The Great Item Hunt 2003A returns to the Old World

Drexxell · **Posted:** Tue May 20, 2003 5:37 am

(fade in)

The Scene: A bar somewhere in the mystic Plane of Knowledge. Camera circles around a circular table where we see Drexxell (sitting on 4 spellbooks for height), Talinoth and Thunderhart enjoying their respective drinks. Drexxell sips what at first appears to be red wine, but seems inordinately thick. Talinoth, recently risen to the rank of Master Brewer, drinks some oddly bubbling concoction, apparantly hoping to rise to the level of "Master Imbiber" as well. Thunderhart merely drinks a frothy brew out of his helmet with loud gulps and the occasional wiping of his mouth upon a sleeve. The volume rises upon their conversation...

Drexxell: But that would be out of ORDER!

Talinoth: Drex, look...we're still going to get everything, just I think with Xandamir gone, we should go for the easiest item next, even if it is out of the set "order" that we agreed to.

Drexxell: But that would be out of ORDER!

Thunderhart (under his breath): loser

Talinoth: C'mon Drex, a little flexibility here. We've been to Runnyeye before. This will be cake. Then I'll be better equipped for the harder parts of The Great Item Hunt 2003-A that are coming up.

Drexxell: We....we'll go back and...and still do things in order, except for Runnyeye?

Thunderhart (cough-speaking, under his breath): A.R. loser

Drexxell (throwing a dirty look at Thunderhart and squinting his eyes): Alright then. Let's do this thing.

(fade to black)

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(fade in on Drexxell sitting at the entrance to Runnyeye, writing on a scroll)

Dear Wayfarers...

Knowing that some of you have been following the progress of The Great Item Hunt 2003A, I thought you should know about a record-setting pace last night. First, we decided to acquire one item out of order (I know, I was shocked too!) and head to an old stomping ground, the Liberated Citadel of Runnyeye. From some papers Talinoth had found last time we were here, he learned that the ruling class goblins all tended to wear a certain medallion which boosted their piddling intellects up to somewhere near quasi-sentience. Surely such an item would make our wise druid wiser still. Upon entering the citadel, Talinoth immediately stooped to the ground with an "A-Ha!". We gathered round and he pointed to a glob of spit on the dirt. We looked at him questioningly....and in his best scholarly voice, and holding back what seemed to me to be downright arrogance, he proceeded to lecture us on tracking:

"You see boys, the Pickclaw Goblin (or "Goblinicus Pickclawsium") is known to chew tobacco, unlike their lesser cousins the Runnyeye Goblin (or "Goblinicus Conjunctiviticus"). So, as you can clearly see a gob of tobacco spit next to a 2.73 hour old goblin footprint, it indicates that a Pickclaw was here. NOW then, if one TASTES the spittle (and he did, ugh) one can discern the hint of sulfur. And only one Pickclaw goblin is known to chew sulfur with his tobacco, and that is Battlewizard Unak. Therefore, I deduce that Battlewizard Unak is in the house".

It was with disgusted faces that we watched Talinoth actually do this, and we we had to suppress our laughter when we pointed to a message, roughly scratched in the wall behind Talinoth which read "Baddlewyzurd Unak wuz here".

Collecting our wits, we made our way to the bowels of Runnyeye and with Talinoth's continually superior tracking skills, made our way face to face with the loathesome Battlewizard Unak, tobacco stains surrounding him on the floor, the stench of sulfur on his breath. We were overjoyed at the speed with which we had found him, and even more so by how fast he and every underling around him fell. (Hard to believe we were ever afraid of this level of Runnyeye). Talinoth knelt over the body, mumbled a prayer to Tunare, and gently looted the <a href="http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=6020">Black Alloy Medallion</a> from the Battlewizard.

Total time on this item: 4 minutes (a new record)

<a href="http://www.kreative.net/smith/pages/dru/games/eq/tgih03a.theplan.txt">The Great Item Hunt 2003-A</a> was now 5 for 5 out of <a href="http://www.kreative.net/smith/pages/dru/games/eq/tgih03a.wishlist.txt">8 items.</a>

Drex

Nealyn · **Posted:** Tue May 20, 2003 6:00 am

Xandamir sits bolt upright in bed, crying out in the night. The boys have decided to go to Runnyeye, she can feel it in her heart. She had a momentary image of the Thunderhart wading through goblin blood. She heard the gravelly voice of a hideous goblin calling down the wrath of his heathen gods on her friends.

The poor lad Talinoth, ready to heal the valiant warrior as soon and as often as he could, knowing full well that his healing skills were good, but not as good as the missing cleric. She thinks she sees on his face the momentary doubt as he begins to cast the spells of healing. Stepping back in the dream, she realizes they are more than capable of defeating all that Runnyeye has to throw at them. They are no longer the fledgling hunters they once were, and they had no need of her there.

As the memory of the dream is fading she sees the head fly off the goblin in one slice of Thunderharts blade, freeing with it a blackened medallion, which Drexxell catches as it falls to the floor. With the hideous laughter of Drexxell's slave still echoing through her chambers, so real that she looks around to make sure it was just a dream, she clutches her bedsheets to her and falls back into a dreamless slumber.

Talinoth · **Posted:** Tue May 20, 2003 9:54 pm

(Lacunae: top half of page torn out.)

light and my delirium was eased by many my visits to the gardens in P_ K_, but did not abate in its entirety. It was the late afternoon of our third day when we met up with Thunderhart in one of the many inns providing sapid compotations for both simple rustics and erudite scholars. Drexxell and I related the gist of our recent excursions, but left aside many of the more troublesome details. Thunderhartâ€™s eyes sparked with enthusiasm at the mention of Runneyeye, so I took it upon myself to suggest to my companions that we undertake the effort in Xandamirâ€™s absence to acquire the Blackened Alloy Medallion. The logic of my argument was simple enough as I had entered the lair on many occasions of late; firstly in a series of attempts to retrieve the item by my own hand and then, that having failed, to engage in detailed reconnaissance for the purpose of ensuring an expeditions raid. I assured them that it would be a quick and easy affair to settle, that Xandamirâ€™s participationâ€”though always cherishedâ€”would not be necessary. The agreement struck, we settled our affairs and are prepared to set off to Misty Thicket for the run to the Citadel.

Unak is dead and the Blackened Alloy Medallion is in my possession. Under our magicks of concealment, we made a quick descent and immediately picked up Unakâ€™s tracks. We found the foul thing squatting among a wretched horde of itâ€™s kin in a squalid chamber split by a stream of putrescent ooze and muddy water. I could scarcely articulate my intent to my friends as I recklessly cast loose my most injurious evocations and abjurations on the degenerate creature. I had the medallion from off itâ€™s neck while it still spasmed and twisted in the mireâ€”a feat made easy due to Thunderharts swift blade.

--From the Birch Bark Memoirs, Vol 2, pg. 12
By Talinoth, a humble druid of 40 dank chasms.

Haams · **Posted:** Thu May 22, 2003 6:54 pm

Nice!

Drexxell · **Posted:** Thu May 29, 2003 5:14 am

Dearest readers,

With Xandamir still in the service of Tunare, Thunderhart, Talinoth and I consulted The Plan (a massive tome showing the strict ordering of events for the acquistion of items during TGIH03A). It showed a side-trip to an unknown land, known as The Stonebrunt Mountains. There was something about that name that struck me as familar. Something I'd read about ancient spirits and mythical gargantua, but it all was very hazy. Besides, we were after little more than the snatching of trinkets from kobolds. Surely we could accomplish this feat in one evening. We knew where the kobolds had established themselves, thanks to the map of Stonebrunt purchased from a wandering ranger (guess they have a use after all...who would have guessed?). It clearly showed camps of Kobolds around the mountains. We hoped, for a surprise to our missing friend Xandamir, to help her collect the 3rd artifact (of 4) needed to appease a friend of hers named Merri in the Plane of Knowledge. It was well known that the Stonebrunt kobolds carried a certain Forlorn Totem or Rolfron Zek on occasion, and we intended to turn a few dogfaces into dogfood while searching for it. I'll write more soon...

It's been 2 nights now, and the going is slow. With Talinoth's levitation and tracking skills we were able to generate literal piles of kobold corpses our first night, to no avail. Was our information wrong? We weren't sure, and so on our 2nd night decided to try our luck again before re-formulating plans. It was at that time that a ranger named Khilean joined us, evincing interest in joining the guild. (We kept a close watch on him for signs that he was a double-agent, but he turned out to be genuine). He claimed knowledge of the treasuries of the kobolds and we took him with us as guide. Wandering into the northern kobold territories, we soon found that the bears and tigers were nearly overwhelming, not to mention the kobolds much stronger. It was three hours of hunting without a single Totem that finally caused us to end our futile quest and take a breather.

Khilean showed solid resolve and intended to stay, hoping to win the favor of Xandamir, no doubt. We bid him good hunt, and Talinoth created for us a magic portal and we 3 stepped through to the Plane of Knowledge. Later on, about the time that Khilean was finding the Totem on his own, I passed a lone merchant selling a variet of trinkets and (as seems to be our luck lately) she was cheaply selling the very bobble we needed. Istn't that often the way...a dry spell for 2 full hunts, then within minutes of each other, we now have 2 of the needed Totem. Khilean is to be commended for his resolve in hunting for Xandamir on his own. (And don't think this old necro is going soft for speaking good words about one o' them tree-hugging trackers...that Perisai lassie tends to be useful on occasion too).

Xandamir will need just one more item to complete her quest, but that is another story....

Drex

Drexxell · **Posted:** Thu May 29, 2003 7:03 am

This thread continues here:

http://www.wayfarersofveeshan.com/phpBB ... highlight=

Drex

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The Great Item Hunt 2003A returns to the Old World

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