Sunday, February 1, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[3:01 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya all!
[3:03 PM]Varda: Aiya!
[3:03 PM]Varda: Having problems with Discord. Keeps going black.
[3:04 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia @Vala Valar Guild meeting time! Come on in and have a hot drink. 🙂
[3:04 PM]Varda: passes around hot drinks
[3:04 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[3:04 PM]Varda: Membership:
[3:05 PM]Varda: Good to see Sandalf on! And Fangorn and Eowyn gamig together in StarCraft 2. 🙂
[3:05 PM]Varda: Keep warm!
[3:05 PM]Varda: Thank you to Elwing for hosting us this past couple of days and the fun of running around to bookstores together in more than one town.
[3:05 PM]Varda: Between us, we came out of that with two large bags of books. 🙂
[3:06 PM]Varda: DeepGroover-T and Elwing-V gifted Earendil-V with a bust of Saruman.
[3:06 PM]Varda: Any other membership news? All this crazy weather is bound to have made a few interesting stories.
[3:08 PM]Varda: Joy of polar storms.
[3:09 PM]Sandalf13: I am back home in Thornton. There is so much air down here. Funny what a difference 4,000 feet elevation change makes, I am used to 5,300 feet...9,500 is much different. Exhausting.
[3:11 PM]Varda: Welcome back to the land of air!
[3:11 PM]Sandalf13: Thank you. Glad to be here, too.
[3:12 PM]Varda: : )
[3:12 PM]Varda: Web News:
[3:12 PM]Varda: We actually have some, which is delightful. Thank you, Arien!
[3:12 PM]Varda: Arien wrote a Humor/Vacation piece Jan 30. Enjoy your Shire Vacation!
[3:14 PM]Varda: Gaming News:
[3:14 PM]Varda: Eonwe has given us his gaming news, thank you for that.
[3:14 PM]Varda: Please feel free to add in your own.
[3:14 PM]Varda: Sandalf, have you been playing any games between all that traveling and skiing and working? Maybe one of Ar-Pharazon's?
[3:15 PM]Varda: Have to keep your new computer busy. : )
[3:17 PM]Sandalf13: Yes..I did some kongregate gaming. It was fun, and sort of relaxing before I went to bed a couple of nights. Also did some good reading.
[3:19 PM]Varda: Very good : )
[3:19 PM]Varda: In further reading news: Twelve Months, of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher just came out. I grabbed it. 😉
[3:17 PM]Varda: Pallando's Eve news:
[4:16 PM]Debes: some ingame lore stuff but nothing of note 🙂
[3:20 PM]Varda: Eonwe's gaming news:
[3:20 PM]Varda: The Valar Guild Games Site
[3:20 PM]Varda: World of Warcraft:
[3:20 PM]Varda: This week's bonus events: Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking (Turbulent Timeways IV).
[3:21 PM]Varda: This week's PvP Brawl: Classic Ashran.
[3:21 PM]Varda: The Winds of Mysterious Fortune is running through February 22nd.
[3:21 PM]Varda: The Pre-Expansion event, Twilight Ascension, is live.
[3:21 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya all 🙂
[3:22 PM]Varda: Aiya, Arien! How goes it over in The Shire? : )
[3:22 PM]Arien Valar: Sorry for delay , i had to bring some yak to the yak-laundry 🙂
[3:22 PM]Varda: Must have clean yaks, for sure.
[3:22 PM]Arien Valar: indeed
[3:22 PM]Varda: Check out the State of Azeroth.
[3:23 PM]Varda: Check out February's Trading Post.
[3:23 PM]Varda: Enjoy a housing cinematic from Blizzard.
[3:24 PM]Varda: Make sure you log in before Midnight launches so you can get the Dark Portal housing decor item.
[3:24 PM]Varda: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[3:25 PM]Varda: Any other comments on WoW-related news?
[3:25 PM]Varda: Diablo 4:
[3:25 PM]Varda: See the The 2.6.0 PTR: What You Need To Know.
[3:26 PM]Varda: Diablo Immortal:
[3:26 PM]Varda: See the patch notes.
[3:26 PM]Varda: Hearthstone:
[3:26 PM]Varda: Patch 34.4.2 is out.
[Housing:
[3:27 PM]Arien Valar: i have to admit housing is really neat for rp 🙂
[3:27 PM]Varda: ahh yay!
[3:27 PM]Varda: Anything like LotRO housing?
[3:27 PM]Arien Valar: we can create just the background we need
[3:27 PM]Varda: Nice for photos, podcasts, and just fun.
[3:28 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, catching up!
[3:28 PM]Arien Valar: yes and no ...... yes in that you can place and remove furniture , but they have less options in floor i think or i havent found out yet
[3:28 PM]Arien Valar: they also have no wall paint or floor paint
[3:29 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Ar!
[3:29 PM]Arien Valar: difference is also that you can level a house .. havent worked out how yet , or what it means . it has something to do with the quests you can do for the neighbourhood i think
[3:30 PM]Arien Valar: endeavours they call them
[3:30 PM]Varda: Aiya Ar-Pharazon 🙂
[3:30 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Phari 🙂
[3:31 PM]Arien Valar: not too big a fan of the housing , but i know my friends have fun with it and it looks great 🙂
[3:31 PM]Varda: Questing for house stuff. : )
[3:32 PM]Varda: You have a house in both games? Do you enjoy the LotRO housing?
[3:32 PM]Arien Valar: yeah i enjoy that
[3:32 PM]Arien Valar: it seems less complicated with putting furniture
[3:33 PM]Arien Valar: oh and yes there are no hooks in wow housing as in lotro , you just have space
[3:33 PM]Varda: Lot of customizable placement for LotRO furniture, can make it tricky.
[3:33 PM]Varda: That might be nice. You have an opinion on that yet?
[3:34 PM]Arien Valar: yeah thats sort of neat .. a thing either fits or doesnt and thats it
[3:35 PM]Arien Valar: you dont have a certain number of hooks or spaces where u can put items, but see above
[3:35 PM]Arien Valar: and you get furniture for points or place for points which you earn through housing quests
[3:36 PM]Arien Valar: but to start you off you get some points to spend so you can furnish your house
[3:37 PM]Varda: : )
[3:37 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Heh, I'd heard the cutscene existed but hadn't watched it until now. I was wondering what she was going to use the crown for 😄
[3:38 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also, caught up!
[3:38 PM]Arien Valar: feel free to carry on Varda 🙂
[3:38 PM]Arien Valar: unless you want to know something else
[3:38 PM]Varda: okie dokie
[3:39 PM]Varda: Yay Phar : )
[3:39 PM]Varda: Gamers this week: Eowyn, Fangorn, and Varda. Faramir separately.
[3:40 PM]Sandalf13: Be right back...need to go check on sweet potatoes baking in the oven...Po-Tay-Toes...yeah.
[3:40 PM]Varda: yum! : ) Hobbit-approved.
[3:40 PM]Varda: Check out new info on the adjustments for Angmar and Mordor servers.
[3:40 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Boil em, mash em, put em in an oven.
[3:40 PM]Varda: hehe - tiny oven for Sam to carry into Mordor!
[3:41 PM]Varda: Maybe a hot rock on Mt. Doom.
[3:41 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Seems more like dwarves to carry portable furnaces around.
[3:41 PM]Varda: They needed Gimli!
[3:41 PM]Varda: Crimson dye through Feb 5 code: WARMDREAMS
[3:41 PM]Varda: (fitting code for cooking)
[]
[3:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, related.
[3:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Discord now has a WoW quest to get a portable bakery for your cloak appearance.
[3:43 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm sure Sam would approve.
[3:43 PM]Sandalf13: Speaking of cooking, and hoping not to break the trend of the conversation, my sweet potatoes are done. Nice and soft. I always mash them by hand with a bit of butter and some brown sugar, but I have a question for all you gourmets out there. Has anyone ever put them in a blender to the puree setting?
[3:44 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Mash them by hand, eh?
[3:44 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V:Quincy image
[3:44 PM]Sandalf13: yes
[3:45 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That's some strength you have there!
[3:45 PM]Sandalf13: But not quite that way...I am too much of a wimp. I use a hand masher.
[3:46 PM]Varda: I tend to use a fork. : )
[3:46 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online kin branches active this past week:
Peregrin branch (main): (appears incomplete, as Nar was present, so likely others as well)
Glamdring server:
Meriadoc EU server:
Angmar temp server:
Mordor temp server::
[3:47 PM]Sandalf13: A potato masher.
[Discord-only Image
[3:47 PM]Varda: Any other gaming or membership news, comments, requests, needs for an invitation?
[3:48 PM]Varda: My potatoes are usually pretty soft. Aye ,masher is nice.
[3:48 PM]Varda: Before we run out of time...
[3:48 PM]Varda: on to
[3:48 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[3:48 PM]Varda: Did any of you have a topic before I dig into one? : )
[Topic: Source of the obstructing snow of the mountain of Caradhras.]
[3:49 PM]Varda: I had been considering the puzzle of the source of the snow of Caradhras..
[3:49 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Clouds?
[3:50 PM]Varda: Tolkien make it a tad of a mystery, because the Fellowship is unsure of what was going on.
[3:50 PM]Varda: : )
[3:50 PM]Varda: When Frodo is unsure, the narrative has that mystery.
[3:52 PM]Sandalf13: From a geologic perspective, the Misty Mountains are a largely north-south trending mountain range of significantly tall mountains. Given that Tolkien place his Middle-earth in what would today be the northern hemisphere of our Earth, the prevailing winds from the Great Sea would bring moisture-rich air to the Misty Mountains, where, with the rain-shadow effect, huge snowstorms/rainstorms could be expected on the windward side of the Range, with lesser amounts on the leeward side. That is a scientific explanation. Q.E.D.
[3:53 PM]Sandalf13: Since it was not in the best interests of the Valar, however, to impede in any way the path of the Fellowship, Saruman a.k.a. Curunir, might have had a hand
[3:53 PM]Sandalf13: in summoning sufficient winds to provide a snowstorm at the season the Fellowship was attempting the crossing of the Redhorn Pass.
[3:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Wasn't it implied that the mountain itself had some sort of intent? I don't know how that works in Tolkien's mythology though.
[3:54 PM]Varda: It was implied. And it worked with the Dwarven beliefs.
[3:54 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: A maia of Aule? 🙂
[3:55 PM]Varda: Sauron was one. : )
[3:55 PM]Sandalf13: I do not believe that Tolkien ever indicated that non-living, inanimate objects were Maia.
[3:55 PM]Arien Valar: I am sure he could use force of nature for his intent, Saruman did as well
[3:55 PM]Sandalf13: So was Curunir.
[3:56 PM]Arien Valar: he used the birds for his purpose, Sauron used , bred or transformed horses
[3:57 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: We do have stone giant mentioned. Maybe a really big one!
[3:57 PM]Arien Valar: trees were corrupted (the old willow man)
[3:57 PM]Sandalf13: Birds and horses are, I believe, considered animate objects, just like us.
[3:57 PM]Sandalf13: Trees are too.
[3:58 PM]Arien Valar: well the Vala , especially Manwe, used the wind
[3:58 PM]Sandalf13: I would certainly consider stone-giants to be animate. Animate objects move, and usually eat, breathe, and otherwise get around. Thinking is questionable, but INanimate objects just sit there.
[3:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Rain was a happy sideeffect of Manwe and Ulmo's work coming together. Ice seemed more of a Morgoth thing.
[3:59 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But yeah, I don't know if the mountain had a mind of its own. If it wasn't Saruman, it could have been Sauron's doing.
[4:00 PM]Sandalf13: I agree with you Ar., I think it was Saruman.
[Topic tangent - mountains:]
[4:07 PM]Sandalf13: I just have to put this quote in from the RoK. As a geologist, I have always loved this quote from the first time I read the RoK in my Senior year at Lafayette, 1971...
["He (Merry) loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them marching on the edge of the stories brought from far away; but now he was borne down by thge insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire."
[Yes indeed, I have feel the insupportable weight of Earth, and looked upond mountains broad and deep and tall, and I can empathize with Merry's feelings. Always have. But what a fantastic line by Tolkien...the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. Wow. Gets me every time.
[4:08 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Reminds me of diagrams I've seen of the bouyancy of continents, especially mountains.
[4:08 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: How the landmass below is still so much deeper than the landmass above is high.
[4:08 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Like an iceberg.
[4:08 PM]Sandalf13: So here I am on top of some magnificent mountains just last week.
[Discord-only Image]
[4:09 PM]Varda: : )
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: You can see an echo of that weaker here once you get deeper into the cuillin but definitely on the mainland in Torridon
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: and nice picture, Sandalf :)]
[4:09 PM]Sandalf13: The mountains of Scotland are beautiful too, from what I have seen of them.
[4:09 PM]Arien Valar: indeed
[4:10 PM]Varda: Any mountain = nifty. : )
[4:10 PM]Sandalf13: Just like the Appalachians of eastern North America...indeed, their origin is the same.
[4:10 PM]Arien Valar: moutains and sea = ideal 😄
[4:11 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Gotta love fjords, then!
[4:11 PM]Arien Valar: thats why i love it so much on skye amongst other reasns
[4:11 PM]Sandalf13: Yes: I love living in Colorado, but the one thing I truly miss every year is the ocean. A hot summer day, a good day for the beach...but the nearest beach to me is about 1,200 miles away. A bit of a drive for a one-day beach trip.
[4:12 PM]Arien Valar: hehe aye
[4:12 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: No big lakes around?
[4:12 PM]Varda: Anyway, I'm going to quote the info around the Caradhras adventure, if we have a break?
[4:13 PM]Sandalf13: The nearest "real" lake on which you can sail is Lake McConaughy, in western Nebraska...about 40 miles long, maybe 2 miles wide...the North Platte River is dammed.
[4:13 PM]Arien Valar: yes gentlemen : order please 😄
[4:13 PM]Arien Valar: go on varda
[]
[4:14 PM]Varda: The puzzle of the source of the snow of Caradhras.
[4:14 PM]Varda: The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Ring Goes South"
[4:14 PM]Varda: Quote:
Gandalf halted. Snow was thick on his hood and shoulders; it was already ankle-deep about his boots.
"This is what I feared," he said. "What do you say now, Aragorn?"
"That I feared it too," Aragorn answered, "but less than other things. I knew the risk of snow, though it seldom falls heavily so far south, save high up in the mountains. But we are not high yet; we are still far down, where the paths are usually open all winter."
"I wonder if this is a contrivance of the Enemy," said Boromir. "They say in my land that he can govern the storms in the Mountains of Shadow that stand upon the borders of Mordor. He has strange powers and many allies."
"His arm has grown long indeed," said Gimli, "if he can draw snow down from the North to trouble us here three hundred leagues away."
"His arm has grown long," said Gandalf.
[4:15 PM]Varda: End quote.
[4:15 PM]Varda: (Within a furlong, the storm becomes quite bad, although it had nearly stopped when they had come to a halt earlier.)
[4:16 PM]Arien Valar: I said so nod
[4:16 PM]Varda: : )
[Quote:
The company halted suddenly, as if they had come to an agreement without any words being spoken. They heard eerie noises in the darkness round them. It may have been only a trick of the wind in the cracks and gullies of the rocky wall, but the sounds were those of shrill cries, and wild howls of laughter. Stones began to fall from the mountain-side, whistling over their heads, or crashing on the path beside them. Every now and again they heard a dull rumble, as a great boulder rolled down from hidden heights above.
"We cannot go further tonight," said Boromir. "Let them call it the wind who will; there are fell voices on the air, and these stones are aimed at us."
"I do call it the wind," said Aragorn. "But that does not make what you say untrue. There are many evil and unfriendly things in the world that have little love tfor those that go on two legs, and yet are not in league with Sauron, but have purposes of their own. Some have been in the world longer than he."
"Caradhras was called the Cruel, and had an ill name," said Gimli, "long years ago, when rumour of Sauron had not been heard in these lands."
[4:16 PM]Varda: End quote.
[4:17 PM]Sandalf13: My problem with that quote has always been: just how did Sauron know that the Fellowship was approaching Caradhras? Saruman knew, because of the crebain out of the south, but did Sauron know? No, I believe it was Saruman only...as Ar said above.
[4:17 PM]Varda: (After this, their talk is as if it is indeed the fault of Caradhras, if only because it is the mountain on which they are walking. They would freeze to death if they continued, as only Gandalf could light what fuel they carried, but after that it was gone. They had to retreat.
[(But the retreat was nearly blocked during the night that they had stayed by the fire, by snowfall. They forced their way forward to a great drift with a sheer and sudden wall with a sharp top as if thrown in their path. Immediately after they force their way through, a landslide blocks the path behind them so that they cannot attempt the Pass of Caradhras again, but are forced another way.)
[4:17 PM]Varda: (This never fully states the cause of the snowfall, but suggests it has Sauron in back of it if only through allies such as Caradhras. It does not mention Saruman by name, but mentions allies of which Saruman is one. We are left with a mystery. The strongest name in they mystery is Caradhras the Cruel but no one cause seems truly certain.)
[4:17 PM]Varda: The different forces can work together.
[4:18 PM]Varda: Or be manipulated to work together.
[4:18 PM]Varda: Saruman had contact with Sauron through the Palantir.
[4:20 PM]Varda: The mother of the Stone Giants in the Hobbit? : )
[4:20 PM]Arien Valar: makes sense different forces together or Sauron knowing that there was that force in the mountain and he supported them working to his intent
[4:21 PM]Varda: Sauron used his knowledge of evil forces that could block passages. Smaug, the Balrog of Moria, Shelob.
[4:22 PM]Sandalf13: I stand by my comment about the crebain, Let me look it up. Aragorn, on the regiments of black crows: "They are not natives here; they are crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland. I do not know what they are about: possibly there is some trouble away south from which they are fleeing,; but I think they are SPYING OUT THE LAND." end quote, the caps are mine to emphasize my point.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Smaug was seduced with the tales of gold. The Balrog fled for safety but also knew Sauron of old as right hand of Morgoth. Shelob stayed in the handy tunnels where orcs were fed to her.
[4:22 PM]Sandalf13: Sauron would not likely have control of crebain in Fangorn, on the east side of the Misty Mtns, but Saruman was damn close to Dunland, yes?
[4:23 PM]Varda: Yes, correct. The crebain were stated to be spies..
[4:23 PM]Varda: Saruman could have told the crebain info to Sauron with the Palantir.
[4:23 PM]Varda: And they could have stirred up Caradhras.
[4:24 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: If Sauron was in direct control, or the mountain had direct awareness and communication with Sauron, it should have just crashed a landslide straight on top of the party and let the crebain pick the bones and grab the Ring 🙂
[4:24 PM]Sandalf13: That is an excellent point, Varda, that I did not consider. Yet thinking about SAruman's lust for the One Ring, I do not think he would in any way, shape, of form (heh heh) try to help get the Ring to Sauron.
[4:25 PM]Varda: A crebain with the One Ring...
[4:25 PM]Arien Valar: now thats a thought ...
[4:25 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, such birds tend to have a fascination with eyes in popular culture...
[4:25 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: maybe even the big one too!
[4:25 PM]Varda: Saruman wanted the One Ring for himself, but would want Sauron to think he would help in returning it.
[4:25 PM]Sandalf13: BTW, there were some hawks in that cloud of birds spotted by Sam, for you raptor lovers.
[4:26 PM]Varda: Movie or book?
[4:26 PM]Sandalf13: Saurman did set a very tricky path for himself. Too much thinking on his part. Too much confidence in his own powers.
[4:26 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Too much thinking, too little reasoning?
[4:26 PM]Varda: Saruman wanted power for himself. He was making his own rings, studying ringlore.
[4:26 PM]Sandalf13: Book. "I have also glimpsed many hawks flying high in the sky." Aragorn to Sam.
[4:27 PM]Arien Valar: not a very practical guy, Saruman , he was ... all books , studying, research
[4:27 PM]Varda: Aye. Birds show up quite a bit on many sides, as working with various ones. The dwarves, the Lakemen. They even spoke to their special people.
[4:27 PM]Sandalf13: The great Eagles, certainly.
[4:28 PM]Varda: One can assume crebain could give messages to Saruman, maybe in speech at least as well as a magpie can talk.
[4:28 PM]Arien Valar: (i hear owls calling from the mountains of softness above .... )
[4:28 PM]Varda: They may even have been modified, something Sauron did quite a bit.
[4:29 PM]Varda: We are nearly half an hour over time. : )
[4:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Modified birds...
[4:29 PM]Varda: Right. Quite possible.
[4:29 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Makes me think, are bats mentioned at all in LotR?
[4:30 PM]Varda: Probably not around somewhere as cold as Caradhras snow.
[4:30 PM]Sandalf13: I do have an interesting sea story to inject here: Once upon leaving Naples, Italy, my ship picked up a flock of sparrows in the rigging, who had no where to go once we were at sea. We also picked up one hawk. At the end of that voyage, there was one Hawk and only a couple of sparrows. We would watch the hawk swoop down and catch his prey while on watch on the bridge.
[4:30 PM]Varda: Lunch provided.
[4:30 PM]Varda: the gavel opens an umbrella and tries to jump from a high shelf onto the hammerpad
[4:30 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Noah's ark must've been so messy.
[4:31 PM]Sandalf13: I do ot think that bats are mentioned in the LoTR, but they certainly are in the Silmarillion.
[4:31 PM]Varda: spoons fall from the umbrella
[4:31 PM]Varda: thunkity thunk toink
[4:31 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, true, Sandalf.
[4:31 PM]Varda: Thuringwethil's bat fell.
[4:31 PM]Arien Valar: silver spoons i am guessing Varda ~
[4:31 PM]Varda: I suspect Lobelia...
[4:31 PM]Varda: Aye!
[4:32 PM]Sandalf13: For your edification. (images are Discord-only)
[Image
[Image
[4:32 PM]Arien Valar: sounds like it nod
[4:33 PM]Varda: I think of mountains as pushing on a wet sponge cloud when it tries to travel over. : )
[4:33 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie , Valarites !
[4:33 PM]Varda: Namarie, Sunshine!
[4:33 PM]Sandalf13: You can even see the same effect in Scotland, Arien, from what I have read...although not as severe as in mid-continent North America due to the Rocky Mtns.
[4:33 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie Arien!
[4:34 PM]Varda: ☼
[4:34 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm thinking of a hot air balloon dropping its ballast as it tries to rise over a mountain.
[4:34 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie! 4:34 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But the sponge metaphor is nice too.
[4:34 PM]Varda: Guess that would be a temperature push.
[4:35 PM]Sandalf13: And here is Lake McCounaghy, for those interested. (images are Discord-only)
[Image
[Image
[4:36 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Looks like a beach to me!
[4:36 PM]Sandalf13: It is big enough to be visible at the left side of the picture. All sorts of pickups from Wyoming and Colorado show up every week in the summer for sailing on the closest navigable lake.
[4:42 PM]Sandalf13: There are a few swimming beachs at the lake, but NO WAVES.
[4:48 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Yeah, that makes sense.
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: 03
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: Typo - ignore. 4:59 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie for now...be back later. Got some potato work to do, among other things.
[5:00 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie, go mash 🙂
[6:33 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya all. Sorry I missed the meeting. RL tackled me then danced in the endzone.
[6:33 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[6:33 PM]Eönwë Valar:
[6:33 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya 🙂
[6:51 PM]Varda: Real Life tends to do that.
[6:52 PM]Varda: Feel free to add any comments if you'd like, to that Tolkien topic. : )
[7:04 PM]Eönwë Valar: I mash even baked sweet potatoes, but with sour cream. Never stuck one in a blender.
[7:15 PM]Varda: Seems like a lot of clean-up.
[7:19 PM]Eönwë Valar: Agreed, a bit much for just one potato.
[7:20 PM]Eönwë Valar: I guess unless you have one of those mini nutri-bullets or whatever they're called. Those small blenders.
[7:21 PM]Eönwë Valar: Still like to mash it by hand. Me man, Man smash tater, lol.
[7:29 PM]Eönwë Valar: Remember, February 2nd is when Phil the Groundhog puts down his XBox controller, stops screaming at the newbs in Call of Duty chat, and takes a peek outside to realize he's too low on sunscreen to be dealing with this dratted sunlight six weeks early. He'll be getting all his Vitamin D from a tall glass of chocolate milk until March 21st.
[8:21 PM]Sandalf13: I mashed my sweet taters by hand, using my old masher, a little margarine, and a touch of dark brown sugar. The skins were delicious too. Now I have enough potatoes to last me for a walk into Mordor, or at least Talon Pointe Park.
[8:43 PM]Eönwë Valar: Good, because one does not simply walk mashed taters into Mordor.
[11:49 PM]Eönwë Valar: Joke, Take 2: "One does not simply mashed potato into Mordor."
[3:03 AM]Arien Valar: a fitting song for our Tolkien discussion ! Enjoy
[3:04 AM]Arien Valar: YouTube - Clamavi De Profundis - The Echoes of Eternal War - Original Dwarven Song
[4:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: mashed potato dance, eh... and here I am struggling with the moonwalk...
[4:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Right!
[4:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[4:20 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, here's a unique platformer, Life in the Static on Kongregate.
[4:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The theme is tragic, but you can ignore it or check the comment section if you want to know. Just treat it like a fun platformer.
[4:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Make your way through the levels to the brain at the end. You have the ability to stop time, stopping doors from closing, or freezing dangerous blocks and lasers so you can step on them.
[4:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But watch out for the static! Some static fields are only crossable when time is stopped, and some are only active when time is stopped.
[4:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Combined with the obstacles you need to stop time for, this makes for some interesting puzzles and timing!
[4:25 AM]Arien Valar: sounds interesting 🙂
[4:25 AM]Arien Valar: and found a new , brilliant short srory on wow , official blizzard i think
[4:25 AM]Arien Valar: YouTube - World of Warcraft - Umbric: The Void Between
[4:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Ah yes, I downloaded the pdf 🙂
[4:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It does add something to the banter between Rommath and Umbric at the pre-patch event.
[4:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[4:35 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone:
[Level 119 on the reward track now, getting some gold from it, almost enough to buy a new skin.
[4:36 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: New Darkmoon Faire season is around, and the reward I got from it was the Winter Queen card back. Considering I'm an Ardenweald guy, I'm actually quite happy with that result 🙂
[4:37 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Quest event for the mini-set is almost over! I completed the track there, getting the End Time card back, and the Infinite coin.
[4:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Not sure what's next, as a new expansion hasn't been announced yet. A roadmap stream for 2026 is coming in about a week or so, though, including a card rotation, so we're likely not heading into maintenance mode after all. Still, we'll be on this expansion reward track for a while, giving some useful gold.
[4:45 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That said, the quest event ended on this note: Image
[4:45 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, completed. It's not ended yet for those still working on it.
[4:45 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Looks like there's an arch still going here.
[4:47 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble:
[No new collection level. Makes sense, only just got one last week 🙂
[4:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Completed all the rewards for the pvp season, while also continuing to do dungeons and the siege of ironforge.
[4:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also made a bit more progress on the heroic sigil campaign, completing Volchan with blackrock and undead. The banshee tactic still works well. One more family to go!
[4:50 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The Love is in the Air event has started, a login reward track. Always nice to have. In the shape of a heart, you can go down either path, but you'll still complete the entire shape before the end if you log in every day. I went from up to down last year, as usual, but I think I'll make my way around one edge this time and see if you can go up the other edge from the bottom.
[4:50 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That's really all the experimenting you can do with this kind of thing 😄
[4:52 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And finally, 3 new minis gotten to epic, the Worgen, Murloc Tidehunters and the hero Onu. Not exactly minis I use a lot, though the murlocs can be useful, but still nice to have. Got all 3's last talents as well. 4:52 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[4:53 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Still no raiding this week, I mostly focused on the pre-expansion event.
[4:54 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: There is another timewalking weekly quest, which I'll save for tuesday again. Last tuesday I did the previous one and actually got a piece of decor out of it, the Tidesage's Fireplace.
[4:55 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Just in case you can't get the crown from the housing cutscene mentioned in the news 😉
[4:56 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Also got the Piping Hot Portable Bakery cloak appearance from the Discord quest, and the Dark Portal decor piece merely from logging in. I wonder how that'll look as a housing doorway, if I can get that to work...
[4:58 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And then, the pre-expansion event! Went in with my main first, completing the introduction questline, and completing the world quests. They only give insignias for the first character you complete them with, so that's something for my main to do. For the rares I've been using alts though, that are themed for Midnight. 2 have seen action so far.
[4:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm also gathering up the insignias they all get to buy cosmetics from the vendor. Have gotten the Arsenal: Weathered Twilight Hammer Armaments, Ensemble: Well-Worn Twilight Cultist's Attire and 3 pieces of blood elf decor.
[5:00 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For the gear sets I'm using the alts, though, for each type, and every piece they loot is one they won't have to buy from the vendor. And since they're all starting at level 10, there's no risk of them hitting max level during the process and suddenly shooting up the gear price from 10 to 20 insignias a piece 🙂
[5:01 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Gear appearances are coming slowly, though, as weapons tend to drop the most. My devourer got like a dozen glaives with only 3 pieces of leather gear.
[5:02 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So instead of going for the entire set, I'm switching alts when they hit level 20.
[5:03 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Started off with my devourer Calnombrus for leather, who alone got the achievement for all the rares, 2 Minutes to Midnight, as well as the mount reward for that, the Light-Forged Mechsuit.
[5:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Right before the switch he ended up on half the leather gear set, and so I switched to my void elf marksmanship huntress, Calnystra. She's made it to level 14 so far, but already got 4 different mail appearances. I guess she's luckier than the other one, or devourers are just more prone to get their weapons, as someone suggested in chat.
[5:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So she's got some more leveling to do, and after I'm done with Nom and Nyssy (both void elves are now visible in the screenshots channel!) I think I'll start on my dwarf shadowpriest Caligonn. The last of my original vanilla characters, Caligonn has been my bankalt for about 20 years, but now, thanks to his shadow theme, he's finally allowed to see some action and get some levels on his quest to find cloth set appearances 🙂
[5:09 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Big day coming up for the little guy! And when I start, I'll certainly find him a good transmog outfit and post his picture as well 🙂
[5:16 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[5:21 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[7:45 AM]Arien Valar: exciting times for little dwarvesF! Namarie!
