Lundar's Library

Day 120, Year 549

I’ve just returned from a long and exhausting Foothills expedition,
which had mixed results. The expedition was led by Gurgi, and we headed
for the newly discovered cavern in the Malachite Lair.

Our party set off from the Meadow early yesterday morning, and
was able to make it through the Orga Outback and Foothills with little
difficulty. We did have one close call near the entrance of the
Malachite Lair, but other than that the trip was uneventful.

The Malachite Arachnoids protect their Lair

Once we reached the ladder leading down into the newly
discovered cave(also known as the Pitch Pit), it was time for a little
strategy. We used a simple plan devised by Elenis Reyav: first, a
runner would enter the pit, clearing the entrance of ‘Noids. Second, a
group of pathfinders would rush to the library containing Giayl’s Guide to Hidden Ways. Finally, the rest of the group would enter, and attempt to clear the cavern.

For our purposes, Sor was chosen as the runner, and he did a
magnificent job of leading the ‘noids away from the entrance. Next, we
had to put together a group of pathfinders, but since nearly our entire
party was comprised of pathfinders, we decided to send in a small
initial group first, consisting of Olmy, Luther, Kiriel, Wormtounge,
Alchemist, and Elenis.

Miraculously, the entire first group managed to make it to the
library in one piece. With step two of the plan a success, the fighters
set about trying to clear the Pitch Pit, while I and the rest of the
pathfinders waited for our chance to make a run for the library.
Unfortunately, there was no second run.

Webbed to death

The Pitch Pit proved to be too tough for even our most powerful
fighters to handle. The next several hours were spent chaining fallens
out of the Pit, and making several futile attempts at clearing the
cavern of Arachnoids. By midnight, most of our party lay fallen in the
cavern, or were too fallen for our healers to heal.

Several of the remaing members made a suicide attempt at
reaching the library, and Praetorius actually managed to make it
inside, but the rest all failed in the attempt. A last few brave and
desparate chain attempts were made as well, but these too were
unsuccessful.

Fallen rescuers

In the end, most of us ended up departing, though a few managed
to make it out of the Malachite Cavern, and are now waiting for rescue
in the Orga Village.

Our expedition was a least somewhat successful since we managed
to get many of our pathfinders to study from Giayl’s tome, but I am
still very disapointed that I was unable to receive any of the advanced
instruction myself. Hopefully we will all get a chance to study from
Giayl’s book at the next expedition.