Valar Guild

 July 21 2019 Sunday Meeting

5:00 P.M. Eastern time (-4 GMT aka 9 P.M. aka 21:00)
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place

Back to News
Transcript work by
Varda.

Attending (and spoke): (6)
    Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Arwen, Fangorn (After-meeting hello), Irmo (Irm), Miriel (Maha), Varda (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news:
Web:
Gaming:
    General reports
    LotRO: Mosby asks for Landroval level 120's who would like to join T1 raids.
Tolkien:
    Topic: Valar of Time
After-meeting:
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon.
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Before-meeting
(times are in Central from Varda's Discord, so add one hour for Eastern. Example: 4pm Central in the transcript is 5pm Eastern)
 
VardaToday at 4:05 PM
Aiya! It's that time again! Where we gather together with buddies who can handle and even enjoy gaming and Tolkien at the same time!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:06 PM
plays 3 games at once did you say something?
Aiya!
 
VardaToday at 4:06 PM
Not yet. : )  But yep, you're a gamer after my own heart!
 
ArwenToday at 4:14 PM
ehllo :smiley:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:14 PM
Aiya!
 
VardaToday at 4:15 PM
Aiya Arwen : )
 
MahaToday at 4:15 PM
Aiya
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:15 PM
Aiya!
 
VardaToday at 4:15 PM
Miriel! Aiya, great to see you. : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:16 PM
Ah, question answered :wink:
 
ArienValarToday at 4:17 PM
Aiya all :smiley:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:17 PM
Aiya!
The poking worked.
 
VardaToday at 4:17 PM
Hey Sunshine : )
 
MahaToday at 4:17 PM
Irmo and I just back from a visit to Bruges
 
ArienValarToday at 4:17 PM
Miriel  .. long time no see if indeed we met before :smiley:
 
VardaToday at 4:18 PM
Miriel is from wayyyy back. : )
 
ArienValarToday at 4:19 PM
very very long time ago then i guess probably we did meet once or twice before .. i was Finduilas V way back then
 
MahaToday at 4:19 PM
I fell into the sea, but Irmo is always at my side
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:19 PM
Friends in wet places.
 
ArienValarToday at 4:19 PM
chuckles
 
VardaToday at 4:20 PM
Does that mean he fell in too? : )
 
MahaToday at 4:22 PM
just to fetch me out :fishing_pole_and_fish:
 
VardaToday at 4:22 PM
Still being a hero. : )
Fangorn says hi from this side of the screen. : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:22 PM
Hi Fangorn!
 
ArienValarToday at 4:22 PM
hi Fangorn :smiley:
 
IrmToday at 4:24 PM
Aiya and Namarie, I am off to bed after saving Miriel from drowning :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:25 PM
Namarie, dry up well :smiley:
 
VardaToday at 4:25 PM
Aiya Lord of Dreams! Good to see you. Sleep well!
 
ArienValarToday at 4:26 PM
Aiya and sleep well :smiley:
 
MahaToday at 4:26 PM
Always hard work keeping me in check
 
VardaToday at 4:26 PM
We just chase along after you!
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Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
Membership:
Just to make this an "official" meeting.
We were already ding the membership part so might as well make it official. : )
 
ArienValarToday at 4:29 PM
which level did we reach then ;)?
 
VardaToday at 4:29 PM
Another ding!
 
ArienValarToday at 4:30 PM
giggles sorry , couldn't resist it hehe
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:30 PM
I assume LotRO also uses that term?
 
VardaToday at 4:30 PM
I use it. Lot of us old-timers use it in any game.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:31 PM
I remember a boss in the old Zul'gurub raid who would level up after killing someone and go "Ding!"
With another boss shouting from a distance "Grats, mon!"
 
VardaToday at 4:32 PM
Heh. Go trolls!
 
ArienValarToday at 4:32 PM
oh hilarious
do you have any web news then, Varda? before we slide into the gaming bit already?
 
VardaToday at 4:33 PM
I should but didn't make it that far. Got side-tracked on Tolkien.
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Web:
Eonwe the Great, thank you for keeping up with the Games Site despite all that tries to pull you away.
Tolkien Site: feel free to send in stuff. ; )
 
ArienValarToday at 4:34 PM
always good to be sidetracked ther e
 
VardaToday at 4:35 PM
Might make an article out of it. But that's for later.
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Gaming:

World of WarCraft:
This week's Bonus Event: Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking.
The PvP Brawl: Classic Ashran begins today and runs through Tuesday, July 23rd.
The Eternal Palace raid opens in Mythic Difficulty and LFR Wing 1.

LotRO:
The Buried Treasure event goes through the 21st of July (so it stops about 3 AM this coming morning)
This can be handy:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?646193-LOTRO-Events-Schedule
    LOTRO Events Schedule
    Here is the current events schedule. Please note that events and their start and stop times can change.

For those on the Landroval server of LotRO,
our old friend Mosby asks if any of us would like to  join in on some level 120 T1 raids?
I'd like to do that and we're looking for more. We have some others, but Valarites would be great.
 
MahaToday at 4:43 PM
May I share my homely house, not the last but I built it.
nevermind, see the meeting has started

VardaToday at 4:44 PM
You may certainly share it.
Do you mean real house or game house?
 
MahaToday at 4:45 PM
game house
 
VardaToday at 4:46 PM
We are in gaming, so that's perfect.
Which game?
 
MahaToday at 4:51 PM
bit slow as I am tired atm, not one of the Valar games
 
VardaToday at 4:51 PM
We have people playing all sorts of games. Doesn't have to be one with a branch in it.
 
MahaToday at 4:53 PM
House
 
VardaToday at 4:54 PM
Lovely! Which game is that? You might have some company all of a sudden.
 
MahaToday at 4:54 PM
House from  another angle
This is Ark on a private server, I find I do not have the time to play MMORPGs lately
 
VardaToday at 4:56 PM
A bit of crafting in the background is one way to handle those big MMORPG's.
 
ArienValarToday at 4:56 PM
looks nice
 
MahaToday at 4:56 PM
I find I enjoy building, this is my homely house
 
VardaToday at 4:59 PM
Thank you. We'll have to take a look at Ark.

In LotRO, here's the folks that showed up the past week on  our three servers:
Landroval:
Arien
Bregalad
Eonwe
Fangorn
Mirabella
Nar
Varda

Ithil:
Arien
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda

Anor:
Arien
Fangorn
Varda
Any other general gaming news? Eve? StarCraft 2?
Eowyn and her son are currently playing StarCraft 2. Fangorn and Faramir play with them too.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:03 PM
Well, while I usually save my WoW personal news for aftermeeting, I will say I added a new alt to my roster :wink:
 
VardaToday at 5:03 PM
eyes my long list of alts and keeps quiet
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:04 PM
Dark Iron shaman, Calmoria, who I put in the screenshots channel with her pet and mount, specially bought for the day I'd create her :smiley:
That said, further details can wait!
 
VardaToday at 5:04 PM
Ah hah! We must check screenshots.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:05 PM
Took me a while to get it imported right.
 
VardaToday at 5:05 PM
In other news, there is a LotR 'card game"  Adventure that is also on PC and such.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:06 PM
(next alt will be based on a LotR character)
 
VardaToday at 5:06 PM
Any other business? Comments? Suggestions? Invitations needed for alts?
Just break in later if you think of something. : )
On to
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Tolkien!
Some of you may recognize what is coming up from some other things we've mentioned. : )
The topic is from
The Book of Lost Tales 1, "The Hiding of Valinor"
It's near the end of that chapter. [Note: below is paraphrasing for brevity. Enjoy reading the complete tale in the book!]

The "great gods" (Valar in later writing) were discussing how to handle the problem of controlling the travel of the Sun and Moon as would charioteers handle their horses.
To them came what appeared to be three aged but powerful men: Danuin, Ranuin, and Fanuin, and saluted Manwe.
Manwe knew they were not of those that dwelt in Valmar or their own gardens, and the Valar wondered how they had come to the place at all.
Danuin said they were brothers, of exceeding subtle craft, and would help with the problem.
But they would only tell who they were and where they had come from and where they would go, after completing their work.
The Valar feared a trick of Melko (Morgoth) and debated, but being desperate, they agreed to the terms.
The three required a room. Hidden inside Aule's house, they crafted: spinning and weaving.
After 12 hours, Danuin came out with his handiwork but his hands seemed empty.
The Ship of the Sun returned and Danuin went to the stern and laid his hand on it.
He bid Ulmo, as usual, draw the Ship over the waters to the Door of Night; but when Danuin stepped back, Ulmo could no longer draw it.
All seeing this were afraid; Danuin released the sun and left and could not be found.
After 28 nights, Ranuin came out with his invisible crafting.
He waited until Ilinsor (Tilion) brought the Rose of Silpion (the Moon) to Valinor, then set his hand on a jag of glass on the isle and the Moon could not be moved far from Ranuin against his will.
Ranuin said nothing and left, releasing the Moon, and he could not be found.
After Rana waxed and waned thirteen times, Fanuin came out of the room and asked the Valar to detain Ilinsor (Tilion) so that at Sari's (the Sun's) coming both ships might stand in Valinor at the same time.
He then requested their aid to pull out what he had wrought because it was too heavy for him alone.
Seven of Tulkas's strongest staggered out pulling what seemed to be an invisible cable.
Fanuin went to Sari (the Sun) and to Rana (the Moon) moving his hands as if attaching a great rope to each vessel.
He then said to Manwe that the ships of light were now fettered to time that neither the ships nor the Valar could break, for although invisible the fetters were the strongest of things.
Then suddenly Danuin and Ranuin were beside Fanuin.
Danuin gave Manwe the end of an invisible, slender cord. The movements of the Sun would be the most timely and inevitable of all things on Earth.
Ranuin gave Manwe the end of an invisible rope. It would allow the steering of the Moon as best as could be, given the wayward nature of the Moon, but would also be a measure of time for elves and men.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:14 PM
on Earth?
 
VardaToday at 5:14 PM
Fanuin gave the cable's end to Manwe, and it was fastened on a rock upon Taniquetil. It would hold both Sun and Moon to coordinate and interweave their fates.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:14 PM
Right, at this time it was still Earth.
 
VardaToday at 5:15 PM
(yes - it said Earth instead of Arda, because this is a paraphrase of very old writing. My paraphrase so don't beat up Chris for it. ; )   )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:15 PM
ah :smiley:
 
VardaToday at 5:15 PM
The rope of Fanuin is the Rope of Years, and Urwendi (Arien) going through the Door of Night will wind it tangling with the daycord round and about until the Great End.
This will bind the world and dwellers within, including Ainur, Elves, and Men to the bonds of Time.
They should not fear, because it is the Music of the Ainur.
Danuin, Ranuin, and Fanuin: they are Day, Month, and Year.
Danuin, Day, is exceedingly small and short, with short hair and a small beard.
Ranuin, Month, is of middle stature, with mid-length hair and beard.
Fanuin, Year, is long and tall, with the beard of the third sweeping the ground before his feet as he walks.
They are the children of Aluin, Time, who is the oldest of the Ainur and serves Iluvatar.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:17 PM
Doesn't have to get his shoes dirty.
 
VardaToday at 5:17 PM
He is beyond, and the three children, after they did their work, returned beyond as well.
(Hey! We Valar have clean floors!)
This next is referring to an earlier part that I didn't paraphrase, but ties in. You'll get it.)
But there was reason for the foreboding of the Valar, when first the Door of Night opened.
Before the Great End would come, Morgoth would contrive a quarrel between the Sun and Moon.
Ilinsor (Tilion) will try to follow Urwendi (Arien) through the Gates, and when they are gone, the Gates of both East and West will be destroyed, and both Ilinsor (Tilion) and Urwendi (Arien) will be lost.
Fionwe (Eonwe) for love of Urwendi (Arien) will be Melko's (Morgoth's) bane and destroy the world to destroy his foe.
And so shall all things be rolled away.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:19 PM
How romantic.
 
VardaToday at 5:20 PM
And that's the story of Time. We had commented previously trying to remember where we saw the reference to the Vala of Time. This was it.
This is a lost tale, because it did not work with later story-telling, but is still interesting, as we might have fun working out a way to put those of Time into a more canon version of a hole-filling fan fiction.
Time could not have started at the point above, because later the Vision is said to be a foretelling,
but now they (the Ainur) "entered in at the beginning of time".
Looking at Christopher Tolkien's notes at the end, we learn the whole thing was excised without a trace as it had become a dead end.
In an early Qenya word list, a form of this story is given:
"The Sun, after fleeing from the Moon, dived into the sea and wandered in the caverns of the Oaritsi."
Oaritsi is not defined, but oaris = mermaid.
"Nothing is said in the Lost Tales of the Moon giving chase to the Sun; it was the stars of Varda that Ilinsor, 'huntsman of the firmament', pursued and he was 'jealous of the supremacy of the Sun'.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:21 PM
Under the Sea...
 
VardaToday at 5:21 PM
hehe
If people ask if JRRT ever mentions mermaids, this is a spot. : )  It's not in the canon part, but it's mentioned.
That was what I had for you tonight. Maybe you can have fun with some of this with fan fiction or even art.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:23 PM
Well, the original sirens had bird shapes, which is kinda like Elwing?
 
VardaToday at 5:23 PM
Well, she did have a bird shape when Ulmo turned her into one to save her life as she tried to save the Silmaril.
Really reaching to call her a siren though.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:24 PM
hehe
 
VardaToday at 5:24 PM
Earendil probably thought she was though. ; )
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/Elwing/transformationElwing.htm
    The Transformation of Elwing
    Illustration of Elwing's change into a bird, described in JRR Tolkien's "The Silmarillion".
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:25 PM
I like the idea of a Vala of Time.
 
VardaToday at 5:25 PM
It seems like a Vala we might be able to incorporate.
Sounds as if the other three would be his Maiar.
That gives us some more names if we need more Maiar and Valar in the future. : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:26 PM
By lack of the possibility of children in canon, probably.
 
VardaToday at 5:26 PM
Right.
Or we could call them all Valar, since they are children of a Vala. But since Valar don't have children, the survivors into canon were Maiar usually. We could work with that.
If you're Undying, children would cause an overpopulation problem.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:29 PM
Like the Discworld vampires who were reluctant to reproduce. As they put it, vampires didn't breed successors, but competition.
 
VardaToday at 5:29 PM
hah, that covers it, if competition a lot sooner. Same thought. Resources run out eventually.
Although the Ainur could shift in and out of physicality, unless they were the evil ones that just had to have those same bodies.

We are half an hour over the hour. Did anyone else want to comment before we shift to After-meeting? (Can still comment then too)
a gavel hops over to the hammerpad
it tries to hit, but no sound happens
the hammerpad goes "oops"
"Try again"
it shifts to physical form hurriedly
thonkkk!
"Much better"
The gavel pogo stick hops back to the shelf, muttering about lag.
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After-meeting!
Free chat about anything, even Tolkien and gaming!
I hope you all enjoyed that bit of research into Time. Feel free to read the much better real version in the Book of Lost Tales!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:35 PM
It was a good summary :smiley:
 
VardaToday at 5:36 PM
Yay! Beats getting in trouble for copying the whole thing verbatim.
 
ArienValarToday at 5:48 PM
i like that the Pogo gavel has lag :smiley:
err talk about us old school gamers :smiley:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:49 PM
not that old school, had plenty of lag a few days ago during that Ashran brawl.
Not recommended, btw, at least for now. You can get the weekly brawl quest done through winning an event, but actually winning the brawl is... yeesh. 2 hours of back and forth and we still lost.
 
ArienValarToday at 5:50 PM
reminds me of my first years in wow on a dial up modem and all it involved .. like disconnects in drungeons .. during boss fights and abominable lags in cities like stormwind hehe
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:50 PM
And yes, the lag...
60-70 players all trying to kill each other :wink:
 
ArienValarToday at 5:50 PM
gg
 
ArienValarToday at 7:15 PM
Namarie all !
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:15 PM
Namarie!
 
VardaToday at 7:29 PM
Namarie Phar
and Arien and all leaving
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:29 PM
Namarie! Will give personal report in a minute though :wink:
 
VardaToday at 7:29 PM
Aiyata : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:29 PM
Ah, yes, I'm not leaving yet :wink:
 
VardaToday at 7:30 PM
ack. Dial-up. remembers
 
VardaToday at 7:47 PM
https://gematsu.com/2019/06/the-lord-of-the-rings-adventure-card-game-launches-august-8-for-ps4-xbox-one-switch-and-pc
    Gematsu
    Sal Romano
    The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game launches August 8 for P...
    The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on August 8, publisher Asmodee Digital and developer Fantasy Flight Interactive announced.
    The PC version is currently available in Steam Early Access. Here is an overview of th...

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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:52 PM
Personal gaming report!

For flashgaming, one of the websites I go to hasn't updated in almost 2 weeks, so instead I'll end up giving you 3 games I'd already played before on Kongregate.
https://www.kongregate.com/games/Hamumu/robot-wants-ice-cream is the first game! A fun platformer, fourth in the "Robot Wants" series, filled with upgrades to collect and secrets to uncover. When you feel ready and have what it takes, fly up to the ship that has been bombing you and prepare for a confrontation which... really only makes sense if you've done the earlier games, but you shouldn't need that to have fun :wink:
    Kongregate
    Robot Wants Ice Cream
    In this epic finale to the Robot Wants series, Robot and Puppy are heading to Happy Ice Cream Planet for a treat. When they arrive, things are not as they had...
Still, I'd recommend those as well.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 8:03 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/SilenGames/icy-fishes for the second game, a chain reaction game with upgrades where you blow up ice and collect the fish inside. Complete all the achievements!
    Kongregate
    Icy Fishes
    A fun chain reaction game with strategic system. Help the octopus to rescue fishes from ice floes to... eat them.

https://www.kongregate.com/games/FliplineStudios/papas-freezeria is the last game, part of the papa's series of time management games. For this one, make sundaes and keep your customers happy :smiley:
    Kongregate
    Papa's Freezeria
    You’ve just started an easy job at an ice cream shop on a laidback tropical island, but things get hectic when all of Papa Louie’s loyal customers arrive on th...
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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 8:16 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Heroes of the Storm:
level 353 still, no new levels. Quests still continuing, 15 days left now. The last tier of quests is still slow going, but the last few quests remaining are around halfway each. Should still make it in time.
Hearthstone:
All the festival quests complete, nice rewards for easy quests :smiley: Brawl this week is the same as last week, but with a new warlock hero, Rafaam, whose hero power is to steal a card out of the opponent's deck. Quite powerful, bit overpowered perhaps, though I managed to lose against the last boss. Maybe I'll try again before the reset ends.
In doing so, however, the warlock shot ahead in experience, and is now level 59 with the other classes still halfway or just under it. Though warrior and shaman are also getting close, because of the previous brawl. So I've got specific classes to focus on!
WoW:
Been a busy week!
For raiding, we're now at 7/8 normal difficulty, with only Azshara left. Lot of complex mechanics, but still doable on normal; today was our first night of trying and we got her to the last phase with about 50% health left. Quite hectic, but making good progress. We'll see how long it takes!
Did more Kings' Rest, first on 5+ difficulty to get the first rank of the mythic+ dps essence, and when the partyleader happened to get a +7 keystone for another Kings' Rest, we decided to give that a go as well. With success, leading to rank 2 of the tanking essence required for me. I'm really getting the hang of this instance, and I hope I'll be able to get all 3 essences to rank 3 through it eventually.
Brawl is Ashran, which as I said before, is a tough one and a long one. It's basically endless in duration until one of the commanders dies, which can take hours. But getting one of the events won also counts for the brawl quest, so I stuck with that.
Got a new pet! Kunchong Hatchling from an island expedition. Cute little bug pet gotten from the mantid army.
Still leveling Shandris as champion, who's now epic, but legendary takes a lot longer. She'll get there eventually.
Still doing Zandalar world quests, getting a few new ones every day still, though many are ones I've already done before. Sometimes only 3-5 quests a day to be done, which is nice. Also got a new toy from one of them, makes you roar like a dinosaur.
Also a bunch of other toys as well: Finally got the fireworks paragon reward from the Champions of Azeroth faction, leaving just the Proudmoore music box from the pre-8.2 factions. And I got the witherbark gong from the Arathi rares, leaving only 3 more items to get from that zone.
Weekly is timewalks, and in doing some research towards those, I found out there's a new toy to buy in the Caverns of Time for timewarped badges, a jar of sunwarmed sand which shifts the lighting to daylight for a few hours. Very nice considering I usually only play in the evening, so I rarely get to see areas in the daytime :smiley:
Not done with timewalks yet, need 3 more, but I aim to get those tomorrow. The weekly quest for 5 now gives a random piece of Eternal Palace loot, so it's appreciated, and I hope I get something good out of it.
Oh, and I got my first tanking essence rank from the Eternal Palace as well, which is actually quite good. Getting the other roles' essences and higher ranks will take a while though, as they get more expensive in terms of the items you need from bosses in the raid.
And finally, I got the Dark Iron allied race unlocked! Fun questline, wherein I got to visit the Molten Core and the Firelands, as well as solo the bosses in the Motherlode 5-man dungeon on normal difficulty. I could've found a group for it on any difficulty I suppose, but I wanted to try it as a challenge, and it worked with some effort :smiley:
As a reward, I got a new mount: the Dark Iron Core Hound. Which was my 350 mount for the achievement, so I got a new mount as reward: the Frostshard Infernal, a recolor of the mythic drop from Gul'dan back in Legion. Looks very cool, pun not intended :wink:
And with the Dark Iron unlocked, I finally created the elemental shaman I had been planning since the allied race was first announced back before the expansion came out, and for which I'd bought a store-mount and store-pet specifically. A screenshot of the combination can be found in the screenshots channel, but if for some reason you're more closely interested in her design, there's always
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/eu/argent-dawn/calmoria
    World of Warcraft
    Calmoria - Character - WoW
    Calmoria (Argent Dawn) ❮The High Guard❯ - 20 Dark Iron Dwarf Elemental Shaman, 12 ilvl
With that milestone achieved, I think my next project is working on a few smaller questing achievements... which will be in next week's report if I'm not as busy as I was this past week, or I might not get around to them :wink:
And that's my report for the week!
 
VardaToday at 8:42 PM
Thank you, Phar. : )

Ar-Pharazon-VYesterday at 9:15 PM
namarie!

VardaYesterday at 9:15 PM
Namarie

TreebeardYesterday at 9:18 PM
Hello

VardaYesterday at 9:18 PM
Aiya Fangorn

TreebeardYesterday at 9:19 PM
Namarie
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