What You Missed- The Strangers War I

by Adrian "Cronin" Cronin

The scream of a wagon’s wheel roused me from sleep. The smell of death was thick, as thick as the fog which surrounded our modest caravan. After arming myself and my compatriots, I joined the heroes of the realms at a clearing near a graveyard, the appointed meeting place for our expedition to the Ashenfields.

An elite contingent of Chimeronians stood ready for battle, grim faces on some and unwavering resolve on others. We were there to rescue one of their countrymen afterall. Voraniss also answered the call in force, for a chance to strike back against the Strangers. Our secondary objective was to gain information on our enemy, primary being the rescue of Rekees, the Chimeronian captive. Answering the call as well, were heroes of Blackwood, Gau Dring, Northern Alliance, Stonewood and more, enough to form a squad of their own - an impressive group that would be the envy of any expedition.

We were told that in order to open the gate to the Ashenfields, we would need to move the gravestones from the cemetery and make a bridge to the Ashenfields. How eerie and appropriate. A ritual performed by our Druids and Chimeronian mages made it possible to remove the stones. But wicked spirits and undead husks did all they could to hinder and destroy us. Artair and several mages used their wards to keep the spirits at bay while Gavin knelt and chanted over graves. All the while our warriors were constantly set upon by undead. Step by step and piece by piece, we built the bridge we needed - through the cooperation and coordination of the party until finally we stood before the portal.

It was decided that once within the Ashenfields, we would separate into three groups. Voraniss, Chimeron and the collective previously mentioned. 

Voraniss started their journey in a guard house where we donned their uniforms. Asher got a bit too curious and was killed by a chest… I was able to escape with his body and bring him back but was reminded of the danger of this realm. The curious smile on his lifeless face too, gave me pause. Those without uniforms, we deemed prisoners and asked where we should go to “process” them. Our ruse was only successful half of the time but we made deadly work of any guards who caught on too quickly.

We made our way into a second building where we attempted to hide for a time. Within it, we found another chest, covered in many locks. Tempest, Tulkhan and Artair as well as others made many attempts to work their way through it but guards continued to pound on the door. The time had come to face the guards and move on, we needed to cover more ground if we were to find the lost Chimeronian.

After fighting our way out, we saw an incredibly large beast. It was made of Stone and crushed anything in its path. The time to fight was past, and we ran for our very lives. It was at this point that our Voranian squad had scattered to avoid the hulking beast. A new objective became clear to me and mine, unite the pack.

Running through the rain and mist, I saw the visage of my daughter Elowen. Relieved for I had feared the worst, I approached with arms open wide, then felt her elven blade sticking in my gut. When I once again awoke I saw her near, tears welling in her eyes. She had been corrupted, raised as an undead and unable to control her actions. I held her close for a brief moment as a father before telling her to swallow the pain if we were to get out of this alive. The rest of my nation was now present and awaiting our next move.

Gavin and I decided that returning to the locked chest from earlier was our best course of action, now that we had lost the attention of the guards and the Golem. So we made our way there and were joined by Pilpus, Gordon, Twen and a few others on the way. 

It wasn’t long before the building was being assaulted again, but Avendar used his savvy to buy us time. He offered the guards riddles in exchange for passage. They were far too simple to guess well and just simple enough to fall for our games, at least for a time. For the Golem returned and blasted the door to splinters. Once again we were fighting for our lives. But we fought them back and Evie repaired the door.

With only a few locks to go, our spirits were raising. But it was at this point we found out that ten Chimeronians entered a building and never came out.

After some debate, we made the call to once again abandon the chest, this time to save our friends. It was a hard fight to the dark building. We lost Tulkhan to the Golem, and a few of our group to the chaos.

Once inside we saw the strewn bodies of the Chimeronians piled in the corner of the room. Evie set up a circle of healing while we started to bring her bodies to recover… but once again the Golem approached with two boulder throwing Ogres at its side. We fought ferociously, as weapon after weapon was crushed by boulder and Golem alike. Using whatever weapons weren't destroyed, we remained a glorious distraction while Evie got to work bringing everyone back. A few times, I was able to convince the Golem to turn on his friends but it did not prove a lasting solution.

In the midst of the battle, Avendar called out to me. He crossed a magical barrier in which I could not follow. He told me to trust him and that I would see him again on the other side. He took a skull from the ground and disappeared. We then escaped, reuniting all three groups. Chimeron recovered their countrymen, we recovered an artifact as well as precious intel about our enemies, and we all escaped through the portal. Even Tulkhan, who had escaped captivity and returned to that chest with Tempest, the contents of which remain a mystery to me. I was just glad to know that we did not trade one life for another.

Once out of the portal we saw to our wounds, both physical and emotional, and set to repairing our weapons that were crushed by the Golem.

James Swift and I sought to use divine magic to fix Azurewrath, the angel blade, by calling upon the angel itself. I made an oath to protect the innocent and destroy evil, upon the blade, and to the angel lest my soul be damned. I also committed myself to journeying to the lands of Stonewood - to slay demons and rid their forest of undead. 

I then gathered my countrymen and journeyed onward - to return home with stories of glory, horror and adventure.

Evil must never go unchecked.

OOC:

What a fantastic event. The players and the staff both seemed committed to telling a great story together. It is events like these that ignite a fire in me and keep me coming back.

Kudos to the event staff and to my fellow veterans of the Ashenfields. Can’t wait for the next event.

What You Missed - Storytellers VII

By Stephen "Laika" Sanford 

To those who have never been to a Storytellers event, generally the way the event series works is an Eventholder pairs up with two or three more people who will break up the event into three parts with little to no interaction between the three. This is a good event for future event holders to dip their toes in event writing on a smaller scale, and a good event for players to experience three different plots over the course of a night. Generally Storyteller events are done in “Arthurian Style” where PCs can play in two sections of the event and NPC for one section. I was told by the event holder that there was enough NPCs and I would not need to follow these rules. Fun note about this event, this is the second Storytellers VII, the last Storytellers was XI. I look forward to the second Storytellers VIII next year.

Section 1: Teng Hua

At the beginning of the night I grouped together with several other players inside the tavern where we made our orders of delicious burgers and fries. A local Tenghuanese woman came up to the tavern with a corrupted Woodlad Yousei asking for help. The Woodlad was harmed out in the forest and would not let anyone near it to help heal it. The way to heal the Woodlad would be find a bandage and coax the yousei and tie the bandage around them. Due to the woodlad’s fear of pain and people’s patience thinning, several people flatted the yousei and bandaged and freed them. Down by the beach of the coast of Teng Hua we found a boathouse where a woman let us know that there was an earthquake recently which released miasma across the land. To allow us to enter area,q she gave us protective masks to safely breath while in the miasma.

Heading back outside we found some more Woodlad who needed to be healed. I asked one of them where it got hurt and it pointed me towards a cave in the woods. Inside this cabin was a Dutch ghost trader. This dutch trader who might have been dead for a long time had been logging and while logging had caused the earthquake and corruption. Inside this cave was filled with miasma which was seeping in from the floor. After several failed attempts to purify the miasma, Lako came up with an idea to trick the ghost and used an intervention to banish the ghost which stopped the miasma flow but did not dissipate the miasma. The miasma should have dissipated by the morning. The corruption of the woods had not dissipated. Rosetta took one of the bandages and performed a seven point rune ritual to purify the corruption.

On our way back to the tavern we discovered the body of a man with bones around his neck and wearing a hockey style mask. This man rose from his deathly slumber and attacked the group swinging armor piercing. After many of us ran off and some of us split off and creeped back to the tavern to safety. At this point we learned his name was Jason the bone collector.

Order of the Magi: Section 2: Electric Boogaloo

Upon returning to the tavern famished and burgerless, some people had received our glorious burgery food while myself and Lako did not. A bumbling wizard showed up and asked for our group’s help with a ritual that would get them to be in the Order of the Magi. This ritual consisted of many different items many that we already have and one was asking for a mage who has never, ever, ever been a fighter. I volunteered myself for this as I had never been a fighter before (remember this for later) but wasn’t needed to satisfy this as I had the banner of wind to symbolize the wind for the ritual. Upon completing the ritual, we were sent out of the tavern, away to lands that were not filled with the smell of delicious burgers. Upon leaving, Lako used his divine powers to have his burger summoned to him.

For the whole quest the group was split into two halves. Upon stepping on the path we encountered goblots which are goblin robots which would stun or kill us. On those goblots were rune tiles, half of them were in Futhark the other half was in Ogum. To proceed we needed to find all the pieces and translate them both to the word “Open”.

The bumbling wizard had now let us know that we needed to ring two alloys to proceed to the next area after passing through a spider’s nest. To pass through the nest you must not touch any of the webs or be sent to the other group’s path. We were able to get through without swapping and Lako and I were rewarded with our burgery deliciousness mid quest delivered right to us. After finishing our meal, we fought more Goblots who had now become more self aware due to reprogramming by others in the group. The Goblots staged a revolt against the wizard and tried to seize the means of production. While the goblots staged their intelligent revolution, we had to find the silver and crimson plate to ring to get to the next area. Unsurprisingly, both plates had shattered and needed to be put together. Unfortunately due to the darkness, we could not find all the pieces and time ran out and rocks fell and only some people died.

Upon our return to the tavern the lights went out and Jason the bone collector came to claim his next victims. This time swinging disease, he felled many of us and some of us cowered in fear and others with the courage tried to stand their ground with Jason. Eventually a group of us ganged up and dragged him out of the tavern and locked the door keeping us safe as the clock passed midnight securing our safety as Friday the 13th had passed.

Section 3: Divine Intervention

Here comes the part of the night many of us had been waiting for, the high risk continuation of the story that ended earlier in the year with the freeing of a god that was long gone. We started the quest inside Darkvale where we were greeted by a familiar local Priest of Justari, Brother Warren. He had let us know that the Aspis (snake people who worship the god Rexan) were invading Darkvale again and had poisoned the local well. We shortly were attacked by Aspis on the field under the full moon. The Aspis had opened a portal into Darkvale and just kept coming with no stop. Eventually we got close enough to remove the supports to the portal and stopped them from entering.

Brother Warren then invited us back to his temple where we found several scrolls from Garm, the god who we had saved 6 months ago. I could go on for a very long time on who Garm is and his aspirations but to make it simple he’s a god being forced to follow and enforce the rules set by the gods. The balance of the gods has been off for a very long time while Garm was gone and got even worse. In the scroll Garm declared war on all followers of gods until the nations of the realms can declare war on a god. Look out for more progress on this at Black and White at the God’s Moot.

Here is a copy of that letter:

Mortals

You have restored me to power, I would thank you had you done so for my benefit. for nigh on a decade I laid pinned by that cursed blade while you went about your lives, but still you've made the right choice and restoring me that I may restore the balance and save the world. In my absence new gods of emerged or lesser ones risen to restore the balance this must be rectified.

As mortals, I know you will only act when forced to, so I will graciously do so. Until the kingdoms of Realms declare war with the intent to kill one of the greater gods of the pantheon and banning all worship of that God is publicly stated and enforced, all who worship any God will be hunted and destroyed. My death knights march now.

Garm

Brother Warren then showed everyone a beautiful Justari sword that swings silver and gives the wielder immunity to poison (which is useful vs Aspis which are snake people). This item would be extremely useful but could only go to those devoted to Justari. Lawrence aka “The Swoop”, came forward and was going pledge himself to Justari but the group said he should wait off until he felt ready. Brother Warren told us that we should go to purify the poisoned well. I talked to my goddess and found out in order to accomplish that someone would need to have immunity to poison cast upon them, enter the well and be killed in the well where their blood would purify it.

We then left and went to go fight the aspis by the well. It was a hard fight in close quarters where aspis kept sneaking around the flank killing the group. We had almost wiped and Lawrence went back to the temple, devoted himself to Justari and took the sword, using it against the Aspis. I had died somewhere in here but was later told that Kovaks had bravely purified the well herself, stopping all regeneration that the aspis had and allowing us to succeed against the Aspis.

Upon returning to the temple the lights went out once more, except this time it was not Jason the bone collector seeking our deaths, it was Garm’s Death Knights. They proclaimed the temple heresy and planned to burn it to the ground. Death Knights are beings who are immune to most wounds except those directly inflicted by Aurora’s power in honorable combat. With the swords of light I had, we tried to fell Garm’s General to no avail. He quickly culled the rest of the group. While he was razing the temple a voice spoke to myself and others to challenge the Death Knight. Lawrence, Kovaks, Tirvanel and myself volunteered to challenge him in that order. Those three all challenged and lost to the General and knowing it was all up to me, I grabbed the Main Gauche of Saint Daniel and the Bone of Shoshanna (the weapons of light of a knight and his squire) and broke weapons restriction trying to fell the General. With all my might and furiosity I jumped on that General quickly taking out two points of his head armor but because I did not have armor myself I took a blade to my back.

Upon dying I heard a voice asking myself if I wanted to challenge them again in exchange that if I lost I would lose 1/3rd of my soul. Without hesitation, I volunteered myself and the Bone of Shoshana left my hand and was replaced with the Sword of Kings. For reference, this god slaying blade was used to pin Dionin and Garm previously. With this power I challenged the Death Knight General once more destroying him entirely. Upon his death, the sword spoke to me once more telling me that it will be back when the time it is needed. The Sword of Kings then left my hand and the Bone of Shoshana was there once again.

I have not had such an adrenaline rush in a very long time and such an enjoyable short quest. As a person who had claimed to have never been a fighter less than 2 hours earlier and then ironically broke weapon restriction to save a temple to Justari it was an amazing experience and kept me up many hours later into the night. I want to thank all the storytellers and the people who helped npc, the grilling staff with the delicious burgers and the players for sharing this eventful night with me.

Why I Want To Go - Feast of Blackwood X

by Lani "Gwen" Jones

I'm so incredibly excited for this event and I can't wait to tell all of you about it. When an event reaches it's tenth in the series it's not just great news for that event holding team or that nation, it is an important milestone for our entire game. It's a symbol of how much history we have as a community, how the traditions that we create together last, and how much we can depend on the Realms continuing to exist in the future. It also makes me feel a little old to think an event that started after I began playing has already reached a decade in age!

Feast of Blackwood has established itself again and again as a can't-miss bookmark event of the eventing year. With a Friday and Saturday full of well thought-out questing with amazing props and a feast on Sunday that raises the bar year after year, theres nothing about this weekend not to love. There's so much to say about the effort this event staff puts in to make their national events engaging and memorable, and what I'm looking forward to this year, so what can I do except sum it up in one of my patented lists?!

Narrative - I've always enjoyed the plot ideas that the Blackwood staff have come up with each and every year and I'm intrigued by the teaser for this year. "Come bring aid to the people, help bless the lands in the name of their beloved Gods and wish well upon the wedding in what can only be a fun and simple quest to remember." Of course we expect this to be simple. Certainly nothing can go wrong when all we're doing is helping to bless the land. Of course there aren't any fantasy tropes out there that might suggest anything could go *wrong* when planning for a wedding. You've piqued my interest Blackwood crew!

Novelty - One of the things I respect the most about this event is the tradition of play testing new rules ideas on the quest. Trying new things and innovating the way we play are both very important to me, and that can only happen if event holders are bold and are willing to take risks. Blackwood never shies away from those risks, even inviting other people from the community to suggest ideas to test out as well. I'm really interested to see how this year's "Fighter Abilities" work out and how much they can add to the game if they are successful and are embraced.

Nuptials - Of course the headliner on this event, the occasion of the season, is the marriage of Sir K and Jinx! In Character weddings are always so much fun. It's always great to see the way that groups interpret the ceremony and celebration of the moment in their own unique ways. And I love the idea that we have dinner options that we've ordered ahead of time as well. The food at this event is always exceptional and I expect that they'll use it to make a statement about how much this wedding, and the bride and groom themselves, mean to the nation.

Feast of Blackwood X promises to deliver like all of the others in the series. You won't be disappointed if you attend. Fun, friends, and food await all of us!

Meme Monday

By the Meme Team

Spotlight On: Team Serra's Armourer Entry

Helm Created by Hygar Athame (Derek Booke)

Write Up by Kindrianna Athame (Renee Booke)

The helmet you see before you started off as a pile of paper and poster board. Hygar wanted to create something new and special for Queen of Hearts this year, so his first step in the creative process had to be creating a custom design/pattern from scratch. Knowing that our Queen Serra is from the nation of Eagle’s Rook, one of the original Knightocracies in the Realms, Hygar wanted to draw inspiration from more historic/traditional helmets and settled upon the visored crusader’s bascinet as a contender. He quickly realized he would have to build a helmet like this in multiple pieces: first the dome and helmet base, then a separate faceplate/visor.

The separate helmet pieces before assembly!

The visor opens and closes so that if a fighter needs to take a quick drink of water/breathe better while wearing it they have a simple solution to do so. The way the pieces were designed to line up it also prevents the visor from falling back closed on you at an inconvenient time. The faceplate is also completely detachable for the fighter that just doesn't want to be bothered with it and it easily snaps back on as desired. Side feather pieces, once hand-tooled, were kept shorter to not interfere with combat effectiveness and molded closely to the head. When fully down, the faceplate uses decorative cut out designs to cover the earholes of the base helm while still providing their benefits. On the front of the helmet Hygar specifically used the cutout design (which he painstakingly did by hand with an x-acto knife) to enhance the field of vision and allow for better breathing in a helmet design that focuses on coverage. Another feature of the helmet that I'm particularly fond of is that it was made so that it can be worn with glasses. Nerd friendly!

Side view!

The helmet was dyed using Fiebings Black Leather Dye and Eco-Flow: Silver. Once the base coats were on, Hygar used a black wash on the silver feathers to highlight the detail and went over the silver with actual silver lead to really make the helmet shine. Once dry, everything was sealed with leather sheen.

Going with the classic look and striving to create a piece reliant on mixed media, Hygar also drew inspiration from the "aventail" aka the mail covering attached to the back of the helmet that covers the neck and shoulders. He used black and silver rings in a four in one weave to do so.

Hopefully, you all enjoy this piece as much as we did! It was a challenge to create and we were both pleased with the results and proud of some of the design features that we came up with. If there are any questions about the process, methods or materials please feel free to ask!

Why I Want To Go - The StoryTellers VII and The Strangers War I

by Lani "Gwen" Jones

One of the things I love most about the fall (okay it's not technically fall yet but you know what I mean) is it really starts to feel like it's questing season! The weather cools down and spending the day out in the woods just becomes the perfect way to pass the weekend. People in the Realms throw amazing quests in the fall, I have so many great memories of them. And speaking of that, I expect there will be lots of new great memories to be made at the events this coming weekend.

First up, on Friday night, is the Story Tellers VII. This is such an amazing series of events because its a place where different event holders can share the stage to tell their stories. Three different quests are going to be run that night, and every one of them sounds interesting. I'm excited to see what comes next in the Divine Intervention series that got off to such a blockbuster start with the release of Garm from his throne. I'm intrigued be the idea of the combined talents of the Magi of the Realms putting together an adventure to experience. And most of all, I'm thrilled to experience a new story from the imaginings of a younger player. Keep in mind that depending on NPC turn out, players might be asked to NPC one of the three quests so that everyone has the best night possible.

On Saturday evening, heroes will be gathering in a tavern in Chimeron to attempt a quest into the Ashenfields, a mysterious place within Deep Fey. The description of this event makes it really sounds different and interesting. I'm intrigued by the idea of relying on cunning and stealth to survive on a quest rather than the more traditional method of bashing down everything in front of us. Something about all of the names and places we're going to see, the Ashenfields, the Path of the Veil, the Strangers, really captures my imagination and kind of scares me a little! In fact, the vibe of this event is supposed to be darker with some horror elements... could anything be more perfect for questing through a cool autumn (almost) night? I scare especially easily too, so I'm probably the perfect audience for this kind of story. A couple things to keep in mind. This is labeled as a high-risk event with the possibility of losing your character so make sure you read the event description very well. Also, the event staff will be selling sandwiches and other food items in the tavern so you don't have to worry about going anywhere else for dinner before the quest starts.

All in all, a weekend packed with adventure and excitement, exactly what we love and expect out of these cool fall (kind-of) days.

What You Missed at Invictus Questing 2

by Adam "Elric" Blaisdell

A year ago, a group of criminals invaded Rathkeale and overtook some of the islands. Many answered the call to arms sent out by Invictus, and helped reclaim our lands, however, many of the criminals were able to escape. Recently, Shandar sent word that we would be pressing the offensive on them, in their posts throughout the Lost Kingdoms. I was eager to assist and even kill a few of them myself, so I rallied what Rathkeale members I could. Lord Hayden, a few of his underlings, and Sven Svenson III answered the call. I also convinced Evie and Fenrys’ sister, Alessia, to join us. 

When we arrived at base camp on Friday night, we were met by a few familiar faces, and a lot of newer ones. Shandar informed us that the enemy had taken many castles over the course of the year, including one which was close to Invictus and one near Voraniss. During the night we were to stop supply carts from reaching the castles, as to ensure they didn't have extra supplies. Throughout the night, we managed to stop all three without much trouble, but much like last year, we found wanted posters of some of our friend’s faces, and more of their strange writing. It seemed that they wanted to capture the females of our group, for which reason we were unsure. We had also learned that the enemy could learn how to conduct our magics just by watching us. Now I have no problems with them learning Necromancy, but I'm sure that many adventurers with me did not want that to happen. 

The next morning the real attack began. We learned that at dusk, the enemy would be conducting rituals at each of the castles they had captured, however we were unsure what their goal was. While Invictus attacked the castle closest to their border, our questing party would strike at the castle closest the Voraniss and hopefully disrupt their ritual. The day consisted of constant castle siege, through the many outer walls of the keep. We found strange pieces of a tablet, different knick knacks and trinkets, and a large chest filled with food (which a bear seemed to want to help out with later in the night). We fought our way over lava, around barricades, and on floating platforms in water.

Finally we reached the main door to the keep which, when all of the pieces of the tablet were put together correctly on it, spelt out a message about stars dying and beginning the cycle again. The door took a long time to open, and when it finally did, it seemed to be night time. We fought our way through the darkened castle, solving a strange star puzzle and killing a lot of enemies, and finally made it to the ritual. 

The ritual consisted of 4 pillars which created a barrier we could not pass. In the center of the pillars was a woman, who manipulated trinkets on her ritual table and called out to any that would listen. A being much like the one I and many others spoke with last year (which I later found out was one soul inhabiting multiple physical forms) was also present, trying to draw information out of the adventurers in our party. Four other masked beings guarded the pillars like statues. Each of the beings "came alive" one at a time, and we dispersed each one with different strategies. Once each of the beings fell, the pillars could be deactivated by willing heroes grabbing ahold of them. First came brave Elizah, who screamed in pain and fell to the ground, with Mathies using his scolding dad voice telling her she shouldn't have done that. Second Fancy grabbed one, and while he did not scream, a look of pain surely washed over his face. I grabbed the third, but quickly let go as I felt the full intensity of a star trying to force its way into me, to remove my magic. Before I even had time to recover, a man by the name Scalar quickly took my place. Lastly, from the fourth pillar I heard a yell of pain I did not expect to hear. It was Mathies who grabbed the last pillar, and allowed us to finally disrupt the ritual. 

After this, I retired to my place of rest, but through the trees I overheard something about a bunch of souls, a gem, some shanking, a second chance, and someone trapped inside the gem. I won’t lie, I really didn’t want to involve myself in that chaos.

The next morning, we set out to rescue Red, the lumberjack that Tao had employed last year, but sadly I had other matters to attend to, so I did not see it the rescue mission through. 

OOC: The event was great, the immersion was good, the effects were awesome, and the fighting was tiring but satisfying. Another great Invictus Questing, and I very much look forward to the next installment.