me of finding a strange new dungeon portal with much the same enemy inside that i was already preparing for... I eagerly respond that i would love to know the coordinates to such a place and he tells me he has already procured for me a ride. I was elated and the adrenaline was flowing before i even stepped through the portal into Cragstone where i would meet with the portal mage... What follows may be choppy at best for i was scrawling notes in almost pitch dark.............................. Entry way is clear... only a few workers can make it into entry without following an unwary traveler.... surface portal in corner for easy escape. room is square. No drops to break an ankle on landing. one corridor out... Six of us in our exploration team.... i being not the youngest at 50 but close. Chang zhen who has always been my own private tank since we started chasing Olthoi is in the lead..... first branch leads right and already we are overcome by the stench of rotting corpses around us... some familiar name tags on these bodies and our fears are raised tenfold... what could do this much damage... we're lost but someone sees something familiar... found a way down... so far only workers about six to eight at a time.... not a problem for our group.... soldiers start arriving......................................... no time to rest... no time to rearm ourselve.... we retreat... slowly making it back up one level we think we have a resting spot............. whole place explodes in soldiers..... spawn rate of under 3 minutes...... similar to vault but too many at once........................... one by one my companions drop... i am tanking 6 by myself and i know the odds are not that low for the others........ there are no walls to block more soldiers from getting to us so they are stacking up........ I count 22 on screen..... and still more trickling in..... My friend Chang falls and i know all is lost..... his melee skills are much higher than mine....... now there are two of us left... and i know not my companions name....... no time to even ask. I am met by my old friend the lifestone in Ayan bakur...... totally confused...... utterly broken........ even after the life it has given me i am only at half health........ I heal and begin the journey back. A quick stop in baishi to get mana and i run into my clansman Rune...... I only half heartedly invite him to come while knowing he can't... this is no place for someone without truly exceptional melee defense abilities.... Rune buffs me with more power and magic protection than i have ever seen in one place...... i feel as if i can actually make it back in the door to the nest.... Rune yells "Go!" and I'm off..... I ran down the first corridor..... my companions have already started down.... i team up with another group of explorers and the games begin............... since entering this stronghold i have made 400k in experience and i have only just seen the third floor... With my protects all around me i am not taking any damage aside from the occasional critical that takes 2 or 3 health..... this magic is truly awesome but short lived for there is no place here to rebuff...... magics starting to fade.... vitae was gone coming in the door.... I message my friend and he is losing the battle again.... our group goes to meet up but we have an escort of our own..... soldiers' bodies litter the halls..... the occasional human body adding color to a virtually never ending sea of violet carapaces..... one by one we recover corpses picked from the decay.... and suddenly my group is but two again...... with recovery the others portalled out...... by now there are 14 soldiers in the hall again...... Ninja Z and i mutually decide all is lost and reach for our wands to portal..... hi hear him nearly scream the words as i start to call out mine....... starting the portal recall at 112 health i had no chance...... i know this now but its not any easier... i got hit for 3 criticals while all the way in the portal...... embraced again by my friend the lifestone i start to take inventory...... this time it is a total loss...... The gods had taken my best armor and left me with my death items intact...... i thought that since i helped so many recover that i could find aid but the only one that would stand with me was Ninja Z who had made it out with 8 health left.... Chang's party had since split up or logged out of the world. some not to return....... He was nearly cleaned out as well and trapped on the lower levels where we could not even get to him...... I grabbed some rusty replacements from the smith in town..... met with ninja z....... started back down to last corpse....... 4 of us this time..... going much slower.... ninja and i had managed to run back up a level or two before recalling so it wasn't that far to go.... only one spot on the way the first floor to rest...... only 2 soldiers spawn there and we can dispatch them with ease as we rebuff each other..... pressing on i can see my corpse...... we have to retreat to resting point again..... rearm and retry.... time only enough for a partial recovery...... i got my favored leggings and my staff of item mastery V, all else was lost..... we retreat again to resting point and all agreed we portal out..... it's not worth the risk anymore..... all made it out this time.... many pats on the backs and displays of gratitude i ask my leave and head for home to try and find armor in my closets..... A few coins lighter in my purse now i head back up to see if anymore assistance can be offered...... a brief excursion back to town to rescue two fellow clanspeople and it was a great relief to know i would have no problems here..... dispatching their corpse gaurds i move to follow them to the burial grounds where they had hoped to hunt motes and work off vitae....... Whats this????? a Gigas Lugian in our hills with two lithos as escort. I dispatched them all with ease but this is still a peculiar sighting to say the least...... done with escort and back to the nest. i hear of another bludgeoned body to be rescued but the coordinates don't match anything i know of..... Chang has cut his losses the same as i and meets me at top with Tosa who is to portal the 3 of us to this new dungeon in the dires...... Tosa warned us to buff first before stepping through and we did knowing he would not exaggerate... mind you I'm not squeamish but i stepped through the portal into muck and 4 corpses...... all Tosa can say is "something's not right" ....... "there should be at least 8 of em here" eight what? i am barely able to ask as THEY come crashing through the walls to get us....... Tuskers..... and not the garden variety that mate in the hills north of osteth.... these are the trained fighting machines employed by the Virindi.
All bodies recovered we break for the evening... sweat still cooling on our brows thanks go out to all involved for helping out.. an echo in the back of my mind from ninja z in the north lands "i found your corpse again but all was lost but coin" i call back to him that life challenges us and we move on... i thanked him again for standing by me where all others fled and he declined thanks feeling that he should have let me portal out first.... oh well.. we can't win them all... nor will we for quite some time. The olthoi nest in this narrative is the... Olthoi Horde Nest that brell spoke of... lvl 30 and up only in there and at lvl 50 i was bug food a total of 6 times..... The tusker dungeon is the Black Spawn Den (56.6s, 86.3w) level 20+ very hard to get too and with a very fast respawn rate i'd stay out unless you are really good at dodging tuskers and have bludgeon 6 on.... For those of you that read these scribblings from a battered old woman.... thanks Safe journeys to you all. |
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