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Greetings all! By the end of yester eve, my mace arm would hardly rise above waist level. Actually, this morning my entire body felt as if a titan had pounded me with its hammer for hours while two ogre lords tried to pull me apart. The seemingly endless battles of the evening took their toll. When I closed my eyes last night, visions of screaming outlaws with dark insanity burning in their eyes, of dark priest summoned daemons striding about roaring, of mounds of discarded bodies lying about in stacks taller than my horse; all these things flickered through my mind and kept me from dropping off to sleep, regardless of the dangerously exhausted state my body was in. However, I eventually did fall into troubled sleep and wandered the lands of the dreamworld although I cannot remember what I encountered there.

I had just finished assisting Tamla Tamara finish off some darkspawn, bone warlock and their chest spawned ilk when Sachiko notified me that she had found outlaws swarming again near the Minoc moongate. Tamla had offered me all kinds of loot for my assistance but I accepted only a lovely potted flower that would certainly brighten a corner of my home and remind me of that particular adventure with her.

I rode off to the Trinsic moongate and made my way to Minoc. There I started to ride northwest and saw Sachiko hauling hell for leather in my direction. She healed herself and built a small campfire to bolster her small mana reserves and grinned at me. "Quite a few here indeed! There are dark priests as well and shamans. One of them actually cursed me!" I peered through the trees and let my eyes widen at the sight of the bodies of fallen outlaws. Glancing back over at Sachiko I remarked "You seem to have made an impression on them."

Just then, a band of mounted fighters who were looking for the person that had disturbed their camp spotted us and attacked. It was a quick battle and Sachiko yoinked happily as I moved slowly northwest to see how things were. This had to be the largest band of outlaws I had seen yet! We battled dark priests, shamans, adept mages, warriors, fighters, furious nightmares bereft of their riders, daemons and elementals during the battle that seemed as if it would never end. The outlaws had a new kind of assassin now, ones that carried what appeared to be deadly poison on their weapons. I had nearly died three times during the extended battle because of this and the tricky shamans. These shamans seemed related to the Shabooli warlocks who cast Tidal Wave and summoned BeeSwarms. The swarms of golden bees that stung with excruciating ferocity were more than a minor irritation! Time after time we would retreat and advance to attack again. It took us a long time to slay them all but with patience, caution and unflinching courage, the camp was finally cleared.

We wearily cantered to Vesper and when Sachiko sold the loot, she found a curious map that was labeled "Treasure of the Priestess". Since the World was destined to start anew in a few minutes, we agreed to gather other hardy adventurers and pursue this special and undoubtedly dangerous treasure map once we were resident in the World again. As my share of the loot, Sachiko handed me a green bag that was labeled "Lost Treasure" and contained a quantity of regular maps as well as a quantity of that shining, yellow stuff that we all like so well. The special "Treasure of the Priestess" map had been inside this unique bag.


We all assembled at the Britain bank, Sachiko pointing to the map she carried and enlisting likely adventurers who cared to dare this quest. Ciara, Covenant Atei, Elwen Dragonfire, Kasia Stydoran, Lagger Stee, Kronos Leir, Sachiko, Rocks Silivan, and I assembled, buffed and readied ourselves. Covenant created a gate to the center of the hedge and I charged through it with Lagger Stee. As I sat atop my Darlin steed, momentarily stunned at the sight of what was before us, the rest of the group charged through:

You have left the protection of the town guards.
a treasure hunter: *a treasure hunter springs from hiding!*
a treasure hunter: *a treasure hunter springs from hiding!*
a treasure hunter assassin: *a treasure hunter assassin springs from hiding!*
a treasure hunter assassin: *a treasure hunter assassin springs from hiding!*
a treasure hunter scout: *a treasure hunter scout springs from hiding!*
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You see: a treasure hunter archer
You see: [frozen]
You see: a treasure hunter marksman
You see: a treasure hunter marksman
You see: a treasure hunter scout
You see: a treasure hunter archer
You feel yourself resisting magical energy!
You see: [frozen]
You see: a treasure hunter
You see: a treasure hunter
You see: a treasure hunter assassin
You see: a treasure hunter assassin
You see: a treasure hunter scout
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You feel yourself resisting magical energy!
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You see: a treasure hunter sorceress
You feel yourself resisting magical energy!
You see: a treasure hunter scout
You see: a treasure hunter scout
You see: a treasure hunter scout
You feel yourself resisting magical energy!
You see: a treasure hunter
You see: a treasure hunter
You see: a treasure hunter archer
You see: [frozen]
You see: a treasure hunter marksman
You feel yourself resisting magical energy!
You see: a treasure hunter assassin
You see: a treasure hunter assassin
You see: a treasure hunter assassin
You see: a treasure hunter marksman
You see: a treasure hunter archer

As four treasure hunter defenders attacked me I reflexively stepped back, inadvertently re-entered the gate and found myself in front of the Britain bank again. Melody Silvers cocked her head and looked at me with a charming smile. "I thought you just went through that thing. What's going on?" I hurriedly wheeled Darlin about and charged back through the gate saying "You don't wanna know."

It was utter chaos in the center of the hedge maze. Our mages were given no time to focus on our health bars and were targeted instantly by the opponents. There was no time to organize and present a unified front. I found myself surrounded by five or six scouts and assassins and noticed that everyone was in the same predicament. People galloped about adroitly swinging weapons, shooting bows, casting offensive and defensive spells. A death cry rang out and then another! One of our mages was down but we all just gritted our teeth and almost magically we pulled in towards one another and began to apply our combined strengths on joint foes. Of course, it had helped that we all had destroyed many individual foes already, thus lessening the press. More assassins leapt out of hiding as the battle lurched from one side of the area to the other but in time, it was strangely silent. We all sat panting on our steeds and looked about. An irritated OOoOoooOo! from one of our number shook us out of our shocked reverie. It was over.

The corpses were looted and one of the looted maps turned to be a poison one, causing rather deadly damage to Sachiko dug up the chest and when it appeared, eyebrows raised. This wasn't the normal metal chest we all had seen on treasure hunts. This was a wooden one banded with broad strips of metal. We checked with one another and nodded to Sachiko. She popped the lid and out sprang darkness personified!
You see: an ancient vampire
You see: a vampire lieutenant
You see: a vampire
You see: a vampire knight
You see: a vampire assassin
You see: a vampire mage
You see: a vampire
You see: a vampire mage
You see: a vampire lieutenant
You see: a vampire lord
You see: a vampire assassin

It sure seemed like a lot more than that but I believe that was it. Still, that was enough for any normal minded individual. I just remember seeing dark, menacing forms with clutching claws, bared teeth and violent, undead eyes that glinted with malice. Black, ethereal wings cast cold shadows over our band and spells crackled like thunder. Against our valiant, organized troop backed by powerful, meticulous mages, the foe had no chance. After they were all sent back to yet another death, the chest had to be looted manually since it was of the curious kind that could not be auto-looted.

We discussed what to do next and decided to visit the outlaw camp just outside the maze. Kramer Vorlock and Cathavene had joined us now but Ciara had to depart. We bade her farewell and she gestured jauntily with her Dragon Bow as she vanished into the ether. Another pitched battle occurred at this outlaw camp but after combined efforts, the foe was slain. We then visited other outlaw camps in Occlo, Cove, Yew, and Vesper.

I won't try to describe the battles, the courage, the steadfastness of my comrades. I won't try to describe the maelstrom of combat that swirled about us and then dissipated, leaving us alive and victorious. Not a single life was lost in our group during these lengthy battles and that was due to the incredible healing and offensive spell casting of our mage members. The last battle occurred at the outlaw camp near Vesper. It seemed to be the longest one with a vast quantity of outlaws. There were several dark priests and shamans as well the other outlaw kind, but in large numbers. When the last assassin sprawled into the ground, kicking his heels in the drum roll of death, we looked at one another and realized that it had been over two hours since we had stood triumphant in the center of the hedge maze.

We returned to Britain and Covenant expertly managed the split. Everyone seemed to glow with an inner sense of accomplishment and I was exhausted. I heard someone say, "Where do we go next?" and I just groaned internally. I groaned as I mounted my horse, Darlin. I think even the roots of my hair hurt after constant, unremitting battles of hours. I waved shakily to the team and bade them goodnight.

The Outlaw situation obviously continues to worsen. Dark Priests and Shamans infest the camps now and archers are not to be scorned. They are accurate and very damaging. The quantity of Outlaws seems to increase in each camp, perhaps since some camps are no longer there, the ones that do remain now contain combined forces. Be very careful adventuring in the wilds now. They say they will not come to our cities but they have already done that on one instance. Those that complained our towns were not safe now have the opposite, the wilds are not safe. I would not even be surprised to see Outlaws beginning to prowl dungeons and I know, someday, our towns and cities will see them invading in large numbers.

*Covenant Atei*

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those that participated in our "whirlwind" adventures yesterday. On more than one occasion I overheard someone in the group commenting on how well organized we were, and I wholeheartedly agree.

We didn't break up into little groups; we didn't have any runners; the mages were well protected by the archers and tanks so they could keep the archers and tanks healed, and the mages did just that.

This, in my opinion, is how a quest is supposed to be: fun, exhilirating, challenging but not wholly deadly. In fact, following the two that died at The Maze, not one other person perished. That is a testament to the teamwork we all had, because on many occasions last night, we were out-numbered 2 and even 3 to 1.

Well done, gang. I hope I get the chance to hunt with you all again very soon.

P.S. Thanks to the Seer(s) who is/are doing the Outlaws. They are getting tougher, and that is making them loads more fun! Well done!