Valar Guild

October 20, 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.
[times are Central Time from Varda's Discord. Add one hour for Eastern.]

Attending (and spoke): (5)
    Discord: Arien, Ar-Pharazon, Elrond, Eonwe, Varda (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership news
Web:
    Tolkien Site / Story: "Morning Song" by Shirebound. Posted today.
    Tolkien Site / Art: Bizarro Arda by Elwing-(V) for the anniversary. Posted Oct 22
Gaming:
    General reports by Eonwe, Varda
        World of WarCraft,
Tolkien:
    Topic: How well did each member of the Fellowship work with others in the Fellowship?
After-meeting:
    Chat continued.
    Flashgaming Reviews by Ar-Pharazon.
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Before-meeting

VardaToday at 3:59 PM
One minute : )
Aiya!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:00 PM
Aiya!
 
VardaToday at 4:00 PM
It's Phar!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:01 PM
I remembered :wink:
 
ElrondToday at 4:01 PM
Aiya
 
VardaToday at 4:01 PM
Yay!
Aiya Elrond : )
It was cool seeing that you were on LotRO again. : )
 
ElrondToday at 4:01 PM
Wanted to see how many coins I'd earned
 
VardaToday at 4:01 PM
Hi to Celebrian!
haha - the lure of golllld!
 
ArienValarToday at 4:02 PM
aiya dungeon :slight_smile:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:02 PM
Aiya!
To all :slight_smile:
 
VardaToday at 4:02 PM
Stay alive, and aiya Arien : )
Good on LotRO points too, I hope.
 
ElrondToday at 4:03 PM
16k+

VardaToday at 4:03 PM
Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
ahh fabulous!

Membership:
Any membership news y'all would like to mention? Now is good, later if you're in a dungeon like Arien. ; )
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:04 PM
Heya all.
 
VardaToday at 4:05 PM
Eonwe! Aiya : )
For membership news over here, we went to the Texas RenFaire yesterday, in garb of course.
Elwing, Fangorn, Sauron, and Varda all together. It was cool weather letting us break out heavier gear we don't normally get to use, with no rain! It was great.
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:06 PM
Congrats :}
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:07 PM
Nice one :slight_smile:
 
VardaToday at 4:07 PM
Since it was the Halloween style weekend, the costumes around us were of every kind. We did see more wizards than usual, and magic tricks!
We enjoyed live music, shows, and a zillion shops.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:08 PM
Any interesting purchases?
 
VardaToday at 4:08 PM
It's said to be the biggest RenFaire in the US. Of course, since it's in Texas. If it's not, it's close!
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:09 PM
:}
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:09 PM
Texans think big?
 
VardaToday at 4:09 PM
Purchases, some are secret for Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries coming up, but I can mention a little dragon cracking out of an egg now gracing our living room. : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:09 PM
Ooh :slight_smile:
 
VardaToday at 4:09 PM
Always, Phar!
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:09 PM
:}
 
VardaToday at 4:10 PM
If we think small, it's so miniscule that we can brag about that!
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:10 PM
Hmm Christmas.... I think The Sword in the Stocking would be a new take on that particular legend.... :}
 
VardaToday at 4:10 PM
lol! Oh, we have to come up with some version of that!
Thanks! swipes idea
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:11 PM
Enjoy! :}
 
VardaToday at 4:11 PM
We did pick up (secret) sparklies: jewelry and whatnot.
and of course I totally didn't catch what Fangorn was buying... cough
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:12 PM
hehe

VardaToday at 4:12 PM
Sooo, onwards before I talk us into the hour!
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Web:
A fun bit for you all from Shirebound, one chapter. A bit of overhearing:
"Morning Song"
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/fiction/authors/Shirebound/MorningSong.htm
    Morning Song
    fanfiction pre-LotR, AU. While
    camping with the hobbits and Estel, Scamp senses somethingwonderful.
Enjoy : )

Also, when Elwing came over for RenFaire, she brought us all a surprise: art fun for the "scary" theme for the 22nd Anniversary.
You may have seen it, but if not, enjoy!
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/art/gallery/Elwing/Bizzaro%20Arda%202019_0001%281%29.jpg

It's now the title bit for the Anniversary page since it's exactly on theme and original.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:14 PM
For a moment I thought it said "Blizzard" and wondered if it was a crossover.
 
VardaToday at 4:15 PM
Fangorn made a batch of copies and we're doing a "contest" at home on coloring.

That could be interesting, Phar. Maybe you could try a scary cross-over?

Anyway, I grabbed not only her art but her "scary" greeting and put them on the title:
http://valarguild.org/varda/guild/NewsArchives/extras/2019/Anniv2019/anniv22nd.htm
    22nd Anniversary of the Valar Guild
    Year 2019, 22nd Anniversary celebration of the ValarGuild Tol kien fan club and gamers' group.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:16 PM
My gnomes do not have hairy toes, as far as I know.
 
VardaToday at 4:16 PM
Scary! Halflings with their feet shaved!
You're all set. : )
Just need a barefoot gnome now.
The anniversary page claims to intend not to take more entries after October for the page.
If someone (like Arien is) happens to be working on a project for it, just mention that you are and we'll call it October. : )
I hear the gal that handles that page is a bit of an ol' softy if you're a little late.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:19 PM
Right. Today still counts, yes. Hang on a bit then... gonna take a screenshot of that wicker puppy. The ones I had wouldn't do, too much interface :stuck_out_tongue:
 
VardaToday at 4:19 PM
That's all the webwork I managed to put up. Many more Shirebound stories incoming.
O sure, all of October counts. : )

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Gaming News:

Eonwe has a report for us, yay!
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:21 PM
World of Warcraft:
The new Recruit-A-Friend program is now live.  --- https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23127426/recruit-a-friend-is-now-live
    World of Warcraft
    Recruit A Friend Is Now Live! - WoW
    Bring your friends to Azeroth and earn special rewards with the Recruit A Friend program.
Good luck finding enough people to spend the money needed to get you all the stuff :}

Check out this week's hotfixes.  --- https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23164374/hotfixes-october-22-2019
    World of Warcraft
    Hotfixes: October 22, 2019 - WoW
    Here you'll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth.

VardaToday at 4:23 PM
Your entire workplace and all your classmates!
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:23 PM

Starcraft 2:
Patch 4.10.4 came out this week.  --- https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/23159844
    StarCraft II
    StarCraft II Official Game Site
    Wage war across the galaxy with three unique and powerful races. StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment for the PC and Mac.

Heroes of the Storm:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:23 PM
Many people do it with alt accounts.

Eonwe ValarToday at 4:23 PM
Deathwing is coming to the Nexus. --- https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/blog/23177451/tremble-before-the-might-of-deathwing-2019-10-22/
    Heroes of the Storm
    Legendary heroes and villains from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo are summoned to the Nexus. Choose your hero and prepare to fight in Heroes of the Storm!

Alt accounts on the same Bnet account, or does it have to be different bnat accounts too?
*Bnet
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:24 PM
Alt bnet accounts, I presume.

Alright, I've got an image in imgur. Do I link it in screenshots? Do I mail it? What works for you/
?
 
VardaToday at 4:26 PM
Email works best for me
 
Eonwe ValarToday at 4:26 PM
That's it for gaming news from me.
 
VardaToday at 4:26 PM
Thank you, Eonwe. : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:27 PM
I could message you the link too.
 
VardaToday at 4:27 PM
Whatever works for you.

LotRO:
We have a little more gaming news for LotRO:
The Halloween festival is still underway. One of the most fun.
Here's the list by world server of which of us was on in kin this last week:
Landroval:
Arien
Bregalad
Celebrian
Elrond
Elwing
Eonwe
Fangorn
Nar
Thranduil
Varda

Ithil:
Dis
Falco
Fangorn
Varda

Anor:
Fangorn
Varda
If any of you have a Stout-axe you'd like to have invited on any of the worlds, just let me know.
We also have others who can invite you on their officers. Feel free to contact by Discord or LotRO mail. A preferred range of days and times can help if none of us are around at your time of day.
We'll pop in during odd hours, because you are all worth it!
Any other gaming news?
Eve? Other fun times?

Thank you to Phar for sending the image for the anniversary. It shows up fine and should be added sometime today (or tomorrow depending on time zone).
Any other comments, suggestions, invite requests, jokes, links, or howdys? : )
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:33 PM
Great :smile: Just popped into screenshots channel as well.
 
VardaToday at 4:34 PM
Neato
Elrond left us a video of some interesting visitors under screenshots. Enjoy!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:35 PM
Basket is such a good doggy.
Ah yes, luminescent deer :wink:
 
VardaToday at 4:35 PM
That's his name? heh, Wicker Basket, maybe just Basket?, Basket Case?
The eyes they are a'glowin
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:36 PM
Wicker Pup is the pet type, so Basket will do :slight_smile: But he listens to Basketcase too!
 
VardaToday at 4:36 PM
'.
Ok : )
All righty then, time for

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Tolkien!
./cheer
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:37 PM
/cheer
 
VardaToday at 4:37 PM
Grade schools at least at one time had a grade for how well the student works with others. How would we grade the members of the Fellowship, and where would we change the grade? The grade may change over the course of the book, or may apply only to one or a few of the others in the Fellowship:
Excellent, Good, Average, Poor, Failing?
Aragorn
Bill
Boromir
Frodo
Gandalf
Gimli
Legolas
Merry
Sam
Pippin
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:38 PM
Well, not sure about those ratings, but Bill, Sam and Aragorn probably rank the highest.
 
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
Bill, Aragorn definitely!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:39 PM
Hmm yes, Sam was reluctant to work with Gollum I suppose :slight_smile:
 
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
Sam was pretty focused on being Frodo's yeoman, but was decent to all.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:39 PM
Yes, true.
 
VardaToday at 4:39 PM
We can cut Sam slack since Gollum wasn't part of the Nine Walkers?
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:40 PM
Hmhm.
 
VardaToday at 4:40 PM
Merry was good to all, and was there for Frodo, but his main care was to watch out for young Pippin.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:41 PM
Merry and Pippin were good working together, and would've stayed with the Fellowship if they could, but Pippin at the very least could be a bit disobedient.
 
VardaToday at 4:41 PM
Agreed
The pair would have stayed. Their playing decoy was more helpful, most likely.
Merry seemed to be quite good with 'sense motive'.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:42 PM
Was there a reason Merry swore an oath to Theoden rather than continuing on with Aragorn etc?
 
VardaToday at 4:43 PM
More than one. Frodo was not with Aragorn, was one.
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:43 PM
Well neither was he with Theoden.

VardaToday at 4:44 PM
I mean that it left Merry freedom to go where he wished.

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:44 PM
Gimli and Legolas worked pretty well with everyone except each other, though that changed along the way. I'd up their rating by the end.
Good point.

VardaToday at 4:45 PM
Agreed on Gimli and Legolas.
I'm currently digging for Merry's oath so I don't misspeak. If someone beats me to it, yay!

Eonwe ValarToday at 4:50 PM
Sorry all, my time to go has come. Take care all, good night, sleep well, and have fun.

VardaToday at 4:50 PM
Thanks for coming! Later : )

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 4:50 PM
Namarie!
Frodo. Well. Grateful for the companionship, but he always knew it was going to come down to him and Sam, and he even tried to abandon Sam. And even before then he kinda did his own thing sometimes.
Gandalf was a good leader, and keen to keep an eye on especially the hobbits, but also had his own stuff going on, and hardly seemed to spend any time with the Fellowshippers after turning white
And then there's Boromir. Well, what can we say... he did actually work together well for most of the journey, with the exception of Amon Hen where he turned on Frodo. But even so he still died defending the others.
Overall, I wouldn't say any of the Fellowship were that bad at working together.

VardaToday at 5:01 PM
Good comments, Phar. Thank you.
for Merry, the Letters are not helpful, at least a quick run through the index. A deeper search would possibly bring up something.
The index of the RotK is not helpful and he's under "Brandybuck". : )
So, page-flipping.
Since it's the hour, however,

the eyeless gavel "looks" aound uncertainly. Is it time?
the hammerpad rolls up and tweaks its hammer nose
tweakthonk!
the gavel laughs and returns to the shelf

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After-meeting!
Soo, now on to Helm's Deep chapter...

ArienValarToday at 5:05 PM
thank you .. tank had to leave and then the healer and the dps and we had to call it alas .. but i am two bars from ding 49 alas

VardaToday at 5:05 PM
Solo time! Or find a buddy? : )

ArienValarToday at 5:06 PM
go back to Blasted where i was until i ding at least hehe , i have to work tomorrow .. in fact through until Thursday
but then i am on holiday for two weeks

VardaToday at 5:07 PM
ah hah. Theoden called on Merry first! to be his squire.

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:07 PM
Ah!

VardaToday at 5:10 PM
Pippin wasn't around and Merry was feeling useless. Theoden gave him a job.
Merry was so overcome with love for the old man that this happened:
You shall be my esquire, if you will. Is there gear of war in this place, Éomer, that my sword-thain could use?'

'There are no great weapon-hoards here, lord.' answered Éomer. 'Maybe a light helm might be found to fit him; but we have no mail or sword for one of his stature.'

'I have a sword,' said Merry, climbing from his seat, and drawing from its black sheath his small bright blade. Filled suddenly with love for this old man, he knelt on one knee, and took his hand and kissed it. 'May I lay the sword of Meriadoc of the Shire on your lap Théoden King?' he cried. 'Receive my service, if you will!'

'Gladly will I take it,' said the king; and laying his long old hands upon the brown hair of the hobbit; he blessed him. 'Rise now, Meriadoc, esquire of Rohan of the household of Meduseld!' he said. 'Take your sword and bear it unto good fortune!'

'As a father you shall be to me,' said Merry.

'For a little while,' said Théoden.
This is from "The Passing of the Grey Company".
RotK
So it's a long way in. Merry's been with Theoden a long time by then.

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:14 PM
Since the encounter with Saruman. That's not that many chapters.
Hmm. I'm also following a line of secret hints in WoW right now, and the next item is a Lost Ring... that sounds familiar.

VardaToday at 5:16 PM
It does!
Have fun!

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:16 PM
Thanks

ArienValarToday at 5:17 PM
Halloween coming up ^^ .. so costumed at work

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 5:50 PM
By the way, remember the Starcrafts animation series I mentioned a while ago?
Finale coming up, and in the run towards it, all seasons are being published in one video each.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH1yiQ7_--4 for the first, for those interested
    YouTube
    CarbotAnimations
    StarCrafts Season 1 (ALL EPISODES)

With a new intro too! This is going to be quite interesting to watch as a whole.

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:25 PM
Personal gaming report!

ArienValarToday at 6:25 PM
Namarie for now

Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:25 PM
Namarie

ArienValarToday at 6:25 PM
i am sure you ve got a whole stable finished :P)
:slight_smile:
i look forward to reading it
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:26 PM
Many mounts? Would be nice :wink:

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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 6:51 PM

Flashgaming:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/jayarmstrong/super-adventure-pals is the first game! An rpg-platformery game, cute artstyle. You play a boy with a giraffe friend who's trying to get his stolen pet rock back. Along the way you'll be able to buy upgrades, bombs and potions, as well as collect various quests for the platformer levels out on the map.
    Kongregate
    Super Adventure Pals
    Super Adventure Pals is a loveable action RPG platformer in which you travel the land and battle monsters-a-plenty in an epic quest to track down the evil Mr B...

Collect gems from all the levels to advance to the next section, and level up to upgrade your attack and health!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:04 PM
https://www.kongregate.com/games/SilenGames/prizma-puzzle-challenges for the second game. A maze puzzle, where you have to get from start to finish, not cross your own path, not run out of moves, and get all the stars, maxing your score if you can :slight_smile:
    Kongregate
    Prizma Puzzle Challenges
    Prizma Puzzle Challenges is a new tile-based puzzler with the smooth and addicting gameplay, the fabulously 3D rendered graphics and excellent music. Try to co...

Gets a bit complicated, but with planning (or a walkthrough?) you'll get there!
https://www.kongregate.com/games/TwinkleStarGames/electric-box for the third game! Another puzzle game, like the old (really old) game series The Incredible Machine, if anyone's familiar with that. Get power to the target by placing various items from your inventory on the grid, transferring power through several different methods. Some planning required!
    Kongregate
    Electric Box
    It#39s time to think outside the box.
    Electric box is a unique styled puzzle game where you have to connect power from the power supply to the set target.
    Enjo...

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Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 7:23 PM
Blizzard gaming:
Starcraft II:
Done with the war chest! All the skins and other rewards got. They also put in more portraits for war chest owners, so I logged in again for that, but other than that, I'm leave SCII again for a bit.
Hearthstone:
A bit more xp on most of the classes, no significant developments. A few more event daily quests, including doing 3 tavern brawls, which worked out fine because it needs to be done multiple times to get the 100 dreadsteed destructions required for a final reward.
The brawl itself is a Haunted Carousel: Each side starts out with 2 dreadsteeds, the 1/1 minion that resurrects itself on death, and every turn all the minions on the board rotate by 1 across the board, so also switching owners. This makes it important to position your minions well so the enemy doesn't get too much use out of them :slight_smile:
Combined with the dreadsteed-killing, it becomes quite complex to actually win one as well.
But hey, one of the two players has to, so might be you :wink:
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 8:09 PM
Heroes of the Storm:
2 levels got, so at 375 now. Sylvanas to 15, golden level, so I rotated her out and am now continuing with Gul'dan as the next Warcraft Assassin. Who has also reached level 13 this week! Event continues, got a couple more chests.
WoW:
More raiding, got two more heroic pieces for my feral gear. Almost done there! Azshara got nerfed this reset, but we've saved her for 2 days from now, so I can't say yet how much easier it is :slight_smile:
Weekly is timewalks, been doing a few of those, nothing special gotten.
Maybe not worth mentioning, then, but eh :wink:
Got a new toy from Arathi warfront rares, leaving just 2 mounts. As rare as they are, those will take a while. But still, it's nice to only have to look for 2 rare mobs.
And a new pet from expeditions, the Juvenile Brineshell! A small blue lobster like pet, same model and color as the appearance from a barnacle-toy from the Legion expansion. Goes well together!
As mentioned last week, I have indeed started the search for a unique belt cosmetic, the aptly named Waist of Time. Following on the Baa'l pet (not B'aal as I called it last week), more anagram clues are available, leading us across Azeroth, Draenor and Outland to find about 20 small objects, each leading to the next, and linked to the second volume of the Chronicle. I've found 13 so far, and hope to continue the search next week! After that there are a few more steps involving some specific green and grey gear-pieces, too, but I have most of those collected already. Belt should not be far away!

And finally, more books have arrived :slight_smile: The WoW pop-up book, as expected, but after that the Cinematic Art book of WoW arrived as well. That's done for now, until more books go up on the expected list :slight_smile:
And that's my report for the week!
 
VardaToday at 8:31 PM
Thanks, Phar. : )
and grats on the books!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 8:31 PM
Thanks!
 
Ar-Pharazon-VToday at 8:51 PM
namarie!

VardaToday at 9:04 PM
Namarie : )

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