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[All my other screenshots[FOLDS HANDS BEHIND BACK]]

And of course-

All my other screenshots

[FOLDS HANDS BEHIND BACK]

[The Witch Burns.]

One batch, Two batch, penny and dime...

I struck first hostile blow inside the ark in maybe all of history since h'bala whaaaaat.

We made it out of the ark alive and everything too but then a TERRORIST ATTACK

[00:11] ::[ Spellguard Broadcast : The Ark has been penetrated and its defenses tested before the might of our Order. The primitives have grown decadent and our attack was barely repelled. Only by desecrating our fallen Watchers with spiders eggs were they able to infiltrate our forges and slay Agent Alphonzo Zurrello. A small, petty act we will return tenfold. Mycopolis will burn. ]::

::[ DM Shout : The siege engines of the Deep Forges roar, the great battle not far on the horizon. The engineers are seen with new tools, snickering among themselves. Rumors from drunk watchers claim that Lieutenant Pond has setup a wall in his office for beasts and druid alike. There is a clear sense of confidence within the ranks of the Spellguard/ ]::

::[ DM Shout : In comparison, the village of Mycopolis is in disarray. Panicked elders puff their spores, desperate to get the shroomlings out of Mycopolis and into the underdark proper. Their caretakers whisper that the Stewards shall come.... the Stewards will bring salvation. But in what form? ]::

Born and raised in a small village in Amn, Alphonzo Zurello's life was as pleasant as could be expected. After many attempts and prayers to Chauntea his loving wife was at long last with child. Twins - a boy and a girl according to his blushing bride's intuition. While he spent his days working his nights would be spent tending to his wife's many needs, doting on her - believing himself the luckiest man alive. Her family's wealth allowing him to pursue odd jobs and hobbies to keep himself busy but a life of luxury they knew. Hunting a particular passion as he and her siblings would take to the forest often.

Everything changed late one night when she shrieked out in pain, awakening him in a start. Not knowing what to do he found himself running into the streets of the village shrieking for aid - While sprinting down the dirt road to the Ilmateri Shrine he saw only one thing in the blackness...A glowing red star overhead. The outcome inevitable and said to be common across the realms, but the fate inevitable. After many months of grieving and the attempts of her husband to bring joy into her life once more she took her life. Poison, procured from a local witch on the outskirts of town.

It is said that love and hate a small line to cross. Upon discovering the poison it was a small investigation in the small village - And an easy hunt - To find the old witch's hut and beat her to death with a stool.

From that first act of retribution, watching her hut go up in flames as he rode into the darkness his path clear. A local temple of Azuth found, dedicating himself to the craft of magic.

For in a world of chaos, uncertainty, and wild magics it is the simplest truth that keeps a man sane:

The Witch Burns.

Fun achievements by Zurello

- Taught by a Planar Shade for a number of weeks how to work illusions resulting in SF: Illusion at level 9 and no shortage of headache from PCs calling me a "Shadow Cultist". He was not a shadow cultist he just found himself prey and tried to turn it around.
- Did, in fact, kill Daniah Stone, not the best kept secret in EFU but did evade a lot of efforts before I reached out to the Spellguard for a deal. The plan had been to kill more but the PC response to Daniah getting executed was overwhelming and there was a lot of PC pressure from governmental PCs and mercenaries and good guys alike.
- The Arkfall initiative was started because of the Feud with Horns, and the baublium attack, and attacking the dragon, but all that started because early into the PC I found a flier that talked about his interest in Witches. So yes, Arkfall all started because of witches. The Stewards have had bloodmages and more in the past so he didn't stop hunting witches, he switched his tactics and went MACRO LEVEL instead of micro back alley murder.

- Lieutenant Pond has been restored to rank
- I got to attack Lower Sanctuary with lightning bolts like Palpatine, fun goal for an Agent

- A Bloodmage killed herself to try and stop my Witch Hunter. Pretty good success for hunting witches
- Saw a Drow enemy of mine burned
- Drove a lot of goodly people to take some questionable actions to stymie our efforts resulting in the Refinery Bombing and etc.
- Got like 6 hours of "FREE PVP IN UPPER" after convincing the entire Watcher and Warder force to stand down
- Got to rock out a DM event to fight a Mystrylan Witch and then was betrayed by a Wizard which lead to a huge duel and boss fight
- Killed a Covenant PC in a duel to the death and won by 2 HP
- Countless PC feuds
- Instigated attack on the Ark with my Spellguard Buddycop Partner and drew first blood by lightning inside the Ark to (accidently) kill one PC and black out my arch foe Mannunum and spark a giant battle royale along the Dark Lake where the Calleach herself LEFT THE ARK to chase us all.
- Recruited dozens of uniformed officers, recruited dozens of covert assets, recruited tons of enemies to switch sides to join our efforts, and just manipulated a whole shit heap of stuff as an "Officer" style agent rather than being a hands on field agent for the most part.

The first shot was important, and the last shot a bookend but here's some fun shots in between.

classic is best but can someone add all the potential fonts to the mechanics page or something in a cool forum post about what tags can be used etc?

Not sure if it's even possible with current scripts and how animal race and such works but I think it'd be very cool and add some dynamic flair to rangers with FE Construct to be able to animal empathy constructs.

Rogues and other classes get a lot of flavorful perks involving engineering and the machine and such for very cool scrapper vibes but I think it'd just be neat that Rangers could FE or Animal Companion machines for in and around the Duwnarren and beyond.

While you can't please everyone all the time a few ideas had for how matters can be expanded and more people can feel involved despite timezones. To my knowledge he event is going to just be the first event not the finale, but it's understandable people want to be in and involved in the fun!

- NPC patrols similar to the Svirfneblin Trader, with Warder/Watcher patrols or Steward/Guardian patrols.2-3 NPcs showing up with possible PvP options like the scavengers in the in between. Publicly the Moldmire has been declared a no man's land so their presence there could be fun for goodlier folk or the naturellas to rumble with PCs or NPCs alike. Equally Stewards along the Crossroads, Low Road, Dark Lake, etc all potentially cool options for little skirmishes with the PvP options of the other NPCs. Stewards dropping Saturated Leystones instead of the "Stolen Bundles" of the scavengers/etc in the in between for deposit to the ley refinery, Watchers dropping some moderate supplies or "Druid only" items stolen from patrols to help the druidiofolko or enemies of sanctuary get some supply since by the narrative we've increased patrols beyond the Dunwarren.

- The boss of the Moldmire Quest turned into a mad steward rallying the Fungus Minions to prevent traversing the moldmire. There's no dialogue really with the boss so just a name change could help change the narrative of the quest.

- The boss of the Hidden Pond, while remaining the same as it is now, the quest changed to add an additional Overly-Ambitious Warder experimenting with ley magic releasing all the "Awakened Stones" either a live wizard NPC similar to the bone quest in the canal ward or just some small placable of "Warder smashed to death by giant stones, ley energies rippling in the region".

- Adding Bounty NPCs outside the Watch House on stronger stewardic dirty haired druid NPCs instead of just criminals

Granted may be more work than warranted but at least a few flavorful things to help folks in the off-DM timezones or who can't make the bigger events still get involved in stuff.
 

[Sergeant Yodert Pond]

Let's talk about WAR baybee, let's talk about you-and-me.

While events quickly casting the SG back into the role of "Server villain" I've been doing some thinking of interesting ways to see the ranks bolstered further. As EFU is always cyclical we find ourselves with a fun opportunity

Sergeant Yodert Pond
This moon-faced fat man leads a squad of goons within the Watchers, priding himself on maintaining peace with an iron fist. He was demoted from Lieutenant some time ago, thanks to his then-inferior Sergeant Odelstad. Now he spends much of his time plotting to reclaim his former position.

Majority of EFU:R's early antics and the Workmill rebellion were shaped by Lieutenant Pond and PC Sergeant Armory Balfour of the aptly named "Bloodplumes". A force of watchers of the defensive branch with zero tolerance for criminal activity and yet a rare blend of corruption and fines, arrest quotes, public beatings, private beatings, private location beatings beyond the jail cells of questionable nature, and an overall mixture of thuggish corruption and zero tolerance for criminal activity (that didn't benefit the Watch).

With WAR on and THE RETURN OF THE LIEUTENANT YODERT POND, the opportunity presents for a resurgence force of men and women of questionable morals and armed with big sticks as testament to Lieutenant Pond's long awaited rise to power and once more his rival Lieutenant Troff's murder under suspicious circumstance.

Everything from war criminals to war profiteers to taxation for the war effort and countless other questionable actions I imagine, so long as it was kept in line with Lieutenant Pond's iron fisted decorum and ensuring everyone in the right place gets a "Taste".

[Myconids]

Concept Offer: Lab-grown Hydroponic Myconids.

One of my previous myconid concepts was a Rotbringer Myconid that was grown by Thomas Alqvuin in the Bone Yard, a tiny little mushroom cultivated with negative energy magics for an evil little mycomonster.

While this will be entirely in the hands of the DM staff to approve or refuse but the increase in Ley Magics and similar there have been a number of myconid colonies planted in the Hydroponic Chambers of the Deep Forge. Along with tending the upcoming ley efforts, the Moldmire, the fight for the ARk and more I am really being drawn in to the potential of undertakings to consider and I had an idea which may be a little crazy.

 

If we're going to be farming the ley, we'll need laborers.

I've written up some things and talked to a few PCs about an initiative IG but I would love to try and help cultivate one or two PC myconids, born in Hydroponics Chamber.

The fundamental idea being that with the rise of Warder Adept Brass' encampment of the Moldmire, an increased W&W presence in the area, and more we would "Grow in a Laboratory" one or two myconids.

Then they would be groomed as sort of SG-sponsored laborers operating both around the Moldmire Ley Siphon Camp and in a very small capacity in and around the city itself in the capacity of second-class servants and laborers to tend the influx of Ley magic being brought in by Serena Tower and the efforts of the Ark.

Any individuals interested I welcome to send me PMs here or my handle RwG on IRC. I'd be glad to help come up with both an appplication for a Myconid Character but also the pursuit of securing access to the Myconid Grove to try and build a non-traditional myconid presence in and around the Underdark.

Naturally it would be a Non-Druid, likely a non-clerical myconid presence.

Myconids

When we wanted to introduce Myconids, we wanted to do so in a way that made the experience of playing them feel genuinely different and unique.

Myconids earn almost no XP from killing monsters, but instead earn continuous advancement XP (reflecting their 'growth') through all levels of their particular life-stage.

What is a life-stage?

There are three Life-Stages, and each one grants a different appearance model (small, medium, huge). Each life-stage is associated with a particular level range: 1-6 for small ('Sproutling'), 7-9 (Medium), and 10+ (Elder). Each life-stage grants different subrace abilities.

How does one advance from one life-stage to another?

Progressing to the next highest life-stage is not only a matter of simply gaining the necessary XP. Instead, Myconid PCs must acquire the necessary rare nutrients and spiritual essence of another Myconid PC - in essence, they must undertake the very sacred Ritual of Absorption and 'absorb' two other Myconids of their life-stage. Generally the Myconids consider absorption a very sacred and secret aspect of their culture - something often done between close friends or allies. When a Myconid PC absorbs another PC Myconid, that Myconid PC is permanently gone - however, to some extent elements of the absorbed PC should be reflected in the absorbing Myconid's personality. Absorption can be performed on willing participants as part of a sacred ritual, OR it can be done on an unwilling, subdued Myconid victim - this is an evil act, though, and completely forbidden by Myconid tradition. Naturally, rogue and evil Myconids do sometimes exist.

So what is the standard Myconid Story?

Due to overpopulation in Mycopolis, Myconid PCs are being sent out into the wider Underdark to establish a new grove/Myconid Colony. They will do this through the Monster Lair system which has been set up for them. Myconid PCs must thus go around the Underdark and collect the necessary material to slowly grow their Grove and turn it into a true Myconid Colony. Of course, the Underdark is a dangerous place and establishing a new home will not be easy!

Myconid Stats:

Application required: Yes
Base Race: Half-Elf (adjusted to Vermin)
Preferred Alignment: LN, TN
XP: Special

All Myconids:
Bonus Feat: Armor Skin (For +2 AC)
Immunity: Critical Hits
Immunity: Death Magic
Immunity: Disease
Immunity: Fear
Immunity: Level/Ability Drain
Immunity: Mind-Affecting
Immunity: Paralysis
Immunity: Poison
Immunity: Confusion (Spell)
Immunity: Entangle (Spell)
Immunity: Stinking Cloud (Spell)
RA: Myconid (stinking cloud 1/day, cloud of bewilderment 1/day)
Light armor only

Myconid Sproutlings are small size with ability adjustments of -2 str, +2 con, -2 int, -2 cha.

Ability scores are adjusted appropriately as the Myconid progresses.

Myconid have stubby little hands that can't grasp standard weapons properly and so instead have bludgeoning creature weapons.

Myconid PCs are a monster race and, although not evil, may well be hunted and destroyed for what they are - survival challenge is part of the theme. Players of Myconids should expect a very different play-style; far from the town and only rarely interacting with the rest of the playerbase.

Additional Information:
Druid, Ranger, Barbarian, Fighter are suitable classes for Myconids. Tribal themed sorcerers, bards, and clerics of Psilofyr are more unusual possibilities.

Most Myconids are relatively peaceful, contemplative, and shy. They are suspicious of outsiders and highly cautious in their dealings with them.

In EFU spore-communication/telepathy is not scripted and not supported. Myconids should therefore be considered as using vocal communication with the additional use of emotes about puffing spores to communicate intangibles with other Myconids. In order to reflect their curious and stilted communication style it has long been the EFU tradition that dashes are placed in between words when a Myconid speaks (please see Mycopolis Myconid NPCs for examples).

This subrace is closely tied to the idea of developing and expanding the Myconid Grove, of which there is currently only one available to all Myconid PCs (but can be shared if IC'ly appropriate).

As the Grove is expanded and developed, it begins to produce special Myconid-themed loot objects that can be used, traded, or given away as appropriate.

 

[As Agents are not required to be Wizards/Sorcerers anymore the opportunity exists for a broad scope of opportunity that PCs have not fully pursued yet in EFU]

While there's been a quite a bit of action on many sides and I know we have "The most" of the current factions, the inter-faction conflict with the W&W is always best for EFU when there is representation on many sides.

As Agents are not required to be Wizards/Sorcerers anymore the opportunity exists for a broad scope of opportunity that PCs have not fully pursued yet in EFU

Ranks:
The ranks of the Spellguard are arranged into two tiers - all members of the Spellguard enter as Agents and, through considerable achievement and earning of trust, can be promoted to the second tier. Though the Agent is extended the privilege of selecting his own rank title, most pick from four common fields with just a few deviating from the norm. [INDENT]Agent
An Agent of the Spellguard has been found ideologically and intellectually suitable, has earned the commendations of current Agents and has passed the trials necessary for induction into the Spellguard. An Agent is entrusted with considerable authority including the power of arrest, as well as being conferred with the prestige of membership within the city’s most selective organisation. In return, they are expected to go about their duties in a manner befitting to their status - embarassing the organisation leads to severe reprimand, and if the mistake is damaging enough Agents have been known to be ostracized or worse.[/INDENT]  [INDENT]Operative
An active field mage who pursues a wide variety of duties; the most common of these uncommon titles, with the broadest scope

Emissary
A politically-oriented mage who works to make valuable contacts, improve the Spellguard's reputation, and ensure that other groups cooperate with the Spellguard.

Junior Animator
A mechanically-oriented mage who studies, captures, repairs, and reconstructs the old svirfneblin defense animatrons, creating a mechanical army under the control of the Spellguard. Animator Basian Dhimani is currently the Spellguard's sole Senior Animator, and so any mages who adopt this title serve under his guidance. When the nuances are not important, Junior and Senior Animators alike are referred to as Animators

Junior Officer
An administrative-minded mage who handles complaints, resolves internal disputes, develops long-range plans, and works to improve the Spellguard's reputation. Although many mages consider such duties beneath them, a good, competent, charismatic officer is a valuable find and has potential to rise high within the Spellguard. When the nuances are not important, Junior and Senior Officers alike are referred to as Officers.[/INDENT]

While there have been no operative PCs in the area there's a robust opportunity for PCs who wish to find operative-esque pursuits.  [INDENT]A Caster or non-caster PC who wishes to play as an Emissary style Agent could feasibly work similar to how Observer Therivon or the former Head Librarian did. A more savvy and political style mage who enters the Watchers and Warders as a Non-uniformed asset and works their way to Officer Level and eventually even potentially Agent as they attempt to pursue seat upon the Sanctuary Council as a dual role of Secret Agent and Councilor of Sanctuary, helping shape and facilitate political affairs.

A Caster or non-caster PC who wishes to play as an Operative style Agent in leading efforts of strike forces, or attempting to get some crazy hybrid of Agent + PRC for the Assassin PRC, Arcane Archer PRC, or a countless other opportunities for PCs. Spies, assassins, combat figures, and more field operatives and more have many roles.

A Caster or non-caster PC who wishes to play as a Junior Animator style Agent could leap from the Chief Engineer position to Experimental Branch to Agent in a crazy series of events to become a Dunwarren/animatronic focused Machine Hybrid Agent.

A non-caster PC who wishes to play a Junior Officer style could run a Mercenary company, a Gang of Lower, a Scholarly Organization, a Merchant Company, or any other "PC Faction Leader" style role could easily make a bid for Agent of the reformed order in the style of a non-combat figure pursuing the greater good of the SG on a higher tier of organization and efforts abroad.[/INDENT] Lastly -

The Experimental Branch primarily serves to augment non-casters to "Level the playing field" with Casters in the order but it's also entirely possible for a Sorcerer or Wizard who becomes agent to pursue Fifth Branch. Mechanized assassins, spellblades, some crazy "Contriver Perk" which is literally just someone stuck in an ironman suit running around throwing magic as a wannabe Artillery Animatron

Ultimately there's a robust array of play for Wizards and Non-wizards in a variety of different capacities and capabilities.

These are just a few ideas and styles supplied by the DM but you could also consider

- Hematologist Agent or other manner of PC pursuing Bloodmage to sway the tide of the SG's efforts

- Necromantic Agent with aspirations at Palemastery using the shield of the Reformed Order for protection and pursuit and to utilize one of the strongest forces against the Dread Empire

There's all kinds of meat and potatoes levels of lore and etc but the crux of this issue is-

While the W&W is a faction that is often populous the Warders and Agents have a fun role of both being supportive and menacing to both the Watchers and the Council and other factions. With a larger presence of Agents and Warders there's just more fun all around.

It's a great role for part antagonist, part protagonist, blurring the lines.

[Step one: The Dragon Hunt, The Refinery Attack]

Step one: The Dragon Hunt, The Refinery Attack

The main notion came from the idea that a lot of people were disregarding the Mound of Magnatz's bounty upon the Drake and the Steward Horns bounty for many months. So the DMs had altered things to have the SG also raising a bounty. Taking that hook and running with it since my PC was already in the SG and I wanted to impress my NPC bosses and had my own beef with Horns and by proxy the stewards for supporting WITCHES in the past on EFU a large scale effort was made in the form of some pretty sizable "operation" files on the forum, doing legwork to send PCs in the faction to do scouting while also getting informant PCs pursuing other aspects of potential pursuits.

Elmo (Dm involved in the Dragon event) and I had a pretty rough and quick chat about the idea that while no DM would be needed for the pursuit of the PC angle of the plot, there would naturally need to be a DM available for any attempt of a strike on the Drake. Furthermore we agreed it'd be good sport to try and coordinate a time when many PCs could be involved from both sides to allow a potential defensive effort if PCs wanted to protect the drake.

Since I love drama and more PC involvement I was all for it.

So Multiple angles of pursuit such as siege plans and scouting the region = More PCs involved having PCs scouting but also negotiations and otherwise with potential enemies = More size of an event = More drama of an event

After we secured the information of the location efforts were undertaken for a wide net cast. After getting the Watcher PCs on-board to help the SG pursuit, PC mercenaries, wannabe councilors looking to make a name for themselves, our on again off again enemies of the "Great Journey" and countless other powers were pitched ideas of the threat of a Red Dragon coming to maturity.

Also to make things fun and interesting for PCs the idea of "Operational Security" as some PCs tend to pursue was thrown to the window. Like a week previous to the attack a huge and public robust challenge was made to court PCs to join our march and let our rivals know "Hey we're coming for you". This allowing PCs times to make moves, counter moves, panic, run in circles screaming, and other notions that are sometimes overlooked. While it's perfectly fine to have secret missions, shadowy objectives, taking steps to try and keep your objectives hidden, etc - sometimes public knowledge is the best way to get people involved in things on EFU.

Sure it's a chance your PC may die, or your plans may get ruined, but it gets more people involved in active things like NPC raids or PC on PC conflict or otherwise which is a great way to get both the servers and the DM's attention.

With the DM involvement itself it presented one if not maybe two Permadeath events resulting in some pretty monumentally fun twists on things. I'm not sure the other end of the spectrum with the refinery attack of how that came to be but from what was learned IG there was concerted PC effort on everyone's part and PCs willing to accept the fact that PERMADEATH EVENTS = More juice.

So when you've got a lot of PCs, more Drama, and Permadeath Juice it's basically plot alchemy for mayhem.

Step Two: Pandemonium into Progress

I can say wholeheartedly that the refinery attack was 100% unexpected. We had been gearing up all week for some potential PvP throwdown expecting some dragon NPC flying around while we had to slog against PCs and NPCs in a climb up the spire or otherwise.

Instead the outcome was a fucking manic and disaterous series of events first involving an attack on the refinery and later learning our precious RUBY GROTTO had been nuked. Yet while all hell was breaking lose and some people attempted to try and deviate from the Dragon Pursuit, the PCs involved stuck to their guns and still made their mad dash for the Spire. The result was a crazy and hectic event from the sound of things and the reports I got back but out of about 8+ PCs sent only two returned alive.

Yet at the same time this was going on our precious baby was hit. The SG was made to look both inept and incapable of protecting it's own efforts (Which has been a great transition from the ULTRAPOWER of pre-crystal war era SG hegemony).

While the PC efforts of the SG were wholly shifted towards the pursuit of Baublium with like some crazy amount of PC effort seeing like 100+ pieces turned in another PC, Agent Dimes, raised a simple forum post with an alternative A long overlooked plot hook forum post from a while ago the and information from one of the many Illusory Chambers. That the ARK is SATURATED WITH ANCIENT LEY and that it COULD SERVE as a POWER SOURCE. This was left for consideration but mostly overlooked as we continued our push for Baublium.

However a few days later a "Priority One" Comminique from the NPCs to our faction forum. That matters were worse than we originally thought and that alternatives of fuel were required and that this was to be considered a fairly large crisis since the Ruby Grotto allowed us to do a whole lot but its loss put us at a fairly vulnerable position.

Step Three: Upping the Ante

After another DM event involving just two PCs it was reported that Horns was dead, which lead to some celebration for a few days, until another DM event revealed that Horns may still be in play on the field. Some PC to NPC dealings were made with some unsavory elements that could have backfired sizably. We had IC assumptions and suspicions we were pursuing but with enough believable proof that it may well be the actions undertaken failed, things grew more.

Picking up Agent Dimes' idea As sort of a lark I sent a very menacing but public PC letter about all the ways out of spite I'd just continually mess with nature/the wilds to try and goad the stewards to either turn Horns over or he himself turn himself in. 7 actions in 7 days culminating in a "Reassessment of Matters".

So while pursuing this petty little vendetta of mine and other IC events/etc the idea hatched that as PCs have been able to turn in Saturated Leystones, there's a giant Saturated Leystone out there just waiting to be plucked if anyone was brave (or fucking crazy) enough to pursuit. However it's hard to build on things and keep things moving towards a fun climax.

I mean the plot opened with us attacking a dragon and the counter attack being a catastrophic disaster counter guerilla attack by the combined forces of many PC and DM factions against us.

How do we up the ante on that?

After the 7 days of 7 petty antics against nature, around day 5 seeing that we had 4 councilors raised and a Warden on the Mayor's council I had the bright idea to do try and use that to our advantage. A full council is rare in EFU since people have high turnover/etc so I approached the DMs with a request. Then made an effort to coordinate times with the Councilors (who mostly hate me and could have just said "Hey, Zurello, fuck off" ICly.)

Throwing my PC who has been in huge conflict with many Councilors at the mercy of the court and request a formal meeting of the Mayor's Council to reveal a request for a formal declaration of War against the Stewards of the Ark.

It was a huge 2-ish hour public event open to majority of the server to see Sanctuary politics in action. A huge display of PC conflict and ideological debate as I made my case and then the Mayor made some rebuking, the floor was open to the PC council and high power NPCs like Amblecrown and others in attendance. The debate raged back and forth as personal insults fired, NPC implications questioned, PCs were promoted up by the crowd by some and shot down by the others, even a Drow getting in on the fun.

Ultimately it was decided to have been an awesome event all around for everyone involved and lead to a big decision for the PC Council.

Yet the SG was told we've got the Mayor's permission to pursue this one way or another.

Step Four: Enter the Stewards

With the notion of a huge and public declaration of War by the combined powers of many councilors against another DM-faction power in the region things were swirling sizably. Tons of meetings were held with the Watchers, Warders, PC assets, allies elsewhere, and beyond almost immediately. It set a fair fire under things with the notion of "DO WE WANT THE SG TO HAVE MORE POWER BACK" vs "SANCTUARY CAN FINALLY STAND INDEPENDANT AGAIN" vs "PROTECT NATURE AND ALL THE GOOD THAT MAY COME OF THE STEWARDS OF THE ARK".

While there was some early worry and backlash from other PCs when I dropped a fat 7,000 gold bounty on a PC in question the results were thankfully as expected

- Some PCs took to hunting the Steward for the menacing PC's bounty
- Some PCs took to trying to meet the Steward to court peace

The hope was never that the PC would be killed in a day, but the opposite. Everyone knew of/about Horns and his presence as an actor but then there was this other player that had been on our radar for a while and suddenly was revealed first privately and then publicly to be a steward. This PC, Nahzi, who I did speak with a bit to extend an apology if the sudden bounty was jarring, was very receptive of it but also said it sounded like a fun challenged. Out of the blue this obscure PC who made a forum post now has some serious juice to try and cut deals and known as an enemy of the SG which is both a good thing and a bad thing depending on how PCs play out matters.

The Ley Siphon itself was introduced as a response to the Council Meeting and the potential Declaration of War as a chance for the SG to show headway and progress against the Stewards and a former Druidic Ritual Area was ravaged and savaged by an Animatronic Machine mixed with Magic to "Drain" the Ley. A Chance for Watcher and Warder PCs to actively harm nature, stir the pursuits of wildlings, and give the Stewards and their allies something to tangibly fight back against.

Do they let us harvest at the risk of us getting more pre-war power? Or do they try to halt it but also risk capture or otherwise? Do they court local monsters to fight the SG to prevent the risks of the Ark's security while halting our push? Or etc?

PC efforts are being made on both sides to sway the Council's vote but there's no telling what will happen between now and then.

Also there have been no IC plans made in any form to see how this will turn out or what actions the Stewards may make in retaliation to the Declaration of War (Even if the Council does vote us down) I'm pleased to say this is the closest feeling in all my time playing on EFU that has ever felt like not just a PC plot but a PC METAPLOT, typically reserved for DM plots. Dozens of PCs on dozens of sides have made dozens of moves with three very helpful DMs in a multitude of events.

I am pleasantly pleased to say I have no idea how this plot will turn out.

And I'm super stoked to see what comes next.

[If you don't want to read on and want a TL;DR from this post feel free to just take this from this thread.]

Warning: This is a big ass forum post, even by my standards which some people know can be kind of robust.

I wanted to flesh things out again because this has come up in the 2017 feedback thread and I wanted to help show some folks the behind the scenes efforts that went into attempting to help both DMs and PCs facilitate some pretty crazy events.

I'm not saying this will work every time, and I do feel like we've managed to get lightning in a bottle of a pretty awesome pursuit of PC + DM involvement and exchange in all instances so I wanted to try and help showcase (At least from my end) some of the blueprint that lead to some significant stir ups.

It all started with a pretty simple notion.

[Tell] [Elmo]: Also just so you know you're allowed to follow the Spellguard Bounty on the Dragon too if you want.

This lead to a firestorm of PC and DM events alike that lead to this response in the 2017 feedback thread.

It's been great to see the attention to detail, like messages about angry aristocrats being forced out of Final Sanctuary, and messages about baublium shortage. The whole thing where Final Sanctuary couldn't be entered and sendings couldn't be made until enough baublium was turned in was great. I'm under the assumption that the whole ley siphoning thing is an RwG player initiative - I think it's awesome that DMs have thrown weight behind it and spawned NPCs in the moldmire to portray it. It's great to see a PC's persistent labors bearing fruit and having what looks to be serious impact.

[/quote]

It was really, REALLY nice to see the monolithic SG take another hit.
It also seems to have drawn a lot of attention to one of my favourite factions: STEWARDS!
This new Steward-aggressive conflict has me scared out of my pants for them, but it's also getting them out there and, I think, I hope, maybe drawing some people to get involved with them (I don't mean wanting to kill them >_>)
So, yeah. Cool stuff, for sure.

Just to clarify some things. The Steward Conflict is indeed a PC driven pursuit but it has also had some help and assistance with the DMs (understandably). Without giving away too many spoilers here's the basic progression of how it came to be, if other PCs want to try and follow "Picking up the hook" so to speak.

If you don't want to read on and want a TL;DR from this post feel free to just take this from this thread.

This is by no means my own pursuit though I've been doing a lot of quarterbacking. My PC has been mostly involved in the logistics/orchestrating end of things and far from the front lines. Somewhat by purpose but also by allowing PCs to help shape things. PCs on EFU willing to play ball but also conflict against one another without search and destroy PvP can be supremely fun. The past few weeks have had dozens of PCs on many sides with many DM events doing all kinds of crazy and drastic efforts in a mixture of PC driven plot and DM supported efforts.

That's not to say there isn't fun conflict in search and destroy PvP but if you're willing to take risks and put it all on the line in permadeath events and relying on other PCs to carry out objectives for you it can lead to a lot of fun.

Otherwise just know there's more unknown fun coming from what I'm considering one of my first attempts at a PC METAPLOT rather than just a "PC Plot" as it is known by usually of PCs pushing their ideas and agendas.

And I just want to thanks everyone involved even before this conflict is over or has come to a head. It's been a blast and so engaging on a lot of levels.

If you want to see how this came to be and everything else, feel free to read post 2. Otherwise

Keep on rockin' EFU.

I really enjoyed our many interactions and the questions back and forth on if we were allies or enemies and the countless other fun endeavors but hands down my favorite was the various invitations for soup.

It was a fun little interaction over and over again to catch up on matters and helped bring a lot of fun personality to our RP. So many PCs get wrapped up in current events, DM events, etc but a few PCs just meeting up for soup to shoot the shit veiled as a poker game of intrigue was tremendously fun.



Just since I don't like seeing folks without fun screenshots, here's one from her winning the Kythorn Lottery!

Good luck on the next one.

If the DMs are willing/able to do the legwork on seeing things carry over smoothy no complaint from me.

A higher end 2 man quest would be welcomed. While I know it's not something overly desirable there are times it's difficult to get more than a pal, specifically at some of the later night timezones. I believe the highest tier two man quest is Scamander River, which peaks at 7?

May be mistaken. One higher end option would be welcomed.

Also one thing I hated when playing Denorai - It'd be great to have more quests like the level 3-12 cave would be cool to encourage more interaction behind low level PCs. As it stands there's only 2 quests a level 9 PC can do with a lower level PC without commiting to some super dangerous quest. Mausoleum and the New Person Cave. Expanding opportunities (though I know balance is an issue) for high level PCs and low level PCs to interact quests would be a great boon for RP and PC factions to keep able to recruit newer folks even at higher end.

Any PC who isn't afraid to spread supplies and equipment around the server and get people involved just for the sake of it is a seriously cool presence.

Thank for the early weird rivalry and all the help along the way.

Also hope on your other PCs you do more events, you've got a knack for it!

Whoooooooa nelly. Brainaigh was a huge developmental influence.. At one time or another we were always either at one another's throats for a good while. Be it you hating me for the suspicious magics, our brief bonding over the pyre of Lars, my presence at the fight in the Red Lantern, the aftermath feud, the investigation of Daniah Stone, the alliance with Seramyssa, Shieldfall, mutual enemies growing and growing before the end we were both strangely colleagues and yet still enemies trying to out maneuver one another.

Screenshots ranging from all the jobs of the role and his rise from patrolman to thuggy crimson cloak throwing some BURNS at tasmir, to threatening me in all kinds of ways during Councilor interrogation, to all kinds of strife and conflict and finally the Shieldfall and then the Drake Hunt.

I was never sure at any moment you may just blow up my head like a melon with that big ol' hammer.

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