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The real story behind the discovery of the Dred Passage tree, Kaptus, and LIFE; all these stories occur after Pogue Mahone's forays into the same areas. As follows is Yor's account of events, recorded and edited by Kani.
It was obvious for a while that there was something beyond the Orga Outback, especially based on the Marsh Hermit's comments. Then PMF found Dred Passage and got past it into the Foothills. Despite their best efforts, info about what they have done leaked out (particularly because of Crius' announcements, Aki falling to an Ash Giant, etc.). People, particularly non-rankwhores, were looking before this happened, but when it did practically everybody joined in. Gurgi put together a mob and split it into two groups— one for the northern Outback and one for the southern Outback. I was the leader for the southern group and we (obviously) found nothing. Gurgi led the northern group and for whatever reason they overlooked the DP tree and found nothing. At this point, eager and frustrated, Gurgi came up with the idea to reward the group who discovered the entry to Dred Passage. Some of the wealthy, higher level exiles contributed to this fund. PMF didn't bite. At the same time, I felt confident something had been missed in the Orga Outback, so I formed my own group to meet every Friday afternoon to systematically search the Outback. The group was mostly comprised of non-rankwhores because most of those where back to hunting Dal'Noth Island. I figured we'd start with the northern Outback because it seemed more likely to be there, so I mapped an efficient route through that area before we began. I think it was on our second trip, while covering the second half of my mapped out route, that we found the tree. Axell saw the sparkles first. When news of our discovery broke the community went crazy. Almost instantly afterwards, Gurgi created "The DP Group" (more on that below). My little group collected the reward for Dred Passage's discovery, and created the DPDF (Dred Passage Discovery Foundation with it. The foundation was used to supply newbies with sunstones. The DP Group was a mob but it was fun. If I remember correctly the group got together twice each weekend and in about 4-6 attempts broke through to the Foothills and met Katpus. Katpus told the same tale of the Stronghold, 'Noids, Catapult, and Foothills that she had told to PMF, and gave several shovels to help navigate the Foothills. This would lay the groundwork for the continuing quest to discover and conquer the Stronghold. After The DP Group explored all of the Foothills passes and Ash Valley, the group ceased their activity. A few months passed and I began to feel confident that there was more out there to find, so I created LIFE (Lok'groton Islands Foundation for Exploration). Once again, most of the rankwhores returned to their daily hunting,which was now Kizmia's Island so LIFE was primarily comprised of non-rankwhores. It took a few months but we eventually found the pathfinding trails that led to Camp Dred and Dredwood. Oddly enough the important path was in a spot I'd seen searched before so either the path was blocked or the pathfinders were simply unable to see it in the past. Again, PMF had been through first but exactly when they'd first passed through is unclear. The news of this discovery got the community excited and once again everybody came running. The DP Group was resurrected and eventually both Dredwood and the Malachite Caves were mapped. As had been the pattern, the rankwhores returned to Kizmia's Island while the others stuck around to explore and discover what might lie beyond. LIFE wilted and died during this long period although I kept gathering ad-hoc groups to search for changes. Nothing was ever found. At the end of the third Malachite cavern there was a crumbling wall. At the time, nobody understand the significance of this; it looked like the obvious way to go but there was never any indication that the wall would crumble entirely. One day, entirely out of the blue, the crumbling wall just vanished. Ironically, it wasn't any of my ad-hoc groups or PMF that discovered this shocking change. Rather, it was a mob led by Gurgi that made the discovery. This mob had most of the hardcore rankwhores who had essentially been ignoring the Foothills for months— yet, here they were, in the third Malachite cave, within days of the crumbling wall falling (the wall was still there a zodiac before because a group I was with had checked). Very strange and suspicious. It bothered me at the time but I quickly got over it. Once again, the DP Group was reformed but made little progress. Web-throwing Arachnoids essentially wreaked havoc on the fairly disorganized mobs that The DP Group was able to muster. If I recall correctly, The DP Group was unable to get past the first cavern of the Pitch Caves. Frustrated by their lack of progress, The DP Group gave up and faded into history. I should note that at the same time PMF was making regular attempts and did make some progress. Unfortunately, they disbanded before they got very far through the caves. A few months after The DP Group vanished I got a message from a dwarf named Fundin. He wanted to form a group with the intent of conquering the Pitch Caves, reaching the Stronghold, defeaeting the Stronghold, finding and returning Katpus' catapult plans, getting the catapult back, and finding Trillbane. This group would be called PAG, the Pitch Assault Group. And the adventure continues... |
