A dusty gnome walks into the Scamp in Port Hempstead, a distracted look on his face. He climbs up onto a stool, deftly pulls a map out of one of the many cases tied to his pack, and begins to examine it. A slight mutter can be heard as he measures some things on the map with his fingers.
The low rumble of gnomish coming from his mouth is suddenly punctuated by a wide eyed shout, "Dryd ruma ec silr mynkan dryh E aqbaldat, yht silr taaban!!" Almost frantically, Efficace pulls a fresh sheet of paper from one of his numerous bags and begins to write on it. He writes for a moment, stops, then writes again. He then grimaces and writes a third time. Once the writing is complete, the gnome pops from his stool, walks to the message board, and posts the paper at eye level for a gnome. The paper appears to contain the same message three times, first in Gnomish, then Dwarvish, and finally Common. The Common version reads as follows:
[size=+2]Diggers Wanted[/size]
Efficace Brown, the Gnomesapper, needs people who can dig. I have a big digginjob. I cannot pay much of the Truecoins, but you will get to see digging done the very best way, the Gnomish way. Yah. So bring your shovels for the holediggin.
The bottom of the note contains instuctions when to meet at the Stormcrest Shack if you are interested in joining the work party.
// Tuesday, May 29th, 7:30 PM Pacific, 10:30 Eastern, 0230 GMT (Wednesday morning), Stormcrest Shack
Calendar Link (http://www.layonara.com/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=233&day=2007-5-29&c=2)
// For this event to meet its objectives, the following ground rules are necessary.
// Base your decision to participate with the correct expectations in mind:
Levels 1-6 only please
Party Size Limit: 6 Max (Probably won't be a problem, but too many people can ruin these things)
No running (except from monsters)
There will be a "mandatory role-play period" at the beginning and during at least one "campfire intermission"
Please arrive with arrows/bolts, food, water, potions, flint, tinder or whatever you need to last the trip
The goal is for everyone to survive the outing, so patience, restraint, and caution will be necessary
The "bashiness" rating will depend on who shows up and other 'special' factors, but will probably be very low
This IS:
- A chance to see a little more of Mistone and learn how to move safely between Hempstead/Vehl and the wide, wide world
- A chance to pick up (but not complete) about 5 NPC quests
- A chance to learn the Player Map System
- An opportunity to ask in-character questions about world events and locations, NPC quests, where to find CNR, whatever
- A good place to ask in-character those questions people on the forums tell you to "ask someone in-game"
- A great time to trade crafting items and resources with people who can't use items better than the ones you can make
- A setting in which to meet people to go adventuring with later
- An acceptable time to use OOC tells to ask questions about the more frustrating aspects of the game's mechanics (eg I just can't get my character to fish! )
This is NOT:
- A GM run event
- Run by a player with extensive knowledge of many in-game happenings (I learn at each of these, just like everyone else)
- An opportunity to "kite" or "draft" behind a high level tank character, soaking up XPs for fast leveling
- A chance to quickly group up and go 'hunting/bashing'