Two years ago, I came to the Realms for the first time to this very feast, and I must say, it has not failed to give me the same feeling of awe as it did back then.
Unlike two years ago, however, my arrival to the event was quite different. Rather than being helped along and introduced by others I met in passing, this time around I had many new persons joining me for their first time, with their enthusiasm being very contagious. And it was quite hard to miss these newbies - many of them having chosen to join into the Chimeron militia, we were easy to spot in mass heading down to the welcoming to the event and the line-up at the tournament for the Champion of Chimeron. As a spell caster, fighting is not my strength, so after being beat in the first round I got to watch from the sidelines as the impressive tournament of skill went on, slowly dwindling to Captain Orion, and Garen. Both of these talented fighters proceeded to take part in a challenge that, from what I could hear, sounded like an issue with a burning building, which ultimately determined who would fight the Death Knight first. In fighting the Death Knight, Orion was defeated, but Garen managed to pull through a close battle and win the tournament as the new Champion of Chimeron.
Following the tournament, I and others helped newbies gather their challenges for the day, before joining with Captain Orion to the Realms Outfitters station. After being introduced by Captain Orion before he headed off to his vigil for the day, the newbies and I spent time looking through the fabulous wares, and after purchasing our findings, we headed off on a quest. This was the first part of this quest, which had to do with turning an item into something that could allow a single magic item to pass into Gi. We worked on gathering ground fruit for this, dealing with trolls and other beings to get it, but many including myself had to return from the quest early as the newbie tournament began.
On our way back, however, we did, of course, catch our first sighting of Blue, the infamous weapon that catches the newbies off guard. As usual, Blue was very active during Black and White - I, personally, had three run-ins with Blue, but I know others recall more. Note to self, knock out people who try to pick up Blue even if they should know what Blue is because Blue can compel people, which surprised myself during the newbie tournament as we all tried to keep the newbies away from Blue, and Thoril wandered over in a daze and picked it up.
While I watched parts of the newbie tournament, this part admittedly was a break for myself to have food made by the wonderful kitchen staff, and I headed out early. After some time of socialization and learning spells, I eventually found myself back with the earlier quest. The quest had reached the final stages of the ritual, with the final part being for a chain of three people drawing on each other's back to attempt to create a rune that was drawn on the first. After multiple attempts, we finally succeeded, with the item being ready for use.
Just as I was about to walk away, however, one of those helping me got my attention again - a pair of bandits had shown up, and in seeing myself returned, began joking on taking me as a hostage! However, as I mentioned before, the Chimeron Militia has many skilled recruits. I flagged down Katsuie to get their help, and with an arrow breaking up our stalling, the bandits did not get the chance to escape as the militia came in full force. However, during this time they somehow grabbed onto the item we had just enchanted and somehow made it disappear, and while I attempted to use Find the Path to lead a group of newbies to find it, there was no such luck.
With time for one last activity before court, we gathered newbies to see what was going on with a time snarl that had appeared, though many had to leave to prepare after two attempts of rushing into the time snarl alone. On the third try, however, four of us managed to go in together, though it being the first time for one left it down to Rani, Thoril, and myself. As a trio (although, admittedly, Thoril made it through much of the first part himself), we managed to get through a series of questions where the answers verbally started with sounds similar to “sir.” With the next question quizzing us on all the first circle spells, we fell short, running out of time to remember a final few. With that, it was time to prepare for court myself, so I left these attempts.
Court was as much of a spectacle as I remember from prior. I cannot recount exactly all the matters that were brought up, just a few. I know for certain Wyvern College staked out land north of Chimeron, Captain Orion officially became an Avatar of Chimeron (and thus Captain Sir Orion), and myself and the Silvan Sanctuary Farming Commune presented our harvest to the court for the feast. Following court, the auction occurred, along with dancing and festivities that eventually brought together an exhilarating evening.
As always, Black and White overall was a wonderful event that I am glad I got to attend.
(OOC: Huge thanks to the many wonderful staff of the event, from the EHs, to the marshals, to the kitchen staff, and many more. I very much enjoyed the event and I know many, especially of the newbies, are of the same opinion.)