October 2018: Heart of Stone

[Vadim Ironstones]

Post em!

Some quick highlights before bed:

- Friday Night thieves
- Saturday Tentacle
- Saturday Night around the campfire, feat. Marwal (sp?)
- Sunday morning birthday party

Full list of memories to come in the following days

[Winnie]

Friday Night
- Pretty much spending a good part of the night figuring out how to get Sharon to wear shoes so I got leather shoes made IG, using units of leather, only to have Misty not be IG for the rest of the weekend. I was so close....so close.
-I head to bed and Krond is just standing in the field starring at the sky. Dude, your profile is menacing in the dark. My heart sank and all I could think when he didn't answer my "Hello" was "Oh god..Tony is casting something that will kill me." Krond finally answers me and my ass unclenches.

Saturday
-8:30 AM trying to sleep in but nooooooo THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP!
-Moving the heart and sticking it in a box so the thumping wouldn't be as loud. Worked but it was still there.
-Having a vision by the Water Circle of arms coming out of the water and dragging me in. Pfft, Those are totally just Jenny minion arms. Tell Bikbun anyway.
-Grabbing Captain Jack's booze jug that he discarded. Sweet. Astral plane jug. See the tag on the bottom. hehehehehehehe. Ask Brian details to write on the tag request.
-Finally killing Jenny and destroying the heart. Felt too easy. Almost lost it laughing at Moggy though.
-Unarmed training with Max and actually punching Rob. Pretty much getting my ass handed to me by a one armed guy. Definitely my favourite part of the weekend.
-Wanting to take a nap so bad but fighting it. Then minions show up.
-Ghost Jenny is cool AF. Gives me idea for psychic enchanting if I can find someone to do it.
-almost 4 hours of tentacle fights. Getting picked up and dropped multiple times by Brian. I just started squatting rather than getting on the ground it was that fast between pickups and drops.
-After the fight I remember the vision and it finally clicks. Aaaarrrrrmmmmss. Kraken arms. Worst psychic. I feel like shit for not trying to interpret the vision more and feel super guilty cause we lost so many.
-Hiding Gram cause citadel isn't a safe spot for putting things anymore and wait for Krond to wash up on shore only to be the last person to find out he came back and was shivering by the water for 20 more minutes than needed.
-Apologize to Bikbun for being shitty psychic.
-Camp fire talks! Then Marwel...Marwal. Degren Petrifying Krond and himself to save his friend but fucking up and pissing her off.
-Christian's character Johnny using The Air will Take Me and whipping the mana up the path to have the wolf spider chase after him.
-I try and be friendly to Annastasia and the others so I wouldn't get my eyes eaten and they like me so much that they take me to be their pet. Meet Krond and Marwal on the way to the ruins and realize that my puns are what were my downfall but I still refuse to stop punning. I lose an eye.

Sunday
-100% expecting a giant spider.
-Goblins.
-see the white puppet with the purple horn and immediately want to go pet it but Hugo threatens me with death to make me not pet the puppet. It hurts a little to walk away.
-Got 4 birthday cards. Lady Borin Jr. is adorable.
-Yay! Happy Birthday Kiket!! Happy Birthday Natasha!!
-Hero Goblin and Mel Goblin slap fights are amusing.
-Kinda hoped the goblin seer I got my mask from would be there so I could ask him about visions. Hero Goblin said he had never been to Holdfast before so there's a chance, cause wibbly wobbly timey wimey moon moon, that seer goblin wouldn't remember. Or he just doesn't leave the house because I now have his face....
-As soon as game is called it rains a bit. Overall the weather was pretty great for camping. Saturday night was the only time I got cold and that's just cause my hat came off when I was sleeping.

-The drive to Robin's with Mitchell. Talked about Morpha. Love Morpha so much.

[Malva]

Friday:
Taka:
-Hugo's back!
-Established a sanctum!
 
Saturday:
Malva:
-Get my leg caught in a vine. Call for help from Hugo. Hugo can't get leg out with sword. Leg breaks. Spider comes over. Start screaming salvation. Spider slow poisons me. Continue calling salvation. Spider eats a chunk of my leg. Call salvation some more. Rat shows up. Call salvation some more. Hugo tries to get rat to eat spider; doesn't work but buys time. Torvallis! shows up. Spider gets killed. Rat chews away the vine. Time to head downhill with a mangled leg. Get stuck in a web. Get untainted, get out of vine. Cal offers regenerative sleep, but I don't want to stop playing Malva for three hours. Spend a really long time in the inn waiting to get healed because medic is being tormented by a spider. Finally get healed. Agh. What an ordeal.
-Found a certain smith some very nice rocks.
-So many of the ingredients for deserved rest were put out this game and Cal had deserved rest and barrier of life on special. Plus it's October. I started to get really paranoid that we were gonna get attacked by a hoard of undead.
-Brew all the things! Brewed 35 doses of potions this game!
- 4+ people are bleeding out in the field. I run over to put a poultice on Ardin, get downed before tying it off. Pepper was just like "Am-am I stable?" And I went "Well I didn't finish tying it." And he was like "But it's on me." An so I concluded that "Actually, yes you are stable and conscious as long as my unconscious hands are holding it there." And so naturally, he got up an fell over.
 
Taka:
-Kraken
-SPICE
-Fr. Francis comes up to me and tells me Asher just died, so Pierre and Auron must have just died and I should go talk to them in the LotD. Adrenaline mode: this sounds like a brilliant idea. I tear off to go look for them. I finally find them. "What happened guys?" Auron: "Oh yeah, we drowned." Me: "Oh... right, yeah, I don't know what I expected."
-Hrrblrrsm
-Ermagerd sunder
-"And then it goes really quiet."
-Marwel, lit dramatically by the fire
-Marwel lit dramatically by the fire with a wolf spider crawling on the back of her head
-Casually going OOP and leaving with Hugo and Johnny
 
Sunday:
Malva:
-Goblin birthday
-Return of Lady Borin Junior
-Keket's fashion designer mother
-Ran out of vials

[Vadim Ironstones]

Friday night:

Being alive! Although without any weapons or other important gear..

Praying on the floor of the Inn to NOS for anything to help me in my time of need, just as Sharon steps out of cast cabin..

Getting the miracle spice back!

Dealing with the thieves. Props to Bikbun for how he handled the Water Alters your Memory when it came time to interrogate them. Look at us guys, we didn’t kill the criminals for a change!

Teaching (an OOG) Sharon and (IG) Winnie how to play craps


Saturday morning:

Trying to enjoy my morning cup of tea, when Malva gets her foot trapped under an angry root (Where have I seen this before?). It wasn’t so bad, until a spider appears on the scene and forces me to blow all of my states just to keep it away from her. Damn you travis and your spider >::::/

AHHHH RITUAL NOW

Bikbun: “Hugo, how much energy can you lend to this ritual?”
Hugo: “Hypothetically, unlimited”
*Impart state: Focus Power, Impart state: Focus Power, Impart state: Focus Power, Impart state: Focus Power*...

RIP Jenny

Saturday afternoon:

Get woken up from my nap by Taka, something about sea monsters
Get down to field, see giant tentacle
Yeah, that seems worthy of my attention.

“Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power *sip* Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power *sip* Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power Focus Power *sip*”

“168 METAL!” (Hits Mel in the hands with a huge vertical swing. Whoops)

Swinging 8 times harder than krond for the rest of the tentacle fight. That was fun.

Saturday night:

Discussing how we ought not to kill everyone who comes to town (again), Concluding we ought to brand any criminals we catch.

Hearing all the imperial hate around the campfire, (Hugo will remember this)

Long time, no see, Marwel (Dematerializes)

Running around with Johnny, trying to help out the people Marwel has cornered by the fire

My encounter with wolfy

Having bizarre half-ig-half-oog dreams

Sunday morning:

Wake up, can’t feel my legs

Walk out of the woods on half-asleep bambi legs to get morning tea.

Goblins show up, immediately nope out of there, made winnie come with me on threat of focus-powering her into oblivion.

[Asher Fairchild]

-That tentacle was so fuckin cool. Like oh my gosh giant monsters heck yes.
-Being able to attend a full game after a summer of fuckery.
-Bonfire chats with one of my all time fave Epoch characters, Father Francis. I haven't had the chance to rp much with him, and though we didn't chat for long, it was still a great moment.
-Aurons air circle ritual. Heck dang. Emotion.
-All of the rp between Bikbun and ghost Jenny. Though I technically can't see her in game, I watched from a distance. Poor Bikbun. You'll finish her off someday, my dude.
-THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP! Oh Helen, I love any story line that has to do with you <3
-Captain Jack Seagulls dancing...oh my gosh. So much good.
-Weirdly knocking on the door of the citadel and putting everyone on edge
-PUPPY. MAGES.
-DOGGOS EVERYWHERE
-I LOVE DOGGIES SO MUCH THEY DESERVE 3 SPOTS

Over all this has been a crazy busy summer for me, and though while not my personal best season, the over arching storyline was really impressive and what games I could attend were super fun and really well done. Thank you so much cast for all the hard work you do, and to all the players who make Holdfast what it is. <3

[Timmean]

(Sorry this is so late!)
Last event of the season! Lots of things happened, so let’s get to it:

Friday night:
- Got to site and set up kitchen in pretty good time. Lynsey and I decided to forego the tent on account of potential weather.
- At start of game, Michael and myself are slotted to be bandits. But we don’t want to be ORDINARY bandits, so we get to planning…
- Our new bandit duo strolls into town: Cyril and… Fergus, I think? The first thing we notice is Hugo in the field yelling about being alive again. Then shortly afterwards, someone (Himmel, I think?) talking about how his brother died, and he doesn’t want him to die again.
- Wandering around town, talking to people, trying to find someone who might give us some useful info. We get talking to Hugo, and go for a walk out around the Knights’ camp and back. I do a modify memory as we start getting back near the inn, and ask about any valuables in town. Turns out he has zero useful information.
- We make our way into the inn, where we find a dwarf surrounded by a crowd of people, talking through some elaborate plans. There’s a mention of a chest filled with treasure, and enchanted items. We are intrigued.
- This meeting thing seems to be going on a long time. Also, it’s deathly hot in the inn, so we go outside. That turns out to be too cold. C’est la vie.
- Next we talk to Talia, who seems like she might have some info. We try to question her, but she brings Zero along. I can’t get a chance to cast a memory spell, and the two are asking a lot of questions. We insist we’re here to see Bikbun, but by now I’m starting to get nervous.
- We finally get to talk to Bikbun, but Zero again tags along and keeps a close eye on things. Then someone shows up with a message from Hugo about our former conversation. This is problematic.
- A whole mess breaks out; I hit Bikbun with a memory spell, and Fergus uses a bunch of avoids on… nearly everyone. Which results in all kinds of hilarity because people suddenly can’t see each other. But we get knocked out anyway.
- The town (complete with a now highly incensed Bikbun) question Fergus while Cyril is lying unconscious nearby. They eventually strip us of any valuables and kick us out of town. I’d say they handled that fairly well.
- I think I went to bed after that. Will post more if I suddenly remember something else

Saturday morning:
- Spider! I found Hugo and Malva in the woods and managed to give them a fair bit of grief. Close quarters and a lot of webs made for some damage, some poison, and a small meal. Though my spider did run off far worse for wear than it began
- Morovitch! The forgetful mage wandered into town just as the Jenny ritual was unfolding. Being conveniently naïve, he wandered into the middle of it, and received the full Holdfast mind-break
- Also, I love Morovitch’s simplicity. Watching in horror as Jenny is stabbed to death, “What’s going on? Is no one going to stop this!?!” Someone else: “Oh, don’t worry, she’s a bad person. She tries to eat people.” “OH! Well then, carry on.” P.S. Many thanks to whoever told me that; you saved Bikbun from a water repel, which I don’t think would’ve gone over very well
- Wandering around and getting Morovitch re-acquainted with Holdfast. So many horrible memories… the spicy witches, the circle of faeries, the demon bread…
- Also had fun talking about stabbing monsters with a club (Morovitch used to have a spear, but the physrep wasn’t available, so I used a club instead)
- Back to playing some more spiders! People were more active by this point, so I tried to be more strategic. Spinning webs is a very good way to be strategic
- I spawned a few different times, and wound up facing off against Mar twice. That shield is BIG! He provided an excellent fight both times, and a very thorough dissection.
- Unfortunately for Mar, he was so engrossed in said dissection that one of Rob’s hawks managed to dive-bomb him and take him down. And nearly everyone else was busy with the earth circle ritual… RIP
- Another spider started spinning webs down by the Knight’s camp, leading to some hilarity. First, a hawk gets stuck in one, and the spider promptly cocoons it. But before I can do much else, Aaron's character and someone else attack the spider, killing it and stealing the spider’s honestly caught meal.
- After that, there was much care taken in walking around the location to avoid spider webs. Someone made a point of walking around the area to avoid the web which had caught the hawk… only to walk backwards into the web from the opposite side
- Back to Morovitch! Had a few more amusing interactions, such as revisiting the four stages of rocks with Malva, and suddenly realizing why Sybilessa seemed sorta familiar. Spoiler alert, beginning a conversation with “I watched you die!” can get some weird reactions
- Also, had some discussions on Morovitch’s memory, and heard some theories on why it’s so bad. ‘Twas interesting

Saturday evening:
- The cold company has returned… and this time, they’re angry. And I get to play my good ol’ slug! After last month, I had some idea of how to make the slugs dangerous, and boy did it work…
- The first thing we do is make for the citadel, where nearly all the knights are inside repairing gear. We bang on the walls and stuff, but none of us can do anything to get into this fortress. And that’s when I get a sinister idea; “OOG: Hey Rob, I have contact gel: glue… can I use that on the door?” Short answer: yes
- With the Knights now sealed up like a can of sardines, I follow the rest of the cold company to the fire circle, where I pick up several arrows, and one professor. Those present manage to slay the slug shortly thereafter, but the body (and the glue) remains to be dealt with.
- I re-spawn as another slug, and by now there are several unconscious people in the field. I pick up Ardin’s shield, several more arrows, and Loki’s axe before I’m again slain at the fire circle. Also would’ve taken Ardin’s sword if he wasn’t literally on top of it.
- By the time everyone was finished dealing with the slug bodies, there seemed to be enough devastation done, so I decided to finish up and help with preparations for the next big thing…
- While we prepared the next puppet, Rob ran around and played sounds of the monster as it approached… I hope people heard those, they sounded great from my vantage point!
- As we were just about done with the puppet, Matt comes down to tell us supper was done. We want to run this thing while there’s still daylight, so we decide supper will have to wait. Also, courtesy of Brian: “Holdfast will fall if people stop for chicken.”
- KRAKEN! Piloting around a dirty big tentacle with huge stats was crazy. It was challenging, but it was awesome
- Dragging away Pierre and Auron into the ocean… and the consequences of that
- Everyone getting more organized as more tentacles emerge, and you guys were fairly good at keeping people from getting dragged away.
- The inn has a new “open room” concept now. So does the citadel
- When the second group got dragged away, I overhear everyone gathering and making detailed plans on what to do when the next tentacle shows up. Then Asher does a water blend and comes back, saying those who were taken had been released and people just had to swim out and get them. Suddenly, everyone starts to disperse and all that planning is forgotten. What happened???
- Especially since the Kraken was NOT done. There was another few tentacles before that monster decided to leave you all alone
- I had some down time for a while as players dealt with various evening activities. I eventually returned as Morovitch, making my way down to the fire circle as everyone was chatting
- After a bit, Christian’s character Johnny shows up and talks about how he was repeatedly arrested in Empirestand, on suspicion of being Datura. Apparently a lot of people were accused of being Datura
- And then… oh look, it’s Marwel. And she’s… thanking us for getting rid of her competition. That’s… great…
- Cowering and trying to avoid being noticed as Marwel, Anastasia, and the others have their fun. Nearly lost an eye before Johnny saved me with… I think it was an earth swallow?
- Degren annoys Marwel enough to get himself teleported… elsewhere. Morovitch re-appears from the earth, and loses a cheek and a finger.
- People start slipping away via various methods, leaving Morovitch more and more concerned about the dwindling number of… distractions? I eventually get up and try to discreetly make my way back to the inn. No one stops me.
- Once there, I find Iris and Keket trying to keep away from the Marwel situation, but Marwel’s wolf spider has made its way to the inn porch. I hit it with a repel to keep it away from the arachnophobiacs
- And that was EXCELLENT timing, because Marwel walks back through the field a moment later. “Is my wolf spider alright?” “Er, yes! It’s just… wet.” This was not the right thing to say.
- Oh look! I thought I was done taking void kill spells from Marwel. Guess again…
- Teleport, lose a limb, teleport back… all the standard Marwel fare really, except I was never stabilized from the first void kills. Morovitch was very near dead when he appeared bleeding and unconscious in front of Keket.
- Once he was healed up, a very shaken Morovitch decided it was time to sleep

Sunday:
- Morovitch was up again, this time much more nervous after the events of the previous night. At least he got his finger regrown
- In an attempt to avoid the usual Holdfast horrors, Morovitch tried to write himself a note to STAY OUT OF HOLDFAST. Unfortunately, ink will eventually wash off of skin, and black ink doesn’t show up well on a black hat. Iris suggested he purchase a notebook in Applevale… we’ll see if his memory holds out long enough
- I was just starting to do some dishes, when someone mentioned that Professor Pendergast was starting a lesson in ritual magic. After everything that happened the previous day, Morovitch promptly dried his hands and made a quick exit from town.
- GOBLINS! Including everyone’s FAVOURITE chef, Mr. Lizel Von Slug (P.S. I’ll make sure all your dishes are PERFECTLY SEASONED!)
- HERE! HAVE A BIRTHDAY CARD! IT’S FOR YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY!
- The cake which decided to be blue today
- The cheese, which was imprisoned in plastic to make sure it wouldn’t try to escape

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