Exploring the DI Crater

Posted on March 29, 2001 in Uncategorized

Day 164, Year 541 of the Ascendancy


I’ve been hearing rumors lately that there have been some new
developements in the Crater area of Devil’s Isle, so I decided it was
about time to head back inside. The first thing I needed was a party.
My clan mate Lark was in the lands, and she joined the party, and I
also recruited Madcat, Shadowmist, and Ippon. I decided that this would
be enough, and headed for the docks. However, by the time my party had
reached the docks, it had grown to seven members. We all landed on the
north side of Devil’s Island, and headed for the McBolie Caverns.
Luckily for us, Ippon was able to open the path, and we all headed into
the darkness. We were all almost immediately lost, and somehow, the
group had swelled to thirteen.

For those of yi who don’t know McBolie’s Caverns,
it is hellish. Basically, the “Caverns” are merely a series of
interconnected tunnels that run underneath the lake of Devil’s Isle,
probably formed by some ancient underground rivers. What this means, is
that the tunnels are very narrow, and sometimes very dangerous, and it
is very easy to get lost. Our party wandered around the tunnels for
hours, getting lost, falling to unseen monsters, getting harrassed by
earthquakes, and bumping our heads on low hanging stalagmites. Finally,
we decided to follow Magnar and Ippon, who seemed to know their way
about the Cavern, and made it to the exit.

We all slipped into a path, and suddenly found
ourselves in bright sunlight. We had made it into the Crater! We were
greeted almost immediately by a horde of Wendeka, but we dispatched
them with little difficulty. We decided that some planning was in
order, if we were to survive this expedition. Ippon was put in charge
of leading the party, and we all broke into groups of three, for better
organization. I readied my mapping tools, and we all headed for our
first destination: the Fire Cave.

Our trek to the Fire Cave was an adventure in
itself. We met many Pumaces, Fire Rats, Fire Vermine, and even a Lava
Walker. I made many Vision Stones, and took many notes down, so I could
add all this new terrain to the map. Finally, we made it to the Fire
Cave in one piece, but unfortunately, we lost Kard, who had slipped
outside of the Crater area. That’s the thing with the Crater: hard to
get in, easy to get out. Anyway, we got back into our groups, and
plunged into the Fire Cave. Strangely, the cave was pretty empty,
containing only a sole Lava Walker and a few Pumaces. This did not, of
course, prevent me from falling to firebursts and puddles of lava.

Again, I took out my mapping tools, and began
sketching away. We then prepared to head to our next destination: the
Voolcon Caverns. However, we managed to lose three more of our party
members when they hopped out via another path. F’nord. We made our way
to the Caverns, and met several more Lava Walkers, but nothing we
couldn’t handle. Finally we made it to the Voolcon Caverns. However,
much to our disapointment, we could not find a way into the deeper
caverns, not even with the aid of the skillful pathfinder Ippon.

Even our attempts to communicate with the Voolcons failed miserably.

That pretty much concluded our adventures in the
Crater, since we had to rescue several of our fallen comrades, who had
slipped outside the wall. Unfortunately, I had to leave before I could
help in the rescue because I had pressing matters at home. Sorry guys!
Hopefully, the next time we visit the crater, we will be able to
explore the rest of it, and perhaps even find a way into the Voolcon
Caverns.

My revised map of Devil’s Isle should be posted on these scrolls soon, so please come by again, and check it out!

Leave a Reply