Today I got involved in a rescue to the Drake Den that ended up taking hours. It all started when a Fire Drake appeared in town, and kidnapped several exiles to its lair of Devil's Isle. My clanmates decided to mount a rescue, and joined a hastily assembled rescue party and headed to McBolie's Cavern, which leads deep into the crater of Devil's Isle. Big mistake.

One thing quickly became apparent to me as soon as we entered the cavern: Large Disorganized Party + Devil's Island = Disaster. It took our party forever just to reach the end of the maze-like cavern, and I was forced to depart when I opened the path into the crater, only to have nobody follow me in. And that was just the start of our troubles.

Once we reached the inner crater of Devil's Isle, things became a lot more difficult. The crater of DI requires the most precise coordination-- which our party lacked. It took us four tries and one depart until we finally reached the volcano of Devil's Isle. By then, our party had been reduced to five exiles-- Yazza, Vequalir, Kor'gah, J'dy, and myself, and we nearly gave up.

However, a smaller party was exactly what we needed. With our reduced numbers we were able to coordinate much better, and we were able to cut through a horde of Lava Walkers to reach the Drake Den. There, we were able to raise the fallen exiles, and slay the foul Fire Drake, thanks to SnowLion's awesome prowess with the Blood Blade.

We had finally accomplished what we had come for, but leaving the crater turned out to be no less difficult than getting there in the first place. While trying to find our way out, we found ourselves in a tight spot, trapped by a group of Lava Walkers. Only a few of us survived the encounter, and the rest of us were chained off of the isle. Still, we all managed to make it back to town, bringing to close our long but exciting adventure.