What You Missed - Tales From Teng Hua 3 (photos)

 

The calm before the adventure

 

A wild Yosei appears

 

Corrupted Yosei are grateful for being saved

 

Jerrick and Vesper had a bit of a scuffle

 

Yosei battles

 

What You Missed: Feast of Folkestone

 by Ethan "Jean-Baptiste" Goldman

You know, I’m rarely asked to talk about feasts. I don’t know what I’m putting out, or putting off, but people don’t see fit to ask me about such things often. Perhaps because people find my own diet so strange, perhaps because people think ill be overly critical and review the food.

Well they are right we are doing that.

So the first thing I noted was that the feast was inside. Perhaps due to a lack of serving staff, or who knows, the big barbeque area from last Folkefeat’s festivities were not used again this time, when you sort of assumed itd make sense. Then again that’s more a barbeque thing, and barbeque is not what we had. Well actually that was the second thing, the first thing I noticed was that I forgot to eat lunch that day and only had a banana that entire day, this will become relevant later on.

The first thing that were available were helpings of appetizers, rather then the traditional 3 kinds of butter and giant loaves of bread, there were vegetable platters, cheese platters, and platters to put the other platters food on. There were also meat pies, deviled eggs, and crostinis. Now you cant exactly review a vegetable platter, its carrots and ranch they don’t have any difference in their tastes so lets skip the plates and get to the bakes.

I bit into the meat pie and stared into the distance, and yet despite eating three pies, not a single titan emerged to rain death and despair across the world. So Chimerons still in the lead there I suppose. In fact I had the deviled egg and didn’t taste the SLIGHTEST hint of devil! It was just dill! I like dill, but I don’t like subverted expectations.

I also like crostines. They had roasted grape on them! I didn’t know you could roast a grape, they kinda looked like those purple olives. The grapes went really well with the honey goat cheese, and that’s where the trouble started.

You remember that bit where I said “I only ate a banana the entire day”, if not scroll up. I said itd be important later, and later is now. You see, when you don’t eat you tend to overcompensate. I hate 12 pieces of crostini… maybe. I lost count, all I knew was it was too many crostinis. I knew this because I flipped a Dillveled egg atop a crostini and swallowed it whole. This was not a good idea. It tasted good, but it was too much. That day I learned why they call those eggs “Deviled.”

I learned a lot that day, some things I never expected. Did you know Malaki WASN’T a Knight of the Realm till a few days ago? I sure didn’t, good on him. I just see a white belt and just assume you know. But more happened then just white belts. I also learned the value of fancy beer mugs (High!) and some secrets that will haunt me to this day. And also, when you eat so many crostinis you cant even taste your chicken, don’t eat a kahula trifle.

But heaven forbid, if you do, DO NOT GO TO OUTER SPACE. But what could I do? A random person went into a building and asked nicely. We had no choice BUT to go into outer space!

The portal to the further realms was inscribed with runes. They said “Do your best” which was very encouraging, we needed that encouragement in order to calm the cosmos down. We had to play tag, tell bedtime stories, do ring around the rosey. Maybe we were talking to children stars, maybe Orion is hiding some hobbies from us we don’t know about, maybe we are all hiding something… but celestials seem somewhat childish. Well when they aren’t fighting the Yellow King I suppose. Even when you make them tired, you have to tuck them into their own personal beds, because if they do it themselves they’ll get lost and a planet will probably die.

It was at this point the astroids attack, and I lost my war with low gravity crostinis and had to flee the scene. I ASSUME the heroes saved the solar system… but the teng hua night quest was awfully dark…

So that’s what you missed about the feast, it was a great reunion, a great bidding war for strange experiences and art and fancy steins. But you know what wasn’t there?

Ginger.

Can we talk about ginger I want to talk about ginger lets talk about ginger we are talking about ginger. Ginger is one of the greatest spices on Gaias green dirt. Its sweet but it burns like hell and lets your eyes go all verai on you, you see things that haven’t happened, but they always happen anyway later. Does the ginger let you see the future, or does the ginger simply ensure the world you already see becomes true? At one point a man dreamed of a butterfly but when he woke up he was the butterfly staring at the man. Reality is a circle, its not about what your eating its about whats eating you. How many pieces of ginger have you eaten, how much of what you see is through candied eyes? Does it stick to your fingers or were they your fingers all along.

You know one gram of ginger makes you larger, one bit makes you small. But the third one makes you feel nothing at all. I think that’s true, I’d have to ask the ginger but im out of the ginger and the ginger doesn’t talk except with your lips, so you can only meet the ginger if you eat the ginger. Its good for your heart but nothing helps your soul.

So yeah there wasn’t any ginger in folkestone and that’s not a problem then but then I thought about it later, and looking back ginger is a great food and it really should’ve been at the feast I mean, ginger just does SO MUCH for you. You can make so many things with ginger, it’s the spice to make things nice, and spice must flow.

How do you roast a grape anyway?

Meme Tuesday

 

Quick Quiz - Mythological Heroes

Below you will find a 20 question quiz. Each question is simply the name of a person. You must determine in the ten second time limit if the person was a real historical figure or someone from legends and mythologies around the world. Let us know your score on Facebook, but don't give anything away! If the quiz does not appear properly below you can click here.

Why I Want to Go to Feast of Folkestone and Tales of Teng Hua

By: John “Gordon” Rescigno

Oh gosh it’s been a while since I wrote one of these. It feels like it’s been forever, which it pretty much has! It’s been so long since I saw so many of your smiling faces, and this weekend there are several things that help fuel that smile on mine!

Food.

Feast of Folkstone is a staple feast in the Realms. The food is always amazing, and this year, I am very excited to see what Matiya has in store for us. If there was ever a time to shake things up, it's right after a long hiatus! I don’t know how much is going to change, but I do know that I am going to be fed surrounded by lots and lots of friends!

Friends.

How long has it been since we saw each other? I love your hair! How is your family?

BIG SQUEEZE

Practice what you’re going to say and do to your lovely friends after seeing them for the first time in forever. Events like this remind me why many of us play this game: the community we create. There is going to be something very special about all of us getting together, sitting down, and breaking bread together at the first feast event since Feast of Creathorne last year.

Gambling.

Do you feel that itch? Right there behind your jawline? No? Just me? 

If you’re like me, you haven’t gambled in a LONG time, and you may have started playing a gacha game that you put down in 2016 but needed that rush of things with incredibly low chances of happening and celebrating because of that. 

Well  no more! Tao is going to have his casino wide open for us jonesing to click chips together and watch the cards fall where they will, and I heard there will even be a poker game! Sadly I’m going to have to miss the poker tournament because of something going on at the same time.

Questing!

Okay you caught me, this is my favorite part of eventing, and I may be a little bit biased on this front, but I am super excited, because the Knights of the Lunar Aegis are putting on their very first night quest on Friday night! And especially since I will be NPCing the next two days, I am even more excited to put on my armor for an evening and see what they have in store for us.

Tales of Teng Hua

We’ve been waiting for this, folks. Finally returning to Teng Hua to see what is going on in this seemingly peaceful land since we last left its borders. If you remember, there is a lot going on with spirits, Yosei, family politics, a pesky ghost army, and much more to see and explore. This is a plot team that we all know and love, who have been happily torturing the Realms with their fantastic content for years, and they’ve had a whole year to prepare for this. Come join me this weekend at what is sure to be an amazing event.

WYM- Trial of the Gods: Welcome to Camp Despair

Hope for Camp Despair

By Rowan

Ah, summer camp… those memorable days filled with campfire songs, group activities, that one overzealous counselor whose only joy in life is your suffering, and of course, bear traps. So many bear traps.

Camp Despair was everything the name would suggest, and so much more. Upon our arrival to the mist-shrewn campground, our motley adventuring crew was greeted by Head Counselor Despair, a peppy demon with a nasty scar and a nastier temper. While some of us pondered over whether we had arrived at the wrong camp, we were promptly instructed to divide into teams, school-yard style (I was baffled when Grindin of Ashenmark, a skilled fighter and competent athlete, was last pick). The first task: My team was to guide the other, blindfolded team through a maze of obstacles, grappling vines, and yes, bear traps. So many bear traps. We guided them all through in reasonable time and with few casualties. But when our turn came to navigate the course, the difficulty had increased: the walls were now fire, the vines now poison, and the bear traps were... well, still bear traps. So many bear traps. It was no wonder we failed (or maybe it was the guides who failed? I’m not sure). Some suspected foul play. Others suspected that Counsellor Despair had grown bored. It wasn’t until later that I learned of further sabotage wrought by demon influences from within our own.

I should get to the part about the Demons. Each of us were chosen by a deity or demon, for unknown (or perhaps just random) reasons. Our sponsors were known only to ourselves and granted us specific abilities. The demon representatives were given nefarious goals, and our mission was to purge them all. No, really, throw them in the fire and cleanse them of their demonic influences. Or the godly powers of one of our own, if we messed up badly enough. We mostly shot blind, mistrust and apathy abound.

But this story isn’t complete without Bob. No summer camp experience is complete without the unexpected friendship of two strangers meeting and passing like ships in the night. They may not follow through on their promises to keep in touch, but nonetheless they will never forget their time together. Bob is one such friend, and I hope he will always cherish our friendship bracelet.  We encountered him on our Quest to “take care of” a bear that had been seen roaming around the campground. He was easy enough to find, rifling through an unattended tent (remember to properly secure your rations, kids). We made sure to take good care of Bob Disbearington, and led him back to the safety of the pavilion where he wouldn’t fall victim to one of the many bear traps. I gave him speech with our precious friendship bracelet, and everyone helped so that he had all the snacks and severed arms that he desired. We even got rid of a pesky demon who had insisted on putting Bob into a bear pit -  where Bob had very much no desire to go - after much debate on the demon’s reasoning that bears go in bear pits, when a “bear pit” without a bear was clearly just a “pit” of any potential. It ended up being a demon pit in the end, and Bob made a lovely meal out of Temorse that night. I’m told he even earned his own merit badge and ascended into some higher state of being, perhaps even among the lower pantheon. We can only hope.

But alas, summer camp never lasts forever, and Camp Despair was no different. We succeeded in outing the last of the demon sympathizers in a well-played game of Never-Have-I-Ever. Despair herself turned out to have been corrupted by a very similar turn of events long ago, back when she was the Chosen of Aurora with a more hopeful heart. Together, we loyal campers managed to turn Despair away from her path of spite and redeem her true self. I might not have managed to earn a merit badge this year, but I look forward to returning for Camp Home next summer. 

Rowan

Chosen (for a time) of Rawonam,

Friend of Bob

WYM - Trial of the Gods: Welcome to Camp Despair (photos)

 Photos and captions by Steve Sanford 

"Friendly" Head Camp Counselor Despair

The Campers of the Realms first team breaking exercise is the Blind obstacle course!

Our lovely campers having fun killing each other playing deadly dodgeball.

A Happy Camper about to show her luck at Rexan Roulette!

The Campers journeyed into the mysts and were met with some skeletons

The next team breaking exercise, Despair's Play

New Adventurers trying to pick up Blue never gets old.

Campers fell into yet another dangerous bear pit.

Happy Campers throwing their equipment up to be pulled out of the pit

The Happy Campers journey across the lake to see the Very Voluptuous Loch Ness Monsters.