I came out of the library for a moment this evening and found Taladwy in town after a long stay in the library. Encouraged by this lucky event, I shared her, and went off to try the second circle fighter test. To my very considerable surprise, I passed! It was a very near thing, and I was so weak at the end that a rat bite would have killed me. However, I was more lucky than the last feral and managed to prevail. Clearly sharing with Taladwy really does have subtle benefits!

I finally got to join one of Fundin's expeditions to Trillbane's Library in the Foothills today. The expedition started in the meadow in the evening and continued well into the morning of the 48th. The expedition was quite large, and made it through Snagglewood to the Trainer's Grotto quite easily. There we waited for last-minute arrivals and slowly got organized into a line. The line was so long that it ended up spiraling around the entire grotto!

We travelled a considerable distance through more woods, then through narrow passes that required shovels to get through. We encountered many dangerous orga and large death vermine, including the famous "Big Red Orga." Eventually we began fighting our way through arachnoids, showing that we were near our destination. It turns out there are some interesting ruins outside the library, which I studied briefly. We also spotted the burn mark left by an ethereal portal, causing some exiles to speculate that perhaps Pogue Mahone had been here planning some sort of sabotage.

Finally we reached the entrance into the pitch arachnoids' cave, which we needed to pass through to reach the library. All the pathfinders who were trying to reach the book assembled in a group--which turned out to be about half the people present. After being briefed on the plan, several runners entered to distract the arachnoids, and soon after the pathfinders got the word to enter.

Unfortunately the southwest corner of the cave, where we needed to run, was totally blocked by webs and arachnoids. After a brief massacre, all the pathfinders were fallen--as far as I know none succeeded in reaching the library. Unfortunately there were too few exiles left to manage a rescue, and after waiting for almost an hour I departed.

Hopefully Fundin will organize a return trip, so I can try again!

As soon as I came out of the library today Emer sunstoned me that there was a battle against an Orga invasion force going on west of the Orga Camp, so I headed that way to see if I could help. When I arrived Emer loaned me one of her chains and asked me to rescue Shakyamuni, but unfortunately I couldn't find him. By the time I made it back to the main exile force, Emer had gotten separated from the group.

I went along with the main force into Snagglewood, where we attempted to rescue various exiles who had fallen in the wood as we made our way to Hatred Hollow, where many more exiles lay fallen. I was able to make good use of Emer's chain as we slowly advanced through the wood, until I found myself trying to defend Raiine against a very large and scary red orga. Naturally I fell, but Raiine was able to escape. Unfortuantely her chain broke when she attempted to rescue me, and a blue orga of a type I'd not seen before grabbed me on a chain and hauled me off to Hatred Hollow.

I lay fallen there with the exiles we were trying to rescue for some time, with occasional new additions coming in as the Orga captured exiles fallen at the front line. Emer finally caught up with me at this point, and when the rescue force arrived I returned her chain before heading back to town.