Ryzom

Hearing various reports from the roots I had to go see for myself. "The kitin have pulled back," they say. "The roots are ours!" Having never known the kitin to retreat without a fight, or retreat period for that matter, I had to check it out for myself.

Happening to be in the northern part of Nexus Minor at the time, I made my way to the entrance of the Abyss of Ichor to begin my reconnaissance. As reported, there were no kitin present as I entered the Abyss. There were a few token beasts of a lesser variety whose poor senses allowed me to slip past with ease. Working my way further in I started thinking that maybe the reports were right. The Kitin had retreated. Maybe even defeated? One could hope. Then I saw it and a chill went up my spine. A Kitin patrol. A big one too.

I quickly pulled back to a safer location and, thank the Kami, they did not notice my presence. As I watched them scurry past I had to wonder. Why are they this far out? Why give up the entrance, and so much ground, and then station themselves here? These were the thoughts going through my mind as I made my way in the direction the patrol had come from. My questions were soon answered. The patrol wasn’t there to keep people out; it was to keep people from finding the army they had hidden within the Abyss. A vast horde of kitins of all varieties. Already being enough to turn your average Zoraï green with fright, the kitin had further buttressed their forces with countless beasts of war which, as I watched, were working with the kitin to clear the area surrounding the army.

Working my way back from the Abyss, through Nexus Minor, I made my way to the lands of Umbra. To my horror, I found the kitin employing the same strategy there. Upon entering Umbra, the kitin presence appeared light. However, again, upon further exploration I found another horde of kitins along with their war beasts. This one was even bigger than what I found in the Abyss.

With the knot in my stomach getting tighter and tighter, I made my way to Under Spring. Here the kitin had not made near the effort to hide as they had in either the Abyss or Umbra. Shortly upon entering Under Spring I encountered my first kitin patrol. Unfortunately, they spotted me first. As I sat at the entrance to Under Spring tending my wounds I had to wonder why this particular patrol was so close to the entrance while the others I had found further out. Heading out again I made sure to note the location of the previous patrol and keep out of their sight. Not long after skirting that patrol, I found another, then another. I barely had any room to move in order to not be spotted. That turned out not to be an issue for long since I soon found what I was looking for.

It’s a good thing another patrol did not happen across me at that moment for they could have easily killed me before I had even noticed their attack. Before me was an army like none I had seen. Looking upon the forces upon forces of kitin I now knew where the horror had come from that had lurked in my grandfathers eyes as he told us younger ones the story of the Great Invasion. Seeing their war beasts lap up the blood of a helpless Mektoub as it squealed in pain left my entire being cold.

I backed up a few steps, then in fright, turned and ran only to stop my self before I made it to far. Knowing that remaining calm was the only way I was going to survive; I quickly backtracked my way back towards the Witherings. I knew I had to warn my fellow homins because this was a threat that could not be ignored.

jdiegel wrote:Hearing various reports from the roots I had to go see for myself. "The kitin have pulled back," they say. "The roots are ours!" Having never known the kitin to retreat without a fight, or retreat period for that matter, I had to check it out for myself.

Happening to be in the northern part of Nexus Minor at the time, I made my way to the entrance of the Abyss of Ichor to begin my reconnaissance. As reported, there were no kitin present as I entered the Abyss. There were a few token beasts of a lesser variety whose poor senses allowed me to slip past with ease. Working my way further in I started thinking that maybe the reports were right. The Kitin had retreated. Maybe even defeated? One could hope. Then I saw it and a chill went up my spine. A Kitin patrol. A big one too.

I quickly pulled back to a safer location and, thank the Kami, they did not notice my presence. As I watched them scurry past I had to wonder. Why are they this far out? Why give up the entrance, and so much ground, and then station themselves here? These were the thoughts going through my mind as I made my way in the direction the patrol had come from. My questions were soon answered. The patrol wasn’t there to keep people out; it was to keep people from finding the army they had hidden within the Abyss. A vast horde of kitins of all varieties. Already being enough to turn your average Zoraï green with fright, the kitin had further buttressed their forces with countless beasts of war which, as I watched, were working with the kitin to clear the area surrounding the army.

Working my way back from the Abyss, through Nexus Minor, I made my way to the lands of Umbra. To my horror, I found the kitin employing the same strategy there. Upon entering Umbra, the kitin presence appeared light. However, again, upon further exploration I found another horde of kitins along with their war beasts. This one was even bigger than what I found in the Abyss.

With the knot in my stomach getting tighter and tighter, I made my way to Under Spring. Here the kitin had not made near the effort to hide as they had in either the Abyss or Umbra. Shortly upon entering Under Spring I encountered my first kitin patrol. Unfortunately, they spotted me first. As I sat at the entrance to Under Spring tending my wounds I had to wonder why this particular patrol was so close to the entrance while the others I had found further out. Heading out again I made sure to note the location of the previous patrol and keep out of their sight. Not long after skirting that patrol, I found another, then another. I barely had any room to move in order to not be spotted. That turned out not to be an issue for long since I soon found what I was looking for.

It’s a good thing another patrol did not happen across me at that moment for they could have easily killed me before I had even noticed their attack. Before me was an army like none I had seen. Looking upon the forces upon forces of kitin I now knew where the horror had come from that had lurked in my grandfathers eyes as he told us younger ones the story of the Great Invasion. Seeing their war beasts lap up the blood of a helpless Mektoub as it squealed in pain left my entire being cold.

I backed up a few steps, then in fright, turned and ran only to stop my self before I made it to far. Knowing that remaining calm was the only way I was going to survive; I quickly backtracked my way back towards the Witherings. I knew I had to warn my fellow homins because this was a threat that could not be ignored.

Very interesting, very intersting indeed.

Very well documented post, thank goodness I took my packer home lastnight and stabled him.

Unfortunately, I will not be in the world of Atys this weekend do to real life family matters, so I wish all of you the best in starting to ward off this kittin invasion that is imminent.

Good and interesting tale. Thanks.

Um, eek! I hope there's enough high lvl people playing this weekend to help fend off such armies; looks like all nations will be under attack soon. Though it doesn't surprise me that the Undersprings army is way bigger than the others; that place is NASTY...

Heh, do the kittins a favor, go camping for the weekend, this way when they get to our towns, no one is home, they will shrug there sholders and go back from whence they came.

and miss out on all that xp and loots? NO WAY!

very well written acount. I can not wait to see how this unfolds should be rather interesting!

Well written Auriga. Looking forward to the next post.

What I like most about the account in this post is that reading it, I get the feeling that maybe one day, I too as a simple scout can hope to achieve a similarly exciting discovery. There's a little bit of mystery still left in what is told, which depending on how much information was meant to be exposed, is both tantalizingly disappointing or disciplined in its restraint.

I remember in DAoC how I'd take my very young infiltrator around (level 3, later 6, 12, 17) around searching sometimes for hours whole regions where I was well out of my element. If I was uncovered I'd likely die a very quick death or be running for a very long time. I even scouted out similarly the PvP areas, avoiding as much as possible the main tracks, but often seeing large bands of the enemy running by, sometimes even stopping suddenly, backtracking and trying to spy out my area. The adrenaline rush in those moments was incredible. To survive was paramount, if only to pretend in my own mind that the information I had on enemy movements or new regions for my tribe (the tribe of myself and my alts and any new friends I should make) must be preserved until I could reach civilization and share it.

It was really the best times of my virtual life, those early days of just using the game as a vehicle to do what I thought I should do as part of my character's persona and belief system. To believe that everything mattered a small degree, often in self-invented ways just to add to the story made it that much more thrilling to be where I should not have been.

Anyway, kudos to the author. The account makes my spine nearly tingle.