June 2022 (ED Event) - Reduce, Reuse, Respawn

[Zero.]

Y’all know the drill!
Fun idea to add to your posts, give this event a title like a Friends episode! (ex. The One With The Spiders, The One Where So and So Died). Not necessary but feel free.

[Zero.]

“The One With The Book”

-The book! This prop took up literally like 10 hours of my weekend lmao. I had such a great time with it. The prop was very well done, kudos to the players of Talia & Dimitri, y’all killed it. Thank you to Dimitri’s player for listening to my endless prying hahaha. I heard a few times that people wanted in on helping, but kinda just, let Zero have her moment, and I think that was really cool of y’all, so, thank you. Also huge shoutouts to Rin Bear, Taka, Sebastion, and Jaya for their help (I’m so sorry if I’m missing anyone it’s been a long few days)

-the initial attempt to speak with Oriana through the tree. Trying to have a private moment (never successful in Holdfast lol). Tension between Jaya and Rosco could be cut with a knife, beautiful RP. Getting entirely cocooned as a result of our efforts at pacifism. Shoutouts to the two left conscious for handling the situation at the perfect time.  Also, the one mana packet that made it through Fayt’s shield, a solid shot lmao.

-Quiet moments with Fayt. I can’t wait to see where his character development goes.

-sitting with Knife at the Not Fire Circle, and noticing the powerhouse that was gunning for us from the gate. The combination of the facial expression, the costuming, the purposeful walk….. oh my god. Knife tells me to run, because he had an out. Zero isn’t generally keen to back out of a fight until it’s necessary. But I’m glad she did.

-THE INITIAL FIGHT OF THE FOUR. Through the jigs and reels, the only one of the Four that I’d encountered was the Elemental, and I knew I couldn’t take him on. I ask Merrick (I believe) for a quick rundown, and decided I could manage The Beast or Viney (did we come up with a different name for him?). So when he emerged, I gunned for him. Luckily, Kez was on the same page. We either kited (or got kited) to the end of the ramp. Kez was slinging fire, Zero was landing blows. It all seemed well and good… until Kez got hit by a call of 100 Sunder. Zero stood alone with the vine creature. Kez dying before her. The creature began calling killing blows, so I dove in to interrupt. It seemed to work, it turned back to me. This was fine…. Until I saw someone SPRINTING towards me out of the corner of my eye. The Beast. Well… fuck. 1v2, me vs these horrifying, powerful creatures. Let out a screech of terror. Not IG, not planned, genuine reaction lol. I don’t think I thought to run. I think I’d maybe accepted death… WHEN I HEARD THEO OVER THE SOUNDS OF BATTLE. This motherfucker was doing the incant! And it worked!!! Before I got slaughtered, the beasts disappeared. The timing was impeccable.  I don’t know how he got the timing right, I don’t know if anyone else actually had vision on the Beast. But damn. That was awesome.

-trying to talk Oriana out of her plan. Really hoped we’d get to chat more, maybe see a different outcome, but the fight that ensued was fun.

-getting entranced by The Elemental, and poor sweet Z trying to interrupt the spell lol.

-Theo’s fight with the Elemental, and the ensuing “discussion”

-separately, little moments with Theo, Rosco, Knife and Gull (again sry if missing anyone)

-chatting with Cal, getting the lowdown on The Paradox. As a non-alchemist, I sure am learning a lot about alchemy lol. Also, updates on a thing I suggested. Curious to see where that goes. Shoutouts to Kez for making suggestions.

-apparently I interacted more with Kez this game than I ever have lol

-learning after game.. that I missed.. a very important thing. Hecc.

-Slowly putting together the book's double meanings. Malva running in to the bunkroom, "Mushroom guys, don't touch them!" *me literally jumping up and down* "BEWARE THE TOUCH BEWARE THE TOUCH!"

Such a phenomenal weekend everyone. Excellent work by our EDs, cast, and players. Thanks everyone!

[Malva]

Faunish Bacon Rosé Pasta

Ingredients
Spaghetti (Cooked while you do everything else)
Bacon (Cut in roughly 2cm pieces)
Plain Tomato Sauce
Whipping Cream
Garlic
Red Onion (Diced)(Less than you think)
Salt and Pepper (More than you think)
Yellow Bell Pepper (Diced)
Shredded Parmesan
Basil (tube kind)
Thyme (fresh)
Oregano(?) (dry)

Instructions:
Preheat pan to medium-high
Fry bacon 'til mostly cooked
Add garlic & fry
Pour off extra bacon grease
Add onion and bell pepper & fry
Remove from pan and set aside
Begin Sauce
It is important to bare in mind that it actually takes a lot of seasoning to make plain tomato sauce taste good
Add tomato sauce and turn heat to medium-low
Add cream until fairly rosy
Add dried oregano until it looks speckley and simmer a bit
Add other herbs and salt and pepper
Taste. If it is too sour, add more cream or cook longer
When it is mostly cooked, mix in parmesan.
Taste again and adjust as needed.
Turn off heat and mix in pasta and fried things
Plate and garnish with extra cheese, thyme leaves, and cute lil bell pepper faun horns

[Ceridwynn Fildais]

Friday
- Game started off well, I felt honored to get to use the immovable shield a second time and the last time its active
- Absolutely blown away by the costume of the first boss
- Stay up way too late helping puzzle through the book but damn was it worth it. We get through everything but the final name.
Saturday
- Ian (jokingly) tells me we need to chill with the book, it was supposed to last longer
- Get to witness the most beautiful rp of Gull gushing about his friends
- Absolutely hit a roadblock with the name
- Miss druid lady first showing up but there for the second. People are getting pulverized by element guy. I kneel to Oriana in an attempt to get the fighting to stop to people dont start dying and just fully expect to get killing blowed. Dont die, fighting does stop.
- #Theodidnothingwrong
- Gull finally cracks the code behind the name, with hints from cast, we go and do the ritual in the book. Gull and Rosco have amazing rp with the druid lady, Ceridwynn kicks a spider and screams internally. Please call salvation when your friends are being cacooned
- a sweet +25 to hp, thanks magic earth circle tree
- Nonviolence crew decides that as soon as Oriana starts fighting, all bets are off
-Rosco tries to feed bread to an owl. The owl finds Theo to tell him shits gonna be fucked up. Big shout out to Theo for just everything this game, he very much came into his own as Woods Champion
- Knife fistfights a rat
- feel sick but try to be involved in the last fight anyway. I remember running across the field to try and stop a killing blow count on Fayt. After hes healed, an earth throws lets me lie down for a bit. Big golem guy does not like fauns napping in tihe field and I have to move. Body says its nap and gatorade time. Wake up to hear my fucking circle is gonna be haunted by an angry tree lady and good ol violence saved the day. GG Zelda and Z for the killing blow
Sunday
- Im on the winning team for cooking competition. Danica knows what shes doing and I know how to chop. We get some neat beans and cement faun superiority in anything vaguely alchemylike. Super fun little mod with silly npcs
- Do some rp with Cal, get to see a cool thing, hear some cool stuff, offer Krembler an escort to town next month! Talking with Cal about Krembler feels silly because oog its just "Heyd Rob in a hat, we'll help Rob with glasses to town"

Thank you for a wonderful game, ED cast <3

[Z]

As always, what a wicked game, the ED's really killed it, and I had such a blast

Friday
Ah Friday night how I love thee
-Lots of new people in town! Zelda, Ivy, Grim, some mercenaries and some chef's? wacky
-Apparently there is a ghost in the woods? goddammit alright I'll go check it out
-Wow I sure hope this book lying in a pile of ashes the ghost led us to in the woods isn't haunted!
-Me and Zelda get to talking, and she starts asking some very, interesting questions about my past, and me hers
-MOM?????
-This family reunion is interrupted by Echo Armouries
-Wow, fighting these guys is a lot harder than fighting as them
-Now that that's done, MOM?????

Saturday
-Ah I love gathering Saturday morning! There's rocks and plants, and some forest critters, and A Crazy Druid Lady and The Beast!?!?
-Well, fuck that we're leaving, also rip Kez
-Saturday has, many critters, and also the first appearances of The 4, Viney, Skippy, The Beast, and Elemental Guy
-Wow those guys are rough, what's that? We're going to have to fight ALL OF THEM AT ONCE?!?!
-I meditate, then meditate, then meditate some more
-Zelda heads into the woods alone and I follow, Lexicus soon follows me as well, and after me and Zelda have a moment in the woods, coming back into town with her warpaint was really really cool
-We gear up, some people want to try a non-violent approach, they get 1 chance at that because Theo had a very very very very very bad vision about what happens if the druid gets her way
-Non-violence starts sorta ok, then the druid has enough and starts swinging so we retaliate in kind
-Wow this is some rough and intense fighting, very good and fun though!
-The druids death and burial is somber, sad, and very reflective, genuinely such a moving series of events
-Later that night Bones gets me drunk and I have some shenanigans, always a bit of fun

Sunday
-Sleep in a good bit Sunday morning, I ache and am tired
-Me and Zelda head into the woods and have a meaningful chat, we've had a couple this game, and they were all some great rp and pretty moving
-I weasel my way into being a judge for the contest, lot of fun and S U C H tasty food, seriously good work everyone holy moly
-End game with our typical devolve into violence, what a fun one

Overall a fantastic game, the ED's killed it, and I had such a blast, did not expect to meet Z's mom this game but that lead to some super great RP and was a ton of fun!

[A Knife!]

Friday night playing ring around the Rosie with Ian's armory, he goes to grab my bow off the table so I throw a dagger at him. This starts a deadly game of "catch the throwing" up until he starts to charge me and I'm off running again .

Chosing peace and love and trying really hard to be nice to Moggy's slider despite it webbing my legs up until an arrow flys over my shoulder and pins the the head of the spider into the dirt. No worries thoughthe lovely Medic 0 Ivy put a poltice on the slider which had no effect but was definitely the peace and love that spider needed to pass on I'm sure of it.

Missing a very patient falcon 3 times in a row well it wasn't moving, giving up to go back to the field to shoot targets to try and get better at archery.

With lexicus choosing not to hit happy mushroom only for it to absolutely destroy lexicus which started the mushroom fight. Learning that the mushrooms have a massive radius of alchemy effect but if you hit it the radius becomes tiny and then shooting every single mushroom so people don't have to worry about either out running the blast or trying to gt close enough to hit it. Watching the happy mushroom running and giggling with its hands waving around up until it sees me with arrow ready when it then covers its junk and starts serpentining

Finding the weakness to the beast without realizing it was the weakness cause to be fair backstab assassinating things in my experience is a common weakness amongst most things

[Rosco Agassi]

"The one with the monkeys"

Friday
-Finding the book and knowing immediately that this weekend was going to be filled with rp. It was like being a kid on Christmas. Handed that off to Zero though, because I can't decode for shit.
-I stay clear of the vine monsters because of Rosco's phobia. Spend my time medicing in the inn, popping out now and again to watch and grab some downed folks. Mostly it's a not my monkeys, not my circus kind of thing...until cast grabs Bones and throws him off the deck. That is in fact, my monkey.
-The echos are there and I'm not having it. Man, fuck those guys. It was a great time to use fury, which I think is probably my second favourite skill I have in game. 5 metal 5 metal 5 metal *Anger noises* SIX METAL SIX METAL SIX METAL
-On that note, this weekend was also the first time fury has sent me into my bleed. It was a fun moment for me to realize there were no more fights to be had and then just drop.
-I got to bunk with my favourite people (very close out of game friends/chosen family) again this weekend 🥺 it's so good to have everyone in the same room, silly oog chats and late night whispers.
-Z's player comes into the room and announces the AD's character for this event is his character's mom.....yeah, none of us had that on our ED event bingo cards.

Saturday
-I was so excited to go gathering. Last game was interrupted by a falcon so I was really hoping I would have better luck this time! I didn't!.
-Run into a strange new npc. Who is this NPC? Oh you know, she describes herself as something of a Grim Reaper.... that's cool. Not concerning at all.
-We run into the beasties she's controlling. Cornered in this tiny section of the woods. I stand back, squishily, and let the big boys fight, when I hear the beast calling killing blows on Kez....my monkeys, my circus. I yell and start moving but there's no moving fast enough to stop it, especially not with a snake staring me down to my left. Zelda gets there but she's downed too. Maybe...maybe she interrupted it first?
-"Medic five are you dead?" "Yep." shit.
-Z mesmerizes the grim reaper and I killing blow her back...this was before the pacifism, okay?
-After that there's more decoding of the book. We realize that the best way to approach this may be with something a bit nicer and connect it all to a tree in the corner of the woods.
-Try to get privacy at that tree. It doesn't work. Jaya, for the second time in months, is trying to butt in on something Rosco wants to keep private...tension could be cut with a knife, as Zero's player put it.
-There's a lot of self doubt as the town starts to listen to Rosco. Trying to understand how he ended up the one "leading" a pacifism movement and not believing he's even capable of such a thing. Oog and ig anxiety because damn, that's a lot of pressure!
-Convincing the town to try this way. Getting a few moments to talk to her before she snaps again. So close...until im downed by her elementals. The kin throws me deep (/very/ deep) into the woods while I'm bleeding out. No one seems to notice, and I am convinced this is how Rosco is gonna die for the first time.
-Thank you to the cast of the elemental kin for sending Fayt down after me. Nothing sounds so sweet as "the sound of my voice heals you for ten points".
-More fights. Finding out the "reaper's" name. Convincing the town that maybe we can fix this without killing.
-I made an owl friend! He shows me an image of a man with rats on his face. I realize before cast even explains further that it's thinking about Theo. Shout out EDs for saying that in the most creative way.
-Theo seems less inclined to lay down his weapons and I understand why.
-But, when she's back in town he does. I'm amazed, actually. Unfortunately it doesn't work.
-Orianna is killed and that is the end of that. Theo says some beautiful words (Zero and Rosco hold hands! Its so cute) and we make the walk to her tree (which I later find out is /also/ going to be the earth circle). We bury her. Rosco cries a lot.
-Beautiful and reassuring rp with Gull, as always. Patience and promise all their work was not for nothing. How that boy keeps putting up with his crybaby medics I will never understand.
-We go back to the inn and get Z drunk. He has a bit too much fun projecting emotions, including but not limited to: "Project emotion: Disappointed Father Figure", "Project emotion: Trying not to piss your pants on a long car ride", and "Project emotion: Bloodlust."
-Pinning Bones down so he and Z don't kill each other. Once again, my monkeys, my circus.

Sunday
-Ohhhh sleep, my sweet best friend. A very laid back day, I only heard bits of the cooking competition.
-A lovely song from Gull about crying medics. /That's/ how he puts up with us.
-A nice walk in the woods with my new friend Ivy, and my old friends Rudi and Gull. I found a lot of mushrooms and got to wear a cool hat.

Shoutout as well to a weekend of slime science and a mimic stalk that did not make me a second slime.

Second shoutout to Mushy. He was so young.

Thank you to all the EDs! You were amazing and this weekend was full of fun.

[Hunter ツ]

"The one with the helmet"

Overarching themes of the weekend:

- The inevitability of violence does not render meaningless the pursuit of a peaceful resolution: I respect all the idealism and the pragmatism on display this game as we strived to maybe not kill the nature spirit druid person for once.

- Helmets are fun

Fond memories of game:

- All the iconic fight moments with Ian, both on Friday and Saturday
- Speaking of which: Bisecting the snake puppet with the boffer sword!

Bringing in Ivy, and his game 1 character arc!

- Friday night Ivy: I was hoping the guild would be here pls give me personal space  
- Getting my nickname(s) in order, after concluding that, among other things, Ivy's actual first name sounded too much like 'Theo'
- Fistfighting Ian's Echo after a mutual disarm.
- After all the fighting and new faces, all that's left to do is drop bits of backstory into convo is all I really have at my disposal. Shoutouts to Rudi for getting basically the whole shebang just by walking by me lying on the bench outside

- Saturday, 8am: 'Maybe I could make some more friends here if I go out gathering with Kez and co!'
- About 15 minutes later: *Going John Wick Mode on every piece of popcorn I can find* (I just wanted to go for a nice morning stroll and you murdered my only acquaintance!)
- I Write Dead Snakes Not Tragedies

- By the time Kez is back and the Beast is dead I get a chance to decompress and process how Ivy went from 'I'm just a widdl gobwin' to Popcorn Doomguy at the drop of a hat. Seeing as any of my preconceived notions of who Ivy was going to be are now thoroughly out the window, I decide that 'timid in social situations, but can get A N G Y' is the bit I'll keep going with for now.

- Just in time for the Elemental Guy

- Sitting alone in the Gazebo with OOG Jess as the fighting starts:
OOG whisper in Ivy's ear: "Are you just going to leave your friends to die?"
"yeah actually, that's a pretty good idea" *gets up and wanders into the woods*

- Then I remembered I had invested 95xp into the one spell that hard-counters the entire boss
- I then had a certified Hugo Moment, wandering the battlefield applying what healing I could while being completely and utterly immune to everything the encounter could throw at me.
- This was the most compelling fight I took part in all day, and at this point I was pretty exhausted from being up so early.
- Trying to talk Zelda through her emotions (I guess) while she wailed on a dead tree, emphasizing that she should have faith (where have I heard that one before..) that the non-violence crowd were acting in good faith rather than out of mere convenience
- Having a lie down and watching Malva brew stalls instead of doing anything more productive like *checks notes* participating in the shroom fight or 4-bosses fight. Ivy made his peace with death in favour of napping anyhow.

- Crawling out just in time for the final encounter, and eating shit in the name of trying to immaterialize the staff (the owl prophecy mentioned a staff, so it must be important right?)

- Sunday Ivy: A soul racked by the anxieties of new faces, places, and foes, stoked by fury, and tempered by acceptance that holdfast is a bad place, but one where everyone is driven to make it better, to be better (or at least more powerful), and if Ivy can play his part and help out some folks along the way, then so be it.
- I regret not signing up to either eat or make the pasta.

[Malva]

• "Who's little sister do you think Sharon is gonna be this time?" Ohhh, Z's mother
• Zero begins deciding the book, draws a small crowd of goth girls
• Getting to live vicariously through Lillium for some alchemy shenanigans Malva has grown out of needing.

Kez: "What's [ore] used in?"
Malva: "[Potion]"
Kez: "WAIT SERIOUSLY?" *frantically writes it down*

• "Wow Tom, it seems like you really like M-words" "Yes, I especially like... your mama"

Rosco: "I think the owl needs a more appetizing piece of meat"
Ryn: "Your mom said she liked my meat"
Rosco: "MY MOTHER IS DEAD, RYN"

• I think this might have been my first time using strong will magic... it didn't help me any.
• Cloud-watching with Lillium... so nice 🥰
• It's very funny to me that I feel like event cast really went out of their way to tell us we'll have to fight, but we were so stuck on pacifism
• Yeah so I changed into Taka before the fight who is like Super Totally Invested in who this woman is
• Merrick being pulled off into the woods by vines... I tried to grapple then and failed. Apparently rather than hitting them, my next instinct is to spend FOUR STATES imparting Merrick astral form dematerialize
• Fell to an earth tremor and had a fun time scrambling backwards while blocking several plant monster strikes with my sword before getting stuck on my cape and going down. Having to make a recovery like that is so fun to me even when I lose.
• Malva has gained a new sister... foig
• Okay so we might not have been remembering that the cooking competition was supposed to be anonymous when we gave our dish faun horns. Luckily no one figured us out.
• Haha Gull take that to ur stinky song abt me

[Hunter ツ]

Another memory:

- STERLING MENTIONED

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