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Topics - Acacea

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41

"C'mon, Chimes," said Toby as they walked back toward the door, leaving a very dead dark elf on the lawn. So to speak. Again. It was practically old times! "I'll buy you a drink."

Thank the gods. She'd often wondered why all the drama happened when someone had worked up a thirst. She'd even thrown a stinkbomb at him at the bar and no one. Had even. Chased her. Not even a little bit. Not even a curse. Too busy with the 'rapier' jokes. Easy mark, only five points. Low hanging fruit, as it were. HA!

"First one still free?" he asked. "Yep!" She eyed him and they spoke over the top of one another. "Is that the one you're getting me?" "That's the one you're getting."

She hopped up onto a stool, deciding her poison was whiskey. Toby said he knew there'd been a reason he liked her (as if there weren't a hundred!), so she told him about how she'd given up the will-o after the great chicken incident of '97, but she'd died since then.

He was getting the glasses when his wife walked in, saying she'd thought he'd be right back... Or something wifely. Caught at the pub! One time a flame-winged Strife-demon had stopped at the Arms for a drink, and his wife had come to bawl him out for it, too. Acacea helpfully explained that he'd been killing a dark-ear as he poured.

"Something came -" he stopped and looked at the halfling. "Not. Helpful." he said under his breath, and handed her the bottle. "Just do me a favor, and if you feel like talking... take a shot first, okay?"

"I didn't make enough whiskey for - oops." As far as drinking games went, this one could use some work.

"You... he...? Did you?" his wife was stammering.

"Did what?"

Something about she'd said she wanted him to make it stop, not what she meant, somebody's pet. This was winding up to be a long one, so she lined up another shot, only to have Zari pick it up and toss it back. Quarreling was thirsty work, apparently.

Acacea looked at the place where her drink had been, and the glass reappeared, empty.

Toby poured her another one while defending himself, something else about blah blah preferring someone else to him, but as she reached for it, his wife snatched that one, too. The thirsty halfling watched it go away, again, and then looked to Tobias with imploring eyes.

"Might be quicker if you just drank it from the bottle..." he managed with a grin, but Zarianna got his attention back with, "You believed her?"

"Truth..." Acacea muttered to herself.

"No... Yes... I don't know! This whole situation has got me so confused."

"Tell me about it," Acacea said knowingly, as if anyone was listening, and reached for the bottle to take his advice just a hair after Toby himself snagged it and drank like he needed a few, himself. She blinked at the bottle when it was passed back to her, and it was removed from her disbelieving hands by his wife, as though she were merely passing it back and forth between them. She rested her head on the bar. Need. Drink. Light. Fading. Too. Much. Brainsick.

“You did. You actually believed her.” Zari took a drink straight from the bottle and set it back down on the bar, and the halfling stood on her tiptoes to reach for it. It wobbled. She tipped it toward her and peered into the opening. Sadness awaited. Mere drops. Not even a message from the wide world awaited her; this bottle had never bobbed in the sea, had never sung in the wind. She stuck her tongue out as they argued above her, tipping the bottle in hopes of catching the last of it in her mouth, but Toby, seeing it raising into the air, took it as though it were being offered and drained it.

“Wow. Thanks a lot.” She could agree with Zari’s sentiment, here. She stood on her tiptoes once more to look at the empty bottle, then cast her gaze heavenward, wondering, “I can’t tell if Lucinda is trying to make me quit drinking, or what. It’s like a tag team between her and Ilsare…”

“Thanks? What the hells do you mean by that?”

What if she didn’t exist? There was a thought. What if she really had died, and this had all been some sort of long queue to the Soul Mother… the elves could be demons in disguise. Lightly disguised. A thin veneer of disguise. Her soul, the whiskey. She climbed onto the stool in order to get over the bar, but Zari was already getting herself another bottle and Toby pulled one out and set it in front of the halfling. Two! Two bottles of whiskey. Her odds were improving. “Just like Ilsare. Can’t make up her mind!”

Leringard’s fashionista picked up her newly acquired bottle and took a drink from it, which only aggravated Toby more. Acacea, too. “Stop your drinking!” complained her husband, and took a shot from the other bottle. “You stop yours!”

She looked between them. At both bottles. She mused aloud, “Why is this my life?”

Somebody wasn’t supposed to be drinking when they were mad, but they weren’t mad, blah blah, she nodded thoughtfully at each comment, now. “So much for your trust!” Yes, profound! She must consider this. “Tell her, Acacea!” Wait what. She tried to remember what they were arguing about as he set the bottle down in front of her so he could lean into the bar with both hands.

She eyed it. “Definitely not mad. Very happy.” Her hand creeped toward the whiskey while she spoke, and his bloody wife that never laughed at her jokes struck again to drink from it. “Varg YVV!” she swore in a common pit tongue. Cantankerous harpy! Toby took the other back as if in retaliation. “If you drink, I’ll drink!” Nancing applechaser!

Her ears were melting. She was quite sure of it. She was watching Zari wave around the bottle as she talked, but the words had gone all wah wah wah. No. This was an elusive beast. It called for stealth, and dedication. Crouching down in front of the bar, she listened for the sound of heavy glass clunking down, and when it came she made her move! Leap! Grab! Dash! Sour, burning oblivion awaited!

She hopped up into a stool far away from the bickering couple, hugging her prize to herself. Both elves looked at her quizzically for an instant before returning to their argument. And she… she needed five of these. Five of… she held it upside down over her head and squinted disappointedly up into the opening.

“She was soul-bound. Damn our luck.”

The halfling clanked the empty bottle onto the bar grimly and stood. Brushed herself off with wounded dignity. “You drink all that, that quickly?” Toby asked, as his wife looked over and added, “Ilsare’s panties, Chimes. Slow down.”

“If she opens her mouth again, it’d better not be about you or she’ll be taking another trip,” Toby was saying, and he absently slid a bottle down towards Acacea as his wife swung her legs over the bar. Trotting up gamely, she saw, before her very eyes, the bottle struck a glancing blow by elven legs, wobbling, tumbling… !

Toby was fast, but lives were at stake, and he couldn’t have expected her to dive for it with no regard for obstacles or, indeed, her safety. She snagged it from the air on her way by and barreled into a few stools, but still folded into a protective somersault and came up with bottle safely in hand, world saved once more!

“Oh… thanks,” she heard, as Zari bent down to take it from her in her moment of triumph. “Would’ve been a waste. Good catch.”

She sat. Chin in hands. Elbows on knees. This was Dead Man’s Pass, and she was the last Diamoniar. Struck down by unexpected parties from behind. She pondered the world as the bottle was set back down on the counter, and then picked herself off the floor and onto her feet. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!”

The married couple turned in surprise at the shout. “Both brainsick. YOU!” she leveled a finger at Toby to single him out. “Are only mad ‘cause you love her! Isn’t that a ridiculous place to be in when you consider that! You!” she whirled to Zari, stabbing her finger at the air. “Likewise!” Why did tall people always make things so complicated? Not all of them, she conceded to herself. The mermaid had appreciated her playing-card analogy. She could always pull that one from her sleeve if it proved necessary. The pretty one - the woman, that is - was definitely the shiny deck, in this case.

Toby leaned slightly to one side to stage whisper, “I think she drank too much.”

“Both of you! Kiss! Immediately!” She crossed her arms demandingly, and Zarianna stage-whispered back to her husband, “I think we better do what she says…”

He nodded sagely at her wisdom, then turned to his wife to kiss her. He leaned into it as she returned it, then scooped her up into his arms. Acacea grabbed the bottle as they were occupied and made a break for it. “'KAY, YOU CAN STOP NOW!” she called behind her, fleeing down the hall. No crazy Pit critters were going to eat her soul, no sir.

 


42

I have some supplies to take to the outposts in the Spikes and am in need of an escort! Brewers also welcome! Looking to depart in a month or so, so make preparations and meet at the docks in Leringard!

~Chimes

PS Bring snow hats.
PPS Also, arms and armor!

((Looking at this Friday around 9am PST if there are enough people around that time to make a trip. Can be earlier or later, just kinda trying to average the times different GMTish people have given as good ones... Let me know so we can adjust if necessary! ))


43
Ancients Legacy / Posted at the Stormcrest Shack
« on: January 14, 2015, 03:40:15 pm »
For a time, a mess of different parchments and map scraps were seen inside the Shack where notices or requests used to be hung. The handwriting was so messy as to be indecipherable, with sentences at times seeming to be in pieces on different pages, and terms that could be nonsense or some sort of slang or technical jargon used profusely throughout. Nicknames that might be descriptive to someone offer little hint of what person or places they reference, and at times the writing is not even oriented to the page but rather upside down or in an imaginary margin. After a few days, they are replaced with a smaller number of neater pages, carefully printed in a small block script. CONSTELLATIONS SHIFT
  • PRUNILLA'S GIFT FOLLOWED BY SHINDALERIA'S GREAT TIDE
  • ONE MONTH LATER, LUCINDA'S FOLLOWED BY DORAND'S
  • ANOTHER MONTH LATER, GORAN FOLLOWED BY DELIAR
  • ANOTHER MONTH LATER, ARAGEN'S BOOK TAKES ITS PLACE IN CENTER
  • PRIOR TO ARAGEN'S APPEARANCE, THE SIX WERE ROTATING TOGETHER AROUND THE CENTER
POSSIBLE MAGICAL DISTURBANCES
  • AN INCREASE IN SPONTANEOUS CHANNELING OF THE AL'NOTH APPEARS TO CORRELATE WITH TIME
  • NUMBERS MAY ONLY CORRELATE DUE TO INCREASED AWARENESS OF STRANGENESS BECAUSE OF THE TIMES
  • REPORTS OF MANIFESTATION OF ABILITIES DESCRIBE THOSE OUTSIDE OF THE USUAL - EG THE VERY OLD OR VERY YOUNG
  • ONE EXAMINER REPORTED THAT AN OBSERVED MANIFESTATION WAS NOT ARCANE IN NATURE, BUT DIVINE
  • WHEN DOING A SEEKING FOR A BOY WHO HAD NEWLY DEVELOPED HIS GIFTS, A VISION WAS HAD, MOVING GENERATIONS BACK, SEEING THE SKY, SIX POINTS OF LIGHT AROUND A SEVENTH BECOMING BRIGHTER THAN ALL THE REST. THEY BECAME ONE AND MORE POWER THAN THE SEER  COULD BEAR, ENDING HER VISION AND HER SIGHT. 
THE MISSING
  • A VERY SMALL SAMPLING OF 'NEWLY GIFTED' ARE KNOWN TO HAVE 'DISAPPEARED'
  • ATTEMPTS AT SCRYING ON TWO(?) OCCASIONS RETURNED ONLY AN IMPRESSION OF DARKNESS, AND SOMEWHERE BENEATH
  • DUE TO HIGH NUMBER OF MISSING EVERY DAY, EXACT NUMBERS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO DEFINE
  • DUE TO NATURE OF THE MANIFESTATION OF ABILITIES AND THE DIFFICULTY IN FINDING IF SOMEONE MISSING IS 'MYSTERIOUSLY' MISSING, ESTABLISHING A DEFINITE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO IN ALL OR EVEN MOST CASES WAS IMPOSSIBLE - IN THOSE SORTED CAREFULLY THROUGH HOWEVER, IT WAS SUGGESTIVE
  • THE MISSING APPEARED TO OCCUR ACROSS RACES, GENDERS, AND CONTINENTS
THE WALL
  • A DIG SITE IN THE BRECH MOUNTAINS ATTRACTED NEW INTEREST FROM MULTIPLE PARTIES DUE TO CONSTELLATION SHIFTS IN THE HEAVENS MATCHING THOSE DEPICTED ON PRE-CATACLYSMIC WALL FRAGMENT
  • THE CHANGES IN THE LAND BOTH CATASTROPHICALLY FAST AND SLOW OVER TIME MAKE THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE WALLS PREVIOUS LOCATION OR THE CONSTRUCTION IT BELONGED TO UNKNOWN
  • EROSION AND EFFORTS AT BRINGING IT TO LIGHT MADE THE PATTERN NOT ENTIRELY MATCHING, AS THE WALL WAS ONLY A FRAGMENT, HOWEVER WE INFER FROM THE SYMBOLS PRESENT THAT THE CONJOINED STARS DEPICTED PRIOR TO THE CATACLYSM ARE THE SAME AS ARE NOW REFLECTED IN THE HEAVENS, LEADING US TO CONJECTURE PROPHECY, WHICH LATER EVIDENCE SHOWED TO BE EITHER NOT THE CASE, OR AT LEAST NOT EXCLUSIVELY THE CASE.
  • THE STONE ITSELF DID NOT BELONG TO THE AREA, AS IMPLIED, AND NOTHING ABOUT THE FRAGMENT OR THE AREA ITSELF WAS INHERENTLY MAGICAL. ITS SIGNIFICANCE WAS BEING THE LIFE WORK OF AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, AND DREW INTEREST DUE TO PRESENT TIMES.
BYDELL CASTLE
  • THE RESEARCH PUTTING FORWARD THE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S HYPOTHESIS OF THE WALL HAVING EXISTED PRIOR TO THE CATACLYSM WAS GIVEN AS REQUESTED TO THE ARAGENITES AT BYDELL CASTLE
  • IT WAS ACCEPTED THERE BY ARAGENITES WHO IMPLIED THAT THERE WERE MORE INDICATIONS OF PROPHECY OR PRIOR SHIFTS OF THIS NATURE
  • ONE SUCH EXAMPLE WAS A SET OF SHIP LOGS DATED VERY BROADLY AS BEING AFTER THE DRAGON WARS AND BEFORE THE CATACLYSM.
  • THE CAPTAIN IN QUESTION WAS PROBABLY CALLED BLACKTHORN, ORIGINS IF AT ALL RELEVANT DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE LOGS AND THE NECESSITY OF CROSS-REFERENCING WITH PRE-CATACLYSMIC GEOGRAPHY. TRANSCRIPTION WAS INCOMPLETE AT TIME OF VISITATION
  • THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LOGS WAS THEIR REFERENCING OF THE CONJOINED CONSTELLATIONS, SIGNIFYING THAT ANY REFERENCES TO IT WERE LIKELY NOT MERELY PROPHETIC.
  • TO RE-ITERATE, THE CONSTELLATIONS HAVE TAKEN THIS SAME PATTERN BEFORE
  • THE LOGS WERE DONATED SOME THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO; THE DONOR WAS REQUESTED
THE RETURN
  • AN ELF (REFERRED TO AS ERA) MISSING FROM BYDELL ARRIVED AT THE GATES IN ILL HEALTH. ARAGENITES REPORTED THAT HEALING MAGIC POSSIBLY INTERFERED WITH WHATEVER WAS HOLDING HIM TOGETHER. HE AGED AND DECAYED QUICKLY, TO THE POINT OF DISINTEGRATION. HE SPOKE OF FAMILY ON VANAVAR
  • A TRIP TO VANAVAR LED TO SPEAKING WITH FAMILY, AND THE LEARNING OF A LEGEND OF FIVE FAMILIES WHO SAVED THE WORLD FROM BEASTS AND A CHAMBER UNDERGROUND WHERE THE GODS ARE PRESENT
  • LEGENDS ALONG THESE LINES ARE NOT UNKNOWN OR EVEN UNCOMMON, HOWEVER UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND CORRELATIONS WITH GODS AND UNDERGROUND AND FAMILY TIMES AT THIS TIME SEEM RELEVANT
  • A GROUP BACKTRAILING THE ELF IN BYDELL TO SEE WHERE HE WALKED FROM LOST HIS OLD AND DIFFICULT TRAIL IN THE TAUR'EN HILLS, DUE EAST OF BYDELL. HE APPEARED TO HAVE STARTED OUT SOUND OF BODY AND MADE HIS WAY WITH COURSE CORRECTION STEADILY WEST FOR THE CASTLE, POSSIBLY RESTING ONLY WHEN HE COLLAPSED. HE BECAME INCREASINGLY UNSOUND AS HE CONTINUED UNTIL HE NEARED THE GATES, WHERE HE WAS FOUND IN POOR CONDITION BY THE GUARDS AND GIVEN TO THE ARAGENITE HEALERS
  • NO MAGICAL ANOMALIES WERE DETECTED NEAR WHERE THE LAST SIGNS OF HIS PASSAGE WERE NOR FURTHER ON
  • OTHER MISSING BEGAN RETURNING IN THE SAME MANNER - SEEMING TO RETURN ON FOOT TO THEIR HOMES ONLY TO DECAY RAPIDLY AND FALL INTO NOTHING, LEADING TO PLAGUE SCARES AND PREVENTATIVE QUARANTINES
  • ACTUAL CAUSE OF 'FASTROT' UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME. POSSIBLE SUGGESTIONS HAVE BEEN PLANAR TRAVEL (MULTIPLE DISCREPANCIES), GEAS (TO WHAT END?), ENERGIES BEING USED BY SOMETHING WHERE THEY WERE (SAME), AND OTHER VAGUE SPECULATIONS UNTIL FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE OVERALL PURPOSE/MOTIVES OF THEIR DISAPPEARANCES AND CONDITIONS ARE FOUND.
THE LETTER - FROM SOMEONE TO SOMEONE ELSE
  • STORIES IMPORTANT REMEMBER TELL OTHERS NOW IS TIME. FIVE FAMILIES WILL SAVE STARS CONJOINED AS BEFORE (WORD - CATACLYSM?) IS SIGNAL MOST FORGOTTEN. TOLD BY GRANDFATHER. DIFFICULT TO BREATH VERY TIRED. HALL OF SEVEN MUST FIND ANSWERS IMPORTANT HIDDEN DEEP FRACTURED MOVED PROTECTED DANGEROUS START AT THE EYE SEEK EVER DEEPER. DARK CANNOT BREATHE COLD MUST REST COLD MUST REST
  • POSSIBLY THE LAST WRITINGS OF A VERY OLD AND INFIRM ELF BEFORE PASSING ANONYMITY HERE PRESERVED
  • TWO SPOTS WERE SEARED ONTO THE PARCHMENT ABOUT THE SIZE OF A FINGER BONE. IS THIS SIGNIFICANT? AT THIS TIME THERE IS STILL NO WAY OF KNOWING

LEADS THAT COULD BE FOLLOWED - TIME IS VERY RELEVANT SO THE MORE HANDS DIVVYING UP SMALL TASKS THE BETTERKNOWLEDGEABLE PERSONS SUGGESTED -

  • MORAKEN - REQUEST SENT
  •  XORA - REQUEST SENT
  • THE SILKWOOD WITCH - ?
  • BARONESS ATHALIA IMJAM - ~Kyle
  • DAMAN OF THE TRIBES - ?
  • MELIZAPHEI HILLIARANAME - ?
  • KING COLDROCK OF ULGRID - REQUEST SENT
  • THE GOLDEN EMERALD - REQUEST NOT POSSIBLE, VISITATION REMAINS ALTERNATIVE
FOLLOW-UPS SUGGESTED
  • SHIP LOG TRANSCRIPTION SHOULD BE COMPLETE, REQUEST HANDS TO BYDELL FOR REMAINDER AND REQUEST TRANSLATION OF THE ELVEN WORD OR NAME bielaebisáimf AS WELL AS SEEKING RELEVANT LEGENDS WITH NEW INFORMATION - FIVE FAMILIES, HALL OF SEVEN ~ Moustache
  • DONOR OF SHIP LOGS MAY HAVE BEEN COLLECTOR - A FOLLOW UP MAY FIND ADDITIONAL PRE-CATACYLSMIC DOCUMENTS, OR MORE LIKELY, NOTHING
  • SOMEONE MAY RETURN TO THE DIG SITE TO INFORM THE GNOME THAT HIS WORK IS  BEING REVIEWED BY THE ARCHIVISTS AND FIND OUT IF THERE HAVE BEEN FURTHER VISITORS TO THE SITE AND OF WHAT NATURE. A SLENDER THREAD BUT A COURTESY. REST ASSURED THAT ALL OF THE GODS REPRESENTED HAVE ENEMIES, AND IF SOME HAVE LEGENDS OF SAVING THE WORLD, SOME WILL HAVE LEGENDS OF PREVENTING IT FROM BEING SAVED ~Charm
  • REQUEST PARTY TO GREAT LIBRARY FOR PRIOR INSTANCES OF CONJOINED STARS NOW THAT IT IS MOSTLY CONFIRMED, LEGENDS OF FAMILIES OR THE HALL OF SEVEN ~Plenarius?
  • SAMPLES OF THE BYDELL ELFS REMAINS WERE TAKEN BY A WIZARD OF UNKNOWN NAME. SOMEONE PRESENT IS BOUND TO HAVE KNOWN HIS NAME AND WHERE TO CONTACT HIM FOR RESULTS
  • FAMILY LEGENDS OFFER SOME SUGGESTION THAT INSTANCES OF MULTIPLE FAMILY MEMBERS DISAPPEARING MAY NOT BE COINCIDENCE - RETURNING TO INVESTIGATE BLOODLINES MAY BE RELEVANT BUT WILL BE DIFFICULT, AS MOST WILL BE UNAWARE OF THEIR OWN HERITAGES, PARTICULARLY HUMANS. ELVES HAVE LONGEST GENERATIONS BUT CHOOSING OTHER RACES MAY HELP LOCATE OTHER FAMILIES IF THEY ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RACES. REMEMBER THAT THESE PEOPLE HAVE LOST FAMILY TO STRANGE AND FEARFUL CIRCUMSTANCES.
  • "START AT THE EYE, SEEK EVER DEEPER" MULTIPLE INTERPRETATIONS EXIST, ALL MAY BE INVESTIGATED - DUNGEON OF THE EYE IN PROGRESS, OTHER LOCATIONS NAMED FOR SUCH SHOULD BE AS WELL, THOUGH THERE ARE MANY WHEN OLD AND NEW AND RACIAL OR LOCAL NAMES ARE FACTORED IN. ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS HAVE BEEN VARIOUS CENTERS, THE WORLD PRIOR TO THE CATACLYSM, OR THE CATACLYSM ITSELF IF SUCH A THING HAD SOMETHING SIMILAR.
WHEN PURSUING ANY INFORMATION IT MAY BE PRUDENT TO FIND OUT IF ANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN ASKING THE SAME.INFORMATION FOUND MAY BE POSTED AT THE SHACK OR TOLD TO INTERESTED PARTIES SIR DANIEL BENJAMIN POETR, BIRD LORD PLENARIUS ASHALEY, ANDREW REID, ELOHANNA, KATELYN POETR, DANIELLA STORMHAVEN, THE HALFLINGS QUENTON, CHARM, IRI AMBERCRESS

((This information, however presented, is IC, and so may or may not suffer from unreliable narrator. Corrections and further information should be given IC as well. The names given are those that have been talking plot lately and not representative of all of those involved. This information is now public and especially intended specifically for those not mentioned here for catchup. ))


44
Fixed Bugs / Bard Song - xIrxResistable Dance
« on: March 04, 2015, 08:02:59 pm »
Description: Since Acacea's WoodlandFrolic-esque curse song is countered with a will save, it should probably respect mind immunities.Location: N/A :)Verified:Reproducible: Give me some unliving beetles and a few tries ! Not a big deal. I mean, to me. To insects and undead, yeah, probably irritates the heck out of them...

45
Rumour Has It / Want to be a Stormcrest Guide?
« on: December 15, 2014, 04:00:32 pm »
Someone's come back to the Shack, and found it awfully dusty! She's been too long wandering Elsewhere to know what's what in the world, and who is there to be guiding her? And if she's being perfectly honest, she was never a very good guide, just the guide we got... That's not even mentioning the time she fed everyone the wrong berries and left everyone too faint from the squats to carry on to the destination!!

Can you tell north from west?* You can be a better guide than Acacea!
Do you remember where you left the horses? You, too! Can be a better guide than Acacea!
Can you make basic campfire food without feeding everyone coals?  Again! You have the advantage!
Can you...
    remember local dangers and prepare your group against them?
    remember enough about a place to pass a little knowledge on as you pass by?
    Be Prepared For Things?
    Know Stuff About Places?


No paperwork! No entry fees! No commitments! Just looking for people who know enough to value the journey as much or more than the destination! Remember, nobody's looking for someone who knows everything - just enough people that know something to give an assortment to choose from! Leave a note or find Acacea at the Shack if you're interested...

~Chimes
* Ability to actually tell north from west not required! See Acacea and Katrien for proof


((Membership in guilds is not relevant, as the guides aren't a guild. PM Me :
    - How long you've played on Layonara
    - Character name, level, and alignment
    - How long the character has been active

- If you've read the server rules and LORE, and regularly active on the forums
- If you have any questions in general))


46
General Discussion / tl;dr Worldbuilders for Heifer - Donate, Win Stuff
« on: December 14, 2014, 02:17:35 pm »

YAILWAP

Hey people, thought I would toss a thread here in case any books and game lovers want to throw some change into the hat. Tomorrow is the last day of the Worldbuilders fundraiser for Heifer International, and while every year has gotten more attention and numbers, there's still a lot of people who haven't even heard of it, who are exactly the kinds of people who'd be interested in it. I'll treat this like a standard confidence game* and appeal to generosity, first.

Pat Rothfuss, the author of the as-yet-unfinished Kingkiller Chronicles, started Worldbuilders several years back because he had all this new income and influence and thought he could do something. Why he picked Heifer International as the charity of choice, among other things, is covered in the How We Got Started.

Or you could skip the FAQs and check out a video of Pat getting all broken up at his kid beating him to the punch when he tries to be all parently . Should also be mentioned that while the usual face of donations is buying cows, goats, and baby chicks (hi redundancy, haven't seen you since five minutes ago!), it also goes towards things like irrigation pumps, biogas stoves, and training animal health workers, 'cause you know, vets. There's a whole lot more training than milking goats... that said, it's not a fight about which charity is best, or putting one over the other, nor an invite to a debate on the effectiveness of any particular organization (as ever feel free to PM or catch me on IRC for debate, har!)  - ultimately this is the one they picked, and you can win cool stuff ;)

So to continue on in the vein of a sales pitch, to appeal to the shiny-loving right after the save-the-world, it boils down to donating $20  gets you two chances to win in a giant lottery. $50 gets you 5. Etc. You might win a paperback from an author you never heard of, try it out, and discover someone new or find you don't care for it. You could also win, say, a copy of every book published by a particular publisher in the last year. There's pretty much a ton of geekery and swag and games thrown in, as well. The lottery library gives kind of an idea of what all has been donated by different authors, publishers, and fans, but it's kind of hard to get the picture unless you see things like videos of the staff learning to use a forklift to unload a truck full of boxes of donated games, heh. It should also be noted that you don't burn all your chances when you win. Technically if you donated $200, you could win 20 times, even if it is extremely unlikely.

If you'd like to participate but would rather a direct exchange than a lottery, The Tinker's Packs has a lot of things for sale, and all of the money goes to Worldbuilders. There are also a few auctions with time remaining on them, though a whole lot more have already gone.

If nothing else, all the donations this year have brought us things like Neil Gaiman reading Jabberwocky and Strong Bad Writes a Kids' Book as stretch goals.

The direct link for donations is here , make sure your contact information is correct so if you win something, it goes to the right place... because of the massive amounts of donators, there's no email going out to individual winners except in cases where you win something very rare or niche-specific, in which case Pat or someone from the Worldbuilders staff will contact you to be sure you want it and make sure shipping is correct, because nobody wants some one-of-two-hundred ARC signed by some famous author to sit outside in the snow while you're on vacation.

A couple things on that page that could use clarifying even if you've done it before - there are a few new options this year, because it kind of started out as mostly books and author things, and this year there are So. Many. Games. Because not everyone is into board and card games, and also because there are enough OF them to allow you to specify, you can opt to only be in the lottery for books, only for games, or be in for both.

The other question is "Do you want to be included in the drawing for the items mentioned in Patrick Rothfuss's Three Threes blog?" This is basically something that he kinda toyed with last year because the fundraising reach has grown pretty far out from his own fanbase, so things specific to his setting or ...self would not be cool to a lot of people. The things mentioned are a set of his world's currency, stealth copies of his related novella that just came out recently, and a gold favor ring, which has kinda become a tradition of sorts, I guess. The ring is the favor, for whomever physically possesses it. It has his name on it, a nod to some court customs in his setting. You can keep the ring, or you can trade it someday for a favor. Pasta. Move your couch. Put your name in one of his novels.

Now that I think of it, you should also opt-out of further communications by unchecking the opt-in check box if you do not want to be contacted by Heifer in the future. If you don't want their brochures and reminders in the mail religiously, they might as well save the paper, ha.

As a note from me, the time between the fundraiser ending and when possible packages arrive is a few months, so it's best to chalk it up to a good deed done or something and move on rather than frantically checking the mail, or something. You can watch them on facebook if you want the occasional update from staff about their gazillion packages they have to send out. I usually win something or another, but then, no one else in my family has, so... if you really need to know the odds, try checking the little widget at the top right corner of the blogs to see your chances.

If you made it this far, wow! Such dedication. So many cookies! Too bad they are only virtual.

*Psst, not really a con. Not pocketing anything and running for the hills. Just in case. Maybe next time.


47
Ancients Legacy / Dig Site
« on: October 26, 2014, 10:09:10 am »

The area of the site stretches across four horse lengths by another four. The ground has a low incline, appearing almost level compared to the rest of the surrounding mountainous land. Within the dig site, there is very little marked. A cloth has been pulled over a patch of land and folded up, revealing a wall segment. It juts up fromt the rest of the land like a partially buried boulder - however, the surface is somewhat smoothed. On its leftmost side as one faces the rock from its buried bottom, the edge of the rock cuts across some carvings, making them indecipherable or incomplete (as is the wall, obviously), but the pattern of four of the seven constellations currently in question remain visibly carved firmly into the wall by some unknown hand. Goran, Lucinda, Deliar, and Aragen, appearing in the places they might in the sky at this time. 

After they've spoken for some time, and Katelyn has suggested her plan, Acacea rubs her cheek and looks around.

So... just to recap before you try that! There was probably some kinda wall somewhere before the Breaking, whether a temple or a shrine or even just a wall standing by itself to look neat, and it had the latest constellation patterns on it, which only became interesting when ...it became the latest constellation patterns on it! Probably all seven, though we're guessing 'cause Shindy, Dorand, and Prunilla have not made it with the rest of the wall... all blown up and such... See, what DID make it intact is like the sky right now! Or would be, were it dark! So a pretty good guess!

But things were flung from all over and valleys became mountains and there were volcanos and there were landmasses broken and islands sunk and all sorts of stuff in the Cataclysm, so we don't know where this wall was before, that we could look more into to see if there was some kind of prophecy stuff happening there!

So! The cat person said it most probably came from down and not up, and we'd have to go down. Ferrit's granddaughter (I need something shorter!) wants to try using the Couple's connection to see if we couldn't find where Prunilla went, though hopefully she's not just sand at this point...

Myself, I do not really have much else here, I think. The casters said it wasn't magic - maybe it was magic when it was whole, MAYBE, but it's not now, and I don't really have anything to go on, either! My other thing is that I was hoping there would be some magical hint here that tied the goings-on with the missing people. All we could divine ...or... they... could divine... She sighs. was that at least two were alive, and the recent boy is somewhere dark, maybe below. I'd like to know how the other one the lady looked at was 'different', too.

Even if these are not connected, I would like them found safe! There might be more we could look for by finding more missing peoples and trying to work backwards or combine focuseseses. So I think we've only got more questions, so we might as well hop to looking for things that might point us towards some answers... Whether hand-holdy holy water prayers, missing persons hunts, pre-cataclysmic map hunting, digging, legend hunting, and so on!

She smiles brightly. Unfortunately, a lot of that is, from what I hear, things people have been trying to do already with the stars changing, with no luck so far. So! Carry on...


48
Leringard Arms Inn and Tavern / Memories in Song
« on: October 21, 2014, 11:27:43 pm »
At the Arms one autumn evening, the jukebox begins to play an old song; The Gypsy of Leringard greets late-nighters and staff who happen in, and the whirling bright sound of it drifts through frozen streets. The fiddle plays out memories of fiery hair and emerald eyes, and is soon joined by the breathy voice of a dancing flute. Though a familiar tune, and not unloved, it appears to keep being set on this whenever changed... from elsewhere in the inn a pair of pipes echo the flute's part to sing with the gypsy's violin.

49
The Silver Buckle / Security Checks
« on: October 07, 2014, 07:35:33 pm »

After some time to get reacquainted with the Buckle staff, Tori asks for the tour. She takes a closer look at the additions to the inn, and marks silently the alternate means of egress she's informed of. She is plain faced and plain spoken, but does not need to be shown anything twice.

As the change in the heavens becomes more and more the topic of conversation, she glances to the gambling tables and asks to be kept apprised of any change in overall trends of luck, particularly of the professed Deliarites. She defers to Melody and Edward to treat with those getting out of hand with their opinions and pronouncements of doom, but notes those that affect the patrons and gain support rather than scorn.

Should the unlikely occur and her opinion is asked, she will shrug and remind that "some folk allays lookin' for reasons to drown, an' 'em what decidin' only trouble comin' get what they askin' for." She keeps to herself, but when prodded only says that the gods are always up to something or another, and people should take it as a favor that they've made any sign at all - and that the only disaster that is certain is the one that comes when people abandon their trades, fields, homes, families, because of the view that's changed while they're sleeping.

"Ain't nobody e'er payin' any mind to 'em folk beggin' coppers an' sleepin' off they drink 'til noon, 'til workin' sorts got somethin' to be afeared about. Try for copper charity an' folk kickin' you out the road. Start sellin' fear an' folk go linin' up to bury you in silver."

In the meantime, she requests a meeting in private with Miz Elly to discuss the specifics of the inn's wards.

((I will simply update this thread when Tori is working on something here, to avoid forum spam ;) )) 


50
The Silver Buckle / A Return to the Buckle
« on: September 29, 2014, 09:21:38 pm »
Some years later, Tori checks back in at the Silver Buckle, only raising her eyebrows slightly at the changes made. After a brief conversation with Michael, she heads down and returns with a dusty adamantium buckler, but asks that someone tell "that Reid fella" she's looking to settle up and wondering what the damage is.

51
Fixed Bugs / Feat Requirements - Epic Warding
« on: June 11, 2011, 05:21:08 pm »
Quote from: NWN Wiki
The actual prerequisite is not the ability to cast level 9 spells, but being an epic sorcerer or wizard, or having at least 15 pale master levels. Furthermore, this feat can only be chosen when gaining a level in the qualifying class.


LORE's current version has the vanilla description about only needing the ability to cast level 9 spells, so it should probably be either edited to reflect the correct requirements or added in a note.

Edit - Sorry, I was a little hasty with the detail. The current note on the page is:

Quote
The twenty-one (21) caster levels must be gained in a base class (Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard), with the Pale Master Prestige Class being the one exception.


Druid and Cleric need to be removed. Bards can still take it. (Sorry.)

52
General Discussion / For those that don't need a whole house
« on: April 04, 2011, 12:22:33 pm »
For those that have difficulty because they just want a little place to store some things, a bedroll they can see, and a portal, but places that rent rooms are full or you are just starting out or whatever, Acacea's treehouse at 158 Silverdell Grove is really not a house but more of one converted to a waystation for those passing through. Despite appearance there is no real lock on the door so it is always open. Anywhere that there is space you can lay down a mat and a small chest - the small ones hold the same amount as the large ones, now. The most space is probably "down" - go up to the room with the piano and the two rooms (the left one is Jaelle's, she can speak for whether or not it's available), and then walk towards the crate in the wall. There is a little transition there.

It looks strange but it's there because we've always roleplayed it as simply climbing down the crate - it amuses Acacea to no end to suddenly disappear into it.

Anyway, down there there is a fair amount of space. A brownie was already tucked under the stairs - I don't know if she's still there.

It's not glamorous or anything, but it is there and it's open and it's got a portal. There's been a few people that have used it as a transition to a rented room, and then to their own place. There's also a scattering of books there if anyone wants to check them out - just put them back after. There's reasons and stuff. For those of you especially meanieheaded, yeah there are elemental wards, please play accordingly.

The crate by the bar usually has foodstuffs in it, which people are welcome to eat out of if they need it. The only thing that was asked was that should they come into more than they need later, that they toss some back in for others. Somebody may have eaten it all by now, as I think the Lily and Jennara were the only people still putting anything in it :p

Acacea is rather unlikely to be in, but that is really no change. You never know, though. Okay, sometimes you do.

PS: Because of tileset strangeness, you may be puzzled when you first enter as to the tiny space and vast blackness - just walk into it and it will spread out.

PPS: For very older players, Aleister's lab actually remains intact and in use (well, not anymore), but it is hiding! The rest was converted and opened at least in part to irk his decaying corpse.

53
General Discussion / Dear NWN
« on: June 20, 2010, 11:19:09 am »
Dear Neverwinter Nights,

I never actually finished your official campaign (any of them), and most of even my favorite modules were left off around 95% completion. No more than a handful of areas from the module project I started were ever done, even though building was the only reason I went PW surfing to begin with. I am a poor modeler and have not given you any shiny new toys like other people have over the years, as with my most valiant efforts I am generally just translating the work of others to work for us. I rarely finish stories, and my scripting in any language is akin to the tourist that greets natives with "the cat is black" and says his farewells as "the cheese is stinky".

I only dabbled with your sequel, and even when I poked my head into another PW I didn't speak with another soul. I bought that nice premium module that I heard was very good, but like other very good modules I only got halfway through it, along with that expansion. Expansions. I've found that the things I love most about your sequel are the models that got ripped from it and given to you. Enjoy!

I did not get you a card, because I hate cards, and also I don't care for wrapping paper, bows, and in general anyone bothering me, and also I am officially 2 days late. But I thought I would say it anyway.

Happy 8th Birthday, NWN!

Eight years later you are getting some of the best content since your release. Here are just a few examples of the continued labors of love on your behalf, to cheer you and make up for my own lack of contribution. I did not even count the last patch they labored on for you, and the premium modules that were cancelled but given to the community, or any of the older content that is still in the top ranks!

NWShader (Ignore them when they say adding bloom to NWN is like putting lipstick on a pig - they should have said gilding a lily. The possibilities cannot be measured!)
NWNCQ
NWN Enhanced
sixesthrice's pretty tilesets
CTP Babylon
CEP 2.3 (the new DM tools are crazy!)
Senemenelas' Underdark Tileset
KotoR Heads
SciFi Placeables
Worms Fantasy Interiors
Sen's Seasonal Workshop (remember when we were trying to make the seasons change dynamically with worms, NWN? That was silly. This is easy.)
Community Music Pack

Lastly, while I do not have anything of my own that is anything of note, and have not in general added to your lifespan with so much as a font, you must understand that with your kind I am a fickle creature. Drawn to shiny and ever dissatisfied with its empty reflection, I move on and on and on from "games," leaving a trail of open manuals and dusty boxes behind me, bouncing from latest and greatest back to Betrayal at Krondor, Mario, and King's Quest, and, more recently, Lemmings. Forget all the others. You are the only one I have been (semi-)faithful to, and with you are the only characters (singular) I've made that have lasted any significant length of time, even when we are called silly for still caring about a game nearing a decade-old and wanting to do good things for it. Did I say a decade? No, no, you are closer to 5 than 10. Forget all that.

So thank you for the toolset, and thank you for Acacea, and happy birthday!

54
General Discussion / On the subject of evil cities
« on: May 05, 2010, 08:19:17 pm »
As requested...

Quote from: Guardian 452
I know I asked not to pick ideas apart but I wanted to make one of my ideas a bit more clear

#10. The Evil truly evil starting city. I didnt mean go kill "good" PC's. I do not beleive most of the people can truly handle PvP with the amount of maturity it needs to make it work correctly. I meant in from this Evil City you would have quests to go kill Farmer "X" rather than go help find his lost cow. Or Go steal weapons and deliver them to the Evil City to get your Helm of Armor 1 and 2.  That sort of thing.


Anything regarding alignment, race, class, gender, whatever-based starting areas is not sustainable given the player population, even in its most ideal form. Not only that, but the whole idea of a city full of evil people doing evil things, gosh the things they get up to, is itself difficult to do. Better would be to integrate quests targeting evil PCs into an existing starting area, like an underground, or whatever.

We are trying to merge player populations, not divide them further.

So from this I would scratch the entire concept of any new starting areas and instead make it a much more reasonable request of static quests that have a little more ethical variety to them, possibly even with a choice of how they are completed. I really can't stand the fed-ex quest system in general, but leaving the bulk as they are and just adding a few worthwhile ones could spread some variety.

Vehl - Shady dude fedex just asking for tainted substance in gloom woods cave. Reason to go there, clear intention to manufacture and sell. Perhaps you could consider an option on completion to take either gold or some basic instruction in exchange, and get poison crafting XP.

Toss an Az'attan in the Gloom Woods that appears if you have accepted or denied quest (on conversation having happened at all) that wishes a sample herself for the purpose of a cure, and you can only turn it in to one person. *shrugs*

Do anything 2409523092 times and it's going to get stupid. But at least there are already 2-3 more possible outcomes and isn't a) help me save my puppy or b) help me collect this blood of virgin.

55
General Discussion / Time change and trip tonight
« on: March 14, 2010, 09:34:40 pm »
For those not changing hours, the sunday night deal is in 23 minutes.

56
Rumour Has It / Astral Keys, Please
« on: February 12, 2010, 10:21:23 pm »
In lieu of actual presence, a barely coherent note is scribbled and posted at the Shack.


Cosmic Locks, Unbreakable Rules!
If one has not the proper tools...

Iron-bound paths open to me
With a turn of one little key

Do not tamper with what starts pure,
Change not forms beyond ideals
Flexible is the body's mold
Beyond that, the Astral Seals

All doors were made to be opened!
All rules were meant to be broken!
And even under lock and key,
The truth may still be spoken

'Round the world there will be hidden
Truths some gods have deemed forbidden

(And lest they seek to apprehend,
With all these keys we'll play pretend!)



57
General Discussion / Postponing til tomorrow
« on: January 24, 2010, 09:35:41 pm »
Sorry for the late notice - I meant to post this morning. I need to move tonight's scheduled wanderin's to tomorrow (Monday) as I am at my mother's to hang out following her surgical removal of supposedly unnecessary organs.

No, Acacea doesn't know where she is going yet!

58
NWN Ideas, Suggestions, Requests / Enabling Co-op on Magical Disturbances
« on: January 17, 2010, 06:35:13 pm »
At the moment, the mechanical system for magical disturbances left by GMs is for solo attempts only. I do not really understand the purpose in the current implementation, because the DCs are so slim as to be pointless for anyone but Storold.

It's not actually the difficulty that I disagree with, though. I think that it should be difficult-to-impossible for anyone but Storold to repair such disturbances... alone. On GM quest after GM quest we have tackled them in groups and circles - some people have spent a lot of time trying to research and participate in them. Now it is just a mechanical system only one person can help with.

Maybe it could use the main person's* concentration score, and do some division with present party member caster levels and/or SC.

Like I said... it's not the DCs that are the problem, it's the fact that the system assumes anyone would ever try such things alone, which they never have. Did no one repair these before Storold? No... it just took a lot more of them, which itself makes him stand out more than making him the one person in the church that is actually doing anything in the very cause they are utterly devoted to carrying out. More than that, he could be leading little bands of mages that can participate in ritual mendings instead of just having to watch.

I just don't like everyone else being forced out solely by mechanics, nor Storold himself being reduced to a lone magical Roomba.

[SIZE=10]*The character having the dialogue[/SIZE]

59
General Discussion / trip tonight
« on: January 03, 2010, 10:11:14 pm »
Bailing... sorry for the late notice to anyone else that had thought about coming but I fell asleep after a long day of pain. Some of you might remember when I had the one wisdom tooth that needed out! ...But for multiple reasons they didn't all go out with that one, and now there is much sadness because of it.

It's been pretty constant throughout the day so I fell asleep when it stopped awhile, heh.

If it is any lighter in the morning I will probably do something tomorrow... probably there were only two or three of you but still sorry (again) especially to you!

60
Fixed Bugs / Horse Speed Saddle Option
« on: December 29, 2009, 12:30:21 am »
Description: The option to set speed to normal when mounted by using the horse saddle has no effect. Probably it's been like that for some time (since switch?), can't personally confirm that.


Verified:


Reproducable:
Yah

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