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Hello everyone! Below is a classic crossword puzzle where all answers are Knights in our game. Some are newer knights, some are knights that have been around a long time. Every clue is that knight'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 on social media!
Written by: Dan "N" Hudson
*The following was discovered in a dingy diary lost along a road, and translated from the original goblin to be readable in the common tongue. Spelling and grammar also underwent heavy corrections.*
Dear Diary,
My name is Gobbergobber now! It was Paul for a bit, but I traded that lame, short name for a super cool long name. Sadly that is the only thing I got to keep from our robbing of the mail carrier the other day - adventurers killed my pals and our trolls and took back all the mail we stole. No fair! Stealing things and disrupting the postal service is what I live for, yet apparently it is illegal in Chimeron just like other fun things like necromancy and murder!
I have made it my quest to change Chimeron’s unfair anti-fun laws, starting with the outlawing of theft! I talked to the guy who’s been king for years and get this - he didn’t even make the law! It’s been around since a monarch named Queen Meg, with no one questioning this outdated law that has no place in today’s society! The king made it clear that I would have to talk to this queen about changing the law, so that’s what I set out to do.
But it’s proving harder than I thought! He said that she was under the hill but I’ve been checking under every hill I can find and still no sign of her! Was I lied to? Did this “Queen Meg” ever really exist? I don’t know, but I’ll either find the truth or get tired trying and give up.
Make stealing legal!!!
-Gobbergobber
P.S. I’m hungry so I’m gonna go eat a pig now. A stolen one, because I like stealing things.
The View from Valehaven staff would like to wish a Happy Veterans Day to all the members of our community who served.
Hello people of the Realms,
I wanted to wait a couple days before I sent out this message, I wanted you to understand that while this missive is certainly a reaction, its purpose is not to be reactionary.
It’s no secret that many members of our beloved community feel less safe today than they did last week. Some are worried about health care, about civil liberties, about their place in society, even about their continued right to be who they are. If there was something that could be said to make any of those fears evaporate I would say it in an instant.
Sadly I don’t have those words for you, but I’ll offer to you what words I do have.
Those of you who are old like me remember a well loved reporter and news anchor for CBS named Dan Rather. A voice who reported some of the most pivotal events of the previous generations including Kennedy’s assassination and Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Though he’s retired, he’s still active as a writer and on social media. Wednesday he posted this:
“I wanted to share my daughter Robin's post from this morning:
We can do hard things ( again.) Get up. Shake it off. Don’t panic or isolate. Take care of the young ones who got their hopes up. Encourage their dreams. Lean into your trusted political and social networks and plan how to connect with other adjacent groups quickly and make plans. Organize more deeply than you think we can. Resistance starts now. We know how to do it. We’ve done it before. Visualize our getting through this in the most beautiful and intact way. Please please please just do not give up. We can love and protect each other through this. We have to.”
As I took time to ponder Robin Rather’s words, I stumbled upon the realization that she was talking about Realms. Not directly, obviously, but so much of what Realms is can be found in what she’s asking of us.
There’s no doubt that Realms is, for many of us, our most important and enduring social network. When you look across the community, it’s easy to count the reasons that we are each different from one another but at the end of the day aren’t most of those differences superficial? The things that unite us, the things that we have in common with one another, are much more obvious and powerful if we take a step back and look for them.
In this community, in the Realms, you have a place full of like-minded individuals who care about one another like family, who have mentored each other and helped one another navigate their place in the world, who have learned and grown beside one another as we’ve become better versions of ourselves.
I’ll paraphrase something Queen Meg herself once imparted to me. In this community we have a place where we have quested together to save the world, even if it wasn’t the real world we were saving. We have a place where we have stood beside each other to fight off evil, even if that evil was only make-believe. We have a place where we have bled together in combat even if no real blood was ever spilled to the ground.
These experiences were real, even if they were about pretend things. The feeling of wanting to save the world, the resolution to stand against monsters, the willingness to shed blood on behalf of the ones you love. Those things are yours. You earned them. You are strong. Stronger, perhaps, than you even know.
Finally I want to say something about resistance.
Resistance means probably a hundred different things and will take a hundred different forms and I can’t pretend I fully understand even a fraction of all of them.
But I do know this. One type of resistance, a very powerful one, is joy.
I know that seems counterintuitive to some, and it might seem flippant to talk about joy when so many people are afraid, but I’ll try to convince you that it’s not. Joy is self-care. Joy is a panacea to burn-out. Joy is recharging our batteries to allow us to brace for harder things. Joy is fellowship and the ability to make use of the fact that humans need connections to one another to thrive. Joy is a type of support that can shelter us if we let it and can inspire us if we leverage it to do so.
Experiencing victory together. Giving those who are scared a place to put fear aside for a moment. Comforting others with a sense of family and community. Celebrating each other’s achievements. Doing little things to make one another happy. All of these things and countless others just like them. Those are the immutable joys that belong to us here in the Realms.
I say these things because I want to implore this:
Continue all the amazing things that you do to keep Realms a place full of joy and do not foist guilt upon yourself for seeking that joy in a time when the world feels far from perfect.
I believe in you and I believe in us.
In service,
Jason Rosa, on behalf of the Knights of the Realms
Undersigned,
Matthew Brenner
Keith Cronyn
Kathy Fey
Randy Gordon
Angie Gray
Jason Gray
Ben Greene
Lani Jones
Steven Matulewicz
James Murphy
Tucker Noyes
Janna Oakfellow-Pushee
Sean Veale
With the passing of the Harvest and their annual Sowing of the Ground celebrated with so-called "Blood Games", the Orcs of the Mountain Clans have entered their hibernation for the winter.
Chimeron City: There have been reports of newcomers to the city asking about good places to worship Gaia in the area, though local Gaians say that they have not encountered any new Gaia worshippers fitting the descriptions of these strangers.
~~~
Clayburgh, Chimeron: In the small port town of Clayburgh, soldierly types calling themselves Ranterrans have come from across Lake Behert to establish trade, bringing crops from their harvest and looking for work as guards and mercenaries. Residents have expressed minor annoyance at how quick the visitors are to praise their god Ran, some sort of foreign golden dragon god of light and creation, but they appreciate the business nonetheless.
Dissent grows among the populace, and secluded rooms are filled with talks of secession. In more brazen parts of the empire, people openly talk as if they were never a part of Saurabia!
Written by: Anna "Hedda" Hewitt
The Retelling of the Masquerade celebration of Dià de los Muertos know as Black and White.
As we arrived people were spewn about preparing for the day. They newer adventurers went on a quest to save the mail carrier who was far to late in delivering a scavenger hunt.
All the whole blue was causing a ruckus and attacking people all about. Many a person becoming enchanted by this spirit after grabbing its weapon. They began to slay their friends and enemies alike.
This continued on for a while as there was a very entertaining bingo card which had spaces that could be filled out by interacting with blue in many ways.
People all about worked on completing their bingo cards in record time all while enjoying the array of the day board. There was an array of savory snacks such as crab bite, charcuterie, bread with flavored butters & dips to name a few.
Drink were also a hot with mulled ciders, flavored water, and poison drink.
Yes many a people died to be able to have a taste, all of which seemed to think it well worth it. Our adventurers with resistance to poison and resisting death became very pertinent in removing the poison so people could enjoy.
All the while fights for champions and tournaments in full swing down in the fighting ring.
Not long after Blackwood Joe came about and told us of his need for assistance. We traveled out to find golems protecting a station in which there was quick the intricate experiment. Having to balance circuits with proper scale patterns to the layline and gather crystals from the golems to power it all. Many new and seasoned adventurers collaborated on this challenge.
404 and the newer adventurers focused on solving the puzzle with their smarts.
Sir Elizah, Sage and I went for the route of trial and error.
In the end we managed to get power through to the circuits. As I wandered back to wet my pallet with more snacks. The team was able to distill opal at the experimental table!
All while I enjoyed a snack or mushroom and broccoli risotto.
After which I was able to convince Pawldo to eat chocolate as a werewolf and complete regicide to complete my bingo card!!
People in the tavern were playing poker, blackjack, and spending there gambled coin at the array of wonderful shops.
As time continued on people switched into their finery and Chimeron enlisted the help of Ser Vesper of Blackwood and Runaris of Invictus to guard their doors so they could complete their blood ritual in peace. Once completed we all moved our way towards court.
Approaching court one could see an array of the mask covering everyone's faces as they settled in.
Many a wonderful things happened at court.
Cecil begun by announcing Chimeron under Sarbia. Then regretting not having magic blocked on himself today if all days.
Sir Wil was made apart of the gabler's guild and a prince of Chimeron, Cressida was made a princess of Chimeron, Pawldo was brought forth as one of the longest serving members of Chimeron and told Prince Regent Orion would dub him avatar of Chimeron at his own coronation.
A fireball was given to Squire Isla by Sir Kovaks in person as they were recognized behind the scenes but deserved their limelight.
The order of the peacock welcomed Liselle into their ranks and named pouches as the next year's fashion statement. They recognized the outstanding ability to look better than the rest to Squire Griffin, Lupa, Sir Kiira, and Myself.
Sir Orion recognized the efforts of Sir Eamon, Fern, Ypnn, and Sir Caleal for their efforts in Gi. How they helped to turn the tide of the battle.
King Cuchulain invited King Cecil to his court in fae.
I'm sure I've missed a few details but it was a court to remember for sure.
We had a nice auction, which I took short leave of to present a (much to handsy with other folks husbands) dead body before my King.
Finally we all went to desert and dance. People enjoyed the evening all while the wild hunt went on in the woods just near.
At this point dance had gone on for a while all while death wandered about.
I decided it was time to take my leave and rest after a day or running about.
It was quite the day of meeting new adventurers and having an array of different things to pass the time. A culmination of King Alexander Cecil hanging up his crown in preparation for Sir Orion to take his seat on the pedestal.
With all due respect and a bit of jest,
Squire Whan-Hedda con Atlantis of Blackwood.
Written by: Brookelyn "Rowan" Gingras
Inspired by the festivities in Blackavar this weekend, some locals have been heard exchanging tales of traditional folklore. One such story goes as told:
*A very long time ago, two knights traveled along a river red with salmon. Before long they spied a large grizzly feasting on the bank ahead of them. The blue knight raised her swords to fight, but her companion bade her caution.
"Look yonder," said the knight in brown. "See her cubs, and the three fat with fish. She will not hunt us, but to threaten them with their backs to the gorge would be a dangerous gambit. Let us travel by with peace."
The blue knight saw the wisdom in this and withdrew. But as the knights stalled, a wild boar came out of the woods, lured by the smell of fish kill. Seeing these threats, the bear gathered her cubs and began to circle the knights at a distance such that she kept the pair between herself and the dangerous boar. In this way the knights found themselves trapped when the boar charged.
Acting quickly, the blue knight took hold of her companion's pike and planted it at the ready. The charging boar impaled himself upon it and was slain, and the bears took the opportunity to flee. The danger passed, the two friends returned home unharmed and threw a grand feast of roast hog.
Impressed with the beast's boldness and brute strength, the blue knight took the boar as the sign of her house. The brown knight was inspired by the bear's wisdom and cleverness in protecting its own, and from that day on he wore it as his crest.*
Written By: Stephen "Laika" Sanford & Bri "Margaret" Meisser
Previously on KOSD Questing… AHEM. In order to keep this article at a decent pace without recapping too much please check out this slideshow these points of power my Squire Margaret August has made: CLICK HERE
One year after the reclamation of Blackavar the nation and its people welcome us within their lands. The Mindflayers seemingly gone, the Brood Matron sleeps once more but now there are two new problems. Rexan has returned and seeks a host and a young boy named Danny has gone missing and Blackavar city has had strange sightings in the night.
Friday
We arrived to merriment and politics. Several of the noble house members have shown up, the main three being Adam Carnac who values wealth and runs most of the economy of Blackavar, Baron Kurt Gautier who resides within the castle he seems to value protecting the land and its citizens and runs the guards and military of Blackavar, Finally Lady Isabelle Taunton who seems to value being a debutante and seems to be in charge of the festivities and entertainment.
There was so much to do, Carnival Games, Campfire stories, an open bar, a Poker Tournament and gambling, Fortune Telling, a Silent Auction for a mysterious possibly cursed magic item, a potluck dinner (I provided the smoked pulled pork) a spooky pumpkin walk with ghosts and scarecrows!
I missed out on the pumpkin walk, apparently the ghosts were people dressed up in sheets and some scarecrows attacked some of the event-goers. When everyone returned, Gautier and Taunton had a very vocal argument over the safety of Blackavar and how Lady Taunton lifting the curfew was a bad idea and would lead to others getting kidnapped or killed.
Afterwards we saw a glowing light down by the water and went to explore. It was Danny who was very confused about where he was. He kept claiming he was looking for Danny and said he misplaced his wand by putting it down somewhere. When mentioning about his mom he got really sad and wanted to leave. Margaret Seanced him back and after some coaxing and a divine aid he stayed to talk for a bit more, we learned that his parents had told him to stay put in their house seemingly before being attacked. Danny left us but that was not the only time we saw him this weekend.
Saturday
We wake up to a full festival and an open world to explore, there was many shops and wares to buy, a scroll shop with many magical implement and familiars, a blacksmith to purchase newly crafted weapons, a chainmail shop, a casino, a job board, and many other sights within the town. This was the first event debuting a new token known as the dragonmark which is worth 5 gold and double that in blackavar but could only be spent for players 2 years or younger.
Because of Open world questing everyone's experiences may be different and I encourage people to reach out to other players about what they saw and enjoyed because there was several mods and encounters throughout the site running at the same time.
Outside of the town there were many animals and bandits roaming around attacking people, you could find fae homes at the foot of some trees. I first explored the fae homes and found a boy named Jimmy who wanted to meet the fae. We brought him to the first home and he talked with inhabitants and was given a hallowed mark, which was the “good” aligned consumable which can be used in a number of ways. Hallowed Marks are a wooden token with a 7 pointed star in it. Harrowed is the “darker” side of this which is a similar token but with a symbol of fire, harrowed means “distressed”.
After Jimmy left we went to explore more fae huts finding out they had more information on the whereabouts of Danny. James swift encountered the hut and was told to “come back with a warrant” he talked to Baron Gautier’s Son to escort him and provide a warrant. After a hilarious interrogation scene the fae provided a letter giving us more information that several children had been missing in the woods being led by a strange light, which we knew was a connection to Danny.
We returned to the town to find some of the shopkeepers complaining about items being missing and a strange cat. We talked to the cat who was very proud of what was in his sack but would not give it up even when coaxed with coins or other offers. Eventually James tries to take the sack and the cat begins swinging boulders and kills several of us before going down and regenerates. The Guards of the town try to get the cat to leave but do not want more combat in town in fear of breaking things or with more casualties. I decide if this cat wants a bigger sack, what's better than a large trash bin, I haul it over and begin shaking it. The cat takes the bait and I lure it out of town where we kill it again and take items from its sack. It regenerates again and James swift kills it once more and 3 racoons pop out leaving a trench coat. Looking back at it, the trash makes a lot of sense for why it worked.
After this there was a town hall which I missed to help out staff and I was also injured during the night quest so I will turn you over to my trusty squire to fill you in with the details here.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hi. Margaret here :)
The nobles invited us to a town hall where we could learn about their visions for the future of the nation and exert our influence upon the proceedings such as by offering military, economic, or political favor to the various parties. Lady Taunton seemed concerned with integrating various factions into Blackavar such as the Orcs and the Woodland Alliance. Baron Gautier was very concerned about Blackavars military and protecting against the threats at night. Adam Carnac wanted to ensure Blackavars capital interests were taken care of. And Wilma Wilmont had eyes on the future with long term planning initiatives and a desire to build a school. Fess also asked for influence for the Woodland alliance which he managed to get in spades. It will be interesting to see how the influence gathered by the different parties affects Blackavar going into the winter months.
After a nice dinner break, we came back with many children having gone out into the woods chasing after Danny in some form of trance. The children were able to be recovered, but Lady Taunton asked us to find Danny in hopes of bringing him back and stopping this trance. We encountered a Fae dragon named Fredrick who Danny created, and who has tried to steal Laika before. This obviously made me very wary. We eventually found Danny on a swing which he had dubbed the safe zone, so he could not be hurt. His safe spot was surrounded by Harrowed creatures who come out of the portal from Slumbertimeland in the night. I convinced Danny that we needed his help to defeat the big bad evil snake that has been Harrowing all his friends, and so we ventured into Slumbertimeland in order to fight off the bad guys and save the day, moving the story along. Little did we know that this was only the foreword.
But first we had to fight our way through the portals. We fought through Harrowed beings as well as scarecrows. With Danny hiding under his blankie whenever the fighting got too close and he got scared. At one point, someone thought the hidden Danny was a scarecrow and began to burn away his blanket which distressed the boy, but Johan was able to fix it. Throughout this, Danny was asking people about becoming his best friend forever. Those who accepted would become Hallowed. Those who accepted a similar offer from Frederick the Fae dragon became Harrowed. These will be important. We also saved Danny’s owl friend Varrus from being roasted alive, as well as saved Danny from being scared for life by this fact.
Eventually we made our way into the portal after a friendship ritual led by Tefara helped to activate the portal long enough for us to enter. After talking with Danny, we realized that despite his powers, he was not the one writing this story. He cannot create things without his magic wand which he put down. Some seer magic, a nightmare, and a Harrowed individual later, we learned that it was the remnants of Rexan, under the new moniker The Author, who was writing the story we were in. This could not possibly cause any issues ever.
After being warned of trials ahead, the heroes approached a river. Only those who were Harrowed could pass freely. The rest of us were told to put our fatal flaws into The Author’s book. Some did so, some did magic shenanigans in order to get around this requirement, and some got Harrowed in their attempt to cross. There was a lion, as well as two other animals. I believe a leopard and a bear? I was unable to tell in the dark. All I know is we sang the lion to sleep and the others were dealt with so we were on our way.
We eventually made our way onto the field where we found Sleeping Beauty's castle entrapped in vines. As well as some lightning clouds and some fairies. There was a cool light puzzle for determining how to kill the enemies and get back through the portal to Slumbertimeland that people better at puzzles and fighting than me figured out. We eventually made our way through, unlocking the Table of Contents. Danny stayed behind to clean up the castle, and a very tired adventuring party made our way to bed. Back to Laika.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday
After a long rest we woke up to a wonderful silly and over the top Funday Sunday as all good weekends should be. In this case it was the orcs of the woods inviting us to BLOOD GAMES. When we approached the group of orcs they played a song on drums, it was a delightful ORChestra. The adventurers followed up with their own rendition of “We will rock you”. The first tournament was grand melee which went longer than it should as people kept getting raised. During the day anyone could break weapon restriction and be a fighter and even do combos not allowed by the omnibus. Afterwards there were many lighthearted and overly dramatic games such as: 5’ Florentine, Voranian Dagger Fighting, Voranian Great Sword, Voranian Double Sword, Three- Armed, Rock Throw, Rock tournament. Each tournament was in good spirits and gave even the youngest of adventurers a good shot at winning and having fun beating up our veteran adventurers.
The final tournament was poisonball, my least favorite tournament. It was regular rules but armor did not come back, giving advantage initially to fighters but as armor went away 1 paths could be more successful. I did almost win within a few minutes knocking out everyone but rosetta, burning through my armor I took a killing blow making the game go on. Knowing that a win from here on out would be extremely unlikely I spent the rest of poisonball helping train the younger adventurers on how to fight against a great weapon.
The tournaments were done for the day, the site wrapped up but the festivities weren’t quite over. One thing I neglected to point out was throughout the day the BLOOD GAMES was a tournament to spill blood so the crops could grow in the spring, these orcs had been using blood magic throughout the day. A certain member of Stonewood, Magus James Swift, had been understandably upset at the practice. James had to be talked down from burning everything to cleanse it. Due to the orcs worshiping Gaia, he gave them a religious exemption. James Swift stormed off and claimed to not return until Blackavar contacts him in the future.
Overall I and many adventurers had a great time, this was the perfect event for so many first event newbies. It always feels great seeing so many smiles as people come together to support others in this game. As always thank you KOSD Staff and NPCs for a memorable weekend and here's to seeing KOSD Questing III.
