Dec 2013 game Highlights

Oh my god. This event was just. Amazing. It left me in awe. The roleplay was glorious, the battles were fierce. Even the atmosphere was wonderful. The cold weather went along perfect with the despair through the event. Very somber yet with a glimpse of hope. Absolute perfection. I could go on all day about it, but here's a few highlights:

-Helping out with new player mod as a cowardly imp. Getting interrogated... frightening. Then being brought to the inn for more interrogation. That poor imp. And that's all I will say on that, haha!

-Demons, demons, demons. Playing demons are fun.

-Loved the change of music in the inn. Very depressing indeed. Watching some of the refugees walk around the inn with losses of their own as others comforted them. Really touched my heart, and made my character worry for his loved ones.

-Waking up Saturday and hearing the worst possible news ever. I had a feeling it would happen, but I was certainly not prepared. Took about 10 minutes for the full weight of those words to hit my character. A special thanks to those that went to comfort Albert. It was nice to know that he still had support even in dark times.

-Words of hope from the Baroness, and listening to very interesting theories about those who have perished. Perhaps a sign of better things to come.

-Aiding others in the rituals, healing to the best of my character's ability. Teach, Albert will make you proud. Being asked to help in rituals specially because the person asking trusts my character so much makes me happy.

-Helping out Caldor with his own personal plot. It was truly a great mod to be apart of. The Fates were all excellent in their roleplay and were fun to interact with. Getting recognized more as a person who happens to heal than just another healer is truly a wonderful feeling.

-Dragons are scary. Also later not getting surprised about something that supposed to be a surprise, and the aftermath. Good to know where Albert stands I suppose.

-War council meeting, enjoying time with good friends, planning for the future. Then the calling of the Pegasus was beautiful as well. Getting ready to face an evil Albert first met when he arrived in Travance. Fighting alongside a good friend and healing as much as possible. Picking up Radziel and facing Xualla sent chills down my spine. This events main mod was one of my absolute favorites. Honestly, I first thought the end of the battle was a bit cliche, but after thinking on it, being a part of the experience made it enjoyable. Thanks to all the NPCs and crew that made the fight against Xualla a truly wonderful experience!

-Celebration! It was fun watching people do stupid things on Satyr's Wine, cuddling in the puddle, and enjoying victory for a change. Saturday was the day that Travance slept peacefully.

-Heading down to the manor Sunday for lunch and listening to the Baroness sing. So glad I got the chance to go so, Jen. Thank you for accepting my rather silly request!

-Cavalier lessons from Lorelei. I am looking forward to more in the future!

Special thanks to James, the storytellers, the marshals, the npcs and the players for making this game a wonderful experience. That about covers everyone, because everything you all do contributes to making this game as fun as it can be, It's been a year since Albert has come to Travance and he has grown so much. As have I. I don't know what else to say except that you guys are cool cats. I'd share gummy bears with you all. Hope to see you all in the future!

After being away for 6 months, for this to be the event I make my return... I could not ask for better. I wanna say kudos to everyone for stepping up their game. In all manner... I saw everyone putting more care into costumes, RP, fighting, everything. No detail was too small.

I wanna thank my Alisandria family and crew for making everything into a game where there are no boundaries and laughs are had at a every seconds. Bones being broken and mended, crosswords, swans, geese, the end of the world, dinner, trying to find a pen, just sitting by the fire... Everything was a punch line that left us crying tears.

I wanna thank the staff for the amazing way of SPREADING everything. No one was left out. All levels and professions had things to do to contribute or else failure would occur. No one should've been bored.

I also wanna say that some of he new faces I see are old faces from my past and the ones who aren't are fast proving to be solid people and players in their own right. I love seeing people outpace the veterans in terms of being IC and truly diving in and upholding the atmosphere.

Keep up all the great work... And only let this past event make you wanna go farther and do better. I want people to make the last event look like crap compared to the next event.

Jeremiah wrote: * Getting to play one of the demon possessed family members who were bent on killing their sister. What was initially supposed to be a combat encounter quickly turned into a very emotional RP encounter in which the demons were Exorcised, and we had to cope with the memories of things we had done while possessed. Needless to say, there was a tearful reuniting with our sister, and some excellent role play involved in which there wasn't a dry eye for anyone involved. Next to main mod, one of my favorite parts of the weekend.

You guys were amazing. It's not often that a 'simple' combat encounter gets turned into a mod that really forces PCs to confront consequences of actions, and goes beyond "enemy!kill it!" All the NPCs involved went above and beyond in RP, and acted their characters with such depths. With all the emotions already running high this weekend, this really hit home with the PCs. A+ RP, would RP again.

Albert A. Aegeus wrote: Saturday was the day that Travance slept peacefully.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *snicker**snort*
For some, at least........

Gah, just wrote a bunch and then the browser reset on me! >.<

So, a few quick highlights:
Luck lesson with Augustus.
Talking gods and belief with Goggins and Belegchand. Amazing how far an academic approach can go with a Londwynian.
Explaining why I was alright as a Chroniclerite with protecting the group going after the swords, and taking such an active approach in the pegasus ritual.
Getting to be the neutral priest who combined the blessings.
Sooooo many notes taken during this event! Sadly, two-three pages were the reports from those who sought the pegasus, mostly about all the places that have been destroyed.
Finally being attuned to a focus. Sadly, was just the portable one, hoping to fix that next feast.

But mostly, my event was full of research. Lots and lots and lots of research. Having all the scholars working together like that was excellent. We should do it all the time.
It was really neat to see the immediate consequences of my research, helping to find the details for the Light of Aloria, the details about Xualla, our battle strategy. I also did HUGE amounts of research on Balfurous (or however that's spelled). I loved getting to see it all get used.

Finally, some things fell into place for Almat about herself. The reaction to the battle, and really getting into her headspace was very interesting (those of you I talked to IG know what I'm talking about ^^). Was sad that the lingering effect led to not really joining in the celebrations, especially sad OOG about missing the Kaledonia cuddle pile, especially considering how many pleas there were for me to join in.

Over all, while I feel I had a very different game than most people, but it was still very enjoyable and I am SO glad I was there. It was very epic.

I think it's pretty clear that this was a superlatively epic event, so I'll try to keep these short, as it looks like everyone's got lots to say about it! In no particular order:

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT NPCS EVERYWHERE. You'd think that seeing (basically) nothing but demons all weekend might get a bit repetitive, but everyone did such a fantastic job of it that it was hard to be anything other than entertained. It's been pointed out that the pyrotechnics on main mod were awesome for a number of reasons; I personally liked the fact that the ample light provided by the fires meant that we could see the great stuff being done by the NPCs. Lots of snarling, and shouting war cries, and really playing up the combat - it was absolutely super.

On a similar note: walking down the hill to main mod, and hearing the demons chanting and screaming. Was absolutely terrifying! I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Nice one, guys.

An excellent chat about religion with Belegchand and Almat, which very naturally transitioned into a great little scene. Matt, I was really impressed by your ability to carry the discussion along and bring in lots of detailed IG material. Thankyou for taking the time to act it out with us!

BOLTON IS A MASSIVE WEIRDO and don't we just love it. Keep it classy, Elias - you're certainly nothing to be sniffed at.

Getting to be a battlegoggins for main mod! I don't often get a chance to go toe-to-toe with monsters in any capacity other than "you're going to try to kill me and I'm going to try to run away," so it was nice to get to do a bit of combat RP as my character for a change. Much hero. Very battle. Wow.

Mixolydia's speeches. Well-delivered and concise, they really seemed to punctuate the weekend. I find myself consistently bowled over by the way you commit to your portrayal of the Baroness, Jen - this event was no exception!

A poignant moment with Clove on Saturday night. Really touching to see him talking so frankly and openly; I was just about on the brink of losing it and bursting into tears by the time we got back to the inn. Very nicely done, Mark - really valued getting to see that side of him.

Master-teaching Teach to an unlikely pair of pupils. Josh, Nathan, thanks for making the lesson fun; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

BOOKS ALL OVER THE INN YES PLEASE LET'S MAKE THAT A THING

Lastly, hanging out with a few people I don't normally get to talk to in-character. Justin, Kelsey, Charlie, and many others - we should do so more regularly!

This was my favorite Event. I've come to most since May. The plot, the food, the character development.

During the fight with Xualla, I was in the back, helping to guard the pack of healers. Xualla himself ran through and dropped our whole group into Critical, and there was no one left to bring us out of it. I counted the minute while I was looking around at the sea of Travancians lying on the ground and it really felt like it was all over. After hoping for something truly frightening to happen at an Event, I'll start hoping for more positive things to come.

Caldor mentioned the restriction on the four swords that meant only low-level players could wield them. I love that there was special emphasis on making newer characters feel as important as veterans.

Nalick's highlights:
- Learned Florentine from Wulfgar. Before the Event started, I purchased a Fate of Wisdom so that I could use Florentine immediately, which came in handy because my lesson was interrupted by demons. That meant I could use techniques taught to me by Wulfgar in that skirmish.

- Mother Quinn, who insisted that I call her Quinn, gave me a much-needed pep talk when I was struggling to confess feelings for a certain someone. Thank you, Quinn. It did happen, on Sunday afternoon, and it was a great relief. Sadly I was turned down. Politely, nevertheless. However, I am Cavalier by profession and not by nature.

- The recurrence of sharing bad puns with Namit.

- Helping Biron move the "murder couch" in front of the fire place, from the other side of the room.
- Unfurling a blanket that I use as a scarf, into its usual blanket self and letting Akira and Ilana use it.
- Staying up all night long on Friday night by the fire, keeping watch over my friends who were nodding off or asleep. Thankfully, there wasn't cause for alarm.

- Post-Xualla silliness, including Blacktree gallivanting about the bar after downing an entire bottle of Satyr's Wine. You should have seen the mortified look on Captain Magnus' face when she almost gave him a smooch. Then there were witticisms dutifully scribed by yours truly, by a man with the initials S.A.

"Jericho looks like an 1180s bard."

"Southerner ale is like making love in a canoe; they're both [freaking] close to water."

"If someone accuses you of slurring your words, look 'em dead in the eye and tell 'em, 'I'm not slurring! I'm speaking goddamn cursive!'"

"A dwarf walks out of the pub."

"Goggins' hat looks like a boob."

"A Londwyn, a dwarf, and a highlander walk into a pub and straddle up to the bar. Each of them orders a pint. In each glass, there is a fly. The Londwyn pushes the glass away in disgust. The dwarf plucks the fly out and flicks it away before proceeding to drink the ale. Meanwhile, the highlander picks up the fly and squeezes it, shouting, "Spit it out, you little bastard!"

Then of course, there was Stupid O'Clock.

- I don't know whose suggestion it was, but there was a brief game of ping pong involving Dominic Strong and Shield Bash.

- Captain Magnus used Shatter Weapon on Galen's witchwood staff. With his face. Someone mused afterward that it wasn't the first time Magnus took a shaft to the face.

- Then he taught Grimkjell how to do Smash Door by smashing a door. With his face.

- Magnus played us a tune by knocking on his scalp.

- After a hike through the woods and a fight with demons who had set a silo on fire, myself, Keavy, and Calvin lay down on the grass to gaze at the stars.

It was an altogether beautiful time. Nalick and I have more resolve and confidence than ever before.

Terzak wrote: Feast was delicious. I had the chicken, so anyone who had it, how was the beef?

It was terrific!