After a two year or so break (I swore I was cured, damnit), I checked out the page and decided to roll a character. My last character was a magic-hating bard. Naturally, I chose to roll a necro. Should have seen the writing on the wall. Had a few mob deaths by 20, many many more to follow. Died many times to just stupid things, many of which because I still played as if I was a solo rager. (Note to self: You were -not- a solo rager) Played a lot... WAY too much to be at all healthy and that ultimately contributed to the quick demise, both deaths to being bleary-eyed and half-asleep to the difficulty of reaching the right imms when seeking out the lich quest.

I do at least have the luxury (?) of blaming a portion of my deaths on my connection which always seemed to die at the most inopportune moments. Indeed, I believe the first was around such incident was in the late teens. Was in the guild in Galadon, connection dies. Half-hour later I'm able to connect. I find that I'm sleeping and can't wake. Check the affects and I'm all maledicted to hell and back. Fine, I say, I'll wait for the attack and see how well I can run. Only thing is, the ticks hit and no poison/scourge damage. I make the connection that an Imm's got me. When I wake up I get the standard "don't drop link to avoid a pk" and a slay on principle. No big deal, just frustrating that there's not some fool-proof way of protecting against honest to goodness isp drops. Again, fate telling me to just delete and try having a life.

Also, another note to self: Don't go tiptoeing around Galadon chasing criminals while you're on the phone getting your schedule for rehearsals. "Ok, and the next day you need to be at..." (manacle Amora) "Uh-huh" (Ah, sunray. That hurts.) "You start at 6:30 and be sure to" (dead? Yeeouch! Walk to corpse.. full-loot? That's just cold) "pencil and call with any conflicts. Did you get that?" Me: "Uh, yeah" -click-. Realization that I just lost gear I'd had for around 150 hours. Doh.

First of all, a huge thanks to the imms. I was just sure that there was a whole lot of wincing when I kept dying those embarassingly stupid deaths.

Tribs

I didn't hate being a Tribunal by any means, but boy did it have its frustrations. Truly did the trib thing to see if I could boost the cabal. Never played an Arb and never saw more than a handful of tribbies around, figured I could help create a foundation. Was frustrated when I couldn't serve in some leadership role, would have loved to seen all the cities with a couple semi-regular magistrates. Made me wince when my first Provincial (who was inducted on the same day as me) deleted at 100 hours when I was sitting at 300 . I don't disagree with the choice in Provincials at all, just frustrated that I couldn't do more for the cabal as a Magistrate.

From all I can see, the changes to the Tribs are for the best. Being able to go off-duty is huge, given the number of tells you deal with about so and so attacking, blah blah. And while I'm on the subject, for all of you who want to think the Tribunals are "corrupt", please play one. Please. I can't count the number of people that tried to tell me something about the law that was just plain wrong or was taken from Arb days. I tried very hard to keep a good watch. To Deigreck, it was a simple thing. You broke the law, you paid. He didn't care why, just that you did. Part of it was role driven, he hated extraneous noise (yells) because he had enough already.

A couple favorite examples:
- 2 thieves in Galadon, one yells that the other has tried to blackjack him. I flag the bj'er, he runs. And then begins the assault of tells: "YOU ARE CORRUPT!" "WHY DO YOU FLAG ME?! HE pushed me down and would not stop, I HAD to attack"

- Goodie conjurer takes off out the east gate. Town's quiet so I head out, summon on the eastern road, he runs. Repeat a couple times. He gets away, I head back to town. Then begins the assault: "I'M GOING TO SPEAK WITH LADY BRIA!" "You just attacked me on eastern road with your guards and I'm no criminal!" Ugh, the stupidity just hurts sometimes...

Yes, there are some magistrates that don't really have it together, and it was good to be able to help them out. Can't come out and criticize them in character without undermining the order of the Spire.

One of my faults was yes, I was too nice. Part of it stemmed from one of the times I tried to be a hardass. Mid 20's warrior has an item for trade. I offer an item that will be very useful to him. He asked if he could try it, I replied he could if I held the item he was trading. We trade, he doesn't try the thing on (likely just "compares" it) and hands it back. I tell him to try again and he instead hands it back. So, attempting to be a hardass, I keep both things, seeing as how a trade was agreed to and technically completed. Tough lesson for him. Well, apparently this incident somehow showed that I had no integrity. I think it's perhaps one of maybe four or five trades I made in 550 hours of playing. Heh.

Bria/Astein -- Always looked forward to some sort of intereaction/dialogue but got the distinct feeling that I wasn't liked. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Dugruain -- Wanted to like you, had some good talks, then something went south (or seemed to). I was very, very disappointed at the tone you took with me regarding a particular warrant. Did my job and, rather than speaking with me about it, you call me out over cb. It was not a cut and dry matter like you think it was, but, as was in Deigreck's character, I refused to complain or cause a stink. Instead, I was honest and basically asked to learn. You asked a question of Brandulir, I mistakenly read it as being a question to me so I responded. Then I get a "Shut up, Deigreck". Maybe I took things a bit wrong, but you weren't -that- in the right on the matter and, in my opinion, handled things poorly.

Thror -- Huge thanks to you for helping to make the character fun (and keeping me going when things were at their worst). It was partly my string of just stupid mistakes and deaths that led me to follow Thror and partly because I enjoy mixing and matching characters/religions. Enjoyed the heck out of our interactions and am sorry I wasn't able to keep things going, had some ideas. Was looking for a con boost from about rank 35 on but I guess it wasn't in the cards. Another case of c'est la vie.

Thrakburzug -- You saved my ass in more ways than just the obvious. Thanks for being willing to share a few words with the feller that helped release you into the world.

Other Imms -- 1: Thanks 2: I'm all but positive that I annoyed some of ya and for that I apologize. Had to be painful to see me running around trying to figure out how the heck to get a lich quest. Was frustrated at the immteraction at rank 49, given that the druid I was using to aid me in ranking (yes, using ) was one of the 3 potential group mates in the past 5-6 hours. Not to mention that I assumed that something would come of it. A painful, anti-climactic series of events.

Though I'm sure I wasn't successful 100% of the time, I decided that I wouldn't complain/whine etc. Should I die, I would not ask if I was getting gear back. Would take most everything as it came, call it a "Trial" and trust that it would strengthen my character somehow. I didn't enjoy running in a group and didn't full loot, until near the end when a certain paladin just wouldn't leave me alone (Not that he should be expected to, but still a pain in the ass when you've got like 5-6 con).


I know I'm going to forget some folks but I'll do my best.

Tribs

Eskelian - It annoyed me that you'd never tell me the whole truth and you contributed to the nonsense of me being re-assigned/almostbooted. Were the first to help me with a couple prep items (proably 3-4 years since I used any) and I enjoyed interacting. Would have liked to have spent some time in the hero ranks with you.

Lobengula - Cracked me up and I enjoyed being around ya. Another of those I wish would have stuck around.

Ueleyyve - Grew on me and I came to enjoy ya. Was hoping you wouldn't prove the same as the last elf provincial and you didn't disappoint.

Rocheval - I was going to throttle you for all the thee's and thous. Ugh, was driving me nuts. Figured you had some connection problems or that I really don't remember how damn good that soup is in the guild. Never had anything against you and I enjoyed having another hero around.

Brandulir - Was glad I was able to help get you closer to hero. Thanks for sticking up for me regarding the distention issue. Though I didn't say anything about it, IC, I appreciated it.

Scion
Wasn't necessarily a Scion-lover but there weren't a ton of folks wanting to be around me.

Dullie - I figured that if I was even near lichdom you'd want to take me out, though our little talk made me question that a bit. Was looking forward to both travelling with you in the short term and some fights later in life... er, death.

Dranolian - Yes, you helped with the gathering of the items and yes, I appreciated it. From rank 30 or so on I began striking deals for aid when the time came. Had I had the time and the con I would have gone to get everything myself. I simply couldn't do that, seeing as how if I played for too many hours I died and if I died once (yes once), I died for good. Had to leave it up to the folks that I made deals with to gather things or it wasn't going to happen. Enjoyed your character up until you started getting restless.

Urden - No real dealings, aside from the issue of your current flag. Would have liked to have interacted more.

Aljern - You shared some of my most wince-worthy moments in the 30's. We always seemed to be the only 2 around and once we got a group together, it usually ended in disaster. (Prime example, getting bashed and killed by a large guard that would have given me enough xp for bash protection)

Orinah/Stargher - Enjoyed both characers, though Stargh had a professed dislike for me. Heh.

Battle
Had an occasional good fight and a ton of rotten, wince-worthy ones. One of my favorites (for obvious reasons) was being tripped to death by Karkanen on Eastern because I'd spammed 41 "e"'s. That just hurt, but it does make one chuckle.

Was looking forward to some fights in the future

Nexus
My first experience was with the conjie that started some sort of crusade against me after I flagged him for his angel attacking me. Nutcase.

Got along fine with other nexans for the most part. Some good times early on with Darantin that seemed to deteriorate later on.

Warlock
Not many dealings (though I'm sure I didn't know some of you were Warlocks).

One recent thing comes to mind: Imander talking smack about me wording away from a criminal. The reason (which I couldn't say IC)? I had one death left and I wasn't planning on losing everything to getting stuck in the Void. So yeah, I high-tailed it.

Herald
If and when I ever got my con under control I planned on hanging around the Inn a bit more.

Entropy
Weren't too many prominent barons around so naturally I didn't see much of ya. Those of you I interacted with know who you are.

Sylvan
Ironically, when I died to Alysrith, Simyar and Jhao, I was putting your gear on a couple mobs to return it to you. Again, a case of being too nice. Well, too nice and a little stupid.

Always made me chuckle to see some camo'ed warder tell me "You'll never get high enough to lich". Then it became "You'll never survive to drink the elixir". Then it became "You'll never reach the pinnacle of the undead". Hehe. You guys get the raspberry.

Maran/Dawn/Drakes
Nothing really comes to mind. A few fights here and there.

Gonna stop on memories there and might add more later. I know I'm leaving out some folks. Raliyas, Fauqi, Belgorrin, Lacasia, Erythrina, Adgento... etc. Some of things I would have said have already been conveyed. Others I'll relate if and when I remember em.

Was fun getting a taste of undeath, considering my first lich quest (when it first went in) failed several years ago. Thanks again, imms.

eigreck@hotmail.com" target="_blank">Deigreck@hotmail.com if I happened to have left out an answer to some glaring question.