By Tucker "Temorse" Noyse
The day started of with some access to various shops in the Realms, some gambling, and some time to socialize with old friends. Not long after the festivities began, several classes started opening up for adventurers to hone their skills and learn new ones. While I was not able to attend any it appeared that there were a great variety such as Rune Solving, Leatherworking, Court Herald Information, and more.
Captain Orion held a War Council regarding the next steps the Realms would take in the ongoing conflict with the Risen Kingdom of Gi. After defeating them here in the Realms and retaking their portal between our worlds, we discussed what the future may look like. After much discussion, hesitant diplomacy was chosen as our first course of action. Based on our past interactions with the Risen Kingdom we don’t have high expectations, however it may be a chance to at the very least learn more about this former foe.
On a similar note, we continued work on the portal to Gi, in an attempt to deactivate one of the (I believe) remaining two wards, specifically the one that wards our ability to contact our gods on Gi. We were only able to gain access to the portal for short increments of time, which resulted in a diverse set of teams entering the portal to slowly work on nullifying that ward. All of the mysteries in the portal we had to suss out involved the gods of the Realms, including requiring teams to use the sense of touch only to identify items that represented each god in some way. This resulted in Osric’s, very loud, identification of one of the items as a sandwich (specifically ham and maybe some sort of cheese), which later with the help of King Cecil who supplied some divination, determined was linked to Discordia. Ham sandwiches aside, we were finally able to unravel the wards mysteries and obtain a tome that allows us to inscribe its cover with the symbol of a god, which will allow some limited contact with that god in Gi. We were also able to determine that we may be able to empower the tome to increase the number of gods, and how limited we are in our connections to them.
A small handful of us also traveled to an area that held a variety of items that we might be able to us in the upcoming conflict with the Strangers. Dame Twenaria was sent a vision by Gaia of a way to travel to a place guarded by earth spirit that contained a handful of items. While we were unable to bring back everything, we brought back the items we deemed most important, and the mission was a success.
The food served throughout the day was fantastic, in true Chimeron tradition. Appetizers were served on platters throughout the day, including some fantastic Chimeron Beef and spanakopita. The next courses all the way through to the main course were equally fantastic. The pork dish was especially well seasoned and served with an excellent carmelized onion apple sauce. Dessert followed court which was equally impressive, I favored the chocolate pecan pie in particular.
Court saw a variety of topics, including several fantastic bardics, entries of a wonderfully innovative new style of garb competition, as well as the game entered into the strategy game tournament that was being run. We were able to witness the Chimeron family grow a little bigger with both Mayumi joining House Sorbus and Melethielle joining those in Service to the Crown of Chimeron. However, despite many positive reasons to celebrate, court was overshadowed somewhat with a message from Darkmoon, informing the King that one of his vassals, Rekees of the Azure Guard had been taken captive. King Cecil rallied our spirits with a rousing speech that promised that the Chimeron and the Realms together would bring justice to the perpetrators.
What you missed at Chimeron this year, is much what you would miss any year. The chance to reunite with old friends and meet new ones, to experience the unique culture and traditions of Chimeron, to engage with new mysteries and foes of the Realms, and to eat a great deal of very, very delicious food.