Sept Favorites from the Castle Event

Darkcrescent

Baron
Chicago Staff
Marshal
Lots of great moments this event. Food was fantastic, rp was great and emotional and it was nice to see people I haven't gotten to see in a long while coming back. Thanks Dave for a fun 7 years of story wrapped up.

Favorites:

- Cleanse Corruption Ritual. Ilana holding down the Unicorn for 5 minutes and Roy blocking attacks. Ilana taking body every few seconds and willing to let her golem break for completion. Roy without armor remaining after taking 5 hits. Jess the unicorn trying to backlash the ritual. 5 minutes of amazingly tense RP at the end of a long town mod. Top 5 favorite larp moments for sure.
- Ilana holding down the Unicorn. Dave- "+1 Monster str she rips free". Ilana - "+6 Monster Str, no she doesn't!" Dave pauses. "Well you're going to begin taking a lot of damage." Ilana - "Bring it!"

- Learning Ilanas golem was destroyed, then turning around to see Jess looking at us with a smile on her face (as she landed the 50 assassinate to break it). True Karma.
- Seeing Henquin, Bevin and Fern slide right back in effortlessly after being away so long.
- Brom
- The Stone Node fight with the logs. That was an absolute blast.
- Casual Violin music by Migs. I'm a sucker for the violin and really dig IG music at a tavern.
- How much of a pansy The Architect was whenever combat came close to her.
- Roys sacrifice blowing up the 1st Node.
- Scroll of Unfathomable Wealth:
- Gandian vs. Henquin Ritual antics at 4am.
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My #1 moment was booking it into the woods with 3 body left and a construct RIGHT on my tail with a mystic reaver.

Other favorites include:
-Cards and dice with Cho Ko Nu, Pickles, Nonna, and Serious Dwarf. (I'm REALLY bad with names, so most people get nicknames)

-Spending 25 minutes taking 4 steps and getting entangled, pinned, webbed, repeat before we realized we could be carried.

-Actually having armor for that fight! Thank you, Jemina!

-Breaking down after the Architect fell... so many Corrupt...

-Finding a Cause Disease potion when taking inventory when I got home. Must've been missed in the splits and that's definately getting merchanted at the next event.
 
This was my first event, so a lot of things stuck out for me. But the biggest ones are:

A shout-out to Dan for giving me a quick 5 minute crash course in dual swords before starting.

When I thought I could sneak up on, and take down the Corrupt that was harassing people from the wall. I failed miserably, but I thought my dodging of his shots was pretty good until I got pinned into the alcove. Really got my blood pumping.

Benjamin's song and dance while he was resurrecting me and simultaneously directing traffic through the Circle of Earth had me rolling with laughter. I don't remember the specifics, but it was about a man getting terrible directions to meet his friend. "You go UP the stairs, and IN the hall, and OUT the door... " And then, the woman from the Earth Guild (I am sorry I never learned your name. Jamina?) was standing outside the circle while Benjamin was trying to invite her in. "You go in... You go IN... IN... Come in. " "Oh, I'm invested. I'm just watching. " It was truly magical and I will never forget that.

That crazy guy who ran after the loot when we broke the keystone. Jamina(?) nearly killed you, dude, for risking the party like that.

And of course, the Victory Ritual.

I had an awesome time, and can not wait for the next event.

EDIT: One last thing I forgot to mention: I thought it was really cool how it seemed like the weather was playing along. During the day, at best, it was overcast the entire time. At night, especially when The Architect was present, it was raining, storming even. Fighting the hordes of Corrupt in the rain with lightning flashing and thunder crashing in the distance felt so atmospheric. It was as though the skies itself was trembling with the wrath of The Architect! And yet, at the end, even though lives were lost, the storm broke. And I have got to tell you, maybe I was still high off of some sweet game Sunday morning, but it felt reel cool getting up and seeing the clouds breaking and the sun shining. It really felt like, for a moment, that we Brought the Dawn.
 
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Very very cool event, thanks to everyone who was there. Some of my favorites ...

~Grul Grock throwing me a heal. From 20 feet away. While I was in the courtyard surrounded by corrupt. And he was up on the wall.
~The shadow of the Harroc looking at me with a surprised "You really want to do this?" look after I started swatting him. He walked away the first time he came by, second time I got a quick eviscerate :)
~Magic Storm with the Seattle crew
~Ritual antics at 4am .. outside my door. My very very thin door. ;)

Probably many more ... it was such a blast and went by too quickly :)

~Zihr
 
My first favorite moment was not even part of the plot it was when Hengin rounded up all us Barbarians we had 5 and we all had a good RP session. Also right before that finding the "Bringer of Rain" almost bought you the foresee weather scroll as a joke but was strapped for gold after buying the Source of Lycanthrapi (Sorry Hengain I vow to try and make it right, werewolfs beware)and the Arcane armor.

Leading a charge out the front gate to get Baleon and Rags and some others fighting the corrupt off and then Asher coming out and Lifeing Baleon and Rags.

Whitty banter with Zihr in the Tavern.

Feeling more adequate as a fighter now that I'm swinging 6s

Seeing and battling the Foresaken during the big end fight. or at least that is my guess never talked to Brent about it.

Although increadibly sad the blood cruddeling scream when Roy died.

The low bee mod when the corupt singled us out one at a time.

And of course the Unfathomable wealth Ritual.
 
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~Ritual antics at 4am .. outside my door. My very very thin door. ;)
Sorry....

It was supposed to be 4 rituals, then people just started showing up with more and more. Then we got silly o'clock loud. After the 3rd "dual" casting across circles, "Hold! You good. You good. 3.2.1 Lay on. There is so much Bleepin' magic all around you!"
 
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Dueling banjos ritualists made that night for me. Hengin is a frickin' pro, and we were cracking up. Sorry to those of you trying to sleep!

13 years I've been playing this silly game, and that was the first item I've ever had cast for me, so I appreciate the time and effort that went into making it an entertaining experience, especially given that it tried to blow us up twice!

The 'keystone' mods were fun as well. All of them were varied in interesting ways, and called back to solid, simple mod design in a way that was fun and challenging.

The Ritual Of Unfathomable Treasure was a much-needed bit of lightheartedness after some rough fights and rougher weather, and hilarious given Gandian's talent for milking every last bit of drama possible from a ritual casting.
 
Ryan already hit a couple of my favorite moments! Playing that unicorn was so much fun and getting to he part of that ritual to complete the mod(which plot failed to mention to me before hand) was so cool! It was hard not to laugh trying to swing at Asher through Ilana's iron grip. At some point I stopped trying to hit him and just stared him down. I'm honored to be part of one of the great Lord Asher's moat memorable moments!

Breaking Ilana's golem was not a highlight but was ironic after the unicorn antics. I loved playing those possum corrupt. Sorry to those who were on the wrong end of those assassinates!

Bringing out Ana the fawnkyn again was a good time, too. Definitely since I know how the PCs love her soooooo much. Did those bandages ever get used this weekend?

Seeing the completion of the campaign, even though this is only my second year, was amazing and I can't wait to see what story comes next!
 
Well, here it goes. There are going to be a few of these, and I am sorry if I miss a few great moments.

First of all I want to thank Dave for the amazing run! It has been a roller coast of memories and heart ache throughout the years. The chapter and players have come such a long way and it was amazing to experience SoMN Alliance again. It truly is one of the best communities out there, and I missed it dearly!

1) Emotional basket-case Brent getting to see everyone again. I couldn't walk around a corner without running into someone I wanted to give a massive hug to!
2) Tavern Food and service. Was fantastic, and thank you for your hard work!
3) The castle...always an amazing venue. The old battering ram from the first year I found out was actually just thrown out about a month ago by my parents!
4) Keystone and Wardstone mods were amazing. I loved that it took actual problem solving and thought to get through them
5) The Architect whispering into my ears and it actually being rather accurate! Haha, fooled you...I dealt with that emotional trauma a long time ago.
6) Dueling Ritual casting! (And after a LONG time of playing doing my first ritual batch...normally I just cast 1 and am done!)
7) Tribal meeting in the rain. Was great being around so many other barbarians. I honestly can say that I didn't expect to make such a character changing decision this game, but sometimes the RP just takes over.
8) Strong arming our way through the Shielding Wardstone with Hengin's head!
9) Everything Lord Oakheart, Sir Von Gryphon, Bonded Guardsman Woods, and of course Squires Fiona and Valentino
10) The great turnout from Seattle! Dallas, Brittany, Megan, Brandon, Nana, Stephen, Kristin...it was AWESOME to have so many!
11) Late night relaxation time on Saturday Night/Sunday Morning. :p It was everything I could have hoped for to close out a great event.

I am sure I missed a few things, but this is a decent list so far. Thank you all again for the great event, and allowing Kristin and I to fall right back into the swing of things with you all.
 
Good friends are what make a game, so thanks to those who came from out-of-town (or out of the country!) to make this an amazing finale! It wouldn't have been nearly what it was without you.
Also big thanks to Andrea, Dan Ly, and Dan Sellers for jumping in on the Plot/NPC side of things! You guys were great!

Here are some of the things that stuck out to me:
- Team 1 with Fern, Hengin, Bevin, and Bram! Best team (even though I had just met Bram in-game, it was awesome to have Burke in the group).
- Super nostalgic casting of Radiance by Gandian and Asura. Gandian told some old, old stories about the Seekers, Forsaken, and of course Tiki Hex.
- I finally got a freaking lightning aura/damage aura sword! I felt kind of shitty on that first Friday mod (I now realize that silver is the actual worst carrier), but once I had 5's from the front, and could swing lightning again, I felt way better about fighting than I had in years.
- The ritual casting duel between Gandian and Hengin. That was one of the things this weekend (there were several) that felt like old SoMN, with old friends. Aside from being incredibly funny, it just felt right.
- It had no bearing on the event itself, but the number of times people told me I was cute this weekend was unusual and flattering. "I only recently realized that you're cute."
- The EFFICIENCY with which we destroyed half of the Keystones. Adventurers have never been so on task. We smashed through them, and took one out with only a handful of PCs. Granted, we were high level PCs, and fairly well prepared, but it was still impressive.
- Although the final Keystone was apparently BS levels of impossible to get done, that one last cooperative charge forward after the rest of us swooped in was really good.
- Hengin walking through the shields on the one Keystone and winning that mod.
- Sir Victor and Bonded Guardsman Fern. It hadn't dawned on me that having both of them there would give us two obvious leaders, and it seemed to work really well.
- Ragnarok and Tal's big hug right before the Architect fight began. The general amount of "Good Fight, Don't Die," "Strength and Honor," and whatever other blessings that were going around really added to the atmosphere that we were doing something incredibly dangerous, but also reinforced that we were a strong community who cared about each other, and we would get through it together.
- The lightning and the thunder and all of the rain. You just can't have an important fight go down without a storm (or maybe fireworks, which worked really well when we took down the Emperor way back when). It just wouldn't be right.
- Getting dragged out of the courtyard by NPCs just once during the architect fight. I was fully prepared to have to use my wonky rebirth item at some point this event, and I thought that was maybe going to be it. (It wasn't, in the end. Thanks to Dan Ly, who was a good person and left me in the light like bait, instead of hiding my corpse in a dark corner.)
- What the hell, Roy. "I wanted to bring you two here because (to Locke) you're my wife, and (to Tal) you're one of my oldest friends in Gaden." I helped him put on some elemental Chimeric Spirit makeup, but aside from that one slightly-too-serious moment, had absolutely no idea what he was going to do. Talitha is incredibly biased, so she was like, "Chimeric powers are always a good choice." It was still true, because Roy was able to do an awesome thing, but I didn't see it happen, so I didn't know anything was wrong until the fight was over. Talitha got inside and was elated that we had finally won the war, and then turned around and saw Locke crying in the Earth circle.
- Our souvenirs. Alexander made all of those cool crown pins that we received from King Talon (and the Duke), and Von Gryphon's victory ribbons are always great.
- The Unfathomable Wealth was a little more fathomable than I might have expected. (To which Kyle replied, "It needs more shading.")
- In memory of Ray Galenty or whatever other terrible names we came up with.
 
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We did it!

-Feeling like a big fighter in town, examples include.
  • Desylvia asking if Ive been doing push ups
  • Having a healer say "oh damn..." when hearing how much body I was down
  • Soaking all 50 points of Isabo's 50 elemental healing item
  • Having Fern mention that he trusts me to fight with him
  • Effectively steamrolling smaller Corrupt
-Beating the stone keystone without beating the previous waystones! Nice job to the other folks on that mod for overcoming giant dumb amounts of consistent damage. and nice job to Dan for making a suitably difficult but achievable mod for us.

-Chugging cure serious wounds potions like a damn alcoholic.

-Getting to meet Hengin and all the excellent RP with him.

-Summon Unfathomable Wealth Ritual

-Harroc? You are not even a shadow of what you were before. I should know, I helped kill you. But dang if you aren't still a beast.

-Finding 3 waylayed bodies in the castle bunks and thinking to myself "What is goi- OH NO NOVI IS ENSLAVED"

-Drinks with Brom. Good to see such a.. *ahem* ... new.... adventurer have a blast.

-Sentinel squaaad.

-Dan dragging me out of the castle walls while I was prisoned and swinging massive at my through the prison. Good thing he didn't hit me enough times or I'd have rezzd!

- Realizing how many friends I have. In game and out of game.

Addendum: That was a good hug Tal.
 
Wow, what an event. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the event until it was almost half over, but it was amazing nonetheless. I was very excited to finally bring my friend Jack (Faraan) to an event after nagging him for like 10 months. It was really awesome to see how quickly he got the hang of things and how accepting everyone was towards him and all of the other newcomers! It was also nice to not be the least experienced person at the event ;). It was pretty great to finally be swinging for more than base damage for the first time, as I only just invested in a Weapon Prof.! My first resurrection was a very interesting experience, and I don't regret it one bit. Thanks to Isabo for being there for Faraan and I, I'm very glad to have gotten to know you despite the circumstances. It was awesome hanging out with Valentino, Tom, and the rest of the crew, on and off the battlefield! Zihr and Bruisey, it's always a pleasure spending time with you guys, as well! I absolutely adored the atmosphere of this event, as well. The rain really made the final battle just that much cooler, and the stunned silence afterwards when we learned of the permanent deaths of two of our comrades was overwhelming. All in all, this was a phenomenal event. Thanks to everyone who went, and especially to Dave for running this all. I've only been a part of this all for less than a year, but I really appreciate everything you've done for the Chapter.

EDIT: How could I forget the Unfathomable Treasure Ritual?! That was a truly hilarious moment, and one I won't soon forget.
 
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So many good things - though for a short time on Saturday afternoon I lost site of them due to coming into the game on Friday with next to no sleep (thanks for letting me vent Emma D.)

Awesome to see my very first "foster" children - how I have missed you: Brent (who is the one who dibbed me "LARP Mom" way back in 2010), the lovely Kristin, the amazing Stephen S (I am so sorry about your arm :( ), my first flirt - Paul Fossey

Trying to keep track of Talitha - panic attack when she disappeared at one point (didn't even realize that there were a lot of other key players also missing) only to realize that she & others had rifted to a special task. Then popping the 1st of my Spirit Regens (just as reinforcements arrived) after rescuing her after she was dragged out of the Castle and left to die.

So sad that Sam died all alone in a dark turret. Don't fret to much on being on a Last Life - Talitha has been living through hers for going on 3+ years.

So sad that I totally missed Roy's epic sacrifice. But what a way to go!!

URT!! That is all that needs to be said - other than - "I call upon an "Urt storm". What a way to scare the Architect :)

Had a lovely time getting to know the Seattle ladies. Now I don't have to worry about getting too old to keep playing :) A new plateau has been opened up.

The weather worked out well - storms during epic battles are always awesome (though wearing glasses during rain and humidity suck :( )

Trying to convince Fern that we just weren't going to win crushing that last node - we just had no healing left.

Sucking down over 12 Gold worth of potions over the course of those 2 days. Time to restock - again!

So many more, but will stop here.
 
An enormous big thanks to all staff, kitchen crew, marshals, and of course NPCs for making this an epic finale. So many faves, especially seeing all the peoples! That above all is what makes a game, friends and acquaintances old and new getting together for a weekend of LARP fun. DG, dang well done sir.

IN addition a huge thanks to all those who helped get me to the event DG for getting me a place to stay, LARP Mom for my shirt, Josh Clark for my sword, Daphne for getting Liz all the chocolate she needed, Brent/Kristin for getting me a post game crash pad, and all the folks that made it to dinner (Ryan, Emma, Andrea, Burke, Kayla, Josh) especially those of you with kids I finally got to meet for the first time.

A few faves of the weekend:

-Getting to hang out with the #PankowPack on Friday and taking Nona on rollercoasters @ MOA really made my day special.
-Epic treasure shenanigans, great job to DG for thinking up a way to break the tension and inject some levity into the game...It was an expertly Gandian-esque ritual and just hilarious.
-The sheer # of people who knew about Fern prior to game. Ragnarok :"Are you Fern Woods?""Yes" "I've heard so much about you!"
-Strike team 1- You guys all made my weekend in one way or another. Holding the door Saturday night without failing once. You all rock.
-Hurrying our way past the Module, running back to NPC camp to trigger the next, getting to the insanely hard mod and trying to hold on as long as possible to give the other group a chance/get releived. We got owned but man that charge was amazing!
-Shadow Harrock Duel with both of us being cheaty mc cheaters.
-Illana- "Fern don't kill me I'm not an Undead" "That's what they all say". Also- Lunch RP :p sorry about that.
- "Remembering Roger Gantine, the elven healer who gave it all up to fight the Architect" Seriously though, Andrea made my weekend when we (Roy&I) were walking towards the node, the Architect rifts in, looks at both of us, gets big wide eyes and rifts out. He looks at me and says "she's more afraid of me than you". :)
-Shadows Light guild shenanigans with bidding.
-In general messing with Hengin most of the weekend including: outbidding him on accident, making fun of the staff days, and my favorite, locking him in the bathroom.
-Bevin RP 4 yrs in the making. *hearts* Kristin.

I don't know when I'll get a chance to RP with you guys again but I will hold this one close up there for amazing life experiences. I don't recommend the commute but you guys made it worth every moment and twice as much Jet-Lag.

Peace,

Paul F.
 
wow!! it looks like everyone else took my favorites but here goes.. seeing hengin again after afew years and still getting into trouble as always.. and lets not forget the " unfathomable treasure" scroll done quite well by Ganadian, which made me both smile and laugh. and meeting several new pcs and npcs, hope you all stick around and have fun. and lets not forget both the food and people were VERY good, though the weather could have been better it was appropiate for the event.

David R.
 
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