July 2024 "Check"

[Z]

Thanks to everyone for coming out for a massive game, and good game to you all! Pretty please post your memories as this was a BIG one!

[Pavel Vesely]

Weekend was a mild blur, so apologies if highlights are few and unsorted.

•Mom! Guy and Kondor are fighting again!
•Sir, Senior Drill Instructor Grumpy has witnessed a barroom brawl, sir! Sir, the Senior Drill Instructor is PTing those maggots to the Land of the Dead and back, sir!
•Predator handshake with Krond. Feels like I gained aura.
•If Guy can get through the hole, anyone can.
•Tanked the battlemarch after a half-hour 2v1 warmup with Pvts. Horrigan and Monroe. Honorary Soul's Guard status?
•Eventually abandon technique for charger strats. Plate and chain go chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga. The Hound comes out to play, baring its fangs.
•Mild crisis of faith on return from war.
•Start learning more about the Nordinist faith, get blinged up and ready to guard the dungeon full-time.
•Guy has the tungsten balls to try stabbing Nero.
•Get killboxed and worfed by Titus' plan.
•Sneeple shenanigans. Mom sssssaid no conssssuming Nordin boy.
•More tablet progress.
•Maxim's Maxims III and IV keep Guy on his feet, and raring to pay Nero back.

[Rosco Agassi]

Had a lot of fun!

Saturday
-War prep! I love experimenting with blood.
-I got a gift in the mail for the first time ever. An insanely cool magic item from an old friend (re: old npc) as a thank you for something I did years ago.
-Edwin of Toph
-The halfling mafia finally came! I'm so glad, the mod was exactly what I was hoping for, continuing the streak of Rosco noticing other halflings are just immediately kind to him because he's one of them.
-The sneepole coming in as a friends was also very very fun. Visited the snempel to learn more about Saa but got distracted and wandered off quickly.
-Lovely pre-war rp with some friends. Talking about fear and hope. Mostly fear.
-Got to see the Soul's Guard. Who knew it was Sgt. Nekko's final night with us, may he rest in peace

Sunday
-PANCAKES!!!
-The walk through the mines was hard, but we made it! The first fight with Declan that showed us he can break limbs with that axe was good preparation for what was about to come.
-The mechanics of walking through Providence were done really well. The waves of enemies were fun but not overwhelming and the rest point being themed with different allies was a good tie-in! Made the work we put into recruiting them worth it.
-Sgt Nekko ): I got to say a quick prayer over his body before he was turned into a drone by Rincewind.
-Rip Kondor jr.
-Dog, Lexicus and Val getting kidnapped and having to plan for what to do if they'd joined the Collective by the time we reached them...heavy shit.
-That final battle was intense. Being one of the 6 or 7 people left standing was terrifying especially considering a lot of them were (reasonably) dogpiling Nero. I'm not a fighter!!! I'm just a medic in some fancy armour what do you mean I have to 1v1 a HERALD?!
-Towards the end Declan walked around the bodies, making comments about our potential and his disappointment. I wish, more than anything I remembered that ig. Was very, very cool and just another way to humanize the enemy just a bit. We also had a lovely conversation after about getting the trio of missing people back. It was interesting to see the trust Rosco had for him after the "subservient to Nero" call.
-Cute rp with Drixar on the way back to Holdfast. They've been adopted/chosen family for awhile, but having that moment of "Oh shit, I'm the brother right now" when he started crying lead to some bonding time.
-Getting home, battered and beaten, to see Peter, Francis and Gull. The trio of hope when we all felt hopeless.
-Peter bought me wine 🥺 Thank you Peter
-A deeply theological conversation with Francis that goes wayyy over my head.
-Sleeping at a reasonable hour

Monday
-Try to befriend a falcon, fail miserably
-Get to do the rp about a dream I sent to Z last night. Unfortunately, nothing is safe from Nero's ears so I stick to the facts.
-More conversations with Francis, Gull and Dog about what home means.

Overall a really good game! Things were hard but we pushed on and now will rise up from defeat Excited to see where the rest of the season takes us.

[Quill]

Sat
• Ryn knolly cons me acting because Quill doesn't know how to act right
• Sybilessa & Sneeple! I'm so glad we got to help introduce friendly sneeple to town
• Gifts from Sybilessa! I get a bracelet that helps my magic healing! Kondor gets a necklace that helps with psychic! I give the sneeple an (ethically sourced) Quill finger! I help a sneeple steal ham! I now am perhaps a snarent (snake parent)! Best day of my life.
• Quill and Kondor explain the destruction of the Saalter to Sybilessa and they restore the god skin with the power of love and friendship and snake
• My brother in Saa lets me know he got sneeple for war. Hell yea let me command the littol guyes
• Oh hey rioters! I could kill these guys pretty easily last time so I have no worries fighting them! *Immediately gets both arms ripped off*. Shoutout to Dog for saving my life & arms
• I give Marr a nice gift of a stuffed faun head
• Mid-emotional rp with Amber I get turned into a snake. Amber, my own sister, tries to sell snake me to the halfing mafia. Kondor is turned into a giant snake and becomes astral snake. Big day for snakes.
• The halfing mafia seem like nice people tho. I sell them a pair of perpetually wet socks.
• Showing some people the holy grounds.
• Quill learns that people believe that Saa dug up that dungeon & people think we're responsible for the 5 deaths instead of Ryn's alone. She is now kinda understanding why Kondor keeps getting so many death threats.
• So much cool Saa-based rp throughout the day! Quill is not pleased with the repeated threats to Kondor. Saa is associated with forgiveness but if town tries to kill a teenager over Saa she will build an elite sneeple hit squad the likes of which town has never seen.
• On a lighter note, I play a tree in our amazing theatre production
• Aggressively teaching Kondor awareness because he's a magic nonbeliever despite 100% being the most common recipient of my healing magic
• Quill meets a child that was tortured by Godo and learns we are apparently sending her to war instead of therapy. Ok.
Sun
• WARRRRRRRRRR!!! I can't remember much other than hurty. I mended a lot of broken legs
• We get a rest because Sneeple surround the building we're in and protect us <3
• My sneeple shows up!! We name them Kondor Jr. I let Junior know everyone in the rest area is a friend and command them to protect myself and the other medics
• Said sneeple has grapple 50 and sunder
• Skeletons appear, Morrigan isn't a fan of those guys so Junior, Catboy, and Ari take turns grappling her to prevent friendly fire.
• I get my leg broken, Amber tries to help and gets downed. Hey Kondor Jr. my son toss me over there so I can heal her
• I get my polearm stolen. Luckily I packed two more so this isn't an issue.
• They killed my sneeple. My darling snild. Nero I'm going to fucking end you.
• We arrive at the stairs! Nero greets us magic items and bard effects are nullified so that's great and cool and comforting
• When Nero sends everyone without strongwills psychic into a psychic coma, Saa shields Quill's mind and says hey get da FUCK outta there
• She immediately books it back to Holdfast and lets town know what's happened before the Coma-ed People arrive
• Some "I thought you were dead" rp with Amber
• Quill goes out to pray with Kondor. Morrigan and Amber tag along for safety reasons. Amber is very clear that she has no interest in Saa but still offers a quick prayer of thanks for protecting Quill 🥺
• Saa priest and priestess have a meeting to discuss ongoing events and town/Saa safety
• Emily eepy and in pain so Quill is mostly praying for the rest of the weekend

[Z]

GG Y'all! Quick writeup that I may amend bc I am tired rn but want to write something

Friday
- Auction went very good!

Saturday
- Playwrights!! Loved The Silk Road Warriors
- Sneeple!! We ssssssssserve Missssstresssss Syblesssssssssa!
- WOOOOOOO RIOT! RIOT! RIOT! I'M TEARING YOUR ARMS OFF
- The Mob shows up looking for our friend Morty and antics ensue, I loved this so much
- The Souls Guard arrive for a final celebration before the war, might just be the last goodnight we have so we brought cupcakes!

Sunday
- War prep in Souls Landing while we set the woods make any final preparations
- The Declan / Jay fight to open is intense down in the woods, I finally get to show off the axe and Jay gets to show off her gadgets too!
- The players get the first rest and we all get the hang of the walking around mechanics, our next boss fight of sorts features the allied Souls Guard against Verbena and Wanshi, Sgt Neko meets his demise RIP
- Next up is Declan and Rogar, this is where we really hit our stride as cast I feel, that fight was amazing and so well played by both sides, I believe Auron and Rhonda were on the field for that one?
- Finally we have Titus and his kill circle teleport plan, that goes lovely and is one hell of an intense fight
- And last but definitely not least, Nero.
- The monologue is probably good, I can't hear over the wind, shit lol
- The fight starts off good with all the heralds popping in, and it kicks off well
- After a minute or two Nero uses his big ability. All. As. One.
- About 7? 8? Holdfasters still stand, most are picked off fairly quick, and Teek is there fighting with Dimitri
- Once most are mopped up, I go around a little as Declan and take pride in our victory, as one would
- Zilyana takes a bit of a last stand and I end up disassembling her, such things happen
- Nero binds the townsfolk to his will, at least for a while, and sends them back to their cage, more important things must happen now that our victory is had
- The rest of the night Peter, Francis, Gull, and Teek comfort town, while they mourn and plan

Monday
- Chefs
- Killer spoon
- Falcon!

[Sage (Cast)]

Friday I got the privilege of getting to know our brand new players who traveled all the way from the states to larp with us! I hope one day they come back to do it again (by which I mean I hope we didn’t scare them off for good)

Saturday morning! Laertes! Mercutio! And of course the most talented playwright in the known world; Benchman Crisp! It was a great privilege to watch peoples faces as they read through the scripts I handed out.
A quick rehearsal of The Silk Road Warriors. Great performances by all, but Morty's acting talent really shone through his role as Tree.

The halflings! Had a great time playing ol' Prettyboy and being way too friendly with the locals. I am over the moon with how the players handled it! Hiding Morty by turning him into Gull was a stroke of genius and I'm not even kidding. I'm just so so happy that the player side of this mod was just as, if not more wacky than what cast was delivering Great work to everyone involved!!

Final performance of The Silk Road Warriors. I was nervous, but the actors did a truly phenomenal job, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it! Bravo to all!!!
From memory; we had Ari as Datura, Ceridwyn as Degren, Amber as Theo, Kez as Auron, Drixar as Dimitri, Dog as Pierre, Gull as Lexicus, Guy as Marr, Ryn and Corin as Winnie and her arrow, and a handful of others as the thugs/rakash soldiers. I was especially impressed by Rudi and Clemmont’s (I think is the name? The one with the french accent) villain performances, as well as Jaa*Rase (ugh, actors ) Despite his many hours of rigorous method acting rehearsal, Morty wasn’t around to play the tree. Still, I think it was Quill’s last minute performance as the Tree’s understudy that earned the play its standing ovation.

Time for war! I had to do a few quick changes sunday morning. I played Samara, Sovar, and Prettyboy in the span of like an hour lmao. It was nice to play Samara again, though!. This is the exact sort of thing they would get roped into

While the players were marching to Providence, the cast team started setting up ruins and debris. I think it went a long way to make our campsite feel less Holdfast-y and more Providence-y. Plus the “loot” (water bottles and snacks) in the “ruins” (half-fallen and overturned tents) seemed appreciated!

Wanshi’s first appearance! Played him very emotional about having his friends killed and having to defend his home. Had some great chats with a few players in the heat of battle. Lots of great character moments!

Later I played Samara again as an ally. Having allies show up throughout the day I think made the battlefield feel a lot more alive, which turned out great! Samara was supposed to be something of a break for me, but it ended up being more exhausting than any other fight. Oops!

Big shoutout to our tempcast team for the invasion of Providence! For most of them it was their first time casting, and I hope I’ll get to work with them again sometime soon!!

Then of course the big finale. Nero’s monologues were excellent as expected! Despite a valiant attempt however, Holdfast lost

Disappointing, no doubt, but it did lead to some excellent angsty rp. I played Francis for the rest of the event and I got to have a lot of really lovely moments with a whole bunch of characters, and I’ll remember those moments for a long long time <3

I’m really excited to see where things go from here!! Sometimes in order for the heroes to rise above they have to fall a little first. It will be all the sweeter when Holdfast gets back up and finally vanquishes Nero.

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