Even though nothing new has really happened, life here in NEaB has been relatively busy.  Last Sunday it rained, and for some reason my dungeon started to feel unusually damp and cold.  So I decided to visit one of our neighboring islands.  While I was there, I had a great idea for a gazette story! 

 I just finished editing it today, and have sent it out via imps-box.  If I'm lucky, this will be the first gazette story that I will ever have published.  I've done a lot of vacationing in different islands-maybe I should continue looking around for stories to tell.  To tell the truth, it doesn't seem like many people take initiative when it comes to questing or exploring (from what I can see, at least)and I'm guessing that the reason is because they don't know much about the islands in question.  Personally, traveling is what really keeps me busy during the day-if all I could ever do was walk around the main island, I think I'd have packed my bags and never returned.

I don't often see many interesting gazette articles on different lands and places in NEaB.  Maybe it's time for us to put more initiative into attracting tourists and adventurers, so that they can realize just what they're missing out on.   

 I didn't find anything too interesting on Simian Paradise that day, but it was just as well.  When I woke up, my Messenger crystal was glowing.  It turned out that Defender Week had just begun, and all NEaBians had been called back to help fight the Gaorics.

 Now, to tell the truth, I am not much of a fighter.  I only made it to level 100 about a month ago, and that was only because I discovered a beautiful place known as the Daily Dungeon.  Furthermore, I was here for last time's Defender Week.  Within an hour I became bored and reverted back to my Pacifist ways.

 Having said that, I can't tell you what inspired me to go to the rally tents this time and board the ferry over.  Looking at the low-level imbeciles that I had to kill, I became increasingly annoyed.  Thankfully, I remembered that my new medusa, Tahiri, had just mastered the knowledge of the "attack" command.  What a great opportunity for training her!  After demonstrating to her how to bite a few Gaorics, I became an adrenaline junkie.  There's something about the feeling of blood pulsing through your veins that I can't describe...you'd have to go try it for yourself.  

I'd encourage all NEaBians who haven't signed up to go and give it a try!  You have 6 more days to help defend your homeland.  There are prizes given out for those who can collect the most medals, but I've also discovered some of these fringe benefits:

-You can train a new pet, or a pet who isn't at a high level.  Tahiri managed to make it from level 10 to 32 in one day.

-You can make a lot of money.  I think I've made 1-2 million in total simply by killing enough Gaorics.

-You can gain experience. Today I gained 70% EXP, enough to push me up a level.

That might not seem like much for more seasoned fighters, but for a former sissy pacifist like me, it's a big leap.

  It is now the evening of the second day, and I've come back to Soupir to rest.  Tomorrow I plan on going back to fight some more.  To tell the truth, the fighting schedule is rather grueling.  Sometimes 2 or 3 Gaorics can come charging at you all at the same time.  Other times, you can wander around aimlessly and still not be able to find any.  Whenever you get bored, just come back to the Mainland and take a breather.

 *Deep breath*

Sheesh, when did stale dungeon air ever make me tired?  Ah wells.  Good night.

After finishing the quests on Paradise Island, I was bored and decided to go speed-sailing around.  Within half an hour, I came across a strange island. 

 For some reason, my never-get-lost ring stopped working as soon as I entered its proximity.  Luckily, I had one of the free World Maps given out by the travel agency (a note to fellow adventurers: Keep those maps!  They can be extremely helpful-and if you can afford to get a World Atlas, even better).  I was able to discern that the island I'd landed on was called Simian Paradise.  I thought it was rather odd that my never-get-lost ring stopped working, though.  Usually it manages just fine in places like this...but anyways.  

 I'm still here on Simian Paradise.  It took me a few hours to explore the island fully, and here is what I've found out (in chronological order of discovery)

1: The island is chock full of fruit trees.

2: The island is chock full of monkeys.

3: Simian Paradise is...*drum roll please*...a MONKEY SANCTUARY! 

I personally don't have a clue what I'd want to do in a monkey sanctuary, but I've already paid a membership fee (good thing my wallet was full) and am planning to go view the Sanctuary in broad daylight first thing next morning.  For now though, I've set up camp on the eastern part of the Island.  

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my Imps-box.  Luckily, Jaypee (the imp) was in a good mood today, so the quality is pretty good.  This is a picture of the Sanctuary entrance:

And this is the camp I made...

 This has been a long day, and I bet I'm boring you guys, so I guess I'll just eat my fish and go to sleep for now.  If anything interesting happens tomorrow, I'll keep you posted.