(Seamus - player of Benjamin the caterpillar-kyn)
I had an absolute blast, and still didn't get to do half of what I wanted to get done! There were so many story lines happening at once that sounded like fun. But I did get to do a ton, and I'm writing at least some of it down before I forget about it.
-Getting people together for the Quarry Conglomerate mods. The mine shaft fights were fun as heck, and getting to be the one who organized everything was a blast - even the small 'just in and out' group we had that managed to pull off some excellent teamwork to scout the excavator's second form. And the huge final fight at the end with everyone asking me all the pre-fight questions beforehand. The whole thing turned out so well!
-Getting the archon's armor to carry into the final Sunday battle, and getting to talk to our newly formed friend. Hopefully Ben taught him all the ways not to almost get yourself killed trying to help. All the work to gather those ore shards really helped out in the final battle with the goodies we got
-The battle for the flag on Saturday. With groups of enemies coming from every direction, and so many people switching in and out the line it felt like a honestly epic battle with flanking and lines surging up and back the whole way. Just the sheer scale of it all was amazing!
-The final Sunday fight! In multiple parts because there was so much there - lucky group seven had a lot happen!
-Finding the first pylon at the same time as the other Chicago group and managing to sandwich them from two angles at once.
-Running down to the docks to hit the group there... only to find two guys just hanging by the lake. We waved. They waved back. Of course the wilderkin were in front.
-The frog pylon fight... When we were falling back after getting hit by three archons, I joined the smaller group of adventurers being led by the frogs to the (I think the last?) pylon, and winding up being in an ad-hoc team without spellcasters and staying to help. And we found the pylon! With an archon right next to it, and my resist stopping the brutal 'voice radius fear, voice radius pin' from knocking most of us down. I actually blew 24 antidotes (yay for cure for what ails you) in less than a minute there. I don't know who tested it, but when we saw he was swinging 30 web, I grabbed one of the shield users (who's name I forgot but who saved the day) to help cover while I grabbed the pylon and ran (I had the immunity from binding from the stonelight archon), taking a once ever life after a few dooms hit me from behind. Got to the road with everyone else falling back through the trees (and they all survived, yay!). Chased, and coming face to face with the three headed wolf on the road with one body and no backup. Lying there watching the curve into the castle and hearing everyone there still fighting. It took over ten minutes for someone to find and get me a life spell. So glad I had brewing skills that day. And that Alex forgot to killing blow (or chose not to because he thought I had a vengence, or was just too surprised I tried to run through like that). And used the life spell to sprint away from the fight back to the castle... and trip and hit the trail hard enough to be out of the fight. Which was fine because I needed a bit after that to take in all that intensity. I've never had that much of an emotional roller coaster from a game before.
-Tea and apple cider at night. I'm glad so many people got to unwind together after all that craziness.
And writing this out I'm starting to see a pattern of me getting people together for a 'just in and out' and things going south. A lot. Not sure if this is good that my caterpillar is now being brave, or what. But I'm glad for everyone who encouraged him to take more of a leadership roll in the future. It was so much fun to have these experiences and help grow with everyone like that. I'm still coming down from everything too!
