Rank 9 Party Recap

 My friends, it’s been 9 months since we started the Refugees of Isengard.  As is custom for achieving such esteemed ranks, we threw a serious Rank 9 party that shook the very foundation of Middle Earth.

To start, we all gathered in our kin house and listened to a rousing speech by Mandymoore, our leader (aka myself).

Over 20 kinfolk gathered in our spacious kin house

Before the speech, we held a /roll for 1G in which Dedlock took the grand prize. In a similar coincidence, Dedlock would also win a later /roll contest for another 1G (and won it with a lowly 80 roll).

After this speech, Maratell and Durgo were both awarded the ability to wear the kin hat, which replaced their faux imitation hats.

The party then went on to the secret event: Freeze Tag.  Syllabeth introduced the game and then we all headed out to the Bree freeze tag arenas to play.

Syllabeth introduces Freeze Tag to everyone

 

After a few rousing rounds of Freeze tag, Mayabur and  Taia were also awarded the kin hat.  We then had an impromptu parade through Bree.  Everyone got on horseback and we slow marched through Bree, with crowds of Bree citizens watching in disbelief at our display of force and coordination.

 

Start of the parade

 

Yes, our parade attracted many admirers who wanted to join in

We OWN the Bree fountain

During the parade, several new people joined our kin and by the end of the parade, we had a full 24 main raid going.

 

Ownage (part 1)

Ownage (part 2)

Ownage (part 3)

Ownage (part 4)

We capped off the party by storming the fort SW of Bree, 24 man raid style.

Stormin the fort!

And so capped off another great kin party.  Stay tuned, we have even bigger party plans for Rank 10!

And before I forget, FTF (Fear The Feather)!

Holiday Party 2008 Recap

Happy Holidays Everyone!

To celebrate the holidays this year, the Refugees put on a little party in our kin house.  There was dancing, music playing, and of course presents for many.

To start off, Maloth won a roll of 1G. Mal always seems to be luckier with dice than with toads…

Then as our usual tradition, we distributed the kin hat to some of our newest recruits and members, all of whom I’ve had the pleasure of questing with and will definitely do the hat justice.

Then we had another 1G roll in which Geldof won.

But it wasn’t all just money of course, we had some serious business.  For our first announcement, Holleah earned promotion to Member.  Holl’s been the epitome of helping out others even though she’s at a lower level than most. Remember – it’s not what you have, but what you do with it.

On to the main event- our most helpful member contest. I announced this contest a little while back and the reward (I’d adopt the winner) had people salivating.  It’s quite a reward. The voter turn out was astounding.  Our top 4 vote receivers (there was a 5th but she didn’t attend the party and thus forfeited her award) took the stage – Reeality, Zapphira, Burwise, and Wulfgars. I’ve known these four for a while now and I’d be proud to name any of them as my adopted child.

The first round of elimination saw Reeality and Zapphira leave the stage – but their parting gifts were 2G each.  Definitely not a shabby reward. And then it was on between Wulfgars and Burwise – two heavyweights in the helpfulness arena.  It all came down to one vote – and Burwise was thus crowned prince and given an allowance of 5G and an inheritance of 60g on my eventual retirement. But Wulfgars did not leave empty handed – he received a 2nd Age Guardian’s Belt. Burwise paid over 5g for a similar belt.

After this we held one last roll in which Balgar won 2G.

One last thing – you can’t have a holiday party without a group picture.  Here it is:

Happy Holidays from the Refugees to You

 Hope your holidays are fun and safe!

Epic Marathon Run and Party Recap

Today we had our first ever Epic marathon run, and it was an unbridled success.

We started up a little after noon with two primary groups – a book 7 group with Lindsayrohan, Dedlock, Vorand, Glynriel, and Burwise, and a book 8 group with Mondego, Bathgar, Eriathwen, and Gildain.  By the end of the day these groups intermixed, new kin people joined, and we ended up carving through a couple books of epic.

In the middle of all this, we took a break for a kin party. As customary we had generous door prizes.  For the first 2 to arrive. Bathgar and Mondego, they split a 1G prize, receiving 500s each.

On to the big announcements-

1. Elodreth and Reeality earned promotions to Officer.  These two have really done spectacular jobs as members and I’m sure that they’ll continue to be great officers.

2. Mondego, Eriathwen, Harchamp, Gildain, Torchholder and Belarrian all earned promotion to Member. These members have all been valuable to the team- helping out with quests, gathering resources, or just continuing to foster a friendly, fun kin atmosphere.

Raising our fists, ready to stomp all evil out of Middle Earth

Kin Party Recap

In short, it was awesome.

The Kin Party was attended by 15 people, and we had 19 people on simultaneously. That’s practically the entire server population of Gladden.

Theres even more people on than this pic shows!

We started off with a speech by me (one of many for the night), welcoming everyone to the party. Then we played for money. To start, Vorand won 100s in our rolling competition.

Then came the big announcement – this party was not actually one to celebrate my promotion to Leader, but really to celebrate promoting Dedlock and Beothborn to Officer. These two have really earned their promotions: Dedlock recruited some top-notch people like Burwise and Maloth, and Beothborn has been a loyal friend and a true team player.

As the first test of their leadership abilities, Knott and I devised a little sadistic game called Middle Earth Scavenger Hunt.  We put Beothborn and Dedlock in charge of two 7-man teams and had them scouring all of middle earth trying to solve our riddles.

The two teams square off

A subdivision of Dedlocks team huddles

 A quick 90 minutes later, the two teams met for turn in.

Beothborns team turned in theirs first

While the scores were tallied, everyone enjoyed the musical stylings of Burwise and Averydor showed off his award-winning dancing skills.  These two both earned 25s for their skills.

The final tally? Beothborn’s team won by a score of 23 to 21.  Both teams found 19 items, but Beothborn’s team had 4 members post on the forum to Dedlock’s 2. Goes to show – you should never skip doing extra credit.

Beothborn’s team took home the grand prize of 3.5G and Segolas earned a bonus of 200s for being the last pick on Beothborn’s team. Dedlock’s team earned a hefty consolation prize of 1G and Thevampire earned a bonus of 50s for being Dedlock’s last pick.

And lastly but by no means a small announcement, the Officers promoted Elodreth, Maloth, and Averydor to Member. These guys have done much to add to the kin in a short amount of time.

The real trick to earning promotions? Follow Dedlocks example...

And so that wraps up another fantastic kin party. Hope to see you all at the next one.

Ok ok, I guess I forgot about how the light source should always be behind the camera, not in front

Middle Earth Scavenger Hunt Item Clues

Key:

Quantity required – Item clue

Crafted goods:

• 1 – This floor covering of oriental make, winged dragon’s cue doth take.
• 1 - To stop the fishies from swimming through, just use this tool made of yew!
• 10 - Steel swords do break in two, bring ten pieces the hands can use.
• 5 - We’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth, bring us five pies and tarts or die trying.
• 1 – To hear music’s sweet notes, craft an instrument that rhymes with lute
• 1 – Usually tokens are good for 10 minutes at an arcade. This one faintly raises your hope for about 10 minutes.
• 5 – Slippery, slimy, and hot to boot, five of these oils will turn your enemies to soot. 

Drops:

• 1 - The heart of a tree known for its dour bark.
• 5 - Buggy buggy skin, from flies outside the kin.
• 5 - Bones of the dead are interesting but we need a hand.
• 4 – The British are famous for having a mouth full of these.
• 3 – The paws of animals that dwell in the snow have at least 3 of these.
• 6 – All that remains of a fellowship with the Priory were these 6 broken or rusted weapons.
• 4 – Babe was a delicate pig and had 4 of these. 
• 1 – If Eminem was a cat, this would be his paw.

Quest rewards:

• 1 – In Lost, Sawyer shot one of these. Now all that remains is an empty carcass to snuggle with in front of a warm fire.
• 1- This tree is of the genus Betula.
• 1 – Catch someone a fish, feed them for a day. Teach someone how to use this, and feed them till they upgrade to a yew pole.

Other assorted things:

• 1 – Great for storing jewelry or playing music.
• 1 – Although this trophy implies something giant, it’s one of the smallest trophies in lotro.
• 1 – A shard whose color is still tainted by the blood of its previous holder.
• 1 – Reheated frozen corn, peas, and carrots
• 1 – But a single page of a book all captains should swear by.
• 6 – When full fellowship gets high, they’d toke this (need 6)
• 6 – If every fellowship member got caught toking the above, they’d get this in their stockings (need 6)
• 20 – Dude, lets get drunk
• 1 – A perfect outfit for a wedding. Comes in white, purple, or green.
• 1 – Fishermen have to dress the part.

Middle Earth Scavenger Hunt Rules

Goal:

• Two teams will score as many points as possible in 90 minutes. When 90 minutes passes all players will be notified and all team members must meet at the kin house to turn in the prizes. The team with the most points will receive the grand prize.

Picking:

• The two team captains will roll for first pick. The picks will then alternate till everyone but Knott and Mandymoore are taken
• The person picked last on the winning team will earn a bonus of 200s if they stay on the team the whole time and contribute. The person picked last on the losing team will earn 50s if they stay on the team the whole time and contribute.
• Anyone who refuses to be picked or participate on a particular team will become ineligible to play the game and cannot win prizes

Scoring:

• 1 point will be awarded for every successful item stack brought.  For example, if a riddle requires 5 pies, the 5 pies count as 1 point.
• For every member who posts in the Party thread in the announcements forum with their LOTRO name and team captains name, the team will earn 1 point per. So if 5 of 6 team members post in the thread, 5 points will be earned by the team. There is a maximum of 1 point per person.
• This formula calculates the total score:

Correct item stacks found + Party thread post points = Total Score

• If a team gets all items and thread posts they can turn it in early.
• In the event of a tie, the first team to turn in wins. If both turn in simultaneously, a new tie-breaker game will be announced.

Turn in:

• All team members must meet at the kin house to start turn in.
• To turn in, all items must be given to the team captain who will then open a trade window and drag all items to Mandymoore. Any items that are not exact matches will be reviewed by Mandymoore and Knott to see if they fit the riddle.
• If all team members are not at the kin house for turn in at the scheduled time, every minute that passes will result in 1 point being taken away from the team. 

Prizes:

• The winning team’s captain will be given the grand prize which will be distributed to the team by the captain.
• The losing team’s captain may or may not receive a minor concilation prize.
• The person picked last on the winning team will earn a bonus of 200s if they stay on the team the whole time and contribute. The person picked last on the losing team will earn 50s if they stay on the team the whole time and contribute.  Mandymoore will consult with the team captains to see if these two have contributed