Taking a sick day

Wasn't feeling well today in real life so I called in sick. Realms of Despair is great for when you're stuck at home not feeling well with not much else to do. I thought I'd start out by trying to kill Zyla by myself but that didn't work out well - basically I just wasn't doing enough damage. After giving up on that I took a couple of guild members with me to kill Captain Mandor in Solace. That went much better with five kills easily done.

After finishing off with Mandor I decided to take on The Barren Wastes. This is one area that I've been stumped on for ages. There are several puzzles I can half solve but every time I figure out something with that area it opens up two more puzzles to solve. Today however I was going straight out to kill an enormous winged beast.

I'd heard that a barbarian was the best way to go about killing the beast on your own so I loaded mine up and went on a chokefest. I managed to die 5 times in my attempt but the end result was this:

You choke the life out of an enormous winged beast as he struggles to break your grasp!
Your chokehold hits an enormous winged beast!
An enormous winged beast chokes to death under the weight of your overpowering strength.
An enormous winged beast is DEAD!!
You lose your death-grip on your victim's neck.
As the beast collapses against the trunk of the tree, a massive wing tears from
his body and lands safely between two thick branches.
The ground quakes as a ferocious roar resounds throughout the area.
An enormous winged beast screams furiously as he falls to the ground in a heap!
You see nothing like that in the corpse of an enormous winged beast.
The corpse of an enormous winged beast holds:
     an enormous bloody wing

The wing itself is pretty useless:

Object 'an enormous bloody wing' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 2 trash, weight 165.
Special properties:  organic
This trash has a gold value of 0.

> exam wing
You take a closer look at an enormous bloody wing in inventory...
Large ridged feathers stick together from the stained blood that has
poured from the stump of this enormous, heavy wing.

After killing the beast you need to take the wing back to the temple at the start of the area and attach the wing to open up another room...

> attach wing statue
You heft the enormous wing up to the statue and, using the somewhat dried blood
on the wing's stump, affix the wing to the jutting stone of the statue, causing the other wing of the statue to move upward and reveal a small passageway.
The dried blood fails to hold any longer and the wing slips from the statue and shatters onto the ground.

And in the room you find a chest with the following:

A Small Recess Behind an Alcove
The narrow passage created by the stone walls which lead from the
temple alcove remain narrow and make this alcove nearly impossible
to maneuver through.  The walls are covered in etchings of seemingly
simple symbols which reach to the ceiling high above.
Exits: east
A small leather chest sits on a shelf at the back of this small recess.

> exam chest
You take a closer look at a small leather chest on the ground...
The leather that makes this small chest is in relatively good condition,
most likely due to being kept in this hidden space and away from the
elements.  Two small metal hinges sit at the back of chest, connecting
the body to a rough leather lid.
A small leather chest appears to be nearly empty.
A small leather chest contains:
     a roll of feathery beige fabric

 Once again the fabric isn't much use but from what I've heard its half of what I need to make some nice leggings for a mage or cleric. I'll get to work on the other half when I'm feeling better over the weekend. Overall it was a successful day.

V.