at the Trynnie Zoo. I reach toward the lock to start picking. The sprites go hostile and I'm in the combat screen !!So I fire off silence and energy blasts. No targets for the energy blasts, but the silence gets one. The sprites all cast Eye for an Eye or razor cloak. After about 3 rounds no one is injured and silence has worn off.
So I try insanity. The spell drives two insane and they start hitting each other and taking razor cloak damage. I repeat the insanity spells until I am down to one sprite. I broke off combat, came back and opened the door and finished the fight.
In that same game I encountered Trynnie outcasts for the first time (after 2.5 months of game-playing) AND got a Sprite Dagger for the first time AND met Willow Elders for the first time. Does Wiz 8 have "random subsets", sets from which items/monsters are randomly dropped? That would explain how it is impossible for some people to get a light sword and other have to sell off their excess. If it isn't in your "random subset" you can't get it.