What You Missed - Anthologies 1

by: Amber "Tarnisha" Fox & Emma "Companion" Rovira

We started our day with a Blue Ranger(though that is not his Name), looking to guide us to the Laurins village of Spring (the first known point of the blooming) so we could do some detective work. For payment, he asked for the name of the door into the Laurins so he could Find the Path to it in the future...and P.S. his services started in the Laurins.  Getting to and through the door was our problem to solve.

Soon after a shady character in black robes ~~named~~ called Blot (though that is not his Name). Blot left the Laurins a few months back.  His intro usually includes 'yes I'm a villain, but not your villain'. To that I add 'yet'. He was selling some pre-charged, transferable spell sashes that day, not collapsing the whole Narromancy system with massive collateral damage, so no reason to stab this time.

How to find the door? Someone volunteered their Find the Path spell :/ ... to the door we don't know the name of.  Luckily, Four has been several time and could lead from memory.  Per usual, we had to cross through a section of Hell where red and blue devils are squabbling.  Luckily it was a short span so some were able to just run the gap.  Ash of Creathorne started a rumble on one side, drawing lots of attention which helped out the slower folks.

We found the door, it was neither labeled nor talkative about its name.  Also it was closed.  Four had the brilliant idea of writing a statement on the door, paraphrasing the statement of our previous passing.  It didn't work for the first two people, but the third wasn't a scholar or artisan, etc., but had the role of hero. The door opened for our hero and and everyone could tailgate from there.

Margaret guarded by Tir and a few others lingered to do a ritual and got that name.  Ask Margaret or me if you want the door's name.

-----

We were lead to the village of Spring, and what do ya know there were plant monsters swinging seed strike in the area, just like last time. We had known that Spring was early in the transmission line of the Blooming, but not how early. Apparently, this town was where the Blooming Patient Zero was from. That's new-ish info. 

There were 5 very dilapidated, abandoned buildings. The First I looked at was a quarantined house-- all boarded up tight and the door had been locked from the outside (before falling in at some point). One bed was inside, no other furniture. There were scratches and claw marks around those barred openings and tally marks on the walls of the days passing by --who or what ever was in there for a full year at least judging by those tally marks.

I nearly missed it, but on the same wall that the door was on, there was the message "This was all my fault" scrawled on a wall.

I moved on while the other folks were distracting the the nasty and aggressive plant monsters swinging vines to slap seedstrike onto folks. In case y'all are concerned, We were very responsible and (as planned) after we left the Laurlins everyone got a Cure Disease from Violet's CoH, whether they needed it or not. We brought home no new cases of the Blooming.

The hut furthest back was weird. It had been massively overtaken by vines... but they were growing inward, not towards the light. 

The vines were being *told* to keep the hut together. So the vines *can be* controlled. Who or what made that possible was no longer in the hut. 

Next in line was the village Inn, also a bit weird. It looked like folks in the common room didn't just get attacked by vines and claws, but also with swords and all quite suddenly.

Fourth was the Apothecary's hut. A lady named Molly had done a lot of research and we found her spellbook... but she was super frustrated with not being able to develop a cure. Since it didn't look like they knew about the curse part of the Blooming, alchemy alone wasn't gonna get the village to a cure.

Her Ghost was *cheesed* and pretty stabby, but some reassurance that her work was valuable and her spirit was able to move one.

The 5th structure was the Smithy. Four, shapeshifted into Opal's butterfly form, investigated there. Umm, nothing significant was reported when I asked. 

With the ghost gone, we could get some reading in. There was a string of Foretells, some of which had come true and several hadn't been crossed off yet. One foretell mentioned the King's guard confiscating that spellbook of research notes. Oh Hey, 2 fighters soon came on scene saying they were the Guard, "The Queen's Guard?", "No, not the Queensguard". Yeeeeah, they were very likely working for the Laurin's "Fae king" and like the ones mentioned in the foretell. (We know that this monarch was the one who hired The Villain to create the Blooming.) Very prudently those guys never saw or heard about the spellbook and we took it with us when we has beat down the vine monsters fully and the Door appeared again. 

----

Welp, the door dumped us out near a cult dedicated to "the curse Rune" of Miradu. I headed out to the Western flank and missed a lot, so I'll let Companion tell this tale. 

[Companion's section]

Here is a rundown of what we found.

We arrived, and were presented with Midoru cultists, and a barrier made of fire and water behind them. They were looking for and mining silver, though they had a slave to mine for them as if they didn’t they would slowly die. They offered me a position by their side as a smith that has worked with silver before. Of course we started killing them. On them they had concentrated elements. We used concentrated fire arranged in the shape of the rune Iru to turn off the water half of the barrier, and we used concentrated water in the shape of Dana to turn off the water half of the barrier.

Through the barrier there was another one, this time made of wind and earth. So, rinse and repeat. The cultists were getting annoying as we were getting cornered, so I killed them all with a 5pt. And the lieutenant got another one to make him fuck off for a bit. However, once we broke down the final barriers, there he was again.

He had made a Midoru creature, one that only dies when it was stabbed while smiling. Our group went on to kill the lieutenant, and find out information about a ball/dance party the cult is hosting at some point.

---

The Door then opened to have us visit 'T'he 'H'ero (this guy is Entitled and a pinnacle of his role, so said with capitals). He was fighting hard to keep the forces of Hell at bay and prevent all of the Laurins from being overrun. He did have a dashing profile but was all business while frequently slapping fireballs out of the air with his shield.

We didn't have any fighters or any 5 foots for the one paths so Raindrop did a mage rune ritual to invoke as The Defender.  They got mystical armor and better weapons... as long as they didn't stray too far from The Hero, who the magic was channeling through.

The rest of us helped out by collapsing the fissures the devils were entering from.  There were lots of fissures and only the two fighting distractions-- it was tough going but we managed.  After crossing a lava lake on a distressingly narrow bridge, more of the same, but the door was back and it was time to leave.  However, Raindrops still invoked, charged off after a distant cluster of devils.  <Sigh>  They'll be with the hero, we will worry if Magus Raindrop doesn't come home in a few days. [footnote: Happily, Raindrop did make it home and with a little more info about the history of the hero].

------

Next the Door lead us to Qua Taereth Nuuna (Warlord Makhta's lands). However, this was not quite the realms, but some off balanced spirit space.  

To start off we though the original McKrye could help, so we flaunted the booze and bar with no N to dare him to show up and deal with the shadows.

No dice.  We soon encountered a murder owl, many wolves, and hostile ghosts handing out guilt trips. ((My daughter was NPC'ing so I may have murdered the child ghost more often than my character normally would.))

We started collecting any bottles of booze we could find.  We didn't know what we needed them for, but knew they'd come in handy.

A precog went off and gave us direction. We needed the QTN banner, the letters for the barN sign, and lots of booze inside the foundation of the real-realms barN. The wolves were hiding some of the letters, others appeared when a task was finished. 

It was hard getting booze off of the drunks, but by performing some of the QTN regionals, we managed.  One was raising a toast to valor or courage but with a story.

I was walked through doing a four point ritual by a spirit who couldn't speak.  We were calling to the animal guardians spirits of QTN.  North was the stag who invoked strength, East was the hawk who was fierce and had piercing vision(insight), South was the turtle with healing (/health), and West was the bear specializing in protection.  Other folks were drafted into pairs or trios to face the murder owl with valor and to hunt the threat.

With the tasks done, the Spirit space faded away and we were truly in the Realms again, watching the true sun riding low on the horizon. 

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Pressure Point - Points from the Past

organized by: Dani Lacasse & Kyle Yazinka 

Contributions by various noted authors

Nick "Raynor " Quadrini

Pressure Point.  An event like no other, one that still stands clearly in my mind after so many years.  It was incredibly difficult and astonishingly fun, one of those moments in your life where you know you're experiencing something special the whole time.  I ran, jumped, held over 30 grapes in my mouth, fell in love with a rock, swam, and battled against sleep until my body reached its limit.  But through every labored step, I was having fun.  There's a special thing that happens when you're struggling, surrounded by your teammates and facing challenge after challenge: you face it an overcome it together.  I still have the photograph of my team, smiling with our painted green rock and our precious bananas, sitting on my desk.  If you're considering going, you should know that it will be difficult.  You will be tired, sweaty, and pushed to your mental and physical limits.  But it will be one of the most fun and satisfying events that you ever experience, and after you've had a long sleep you'll remember it for the rest of your life.

James "Tao" Murphy

How Pressure point 3 changed my life. (not an exaggeration). 

Before PP3 I drank 2-3 liters of Diet coke a day. Running up to the event, I cut back, and back, and for a few days had none. In my suv was a cooler with some that I stared at for several minutes at the end of the event. But after accomplishing the event, I decided I did have the strength to quit for good. I have not had one since. 

Some bits I really enjoyed, going for captain; failing, but still eating a century egg (with cheese). Building a bond with my team, the Red Jaguars. Fighting the first fight, and the last.  Doing more pushups than kids half my age. Bringing a 6”6’ to a single short fight.  I lugged that thing around but got to use it when it counted. (actually, I did not plan on using it for the final fights, but my 5’ broke). 

Because I brought a backpack (with a stool for the frame) I had a change of clothes. I had tissues, I had rope, and a bunch of other useful stuff. Now I have fair skin and burn easily. I brough full sleeve shirts. One white set for the day, one dark for the night.  I also had changes of, other items of clothing.  Getting out the water at 8am? And being able to put on fresh underwear was amazing. 

My advice, don’t try to cheat, don’t try to sneak stuff in. That is not the game. Also, try your best. Don’t quit. Even if you can’t run, walk, if you can’t do 10 pushups do 8, be prepared to do a lot of different things. Be prepared to fail at some of them. 

Paul "Grindin" Tilton

There's something about running a mile to the beach at 5am after fighting, exercising, and puzzling all night that makes you go “What the hell did I sign up for? Why am I here?” Because in that exact moment, it boggles the mind. And then you look around you at the teammates who have stood by you at every challenge, the competition who forced you to dig deep to find more energy. All people who signed up to push themselves, the same as you. 

I've been in plenty of “battles” in the Realms, but Pressure Point was an actual trial. Everyone who participates in Pressure Point is saying “I am no vacationer, I am ready to show what I am made of.” From what little I have heard about this iteration: your mettle will be tested, and you may think about quitting… but you won't, because your teammates and your competitors need you.

Cody "Kirk" Garcia 

The weekend was a bit of a haze but here is what I remember. The first day was a ton of fun with all the team competitions and challenges. It felt a lot like a field day from when we were younger. Tug of war, team eating challenge, balance challenge, races, exercise challenges, ECT. The. Night hit and this is where I stop remembering much until the end of the night part where you had to stay awake while sitting in a room with everyone else and you were not allowed to talk. Fall asleep or make noise and you were docked points. Dawn hits and Trent forces us all to jog some distance down a road to the lake. It was exhausting being sleep deprived. The lake activities were a blast. Que the end of the event with the award ceremony. Most of it still feels like a fever dream but it was an amazing time and I still have the team pic from the event on my wall. 

The Epic History of the Realms: Chapter 3

 Chapter 1

Correction to chapter 1: I’d misunderstood some of what Jarrod had described. “Queen” Lisa trained Jarrod in The Game, not Mid-Realm. Jarrod was trained in The Game and went on to play in Mid Realm. Speaking of Arastorm’s Game (I misspelled that name earlier), I was able to get in touch with the SCA’s Arastorm (Karen Tchipakkan). She described that they started the Game in order to make fighting more accessible. For many years Heavy List fighting in the SCA was the martial activity, but the barriers to entry were higher than we are used to. In her words, this new light combat “allowed people to fight with less strength, less armor, less risk of injury, less expense, all of which were excluding people without money, strength, etc.” She says practices were in her yard and at Tom Cook’s in Weare.

Chapter 2

Correction to chapter 2: My first event as a player was officially named “Kiltavia”, the term “the Plague Event” was but a nickname. Additions to chapter 2: Anne Livermore (Lady Anne) and Kate Hubbard started in 1990, The latter in Rwathchleweyn. Kate remembers the Rwathchleweyn Water Wars featuring a floating blow-up dragon with (actual) bikini-clad maidens riding it. Kathy Fey has a picture of this.

Chapter Three: Building a New Society, IC and OOC.

For me and many others, 1992 began with hope. While the details were still being thrashed out, it was now clear that the Realms would not end. I was blissfully unaware of later “new wills” from which Shannon vainly tried to control aspects of the game from outside the game, only to be soundly ignored by those who were still playing, contributing, and forging the game onward. 

My next event of the winter of ‘92 was the first event ever run by prominent event holder Randy Gordon (Sir Randal): Crown Tourney. In character, Sir Randal was holding the tourney to knight/present the sword of Kings to a worthy bearer. Much-missed Janna has previously chronicled the back story of the Sword of Kings, perhaps the most famous blade of the 90s. The Chimeron website notes Sir Shane’s knighting. I remember among Shane’s laurels was the “best chest” award. I was distracted: a friend (who had attended Kiltavia) had to leave WPI and transferred to UCONN. This event was at the Horse Arena which has hosted many Realms events since. I thought it a shame they had lost contact with the Realms but were unaware there was an event right there! Turns out I was mistaken, as UCONN has more than one campus. Decades later, the Baronial sloop still bears her character’s name, “Muriel”. But my chief memory was taking up the bow. I’d had a simple fiberglass bow from a yard sale years before I’d heard of the Realms, and here I borrowed a couple of arrows and fell in love with archery.

Crown Tourney: This might be the first Realms picture of Jeffo (left), McKrie (right), and myself (Center) in the Realms.  Photographer unknown. My first bow is close at hand.

I met the best archer of that era, Sir Fletch. He could, when wounded in the arm, sit and hold his bow in his feet and aim and fire competently with his remaining arm. Naturally, he won the archery tourney that day. I vowed to strive to eventually beat him in an archery tourney.

The ‘92 spring event season began with “The Third Annual Tournament of Fools”, the last event hosted by the Amazons. The Amazons disappeared afterwards in a common failure mode in that era: key people graduated college. Their swan song was a spring event featuring a court where lots of Chimeron-trained WPI students swore their character’s fealty. In minutes, Chimeron became more than just a significant nation, but rather solidly the most numerous. Peter Brillinger (Meerkcat) was among the many who swore, as well as the nation of Banecroft, myself included. We were eager to be part of the team. Jeff Ogorzalek (usually addressed by his nickname “Jeffo” for obvious reasons) took pictures in the spring of 92 on what I’m told was that site. I can’t remember that event having an outdoor component, but if not, there may have been a different event on that site that spring which I’ve forgotten. In any case, here are some of his pictures:

Sir Shane is first on the left. The blue and black heraldry in the center was that of the mercenary company Eclipse, so I believe that is Sir Alanom facing away. 

The Chimeronean timeline dates this era better than my notes, which started in earnest later. There were a lot of things starting in the fresh canvas. It was a time of unparalleled possibilities. And while many of the WPI-trained players hewed to Chimeron, naturally not all did. Most prominent of that latter was Verai. Verai began as a house of healers whose power were proudly derived from a demon, namely Asmodius. Led by Taithan (Kevin Teft) and Cora (Bella Forrister), whose political legerdemain proved to be epic. This was in the era before the “Seed of Life” spell, raises were often a sharply limited resource, and having friendly healers could make the difference between having more fun playing the LARP or lying there under the clouds or stars indefinitely. Having a surplus of raises was very effective in winning friends and influencing people, but that in no way diminishes their personal political skill or charisma. 

With Valehaven relegated to history, a lot of other nations also had their genesis. Eagles’s Rook was founded by Sir Gunnar (Steve Johnson) around now. This was also the year that Prince Nigel (Paul Cote), founded Blackwood. Paul had given the Realms a try in ’91, with relevant experience acting in King Richard’s Fair since ‘89. Being the “5th Earl of Blackwood” had then been just a matter of character back story, but 92 is when Paul brought in his Ren Fair friends in join him. They officially founded their nation at “a Chimeron feast at Umass Amherst”. Paul made a historical milestone as the first openly gay Realmsian. At this point in our interview, I incorrectly told him that by my recollection, he had been preceded by Keven Teft by a narrow margin. But checking the notes and putting things in order for this article, I think Paul is right: Kevin wasn’t at Kiltavia, so must have officially started in 92. Any slight chronological edge does not change the social bravery that both their stances took. Although the Realms then were more open than mundane life, the early 90s were far less so than this third decade of the 21st century. If these Realms are now a place where the entire Rainbow of being can be free to openly be their real selves, it may have begun with their examples. 

The event season began in earnest. In early July was the “War for Addison”, in which a fey prince invaded the Realms. This was the first time I was at Darkvale, a famous event site distinguished by a cliff face and cool dark forests. I remember the excitement and grimness of Banecroft’s first truly serious action. We lost the battle but the war was won because they key to the event was that the Fey word “Addison” translated to “honor”, and by fighting with honor, the Realms had passed their test. But Darkvale was to remain a fateful site in the Barony’s lore for what was soon to happen. 

It was in this crowded spring and summer that we had the first offshoot LARP, “Riz-System” run by John Wrisley as previously alluded to. It was a mirror image of the predecessor LARPS in that It had the same combat system, and players with their histories and nations from the Realms were in no way discouraged. I’ve always considered the Baron’s experiences in those events as much a part of his story as Rwratchlewen is for Eldritch, making it a part of Realms history even if technically it was a separate LARP. 

Then things started to go darker. My men were increasingly dissatisfied with our position in Chimeron. The reason being that they felt excluded, and I could not in honesty say I did not share some of their feelings. We understood that we were the new guys and it was our place to do grunt work. Grunt work had to be done and our commitment to teamwork was then as it is now. What we objected to was being seen as good for only grunt work, with no understanding shared in how what we were doing contributed. I might be briefed on what was going on a week after an event, which I would then share with my men. But we hungered to know what was going on at the event, where we might do some good with that knowledge. That early frustration is why I became known for frequently briefing younger adventurers in later years, as well I remembered the craving to know what was going on.’

The problem was compounded because I made a strategic error. I thought the reason we were treated thus was because Chimeron’s inner circle had a poor opinion of our abilities. I instructed my men to act more independently, to avoid seeking help. To demonstrate we could act without hand holding. To prove our worth to them. Of course, this backfired: Chimeron naturally saw this as us pulling away. We were viewed as less reliable, so they trusted us less. It was a vicious circle neither group intended. And then there was the loss of Jamal, Seneshal of Banecroft. 

In the Realms, there are three levels of being dead. Combat is swift, decisive, and frequent; so being struck down “dead” is common and quickly remedied with magic. If one wishes a foe to be more permanently done in, one’s character can take a minute to make multiple strikes and “rend” a foe’s dead body. Back then this had more colonialist name from which I am still weaning myself. A body in this “rended” state can be brought back with a rare magic spell which did not always work. If that was not done, a character can be permanently lost, the mechanism for which changed over the years. But Banecroft did not fully understand the process then. At an event I was not at, Jamal was rended (in Darkvale) because (as I was told by my surviving men) he tried to intercede to stop a theft. At the earliest next opportunity, with the aid of the mistress of the healer’s guild to which Jamal was apprenticed, we tried to reverse the rending. What I should have done was ask Chimeron for help, but I hoped to handle the matter ourselves. That was hubris: we failed the quest (co-incidentally, also at Darkvale). Now with Jamal at the brink of permanent death, we made another error. On my part, when Chimeron trained me about death I knew less than I have written above. I only knew that “to rescue a rended character, one could get a quest to try and save them.” A chance use of the singular in those instructions (“a quest”) made me incorrectly think one only got one try at it. I hadn’t even seen a rules Omnibus at that point. For Brian’s part, he felt that we would not be allowed to succeed in rescuing his character, and that thus further attempts were futile. He explained years later that he had learned something in character that the event holder did not yet want known. And so, by a combination of ignorance and despair, Jamal was permanently lost. 

The spring of ‘92 was very bad academically for WPI students who were in Realms. For the Barony, it was apocalyptic: not one of us returned to WPI in the fall, although some of continued in Realms. We also had a few new non-WPI members, but these members had not had the benefit of Chimeron training and thus our rift widened. Meanwhile, the most martial member of Verai began training a new crop of adventurers as a martial group named “Doomguard”. With Doomguard, Verai’s armored fist was getting ready for ‘93. 

The summer event season was in full swing. According to Kathy Fey, the most memorable plot was the Shadowlord, who wielded the Champion Sword, which was one of the most memorable blades of that era. It had the power to suck victims into the blade. The Shadowlord had atmospheric theme music following him around. He led undead Cauldron-Born minions.

One of the last outdoor events of that year, in October there was a very interesting development. The Mace of Rhomer, very important to the soon to be long-running Zermarks plot, was dug up from where it had been buried (for real) at the same event site at an event months before. Chimeron led the very hush hush and successful effort to retrieve it. An effort in which every Chimeronean was a part of, except the Barony, which had been viewed as unreliable. For me, that was the last straw. If we were to be explicitly excluded from the interesting stuff, a change was necessary. We believed in Chimeronean ideals of teamwork and diplomacy, but the current arrangement was working for neither party. I entered negotiations with Queen Meg for our independence. Fortunately, Queen Meg saw the wisdom that a friendly independent Barony was of more use to her than a resentful vassal, and saw fit to grant our petition, effective the first event of ’93. There were some elements of her court who were less forward seeing and saw our departure as a betrayal, and it took years of Banecroft being a steady friend to Chimeron to eventually win over these last holdouts. 

It was at the first event of ’93 which Verai made an amazing diplomatic coup and began its rush from prominence towards its pinnacle. A year dark with in-character conflict, in which the newly isolated Barony was very vulnerable. But that is the story of the next chapter…

Low Res Realms 6!

Below is a photo... kinda.

It certainly used to be a photograph before we converted it to a pixelated mess.

We'd like you to figure out the following based on just the squares of color below.

• What event is this?
• What is happening in this picture?
• Who are some of the people in the picture?

The full photo will be revealed later this afternoon.  

Why I Want To Go - Pressure Point 4

by: Anna "Hedda" Rufus 

You’ve heard the stories, haven't you? Our predecessors had battles of all kinds. Protecting our lands against a variety of internal and external threats. Entering through portals and solving puzzles that many of us have never thought to dream of.

People talk back about the heroic and demonic feats of adventurers and how they cherished the camaraderie among the nations. Coming from Atlantis, these stories are like the wars under the waves with different enemies tied to them. My mettle has been tested in many ways since coming to the land. Many enemies placed all sorts of afflictions upon me and took me to the brink of death. The stories that have reached my ears recently? Of a challenge to test myself to the limit of what my mortal coil can handle. These things I have not had the chance to experience since washing ashore. I have been tested through tournaments of many kinds. Stories from the past say this trial cannot compare to those. It proves we can be much more and takes every fiber of our being. How far can you push the mind, body, and soul before it breaks?

I cannot do it alone. Across the realms many of you have heard from me. A call for people to come and challenge themselves alongside me. We will be split into teams. We will attempt to keep ourselves awake and challenge our minds and bodies together for the first time in a decade of previous combatants. Run until your legs give out, then stand back up anyway. Fight till you drop and get back up relying on your teammates to help you up if you must. Fight past your comfort zone, swallow the strange stuff and move forward anyway. Let us take the next step of stories to tell the ones who follow in our footsteps. I cannot promise you will be on my side or, if you challenge your team against mine to take the victory. What I can promise is that you will come to this, test yourself in ways you may not have before, and you will become closer to a tight knit group that creates a bond together.

I will challenge myself to be a captain. I will strive to win and be the best. I will push myself to the limits. There are people there to ensure we are safe, though they will also push us to be outstanding as well.  

Why do you come and read my words? Is it curiosity, or perhaps inquisitiveness? Whatever brought you here, I am glad you did. Let yourself bear witness to this next story of greatness, trials, emotional and physical tests, and the forging of souls that will carry on the chronicle of heroes brought to their Pressure Point.

Whan-Hedda con Atlantis

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team