Aaaah. What can I say, as always, a most fun ride. RL is finally catching up: I found a job which will consume most of my time, second comes my girlfriend who finally starts poking me as well. After having played (elven) bards for three or four years, it was the first time that I got a turn off (many PK-Deaths and always being full looted only made the feeling much stronger) from them. At first I decided to delete back then (that would be around what, february), but I just couldn't do it. And even now, with 627 hours behind my name, it's hard to part from Elstratuviel. So after yet another full loot, I only logged in once or twice a month (so to speak), and started Glaubarsto (yep that was me, yep Fortress again). At low-level, wrath and my hp took care of most one-on-one fights, but being a shield paladin at high level pretty much sucked, IMHO. But this isn't Glaubarsto's farewell note. Needless to say that after Glaubarsto, I was getting excited again at other classes, but I will delete those soon enough, so you'll just have to wait for the surprise ;).
Anyways, some general thoughts. After having played bards for so long, I still had one or two interesting insights in the class, especially when fighting groups/ group-on-group (thanks Hafizar). Elven bards have so much potential to become very powerful, if you just think about what you're doing. I had my fair share of deaths, but also a fair amount of pk's, I think. Auto-sneak is your best friend, I tell you (together with 'when you don't see me' and 'frightful fiend'; and together with a ####load of hps (my base hp was around 500, but most of the time I had about 1100-1200) and the proper preparation (yey staves and scrolls), I could stand against most one-on-one. I don't think I lost many one-on-one fights (apart from 2 assassinations from Laes, one during link-dead against Drox, and one or two against Yanacek - damn his ability to find me at any location within a minute), I don't recall any others. (then again, I'm having a blackout about what happened in the first months). The main reason why I was able to do what I did, was that people underestimated me greatly when fighting me the first time (rushing in with bash,bash,bash doesn't help your case at all; said preps and hps took care of that; I had enough tricks up my sleeve to get away out of most situations)

Oh well. On to goodbyes.
Vynmylak: Thanks for still granting me my title, even though I was absent for so long, and especially because I didn't write a role (still you remembered my asking for that title three months before). I prayed for you during my deletion, but you were nowhere to be seen. That was a pity. Still, nothing but good words for you.
Rogardian: Dude, where are you? I remember you from my time with Gwyythinniel, but you seem to have disappeared.
Nhiala, Audriel: It was nice fighting alongside you. I hope to see you around some more, certainly now that the Fortress seems a bit weak at the moment.

This could be a very long list if I'd try to name all of you, but I'll give it a try anyway.
Friends:
Celebrimbor (I liked your attitude, but not that much ;))
Brordaran (damn you for deleting, handing around with you reminded me of my time with Gorach, which is fun, fun, fun),
Marelin (in my eyes you deserved being Maran as much as anyone else),
Lekerjey (good acolyte, always in for everything; I looove altruism ;)),
Lariya (You win ;) . Geez. You have been about for ages. An extremely powerful paladin, not only because of the shinies, I could tell that),
Vingynlanc (man, you were one of the youngest maran I've ever seen, keep trucking, you're doing great; also because of your preaching, very inspiring and all),
Ror (hah, I had a feeling that was you, bastid ;)),
Rouchevien (powerful, but you even cared more about eq than myself, going at extreme lengths to get certain things; no go, no go ;)),
Golron (dwarves are just so cool to rp with, a good leader, although I didn't like your suicidal attitude one bit),
Ryldain (That's just too bad you deleted, twas fun hanging around with you, you would have made a good leader),
Syedani (See Ryldain; and another woman, yey you!)
Edhedeyan (from the little I heard/saw of you: I adored your RP)
Dameond (what happened there dude??, even though you seemed a bit new to the job, you did fine enough in my eyes),
Gremnosh (See Golron, very good Maran),
Azo (I never understood why you were allowed in the Fortress in the first place; you know what you're doing, but you're not meant for the Fortress),
Vahletharien (You knew your stuff, and made a good, even tough a little 'unfriendly'/asympathic Prophet; but don't worry, I liked you a lot)
Others: Schranz, Reazifr, Mereacon, Tulvalutian, Menon, Niostik, Gaf, Damell, Starlnyrn, Tiahan, Velandir (I found your aspirations too high, to be honest), Yethieliel, Thenrek. I'm going to stop here. If I forgot you, I'm sorry, won't happen again ;).

Enemies:
Blitzenturt (we had good fights, but once you made emperor you seemed to log on less - same here, I'm not pointing the finger - which made that we didn't face each other alone after that; a pity, you know what you're doing, and damn, you DO hit hard).
Laes (well played assassin, even though it seemed to me you saw the light at the end of the tunnel farely late in your life - that is, in the beginning you never seemed to assassinate anyone, but that's just an impression)
Yanacek (F*ck you ;), after you learned your tricks and made emperor, you were way out of my league, both for Glaubarsto and Elstratuviel)
Thresinok (bashing me doesn't work ;), our last skirmish near Galadon I didn't know Calheil was there, sorry about that; not taking raids and defenses into account, I tended to fight my own fights)
Jhishesh: as I said I liked Brordaran, but I hated Jhishesh, both because of his 'whining' and his 'preaching', which were rather close to eachother
Wojif (you bugged me from time to time - in the beginning, you never showed up to defend, but then, in the end, you did - Still, I found you hid too much behind those centurions, although I did the same with my Imperial a long time ago - it's just frustrating)

I'm too tired to continue right now, and I have work to do. Please leave a note, and I'll surely respond. Some more might come later on.

Peace out
Elstratuviel
Glaubarsto
Gwyythinniel
Tarnyxil
Gorach
Ilmora
Luriel
Mastruviel
Liandrumiel
Gwyythinniel (this is no mistake, I recycled the name ;))
And two or three other elven bards that I forgot ;), somewhere in the very beginning there is also a young sylvan, Imperial (right after the second insert of Empire .. Zenon, or Zelon I think; screw empire, yey Fortress!), a couple of uncaballed assassins, warriors, shapeshifters (in the time they had hold, and could slow anyone, that was fun).

You was the tough one, i was close to being afraid of you. I'm glad i've shown you some tricks and you find them usefull. Bard can really rock and you did. Along with fights twas nice to speak with you, and i hope we shall do so again in the fields. Luck with ya next :) Hafizar/Vilkins imperial bard.

You left me out!
Ah well. I always enjoyed it when you were around, i dont know why though. There are a few moments i can remember when you were around... Heck i have no idea what to say..
hope you get whatever you want from life.
You Rocked!
be good.

How can I leave a fellow elf out? You make a good cardinal, and a good defender as well: I love snare, although we were hardly around both at the same time to fully enjoy it. and You did steal my 'gentle tidings' thing though :p. Carry on within the council, you're doing just fine.. induct those scribes, we'll need them.. well, YOU'll need them.

Yeah about the "gentle tidings" thing. I was saying that before I ever knew your character. They when I first met you ic i was shocked. Just wished we could have defended more together at hero range, ranger and bard are a very deadly combination.

Gorach still rocked. Enjoy your break with your 'girlfriend'...I always pictured you as some little elf that plays guitar in real life.

Heh....Had some fun times through the years with our various characters. Take 'er easy.

Oh yeh, you Mule!

But I have 'Spock' ears,i.e. slightly pointed, and I have been playing guitar for 15 years (classical as well as in a band). So, your picture of myself is pretty much accurate ;). You have fun, ya stinkin' fa' twi'. (I loooove those guttural t's)

I've known you through so many characters with so many characters
it's just sick. Though I never really noticed until Dimion.
After that it was a blurring line of characters who met characters
of yours, I can't even tell who of mine knew who of yours anymore.
Though I 'think' Dimion knew Gorach.

I remember right after mourning Gwyythinniel, a young elven bard
coming to help out one of my characters. I was getting over the plague
and had no moves, with an enemy assassin near.
:) Well singing for my legs was worth a shot. almost got to where I
could move too. I 'think' that was Vanadulin I was playing that time.
Like I said though, it has all blurred together. I remember events but
not who I was at the time or who you were at the time.

You play an awesome bard.

but yes everyone seems to always know it's you. and good for
you to be playing around with the other classes.

I hear ya on real life. Sold my company, Started a new job, got
sick of it, went back to desk work. (I just became dept. super
for the IT dept. of a relaxed little company) The hours now are
eating me alive and leave very little time for my new char.
:) Funny part is the owner knew me from before and his one rule
for me - no mudding.
AAAARRRGGHH!
He said he knew no matter what I said, I'd have a hard time just dropping link and going to do 'whatever'.
*rofl* Harsh...
Well in anycase I am SURE I'll see ya around.

-Baj
Dimion, Khelednala, Vanadulin, Lerrik, Xargnorek, Brimog, Kelarkteg,
Glilanthis, and a host of others I can't remember off the top of my head right now.
:)

I think Dimion even knew Ilmora, that would be the bard before Gorach. It is 100% sure that I won't be playing for about/at least a year. After 6-7 years of CF, sometimes even up to 200 hours or more per month (that was Gorach), I'm finally, very reluctantly, throwing in the towel. But it's also 100% sure that I shall be returning then, perhaps not with playing times of old, but still, I'll return. Watch for the dwarfish elven bards, and you'll know ;). I pretty much liked every character you named, although I can't say who Brimog is. "I'll be back" ;)

Hey... seems Ive meet you with alot of my chars... heres some of them. There has been more. but I think these are the ones Ive meet you with.. Always been fun... Love your bards..:)

Eidoran, arnora, leonidas, serinka, nokisan, sekmetra, esilema, seakrou,umelilin, crerigord and the last one reazaifr.

That's a lot of characters you've got there. I tend to play most characters at least 400 hours. If you look at it, I've pretty much had an elven bard heroine for 5-6 years non-stop. There are some dark try-outs of other classes in there, but you won't even find them in the graveyard. I believe landroval was the fifth or sixt character I played, and she was like the 10th entree in the graveyard (That would be 6 or 7 years ago). I clearly remember Seakrou. Warlock orang outan at the time of Gorach, no? Anyways, Crerigord, Umelilin, Leonidas, I remember, one better than the other. The others are .. blurry ;). Anyways, you've been a faithful companion through the years. I'm sure it will be no less in the future when I return. Be well.

Heh, so my suspicions were confirmed finally :P

I don't know how you do it, but it seems I've run into and with your characters one way or another since waaayy back now. Pity we didn't get to travel more together, could've made for interesting trips, especially to the vaults. I even would've brought the ring ;)

It was always a comfort to have you around because I knew the enemies would be a bit more hesitant to rush in and try to grab the orb.

Take care and good luck with the job and all. You know you'll be back here one way or another. Until then, tata.

Marelin & Co

So that was you??!! A warlock back then, now one of the Fort; you're on the good side of the coin, lad. And I would .. uhm .. appreciate it if that ring-story is kept between us, alright ;).. fat ass. As I said, Marelin was a Maran in my eyes pretty quickly, always out there to help and fight the bad guys. I'll probably be around in a year or so, when things quiet down. Until then, I greet you sir.

>Laes (well played assassin, even though it seemed to me you
>saw the light at the end of the tunnel farely late in your
>life - that is, in the beginning you never seemed to
>assassinate anyone, but that's just an impression)

Well, that's not entirely true. Between Quimo and Laes I played an assassin to get a feeling of how assassination works. So when I hit a few assassinations at 35, I was excited. However, as you become known and advance in ranks, it's getting harder and harder to get an assassination. Add to this a duty to raid/defend/retrieve and you'll see the clue to success of being an assassin - being always hidden - going down the drain. So I had to basically invent new tricks on how to deal with the problems described above and how to improve my assassination performance. I could write a book on this, but I won't do it :-) Now I almost regret my deletion (looks like I've still had a few hours under my belt), but I've had RL matters to take care about, so I'm on vacation from CF now as well.

As for Elstratuviel, well played. Especially this time when you hold the Codex with 4-5 other fortress guys, I was lurking nearby hoping to kill you one-by-one and retrieve the Codex, and you managed to sleep me. I teleported away under dome of illusion, but the phantasmal killer finished me off and I couldn't even locate my corpse because all the heroes with locate were of the fortress. That time I was almost swearing aloud :-) I enjoyed our fights, as I always did against Glaubarsto, Tarnyxil and others. See you in fields!

Aye, I remember that one. And I was very lucky, too. Let's say that was the repercussion for the two assassinations *grumbles at the myriad of teleport and return potions, and the laod of group teleport staves*. I learned my lesson after that though.

Yeah altruism + your healing song saved the Tara'bal quite abit didn't it ;) Knew Gwyythinniel with Ashqer, Vanjeda and Lek with Els. Thanks for showing me all you did..much appreciated. Enjoyed your char loads. Take care.

We were a good team to heal up the Tara'Bal, indeed. I enjoyed all three characters equally much, and was happy to show you some things here and there. You be well there.

I really liked you IC, you were so great to have around and I always looked forward to you logging in. I would always have so much fun with you when we were both on, even if you did keep nagging me to regear :P

I was no suicidal! I would just take one for the team :P I wasn't about to let them affect my char, that and leader dwarf con, it just calls out to be abused and burned through. :)

Luck with whatever comes your way in the future.

Golron/Blobqirt

The same here. Together with Brordaran and Celebrimbor, you made up for the most fun hours in the last months. Everytime I logged on and saw you a bit more naked then when I last saw you, I wanted to kick you in the butt for dying, while we could have made the odds better by spending an hour getting you things. At the same time, I admired you (more or less like Tcatama): you would just rush in there and do your thing. If you died, you died. If you didn't, you didn't. Har. I wish I could have had such a view. You have no idea how many hours I spend/spent around getting preps here and there (only to die without using them ;)). Aaaanyway. It was nice knowing you, keep on going. It's characters like Golron that make me return to this MUD.

I think you did an excellent job with Elstratuviel. I knew you with like three or four different Marans, I think. You were a solid piece of the Fortress, even up till the end. Loved your farewell and how you always seemed to get it in just after peeps logged out, haha.

So that's you, huh, hanging around still in the Fortress. You have no idea how many times I said my 'May the Sun shine'-thing right after people logged off; As soon as anyone said goodbye, I was typing my thing like a madman, only to type enter and see that it was a split second late. I think I know who is your current character in the Fort. Very well done, even though I already said it.

You play a solid bard, a solid Fortress, and overall from just judging this one character I encountered of yours is a solid player. Props on that. I -would- take a page out of Aytak's book and go on to give you a "beginner's" lesson about playing bards, but I'm not stupid enough to think I know more about them than you do, since you played one so well.

I still learned a couple of things with Elstratuviel. Even though it will be the last one for now, please, any suggestions are welcome. Sometimes, after this or that fight, I would be thinking, 'Oh man, how can you be SO STUPID!'. Some things indeed, I would have done differentely indeed. Just the adrenaline I guess. I'm still proud i got you once pre-emperor, because, man, pretty much every one-on-one fight we had afterwards, you sent me packing, while you were barely scratched. Feel free to post whatever you got. Oh and, show up some more if you can; as has always been the case, an emperor who logs in a lot, makes a strong Empire. Then again, as is the case with me, RL might be catching up. Anyways, good luck to you, if I am allowed to say that ;)

Ahh same thing that looks like happening to you, Life catching up and time becomming short, trying to focus more towards the police force and the killer interviews, along with the job I have now not as much time, Hell I was playing CF over working out in the morning and instead of sleeping at night, so I just had to stop or else things were going to get worse, and the Police force means the rest of my life.
Am sorry was so sudden, but I found myself wanting to come back as soon as I was thinking about cutting down on time, dam I should go to Coccaine or something alot less addicitve. :)

I liked Dameon's Wind stuff. And a two-handed palading can deal out obscene amounts of damage ;). Ah well.
I am having the same problem. Still, whatever happens in RL, I keep returning, I'm hooked for life, so to speak. Or I should say, I was, because my present job makes logging in impossible. Not having an internet connection on my room makes things even harder ;). Perhaps we'll meet again, who can tell. Untill then, be well.

I remember a few times when I would be the only person on and like 6 maran in my pk range would come to raid the fortress, was funny #### watching me steal the codex from the 6 of you. heh then we started playing the who could zap teleport staff before I could type steal (name) =P fun fun I loved those intense moments and a great char

I remember that one, rather frustrating. The same happened one time with Yanacek. But I think from the moment on you stole the codex right back, I was ready with group teleport staves when the last inner guardian was gushing. Did I already say I hate thieves? Well, I hate 'em! certainly when they're against me. That's probably also the reason I tried to stay on good terms with current thieves, but that's another story.

"When you don't see me" is unfair, isn't it?

I don't know what you're talking about ;). No, you are right, if it hadn't been for 'when you don't see me', I'd have died a tenfold more compared to now. This song is one of the only things that makes the class 'livable' in PK-fights (I know, there's a number of good songs, some of them hardly ever used, but still). You, as Grottimgesh, were a powerful enemy and made a good emperor. If I recall rightly, we had some kind of understanding about returning some of each other's eq, right (at least, whatever was left)? Ah well, whips s*ck anyway ;).

Still around and kicking, just in seeeecret!

Anyway, nice character, especially Gorach, Els and Tarnyxil. You've got that elf bard thing down pat, I must say :P You were deadly to have along.

Glad you're brancing out into other classes though, it keeps it interesting.

See you around!

Rog

I really, really enjoyed our interations; Tarnyxil, wasn't it? Or was it Gwyythinniel already? I keep losing track. I don't think you'll see me around much anymore, if at all. On Monday, my new job is starting. I'll be moving around the country, and on the appartment I'm going to live is no internet connection. So, you be good now up there, and don't try to be too hard on them eh.. you can be such a pain in th.. I mean, I'm sure they all like you (huh, seeeecret, my *ss ;)). Bye, bye !

As Tcatama and Kungkruk. Both were fun, but it was certainly frustrating as Kung how many times I got you to writhing/convulsing and you would get away. After this happened countless times, I began to believe you were something of a Houdini when it came to somehow escaping death. In any case, an excellent all-around character, and even if it was something of a repeat, it fills that niche nicely.

You're absolutely right. I assess(ed) a fight (at hero/close-to-hero level) on the first two-three rounds, and depending on whether 'when you don't see me' has been sung or not. Depending on that, I carry on, or flee out and return at a moment which is more in favor of myself. I tried to fight my (non-raid/non-defense) fights mostly one-on-one (with others there, it tends to ruin my uhm... strategy ;)), and in those cases where I had to 'retreat', I had my lucky moments, indeed. (there were times that I sat gawking behind my screen, my heart going 200: yet another escape with less than 30 hp) Also, I tended to have 15 potions of transportation at hand and some other spiffy things to help me survive and apply first aid. I loved tcatama for his 'rebounding', in the sense that you'd never give up, whatever the circumstances (with Elstratuviel, it happened that I logged out after yet another full loot); and as much as I admired Tcatama, I hated Kungkruk, both for what he was (Scion) as for his 'deadliness'. Feel free to post any logs in whatever situation with uhm .. whatever character ;)

It was along damn time ago with izuv something(drow healer), khalizad and me at the fortress inner. I bash and rederect to you and khalizad pincers, and it takes ####ing ages to get you down to convulsing because you are pretty protected but every bash hits..except the last one when khalizad misses pincer and I miss bash. You cannot have had much hp left(I dont require you to remember this hehe)

Anyway, you lived a long ass life.

It was Izuvererus. One of the advantages of typing one's name in full during tells, says, replies, etc. is that I pretty much know every name I have known correctly ;). A chore to type sometimes though. A nasty fight that one was, and especially the combo Izuvererus-Khalizad, no offense, was deadly. The warrior would do demolish-devastates through resis protection and stone skin. A real beast. That particular fight was one of the fights I meant in my first post: another one where I lukily escaped with less than 50 hp. That particular fight I was protected to the bone, because I know how hard Khalizad hit. Add 1200 hp, and it takes a while to get me down, that's true. It also gives me a chance to take YOU down, as well ;). And that's what we do it for, no?