By Paul "Grindin" Tilton
A new opportunity to learn! Cultural exchange! What a wonderful opportunity to spend the day at SnakeU and our friends in Zimeya. If I was to succinctly sum up the experience: Snekromancy rules, all other departments drool.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. After a welcome by 3 professors to SnakeU, we took a brief and inscrutable questionnaire to sort us into three houses: Snekromancy, Snistory, and Snarkeology (Unfortunately the study of artifacts, and not snide remarks). That really set the tone for the level of puns we were subjected to throughout the day. Having been sorted, we were led indoors to our departments’ tables, where we read some background on Zimeyan culture, got to see the Ziggurat in the center of the hall, and received our first assignments.
Snekromancy was the first out of the hall, and down into the catacombs. We delved into an ancient crypt, filled with puzzles, hidden runes, moons, and the need to complete a ritual. Alas, that ritual was not completed successfully by the end of our hour’s time, but we sure did get close. Along the way we received our silver Artifact of Ascension, and a smattering of energy, both of which we needed to try and ascend the Ziggurat.
In our first break, we were fed soup! A delicious soup that some people had some level of moral quandary about, but I was focused more on the spinning of the Artifact of Ascension, so that we could clearly show everyone the excellence of Snekromancy. Unfortunately, we had not gotten much energy, and fell behind. I knew that if we tried harder next time, that we could make up the difference.
Our next adventure was delving into some catacombs. We freed some spirits via some puzzles, we energized some wisps and made them fly, then the diseased and possessed guardian of the catacomb was accidentally thrown into a lava river. Then we used the wisps to collect a box out of the lava river, in which was the spirit familiar of the aforementioned guardian. Realizing our unforeseeable mistake, we retrieved his body, performed the well known ritual of singing twinkle twinkle little star, and exorcised him. I truly wish Gary the best at all his future Catacoomb defending ventures.
The next break was a “salad” course, of spring and sushi rolls. I’m unaware of any moral objections to this course. And of course, this was when the Snistory team struck a blow against Snekromancy. Whilst traversing the Ziggurat, we fell down a snake, falling even further behind. And then… Snistory played a card that caused that setback to be even worse. Little did they know, that was the most deadly mistake they could have made. I declared war, they argued that they “had” to play the card, because they bought it (patently false). By the end of our second break, Snekromancy was far behind our competition, and things were looking grim.
Our final assignment was doing something with a burial ritual in another cavern. Honestly, I did not interact with anything, other than trying to hold off an unending assault of undead. Ask Swift if you want more details.
Which gets us to our final break period. 3 Delicious goops were served. Special shoutout to the staff of SnakeU for making too much food, so that I could bring leftovers back to Highmarket and keep eating it all week.
Our unparalleled success on our final mission (I assume) procured the Snekromancy department much energy. Some may say it was because the spirits of the land felt bad for how far back we were, but I know it was based solely on merit. Armed with so much energy, and such a distance to traverse, we knew there was only one move: Prevent Snistory from winning. We purchased cards in the hopes of finding detriments, and detriments did we find. We halved their movement, we stole energy, and hoped for them to land on a snake so that we could send them back a further 5 spaces.
With dwindling energy reserves, both our friends in Snarkeology and the evil Snistory departments neared the top, but could not quite finish the deal, as they needed exact numbers to summit the Ziggurat. I glanced back at our massive pile of energy (some of which were stolen, but hey, they were ours now). My mental math was quick: we had done enough to the competition, and it was time to make a break for the top. And sprint up the Ziggurat we did. As we passed the final snake, we knew that nothing but unfortunate dice rolls could stop us. Each member of Snekromancy took a turn spinning, hoping for a 2 to finish our ascent. On our second to last roll, I took another spin… and managed to land a 2! Against all odds, and the treachery and deceit of the Snistory department, Snekromancy had emerged victorious. The Ziggurat opened, and spilled out its various treasures, which were quickly shared about the room, as all rivalries were forgotten in the revels of treasure (Much love to our yet again friends in Snistory).
A wonderful time was had by all, even if there were a few rumblings about burning the cooks at the stake for some perceived slight.
By: Dustin "Gwynplaine" Mack
Ah Neden, a wretched hive of scum and villainy… no wait, that’s that other place. Neden is a land of undead and hijinx. I always have a fun time visiting Neden. Hydration challenges, fighting pizza monsters, and surviving hordes of undead. But this time, we’re going for a party.
Why do I want to go? It’s my clownly duty to attend little Timmy’s birthday. This way, even if this Earl Von Hurl bozo gets away with stealing Timmy’s party, at least he’ll still have a clown. But that’s not gonna happen. Homie don’t play that! We’ll get the party back from that joker. So come join this insane clown’s posse and help little Timmy get the birthday he deserves. It could be another 27 years before you have this much fun.
OOC: Neden puts on really fun events with lots of humor and spirit. I have never had a bad time at one and I go to as many as I can. I don’t know what Ethan has in store but I’m confident it’ll be entertaining. And it’s the last real questing before that cold white stuff comes back.
A few years back the adventurers of the lands brushed against the veil of death for fae, where they fought eternally in Tir Na Nog as their reward. This day of Black and White they returned, the boundaries marked with flowers. Along with fighting them adventurers could solve other problems in Fae.
Leon Hunura - Adam Huneke, when asked what others missed from Black and White:
"Well, I recall fighting fae spirits (friendly, but really wanted to fight) that were leading us to a village who's name was "lost in the wind." once we got closer to the town, we started fighting that wind, and it dropped various pieces of names, way too many for them all to be included in the town name. When we got to the town we also saw a fae-metal structure with the symbol/rune for The Inventor on it. It had two hatches that were sealed shut, Kiddo used piercing on one of them and was able to grab a letter from inside. (I don't remember what it said, but it was in futhark and was from 'X'). Later, at night, I and a few others revisited the structure and we learned it was a diving bell. There was also something going around regarding the Curse Rune ((Midoru)). I don't think I can say they're not related, but I don't know how they would be. I don't know if we ever resolved what was going on with the town's name."
Blue wasn't killing everybody? Shocked everyone
Black and White Court:
Squire Griffin won Champion of Chimeron
Sir Aelias, Sir Daekara, and Highlord Temorse were given token’s of the King’s esteem
Order of the Peacock announced: The new fashion for the next year is head pieces
Highlord Temorse won the desert contest with s'mores brownies.
Sir Wil took on Griffin as a Squire to the Avatars of Chimeron
King Orion promoted Azimuth from Page to Squire
King Orion took on High Mage Irri as a Ward for the next year
Sir Tirvanel completed the final task for becoming Champion of Aurora
Sir Sagart announced the Order of the Crescent as a group for diplomacy and peaceful relations in the Realms, open to those interested to come talk to members.
Sir Avendar took on Evie as a Squire to the Knights of the Sable Dragon
Mayumi took on Johan as an apprentice to the Order of the Spoon.
Sir Bright was inducted into the Order of the Spoon
Margaret was inducted into the Magi of the Realms
The Nation of Zimeya announced the Feassst of the Gorgon and Aiden Penclaw, Forgemaster of Invictus announced his 30th crafted chainmail shirt and his gratitude to his dear friend and the community for getting him started and encouraging his work over the years.
At Fae Court Raindrop was Knighted to Knight Protectors of Fae and now goes by Dame Raindrop.
By Josh "Silva"
"The demon Seeker was found lurking around after a brief confrontation they second chances away leaving behind a series of skulls found to contain imprisoned souls. It was found out that the souls were being collected in order to be fed to a spider-themed demon. With the assistance of James Swift and Alpacasaurus the souls were freed and sent to their rest."
Much fun was had by all, as is the norm at Black and White, and Death claimed no lives.
The View from Valehaven, would like to take a moment to thank the veterans in our community for their service.
Thank you for your service, and thank you for being a part of our community.
