I'd ask for another, except I'm silenced.
So Aralis was a downward spiral of Ross getting suspended from the guard, limbs shattered for his own good, driven mad by the Blood Forest, and the coup de grace- the Shadow Hunter- butchering his weak, broken form as he crawled across the ground, protected as much by the Blood Zombies as by the other townsfolk, the former who kept bringing him up again and again and again...
I had a very good time at Aralis.
There is a certain vicarious OOG enjoyment from physically and emotionally charged intensity. Drained, slowed, arms maimed, and silenced- the latter kept his sobbing very much to himself. I am VERY grateful to those who helped him, up to and including lifeing him twice. The fact that many people cared (as opposed to those who said Ross should die rather than waste further 'resources') kept him from choosing to pass on. (By the way, this is just a IG description of how Ross felt- OOG I totally understand that there were character reasons and/or that there wasn't anything that could be done by those who were awake.)
Sorry for the painful read- as a latecomer NPC to the original A1, this is my first experience falling into dimensions of squalor that I didn't even know existed. The session was one filled with great personal role-playing (props to the exceptional darkwhimsy,
silvergoose,
wirednavi, and
annthemun ), well-done mods (kudos to
salda007 and
psychotropek for the hilarious goblin mod- and to others necessarily discrete), and unexpected character developments. I was highly amused when I finally met shatterdaymorn 's Tom, who fit his misanthropic role as perfectly as
aumshantih does with his Professor.
I could also understand where some people were coming from in terms of general bad vibes at the end. The last fight was overall a pretty terrible one for both PCs and NPCs due to fatigue, confusion, and overall OOG frustration, which left a sour ending taste on an otherwise fine session.
One of the unexpected high-points was how much I enjoyed healing. I spent perhaps 90% of the total town fights with my arms broken or shackled, yet I still felt like I was contributing. Speaking from a purely selfish point-of-view, there is something triumphant about bringing someone up from the ground, as if everything they do from then on is because of you... so that's why people have expert healing!
I hope to make part of next session (especially to resolve things), although graduation will obviously force my early return. I may even come back if I'm just that crazy. I'll refrain from asking the staff for a reason to leave game.
And a big thanks to Talos, you jerk. ;)