Pitch Cave/Foothills Trip 4
Sunday 16th November 2003
The start
Well this is getting quite regular now, another trip to the Foothills,
the 4th one I’ve done, and specifically setup to allow US clanners
to join in with everyone else.
I’ll rush through this write up as the events seem to take a similar
pattern each time which is good as it allows everyone to become more experienced
the more often they go.
Somone almost missed the boat
Initially everyone met up in the meadow, by the time we were due to leave
I was getting slightly concerned as Elenis hadn’t turned up yet,
and it was looking like I’d have to take charge!. Luckily I managed
to persuade Darnok, Jjh, Kiriel and Achates to help me as I still feel
I don’t have the experience or knowledge to lead through some of
the areas we’d have to pass through, some yes, not all.
With that sorted I felt happier, thx a lot guys. Then Elenis came running
out of the library to join, woohoo now we had a leader and some sub leaders
too. This was good as it allowed them to sort rods, lead, and keep tabs
on the rest of the exiles without burdening anyone too much, allowing
Elenis to do the main part. I liked the way this worked with a few jobs
assigned to exiles and I think I’ll try and do this again as it worked
well.
Travelling the normal way
Well as Zortons Orga stone had crumbled earlier in the zodiac we couldn’t
port so we travelled the traditional way, by foot. In total 53 exiles
came along and we made fast progress through Snaggy and HH to the trainers
grove, in fact we did it first hit. As we entered the Trainers Grotto
I heard that Dandelion and Ledward, both friends of mine wanted to join
us. Now normally we wouldn’t have turned back, but they are both
powerful healers so I decided to go back and get them. Myself, Kiriel,
Jjh, Afrit, Alchemist, Tyndall and Achates went back to the OC and then
travelled back through HH to join everyone again. It took a 10 minute
detour on trip, not great so I’m uncertain if I will try this again,
but you live and learn, and two more exiles joined us.
Exiles listen, maybe!
Back in the Grotto Elenis was trying to prove a point as to who was listening
to him and who wasn’t with a coordination test. This involved lining
everyone up and pulling the back exiles to the front, needless to say
it took far to long with afk’s and exiles not listening. What it
did do though was make everyone realise that exiles must pay attention,
we only shout stuff if its important so please listen. Sometimes it makes
me wonder how we manage to do so well out here ;-)
The Grotto to the Noids
Well we moved from Grotto, through the PF and to the tree and passageway
under DP. Rods teams were formed and fighter guards, and we battled through
the DP, in fact from memory we only did 2-3 fighters runs and then made
it straight through to the PF and out to the Foothills.
From here Zorton marked his spot, as he calls it so he could teleport
next time and took his leave. We made fast progress through the FH and
all 3 of the Noid caves to the pitch. I think we went from the meadow
to the pitch entrance in about 2 hours or under (maybe less), not bad
considering we had about 20 minutes of delays and stragglers to keep up
with us, in fact id go as far as to say for 53 exiles that’s pretty
damn good :-)
I must add a moan here, exiles, you can only rest or go afk when *we*
say so, just cause someone else says afk, that doesn’t mean everyone
can. In fact there’s a chance the one who went afk might be left
behind. Please wait for the shout from the group leader. There were numerous
times exiles were left behind as they had slept or gone afk for far longer
than agreed, we managed to keep everyone together though. Next time however
you must wait for the group leaders, i.e. Elenis or me to say there’s
a break otherwise you’ll be left behind. Please remember this it
just adds delays to the journey and frustrates others. Ok moan over ;-)
An empty Noid cave!
Ok, a point of note about the Noid caves, the first cave was empty! Something
I for one have never seen before, ever, I don’t know if anyone else
has?
There was also a suspicious ethereal portal burn on the floor. Hmm, now
it seemed with the empty cave that someone had been here before us, and
maybe also been quickly through the other areas awaking them? Naw maybe
im being paranoid!! Maybe the gods were watching and cleared a room for
us who knows, im open to suggestions here, or anyone who went there just
before us?? /action looks around him.
The Pitch Cave again
Well here we stood again, I had devised another plan, one I was certain
would work and was primarily based on getting PF’s to the cave.
Well we teamed up into runners, pf’s and the like and set about our
task. Well what can I say about what happened, everything was going sooo
smoothly until we neared the PF’s cave and a spawn happened right
in front of us. Needless to say it was a massacre, and not in our favour.
Ledward was the only one to make it through. (as a points of note gm’s
a noid followed him into the library, is this a bug or a new feature??)
Same old same old...
Well from here on in you know the story, we were much better prepared
though. Through numerous chaining runs and the other techniques nearly
everyone was rescued. Kiriel has given me some notes on chaining which
I’ll add to my site. It took over an hour before the exiles outside
had decided to give up, I cant blame them the number of noids was ridiculous,
I saw 2 Pitch just on entry not including what else spawned, tonnes of
crimson, pitch and others.
A fair number of us had to depart which is a shame, but its always a risk
when we travel here. I for one have learnt something here and have thought
of something new to try next time. Also Im certain had the spawn not happened
in front of us we would have had a very successful trip indeed. As it
was there was only some departs and one exile made it so it not all bad.
We also had a fun trip and I’m certain many exiles learned stuff
on the trip.
The conclusion
I’ll stick by my statement that the area is specifically anti-mob
as I’ve been and held it with a very small number before. I will
however keep trying as we will only get stronger and will eventually take
and conquer the area.
It must also be said that, and this is in no way a slur on those who went,
that we were very light on 6 • plus fighters which makes a difference
when chaining and trying zu. Its only at times like these you realise
just how strong exiles like Elenis, Yor and Natas really are. With 10
exiles like these we’d walk the caves :-)
All that said I was extremely pleased with the trip, a great turnout,
lots of new faces for me to say hello to and much fun was had by all,
I hope. I certainly hope everyone enjoyed it and learnt a few things.
The next time
I will definitely organise another weekend trip, but it probally wont
be until 2004 OOC, maybe Jan or Feb.
Thank you all for coming along and helping us. A special thanks to Jjh,
Elenis, Darnok, Achates and Kiriel for helping me organise everyone. As
always everyone is welcome next time, and im open to suggestions on how
to improve things and new tactics. Im also proposing a suicide squad to
run the east cavern and map it out.
Well that’s about it from me, i've got a keg to drink, enjoy the
pictures, and the movies, although you may want to edit them down to watch.
I’ll see you all next time for another trip, or just in town.
Fundin
Some pictures and stuff
You can see some pictures I took below, and I’ll be planning another trip soon.
Please find some of my snapshots and visionstones below.
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Pictures & Visionstones
from the trip
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PFing through arrival |
PFing through |
A quick break |
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The empty first chamber! |
About to enter Pitch cave |
About to enter Pitch cave |
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Visionstone A twirling load of exiles entering the PF. |
Visionstone The Pitch cave spawn! decidely nasty. |
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