The Lunatic Fringe

There were a few interesting developments in Puddleby this week. I don't pay too much attention to the grand quests that the gods set before us, because my strength and skills are not yet up to most of the challenges involved. On the mainland holiday of St. Patrick's Day, however, I got caught up in the quest to track down the elusive Orga Ire, a small and harmless-looking green orga that our mystics said had to be found, lured back to OC1, and sacrificed in the presence of a mystic.

Dozens of exiles roamed the lands until the Ire was found. He looked like a weakling, but looks were truly deceiving. He was very powerful, and he had a LOT of friends, as you can see from the sketches below (the Ire is the lone little green guy near the bottom of both images -- click either one to see a larger version):

Although I spent a lot of time fallen or being dragged around on a chain during this quest, it was a lot of fun. It was a bit chaotic, which sometimes frustrates me, but this time I just relaxed and ran around trying to heal fallens as best I could. I had to retire to the library long before the quest was accomplished, unfortunately.

A new scroll to visit

Before I forget, check out the new scrolls just started by my clansis and fellow Femme Fen, Sian: Sian's Purrings. You go, Sian!

Clan hunt to the Fringe

Our latest Clan Destine hunt took us through NWF to muddy NF to the Fringe. The others got a little bored with the Fringe, I think, because we ran into mostly junk and not a lot of critters that provided the strong fighters with real experience. The fighters bashed a couple of Orga Zerks that ended up being only dispatches for them. I didn't do much tagging, just hung out, healed when needed, and tried out my pathfinding skills.

I've been studying diligently with the Marsh Hermit. In the past I've found it to be a real character flaw for me that I have trouble sticking with one trainer for long. I just get bored and restless waiting for the next message. And I tend to jump recklessly when I discover a weakness. For example, if I go on a hunt and find myself having a lot of trouble hitting critters, I'll run back to the Healer's Guild and sign up with Higgy for a while.

I'm determined not to let this happen with Marshie. It's hard enough to get him to take you on as a trainee. I plan to earn as many PF ranks as I can in order to bring that asset to Clan Destine. I've been reading Azriel's scrolls and marvelling at his solo experiences throughout the lands. He has gone to places that I can't enter yet or even see the entrances of! That's what I spent a lot of the last hunt doing: wandering slowly along the treeline in the Fringe area looking for those telltale sparklies that mark a path.

Eventually the others tired of bashing ferals, and we tried LP, only to find it occupied. We then wandered over to Noids, which had just been cleaned out by another party. We decided to look around anyway, in case there might be a spawn, and sure enough we did have a small spawn that allowed us to bash a few noids of varying sizes.

After we'd cleared Noids as well, most of the group announced they needed to study. I decided to do the same, and Sim and Sian, both of whom still had some time on their hands, wished us well and headed off to Sav to do some damage among the maha. As they say, a good time was had by all.

That's all for now! It's time for me to put my quill and ink away and go earn some more PF ranks.

Experience controversy

A lot of new developments in Puddleby lately ... so much going on, I haven't had much time to post lately. I did want to share this hilarious sketch with everyone. I don't remember exactly when this hunt took place, but I have to admit I got a smile out of being called a "tough healer." My clanmates often tease me, calling me the "Bloodblading Healer" or "BB Wannabe."

Anyway, the number of invasions by all sorts of creatures seems to have increased lately. There was a major drake invasion just the other day, with forest and fire drakes attacking both east forest/farms and north field/farms. Luckily, many strong exiles were available to band together and beat back the threat.

The orga invasions may not be as "easy" to quell. It seems that a new orga tribe has arisen in the lands, and they are aggressively defending their camps, perhaps defending some sort of treasure or object therein. I unfortunately am not strong enough to join in most of the adventures to OC or the orga village, so it is all still mysterious to me. My usual function in major invasions is to hang in the library and heal fallens.

Which brings me to the main topic of this journal entry. Lucy Fur informed me and Klio the other day, while we were hunting at Kitty Beach, that healers and mystics do not receive experience from killing/tagging creatures. She says she was given this information directly by JoeGM himself. JoeGM allegedly said that healers and mystics receive their experience only from sharing other exiles (fighters), and in the case of healers, from healing.

Later the same day, I saw Lucent and asked him about it. He said this absolutely is not true. I don't know who to believe. I know Lucy Fur wouldn't lie to me about it, but I wonder if there is any way she misunderstood JoeGM. I can't imagine all the time I've spent solo hunting in boring spots like myrm hives and rat towers just to get a few dispatches, thinking I was gaining at least a bit of expy!

Last but not least, I got invited rather unexpectedly to join a large group, led by Garion of Clan Hunter, in a Pitch Cave raid. Never having been to the mysterious and notorious Pitch Cave, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go along. D'Noma "adopted" me for the course of the hunt and watched my back, chaining me a couple of times when I fell and generally looking out for me. I had a lot of fun on this raid and got some good ideas about zuing, even though we were ultimately unsuccessful in actually entering PC1. The entrance was thoroughly blocked by hordes of red and pitch noids, apparently.

Unfortunately the raid ended rather badly, with many exiles falling on our way back to the portal and being left behind. I'm sorry to say that D'Noma and I were left unrescued by a number of D's clanmates, who went to study as soon as they were raised by one of the various rescue parties. Unable to hail a rescue, I finally departed and was able to let some rescuers know that D had been ported to the Orga Village. She and some other fallens were eventually found there and saved.

I made mad coin on that raid but broke a chain, so it ended up a wash. Still, as I said, the first part of it was fun. :-)