Why I Want (you) To (absolutely *NOT*) Go - The Gilded Lion and Silver Branch Summer Festival II

Lord Iawen, enclosed you will find my report on the gathering at the Chimeron Rhiassa border to help you determine why you would want to attend such a function.

It appears that Lord Stromgate and King Cecil have arranged for a series of activities in celebration of the summer solstice, which on the surface, appears to be a pleasant gathering of individuals from all over the Realms to take part in general merrymaking.  That being said, through my detailed investigation I have determined there may be signs of more nefarious intent.

The first thing to catch my attention is gambling.  Although it is a personal vice of mine, it generally is a way to deprive the common folk of their hard earned gold.  The Gamblers Guild has wisely divided this into two separate events, one for those who have less experience, and those who have more expertise on the matter of gambling.  It would seem that this creates a more level playing field for the participants, and may not be a cunning ploy as I had initially suspected.

Secondly, Sir Shader of Ashenmark is conducting large group tournaments.  This may be an excellent chance to gather some intelligence on military might of other nations of the Realms, as well as the prowess of certain individuals.  There is glory to be won for the competitors, but also valuable data that could be useful in determining threats to Eagles Rook, as well as potential allies to recruit.  There is also something called an Orion Single Tournament Jamboree, which seems to be a fanciful name for tournaments cooked up by Lord Aeston, although my agents tell of some unique entries into the lists involving utilizing magic.  A most intriguing development indeed.

Food will be provided by the Rhiassans, and while they may have a storied and rather unblemished history of providing delicious food, and plenty of it, I have prepared some counter poisons in case of the event the food is infused with truth serum in order to garner our state secrets.  There are also desserts being prepared by Fern of Chimeron.  While I am unfamiliar with their work, one of my covert sous chefs was able to liberate a sample, and let’s just say there will be nothing filed in the evidence locker in this case.

There appear to be a large number of strange travelers from across the Realms and beyond, in the form of fae serving tea, merchants from the Fairwind Trading Company, soothsayers from Domai, resistance fighters from Gi, and even a trainer of something called a Yosei.  There is also an expected mystery visitor from some sort of liminal realm, however I only have limited intelligence on them.  I urge caution when dealing with any of these outlanders, while they may seem kind and inviting on the surface, they could all pose a potential threat.

Finally there appears to be, as usual, a number of problems from nearby lands that need sorting.  There appears to be sorties being scheduled for dealing with threats from Stonewood, Voraniss, and Blackwood.

In summary, I will advise you with my normal guidance, remain in the safety of the guarded fortress within Eagles Rook to avoid any chance of treachery, however I expect that you will ignore it just the same.

In your service,

Sir Tychus Rane

Eagles Rook White Ops

A Celebratory Stop on the Emerald Path

by Jason "Aeston" Rosa

Nothing here will come as much of a surprise for the more venerable members of our community, but there are many younger people in the Realms to whom I would like to impart a little bit of our shared history. 

But mostly, I’m writing this article to celebrate the success of one of our own, Joseph Piepiora.

Again, for the benefit of those who never knew him, I’ll give you some interesting historical notes about Joe. The character he played was named Sir Elwick Dragonsburrow, Knight of the Eternal Flame, though when he started out he was instead known by a nickname he would later eschew, Rebel. Like so many outstanding people in our game’s history, he began as a member of the Barony of Bancroft, where he met some of the adventurers that would stay close to him his entire Realms career and beyond. 

Elwick in 2003

By the time I met Joe we had both been playing for 2-3 years and we immediately hit it off. We started questing together all the time and were joined by other young Realmsies (none of whom are very young anymore, but several whom are still around) mostly participating together in a plot run by Carrie Dolph, known colloquially as Carrie Plot or Kathrani plot. Mostly though the evolution of that plot Elwick became the lord of a plot-driven nation called Tuath Fusach and was joined there by a couple of the friends that were with him in all the way back in the Barony.

Elwick and Zula at Green and Gold. Elwick was well known for that full helm.

Joe was one of the most accomplished and appreciated event holders of his era. It certainly helped that his mother’s house abutted a state forest in Sandown that he could use to throw quests. He had many feathers in that cap over the years but, other than the Ace in the Hole series, he was certainly most well known for Illinar plot, something he planned and executed over the course of many years and something that resonated with almost every player of that time period. The Battle for Banecroft II, when that nation was reclaimed in a day-long battle of attrition against endless waves of soldiers, had many moments that are burned forever in my perception of what makes for a great war event.

Elwick being knighted a Knight of the Eternal Flame at Feast of Chimeron in 2008.

What drove Joe’s passion in many ways was story-telling. And certainly he did that expertly through Realms. But even when we were both in our early 20's playing Everquest and LAN Starcraft games together, he always espoused that the thing he wanted to do most was make video games. I remember him using the RPG Maker of the era (a very early version, for sure) to put together a Realms-based JRPG just to practice creating.

A screenshot from Joe's Realms JRPG made in RPG Maker

Speaking of video games; I’ll add here, for lack of a better place in this article, that a very considerable number of Realmsies that are still around today started playing WoW together in a guild captained by Joe and myself, Remorse and Retribution. Yes, we were alliance. No I will not listen to your explanation of why Horde was better. Sound off in the comments if you were on Crushridge with us!

Of course if you know anything about the video game industry, you know it’s tough. Tough to break into, tough to survive in, tough to advance in. But Joe was tough too, and he was driven and passionate enough to make it through all the steps and stages he had to to work his way up. He started out nearby, in MA, doing QA at Carbine. After sweating it out for over three years in testing he eventually proved his worth to the point that he got to do some item designing in Lord of the Rings Online. When 38 Studios became a thing in RI, Joe really started being a game designer in earnest and was part of the team that shipped Kingdoms of Amalur. By then many of us had moved on to playing SWTOR together and rumor has it that R.A. Salvatore (Amalur's head writer) was in our guild under an alias no one but Joe knew.

Somewhere in there, coincidentally enough, Joe married one of my best friends from my time at WPI, Corrie. I honestly can’t remember if I introduced them or not but I vividly remember officiating their wedding ceremony in Maine years afterwards. By then Joe didn’t have much time left in his schedule for Realms anymore. That's the kind of grind needed in his industry. And it’s just as well because after 38 Studios folded the opportunities for him to continue his career called him and his new family out west.

A bunch of us at Joe's wedding

Moving to California, Joe joined Carbine Studios in 2013 and stayed with them for several years designing parts of and launching the MMO Wildstar. There was a small stint in Texas after that and some independent design work, but ultimately Joe would move back to California and get hired by Blizzard to become a lead designer on Heroes of the Storm, a MOBA. 

We visited Joe at Carbine Studios back in 2013 and wielded this cool prop.

After settling in there, of course, we get to the point of this whole article; Joe was moved onto the team working on Diablo IV. In the years that that game was in development Joe took on larger and more important roles on that team, from systems designer to principal game designer to, ultimately, an associate director of Diablo IV. Thats the title he holds now as the game ships to millions of people across the globe.

Joe's very professional headshot from Blizzard

So after that meandering journey through Joe’s career and his time in Realms, what I’d really like to do is publicly congratulate him. Moreso, if I can be so bold, I’d like to congratulate him on behalf of our entire community. In a very real way, Joe got his start designing games here, with us. When he drew up NPCs or wrote quests, or thought up interesting mechanics, he was practicing the skills that would take him to the very zenith of the video game ecosystem, shipping a AAA title with one of the largest developers in the world that will continue to be played for years, decades, into the future.

There he is, in the credits!

Congratulations Joe. All your old friends are deeply proud to have been a small part of your journey.

And because it’s me writing this article, I would be remiss if I didn’t try to elude to a larger theme. If you look at the tale of Joseph Piepiora it’s obvious, but for a great number of us older folks it remains true as well. Realms is more than just a game, it’s more, even, than a community. I’ve said for as long as I can remember that Realms is a place where all of us have the opportunity, surrounded by like-minded friends, encouraged by the fruits of our labors, to learn how to become the best versions of ourselves. Elwick Dragonsburrow certainly did that. 

Selfishly, I hope I get to throw a Realms event with Joe again, someday. After all, we threw Attunement to the Core together. I can only imagine what kind of trade secrets he could tap into when we throw Ace in the Hole III inside the Diablo universe.

Joe designing the Ragnaros outfit (with Bud inside)

A finished Ragnaros at Attunement to the Core

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Guess That Realmsie!

Another in our continuing series! In the below picture there is a Realmsie-shaped black hole. Can you figure out who it is based only on the profile? Tell us on social media if you think you know who it is! The answer will be revealed later in the day. 

What You Missed: The Coronation of King Shandar

by Hannah "Ryu" Boucher

So I guess I better start with the goose…. 

The night before the coronation we received a plea for help retrieving Todd, a giant fire breathing goose, who had escaped from his caretaker and was terrorizing the denizens of the great Cinnabog. Like most fire breathing creatures, this did not surprise me (or anyone else for that matter) so we set off into the swamp to find Todd. We immediately happened upon a friendly group of ogres who loudly yelled at us to “get out me swamp!”. We continued anyway. We next came across a village that had been turned into swamp skeletons which are like normal skeletons except… swampier. The last surviving member of the village warned us not to drink the crystal clear and purified water in the well, as it had turned the rest of the village to skeletons. We assumed this was due to the natural diet of the swamp people and opted to un purify the well back into swamp water. We made it most of the way there with swamp guts from the skeletons, but after running out, Lt. Bogen used his 6th regional, Swamptervention, to pour the essence of the swamp into the well. It worked a little too well…

After, we ran into a massive, wild swamp boar… or rather it ran into me… 4 times. I guess growling and taunting it was not the correct way to calm it down. That’s on me. It’s hide was too thick for our normal swords to cut through and even magic had no effect on it. It trampled quite a few of us before we managed to find the broken pieces of a massive hunting spear. It had no trouble getting through the tough hide and we were finally able to pass through the village. We found ourself in a circle of statues all with different runes on them, clearly connected to a floating incorporeal leash. After some trial and error, we figured out the rune names; two Deltas, Tao (like t - ow not Sir Tao), and Omicron but not the order we had to fight the statues in. I’m ashamed to admit it, but it feels like it took us nearly an hour to solve the statues until Griffin realized the answer. T-O-DD. That was the order. We promptly beat the statues up and took possession of the now corporeal leash.

Last was a group of bandits with a very strange accent, something reminiscent of Insectafae. The boasted about having captured Todd and that their “El Capìtan” would make us sorry we ever met him. We began a rather lively discussion about who the better Captain was, El Capìtan or Captain Sir Orion. I may be slightly biased here but I think we all know the answer. Then Todd escaped the bandits (obviously) and what followed was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Todd was on the loose, breathing fire on bandits, adventurers, and the landscape itself. He was out of control. Sir Orion looks at the leash in his hands and knows what he has to do. Unarmed, he charges into the fray and leaps onto Todd’s back, grappling with goose and leash bare handed hoping to tame the creature. He very nearly succeeds! Unfortunately, Todd gets the upper wing and managed to blast the Captain with fire. A few of us adventurers leaped to distract Todd while Lt. Bogen snuck up from behind and leashed him, stopping his fiery rampage.

The next day brought tournaments. Everyone brought their A game, including the marshals. Personally, it was some of the best fighting I had done and I’m sure others feel the same way. Winners of the various tournaments include Sir Temorse, Sir Tao, Vesper, Sir Tolorof, and a few others who I unfortunately cant remember (there were many tournaments). Additionally, sir Aelias ran a tournament for those who preferred the Magic arts. I am not sure what it entailed as those that participated were compelled by magic not to share. I do know that King Hygar won that tournament by a large margin. The winners of each tournament were presented with a sword, handcrafted by King Shandar himself during the coronation.

Speaking of which, the Coronation itself was an impressive ceremony. I had never been to a Coronation before but I was blown away by the presentation, the food, the speeches, everything was just at the next level! It started with the soon to be King of Invictus being escorted into the Great Hall with his family, after which, he swore an oath to protect the people and nation of Invictus. The current members of Invictus then swore their fealty to the king. After an impressive ritual over the crown, His Majesty King Shandar was crowned the first king of the Kingdom of Invictus. What followed was a whos who of the Realms as other kingdoms, knighthoods, and individuals presented gifts, words of encouragement, personal stories, and advice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many nation leaders in one place before. The most touching presenter was King Shandar’s own mother who spoke of how proud she was of the new king. There was not a dry eye in the great hall after that.

The last item of business was the first court of the Nation of Invictus. Most of the business of court was handing out Tournament awards, including the overall winners of the tournament. Traditionally, this has been decided based on who had won the most tournaments, but in this case, King Shandar watched every tournament and kept his eyes peeled for the person that most impressed him. In this case, he chose the second place winners of the Spirit and Steel tournament, Captain Sir Orion and Lt. Bogen for their amazing display of teamwork and coordination while fighting. The night ended with a wonderful brownie Sundae dessert and a lot of good alcohol. It really was an event to remember, and I look forward to the next time Invictus throws an event!  

Why I Want to Go - The Lost Ruins: A Stonewood Quest

by Adam "Tulkhan" Blaisdell

I was never one for ancient relics, artifacts, or even the pursuit of knowledge. My pack never taught me these things. What it did teach is those who are strong aid those who are not able. Once again we venture into the lands of Stonewood for they have called for our aid, and too many threats linger within the border for us not to answer, be it an archangel, Greater demon, or champion angered. I have spent much time in Stonewood as of late and what I can say is something is not right. If these ruins have any sort of answer, key, or power that can help in setting things the way they should be set, then we must venture forth. Though, as with most times the danger and risk are always there by our side.

Many meetings have been had leading up to this. Plans set and contingencies thought out… Just in case. I don't write this in hopes you will come adventuring, in hopes for you to explore a country I have a liking to. No, I write this because, in all my time entering Stonewood, I have never feared losing this much. I don't know what is at this dig site, I don't know what may try to kill us, and I don’t even know if all of us will return. But, What I do know is that if you can help, can aid in any way, if you can make it to Stonewood to fight alongside me and the others already preparing, I would gladly accept.

 -Shadowstalker Tulkhan
Thane of the Southern Forest and Spirit Queen's Champion

OOC: 

I have said it before, and I will say it again. I love Stonewood events. I love the immersion the plot team brings. I love the emotion I feel walking into the quests. I love that gut-wrenching feeling of “We could lose this.” I have never been disappointed at one of these events. They are normally combat-heavy (Enough so that I never seem to see the NPCs take breaks) and the puzzles are challenging enough to be rewarding when you finally complete them. If you are looking for something that will make you tired, sore, and feel so accomplished that you survived, come. My words don't do it justice nor will they truly describe the experience. All I can really say is you will not be disappointed.

Meme Tuesday

 by the Meme Team