Seasons Twenty-Six until Twenty-Eight My companion and I continue to move out further from the safety of Cabilis. The scraps of sewn leather I used for a tunic are unsuitable for one of my skills and I attempt to stitch together a sturdier chest piece. Using a few of the finer pelts I have saved from the cats around the Lake, I cure and sew a fitted garment and carefully
hammer metal rivets across it for added protection. It is unenchanted but will protect me far better than the leather rags I wore previously. Another of the Prime Patriarchs sends me on a test of my foraging skills. I return with the required items and am rewarded with a
new claw. With my new weapon and armor, I set out past the Lake and arrive at a large Sarnak fortification built into the mountain range. My warder and I work carefully to separate the
guards from the fortress gate and slip into the courtyard. Many more of the draconic lizards patrol within here and after time we gain the attention of one of their
priests. He rushes us with several guards assisting him and we are forced to flee back to the safety of Cabilis.
Without the strength or numbers to press deeper into the Sarnak fortress, the warder and I move back into the north woods. The Kromdul settlement is comfortable hunting and we spend some time pulling down the giants of the forest. Even their more
elder warriors fall by my hands. The hunting is safe but still presents a challenge and a chance to hone my skills. In time, I decide to move deeper into the wood and come across a ruined Iksar building inhabited by the
exiled bandits from Cabilis. From one of these pariahs I claim a
mask. To wear such a thing among the civilized Iksar would invite disgust but its enchanted leather serves me well in the wilds. My predation upon the hideout causes the
leader of these exiles to come forth and challenge me. He pursues me with one of his pariahs but my companion and I are clever. She breaks off from me to double back and attack the pariah from behind while I lead the bandit leader on a chase through the wood. I run swiftly in an arc and come back upon the scaled wolf as she tears out the pariah's throat; she and I can now flank and stand against the stronger Iksar. His ability to fight commands respect and my companion and I are forced to dodge in and out of the fight, sometimes the Iksar bandit fights the wolf as I fall back to call upon Cazic Thule to heal myself and her. Other times I lure him to chase me once more while the warder strikes from behind. He is powerful but we are clever and eventually he falls. My prize is a
bracer but it is unsuitable for me. I will sell it back in town.
Season Twenty-Nine The Kloks offer but a pittance for the bracer I stripped off the bandit lord, far less than its worth. Near the temple, a female Iksar calls to me. She is a
strange woman, a mystic who accepts material sacrifice to strengthen the city and our kind against the failings of the gods. Rather than declare her blasphemous and drive her out or kill her, the other temple Hierophants and Patriarchs allow her to not only remain but to work her benedictions outside Cazic's temple. For my sacrifices, she graces me with a glamor to sharpen my senses and mind.
In the swamps, I set myself to complete Prime Patriarch Vuzx's
final task. Collecting the froglok bucklers is trivial for one of my skill but the
leather breastplate I am rewarded with is sturdier than even the one I crafted from cat hide and metal. I have a momentary regret that I did not spend that effort on another garment but am skilled enough now to make a cloak or boots when I come across another suitable pelt.
I set back into the woods and go deeper than before. Another high walled settlement looms through the trees and mist, this one inhabited by goblins who have claimed another ancient Sebilisan structure. They guard a bridge spanning a deep gorge and leading into the village walls. Most of the goblins are weak and pose no challenge but my slaughter provokes them to send their
warlord to fight me. He is a mighty warrior, far stronger than the goblins he protects and stronger even than the Iksar bandit lord. He is clever as well and refuses to fall for the same feints and misdirection that my companion and I used against the bandits. I am forced to flee, the warlord blessed by his shamans and able to stay close behind me. By the time I break his pursuit, I am far from the goblin village and near a deep tunnel close to the sea. Fearing the warlord's search, I slip inside the tunnel for shelter. The tunnel stinks of beast and refuse and I see shambling forms deeper in. Having rested some, I investigate deeper and am rushed by a
large orange beast which lumbers upright something like a goblin. Despite its ferocity, the brute is weaker than us and is torn apart. Howls deeper in the tunnels drive me to continue inward but a large chamber contains several of the animals and they take advantage of my state, weakened from the fight with the goblin warlord and the earlier brute. I see glimmering at the far side of the chamber; the reflection of light on deep water. Hoping that the beasts do not swim, I rush for it and dive down, praying the submerged tunnel leads outside. Instead, the rough rock changes to smooth worked stone. Sebilisan icons adorn the walls. I rise out of the tunnel and find myself in a lost Iksar tomb. The illumination of the hallway and noises beyond the twists of the passage immediately let me know that I am not alone.
[OOC: Whew! Enough for now. Shisu is actually level 32 at the moment but I need a typing breather. And you all probably need a reading breather, if you're still keeping up. As noted, I have started to use tribute. I'm forced to husband it fairly closely since most items I collect aren't worth much and I still need to keep my platinum coffers filled but an hour of slight haste and mana regen is worth more than 4pp from the merchants. I fought that stupid Bandit Lord not realizing that the bracer wasn't BST usable -- I thought it was one of those "anyone but casters" type items and didn't bother to look it up. Oh well. I'm working on the next claw quest except that it requires eggs. The only eggs to be found on Kunark are cockatrice eggs which either drop from high level cockatrices in Dreadlands or you forage in Overthere. Guess whose been thrilling to pressing the Forage hotkey every couple minutes? Oh, and another component is a barley you forage from Field of Bone. Adventure, ahoy!]
Don't need any spider rushes. 
