The high elf glanced around the sparsely decorated Inn room located in the Willow Wood and shrugged. It wasn’t home, but then again these days what was. She’d unpacked her few possessions which consisted mostly of her instruments, and settled in for the night. A wandering minstrel traveling across Norrath, she wasn’t about to complain, she’d seen worse.

Faralithe (or just Lithe, to those who knew her well) had a purpose which was (to her at least) very apparent. It was her job to record and sing about the tales of great and mighty people - but not only them. Her job was also to bring awareness to the smaller communities, about the great deeds their own people had done. She tried to make them uplifting, but also tell about the rich history people had. Especially since much of her own was lost to her. Which was fine, she preferred it that way, having no ties to anything at all.

Over the years she’d discovered that people liked nothing more then to hear the sound of their own voices. This was a simple fact, neither good nor bad, just something she’d observed. She made sure through her travels to take no sides, which allowed her access to establishments that may other wise slam their doors in her face. She knew as a high elf she should feel something for Tunare, but she didn’t. How could she with the upbringing she’d had. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in the Gods and Goddesses who’d returned to Norrath, no, she knew they were there. But she treated them all with a sort of vague indifference. The matters of the gods did not concern the mortals who walked below.

About her own life she’d kept quiet. Not letting anyone in. It wasn’t as though she’d lead a horrible one, nor was it particularly interesting though she thought when compared to those she sang about who had done so many amazing things. Wandering around Castleview Hamlet she learned a little of the Koada’Dal, scribbling down notes where she could. Barely learning anything about her own people before now was due to nothing more then forgetfulness, she’d always wanted to, but just couldn’t seem to find the time. That was the one thing life was short on, time.

She gathered her lute and headed out the door, wondering where the people of Qeynos gathered to collect and share their stories. She knew in Freeport people frequented the Bloodhaze Inn, but it would be some time before she could come up with a disguise to get into there after the last fiasco involving an over zealous gnome and his rotting thrall side kick. She glanced around the wooden doors that lead to Qeynos Harbor, searching for scraps of parchment that people may have stuck there indicating their events. Nothing. Curious.

Faralithe would just have to wait for another time. She wasn’t the most patient of people, but she’d learn.

Sensual thumbed the wallet stacked full of coins and groaned. She still didn’t think she was getting paid nearly enough to warrant dragging herself through the streets of Freeport in search of this one character. Not this one, in particular. Who thought so highly of himself (especially since the 2008 elections were upcoming) that he thought it fit to hire a personal guard of some sort. After wandering around meeting dead end trails, she finally tracked them down. Disguised in the Inn.

Sensual sighed, and listened to the on-goings of other patrons, all eager with their own stories to tell. She blocked them from her mind as she walked along, searching for this one. Lord Udoaka. She knew him only by his name and the one photograph she was given for the job. Who this other.. person, was with him, she had no idea. Eventually she heard his name whispered, Corrydonn. Why on earth he was dressed as a cockatrice, she had no idea. It must have been some sort of campaign management.

She reminded herself of the hefty price tag this assignment came with. Find anything, just some little bit of information, that could put his presidential campaign on a rocky start - was what the person requested. Whether they were to be seen as future competition she had no idea, and left it at that. All she cared about was the coin in her purse.

The doll and the chicken wandered around in what seemed like an aimless pattern - stopping once or twice on the roof, to shake Sensual off their trail. She simple shrugged and continued to follow, oblivious to anything else ongoing.

At least, something finally happened, just before she was about to go home. This Lord, this Udoaka, in the shape of a doll, spilled poison all over some innocent sarnak child. This was what Sensual was paid to capture and report on, this was it! So she scrambled to collect her notes, and without even a fair well, jumped into the night sky to report back to her customer.

She informed them of everything that she had seen, everything that had happened, and by the end walked away with another few coins for her trouble. She slipped her totems into her pouch for future uses, noting that it was easier when people didn’t try to run away from her as she was collecting her information. If only everyone worked that easily.

(( To those people who’s rp I stumbled into in Zek last night, thanks for letting me listen. The best roleplay I’ve ever found has always been the type I just sort of walk into, literally. As I was heading to Zek to quest last night it was a plesant surprise to notice the group of people hanging out in the druid rings. ))

How many times, Arysh wondered, had the people of Freeport passed by the stones unaware. She knelt to the ground and dropped the flowers she carried as gentle tears trickled down her smooth cheeks, not ashamed in the least bit. This was after all, where her mother was buried. She sniffed back a sigh and tried to wipe the tears as best she could to no avail. Every day the people of Freeport walked by the statues and monuments with no idea what they represented, or who. They never gave anything a second glance. Too busy on their way to some store, or to shop for poisons and other personal items. It was the way Freeport worked, and most argued that this method was just fine. Arysh, however, thought differently. Even before she considered moving to Qeynos she thought differently. It wasn’t that the druid was soft, by any means. The dark elf was fiercely protective of those closer to her and even those she was not.

She sat herself down in the dirt, and spread the flowers along the base of the monument. She knew that it had probably been erected for some other reason besides the personal one that it held to her. After all Lucan D’Lere was not exactly a rising hero empathetic to the needs and concerns of his people, not enough to want to place a solo statue in his city at least. The reasons didn’t matter though. The fact that it was there was enough for Arysh.

The druid found herself day dreaming of her life over the past few years, since she found herself without family. She had moved to Qeynos, lost a few loved ones along the way, betrayed not only Tunare but also the Burning Prince in trying to find herself. And what had it gotten her? Nothing. She was just as alone as she was at the starting of the journey. Her own fault though as over time she had pushed everyone away from her.

Left with nothing but the memories of those she once cared for, she slowly stood and braced herself to face another day.

I was just mentioning in my post yesterday, that I thought we needed more interaction between Guides > Players.  Especially on role play preferred servers - but not limited to them. Low and behold after I do my daily reading of blogs, Cuppycake says the same thing, in a post about Roleplaying Barriers.

3.  I don’t see any game-related benefit to roleplaying.

There are indeed no tangible rewards for roleplaying within games anymore.  The GMs hardly even interact with roleplayers in games anymore.  This reminds me of the EQ1 Legends server, in which daily there would be GM events ran for the players.   Sometimes people would actually roleplay, and the GMs would roleplay back.  That was FUN.  Perhaps we need more GM or player run events with tangible rewards.

Who wouldn’t want to participate in the Festival of Discord?

I know GU38 is going live today, and I figure lots of people will be posting notes to it, and their opinions. I’ll hold off and post about it tomorrow, I’d much rather have folks reading about the FoD upcoming, and save the GU38. Sorry for anyone who was looking forward to the notes! You can still find them on the EQ2players site.

The image from above is from the FoD’s web page, which you can find here. You can log in with any guild portal account, or just browse through the forums as you wish.

What is the Festival of Discord? It’s a week long role play event hosted by 10+ guilds on the Antonia Bayle server. It runs from September 22nd until September 29th, and includes a home decorating contest, a betting pool with gambling on winners, an assassination event, arenas, and so much more. I am certainly looking forward to it.

As of now, the guilds involved are:

• Bloodthorn
• Coterie of Thorns
• Court of the Moon
• Gunthak Pirates
• House Gevaudan
• Knights of Freeport
• Pawnshop Syndicate
• Raven Guard
• Sojourners of Norrath
• The Discipleship

It may not seem like your typical list of guilds. In fact, you may have not even heard of many of the guilds listed. Unless of course you are into role play. Then these words trickle down through the ranks. There is a list of contacts on their main page which can be found here if you’re looking to get involved in some way shape or form. They’re looking for volunteers for events, shops to peddle their wares during the festivities, and numerous other small details that goes into making an event like this work.

Some of you may have remembered my write up on the Festival of Unity which was held a few months back. I had a blast there, but due to some raid restraints (not an issue now since I don’t belong to a raid guild) I could not attend everything I wanted. I will most certainly be making an effort to attend all I can this time around, with in depth blog posts (hopefully also in character) abotut the events.

If you’re good aligned, you’ll have to sneak your way into the city for some events, just as the Festival of Unity was focused on a unity of each city, the Festival of Discord is for the.. darker.. sides of Norrath. That’s not to say they’re going to exclude their Qeynosian and Kelethian counter parts, but they certainly won’t be ushering them into the city either.

Are the GM’s going to be lending themselves out as they did for the FoU? I’m not sure, it would certainly be nice to see them take part again though. One thing I’ve noticed in EQ2 vs. EQ1 (I know, the two games are not the same and it’s difficult to liken them to one another) is that the guide events in EQ2 are far more restricted. Antonia Bayle may be a role play server and I have seen a guide or two around, but never any large events. Those that do happen, seem to be small scale where the larger events are almost constantly run by players. This is probably a good thing, it inspires players to role play and be creative, but I always loved seeing guides take an active role in their server. I contemplated applying to be a guide and would still love to if I could find any information on it (or even if applications are being accepted) but I can affect a server far more as a regular player with events, then I could as a guide even with my dedication I think.

Opening ceremonies begin September 22nd 2pm EST for those who are interested. Two hours later there is a “Battle to the Death” in the Commonlands, the opening ceremonies also begin in CL. On the 24th there’s even a drunken brawl at The Pit - for those who have no idea what the pit even is - It’s a players house in West Freeport in the Bloodhaze Inn, and they’ve been running events there for quite some time. Look under the housing name of Jenavive.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the festival, be sure to log into guild portal and sign up here.

Other events I’m looking forward to include a Masquerade event hosted by House Gevaudan, and the Gunthak Pirates who are hosting Captian Vilnius’ Secret Recipe Rum Drinking Contest. Quite a mouthful.

If you’re shy about these sort of events, please, don’t be! It’s lots of fun to be had by all even if you just wander around looking at everyone else. With the “fluff” armor slots coming today in GU38, it’s sure to be an amazing time watching those colourful costumes. You can get a hold of me by mail or tell in game or leave me an email (address posted at the top left of this site) as well as commenting here, if you’re interested in some company to any events. It’s a great way to meet a huge portion of the Antonia Bayle server, and find out what “Role Play Preferred” is all about.

(( Just the beginning of a little story I’m working on involving my Arasi brigand, Sensual. Not all mapped out yet, but it was a fun start. I’ll add to it as I come up with ideas, here’s hoping I get a lot of them, I do enjoy writing, so if you don’t enjoy it, oh well!))

She danced with the shadows, weaving in and out between them. Her feet barely touching the floor. Violet eyes glinted in the dark, and nothing could be heard aside from the faint swoosh swoosh of her daggers moving. The little Arasi was called Sensual, though most barely even knew that, and she loved to dance with the shadows. Her wings painted patterns on the floor as she moved, her body lithe and trim.

Her blades glinted once, and then twice, piercing imaginary foes who had done her wrong. Or perhaps people she had been hired to kill, as that was not beneath her. Her mouth curved in a smirk, and she continued to dance. Her mind drifted and wandered and she forgot where she was, almost forgot herself. Such was the way of the dance.

The dance can be dangerous

A voice echoed through her head, and she worked to shake it out. Dangerous? This? She practically laughed. She was not complete without her blades at her side. The connection she felt to them was something beyond what most could understand. Certainly her own family had not understood her desire, her need, to lose herself in the dance. She had left them as early as she could, saying not a word and simply disappearing from her home in the dead of the night years ago. She did not expect anyone to stop her or try to find her, if anything Sensual imagined they would be quite relieved that she had ‘disposed’ of herself, ridding them of one more problem.

A cat cried out from across the cavern she was practicing in and caught her attention for a fraction of a second before she turned back to her knife play. It was nearing two in the morning and the only people who were wandering through Neriak at this time were drunks and whores peddling their wares. She’d floated silently through the caverns to the older sections that were constantly deserted where she could be in peace. She needed to clear her mind.

Earlier that day an emissary had arrived to speak with her. Or so the person had claimed. From the Queen none the less. Sensual was both intrigued and nervous about the meeting. The man had been wrapped from head to foot in some sort of rough scarf material, his eyes glinted out in slits, and his voice rasped out with a heavy lisp. There was not much Sensual could figure out from him aside from the fact that if she needed to she could burry her daggers into his brain without him crushing her. He’d come to her with a task, but would not speak more about it. He wanted her to accept before knowing fully what it entailed, and Sensual was not sure she was comfortable with that. He’d given her the rest of the night to contemplate it, and asked her to meet him at the Fair in Darklight Woods the next day. She’d agreed, after all money was money, and he promised this would give her plenty of it. He’d shaken a purse before he left and the promise of coin rang through her mind even now.

The GM’s have been very nice in aiding with the festival, adding tents to the celebration areas in Antonica

Last night I decided to take a break completely from things. I was going to work on L&L for Stargrace, and decided not to. I declined power leveling and guildies. I decided to say no to crafting. So what did I do? Well, a few guilds on Antonia Bayle have been hosting the Festival of Unity. It is a week long event located mostly in Antonica so that people from various factions can attend and not worry about the guards. There are games, contests, prizes to be won. It was one of the best nights I’ve ever had in EverQuestII. I’ll be posting my role play version of this event a little later today, but in the mean time here’s an overview.

At about 8:15pm EST, an auction began in Windstalker village. Nice of the GM’s to erect a stage and some tents for the festivities.

The crowd was huge, there were people of all factions, races, and guilds gathered together. The bidding began at 10g and went steadily up from there. The funds went half to the festival community to help pay for things like food and drink and costumes, and the other half went to the people auctioned. It was all in good fun, and it seemed that most people enjoyed themselves. It may sound a little weird, auctioning someone off in an MMO, but they were “dates” for the night, for the tavern event that was to follow the auction. Everyone volunteered themselves, no one was forced. Some people went for as high as 10p. Misako herself tried to make a few bids, but it was a little to steep for her pockets.

Afterwards the Fellowship of the Dragon hosted a fishing competition on the docks in Windstalker village. The winner was Shirrar, who got some nice prizes. Other prizes were donated to the second and third place winners. I had a lot of fun playing a reporter, and wandering around the event in general. There were peddlers selling their wares, froglok totems made from by real frogloks, dresses in case you had nothing to wear to the event, food and drink abound. There was also fortunes told, by Drakael - or rather, futures told. Misako got in on that as well, as there was a huge line up. The event was quite popular. The auction itself went on for nearly three hours, while people wandered around the event. After the auction and while the fishing competition was finishing up, Annwen gathered a crowd beneath a huge old tree to talk about some old Norrathian stories, her tale of the night was about Mujaki the Devourer - I couldn’t listen to the entire story though as it was Misako’s turn to have her future told.

There were drinking competitions hosted along with the stories, and at midnight EST there were card games. My eyeballs were threatening to close by 11:30 though, so I had to call it an early night. I really had a great time. If you’re looking for more information on the festival, you can find it here there are events like lemming cliff diving, there were jousting tournaments, and there’s so much more. There is an event schedule as well. There is also another post with some screen shots of the event here in the offical AB forums. If you’re on the AB server, I suggest you check it out and embrace what a wonderful server you’re apart of, and even if you’re not from AB I’d suggest rolling an alt just to see the events.

(( An Rp story on how Misako came to Freeport, since I betrayed her some time ago from mystic to defiler ))

Misako glanced around her humble inn room in East Freeport and grinned at herself. She’d finally done it. After everything that had gone on in her young life she’d finally managed to save up enough coin to purchase her very own place. Her possessions were not many, but they were hers. She thought back to how she had come to Freeport to begin with, and her heart ached slightly.

It started with a boy, of course. Well, more like a man. His name was Farid, and he was everything to her. They’d met in the sewers of all places. Not exactly the most romantic of settings, but it was love at first sight, or well, it felt like it. They connected instantly. It was intense. Farid was a powerful sorcerer in Freeport, although Misako did not know that at the time. She only knew that she cared beyond anything she had ever felt before. He showed her things she’d only dreamt of, and whispered in her ears of power and promises that enticed her to give up her Qeynosian ways. After thinking on it for some time, she decided that Qeynos had nothing to offer her. She’d become bored with the daily worships of Tunare and the people who spouted off about the evils befalling them. Evils? Farid was not evil. Perhaps it was time she saw things from a different light. So she’d said goodbye to her family, to her twin sister Stargrace, and left for Freeport, promising Farid that she’d to anything in her power to keep him happy and that she’d one day make a good wife for him.

She should have known better. Before she left, Stargrace pulled her aside for one last sister to sister talk. Warning her to be careful and whispering to keep in touch. Stargrace had slipped a small pouch of coins into Misako’s pockets before dashing away down the street, tears streaming from her eyes. Misako’s heart had gone out to her twin sister, but this was something that she wanted to do. Something she had to do. Upon arriving in Freeport, Misako had gone off in search of Farid. Not knowing her way around she’d stumbled into a random inn, seeking shelter from an abrupt downpour that had caught the poor wood elf.

” We’ve no use fer your kind here… ” Sneered the barkeep, washing the counter tops with a dirty rag.

“I’ve got coin.” Misako slapped a silver piece down, making sure to look the barkeep squarely in the eye. She wasn’t going to let people push her around. “I’d like a mug of ale, and some bread.” She made herself comfortable.

“Big spender are ye..” The barkeep smirked and waddled towards the kitchen, scooping up the silver from the counter as he went. His girth surprised Misako, who could ever want to let themselves go like that.

A woman’s laugh from the back corner of the room drew Misako’s attention, and she turned to see who it came from. Her jaw dropped open, and her heart instantly cracked in half. Some common wench was perched upon Farid’s lap, grinding suggestively against him, he was whispering in her ear, his hands cupped a breast teasingly, and Misako let out a low gasp of dismay. His eyes widened as he glanecd towards Misako, the wench running her hands in places that were far better suited to a private room.

“How.. how could you!” She let the words fly out before gathering her belongings quickly and running from the inn. Her breath came in ragged hitches and her hands shook. She felt utterly betrayed. She should have known better. Stargrace had tried to warn her. She ducked down an alley, and leaned up against a wall, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly a dark shadow crossed in front of her. Farid.

“Get away from me,” she practically growled. “I do not want to see you.” She tried to control her words but anger seeped through every one.

“Misa, come on now.. she was nothing to me.. we can work this out..” His voice was calm and collected. Power radiated from him. He advanced towards her and a shiver of fear shot through Misako. His eyes flashed violet and she realized that this person was not the Farid she’d met a year ago. The power had claimed him as it’s own, he was someone else. Someone mean. It had to be.

“I..I.. I’m warning you!” she stuttered. “Pplease, leave me alone.” She was afraid now, of this dangerous stranger who crept up closer to her.

“You’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” he scoffed at her. “Silly girl. Forget this, and come back with me.” He reached out his hand and a blue spark danced along it.

“Get back!” Misako screamed, and pulled a small dagger from her boot, it wasn’t that sharp but it would do in a pinch. She brandished it before her with shaky hands. Farid laughed at her.

“What are you going to do with that, hmmm?”

“I warned you.” She hissed. He stepped closer again, and raised his arm. Murmuring under his breath, a gust of wind pushed her back against the wall in the alley, and held her there. She struggled against it but could not move.

“Warned me?” He laughed again, low and menacing. “You’ve no idea what powers you play with, child.”

Again the thought came to her that this was not Farid. That something had happened to him, something had changed. With her mind acting along it’s own violation, she closed her mind from him. She took a step forward. He lunged towards her, and her dagger came down and buried itself in his chest. Directly in his heart. The blue spark faided from Farid’s fingertips and his eyes returned to their normal hue. He sunk to the ground into a muddy puddle, and looked up at Misako with disbelief. He opened his mouth as though to say something, and all that came out was a gurgle of blood.

Misako stepped away from the gruesome sight, and shook herself into awareness. She’d just.. murdered.. someone. The dagger clattered to the street, what had she done. She’d killed Farid. She could never go back to Qeynos now. She’d had blood on her hands. What had she done. The words rolled over and over in her mind, like some nightmare that refused to end.

That was over a year ago now though. The events that took place. That night. Each day she lived in fear that Lucan himself would find her and drag her to the torture chambers to flog her alive for her misdeeds. Then she reminded herself that this was Freeport, not Qeynos, and another dead body in the streets meant nothing. She was sure the guards hadn’t even flinched. She had not bothered to contact her sister or anyone from Qeynos since the incident. She knew she’d marred herself and that no one from Qeynos would dare to speak to her had they known what had happened. So she’d made a life for herself in Freeport, selling her wares as a tailor. It was never much coin but it was enough to get by on. After a year of saving.. she’d purchased her new inn room, and there she was.

Some times, you just need a change

“I seek advice,” the dark elf spoke in stuttered sentences, trying to gather the nerve to continue on with her thoughts. She stood in a room with a mirror and nothing else. The walls were brightly coloured, and a rich carpet lay on the floor. A strand of hair fell over one eye and she brushed it away absentmindedly. After a few seconds with no reply (not that there was anyone around to answer) she continued.

“I feel… restless..” She hedged around the words. “Unsatisfied. Not only with myself, but just in general. I have no direction… not since… well.. since he died…” She trailed off, and blinked away some unshed tears. She looked down and quickly tried to clear her mind, noticing a small patch of lighting flickering from one finger to the next, a curse (or blessing some would think) from Solseuk Ro, the Burning Prince. She managed to calm her emotions before continuing.

“Let me start from.. well.. the start. Things were not always this way. Things were happy, for a time. I felt things. Good things.” She lowered her voice as she remembered them. The time after her accident, when she was taken care of. When the prophets first spoke to her about the Burning Prince and what he wanted her to do. She felt needed, and wanted. It quickly got out of hand though. The exhilaration of the heat.. the flames.. as they licked their way through her body. The storm that followed quickly after, it consumed her. Before too long, she was lost in it. Ignoring both friend and foe she heard nothing but the call of the Prince. Entire forests fell before her, and in the night time hours her once violet eyes glowed red instead. It was too much.

She woke one night and could not recall the events that transpired. The thought scared her beyond belief. She had pushed aside everyone to obtain her goals with single mindedness and was standing in an open field the stench of something… wafting up around her with an underlying metallic scent. There were no animals around, no birds calling. No people. Just her, clothing slightly scorched and a pounding headache. She glanced at her hands, blackened. It repulsed her. Something had to change. This was not her it did not feel right it was not right it –

“Ugh..” She let out a soft moan and sunk to her knees on the floor.

“It’s not too late.” Came a very quiet whisper almost next to her ear. “You know you are always welcome home.”

The elf sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, rocking herself on the floor.

“Tell me what to do, have I made a mistake?” She asked the empty room.

“Just.. feel..” Came the voice. A hand brushed against the elf’s cheek, and wrapped protectively around her, a small attempt at comfort. The elf let out her tears, the water coursing down her cheeks. So much pain and confusion built up that finally spilled over. She hoped, that things would only get better from here. That she’d find some strength, and lose her curse.

(( Restless tonight. I’m in a cranky mood and decided to spew my moods all over my blog. Been a while since I’ve written an Rp story, hopefully a lot more will follow, not quite as dreary ))