I slowly drag myself disheartened into our quiet hall that we call home.  I reach to light the solitary candle on the table only to realize that the Lifestone has taken more today than it's usual price of life force for I am left without even a few matches to light my way.  The light from one of my fire arrows will have to do for I am too tired to travel back into town this eve....

 

This morning I awoke and took inventory only to see that I was pitifully low on all of my supplies. I traveled South to Mayoi to shop, enjoy a good meal and attend to other duties.  This took a good portion of my day and when I returned to our fair home the hum and bustle of a party preparing for a quest greeted me...  This was no ordinary quest I was soon to overhear. This was a party to explore a vast new dungeon that had been discovered deep within the Obsidian planes (I shudder at the notion of crossing that great wasteland no matter what the reason)  Greetings from all parties were just starting to fade on the breeze when I was asked to come along.  Strangely I did not even hesitate to accept... I am usually quite leery of going where no one has gone before... but for some reason unknown to myself even I was saying "I am buffed and ready when you are!" with not even the slightest hesitation.

 

One person was able to call forth a portal to the nearby Tumideon Fortress and we all clambered through and made our arrangements should we have to recall back there ourselves....

 

The next part is a blur now except for the still painful scars on my back that serve as reminders of the run to our destination. legions of shadows, virindi, tuskers, and grievvers cover the canyon from wall to wall along the one path we can take to reach our goal. The whirling blades and blasts of fire at my heals are still clear in my remembrance. 

 

Our goal achieved we saw that dozens of fighters had already joined ranks at the entrance eager to be the first to solve the mysteries within.

 

Within moments of entering the first dungeon I was separated from my group... I did not dare to return to them for fear of being trapped alone or worse yet dragging the legions of hollow minions with me to the entrance where they were preparing.  I continued down corridor after corridor with another party of fighters most of which even out ranking me in my battle hardened old age... tirelessly we fought our way down to a room with two portals, one leading to the upper Flux and the other leading to the lower.  the upper for warriors of rank 45 or greater was the only one any of us could use and from pieces overheard among the men there was already a group of fighters heading down inside the lower level dungeon to assist us where they could.    We rested briefly inside and without many wasted components we prepared ourselves to press on...

 

All that I can report for the next section is that the upper dungeon had only been a small test of our skills. the legions pressing against us were soon of equal number to our own and we lost the first of our companions...  We pressed on until we were stopped by the first of what we would discover were 3 doors...

 

Reports had been filtering in that our partnered attack group had reformed and was then pressing down into the other dungeon. after many jokes and tales of daring we got word that they had made it and we would soon have access to the doorway ahead of us.

 

Again we pressed through hordes of the enemy to find yet another Door.. this time with a jump along the way that many were afraid to try but turned out to only be a 50 foot drop or so.

 

The final door was soon reached with only the loss of one or two more men from our team... this is where we knew it was going to be all or nothing...

 

The final room is occupied by 2+ tusker guards, 4 virindi masters, an observer, and one other virindi who was the caretaker of the flux.  Add to this the 3 or 4 Hollow minion and you have a room that it will take many lives to conquer and hold... it sounds much easier than it is and for that matter it looked much easier as well. Not one of us was prepared for such a spawn.

 

The number of our party had tripled as we picked up other parties at the last two doors but spawn by spawn we kept losing one or two much needed defenders. I was next to the prize when the observer spawned and hit me with a blast of fire that would melt stone.... frantically trying to heal myself I was no match then for the two hollow minion who attacked me from behind.

 

I was So close... I had felt the radiant power of the singularity just inches from my grasp and then retching and shaking violently I became aware of the hand on my shoulder helping me up from the lifestone.   This is the worst one, this 730th visit to the lifestone...  never has she plucked me from a situation when the fate of so many was so close to my grasp.  The chances of that recovery were hopeless...  soon after, I had recovered slightly and was headed back to the start of the dungeon so my comrades could collect the bodies they had left as well...  again, fate was not on my side but at least this time I had made it to a space of relative safety to shed my body and belongings...

 

with the remainder of our bodies recovered we headed in one last time.  the others had not even seen the portals into the greater dungeons so this was our goal and if everything fell into place we would attempt to continue on....

 

We pushed on and pushed on to finally reach our destination and find that one of our members, the most eager Sonyr, could not follow with us for lack of a few levels. She recalled and we continued on now reduced to 4 warriors of Brell Clan.  we were getting better organized and quickly made our way to the first door only to find hardly anyone there and no word whether there was a lower lvl party to open the locked door for us.... disheartened at being denied the chance to explore further, one by one we recalled to town or to our beds that awaited.

 

I will recap shortly the things I learned this eve... 

    in order to hold the final room we will need at least 15 strong warriors with excellent armors to protect them from the hollow minions that reside there.

We have yet to make solid conclusions as to which kind of weapons are best.  Fire works wonders on the tuskers and virindi but the minion laugh when you show flame... they only seemed to fall to piercing and sometimes slashing in a pinch. 

 

None of this can be done without a massive party crushing their way through the lower lvl dungeon at the same time.  the details on that journey are not for me to find out since it is restricted to under lvl 45 only.  I assume it is similar but with fewer monsters perhaps and a different reward at the end.

 

Once at the first door both parties must proceed at the same time... each dungeon has levers that affect doors in the other.

 

By no means do we have enough in our ranks to do this ourselves... we will need the cooperation of many others to succeed in this.

 

That is all I can fit on these few parchments... and all the energy I have left to write with... my coffers are emptied to restock the items I have lost and I still have yet to buy all of my replacement supplies..............

 

I know my body is not being penalized for my many deaths anymore this night but I am sore in every joint and even the light from this smoldering arrow is making my tired old eyes water.  The bed sheets are pulled back and calling to me (thank you brother Kami for remembering to make the bed this day so there is less work for me)

 

I leave you with this..... this is no place for the meek!  you will die in there and you Will lose something you are most fond of... but the cost of some mere item or a little vitae is nothing compared to what will happen if the Hope slayer continues to walk this land.... We must defeat him.  *yawn*  perhaps not this night... but we must defeat him soon or all may be lost.

 

*yawn*   g'night.

                 Dasgar the bruised!