Wed Dec 3 22:34:28 2014

At 7 o'clock AM, Day of Deception, 23rd of the Month of Winter
on the Theran calendar Crraya perished, never to return.

Sorry it took me so long to post, but apathy has been kicking my ass. You were a scary, but always classy foe that I never figured out how to defeat alone. I would always swear off fighting you, but you were always so gracious in victory, I'd decide to give it another go. When other bitched about you never being around, I always felt like you were around too much, but I think out play times just matched-up very well. This is meant as a compliment: I think you were the scariest "Warrior with hide" I've ever seen (never saw you try to assassinate."

... and I thought you had some guts to be willing to fight me. Shaman, in particular, didn't seem to fare too well against me, but you kept trying. I respected you for that.

I did play this assassin very "un-assassinly". I probably should have utilized it more, but I had a lot more fun fighting in close.

I was very impressed with the little I got to interact with you before you croaked. It was nice having such a solid presence about to start with.

I think you're going to do great things for the Cabal.

I sent my receipt for the PBF there.

Thanks!

nt

Did no other villager give you crap for being a Rayihn follower? I imagine that might have been grounds for many many circle fights.

I was a little surprised, really, but I wasn't the first villager leader to follow Rayihn.

Crraya wasn't a very lovey-dovey type follower, and instead interpreted it as more of the "tough love" type.

Never figured out why it took so much work fighting you, but you were probably my toughest enemy. From what I saw over a few chars, you did an awesome job and had fun. Glwyn!

You did seem to have everyone's number... but once I fought you a couple of times I was able to turn the tides. You were definitely beastly, especially when that snake's poison hit (which was all the time!)

If you need proof, let me know where to email the receipt... I don't want to divulge my email address on the forum.

Your email for the donation from paypal does not get posted to the forum.

But if you have any questions about that sort of thing, or want to communicate your information privately, you can email imps@carrionfields for questions about donations, etc.

I made the $5 donation yesterday but forgot to include on the note which character sheet I wanted.

Scar did send me an email asking which sheet I wanted posted, so hopefully it'll get posted soon.

If you need proof, let me know where to email the receipt... I don't want to divulge my email address on the forum.

It's late, I'm tired, and a bit deflated right now, so I will post more tomorrow...

... but I just wanted everyone to know that this was the most rewarding ride of my CF life. My first age death (702 hours... damn).

I made 100's of relationships throughout the life of this character - and truthfully there were very few that weren't rewarding in some way.

Please post your goodbyes (and any constructive criticism) and I will most definitely respond.

I love you all (or most)!

Crraya

you just roflstomped me every time we fought but you liked to talk also so that was awesome. Thanks again for telling me all the stuff you did. You were sick, and backfast was crazy. Though I did kinda get you once so that was good. Was nice to actually rp with people after fighting.

I give you major props for your play-style, being willing to go toe to toe with me at nearly every turn, even if you were getting beaten down pretty badly most of the time.

I hope that some of the talks we had before/after a few of those battles have helped your tactics some (and hopefully push you a bit quicker up the learning curve).

I tried to vary my techniques against you as well over time so you could see some of the various strategies an assassin can play with too, even if some of them weren't the most suitable for killing you.

Anyways - keep up the good work, you're learning quick!

You were pretty awesome all around. Thanks for the induct! I put this into the role but Magner was thankful it went down the way it did so she didn't have to explain to Crraya the badass female the whole gender reasons for her going to the village. Worked out!

And then from there on out you were pretty stellar every time we were logged in together. Thanks for all the talks and especially for helping out with the rites. It was tons of fun and probably would've been pretty rough had you not been there.

Going raiding with you starting in the 40s was great. No way should I have had any business's hitting the nexus inners but you made it possible. You were pretty scary in combat in your old age.

Great work and I hope you are very proud of this character. It was a tremendous one.

I was thoroughly impressed by you from the get-go. You took care of your business. You got into scraps you had no business in and didn't complain one bit if things didn't go your way... a lace-up-your-boots and get to work villager. My favorite kind.

Glad I got to fight you in the Rites... and I bet things might have gone a whole lot differently if you were a bit higher ranked.

Anyways, your char is relatively young, so I hope you have a long, prosperous time in the village. You can do great things if you stick it out!

I enjoyed this character so much. We were great together. I was so pissed that you beat me in the rites. Gilut really did feel that the winner of the battle portion of the rites deserved commander.

Solid solid presence. You should be on the pillar.

Well done.

GLWYN.

Gilut

You don't know how depressed I was when Gilut kicked the bucket (even though I knew it was coming). Put Crraya into a funk for a couple months at least (RL months!)

Your steadying non-evil presence was a great counter-weight to me, and I think we had a ton of fun together. I hope you're still sniffing around the village and have a char ready to rock out!

I will say, the Rites (especially one-on-one) favor someone who's not reliant on weapons... me using claws vs someone who can't exploit my vulns does not equal a fair fight.

Oh I am around. I do not want to give away who I am playing, but will leave you a response when I delete/kick the bucket.

Gilut

I could never get your number but had respect for you. Glad you have fun. Age death is hard to do. Only did it once myself. Glwyn

This was my first age death char - and I hope I can continue to put out the effort to try another long-lived char.

It's people like you who make CF fun - and when you stick around long enough you get to interact with a whole lot of cool people.

Glad we could tussle, even though I really didn't want to kill you that often.

Just wanted to say that this was a top notch character in every way. Well done! Sticking with a character that long can be tough. Very, very good job.

I was also glad to see you get rewarded by getting your name put on the pillar. Congrats!

=w=

IC, Crraya never really felt she did anything overly notable, and OOC, I never felt, up until the end, that I was really "rolling" in terms of PK... not that I was racking up tons of kills compared to the Elite CF'ers, but was doing well enough for my standards.

Anyways, I never really thought any IMM really noticed me (outside of my patron, of course), and thought that Battle IMMs didn't do a great job of interacting with the Cabal until the last couple weeks of Crraya's life, at least. The new IMM (and creepyish whispers from the shadows) should definitely breathe some new life into it - and he's been definitely making his influence felt. Wooo!

I did get some RC rewards early on and a sprinkling of Imm-xp for participating in events/etc, but was crossing my fingers hoping for a custom string desc or some extra Battle edge along the way, just to know I was doing something right.

No matter... I wasn't counting on those things, and they didn't affect my fun-stick one bit. I just thought something along those lines would have been ultra-cool. Again, I wasn't expecting anything, so I have no complaints.

Crraya went up and up and up.

I don't remember if I inducted you as Ruosti or if Brizlin did but that's who I was playing at the time when you entered battle, a year and a half ago! I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this was your first assassin or first serious one?

The only reason I say that is I remember having a conversation with you when you were in the 20's and you were trying to figure out which Master edge to take and we discussed it. Which was fun for me because I hadn't played an assassin in years. I think it was down to Atemi Waza or Ukemi. I want to say you told me later that you chose Ukemi, but seeing you fight I'm certain you had Atemi Waza. Either I am mistaken or you got Atemi Waza later for a reward or RC win.

I also remember you having some epic battles with some duergar AP (pretty sure this was you) and suggesting you try the ceremonial staff. The only reason why this sticks out and was notable to me is because I noticed you using a staff quite often later in your life. I'm not trying to claim credit for that insight or anything, just more a testament to the upward arc and growth of this character.

Then it came my turn to play the assassin and Ishuntal was rolled. You didn't induct me into Battle but you did give me the boot! And wow was that fun. Probably a personal highlight for me and was glad you helped make it so. Then when I became Scion, I wanted ever so badly to take you down but never could manage it. I think I won a few fights, you won a few more and we had some draws but I never managed to seal the kill. You were damn tough.

Not to forget some great interactions with you through a few other mostly short-lived characters I've had in that time long year and a half.

So thank you for helping make my CF experience enjoyable with such a long lived character that was excellent to be around. You deserve a ton of praise for it. Glad you made the pillar.

They got cut off.

The grizzled figure of a rather ancient and unkempt dwarf appears in the village. Unhooking a war-horn from her belt she places it to her

A single, clear note of a war-horn sounds out in the air above the village. Its tone sounding mournful, rather than a rally to combat.
With the note still hanging in the air, she strides up to the Pillar of Legends, and, using only her finger, writes a name in flowing script.

The Biddy steps to a hut which is rife with the skulls of slain magi, piled in every corner and hung from every spar. There she takes a firebrand from a nearby fire, and with solemn reverence sets fire to the hut.

"Gone but na'r forgotten. Commander, Drillmaster, Mageslayer an' Mentor. Rest well ya mangy ol' moggy. Thur be few who wull live up ter yer feats."

With the flames almost singeing her snowy-white beard, she turns and is gone.

The grizzled figure of a rather ancient and unkempt dwarf appears in the village. Unhooking a war-horn from her belt she places it to her lips.

Pretty sure you inducted me as Ruosti during a time where there really weren't many villagers running around (especially lowbies). Figured you took pity on my and gave me a relatively early induct.

And although I had a halfway-decent arial village assassin a few years back, I always thought it would be wise to try and learn from some of my elders.

And yeah, that Ceremonial staff became my play-thing for basically the remainder of my life (and was really the only other weapon I used besides village leader staff). I usually fought with claws... but I did use the staff to exploit vuln... and more importantly against people who don't know the weapon. Exploiting that is *huge*, so thanks for the reminder.

Ishuntal was a great char. Loved interacting with him. Kinda knew he was shady from the get-go and was going to give you a hard time to induct (though you would have eventually gotten in since I don't think I ever said "no" to anyone) ... and then when you were inducted without me, I knew I needed to keep a close eye on you.

You didn't let me down.

Stellar char, couldn't ask anything more of a villager. Commander, DM more than once, Veteran, Mageslayer. Always leading, always RPing, always trucking no matter what.
An absolute delight to have you in the the Cabal.
Your death echoes went out today. I am sure they will hit the twitter feed and maybe someone will post them for you.

Crraya never felt she deserved any praise for the things she did. She really just wanted to "do her job" since she loved it. Everything else, just about, was unimportant to her.

I'm glad I stuck out such a long-lived char and really hope I have the stamina to do it again one day. It was a tremendously rewarding experience.

I never had echoes before! It makes me feel like I'm a "playa" now and not just a "player".

You wanted to kill me so badly! I definitely had to take into consideration you'd pop out of nowhere and start kicking me. Thanks for that.

I do have to say, I just didn't have the heart to leave your poor villager ass stuck in that one trap. I knew your only way out was suicide and you might be close to con death so with absolutely no RP reason at all I summoned you out.

That day when I attacked your magi with the other three of you sitting next to him, I was very happy to have killed one of your guys off (even though it wasn't the magi, I don't think).

Then I stuck around to corpse-guard and tell the other guys that I wasn't out for their blood.

Then you and some others jumped me while I was still injured from corpse-guarding and I was trying to chat. Boom I was dead and lost some key armors (especially for a low-con char who fought alot of shaman).

So, I held a grudge for that session to see if I could get back what I lost...

After that? I had no interest in you again. Now, you struck me from time to time after that, but I don't think I ever pursued you again.

Thanks for that summon. I was just about to suicide to get out.

I'm glad you weren't my foe, and I'm glad that I got to fight you, you kicked my ass real hard.

Anyway, great RP, I had fun talking with you after I stole that kill from you. heh

Good job on age-dying a char! Congratulations on that! Impressive!

You stepped in and interfered with two of my magi kills. Knowing how hard it was for me to build a rep of fighting people solo, I needed to prove that I could do it alone.

Thanks for playing along and giving me that chance.

When I was first around the village, I did not see you that much.

In the last month or two (RL), we had a lot of fun. I know I am prone to afk at times, but I hope it was not to bad and it usually only happened at the village.

Thanks for all the lessons. Also thanks for not trying for commander as you bested me bad in the rites. I knew I was in trouble. Should have just wielded polearm and gone critical strike instead of trying axes and pincer. Not having a heavy polearm and having to use that light one sucked.

Awesome character that deserves and got the pillar.

Aoirse.

When you first hit the scene, it was during the time that my laptop had died and then spent 2+ weeks trying to fix it... and then another 2+ weeks getting it replaced when I decided I didn't want to go mother-board hunting.

Once I came back, it took some time to gain my steam again after being away for over a month (though was able to log on once or twice remotely to keep from Auto-ing).

I was glad to have met you, though. A good solid commander... and one I hope who stays around. The village needs a strong, steady presence, and you're the man for the job.

Thanks for the tears at the end. Made me sad.

Was a ton of fun. It always gives me warm fuzzies to see a follower of mine with such longevity because it means they're having fun and after all, that's why we play the game right? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now you finally get to see what's behind Mirror # 1..

I had hoped to see you on the 3rd - knowing you were coming back from your cruise (HOPE YOU ENJOYED, BTW)... but unfortunately didn't get to see you.

What's really funny is that I had a feeling I was about to die soon and was making my way over to your shrine to say goodbye, but I ran out of food, started starving, and died in Seantryn while picking up some damned jerky.

Would have been REAL fitting to fall in one of your pools for someone else to fish out.

Anyways... thanks for taking me on. I know I wasn't the greatest follower in the world. Really, I'm not all that good with IMM interactions. Sometimes they just feel a little forced and I never wanted to put anyone through them when we both weren't having the best of times.

But I *did* want to make sure I rolled a Rayihn follower for three reasons:

1) Because I know you are a passionate IMM who loves her followers
2) As an apology for making you upset at my last char, WHO YOU *HATED* with a passion, Salmt
3) And to prove that it was the *char*, not the player who disliked Rayihn... Crraya could care less how slutty you were, as long as she got to play with your hair... while my drunken Paladin thought women should be faithful to a single person.

Anyways... I loved playing your follower... NOW WHAT IS BEHIND MIRROR #?!?!?

Well... Crraya was definitely the most rewarding char of my long CF life, and although I know I did plenty wrong, it was one of the first chars where I actually think I did a bit more right. Not bad for a long-time vet who's never tried (or wanted) to put in the work to become "elite".

There are so many characters who know where to find gear, or the right tactic, or know how to time every attack perfectly... that'll never be me. And I'm content with that. I play to have fun - and typically delete when the monotony outweighed the fun-stick. This char had a real long stick (pun intended).

Anyways - after a somewhat polarizing character before this, Salmt, I really wanted to play a simple char with a fairly singular focus. I also wanted to play a char that could hide (as I tend to go afk alot... being old, married, and having responsibilities).

I also wanted to play a char that would make Rayihn a bit happier with me (after she abhored my last char).

I think I succeeded on both fronts. I had a ton of fun and I think Rayihn did too... I hope I filled a little bit of the void that she must have felt when she typically had a gazillion followers... and really didn't have a full bathhouse during Crraya's lifetime).


Now... to the goodbyes. I lived forever, so I will miss a TON of chars, so please don't feel insulted if I missed you - write something and I'll post my feelings towards you.

Daphrdan - I'm glad I got to see you made Empress. You are a great played char - and your ability to help others have fun (and not just playing for yourself) shines through. Enjoy the hearts!

Aoirse - A good choice for Commander. I'm really glad you're around because the village needs a strong presence right now... but it's moving in the right direction because of you.

Jarlduz - A beast and a real solid player. We tangled alot and I think ended up realizing we could both kill each other.

Tralgdar - You kept trucking even though the odds were stacked against you. Respect.

Erighan - Funny talking fellow. Wasn't sure you'd make a good Commander... but you did. You came about during one of my down-times, and helped me to gather my steam again.

Foedett - Damned trappers... glad we were mainly friends!

Guargoux - Long-time foe. Too bad we couldn't kill each other more.

Eralsodiz - My favorite chef. Dragon is still my favorite... and noone else could prepare it like you.

Quarissa - You seemed to have everyone's number... but I thought we had some great battles.

Turmi - Silly Handman.

Oloice - I sure hated Orcs, but you made me like them a bit.

Ayinithalasa - I did support you for DM, but was overruled. I think you got a bit bitter about that, and I'm sorry.

Qintaris - Classy foe. Real classy.

Hexugar - Fantastically played (and RP'd) character. You knew your stuff and kicked ass. Thanks for DM'ing.

Jalrandar - You had big stones and never shied away from battle.

Ishuntal - Sneaky bastard. Fighting against you taught me so much more about assassins than fighting with you.

Iebela/Ogun/Serra - Great presence during my mid-years... three guys who probably would have gotten more kudos if I didn't hog a commander/drillmaster spot.

Serra - See above! Except, again, you helped me evolve my felar assassin tactics some.

Keriel - Painful foe.

Klibendon - You had big shoes to fill, in my opinion, when Gilut died. You didn't disappoint me.

Gilut - My favorite villager. You should have been Commander even though I whooped you in the battle part of the Rites, you would have been FAR better than I as a leader. Glad you were willing to be my DM.

Ozriwddyr - Sneaky fellow. You made cabal wars so much fun.

Gedunthos - Thanks for all the talks... and for trying to recruit me from day 1.

Ruknubuk - God, you were a friggan beast. I hated fighting you because I knew I would lose... but you taunted me so... oooooooh, I couldn't back down.

Bujoch - A brutal fighter. So damned strong. I almost made you DM, but there was soooo much controversy regarding your tactics. Nearly every login someone was complaining about you. But I never really saw it. I saw someone super strong who was willing to teach a little cat new tricks.

Ruosti - Thanks for the induct! You started Crraya on her path... and what a ride it was!

Thanks everyone. I had a super time.

Not even a mention! Just joking with ya, You where absolutely awesome dude. You where like a clawed buzz saw on a rampage. I dont think I ever got the best of you really. My victories came as damn look I ran her back to the village! and I was happy with that. One of my favorite characters by far in a long time. Come back wth another awesome one!

You were such a fun and willing opponent during my later years, and you seem to have your way with most others. For some reason, though, there just wasn't anything you could do to me - unless I stuck around for WAAAY too long (which I did on occasion).

Most of those "run back to the village" battles were kind of like that. I'd start to run real low on mana... or your rotting would kill me if I didn't run and pick up some +con gear.

I really figured that all your withering would age death me prematurely... I'm not sure if it impacted my life, but would be cool to know.

I took the edge to stop my wiher from ages foes and drops their dex instead. Just seems like such a douche move to age kill someones character.

It was never going to stop me from fighting you, mind you, but it was always in the back of my mind.

And I never saw any echos saying "you were aged" or whatever (so thought I may have made a bunch of great saves...)

Glad you took care of it for me. Thanks for that!

As Klibendon:
I still remember getting whooped a few times when I was first coming into battle and you, more or less, said quit being a weakling. I personally didn't know much about your character at that time but it rubbed me the wrong way from the start.

I knew I'd have a tough time because I chose what I thought would be a tough build to play but may also be adept at killing mages but really, I just got pummeled early on. I didn't realize that years ago when the code was changed to allow parrying with offhand weapons, whip/flail users took such a big hit to landing attacks.

Once I learned Hand to Hand, things got much easier and a lot more fun. Gilut kept me apprised as to how I was doing in the war effort and that I eventually caught him as a MagesSlayer. The icing on the cake was finding out that I had passed you and Gilut told me a story about how you didn't have much faith that I'd keep going, early on.

While I was Klibendon, our times didn't mesh all that often but after some time, I began to get a better feel for your character and a respect for you. I'm also superbly jealous that you made it on the Pillar, I've had countless leaders and memorable villagers that never have.

As Guargoux:
I was a punching bag on land. We could eventually burn each other's hp down but neither of us could kill one another effectively, not really. I ended up with 0 damage reduction forms on land or sea, so I had to be careful fighting DB villagers. It didn't help that I didn't find my original black rod from the old system until about 4 or 500 hours, after the change went in.

But, if I caught you on water, I knew I had such a large advantage that I couldn't put up full protections or, like most villagers, you'd simply run away. And, the sea of despair is so darn small... Combat like this made for some interesting times.

My most horrible experience with you is also one of my favorite CF memories, the time when I found out how horrible nerve was on my shifter. Nerve on creatures without arms/legs, etc aims 100% at the knee or whatever strike lowers mv and I didn't realize this. I came to retrieve and was doing some hit and run tactics when I realized my mv was getting low, it was too late. The next round I went into negatives and by the end of the fight I was at -900's and shortly after you stood over my corpse.

As much as I love the Immortals, having to face you and Hexugar and Erigan and Serra.. Lord all that was horrible when in the past, I could have sworn that Sharks and Snakes couldn't be hamstrung or nerved in the knee. Adding mv lag once strength drops was like adding insult to that injury.

As Myself:
I think you did a great job as a villager and you stuck it out until the very end. That says volumes about you as a player and helped put the presence of Crraya out there for many others to enjoy. Great job and I wish you the best with whatever comes next.

Just a few minutes earlier, I was posting about "tough love".

You were a villager complaining about getting your a$$ handed to you. I didn't want to hear about it. I wanted you to do something about it instead. (You weren't the last villager to hear similar sentiments either)

I knew your build at that point wasn't great (*I* played a gnome polearm spec at one point, so I know the feeling), but I wasn't picking on you for not winning fights. I was picking on you for what I perceived as a weakness in your attitude about it.

Brush it off. Get back to kicking butt.

Thinking back, I may actually have gotten some IMM-xp for those comments (or an IMM pat on the back).

... and regarding being pillar worthy... I don't think Crraya really was - longevity during some quiet times probably helped.

Damn you lived long man. I think you were a hero when I rolled up and I didn't exactly power rank (I was nearing age death when I con died).

I think I took a con off of you but you always kept your head up high and came at me hard, those wrath staffs were kinda dangerous but I was usually able to control the fight or bug out.


As a village vet (who hasn't played one in years... maybe my next) you did a really good job leading. I really respect you for stepping down when your time dropped off and the general way you conducted yourself.

As a side note, did you not even practice assassinate? Across many characters I don't think you ever tried that on me.

You were a beast. Every battle I went into with you I figured I'd be railroaded and just hoped you'd miss a lag so I could fight, save face, and get out of dodge.

Regarding assassinate. I practiced it, but attempted it fewer than a dozen times over the course of the character. Landed two or three of them, and don't think I ever stalked more than 3 times before attempting it. (Once with a very unlucky Imperial Black where I stalked once... for my first assassinate on my first attempt ever; another on Guarguox, when I stalked him a couple of times while he was sleeping)

Patience doesn't mesh very well with my playstyle... and stalking for 7-8 times and then watching your enemy teleport out just made me mad.

I'd rather find and enemy and fight then spend hours stalking and hoping I land an assassinate. Plus, once you get assassinate-happy, noone will fight you. What fun is that?

It would have been a great tool in my arsenal fighting you, but I never tried it.

Good lord, you lasted a long time.

It was fun watching you rise in the Village. Granted, I also still remember when you seemed absolutely flabbergasted that I was a mage that didn't use magic back before my class change.

Good luck with your next, and congrats on getting put on the Statue of Legends.

No way! Maybe slightly surprised

It was very awkward for Gergan being drillmastered with an icon like you in the village. Thanks for not making it rough on me. Hated that RL ended it, but I'm glad you went out drillmaster. And congrats on the pillar!

Great char, GLWYN.

If you had hung around I never would have taken DM back, nor would I have made any waves whatsoever.

I hope that me coming back after my pc crash didn't ruin things for you.

Nah, I don't blame you at all. I saw I wasn't going to have time for CF for a few months, so I resigned and Gergan auto deleted...that was the RL I was talking about.