Home Questing: Task 23

 by Christopher "Janus" Donnelly

Here is the form for you to submit your funniest pickup line:  https://forms.gle/uR8CfCycCAEaR7Gm6

If you would prefer to send something to me directly rather than uploading to youtube or some other video hosting site, please email it to techiemikey@gmail.com.

*************************

Transcript:

Hi all, Janus here and welcome to home questing, number twenty three. This week I am asking you to submit your funniest realms based pickup line.  The funniest will win.  You have until next friday at noon, and your time starts now.

**************************

The View's Gauntlet Showdown, With Keith

 This was a fun challenge for me. While there were several interesting and imaginative votes, one was the clear winner. I will say that there were some honorable mentions, that I think could have made for some interesting magic systems all their own. I won’t list them all, and all the entries were super appreciated, and creative, but some that might spin your minds, are: Christmas Cards, Tupperware, and a Cutting Board. 

But the winner was an Egg Beater/ Whisk. They got more votes, and honestly with one little idea, it just sort of wrote itself. Thanks to everyone to supplied an entry, and please enjoy the magic system below!

In the year 837, famed philosopher, Herman Drudge changed the world as we know it by developing a system of controlling magic. Up until then, magic had been random chance. Happenstance. Luck. 

Drudge was famed for saying the key to magic was in the golden soul of mankind. The blending between thought, and desire.  Imagination and ambition. Creativity and willpower. 

Magic is the ability to think up a thing, and then to will it into existence. That’s it. It’s as easy as breaking an egg. Well, breaking an egg made of mythril, maybe. The reason why so few people are able to will things into existence, is that the energy and thought put forth through the exercise of will that it would take to do it, is beyond the ability of an untrained mind. The untrained mind is rarely able to blend their thoughts together rapidly enough in order to sort of trick reality into making something real. At best, the untrained mind makes that sort of thing happen accidentally. Which is really just hazardous. 

Drudge had an answer for the untrained mind. A series of questions. He expanded his student’s willpower by asking them, or so the story goes, 7 questions that changed the fabric of an idea. He taught them to ask them to themselves, in any order, over and over again. He color coded them, and attached them to a dial. He’d spin them and have them identify the question, attach it to an idea, and slowly over time the dial moved faster and faster. 

Later one of his students improved upon the idea by adding gears and a crank. It became a whirling rainbow of thought. Through the ages the students pushed the method, now most people don’t have the willpower to force their thoughts into reality. In the early stages of Drudge’s method, people could emit small flames no larger than a candle. It was a useful triviality for starting campfires, and confusing your enemies. But as people have become more efficient, learned, and can expand and expound upon their thoughts more rapidly. It has become a lot more dangerous of a measurement. Fires being emitted at a size comparable to a cart of wagon. 

Energy is the easiest thing to form. This was why fire is the first thing learned by a mage. The more solid the matter, the harder it is to think into existence. The more thought, and expounding that must be done at a greater and more rapid pace. At this junction, though while theoretically possible, no one has been able to think lead into existence. 

Let’s recap. If you can imagine it, it can happen. Except maybe lead. The more solid the thing, the harder it is to make happen. You train your mind by asking questions that expound  and expand upon the idea that started them. There are whirling hypnotic devices that help egghead wizards to think more clearly in that fashion. 

There you have it, eggbeater magic. 

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

Keith “Saegan” Cronyn

Why I Want To Go: Trial of the Gods.

It’s been a long quarantine. We’ve all spent long hours missing our people, and picking up new or old hobbies to keep ourselves busy. Finding new games, like Among Us, or new shows like Blood of Zeus to keep our minds engaged and our social life, somewhat active. 

I don’t know about you, but beyond the social aspects of our game, I’ve been hungering for the story. The deep and complex lore that our writers have provided over the years has always scratched an itch for me, that no tv show, book, or movie really could. I mean, with a couple exceptions to make the rule, naturally. 

Seriously, you could spend hours reading in the Library of Ivory, learning all sorts of things. About nations. About Gods. About Legends. 

Laika did this. Digging through our lore. Seeing a need for our game to come together, even digitally, and finding a trend in the popularity in games like Among Us. He’s brought together an event for our community to enjoy. And I’m so excited to see how it plays out. 

I’ve gotten a little bit of a view behind the scenes, and I can tell how much work he’s put into it. Taking the time to come up with interesting mechanics. Staying true to the Lore of our game, and considering how it might play out as a story for us to interact with. 

This is going to be a great event to get some story out of. To build your character around. To have some adventure in general. People are going to have a good time, and I hope you end up among us, for it. 

If you like social deduction games, like Werewolf, or Among Us, if you miss your community, and if you just want a story to tell, then I hope to see you at the event. 

~Keith “Saegan” Cronyn

Morning Coffee Break

 Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

What is your favorite dish that you've eaten at a Realms feast?

Head on back to the Facebook post and let us know in the comments!

Meme Monday!

by the Meme Team

 

Home Questing: The 21st Task - Results!

 by Christopher "Janus" Donnelly 

Hello, and welcome to Home Questing, the 21st task.  Before our break, I asked you to submit the greatest feat of strength.  

First, from Cressida is this, which I shall post with her own words : “I thought my feat of strength would be lifting and holding this huge full bag over my head, but it turns out the real strength comes in submitting this picture as I don't like myself or my body in this photo and it takes strength to do it anyways and to be genuinely me and try to be proud of myself anyways.”

Next up DelHemar is really using his head (and back for that matter):

Finally from Janus is a different interpretation of a feat of strength:

So, thinking about who I know that is fit and strong, I decided to go with The Chimeronian Warlord: Saka! Take it away Saka:

Thanks Janus!

The competitors for this task provided all of us with an excellent demonstration of the complexities that lie behind the deceptively simple word "strength". Physicality usually comes to mind first, and even within that arena we have all sorts of variety between endurance, pure exertion of force, and myriad ways of combining them. Then we have the complimentary domain of mental strength, which I consider to be considerably more important. Demonstrating compassion, overcoming fears, communicating honestly, pushing through pain, striving for growth, questioning one's own beliefs, developing healthy habits, and consistently loving oneself and others are all incredible feats of mental strength. (As is walking past snack food vendors on market days!)

With all that said, we have before us three submissions vying to be judged the greatest feat of strength: 

Cressida appears to be lifting a large bag with a pillow or two inside, and that alone does not strike me as very impressive. As she notes, however, many of us are our own worst critics. In such cases it takes courage to do the work of acknowledging who we are, including our perceived flaws, and to nevertheless actively go out into the world with a smile on our faces. Cressida has done just that, and as such I'll award her first place and 5 points.

Janus's feat of strength also incorporated physical and mental components. For those of us who aren't Dagger of Blackwood or from even farther north than Creathorne, and thus to whom the measurement of "7.51km" is effectively meaningless, the distance he claims to have run is equivalent to 4 ⅔ miles. That's nothing to shake a stick at - running more than a couple of miles at a time takes either a strong will or something really dangerous right behind you. Your body has to be strong enough to keep moving just as much as your mind must be strong enough to tolerate, appreciate, or ignore the pain. Since Janus seems to have been running in a loop, and his submission says it's the longest he's run to date, I expect he didn't just have a zombie chasing after him. Unfortunately, I don't know much Seer magic and have no way to verify that Janus was actually running in circles. For all I know he was simply trotting on a horse for 40 minutes, so I cannot in good conscience award him any points. Better luck next time, Janus!

And thus it comes to pass that I award DelHemar and his all-too-familiar moving day feat of strength second place and 4 points. He may have beat out Janus even without the disqualification if I knew how long DelHemar held the mattress like that. Mattresses are unwieldy and wicked heavy, and his invitation of back injury to complete this task demonstrates stronger commitment to the competition than I would have brought to the table in his stead. DelHemar, I am very impressed, and will happily seek your assistance the next time I want to rearrange my furniture!

That's it for folks who get Home Questing points from me this week! We each possess a unique combination of proficiencies and challenges, and I have yet to know a person who was not admirably strong in one way or another. Thank you, Cressida, DelHemar, and Janus for showing us some of your strengths!

Thank you Saka!  It’s a shame that you disqualified Janus, because I was pretty sure he cheated with time magic and I was going to disqualify him myself.  Anyway, that leaves us with the two remaining people.

In first place I will give the points to Cressida, who took strength in a direction I did not anticipate.  Sometimes the toughest challenges and toughest critics we face come from within, and the strength that it takes to overcome it is high, so Cressida earns five points.

In a close second though, for more traditionally completing the challenge is DelHemar.  I have moved before, and it takes a lot of effort to manipulate mattresses of that size.  It is an impressive feat of strength, and I hope everything breakable survived.  For this, DelHemar gets 4 points.

So, after the point for participation, our scores for the week are: Cressida with 11 points and DelHemar with 9.  Tune in next week for the next challenge!

P.S. from Saka:

If you have another minute to spare now that you've finished reading Janus' lovely View from Valehaven article, I'd like you to try something even if it might feel a bit silly. Sit down with pen and paper, or simply close your eyes and think: list three of your best strengths, one strength you'd like to develop further, and at least one strength you admire in someone you know. You might be surprised what you come up with, and I'd bet the person you think of would love to hear what you appreciate about their strength!

Throwback Thursday - A Trio of Dips from Feast of Levaithan

 First published in 2015, and revisited a few times since then - everyone's favorite dips from Feast of Leviathans past, courtesy of Lani "Gwen" Jones!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Dip

16 oz cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups shredded Swiss, divided

1 cup deli ham, diced

½ cup bacon crumbles

1 cup finely chopped chicken

¼ cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cups shredded Swiss, ham, bacon, chicken, and chicken broth until uniform.

Spread in an 8x8 baking dish. Cover with remaining Swiss. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Cheesy Tomato Dip

2 tbsp butter

1 lb (or more, to taste) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

2 tsp salt

⅔ cup milk

1 can condensed tomato soup

Red pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add tomato soup until uniform.

Gradually add cheese and milk in turn. Making sure cheese has integrated before adding more. Stir constantly.

Add salt and red pepper.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1-10oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

1-14oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

⅔ cup sour cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

⅓ cup mayonnaise

2 tsp minced garlic

Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine all ingredients and stir until uniform.

Pour into casserole dish and bake for 20-30 minutes.

The View’s Gauntlet- Throw Down with Keith

 Throwing Down--The View’s Gauntlet

by Keith “Saegan” Cronyn 

Welcome to a brand new series at the View that gives you, our readers, a chance to challenge community members to showcase their skills. The Gauntlet is a weekly feature that follows Realmsies with unique skills as they describe their passions (however unique!), accept challenges from our readers, and create masterpieces to share.

How it Works: 

Phase 1: The Throwdown--The challenger stakes a claim to the community, that they can do a thing, and the community responds by voting on how they want that challenge to play out. 

Phase 2: Go to Work--The challenger completes their task, being sure to take lots of notes and photos to share with our readers along the way.

Phase 3: The Reveal--Our challenger shares their work, along with some tips and tricks for our readers who want to take on a similar challenge!

The Inspiration: This week I, Keith, am going to start us off and throw down. I’ve spent years writing for the community, behind the scenes at events, for the View, or just in my personal life. One of my favorite writing challenges came about when Jim Butcher challenged the community to give him two themes, and he’d write an amazing series about it. Well, Jim asked and the community answered! With “The Roman Legion” and “Pokémon” as our inspiration, the Codex Alera series. Another of my inspirations was Brandon Sanderson, which gave us Sanderson’s Laws, which encouraged writers to use magic systems to influence their writing. These two influences have led me here, to take up the first of many, View’s Gauntlet Challenge.

The Throwdown: I bet you, the community of the Realms, that I can come up with a hard magic system, based around any object that you can find in a kitchen. 

The Parameters: What I mean by “hard” is that it has clearly defined rules and parameters. An example of a hard magic system is The One Ring, from Lord of the Rings. You put it on, it makes you invisible, Sauron knows where you are, and you might get addicted to it. Another example of a hard magic system could be Sympathy from Pat Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles. Or Full Metal Alchemist’s Law of Equivalent Exchange. 

How You Can Help: Vote for your favorite kitchen object (or the one that you think will provide the most hilarious/epic/fantastical magic system), and next week, I’ll share a brand new magic system for you to feast your eyes on!

Lastly, if you are inspired to take up your own Gauntlet and have an idea for a challenge or skill you’d like to bring to the community for a View Gauntlet of your own, let us know!

Click here to submit your choice for which kitchen object Saegan should base his magic system on!

 

Animal Companion Competition: The Beginning

 

Having trouble watching this video? Try this: https://youtu.be/K_LlXf7NBhc

Has your animal friend been missing the excitement of going questing with you this past year? 

Are they bored of staying home with nothing to do? Then the Animal Companion Competition, or ACC, might be just what they need!  Beginning in February, we will be hosting a series of challenges for our small questing buddies.  Winner takes home bragging rights as Best In Show and will be featured in a View article.  We ask all those interested in participating to have their person fill out the entry form: this signs them up and provides a short introduction of the companion entering for the audience and judges.  Introductions can either be written (with picture(s) if possible) or a video recording. A final call for contestants will be made and specifics for the various challenges will be provided to the contestants and their human(oid)s a week before the first challenge will be due.

OOC: Intended for IC pets/companions represented by stuffed animals.  Only one contestant entry per human. Pet/companion is not required to be associated with any in game spell(s) to compete. 

 

Google Sign Up Doc Link: https://forms.gle/9x75iM6trrcExifD8

Trial of the Gods preview

This is a new plot from a first time event holder, throwing a digital only free event for the Realms. The event starts on January 30th 2021, at 1pm on a private Discord server. The event will be requiring pre-registration to host groups of 8-16 players. If there are more than 16 players the event may be replayed with a 2nd group on a separate day.

This event will run differently from a normal Realms event; it is a Social Deduction Game. Social Deduction games usually involve a group of players who have been given hidden roles with various goals and opposing factions, usually one faction is “good” and the other is “evil”. For this particular game there will be two factions, the village and the demons. Unlike many other Social Deduction Games, this one will focus on roleplaying and has a story told through the game.

Each player will be given a hidden role inspired by the Gods of the Realms. There are roughly two dozen unique roles made for this particular game, with the idea of being able to run it multiple times. Each card and role was designed for this game and gives the player an idea of that god’s personality and goals. There will be a Day and Night cycle where each player’s roles can either aid the village or bring it to its destruction.

Each day new card art from the game will be released on Facebook highlighting a new god.

Can’t make the event? It will be streamed on Twitch, and links to the channel will be sent out closer to the date.

Please Pre-reg at https://www.realmsnet.net/events/1823

Meme Monday

by The Meme Team

 

Home Questing: The 22nd Task

by Christopher "Janus" Donnelly 

Here is the form for you to submit your most delicious-looking food: https://forms.gle/XpkvJUr62KzHSyx37

If you would prefer to send something to me directly rather than uploading to youtube or some other video hosting site, please email it to techiemikey@gmail.com.

********************

Transcript:

Hi all, Janus here and welcome to home questing, the twenty-second task.  It's been a while so lets start things out on the right foot.  This week, I am asking you to make the most delicious food and take a picture of it.  The most delicious looking food wins.  You have until Friday at noon, and your time starts now.

***************

Siding Picture Puzzle 1 - Memories of Meats

If your mobile device is having trouble displaying this puzzle click here.

The image below is a mixed-up puzzle of an image from a Realms event. The numbers on each rectangle show the order that the pieces of the puzzle are arranged in when it is complete. Clicking on a rectangle will move it into the blank spot. Continue to click around, rearranging the pieces until you complete the image. 

One you're done, tell us on Facebook how many moves you were able to do it in and what your time was!

15 Gold Familiar Summon

 

Tell us what attributes you choose and justify your choices on Facebook!

(as a fun addition tell us what your summoned creature looks/acts like)

Indana's Kitchen: French Toast Bake

 

Hello, and welcome back to Indana's Kitchen. Today I will be making a french toast bake, which a clever feast-o-crat or home chef alike might prepare on a Saturday night for an easy Sunday (or any) morning breakfast. 

My French toast bake came out with the consistency of bread pudding, on the softer, more custard-y side. If you prefer something more akin to traditional French toast, you can decrease the amount of liquid in the bake, either by toasting your bread in an oven set to 200 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or by decreasing the amount of half and half/milk. Or you could do both! 

Ingredients:

The French Toast:

Brioche loaf, cut into 1” cubes 

1 ½ cups half & half or heavy cream 

3-5 eggs

4 Tbsp dark brown sugar 

1-2 tsp vanilla paste or one scraped vanilla bean 

½ tsp nutmeg, grated

Zest 1 lemon or orange

The Toppings:

Handful of pecans 

4 Tbsp butter, melted 

3 Tbsp brown sugar 

1 tsp cinnamon 

Pinch kosher salt 

Turbinado sugar  

French Toast Bake Method:

Start by cutting a large loaf of brioche bread into large cubes. Generously butter a casserole dish, making sure to get every inch. Fill the dish with the pieces of bread cubes. 

 For the custard, into a large bowl goes 1 ½ cups of whole milk, 5 large eggs, 4 tablespoons of dark brown sugar, 1-2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract, and ½ teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk together until combined and no streaks of egg remain. 

Then pour the custard evenly all over the bread cubes, making sure that every piece is saturated. For good measure, give it a nice messy toss for even custard distribution. 

Cover and place in the fridge overnight to bake the next day, or you can bake it immediately. 

When ready to bake, prepare the topping. In a small bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of kosher salt. Whisk until completely combined then set aside. 

Chop a handful of pecans then scatter across the top of the casserole. Then drizzle evenly with the brown sugar butter mixture. Top it off with a few generous pinches of turbinado sugar.   

Place into a 350°F oven for 35-45 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove when golden brown. Let rest for at least 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, slice and serve, topping with butter and maple syrup. 

This recipe was sourced from the youtuber Basics with Babbish. 

Meme Monday

by The Meme Team

Why I Want To Go: Market Day in Fae 2

 By Ryan "Orion" Welch

Can you believe that we’re hardly a week into the new year and there’s already an event to write about? (Actually yeah, I do believe it because RealmsNet says so.) I’m very happy to have so many creative minds in this community who create content with the same inevitable dedication as the turning of The Wheel itself.

This weekend marks the second Market Day in Fae -- and yes, it’s the WHOLE weekend! Does that sound like too much for you? Don’t worry, because the event staff has made it very easy for you to drop in and out as you please. Following the structure of a typical three-day event, Market Day opens at 5pm on Friday with an appetizer tray of modular content. Saturday morning kicks off a day full of encounters, puzzles, and of course: vending! I understand that there will even be a Night Quest! (??!?!). Sunday … well, I have no idea what to expect from Sunday. Without the usual site cleanup and stuff-packing to contend with, I expect that the third day will be as rich as the preceding 36-ish hours.

This seasoned and successful event team always creates interesting events which, in a very faerie-like matter, often wander from the path of the typical in fascinating and engaging ways. I expect the Market Day sequel to be no different in this respect. Virtual though they may be, I am looking forward to wandering around the stalls and, especially, discovering all of the things which peek out between them.

Rumors for January 1021

[Across the Realms]

A person identifying himself as Sandor Iowathe has been heard looking for explorers interested in walking the mysterious Shifting Path that now has an entrance in Faerie. He says to meet him at the upcoming Market Day.

~~~

There are many towns that lay on the outskirts and outside of the protection of the Gentry. Scores of families who, while living in relative peace due to the protections of greater people, are simply trying to live out their lives in what level of happiness they can. It is in these outlying towns, which are routinely overlooked, that corruption and evil can germinate. 

Perhaps black tents fly near a town. Or a mysterious stone circle is uncovered. New faces wander among them from unknown origins. There is rumor, speculation. And what are the strengths of humanity, its curiosity and its desire, becomes the weakness that is preyed upon. Chaos and despair in lost places are rarely ever seen or heard. 

Amidst the tragedy and stress of the past year, many quiet towns have grown absent in the ranks and scrolls of taxes and tithes or goods. Sometimes, it is just communication: travel is not what it used to be. In some cases, towns seem to have simply been abandoned. This too can happen with sickness, bad crops or just not enough people to sustain a healthy community.

[Chimeron]

The heavy fog surrounding the mountains and forests near the Faedraw River have been glowing an eerie shade of red. A few nights later the fog subsided completely. The scouts who originally investigated the area have not returned and have been missing for a month.

Escape the Dream Part 2

 

Welcome to Part 2 of Escape the Dream.

If you missed Part 1 and want to catch up on the story: Click Here

Below is a link to a short (10-15 minute) virtual escape room with a couple puzzle. The story continues from Part 1, so make sure to play through it if you haven't yet.

You'll need to be logged into your Google account to access the escape room, primarily because it will allow us to keep track of who completes which chapters so we can release a tally at the end of the story.

Best of luck, you can get to the second chapter by clicking: HERE

Fantasma Transparente by Papel De Parede 

Morning Coffee Break

Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

What is your character's resolution for the New Year 1021?

Head on back to the Facebook page and let us know!

Cross the Realms 5

 If this is not displaying properly in-browser or your mobile browser is having an issue, click here!

Hello everyone! Below is a classic crossword puzzle where all answers are Realms nations (both current and historic) or other features of the Realms Map. Some are two word named with the space in the middle eliminated. Every clue is that nation's/location's name scrambled.

See how many you can answer before you have to start looking things up... or using an automatic descrambler tool found on Google.

Tell us how you did in the Facebook comments!

Meme Monday

by The Meme Team