January 18 highlights

Father/Daughter time with Reno.

Gene amusingly ruining Grim's life with Karl, and presenting him with a demon's bargain to undo his mistake from before. And Grim rejecting it, and in so doing staying true to who he is.

Gilgamesh' ambush, Grim and Seamus side by side or head to head, and the second fight outside Kaladonia where I actually got to fight Gilgamesh and not fold like a wet bathroom towel. It's a nice circular moment from last winter where Gil promptly stomped Grimkjell's face into the snow.

The unrelenting chase of the Wendigo into the dark. Thank you chris.

The joy on the Alchemist Guild's face once they developed their new experimental weapon.

Fighting Luis as his Monk NPC was great fun, I took some hard hits but it was a satisfying boss fight, from grim eating all those throat punches to eventually landing a killing slay.

That look on Joey's face when I kool aid manned into the area with him, and then the smirk as he expelled me from lair

THe mirror match with me and Geoff Schaller's NPC.

Carlos' reading for Grim.

Putting on a shield and parry clinic at main mod as a CR 7 cav. It's been a while since I've been NPCing a random crunchy, I hope everyone had fun with my silent portrayal there.

Watching new players grow and be thought brave and mighty.

Reno's sweet new armor.

The wristband that even I can't read.

The return of the bartenders!

Feast was lovely, and being thanked to be a server was lovely too.

Brother time with Caldor perched on my shoulder. Caldor making a huge difference in a mod with winks.

Grim's magic legs. That joke never gets old though Grim hates it.

Grim and Meander bonding over Tobias Armitage.

Big Z just being really funny.

Nick lookin like Darth Maul.

Airdropped into a battle by a Templar (Thanks Dave)

Life without hope.

"Wait, you were there Midori? Who do you think was healing you?"

Oh, and facing a goblin arrowstorm and just casually bouncing them all like some kind of super badass Samurai or something

Then fighting the entire contingent of Ogres supporting them. That was super fun.

Greeting Lois' late arrival with a joke instead of scary news. She seemed to approve.

Highlights…
A much needed weekend for this po’ Celt. And a somewhat unexpected one too… with all the highs and lows.
What sticks out in no particular order…

Blood Spirits Deep Cover jobs bear fruit and Travance is ready for the Eldritch Coven. Protecting the Count (and the Kingdom’s Regent!!) also means locating threats. Massive thumbs up to the Agents…

School of Nope is present this month despite aches. Friday night fighting that I was there for and the Saturday morning/afternoon mods all went well, with much in the way of fun battles.

Saturday Morning Brazen Mass. Always a highlight but this month a very good one as I had a very attentive (if small) audience. Good message

Saturday Afternoon battle…
Templar Battle Delivery System… or how to being the fight to the back of your enemy with an airlift. Three Templars plus three potent fighters is a Bad Thing to have behind your battleline.

Borrowing a bow from a fellow Spirit later in the fighting, I proceed to check on if I can still hit the broadside of a barn with one.
After hitting no less than three NPC’s on the run and snaking a shot between two players into another NPC, I think I can still shoot. Of the fifteen to twenty times I fired, I missed only three (and one was because he was about five feet further than I thought). Cookie Tree would be proud… and it was nice to have fun with something I rarely use.
- side note: I could only laugh at the shots I was taking when I was stuck on my ass from crippling; The look on an NPC face when I shot him from the ground made me giggle…. And I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to those who tossed me arrows when I was stuck on the ground. It kept me in the fight.

Congrats to Norm on getting the long wished for but never gotten Kensai Duel. Deeply jealous but I imagine one day I’ll get one.

Feast- Food was excellent.
I could not for the life of me figure out why my voice was cracking during benediction... but at least I got the message out.
Travance is Family and getting Work done is what we do- Brazen would be Proud.

Highlight and low light from Sat Night Main was drawing not 1… not 2…. Not three… but FOUR Sword and Board fighters at one point. I hate fighting a competent one and here I had a quartet. I may not have shown it… but I was absolutely crying on the inside. Thank you to you four for reminding me that as good as I can be at times, I am not THAT good…

Anniversary of Rane and Duncan. Some very pleasant talks and celebration all weekend… along with something that qualifies as uber-romantic in Travance.
- Sat Night main, fighting and we get surrounded. She get hammered by NPC’s and I spring to her aid to try forcing them away from her falling form… only to get dropped right next to her.
So we went back to back on the ground and watched/listened to the battles around us, joking that it would be appropriate to die together like this. Because, like… In Travance, fighting and dying next to your love is an appropriate event on an anniversary (or so it seems… )

Some Long Awaited additions to our ranks… along with some solidifying of alliances. Positive news for us… and it was sorely needed.

Sunday Morning… Coffee and Donuts delivery is ALWAYS a highlight, be it a Saturday or Sunday thing.

Sunday…
The morning wakeup crew…. And the Lesson on why you don’t attack a Priest of a WArgod while he’s drinking his morning cup of coffee… Bad day for them got worse as soon as help arrived from in the manor…

Teaching Master Warrior Lesson 1 to fellow clergy and Lesson 2 to a Smith. Excellent use of time and solid discussion… No fighting due to conditions but not all lessons require fighting.
More religious teaching to fellow Brazenites Priest. We help each other and this makes us stronger.

More as I remember it… as I am still fuzzy brained. Peace all and see folks in two weeks.

Oh yeah....

Reece- Damn you and your hide to a nosferatu hell... I am NOT a witch hunter, much less a Von Ritter... and yet I get all the vampire problems. *shakes fist*

Had so much fun meeting new people! I love watching peoples expressions when Dusty starts talking about her experiments and asks if they would mind helping. lol

I hope I spell your name right. I love how Tari grabs Dusty for things I really should not be doing. One of my favorite moments this weekend was following her to where people were going to the portal after being told not to by Selphatos and Tsula caught up to me to stop me and got dragged along for the ride. Had such a fun time on that mod. kudos to Steve for quality roleplay with Tsula and i while everyone else was fighting. Tsula are you sure we weren't supposed to help stop that? lol

Happy to hang out with the bartenders at both bars. So much sugar and laughter! Chocolate deals are the best!

Someday my making friends with everyone I meet and my innate ability to get lost will probably get me dead, Luckily not this weekend. This weekend was nothing but pure fun! Let's go on an adventure!

I'm WAAY to tired to actually do highlights, but I have a few quick ones:

1) Switching bodies with Jack and Owen was hilarious and absolutely fantastic RP. "Give me the bullets" "Can I play with the gun first?" "Wow... your insults really have deterioriated"
Sub note: Being dominated to kill people, while acting as someone else was fantastic.
2) Enemies in main mod shouting "FOR THE REAL KING" and "FOR KORMEYER" really drove home the story.
3) Kardin REALLY proved there is more to him than many people think this month. It was a true pleasure to work on a REALLY cool strategy and execute it with you my friend.
4) Super-secret Bunny attack to take down a boss? Yes please.
Sub Note: Sergi's silver tongue for the WIN. Chris, as always, you rule.
5) The mechanic on the 'only 3 PCs in the circle at a time' fight was great. And it led to amazing fighting.
6) EXORCISM CIRCLE around a main boss... And the AMAZING RP by matt in dealing/destroying it.
7) Happy Birthday Item Cards. Gotta be the most valuable card for the new item trade in, right?
Even though I didn't go on it, Diplomacy main mod option? AWESOME.
9) Chris and Luis accidentally pulling such a cool martial arts set of maneurvers ending in a back to back and then leap apart, that we questioned ‘umm… they are the heroes, right? That’s a hero move. Crap.”

Spending a good chunk of Friday night with Meander as two different characters with widely varying dynamics. There might have been more dialogue if I could've found the words.

Chet giving an off-the-cuff pep talk to Reno.

Getting ready in the Barracks for my Saturday morning NPC shift and Ashley C. passing out box-lunches to everyone in the room because we were all on shift and she wanted to make sure we were fed.
RED was on the run, chasing someone. I clacked him in the leg with a "Cripple." Right after I said the word, my foot slipped forward fast through the mud. Matt and I hit the ground at the same time. Cue the two of us cackling and a chuckling Reece lifting me up off the ground. Now I know what "Eye for An Eye" feels like.

Grumpy Dwarf giggle times. Dale about two hours before lay-on; Rob at around 2:00 a.m. in the Inn while my exhausted, caffeinated brain rolled a 1 in trying to eat a bowl of noodles with friends nearby. Snowglobe.

Nalick's new outfit and the compliments received--including one Nalick got from a role model of his. I can't remember who called the old one "Dire Halfling Mr. Rogers."

Lois' tarot reading for Nalick.

Nalick: "You may have changed my mind about these."
Lois: "Praise Chronicler?"

Then her reading for Marcus and his facial expressions after every draw. Scary.

Exorcism with Aldric. Reading it at the same time and feeling like my hair was going to stand on end at a few key lines.

Kardin at the diplomatic meeting. Damn. Ben, when Nalick told you later how proud of you he was, Jeff was saying it at the same time.

Only used 5 tag skills the entire weekend
Which leads me to the main reason, I developed a hernia

Finishing an interesting research commission that led to something much deeper than I ever expected after I started to turn over some rocks. The trick to gathering data and intelligence is knowing which rocks to overturn.

People who arrange to meet me must actually show up when they arranged to do so.

Friday Night:

-Spending 3 hours hunting people in the woods and fighting them as a Wendigo. I love my scary babies, and the reactions to them from players new and old are always gratifying. Kudos to the people who actually went to chase me cross country through the woods, and to the people who made the fights a great challenge on the rock hard mud.
-Completely muffing up a metaphor due to having been awake for 24 hours and being unable to stop laughing about it.

Saturday:

-Punch Wizarding with Louis against the town. It's been a long time since I've gotten to do so much heavy combat in one event. I'm paying for it now, but so worth it.
-The honor duel against Norm. Absolutely a highlight of my entire event. Sometimes villains can have just as much honor as the heroes.
-Defusing the situation with Joey's coven leader as Sergei with a silver tongue and some creative thinking. I love being able to solve problems in unexpected ways.
-AG Dinner. Whether we make it or smuggle it in, I always look forward to this. It's relaxing, great camaraderie, and a good way to just happily exist with people.
-More creative problem solving against the ice statues with Annora and Peaches.
-Strange and horrifying conversations that leave others mentally scarred and me/Sergei laughing.
-Impromptu improv finger gun theater with Django, Sindarion, Nalick, and Kardin.

So I am exhausted, and I believe that it was well earned. This event was fantastic! I really have nothing but good things to say!!! So highlight time!

-11 plus hours of research between Thalia, Selby and Amalthea. And the look on James' face when he heard how much we'd done! And this was done without a Ring of Time. I love being a scholar! Also Lore Partay!!!

-Discussions of religious ideals vs. the realities of living in Travance with Tim!

-Research with Barak.

-The return of the Chaos Waste group and Cade coming and asking all kinds of questions because he didn't trust what he was being told and just didn't remember. Well done guys!

-The reading from Carlos. As always so very accurate!

-Taking part in the second part of the Diplomatic mission and helping coordinate that part back at the inn. Also Thalia remembering that she is good at the diplomacy this stuff!!

-Ben Feldman! I am giving you a huge shoutout for your part in that mod! Well done!!! Climbing up the balcony and all!

The biggest highlight of my weekend, however, was at Feast. I can honestly say that when we - kitchen and serving staff - were asked to come out, none of us were expecting the outpouring that we got. I've been doing serving coordination for about three years now, and on behalf of myself and the serving staff, thank you all. I legitimately was on the verge of tears. The job is often one that is pretty thankless. On Saturday, you guys changed that.

Additionally, and this is not a highlight: I want to thank everyone who came up to me and Josh with well wishes for our mother. We had a bit of a shock on Saturday night right before feast. Thankfully, I'm happy to report that everything is (or will be) fine. It's just going to take some time. Thank you to EVERYONE who spoke to us and offered support and hugs! It's one more reason that I am so pleased and grateful to be part of this community!

See you guys in two weeks!

POOR PROFESSOR HAND!!!!! A happy ending and new beginning for his circus - and a wave of crushing guilt and self-loathing for Lois. Thank god for Ilana and her seagull trick, because Lois was about to take the fate that Hand had originally chosen.

Yet another set of ribs in Travance has been tagged

Sebastien, the last true gentleman!

A wonderfully sassy & salty conversation with Cecelia as we waited for a mass that never happened

Curing amnesia with Kardin & two random passerby by aggressively jingling at the patient.

Doing readings. Thanks to everyone who suffered through my imperfect understanding of the cards and managed to enjoy themselves anyway Marcus' reaction was the best and has encouraged me to do this more often! And thanks to Carlos, for everything I never expected Lois to ever be religious in any way, but if I'd had to guess, being resonant to the *Fate* aspect of Chronicler instead of Knowledge, and relying on the primal impressions evoked from a tarot deck, would never have occurred to me as a possibility.

And last but certainly not least... THE DATE. If you ever heard the story of Bob & Lois' picnic date (aka the Second Sylvan Incursion), this was even more comically awful . Trying to secure the room, Andy as Reginald Tiddlesworth (one letter saved Zelretch from violent revenge ), Sindarion barreling in off the porch for MINSTREL DUEL, Kardin being Kardin, having to bribe Jun to leave - Marcus was the only sane one and fled the premises with haste . AND THAT WAS JUST THE FIRST 20 MINUTES. But I suppose the true highlight of the weekend was that despite how atrocious it all was, Van did say "next time"

LoisMaxwell wrote: Sebastien, the last true gentleman!

Believe it or not...This is huge for me.

But I suppose I'll use this post for my own highlights!

Being the Count's main Defender. I'll admit, when I was on the Onyx guard defending the Baron, keeping up, and staying with him wasn't too difficult. And the same is true for the Count, however...James takes time to go OOG a lot to keep things running smoothly. And so you have to determine if the Count is on the move because he simply is going somewhere else...Or if James needs to step aside for a bit. I began to catch on, and was able to give James all the space he needed OOG. But there was a time where the Count was just moving, and I was like, "Oh shit, I lost him!"

I'm thinking of taking up physician and becoming a field medic.

Sébastien with a two-hander though. Like...Come on!

I absolutely LOVE watching both Chris Zipeto and Luis Case fight. Those two are freakin awesome!

I'm going to give a shout out to Matt M. I don't really think people see how much of a difference he makes for the newer players here at KR. See, a lot of folks say that some STs choose NPC roles that can only be taken up by their friends. "You see the same people playing the big bad all the time". And I can see why. Give the role to someone you can trust to do it. It makes perfect sense. But then there's Matt. He had a big role...Not a large one...But still big. I offered to take it as a heavy martial fighter with a good handle on the IG skills. But he gave the role to someone who was much newer. At first, I almost took offence. But then I thought, wait...This is a good thing. We need to help our new friends fit into our community, and doing so right away gives even more power to us. The player might not have gotten everything perfect on the battlefield. But the overjoyous look I saw on his face as he was telling everyone about what he was asked to do really made the event for me. Thank you Matt!

Fadeith's Drow transformation to prove that she's more than just a pretty face...No...No you're a badass, Fade...We all already knew that.

Three templars were asked to fly one person each behind enemy lines to break their wall, and I was one of the chosen. Yo...You had all of Travance there, but I got chosen. I love it!

I got to Sparta Kick Atrus. Go ahead...Anyone else go ahead! Try that and survive!

The full contact fighting I did with Drew as Mileof, Shane as Seamus, And RJ as Peaches. I will do anything to fight those three gentlemen any day of the week. And I will gladly get my ass whooped!

POWERSLIDE!

My talks with Pluvious get me thinking a lot...They make me think a WHOLE lot.

I love Kardin! Ben and Kardin. Like...Holy shit you are dope has fuck, man!

Almost got my teeth knocked out by Tinney as I bit him on the neck as a Nos. He turned with a clenched fist like "BOY, I SAY BOY!" Good times. He then went on to save me from reenacting Michael Jackson's pepsi commercial. Thank you, John. Fight me, old man.

Played a spider that made a HUGE web in the inn. I got hit with an animal companion by Keevey. But instead of defending it and attacking. I ate it, and made what I hope was a really cool scene for her. The spider's voice may have also been the same as HappyHorns...Easter Eggs here and there, ya know.

The Count's SkullBoxMan reference.

OOOH BOY! I'm sure there's more!

-Ven and Ilana hop through time and almost get crushed by it but find out some important information! (However, Ilana politely skips the *f* out of visiting Evernight)

-Scramble together a Healer ritual to unlock an obelisk and then cry because reasons.

-Ilana tells Gregory 'get out' and tries to help keep a Psion ritual from going horribly wrong. (Also awkwardly slip through a barrier in a way I never thought I'd use against a PC. That skills supposed to be utility, not attack! )

-Ilana totally helps out a devil without any questions because she's more worried about Lois than anything else. Doesn't end up regretting the decision.

-The general confirmation that if George didn't have to deal with demon BS, he would have just been a chill acrobat performer. (Mostly because of a joke about chocolate covered cashews and carnies sticking around once you've fed them.)

-"We're having a counseling session, have a good day." I'm just glad no one complained about leaving.

-Running into the Sevenlore/Eldritch Blade business. Ilana may have a task she can complete to assist!

-The robe Nick was in seriously made him look JP tall at a distance and I was trying to figure out who the heck he was until he started talking. It was a neat effect.

-George tries to eat a demon in the process of dragging a soul. In lieu of not succeeding that, he decides to save the soul instead.

Justé wrote:
Almost got my teeth knocked out by Tinney as I bit him on the neck as a Nos. He turned with a clenched fist like "BOY, I SAY BOY!" Good times. He then went on to save me from reenacting Michael Jackson's pepsi commercial. Thank you, John. Fight me, old man.

I was in full fight mode bro... and that (im?)perfectly timed attack almost went south. Good thing my brain is quicker than my reaction time... though reaction time can be as fast at times... as shown by my preventing you from becoming the Johnny Blaze of Travance.

Fight you anytime, Young Man. Any time.:cool: :cool:

Wow, this event had a lot of stuff packed into it! A big thanks to James for letting me play your charismatic and, I quote, "physically unimposing" claimant to the Kormyerian Throne, Hystern Meldicia.

Now then, for a round up:

• Having Eden show up just a few minutes after Arradir diverted Lois into the Inn from the onslaught of Wendigo and Homunculi that was occurring across camp was tons of fun. Sorry for "interrupting" that amazing monologue, Lauren, but hearing "destroy all life on this plane" is pretty much where Arradir starts pulling the big-damn-hero decisions.
• Dealing with the emotional turmoil of several Travanicans after a visit from Karl. If only Kroh was out to add to the fun.
• Getting to co-Marshal with Brian T for an amazing shift filled with great players. From "baby" rock carrying crazy people to severed totem spirits (Other Joe G played the roll of his Blight Druid amazingly), we had a whole lot of fun.
• Coming off my shift to immediately start laying the ground work for the 4pm Main Mod was tons of fun. Ben F., you were amazing to play off of in our 1-on-1 scene and it was great to see that side of Kardin actually take shape.
• Following that scene, I got to aid in setting up a Main-Mod with the great marshals that were on the 2-6pm shift. Because of you all, we put on one hell of a show. Special thanks to Drew B. for helping marshal Hystern's escape ritual so that it was fun for everyone.
• Having a rabbit be Hystern's downfall. "Ignore the rabbit and fall into formation!" ~ General Morg (Geoff S)
• Expel from Lair-ing Grim after the clay dome fell. The look on his face was priceless.
• Props to Chris Z, Dave M, Jeff B, Ben F, and everyone else for some great roleplay upon the capture of Hystern. You all took his ending in an amazing direction!
• Getting killing-blowed by one of the towns-members on main-mod! That was unexpected and apparently the talk of the town Sunday morning.
• Getting asked to do a final scene as Hystern following the capture of his sister. Tori, you were great and made selling that final scene to the PCs super easy. Playing solitaire with my hands chained together in the jail cell (back-room of the Black Bird) made for a great opener that everyone can thank Ben F for thinking up on the fly.
• Enjoyed finally having a Sunday morning to sit down and have a totem meditation with Keavy and Dirge. Dani and Tom, you were both amazing to RP with and made the wait for such a scene to take place WELL worth it. Even if some rather annoying goblins popped up (looking at you, Nick C).

~ Joe G.

Sooooooo many good times.
-My wicked new armor, works like a charm AND I LOOK LESS EDGY

-Nothing screams fun like getting your face kicked in by Gilgamesh. Telling me to walk into swords and stuff.

-AND ABEL ;^; Giving him a hug had sent me into tears. I loved hearing the inn scream out "RENO NO!!" as I dropped my weapons and went in. I'm shocked I only got hit with sleep blade poison.

-The joy of facing Gil a second time, Only resulted in a scar to the face and eye, just a flesh wound hahaha. I'm shocked with how well I did against him

-GIL BE MY FRIEND AHHH *running towards kill army*

-Trying to protect the count while Wendigos are running though and just attacking anything that moves

-Unicorn Javelin likes me?!?! *Is honored*

-"I wanna do that thing where you take a pencil and paper and scribble on the paper to leave an indent of the runes." Steve's expression after I said that gave me life

-Peace Mission Main Mod was sooooooo cool. It was great to be able to make a difference. And also be super nervous even as Reno "Does it look gross?" *Points to face*

-Grim being a dad and saying dad things while IM TRYING TO TALK TO SINDARION

-Wonderful Roleplay with Grim, Sindarion, Aleister, Thalia and sooooooo many other PCs.

It was a fantastic anniversary event for me and I wanna thank everyone for making that possible. I felt so proud of myself at the end of the weekend..

Temporarily forgot, both a highlight and a lowlight - MB made sausage, gravy, and biscuits.
The highlight was it was delicious as usual.
The lowlight was IU was in such pain from my hernia I could not appreciate it.

A short walk with Chris Kane, but it was certainly an enjoyable moment.

Arradir Go-Dringol wrote:

Getting killing-blowed by one of the towns-members on main-mod! That was unexpected and apparently the talk of the town Sunday morning.

I SAID I WAS SORRY!!!!

A lot of fun stuff this past event. Although I think my favorite part was "So uh... say someone accidentally performed a killing blow on a guardsman... what would be the punishment?" "Uhhhh... HEY NALICK!" It led to some really fun role-play.

Also getting risen as a Death Knight by Orophin as a lesson and getting to wail on Peaches. THAT was a blast!!

Impromptu feast organization and learning what I needed to do to put the servers in line and get things going. Followed by fun banter at the bar with Thalia as we commentated on all you guys taking the Travancian IQ test. It was a blast.

Can't wait to see you all again this weekend!!!