I rolled Gromkonk because I regretted deleting Gumbldink. Gromkonk was essentially a Gumbldink redux as far as attitude and dwarfiness was concerned, but I wanted to be able to pk so I went with shaman. I've made some ok shamans in the past, but Gromkonk was by far my strongest. He was probably my strongest pk character of all time. Until the last three days, where I doubled my pk deaths, that is.

I delete now because I saw my RP slipping due to me (the player) not having fun anymore. That, for me, is when it is time to call it quits. I love dwarves and I love the RP, but my OOC hatred of Nexus and pretty much the entire playerbase except for the Fortress there at the end was making me do things the character would not. These things started happening because of Nexus (the first thing was me buying potions of translucence in Udgaard because I wanted to kill Geren by summoning him into a locked room).

It's truly amazing how much I hate Nexus. I used to have these same feelings about the Battleragers so maybe in 10-years time (the amount of time it has taken me to stop hating the Battle cabal) I will start to appreciate Nexus. My hatred for Nexus was quadrupled this time around because of Geren and his blackjacking me without fail 9 out of 10 times. Word to the wise, save your edge-points and DON'T take Remain Conscious because it granted me no discernible advantage. If it worked the TWO times in 20 I remained awake after a blackjack attempt I wish there had been an echo so that I could at least know I didn't completely waste my points.

I am never choosing an edge that does not grant a readily-discernible ability ever again. Sacred Word was beautiful because I knew it was working. Voice of Condemnation was grand. Even Zealot's Fervor was great because at least in the affects list I could see it improved fervor a bit. Things like Blightcaller, Remain Conscious, etc. can in the words of Gromkonk, "Suck my beard."

I'm not doing individual goodbyes, but if you post I'll respond. Somehow that seems easier and less involved.

This made me gawk.


Tue Apr 3 19:27:36 2007 by 'Baerinika' at level 30 (40 hrs):
Sacrificed his hummingbird pendant after he accidently cut down a good guard in town. Good show and sacrifice, given Charity of the Pure.


I love doing things hardcore. Like the mino I rolled that wouldn't even group with females and generally hated humans. Anyone who wanted haste easily was female back then, btw :P

That kind of show? Hot piss. That pendant would have made ranking so much easier and you just sacrificed it. Balls. Of. Steel. That is more hardcore than I would have been, kudos dude. I'd say you deserve a medal, but you pretty much just sacrificed what I had in mind :P

Yhorian

Thanks. I think I'd had the pendant for maybe 5-10 ranks and it definitely let me tank things beyond my normal capabilities. I'd heard that it was Ogdraedyn's(sp;storm ranger). I'd looted it from a pit that I then proceeded to sit by for 30-45 minutes to see if anybody came looking for it. The only person that claimed the stuff was Sokde(I think) and I knew from the contents of the girdle that it wasn't a thief's gear(the girdle had bows and staves and like 75 steaks). The weight alone of that girdle would've rendered a thief pretty useless in the dodge department. Nobody ever came and I'd heard that the aforementioned ranger had deleted. I also got Bal'talon in that loot, which I ended up giving to some lowbie dwarf paladin I think.

The cityguard died because I had been wanted and some evil assassin went into Galadon and slept beside a cityguard. I killed the assassin (I think), but before I could flee out I mowed through the cityguard as well. I took the pendant back to the Fortress, prayed for forgiveness, and sacrificed the pendant. Got the quick-request edge immediately thereafter. Ironically, by the time I hit 40th I had another pendant.

One of the down sides to repeating a role is that it tends to stagnate. That's a shame because Gromkonk was a kick ass character. That's also cool because now you can throw your efforts into something new and that's a good thing. Keep them coming.

Thanks. I'm still working on on coming up with something to play, but I'll probably be back in the mix soon.

Wither scares me, this is my first mage and I want to keep him for a while and was scared to fight you cause the only thing you where able to do was wither and rot, the later not working well do to my gear. I really didnt want to fight you anyways. (did I say loss of life wither blows?) I kept my (promise). And I wish there where more heroes around. Good luck with your next

You were way too afraid of wither. I withered probably 75 people at least and I think I saw the "ripped years" echo maybe twice and I think one of those was Kubilak.

My initial experiences led me to believe that you were nothing more than a ganking rot-only shaman. Then we had some pretty cool solo fights and I realized it was more circumstance than anything else that led to that opinion. I also figured out how to pretty much negate your ability to rot or wither (though I swear I gave up like +10 Dam for all the con gear I had to wear, just in case). You had some solid RP; you were such a dwarf. At the end, I just had to respect you (though you did totally steal Xin's kill, he did an awesome, awesome job, and had my ass dead to rights on his own).

People seemed to get this idea that I was ganky, but I don't think the Gank-O-Meter will show that. It might, but I doubt it. I was a lone wolf for the first 30-40 levels and even in the hero ranges was more likely to split off and go hunting on my own than gather a horde. Raid/Retrievals are a different story.

I DEFINITELY was not a rot-only shaman. The only people I routinely rotted were drow. I just assumed everybody else would be able to negate it. I was much more likely to lead with wither, which is just such an awesome malediction. Unfortunately, after fully prepping and dropping a wither on somebody I'd routinely be at about 20%mana. This meant that a lot of times I'd wither somebody, plague a few times, maybe throw in a damnation, and have to word not because I was afraid of dying, but because if I didn't it'd be up to second attack and the kick skill.

You seemed the most upset with me after you slept me in Akan and two healers gated in to assist me. Necromancers slept me all of the time and I just waited it out. An anti-paladin though with cleave and worldbind necessitates calling in assistance. Particularly in a place where you would've been able to get the keys to the cells and summoned me into a locked room. Certain doom, that. What you must've missed, though, was that after they woke me up and left I gave chase after you. I wasted 30% of my mana trying to summon you back to Akan as you were descending the mountain. I was up to a fight, just not a worldbound cleaving.

Wtf...

I've been trying hard to rank to hero so I could fight you evenly. You killed that chance for me >_<

I hate you.

PS: Sorry for the sad gank the other day, though it almost ended badly for me too there.

The last thing I needed was another decked out duergar shaman harrassing me. Shaman fights are retarded. There's nothing like being stunned into helplessness by a transmuter Scion's first neurological disruption and then watching said transmuter and an Imperial duergar shaman bring me down. Low point of the character's life. Yay for crap saves.

>There's nothing
>like being stunned into helplessness by a transmuter Scion's
>first neurological disruption and then watching said
>transmuter and an Imperial duergar shaman bring me down.

This is not unlike my fight with Thoric and Mugmig, where Mugmig cheapshotted me for eight or so rounds while Thoric dispelled protection and sanc, damned, then spammed demonfire.

Thankfully I fled and teleported w/ 17hp left. Yay lucky edge!

Argh, I'm really sorry to see this...and not just because of the increased load on me.

I really liked running with you. I could tell you knew your ####, which was nice.

Role wise I think we butted heads a bit, but I think our personas were about as polar opposite as maran shamans could be...which made for some fun interactions.

While Thoric got a lot of ic bitching thrown at him for #### you did, he never saw anything with his eyes to in any way diminish respect for you, which is a very good thing.

Overall very solid char. Come back to the fort, would you? I'm going to get f'ing lonely at hero.

I enjoyed having you as my colleague at the top. I think it was a wise move on the part of the imms to put two people with such opposing views in positions of power. I was a chaotic-good dwarf of Courage who had, bubbling beneath the surface, a rage aimed at any who stood in his way. You seemed more lawful-good and interested in measured and organized progress with pin-point focus on evil alone. Definitely made for interesting conversations.

I don't know about coming back to the fort. I have some ideas for some Acolytes, but I don't want to be a non-factor in pk like Acolytes can sometimes get pigeon-holed into becoming. I'm considering other avenues, but one things for sure...odds are good that I will stick with goodies since there are so many damn evils out there right now in the mid-ranks for me to prey upon.

You had a lot of presence and when I needed you, you'd be near. I did have fun raiding with you, but usually it was one end of the pendulum or the other when it came to hero fights. We'd either outnumber them 3 to 1 or it was the other way around. Thanks for the help.

I'll post more specific feelings when I'm finished.

One of the main things that repeatedly irks me about CF is the mass log-in/off phenomenon. Nowhere is that seemingly more pronounced than the Fortress v. Empire/Scion war. I'm sure it happens in other wars (i.e., Battle/Nexus) as well, but I always notice it most in Fortress/Empire. Immediate buzz-kill seeing one pillar (i.e., Hunsobo) log on and then watching all of the hangers-on follow. Makes me want to play uncaballed.

Anyways, I enjoyed having you around. Unfortunately, we never really got an opportunity to join up and bring down some of the big guy. We might have had a chance with your disemboweling and my dispelling. Hang in there.

One of the main things that repeatedly irks me about CF is the mass log-in/off phenomenon. Nowhere is that seemingly more pronounced than the Fortress v. Empire/Scion war. I'm sure it happens in other wars (i.e., Battle/Nexus) as well, but I always notice it most in Fortress/Empire. Immediate buzz-kill seeing one pillar (i.e., Hunsobo) log on and then watching all of the hangers-on follow. Makes me want to play uncaballed.



I'm interested to hear you say this. Yes, I've noticed that enemies tend to log off at times when I log on, but I've always given folks the benefit of the doubt and assumed they needed to go anyways. There have been times when I've been at the end of my playing duration and as I'm heading to a 'safe room' to logoff, when 2 or 3 enemies suddenly log on. Just because they logged on doesn't mean I'm quitting for that reason.

In fact, one of the people I always gave the benefit of the doubt to was you - it just seemed like your playing times butted right up to mine (but didn't intersect). You quit out if you had 5 guys next to you, or if it was just you. I just figured "his time to play is up."

Similarly, I know people notice that Waserax and I have similar playing times. We had similar playing times for the 100 or so hours that I was already War Master and he was level 6 looking for empowerment -> High Priest, too. It's just how stuff worked out.

Maybe I'm giving folks too much credit, but I prefer the benefit of the doubt in those situations.

Anyways, you and I had a couple of good fights when I logged in earlier than usual or you stayed on later than usual - I don't know if I ever got you - I know you made me use potions more than once, though.

Good luck with the next one!

You might be right. Maybe I'm just the more pessimistic of the two of us. In any event, the only way to know for sure is to know if those people log on other characters once they log off their hero-level goodie/evil. I only play one character at a time and you're right that my time generally just butted up against yours without really intersecting. I enjoyed our fights. We never got one another, but that's how it so often is when shaman go up against healthy and powerful opponents. Stalemate.

i had fun learning with you, and i owe a couple titles to you! thanks for showing me around some of the explore areas, luck with the next :-)

No problem. Was good having somebody with your forms around. Can't get enough armadillo when you're cruising through tough mobs. Hang in there.

I imagine you'll agree with me that Gromkonk was a pretty odd fit for my religion. I could tell about 30 seconds into the empowerment interview that you were trying to play shaman version of Gumbledink (I hung out with Gumble quite a bit as a mort) and I felt like you were sort of surprised that I didn't turn out to be Aarn in a skirt. The problem was, I consider you to be one of the real quality players on CF. You keep character all the time, you're solid in PK, you write a good role. You don't let OOC knowledge sway you or leak into your playing experience (all this is just my observation). You did cool outside the box things that made me want to give you rewards (Sacing hummingbird pendant because you killed goodie guard was great).

So I kept you empowered and I really liked the character, but I had a real bitch of a time coming up with a title that fit both you and the religion.

Good luck with your next, I hope to see you in the Fort again and I hope to see you try out my jungle girl religion again (just not with Gumbledink 3.!)

- Baer

I enjoyed the religion, particularly from Gromkonk's quirky point of view. Your being an elf of Courage was probably the deciding factor in me finally deciding to dust off and reprise the Gumbldink persona. I just couldn't pass up what I imagined would be an interesting empowerment. I knew that the empowerment would either flop miserably or end up being one of the funniest interactions ever. I don't know if anybody has ever started an empowerment interview by insulting their imm the way I did. I was completely expecting a smite or tongue-lashing. I'm glad I ended up empowered though, as it allowed me to get Gumbldink out of my system. I doubt I can ever play another dwarf again because clearly people will know it's me.

The one thing that was killing me about you, and I realize this is completely a powergaming perspective I'm taking here, is that it didn't seem like you expadded as much as other imms. Maybe you did and I just didn't get the echoes, but in the past imms have expadded me for things like empowerment. Please believe that I'm not complaining...full empowerment, tattoo, leadership, restrung demon-faced talismans...you were very, very good to me. However, I was busting my ass trying to get the one edge I wanted to test (the stealing of dispelled protections edge) and never could. The thing I blamed was the lack of expadds because I was pking like crazy, had dispel mastered, and was exploring like a goodie conjurer/paladin permagroup trying to get the points for it. But alas...

Thank you so much for all you did for this character. It was a blast.

I'm horrible about xp add. I always have great RP sessions with people, empower, tat, title, whatever, and then forget to xpadd. Though, in some cases, I think that the empowerment and other rewards are enough. I don't think that 2k xp should be handed out with every empowerment. I know, though, with the edge system that I need to be better about dishing out the xps. Sorry about that! I think everyone that follows me probably suffers it. :( I'm trying to get better!

>I was busting my ass trying to
>get the one edge I wanted to test (the stealing of dispelled
>protections edge) and never could.

For what it's worth, I was doing the same for a while. I put off chosing lots of other edges (that I eventually took) to try and get that one. It never showed up in my list. Eventually I just gave up and took 3 or 4 lesser ones. Either it's bugged, or is just supremely expensive.

.

It has a modest requirement relating to the prime stat of the class. :)

I assume by prime stat, you mean that your wisdom needs to be high enough to be capable of choosing it.

If that's the case, maybe add a subcategory for it.

See also: Edges, Dispel, Wisdom ???

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

You had me scratching my head in trying to figgure out a good way to kill you. Can't say I came up with a very good one.

As a leader you were good from the aspect that whenever you were on and there was someone else on you'd organize a raid.

Luck with your next.

I had the same feelings about you. Normally a shaman does ok against an invoker who constantly puts sand on the ground. Your being an arial though completely rendered the old dispel-the-invoker-into-their-own-sand-trick useless. Yeah, I actually started giving out Gromkonk-style tongue lashings when I'd log in and there were Squires/Scribes around but we didn't have the Codex or Scepter. I think I made Maran and then Captain as quickly as I did A) Because I had something like a 30-3 pk average in my 30s and most (if not all of those were solo pks) and B) I was solo raiding both Empire and Scion in the upper 30s. If you want the rewards you have to take the initiative and sometimes throw caution to the wind.

Anyways, I digress. You were an animal and an eternal source of frustration.

Yeah, you didn't seem to try all that hard to get away during that last fight. Ditto about Geren. He's knocked me out maybe five or six time and hasn't failed once. And I also took Remain Conscious.

No, it was a suicide mission. I didn't try at all to get away. Thanks for all of the fights, even though you came out well ahead. The lack of lagging characters in the Fortress is made glaringly obvious when you catch a dispel/bash-down from the Empire.

I generally liked this character, don't get me wrong.

I think Gromkonk was more boring than Gumbldink (including for you to play) because, basically, he was the guy Gumbldink always wanted to be.

There's a lot more wacky teen comedies written about the geek in love with the unattainable girl, than there are written about the captain of the football team who never has to struggle to be popular.

I think the 'Keep reaching for that rainbow!' / quasi-self-loathing factor was a lot of what made Gumbldink great, and Gromkonk really didn't have to struggle for any of that stuff.

Just a thought for your next. You as a player seem to have a better time with some of those self-imposed RP-ish handicaps in front of you. I feel a narcoleptic dwarf warrior coming on! :)

You're right in your Gromkonk/Gumbldink comparison, I just couldn't play another healer. I don't know about a narcoleptic dwarf warrior. I can't play warriors for crap and to throw self-imposed sleep spells on myself would just be a rage-delete waiting to happen. I do have a better time with self-imposed RP-ish handicaps and the flaws make for an interesting twist, but I'm going to think on my next for a while.

We had some good fights. Some were very good, some were just sick with the numbers. I know I got lucky that first time i got you, but I figure you must have lagged yourself, or something. Anyway, sorry about the saccing stuff that one time, but man, you guys came at me at least three to one, and I was like...I can't have them keep doing this every time I retrieve.

Aomiern

Your combo is sick. I just couldn't put out enough damage and your saves seemed pretty good so even blinding was a pain in the balls. I failed my word of recall in that first death. I don't spam practice anything (except for dispel I did because I wanted the dispel edge...though I still didn't get it as it must be the most expensive one in the game) so I pretty much had to take that death and eat it. 92% word of recall and I got hosed. Sacrificing is so lame man. It's better to go for some period without the Scepter than to start sacrificing somebody's ####. Especially somebody's Dern-gear when you know they're not going to go kill him to get it back. I had no respect for you after that.

I sacced I think four maybe five things. only like two were dern pieces. Lame is curse/entwine combos. You had plenty of chances to get out and you had a group that could have grabbed stuff. It isn't like I reverted in the middle of the fight and took it, then worded. I'm pretty sure I kept fighting the folks for a bit, and they had plenty of time to protect/loot it for you. Second death to me that day, and you guys kept coming. I'm chaotic evil, I guess I should always return everything.

Hypocritical?

You send me a tell saying "Next time you die you are getting nothing back because Aomierm sacced my necklaces".

I tell you that had nothing to do with me. You say you don't care. I point out that you are being exactly what it is you are complaining about, whilst I haven't done what it is you are angry about.

Moreover, when you died to my group before (on Aryth) I told them not to sacrifice your stuff or take anything they had no use for.

Then I return all of your stuff that I cannot use, and much that I could. Then you sac mine and keep a pile of stuff that you cannot use, including opal wands, blue wands, notes, etc..

I'm sorry, but I lost all respect for you as a player at that point, which was a shame, because up until that point I had some. What you did was no different to punching some guy in the street because you got punched last week by some different guy, and it makes you feel better.

I don't know why you claim I only returned 3 pieces of gear. I could name more than that, before even starting on the preps I returned to you that I could have used myself.

And, for the record, neither Aomierm nor I took your prayer beads. They were taken by a character that could use them, who then died to evils right after and they sacced them.

Also, I don't know how you could claim that you were not trying to loot the crap out of me. You claim I found your container full of my stuff because you were trying to get my weapon. If that's all you were after, why did you not grab it first? Because you were trying to grab as much as you could, and your behavior after showed that you planned to keep it. So, in your case, I was going to make an exception and full sac you next time you died.

I don't recall claiming that you only returned three things. I kept your mantles, which I promptly put on to replaces the necklaces that somebody took, and your girdle of endless space. You say it was full of wands and stuff that I could not use but it wasn't. It had a bunch of potions and pills that I was putting to use, some wands that I put in the chest in the Fort, and a bunch of pens/parchment that I ended up using to mark my progress in Organia's Veil (but the damn things crumbled; thanks imms for that change). It was also full of Kteng's Lab notes that I would have put to use for myself to complete the quest, since somebody ruined it/made my previous success there useless, had I not died to a Salvrazzar/Roal ganking. I responded poorly to you, perhaps, but I lost more in that deal than you did. I assure you that I was not trying to full loot you. I did "get all corpse" hoping to get your weapon so that I could quickly get away because I knew Aomiern was near. I didn't get any weapons and was there trying to figure out what I could jettison in order to grab your weapons. I would have jettisoned your girdle immediately if I had not thought it was mine. I didn't even get a chance to look in it to see. I had maybe 15 seconds between your death and Aomiern finishing off my remaining 5%hp. You might think I actually knew what your main weapon was but I had no clue. My aim was to take all of your weapons and keep the big one. Whatever, it's water under the bridge.

Seriously, it helps a lot with bitterness. Funnily enough, playing fort only increases my dislike of it.

Uhm, no. The funny thing is that I distinctly recall coming up with the vague outline of the idea for Nexus. Not the powers or anything like that, mind you, but I remember posting how I thought a true-neutral cabal would be cool. That was on like Glimo's forum or something crazy a long time ago. If the imms read that and made Nexus from it then I apologize to the entire playerbase. If they didn't, we should find out whose idea did lead to it and egg their house.

Gromkonk would have warred with Nexus in a heartbeat. Too bad Thoric is a Corrlaan follower and far more merciful.

I've just found that it holds true with this game. If you hate something that much, chances are if you actually try to play it you will find a lot of your assumptions are wrong and if nothing else, seeing things through the eyes of "the other side" tends to help you gain a little perspective.

Damn you for deleting. My normal timeslot has two to four Imperials, a Tribunal or two, two Scion, and then a half dozen Nexans to sway the balance against chaos after Hunsobo plays John Belushi and does a Samurai Deli on my ass.

It was nice having someone who wasn't interested in killing me willing to take a few risks. You seemed willing to stay around and fight even against deadly characters instead of jumping on the logoff bandwagon. GLWYN

I was just happy there was an Outlander who didn't want to kill ME. Gumbldink was constantly dodging hordes of Outlanders so it was nice not to have to deal with that with Gromkonk. The only thing I didn't like about Xin was that you jumped into like all of my fights at the Chasm and inevitably the people would run away as a result. Shaman have to be a little bit sneakier about their kills and there's nothing sneaky about an elf jumping in with a hamstring. I wasn't about to tell you to stop, however, as Gromkonk was all about people doing whatever they felt it was their duty to do.

Good times with good people.

When you would tell me you were about to raid the Chasm, I took that as an invitation to create thorn-hilted adam's apples out of the mages there. If you had told me to butt out, I might have listened to you or at least waited until they ran or you were a corpse.

~

People flee from shaman. That's just how things work out. If you can't summon them into a locked room they're going to flee. When I told you we were raiding it was A) so you'd know to park your happy ass outside the Fortress after I got the item and B) so you'd know to park your happy ass outside the Chasm mopping up whichever bastards fled from my dwarven rage. No big thing. We had an interesting relationship. I'm glad to see the Outlanders being a little more open-minded these days. I think the only ones I fought were evil.

It's like you expected or wanted to be the powerhouse. And when you don't, you pout.

When I played Meshskel, it was more than evident that it was you who ''whined'' on qhcf about the fact that you get ganged when your foes counteraid. What do you expect? A fire giant sword spec against a shaman, what to do? Other than getting maledicted so badly that even with + str + dex, you'd drop my weapons. And I played a few hero shamans and I know what comes next so I'd leave.

And you'd always throw me borderline ooc phrases when I'd refuse fighting you on YOUR terms. That was just stupid.

And reading the posts on the board about adding stuff to the goodies or shamans or dwarves or whatever, that's just stupid too.

It's a game. You lose some, you win some. That's the thrill. Just winning must be boring, no challange. And it seems that's what you want.

Take that as a constructive critic.

>It's a game. You lose some, you win some. That's the thrill.
>Just winning must be boring, no challange. And it seems that's
>what you want.

I agree, but just loosing isn't good either. I'm not saying it was his case.. And I understdand Xil when he sais that right now.. It sucks to be goody..

I honestly don't know about and/or remember half the stuff you're talking about in your post. I barely remember Meshskel, but I'll consider what you've said.

*edited to correct grammar/spelling mistakes*