Fri Feb 1 08:56:28 2013

At 8 o'clock AM, Day of Deception, 23rd of the Month of Winter
on the Theran calendar Melindi perished, never to return.

You didn't attack me, you just healed Rostrak. You had me, a villager, half-dead already, in a locked room, vs a Defiance wielding paladin with his own special things, did he really need your help?

Then you looted my weapons, after Rostrak told me he took nothing.

I tried to RP with you and you didn't really respond.

It was my first and only encounter with your character.

was pretty blatant ooc anger at me taking two weapons. One of which I used because it was noremove, and the other (which I couldn't use) I got uncursed and sacced and told you so, so that you could go re-get it.

As for whether he needed my help, I didn't look at either of you, I just walked in and threw one heal at him right away. Then I looked, and you were dead a moment later.

So, this was my first real druid. I'd played one to about 23 or so previously, but found it a bit blah. Possibly due to the role I had and the Imm I was following.

This time, my role was much more interesting to me, and Whiysdan is a great imm to follow. He's present so very often. He doesn't just heap empowerment and stuff on you right away, but the work you put in toward it isn't exceedingly difficult - it just makes you think more about how your character would view things. Which is really the whole reasoning behind empowerment.

So yeah, much better experience this time.

I gotta say, Trewyn's druid FAQ is super-duper useful. Helped me a lot as I was learning how to play a druid. One comment I will make about it - he dismisses birdform far too much, IMO. It is a *great* tool for hunting. And windwalk makes it SO much more usable. I remember giving Baerinika a hard time once because she gave an Outlander Druid the Persistent Windwalk edge and I was like "Man, that's kinda wimpy on a Druid - they get pathfinding and fly." WRONG. Windwalk changes the amount of moves used by the condor drastically. Mea culpa RayBaer.

So why delete? Well, I knew Oryntohr's death was semi-imminent. And though I wanted Harbinger, I knew that Jawn had totally, totally earned it, even if he hadn't been around a whole lot lately (At the time. He's been around a ton, recently.), so I decided to stretch out my playtimes and be around less. I don't think there was ever really any danger of Jawn being passed over for Harbinger and me getting it, but I wanted to be really certain of it. So I started playing less and less.

Well, that lead to me losing a bit of touch with the character when I DID play. Kinda just going through the motions. Finally today I decided I should probably just delete. I had planned to maybe string along and just keep playing until Jawn was gone, and maybe have a shot at Harbinger then, but it really just wasn't in the cards.

Goodbyes:
Whiysdan - Thanks for everything. You're awesome.
Oryntohr - Thanks for the induct. I'm very glad you didn't string it out for a long time, after the length of time it had taken to actually get to speak with you.
Jawn - You're awesome. Seriously, you should use windwalk as the condor. Unless there's a RP reason you don't?
Oaneewke - Love your RP. Keep up the good work!
Other Outlanders - There's some very interesting RP going on right now in the Tree. I couldn't get into it, personally. Which is too bad. If it had happened when Melindi was younger and still being influenced by the elf Ewa and the fire giant Moltag, I could have probably had some public arguments with myself.

Enemies - Really, pretty much all good. I never really had any vitriol toward any of my enemies with this character, which is rare. Usually there's at least one or two guys who just stick in my craw, but not really here. Sure, Scion air shifters were a bit annoying, but after a while it seemed like they generally let me be in favor of easier prey or something.

I'm forgetting many. Part of that is the loss of the feel for the character, unfortunately. But this post is already getting plenty long, so it is time to wrap it up!

Deleting before the opportunity for revenge presented itself, bad karma. I was impressed with Melindi. After you got the jump on me that one time in that one sneaky place while I was focused entirely upon a current fight, I was legitimately nervous when you were around and generally spent quite a bit of time watching my back.

Maybe your next will be another enemy and I can get pseudo revenge.

Animism is overpowered.

However, I never knew you could summon there (wish I'd known that as Tavlin, it would have made live a lot easier at times).

Learn something every day.

Great character. As a priest of Padwei, I never wanted to fight you and only attacked you that one time you were ranking on storm giants. For the remainder, sorry if I wouldn't give you the satisfaction. I'd get an occasional lightning bolt or hunt on me, but my role wouldn't let me rise seek you out for a fight.

Well-played character in that you didn't compromise your morals and befriend a dwarven nature priest, even though I wish you had... :-P

Merrol

Like if there was any other sort of enemy around, I'd primarily go for them. Definitely Imperials, Scions, or Tribs, and almost certainly paladins or conjurers.

Meanwhile, you stuck to your role very well, in that whole "I'm not giving you the fight you want, so piss off." mentality. Nice job.

I loved your RP.

I was hoping at some point to get you and Oaneewke together to see what sort of portents the two seers could collaborate on, especially since Jawn Foote has had a vision or two himself, but there's only so much time in the day and I've got a pretty full RP plate right now. The Tree is a great (and difficult) place to be right now and the roleplaying opportunities are awesome, no matter which branch you sit on.

The fact that you're Twist makes me feel a little bit better about how nasty your condor was. I have the exact same form and I'm just meat in the air. And I'd gladly use windwalk as the bird, but Jawn foote is not chaotic enough to harness the wind in such a way.

And yeah, I was kinda expecting to get Harbinger post-Oryn, but if it had been you I would have been A-OK with that.

Great job, Twist. I'd ask you to go easy on the Tree with your next, but I suspect that's not gonna happen.

Keep up the awesome work on both sides of the game.

>I was hoping at some point to get you and Oaneewke together to
>see what sort of portents the two seers could collaborate on,
>especially since Jawn Foote has had a vision or two himself,
>but there's only so much time in the day and I've got a pretty
>full RP plate right now. The Tree is a great (and difficult)
>place to be right now and the roleplaying opportunities are
>awesome, no matter which branch you sit on.

Funny thing about that, Melindi didn't really ever have visions. I dug the title they layed on me, but it wasn't really all that accurate. Ah well.

>The fact that you're Twist makes me feel a little bit better
>about how nasty your condor was. I have the exact same form
>and I'm just meat in the air. And I'd gladly use windwalk as
>the bird, but Jawn foote is not chaotic enough to harness the
>wind in such a way.

Ah gotcha. Yeah not sure why your condor doesn't measure up, unless it has to do with the edges I took and stuff.

>And yeah, I was kinda expecting to get Harbinger post-Oryn,
>but if it had been you I would have been A-OK with that.

I figured you would, but it'd be a little bit of a sour taste. Especially considering how long you had to wait, due to Oryntohr's hours dropping so drastically at the end there.

>Great job, Twist. I'd ask you to go easy on the Tree with your
>next, but I suspect that's not gonna happen.

Heh more like hopefully they'll go easy on me.

>Keep up the awesome work on both sides of the game.

I just want to say that you made Krenke's life so much better. You were the only consistent ally I had for the first 60-75% of the characters life and it made a huge difference.

Melindi never fully trusted you, because she knew of course she might have to fight you someday if you were with a dwarf/duergar or trying to kill a mage that she was protecting.

But you were the closest she had to an ally outside the Tree/applicants, really, so yeah it was good.

Seemed really shady. For how close a Cleric and villager seemed to be.

...and it sure wasn't against Melindi's RP to do so. I did refuse (or fail to answer?) once when there was a chance he'd use the windwalk to get at an Outlander mage.

(N/t)

n/t

Goblins fall in with orcs, ogres, and trolls

n/t

Melindi didn't ever hang with a goblin.

However you should make note of that fact that nowhere on the bark does it mention orcs. Nythos actually brought that up one evening when a bunch of Outties were hunting an orc down (myself included).

He was like "If you're wanting to hunt an orc because he's a slaver or you have some personal reason, that's cool, but they aren't like a duergar or dwarf in that they are specifically enumerated by the Ancients." Only he said it way better than that. At least, that's how I took it.

So I went and re-read the bark and yep, orcs aren't on there anywhere. So I'd lump goblins in as "hunt if you want, but they aren't on 'the list'."

nt

Granted, there are very, very few powers that can even be called upon Villagers by those in other cabals, but if they're not magical and don't compromise the courage of the Villager (like altruism might) why wouldn't it be cool?

Truth be told, other than windwalk I'm struggling to come up with other examples.

or pass door..

Cabal powers are in a different class than spells/communes.

This is intentional; before that change, Battle loved to use Knight warrior having 'Squire' as a spell as an excuse to bash them down, for example.

From the helpfile:

"Villagers are proud to rely soley upon their own battle prowess as they wage their war, and eschew the use of priestly blessings in all but the most limited capacity."

I don't think people having cabal powers should be an excuse for bash but instead treated like communes are today. Ragers see nothing wrong with a healer but they refuse to accept direct aid from one as they want be self reliant*. I don't see that being that different from an outlander drawing upon the powers of the fetish and making a dwarf fly.


*bards are the exception there but as they are explained they power or damage still comes from the rager himself. So I can see that being ok.

I can only say that this is not the interpretation that was intended when cabal spells became cabal powers.

It's not like there's exactly an epidemic of Ragers with Windwalk or Favor of the Sun.

I was not the first to do this nor would I have done it if I thought it was shady. Windwalk is not a prayer or spell it is a cabal power, and until an IMM says otherwise it seems to fall into the same acceptable category as inherents. It isn't like the fly is lasting long into arial city, I am not sure why everyone is freaking out.

I've been with villagers who specifically refused windwalk because it betrayed the notion of self-reliance that to them was so dear. I've also seen the other sort who asked for windwalk.

Would you accept altruism upon you? It's a cabal power, too, but it would be the extreme argument to say that it fits in with Battlerager dogma.

Altruism provides a real benefit, potentially saving your life. Windwalk lets you go to arial city. It it gone as soon as you are in, and there is a real drawback that you might not be able to get out. I suppose if your rager is completely focused on the idea of self-reliance then yes, you might not want to take it. If you are more focused on the war against magic and there are mages hiding from you in arial city, it seems to make perfect RP sense to get help getting to them.

Actually the concept of altruism is to help you by the acolyte taking all the burdens and suffering all the pain.

It's not different than windwalk potentially saving you from a trip-gang or escaping quicksand. Both are huge benefits.

Windwalk is a powerful tool. It also gives you pathfinding.

If you can accept windwalk, you can accept altruism. Plain and simple. Either its kosher or not via cabalpower.

It just seems like a roleplay decision to me.

Some ragers would accept it, others wouldn't/shouldn't.

Splntrd

If you are using it to abuse pathfinding and fly perhaps it is questionable, but I literally was on the rim of the canyon and was given windwalk into arial city which went away as soon as you hit civilization anyways. I was not avoiding trip-gang or escaping quicksand. I was trying to get a mage who thought he was safe.

nt

True. I don't think I had intended for that to happen, if I remember correctly I had intended to beat him to the mage but lost the fast typer competition. Krenke in general would attack anyone who was ranking with a mage as well as the mage until they were no longer a party. I really don't see why you are so peeved about this considering it happened a whole once.

nt

n/t

we killed some of your group fair and square 3v3. to then 3v1 me at fort with dwarf paladin present was shallow, especially due to the fact that me and baylahn hero'd you when we had no need

Melindi was a mother-bear sort, so when you three killed the obvious weak member of the party, it was time to throw down.

Never did put Lum "into de soil" as payment.

you specifically set briars for when i fled from tolgrumm and that other paladin so you could wax me. and your obvious weak member was geared to the nines

you knew i'd be willing to throw down at any and every moment, so no need to do that

For me, I'd been in the skies searching for all three of you, fighting your air shifter groupmate, trying to find Lum, trying to find you. When I saw you at the Fort, I went down and put up briars to prevent you from fleeing and was just coming out of the lag from that when you fled out. As far as I'd seen it was you fighting Tolgrumm - Tirlan was at the Altar Room when I flew overhead, and Tolgrumm didn't show up on where at all (either he cried in after I landed, or had recently been killed and enjoyed air-form-ghost-invisibility-goodness).

Here's the relevant piece from the log:


<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 869(65%) air outdoor cloudy new 10 AM>
People near you:
(PK) a falcon Far Above the Vale of Arendyl
(PK) a large condor Far Above the Redhorn Mountains
(PK) Tirlan The Altar Room
(PK) Haj Standing Before the Fortress of Light

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 869(65%) air outdoor cloudy new 10 AM>
In the Mountains



<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 867(64%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Mountains



<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 861(64%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
revPeople near you:
(PK) a large condor In the Mountains

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 861(64%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
revert
tYou flicker and blur into your normal form.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 861(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
targ haj
#Ok. $target is now set to {haj}.
People near you:

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 861(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Mountains



<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 859(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Alas, you cannot go that way.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 859(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
People near you:

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 859(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Mountains



<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 857(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Alas, you cannot go that way.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 857(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Alas, you cannot go that way.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 857(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Alas, you cannot go that way.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 857(75%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Foothills


A small, furry beast digs at the snow with its sharp claws.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 856(75%) hills outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Foothills


A small, furry beast digs at the snow with its sharp claws.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 853(75%) hills outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Alas, you cannot go that way.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 853(75%) hills outdoor raining new 10 AM>
People near you:

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 853(75%) hills outdoor raining new 10 AM>
In the Mountains



<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 850(74%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
Near Redhorn Gate


A small, furry beast watches you from the safety of a snow drift.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 846(74%) mountain outdoor raining new 10 AM>
cham
Redhorn Gate

An aura of cold fills this area, dropping the temperature below freezing.


A small, furry beast watches you from the safety of a snow drift.

<1008/1008(100%) 925(82%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
You fade away as you blend in with your surroundings.

<1008/1008(100%) 890(79%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
call
A falcon flies up to you quickly then slows to a near halt.

<1008/1008(100%) 890(79%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
co briar

The edges of a falcon's being stretch and twist and he returns to normal.

<1008/1008(100%) 890(79%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
You silently command nearby foliage to attack intruders.

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
gt BPeople near you:
(PK) Sindevindin Redhorn Gate

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
gt BriaYou scan north.
***** Range 1 *****
(White Aura) Tolgrumm is here, fighting Haj.
(Translucent) Haj is here, fighting Tolgrumm.
A huge figure in deep gray armor guards the gate.

You scan south.
You scan east.
You scan west.
***** Range 1 *****
A small, furry beast watches you from the safety of a snow drift.

You scan up.
You scan down.

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
gt BriarsSindevindin utters the words, 'ghix'.
People near you:
(PK) Sindevindin Redhorn Gate

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
gt Briars here.
You tell your group 'Briars here.'

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
targ haj
#Ok. $target is now set to {haj}.
People near you:
(PK) Sindevindin Redhorn Gate
Haj has arrived.
Haj becomes entangled in a patch of overgrown briar!
The briar's entanglement DISMEMBERS Haj!

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
Sindevindin utters the words, 'ghix'.
Sindevindin is moving more slowly.

<1008/1008(100%) 820(72%) 842(74%) mountain outdoor snowing new 10 AM>
ft
Haj yells 'Help someone is attacking me!'
You narrow your eyes and glare in Haj's direction.
You burn Haj with the light of the sun!
You step out from your cover.
Your sunray >>> ANNIHILATES <<< Haj!
Haj is DEAD!!
You land the killing blow against Haj.
Haj spills his guts all over the floor.

I have no idea why. Well I do actually, it was your hunting grounds. You caught me at a place where seldom people have caught me, and more then once. Going back a long time one other char you have had got the drop on me there once and I had a hunch.


I mean, I say that now obviously because I know

You were a class act. I just hated how you always seemed to fly out of no where and boom I was at the #### end of the stick, completely unready. Or ready, but still bent over due to Moon/Sun etc.

Druids will forever haunt my dreams.

Good work as always. Have fun with the next one.

For a while you were a punching bag for her, but then you started to come into your own bigtime. To that point that it made me stop going after duergar/dwarf ragers alone. To the point that I called in Rostrak to take out Bholur because I was pretty sure in the wilds he'd be tough for me to bring down, and inside, like he was, where all I could try (for damage) would be fireseeds, I'd be toast.

Thanks you very much.

I really was a meat bag at the lower ranks you would toast me.
I was hoping for a few more shots as I started to get more into the feel of the char and the flow of my skill set.

Thank you though, that makes me feel a lot better about things

Melindi was an enigma to Hilamar. I remember you raiding when I was younger, and just made a Provincial Magistrate. You got up to the exectuioner, then my guards started pounding on you, you retreated, got with Jawn, both came back and both got beat down.

After that, Melindi was never one I really feared. I would hear you come into Galadon often. And many magistrates were scared of you, but for some reason, I never was worried. After our first fight or two, you'd not even come after me, and I felt so neglected. Towards the end, Magistrates where telling me to be prepared for Melindi to raid, and I'd be telling them not to worry, you wouldn't come while I was awake. Or that is how it felt to me.

What is even better is hearing who the player was behind the character cause of our past experiences together, but that was long ago.

Remember, Tribunal is Hiring! Time to be on the other side of the insects! And always looking for Magistrates with great background stories and Roleplay!

Hilamar

I mean, unless the druid can throw out a big thorns or sunray, the tactics are a lot of hit-and-run and/or maledictions. Hilamar made both of the latter useless (you could heal people faster than I could do hit-and-run and you would healing sleep them if I got thorns/spores on them).

So yeah, of course you had no need to fear me.

I remember fighting you with a felar. You were hitting a weakness with those seeds but I managed to kill you due to cutoff and some quick damage. That is sort of the one thing that stops me from playing them constantly. Anyways I enjoyed the character and had no clue with you. I always enjoy how none of your characters have the same personality.

I've got a single #### to give...and it's just for you.

Yeah I was still kinda new to druids at that point IIRC. I never really got the whole killing-at-pre-30 down very well. Most of my kills came between 31-46ish, I think.

Not surprising! You were relentless, never gave me a breather, and always seemed to be able to predict exactly where I went to heal up from your spores/thornheart. I think you escaped from a few traps I laid, and note to self, when you get hunted, killing the dogs doesn't mean you can word away *bonk self*. Well played.

...really messes up a druid's day. Nothing to do but fireseed (or more spores/thornheart?)

Trewyn wrote his fact before Zulg nerfed shifting on druids.. so he kind of dismissed bearform and birdform.. with the way it works now.. You are right.. I got extensive use out of birdform and bearform with Lylesse and Balta.. just another tool in the amazing skill set of the druids!

Glad you had fun with one!

you mean Zulg nerfed the downsides to shifting?

Not completely, but he made it to wear it consumes herbs
much slower then it did. Making using bird form and bear form
much more reliable. Man, it used to burn through the herbs FAST.

It was nice using them with Lylesse with that 6 herb
human edge. Balta was rolled to mainly try a Druid
with giant resists and use the edges that allowed the giant resist
to carry over to best form. I have to say, I think I had the most
fun playing a cloud. The resist actually let you take more of a
beating. Still never been brave enough to do a gnome

You schmuck

Fri Nov 30 14:05:01 2012 by 'Whiysdan' at level 43 (116 hrs):
heh - Melindi: You made one of de two fatal mistakes. De first, as all know, is never fight de land war on de Seantryn continent. But de other is never bet against de Lucky Lord when death is on de line!

Leyras really enjoyed Melindi's presence in the Refuge.
She was very competent (something that escaped my attention until I was in hero range because she also didn't brag), but more importantly had a open, positive, matter-of-fact, caring attitude that was really refreshing. Being able to speak with Melindi briefly about other char's foibles was an important sanity /guilt check for Leyras.

Of course, the "mother bear" attitude towards the Nexus snipe and "putting them into the soil" was awesome for Leyras, who has extremely strong feelings about being outcast and being accepted. The presence of actual allies who would act on his behalf was pretty huge. You basically were awesome in his eyes after that, but I don't think our playing times matched up after that so Leyras didn't get a good opportunity to express it.

However, OOCly, I used a donation opportunity to pick up your PBF

I'm sad your char faded without giving Leyras a chance both to add more oomph to the Sunny side of the argument in the Tree, and to interact more with your char. Great char!

Nice of you to get those other two as well.

The druid skillset is quite varied, so it gave me a good chance to strike back at those who killed you - almost had Lum too a couple times but he got away.

As with most of your characters, I had no idea it was you, but I'm not surprised to find out it was.

I mentioned this to Whiys, but this character concept is similar to one of my bucket list of character concepts (either as a druid or shaman), that I'll of course probably never have the time or motivation to play, but it really made it enjoyable to watch you. Hope you liked the title - I had to give Whiys a hard time for leaving a character with such distinct RP with default druid titles (most of which come across as way too *Celtic* for Melindi.)

Your plan to play less was probably a good one if you wanted to assure Jawn was made Harbinger. I probably would have picked Jawn anyways for a variety of reasons, but I would have been *really* tempted to pick Melindi just for the sake of having a leader with such a unique RP approach. You knew that, I guess?

>I mentioned this to Whiys, but this character concept is
>similar to one of my bucket list of character concepts (either
>as a druid or shaman), that I'll of course probably never have
>the time or motivation to play, but it really made it
>enjoyable to watch you. Hope you liked the title - I had to
>give Whiys a hard time for leaving a character with such
>distinct RP with default druid titles (most of which come
>across as way too *Celtic* for Melindi.)

The title was great. I had no idea what it meant, but having a custom title was nice! And it sounded nice and Melindi-ey.


>Your plan to play less was probably a good one if you wanted
>to assure Jawn was made Harbinger. I probably would have
>picked Jawn anyways for a variety of reasons, but I would have
>been *really* tempted to pick Melindi just for the sake of
>having a leader with such a unique RP approach. You knew that,
>I guess?

Yeah I was pretty sure Jawn was a shoo-in. But then you went a week(ish?) without Harbinger-ing him (just due to playtime matchups and whatnot, it's clear now) and I started to get a little concerned.

I rolled Melindi kinda thinking "Ok, Oryntohr will die off or just get straight-up replaced by Jawn sometime soon, so I can play Melindi until Jawn dies off/deletes and then maybe get Harbinger."

But Oryntohr drug on and on and on....

Ah well!