Before I start my list of favorite moments from this last game, I want to open with a few thank yous.
Dia, Ray, Cory, Izzy, and Bria.
I have been around the roleplaying world enough at this point that it takes a bit to make me cry in game. It really does. Yet, between four of you (in particular the last two), it happened at this last game. These were not the tears of, "OMGs, I lost someone!" or gut wrenching sobs resulting from vocal dramatics. These were the quiet tears of someone (Tinder) who'd reached a wall trying to process a thing, and needed help finding the crevices in which to jam her fingers to get over it (which is where four became five). Some of the moments I had in the midst of this chain of events were the most immersive and moving I've had since I started playing the character, and I am immensely grateful to all of you for having contributed to it.
Now, on to the moments! (In no particular order):
* Hearing Trace say, "Oh my God, [Raen], is that you???" during the Baron Pike battle when she looted my giant skeleton remains.
* Trading stories with the NPC players - it is so worth while hitting NPC camp just for the benefit of seeing this tireless team as the people they are rather than the mobs trying to kill us; in particular, getting to see the glee with which Mike Messmer takes to NPCing, and getting to hang out with Amber, Rachel, Raymond, and Miguel.
* Also, portraying a giant rat - I don't think I've had that much fun in a long time, and I particularly liked the beat down I got from that lone guy with the shield.
* Morning mod/component hunting with Eldred, Rourke, and Blue - we didn't find anything, but the conversation was fun, and the company wonderful.
* Nectarine pealing with Ryu's player and Dia - staying IC didn't really happen, but I'm always happy to spend time with good people I haven't gotten to spend much time with.
* Also, Jack's food!
* The thoughtful gifts of wooden eating utensils that Tinder got from friends this weekend, and the subsequent effort of trying to describe why putting metal in her mouth was not something she fancied.
* Sunday morning, and the expression on the Baroness' face when I said, "I could have watched that, and this would have also made things better." (Duer's followup was almost as good, but I'd rather leave the full contents of the conversation more mystery than not).
* The metaphysics of Fortannis with Baron Rivervale - awesome conversation, which yielded the phrase cinnamon sugar to describe the known worlds, and other interesting ideas.
* Speaking in a conspiratorial fashion with Duer.
* A theoretical 'what-if' conversation in the mage guild (that resulted in the mage guild door being closed).
* Razzing LeGarde for trying to sell someone (or selling someone, depending on who one listens to).
* Dying but not quite res'ing in the Saturday evening fight - being the bottom of a corpse pile, and feeling the bodies being added one after another, while I counted my way toward 5 was surreal; waking up with Tinder's nose in Blue's things created its own complicated series of emotions.
* ... getting zotted in the ear by a flying Silence spacket (thank gods for Spell Shield).
* ... getting zotted in the chin by a flying 7 damage arrow (thank gods for Magic Armor).
* ... and that epic moment, when I had already thrown a Dragon's Breath and a Prison at Anarchy, when an opening in the line happened and I found myself standing right in front of him, with no one between us. I thought, If I miss, he will kill me; if I hit, it will be worth it, right before I threw my memorized Prison. My spacket left my hand as Jesse was lunging forward, and I'm pretty sure it hit right about the time I was taking his sword to the neck. We stopped for a moment so that Jesse could make sure that I was all right (and declare Spell Shield) before continuing on. (In the confusion of clarifications, I forgot whether the neck shot counted or if I was supposed to be on the ground, so I dropped on the next hit, which is how I ended upon the bottom of the corpse pile).
Now, I do want to take a few moments and talk about another sequence of events in particular, that was comical and awesome.
There Tinder was, in front of the tavern, paralyzed. Someone moved her closer to the tavern. Someone tried to Release her, and it didn't work, so Lola moved her behind a corner at the tavern, where I proceeded to stand, poised to throw, for a very long time (ow, my legs). Lola very kindly positioned Tinder so she could see what was coming at her, and carefully moved other characters in similar fashion. Then Puck came by, and asked me to hold his book (which he tucked into the crook of my unmoving, unresponsive arm). Eventually, Noah ended up alongside me, and then Banks, who was placed just out of sight. Lola, being smart, knew that Banks was the man with the box, and started rifling through it, looking for Purifies (I can't reproduce that dialogue - it was hilarious to hear from around the corner). Eventually, she made a noise that sounded like, "Found it!" and Banks was moving the next moment later.
"You have some friends here," started to come out of Lola's mouth... just as Banks disappeared beyond us, out of sight, somewhere up the hill, resolutely leaving us stranded where we were. "And he's gone," she said (or something thereabouts).
The fighting ended. A gypsy retrieved one of his paralyzed friends to position in awkward fashion. I counted seconds, and, eventually, someone came to check how much longer we were going to be paralyzed for.
I was at 20 seconds left on my count when she got to me. Banks and Puck both got an earful later. And I consider this one of the best combat roleplaying scenes ever. Thank you Trace. Thank you John. Thank you Kix. (Trace in specific particular, because it was Lola's running dialogue that made this the most entertaining).
There is more, of course, but this was a charged event on so many levels, and I want to leave the electricity for the next game.
Thank you for a great game, everyone!
