September 2016 Event Highlights!!!

End of Chapter One.

There are some events that get talked about, some that stories are told about, and then there some events that people say," Where were YOU when,"...this was one of those events.

There was a lot of firsts for me this weekend, and I learned a lot from them and you all as well. Matt sure can write can't he?(24ish mods?)

Everyone was great this weekend, but a few moments I remember are worth sharing and why I'm writing a Highlights, because they are worth sharing.(fun fact idk if I can do these this month, but I always go on about event recaps and highlights so I'll practice what I preach.)

Set Up: Muscles, thanks again. Dave I think you got it.

Friday Night was insane, but I hope everyone loved some of the crazy stuff on those mods. Thanks for.the stretching drills, staying pumped up to the NPCs that was a demanding shift, you killed it.

The Death of Dominic: The man owned it, took it like a champ, he fought so many NPCs getting folks back to the Inn. Kevin, you earned more than my respect this event. I'm proud of you, how well you took it, and way to go out brother, a great end to a PC!

Matt and Ben out there ALL NIGHT!!!

Saturday morning, I was awoken by some friends with coffee asking,"Dude you okay?"'I respond with,"thanks for the cofee, I'm going eat a bit, smoke, and then try to kill y'all." "Wait, we brought you cofee!" I dryly say,"that's why I'm eating and smoking first." Flash forward, a bit, as I'm counting one of their death counts, I whispered,"thanks for the coffee." He lived, but what a wake up squad!

Speaking of Saturday Morning Shift," GREAT JOB!!!" Each and everyone of you went above and beyond that morning. That was my first real time l lead a group of NPCs on THAT level. I couldn't have asked for a better team. Some of you volunteering to stay on, THAT warmed my heart, you have no idea! I'd run with any of you anytime. Matt and Ben are proud of you too I'm sure. ( Aka, thanks for making me look good too, but in all seriousness your a wonderful group of players, and if I can ever lend a hand, please ask. )

Okay, the HELP Mod, it was so wild, I all but begged Matt if I could NPC up for it, folks I wanted a piece of that sweet, sweet, Combat Role Play Action. I dropped a few played, Bill Hannings as Grim beat me up, or as I call,"Good Fight!" I've already been given a ton of positive feedback from that mod, so PLEASE get those recaps in!

Puppy Mod, y'all owe Steve for that one! Matt taught me an important lesson on that Mod, folks I'm still learning, but I am learning right? That was a sweet Mod to watch too.

Okay, okay... the Mod Everyone has been messaging me about, Yoyo;

Folks, that was all Matt and Rachael, I didn't know she could get THAT Creepy. The (NOPE) from some of the new players had me laughing like crazy. When we saw her in costume, Most of the NPCs white head banded up for it, and took water to the Mod site just to see what was gunna happen. We all ninja secret squirreled to the Mod Site too. The Bentons even came along for some laughs and photos, please thank them for me, they are great people.

Ben: thanks brother, I was hurting, and you got me through it.

Ree, that was a wonderful feast, thank you. Kelley that song was great, loved that scene. Mike and Stephanie, I hoped that was what you wanted.

Main Mod, where do I began with this?
May Leonard, that death was epic, emotional, and metal.
Thanks Alex for running from The Field to Ron's garage and back.
Every npc was great. Labar, the water was a fantastic idea!!!
Whoever stocked that bathroom, thanks. We had a few hiccups, but it was ready when the PCs got there.

Erik as Wulfgar, your my PC of the Month. Nick,you killed out there as Zel, you know that. Erik had a scene that made folks cry, myself included. Here is that scene from my view;

Toward the end of Main Mod, Jack Dimms is holding up this mess or pillar, pan angled off toward the gates there is Wulfgar, he is fighting, crawling, getting stepped on, dropped a bit, moving forward with everything in him, red faced, crying, sweating, snot streaming off his face, he mustered out this screaming battle howl to rival Mel Gibson's Braveheart," THAT'S MY SON!!!" While he is being pushed back, pulled on, and dragged away...hoping with everything in him Dimms can fight it off! I thought that Wulfgar wasn't gunna get out alive, but as I'm watching this play out, hoping he'd make it to Dimms after fighting so hard to get to him. (As I was writing this I had to take a break, it was a very deep and emotional scene to watch, I couldn't imagine role playing through that. I can't say enough good things about this weekend, and I will remember that scene for the rest of my life.)

I'll only describe the Mod Post Main as,"intensely well role played."
(Wedding Photos to come shortly.)

Katie thank you so much again!

Jason, your a damn good friend, an amazing player, and a great Dad.

Diane, I loved your role, and I'll message you soon.

That's it for me, thanks everyone again for a great weekend, please get those recaps in!

Reyna had a fantastic event! (And so did I!!) I got to bring my best friend to play Reyna's brother, and that gave me one of the best roleplay opportunities I've ever had.

SATURDAY MORNING NPC SHIFT!!!!! Forest, you did an amazing job leading all of us around trying to fight people early Saturday morning to wake them all up. And that fight by Pendarvin was one of the best battles I have ever been in!!

Also, Matt, thank you for making me one of your juggernauts in that lab! It made me realize just how terrifying calling "30 overwhelm" is!

The battle Saturday where Darius almost died was intense. I said this to you in person, Forest, but I will say it again. Thank you for almost killing him! The role play that came out of that was intense, and the tears of fear, sadness, and relief were all real. That was WAY TOO GOOD of a scene for Reyna and Darius.

And finally, some decisions made by Reyna that will take her down a far different path than I ever would have expected. Thank you to everyone who interacted with her this weekend on any level for keeping her from destroying her entire life.

Hannah, way to learn quick that you can say things in Highlights without giving up too much information. I'm sure some will get it, and thank you. Great job to you both!

Cassie, In It To Win Role Play was GREAT! I am sitting there, as I over hear you, and I'm like,"Wait, WHAT???!!!" That was epic!

Romeo: once again, you bailed out more folks than some will ever know...people are watching I assure you.

Congratulations Travance, you tried REALLY hard to emotionally break the Guard Pup, and you've managed it. I'm just gonna nix the negative stuff at this point in favor of the happy bits though.

HAPPINESS DRIVE, ENGAGE!

-Kardin played with a Yo-Yo.

-He met Maer's sister Gliwen who is a strong independent elf who would take guff from anybody and is in agreement that sad elf must received constant hugs and support.

-Opened up to Danae about his deepest fears and removed a weight from his chest. Michaela you da best and thanks for helping Kardin find his courage.

-Making better friends with Blue Kestrel and both her and Kardin bonding over the desire to make better plans that actually HELP PEOPLE! The lovely crew of New Coast Haven just found a group of folks who want to help them because somehow they have the same problems. Good ideas to protect everyone but too few smart people to carry it out on a large scale.

-Making friends with Valius and speaking about what it means to be a hero and a defender. Valius gave him a nickname and taught him more about the Path of Protection. Then they spoke at great length about stories and also a bit about what Valius would do if he knew the possession of his soul was taken from him. Kardin hopes they will meet again someday when he's become a more complete person. Valius may be made of many different heroes, but now Valius will always be a part of Kardin. Dustin you have really gotten my vote for NPC of the Month.

-All of the RP interaction with Fenri and Leona. From the OOG complex logic of Khitanese writing for the Advanced Literacy lesson to the talk about saving the homunculi, you both were there to help Kardin. Steph and Mike you are both just wonderful

-Annora and Kardin may have finally found something in common. An appreciation of "good treason" that was inspired by Magnus. Maybe they'll become fwends!

-Kardin Quest 1216
--Had nothing on him when the Barracks were invaded by bandits but he gave Sally Knifehands some gems and a hug because he was sad at how hard it must be to hug people with knife hands.
--Invented the concept of insurance fraud and realized that checking credentials is important.

--"Oh hey, some people are at the door."
--"Kardin... take their coats."
--*opens door*
--AAAAAAAAAAAH
--*slams door*
--"Okay, so they're vampires."
--"Kardin... don't take their coats."
--"LEAVE ME ALONE STRANGE VOICES IN MY HEAD!"
--*curls up on the floor and rocks back and forth*
--*gets up and opens door*
--*Vampires lunge at him*
--*slams door again in their face*
--*grabs gear and opens door*
--"Ok I'll fight them off, I'm ready to--why is that one not attacking? Awww it's smiling."
--*Vampire uses subdue*
--*calls defense*
--*Kardin uses spring shield*
--*Vampire uses Alacrity*
--*Angrin gets Sanctuary up*
--"GO TO SLEEP!" *turns over and goes back to sleep*
--"I almost had them on the ropes."
--*Vampire hisses in Kardin's face*
--"Ugh, Spirits of Nature that's foul"
--*Strength +6 grabs Vampire*
--"Let's get you some of my mouthwash"
--*Vampire uses Alacrity*
--"Alright fine then, just leave."
--*all three of them start vandalizing the building*
--"Hey, knock that off!"
--*Vampires continue vandalizing building*
--"Alright, you've asked for it."
--*grabs umbrella*
--*goes toot-toot while opening and closing the umbrella and advancing on them*
--*frightens off Vampires*
--"Huh, I guess Nosferatus are related to birds..."
--"Damn, I'd make a great Witch Hunter."

--Kardin Quest 1216 took place entirely in boxers and an undershirt.

While most of the event was emotionally harrowing, there's always some sunny spots and I appreciate each and every one of them. I'll add to this when I remember more.

BONUS
-Basically all the invisible RP on Sunday and the shenanigans that will ensue from that. Ketryn, Kroh, Rook, and Allyce have no idea exactly how much stuff he knows, but neither does he and almost all of it is entirely incorrect anyways.

-NPCing Evil Mod was the most fun! I've never played a mod boss before then, so I hope people had a fun time dealing with Quilby the Blazing Sun Butler/Hamilton reject. It's always great to share Slays and lovely cheese platters.

First off, Matt... I don't know how you do it. You're like the Energizer Bunny. Somehow you keep going and going and going... so much so that you wake up in the middle of your sleep when you here a noise, look around, say "Am I running an event?" and then pass back out.
LOL you poor thing. Your work was not unnoticed. You brought lots of entertaning instances to lots of people and we all thank-you for it.

Ben, oh my god. You almost gave me a coronary the first time I saw Lawrence. Back in Travance. LIKE HE SAID HE WOULDN'T DO.

Oh it was so much fun being a panicked mess, trying to hide him from the wrong eyes and figure out a way to make him less... KoS...
Great job, dude. You're a riot as always. And Swyft would love to see your boats.

An interesting and kind of horrifying conversation with both Jed and Zelretch in the dead of night about our fate's path and the dangers of its denial.

Finishing a path in Master Warrior that I never in a million years expected to...

Swinging +10 bane against constructs as a reward for Matt's raffle was pretty helpful for overall scuffles this weekend. That was a very pleasant surprise. Though I'm terribly curious about the third option I had... Guess I'll never know!

Swyft delivered her first killing blow on an NPC humanoid. That made for some pretty intense feels.

I rather enjoyed my morning chat with Samantha. And Jade has some strange ideas about the Stonefall Health Center and has shared this with too many people. Everyone's a comedian!

Jed's diation attracted a fairly large crowd and was artfully delivered. Caldor's distaste was palpable, but he handled himself so well. Props to Judge for providing an outlet not only for Jed to do what he is best at, but to put other people in the limelight as well. Quite a few people spoke-- it made the immersion level over 9000...
Vinny, your altar was a beautiful addition to the scene.
Also, now everyone in the world knows that Mistress Jade either follows or IS the god of money. Was it reiterated four times or five?

The visitation of the perfect homunculus who emulated Galamachians (played by Aaron) to Jed's diation was a treasure. His demands of knowledge were so candidly explained that it was rather hilarious.
I'm sorry Indigo is an arse and wouldn't stop about there being something in your teeth. That's how he started the goblin wars, as he likes to remind us...

Marley, thank-you for the tiny dreamcatcher gift! I love it!

Many much fun traipsing all over the field during main mod for my NPC shift as a slayer homunculus. I mean, the heat exhaustion wasn't fun... but that was a pretty cool site setup.

Sweet Lord, that um... secret... mod. I am both flattered and horrified at the steps taken to make that mod as intense as it was. Jeeeeeeeepers. Did anyone else have nightmares?

P.S. It rained RP points that night. Y'all are something else for actually pulling that off. Kudos!

Tessa... WTF, girl? You twisted!

Took out some of that frustration on a poor, feral teenager and her controller. Weeeeird night.

Ilana, thank-you your kind words and insanity removal Sunday morning. Swyft is very interested in your ritual idea for what a certain god might have to say about these shenanigans...


Oh my goodness, Jeff Balla. Your indignant and puffed up Chet when Rupert was ... being Rupert... was an absolute treasure to watch. I'm sorry for breaking character and having to hide giggles.. You were just simply amazing, even in the face of Rupert's inane responses.

The look of accidental shock and then regret on Damien's face at my reaction to his sassy question. Yeah, take that, Josh! Right in the feels!

I enjoyed hearing about all of the internal conflicts within Travance and all of the people who got into trouble on questions of morality and ethics. That always adds a fantastic element to a game, especially when it's en masse. Well done, everyone! And thank-you all for a lovely and excitement filled event!

One year ago, I came to Knight Realms for the first time, and I was lucky enough to have had my first game be one run by Matt. I was able to, on my first night in game, as a level five player, be one of many people who had a hand in changing the entire story, getting people invested and shape the story going forward.

This time around for In Game character reasons, and because I wanted to go big, I said to myself "I'm gonna save everyone." The four brothers, the perfects, all the sleepers, even the Father.

The thing is, despite spending 100% of this weekend non-stop engaged with the plot. I absolutely didn't. I can't point to anything *I* did that saved anyone specifically but as I keep hearing stories of the event, I am so happy cause I can't say "I did that." I get to say "We did that."

I spent most of the weekend talking to the Perfects who knocked it out of the park. Lauren, Aaron, Jared, Dani, JP, Cameron, Brian, and Alice (who despite living with me, I talked to maybe second least because so many players loved her.) You guys brought so many layers, talking to you never felt like it was simply a matter of "mission objective." I was always so much more interested in who these people were and what did they want.

Dustin, Ricky, Jeff, and Alex, I loved having my four friends back. You guys effortlessly slipped back into those characters, they were just like we left them, and it made the world feel more real. Dustin, arguing with Vallius about whether or not we can stand to lose people on Friday night, but then having him still catch me in my weak moments, Alex, diving in a hole to save Bartholomew and then trying to escape the Beast. Ricky, I adored Brutus' tough love for Jackdaw doing stupid things, and Jeff even psychically sending me to bed was days later hilarious.

The sleeper plot I barely touched I met a few on Friday and tried to engage them throughout the weekend, but it's clear I missed so many, I don't even know how many there were. Props to you guys who decided to play random commoners this weekend instead of your PC's. I know you made it a point to connect with people and then crush their hearts, and since I saw people crying after main mod, you did a great job.

There are a bunch of people I ended up talking to about the Homunculi and the Father, Annora, I felt like was more on top of things than I was, Tobias was always trying to solve the problem of the sleepers, and I know several other players were working on it too. Not only that but the loading me up with help when I told you I wanted to go talk to the Father. Lois I loved making plans with and Jackdaw respects you so much more for many of the comments you've made. Caldor and Grim were always on board with almost every crazy idea. Nick, like you said, I had only a few passing interactions with Zelretch, but I asked you to help me get to the Father and I had just gone to bed on Friday when you showed up with him in tow. And I know twice this event I would have been dead without your help, so I am very much looking forward to further interactions.

And to the crew, Crystal, David, Joe, Rachael (and Michaela) I didn't get to hang out with you much this event, but every time something came up that needed my attention while I was doing something one of you jumped on it so I could stay engaged. I don't know where I would be without you guys, I don't think KR would be nearly as fun or as amazing.

I'm even gonna throw a shout out to the Warlord, Jackdaw disagreed and debated with Emmaline repeatedly through out the event (probably not as much as others) but conflict makes for great role play and there's a part of him that believed what she wanted to do was a valid choice.

Okay shout outs done, actual highlights;

Again, trapped in the basement with Bartholomew, Zelretch facing off against the Beast. And then running back in with Rook, Red Kestrel, Faust and Lorelei because blue Kestrel went in to save me.

The conversation with the Father, and blue Kestrel slowly "dying" as the timer for how long I had to talk to him.

The conversation with Jared, Dani and Cameron in the A/C, I told Matt about some of the stuff you guys said and gave an excited fist pump.

Saturday morning, running up to Kaladonia to the sounds of fighting, get told that they were okay but the mob might head to Drega'mire next, run down to Drega'mire to find one crew member and one night on the ground bleeding out. Was able to stabilize them while the mob cleared out.

Having "save Winged Victory from once again getting murdered on Friday night" be the second half of good mod was unexpected and amazing, even if it confused the hell out of the crew.

Sunday morning NPC shift first time I've ever done it, and it was a lot of fun, brief RP encounters. Everyone on that shift had great ideas and great energy, I don't know how you did because by that point I was exhausted.

Final goes to Matt who runs such a tight and amazing game. Also Forest, and Ben. Like I said, when I was awake, I was engaged with plot, and I still missed like half of it. I don't know how you guys managed to stay on top of it all, but the event was amazing, and fun, and I can't wait for the next chapter.