Rumble Strike

Thanks for letting me know, real life always has to come first. I hope your dad gets better.

OOC: Thank you for waiting for hours and then voting Chromeknight. I like the way you played it, too. We gave people a good chance to roleplay that one final decision. I am a little sad that this ending section has had such scant participation and I don't know if that's just because people don't like it, feel it lost momentum with the puzzles after the Croc fight, or simply because the holidays are coming up. I will wrap up the Quest tomorrow and have you all back in the Hall on Wednesday (except Guts, who will be going with Haroka and Sorona. I'll see if I can create his figure with my minifig parts bin, could be nice to do to give him a different sendoff).

Well I know these are only preliminary pics but.... I'm very happy with them! There aren't many themes where I think I must get every single set, but from what we've seen even at this early stage, I think this line is it. The focus was always going to be on the minifigs alongside suggested environments, but I think several of these are much better than I expected. I really can't wait for these, glad that my birthday is in June!

Hi MDM, I'm not messing you around, honest. In terms of roleplay your Quest would be superb for Tarn. He is lucky in that he has two very suitable Quests to be considered for

OOC: Love your reasoning, Xarrzan. Very much a decision taken in character, I like that. Look guys, I don't want to rush anyone but the offer has been made. If everyone walks away nice and easy, you will still get pretty much all of the rewards you would have from the start of the Quest when you signed up. If you reject it, well, I think you can work out there would be one more battle. Whether you guys would want that to happen over the holiday season, I don't know. I try not to let external factors interfere with the Quest but we are so close to the end that if I don't hear from the others soon I will have to make the decision without your opinions. If there's a fight, will people be around to post? I don't know. It's a tricky one. I had always planned this to finish just before Xmas. Those for letting them go: Guts (who would go with them) Dak Those against letting them go: Sarick Those who have not decided: Nerwen Knifk Gorg

Tarn signed up for that one too because it's based in the area he grew up in. Good for roleplaying potential.

Tarn isn't part of the 3-man Quest#22 party, and was also party leader for Quest#5.

"A fair point, Lady Elf. I know how Sorona must look to you, but by all accounts despite her power she would not have got this far on her own. In a way I am also indebted to you. All of you, including the schitzophrenic half-breed over there." Haroka slowly and calmly walks back to his tomb and from deep inside pulls out some of the treasure he was buried with, as is Friaskalan custom. He brings out three Crowns and a Gold Chalice. "These will be yours to split between the party, plus whatever Sorona and myself can do reagrds a power boost for your heroism. Now what say you all?" QM Note - Every member of the party should weigh in about this decision, this one is not just up to Nerwen as party leader.

"We would look to leave Uland, and go southwards to Miranda or West to Drandora. I would like to once again feel the sun on my face and the wind through my hair. You would learn much from myself and Sorona, we have lived through such times as you could only dream of. But I also feel we would learn from you. You would be the first of my new army, then later a leader of men, perhaps even a General."

Haroka addresses Guts' questions first: "You want to protect this village? I can understand that. The power of the Darkstar has corrupted it, tainted it, even as it sustained me for centuries. Sorona and I (and Guts, if he so wishes) will go far away, taking the Darkstar with us. The village and its inhabitants will be saved. This I promise you on my honour as a General." "You wouldn't get the financial reward from the Ziegfrieds, but I'm sure that between us myself and Haroka would be able to bestow you with more power (OOC: you would still get a level increase each)..." "...and there are treasures within my tomb that I was buried with, I'm sure a few of them would be worth almost what the reward would be." Haroka then loomed over Dak. "I expect you heroes to consider what your best options would be. You really don't need to fight us."

It's a Robertson family clean sweep! Well done Amber!

Sarick tries to prise the sabre from the hands of statue, but now it is stuck fast and he cannot move it. Haroka wipes the tears from Sorrows face. He speaks to her in a low, rumbling voice "Sorona, you came back for me... after all I did to you?" "Once the tomb was open, I couldn't leave you there. I wanted us to be together again. I used these heroes to help find you." "Heroes? Did they know what they were getting into?" "Some were suspicious. The Rogue, Guts, in particular." "Maybe he would join us?" "Perhaps. I think he would be useful to us, he is resourceful and has a knack for finding gold. Do you... do you still have the Darkstar?" "Oh, Sorona, always looking for an angle. Yes, the Darkstar is safely in my possession. Even now, its power is helping to sustain me, as it powered the vermin in this mine. All that remains now is for us to leave this place. I am still weary from my resurrection and have no real desire to fight, especially as these heroes helped you, albeit unwittingly. What say you all? Will you heroes let us leave? You have gained much in this Quest, and I see no need for futher bloodshed. Everyone walks away with their dignity and honour intact. You, Guts, you may come with us if you wish. I'm sure you could learn a lot from us."

Seeing that the Quests would not interfere with most culture's holiday celebrations, Tarn went to the board and wrote his name under Quest #20: Missing Minerals and Quest #21: Family History. Quest#20 intrigued him because he was himself from the Mountains of Titaan, so would love to help.

Yay, we won I was really worried once Peanuts/Amber was orchestrating a campaign against me, because I thought we'd had some good father/daughter roleplay and Peanuts was one of those who had played the whole game and done well in character. I could see that people were listening to him, but I knew I was innocent. Because this wasn't a Mafia game where I had to protect myself, last night I just spent a bit of time going back and seeing how the info we had fitted together. To be honest, I didn't focus much on what we had found, but what had happened during the mystery. I speculated in-thread very early on that perhaps someone had a vendetta against the police, with the Chief dead, Officer Hutch's bike being vandalised and the problems Deputy Scott was having (house on fire etc). Then later Officer Jackson being attacked. With most of the civilians having their own problems/issues during the time (Sarah/Alex/Julia) I thought it could be James as he had previous with the chief, and speculated that he could have had the vendetta. Because of the drugs angle with Robbie, I thought his son could be the accomplice. I wasn't confident about it and it was more like a hunch than anything specific. I am amazed Amber was involved - I never saw that at all, but maybe I was too close to her to see. For the game itself: I love the characters - great job on the roleplay everyone, I thought people did really well with that. It was helped by Bob's lovely sets - great pictures and story for beginning and end of days. Where I felt the game had issues was in the freedom that you gave us, Bob. Maybe there was too much freedom and it sometimes felt a bit aimless. I think we maybe needed a stronger guiding hand in places, a bit more focus on what was important. For instance, your strong hint about the CCTV could perhaps have started the game and not come in after a couple of days. I know it's a fine line to walk as "Quest Master", but a little more direction may have helped participation because I think some people may have just thought early on that we weren't really getting anywhere. I hate to bring up a "competing" forum game but some of the Heroica Quests walk that line very well indeed. Perhaps some inspiration can be gained from those. I would also consider a smaller game. 3 months IS a long time to commit to one game. Fewer characters and places to go may well have helped us work out what we were supposed to be doing, as well as making it easier for you. Overall I did have fun playing, and that's what counts! So I would like to thank Bob for all his hard work, and to the people who played, and especially those who put the effort in.

I think that last bit you said is the criux of the matter for me, def. I know we have settled it privately and publicly and that we are totally cool, but your "best go to Mafia School" comment just as I am going to be voted off, well as you know I found that a bit more personal than the usual rattling/Scum baiting, which I do acknowledge as a somewhat valid tactic. So what you said you would try to rein in, I would agree with.

I am geeking out at that list of names! Can't wait to see what they look like. I know some of them will be smaller sets but mmmmm, the minifigure possibilities are just amazing.

I couldn't get the hands off of Hagrid so I had to use a flesh head!

Dak tries to rip the 'box' off the top of the tomb but his feeble half-Elf arms are too weak to do that. Sarick takes the Tfel Blade from Knifk and places it in the raised hand of the headless statue. Knifk (played by Bioniclover) Level 6 Knight Power: 11 Health: 9/15 Gold: 5 Inventory: Tfel Blade (Sabre, WP:5) (Quest item), Mockthril Katana (Greatsword, WP:4) Equipped, Mockthril Shield (SP: 4), Morning Star (WP:3), Wyrm Shield (SP:2), Potion, Venom After a few seconds a loud scraping noise echoes around the cavern, and the top of the coffin falls away with a crash. Haroka's tomb is open! Inside the coffin lies a giant of a man, with strange, pale skin, wearing an ancient warriors helmet. He is unmoving. Making a decision, Sorrow runs to the resting place, dark magics swirling around her as she mouths an incantation: Bal'eth'tor cirfernium Jozath sa cremorium Qwetkith vo influminum Energy flows from the mystic into the fallen General. Haroka lives again! The two embrace as Sorrow's tears run down her face. What will the party do?

Guts dig into the floor of the tomb with his shovel, looking for gold, but there wasn't any. Dak and Gorg try to find the head of the statue in the rubble of the rockslide but don't have any luck. It may have been smashed beyond recognition during the cave-in.

Just a shame you were protected

I always thought it was "The lion's share" as it is a play on the Lion Knights as well as being a phrase which means "the majority", (ie "in the Quest, Tesni killed the lion's share of the soldiers").

I am pleased. I really liked the Minimates line of Lord of the Rings block figures and always felt that the line would be a good fit for their C3 block building concept that they used for the DC Minimates. I do agree with the worry stated here in this thread that fan expectations will be too high for what Lego currently produce for their licensed themes. I think the POTC sets were seen quite negatively - high prices for sets that only partially resembled their source material (or not at all), and I am reluctant to go overboard with the excitement until we see pics of the kind of thing that Lego will be producing. It's a great line for minifig enthusiasts, though. Plenty of cool figures. One regret I had with the Minimates line was that they never got a chance to complete the Fellowship.

QM Note - There is no face on the tomb. The 'box' is just detailing. Although none of you have actually tried to open the tomb itself, there is a specific action you will need to do before it will open. Look at the picture again and see what it may be. Smashing things isn't really necessary.

Sarick does not find any yellow stones in the rubble. QM Note - Good eye though, looking at all the details, I like it.