Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Treasure Hunt, Bilbo’s Birthday, and CSTM



What a weekend I had! Since it was a change of “normal” pace from deeding away, it didn’t feel like I was as eventful, but looking back at all that happened I had so much fun! The festivals have been rolling in and next up is Fall festival starting now, so exciting!

Today, I will talk about the excitement of the treasure Hunt, Frodo and Bilbo’s Birthday, and visiting the CSTM Live Event.

Treasure Hunt:
Let’s start with the Treasure Hunt. I had written a different post about steeds which I will delay until next weekish. In that post, I mentioned my disillusionment about “random” drop steeds, preferring that they be bartered, even if the cost is outrageous. Then, Treasure Hunt is released, and yay, a bartered goat! Sure, it cost 1000 tokens, but if you really wanted it, the 1000 token mark was very achievable.

The lildanas and I went nuts at the previous treasure hunt in February, 2012. I think it only lasted a day, but we made the most of it. We had gotten everything there was to get, except all the steeds. True, we did take 8 home. I only got one though, the Treasure Laden Goat so I am in it to win it this time. Delion was still silently bragging about having won all three steeds during that February event (Less-math-more-ponies).

Dig, dig, dig. Just keep digging, just keep digging… la la la la la la la la….

Yay for Huge caches! I think we won a steed about 1 out of less than 10 huge caches. I do like that the event restarts almost immediately after the previous one ends. It really keeps things moving!

Wins! Of course, all the steeds show up here on danania.net on the page All the Steeds.

Cave claw masked horse for the win!

Time to take him out flying.

Treasure Laden horse… win! (I still don’t like random winning. However, like most of the “random” wins for me, so much of it is about persistence. You do not even want to know how many hours I treasure hunted between last event and this event. OMG. Thankfully, I really really enjoy the Treasure Hunt.)

Treasure Laden goat! Ok, I had the goat last time, but he was feeling left out of the show. Hey, I think someone is following us… Aegthil is that you?? They’re always after me lucky charms…

The goat is a bit wide for me, so I threaded my leg through the saddle edge. Some might see this as a design flaw, but I am sure that is the way it is intended.

Threanody reports for duty to take over digging. Good luck hobbit! (I ride the Dunedain War-horse in this shot.)

Nimitar doesn’t miss a beat or a festival. If it is there to do, he will be there. He and Danaish wait patiently to be granted more picks to try their luck. (Nimitar rides the Nimble Black Goat).

So many people showed up at the Treasure Hunt! With the lack of things actually going wrong (see Farmer’s Faire and Summer dwarf races), I think this is a success!

Ytanya is excited about her “prospects”. Surely, there is a steed token in there for her?

Danaszar meets a Domesticated Green-back Cave-claw. It is so cute you could just /hug it. If you hug them all, you get a lovely title and complete the deed. Yay deeds!

Of course, the lildanas have their own pet cave-claw at the Angels house. (draigoch-statue-lil-danas-moving-day) We opted not to get another one right now just in case they might fight and leave the yard a mess. Turns out, the neighbors wouldn’t mind so much. We took a walk around and discovered that 76% of our neighbors were deadbeats that were locked out of their own homes, including all of the other kinhouses (one of which has gone into foreclosure and is up for sale). Go on, roam the neighborhood Trained cave-claw!

Finally, the star of the show has arrived. Here is the Harvest Brew Goat, the barter goat of the Treasure Hunt. Ok, this goat only has +62% speed, but it just might be the cutest goat I own (don’t tell the other goats). He is in the top ten goats for sure. Lol! I love the theme, and the stine on a stick out in front of it is a neat touch.


Emotes!
The Treasure Hunt emotes are some of my favorite! There are 6 available during the event, and thankfully they are at least Bound to Account. It would have been great had the Steeds also been Bound to Account, but they are in fact, Bound on Acquire. The 6 are: rich, counterfeit, inspectgem, pan, dowse, coinflip. Thankfully, I got them last time, so I had less things to think about while hunting for my steeds.

I am /rich! No doubt about that. Rich in friends. A sappier Supergirl would say these gold coins are just representation of blessings falling on me. (Aim your /heave over there…)

I check to make sure that the coins in my steed's pack are not /counterfeit (lilhobbits, don't put things in your mouth without washing them, that is a good way to get germy... that, and visiting the Foundation of Stone, very germy place.. Bring sanitizer).

You are getting sleepy…  /dowse. You are now under my control…

Oh Arkandon, don’t you know that these jedi mind tricks don’t work on Supergirl? I am not the droid you are looking for.

Yes, yes… I spy a diamond in the rough. Let me /inspectgem that for you.


Frodo and Bilbo’s Birthday
After Goldenstar, Frodo and Bilbo are two of the most famous hobbits in Middle Earth. If Frodo ran a site like CSTM (http://cstm.mymiddleearth.com/), he would be better known, but I digress.

Since it was Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday, I flew out to Rivendell to wish them well. Frodo snookered me into assisting him deliver a present to Bilbo, who was only like 100 meters away in Elrond’s house. For fun, I will lay out how the conversation went.

Meltera met me there so that we could celebrate birthdays together. Mebbe the Bagginses will have cake. Or pie. I like pie. And chocolate. Dark chocolate. Fudgey dark chocolate. with pie. Mmm... Where were we? Oh, yes.. let's go wish happy birthdays.

Hello Frodo! Happy Birthday! I would have come yesterday, but I had to dig up Treasure Laden steeds; you know how it is.

Frodo replies with asking me to visit Bilbo.

Mae Govannen, and Happy Birthday to you, Bilbo. Here is a present from Frodo.

Bilbo replies by asking me to deliver a present to Frodo. You know, he is standing in the next room? Oh fine, I will deliver it.

Hello again Frodo. Here is a present from Bilbo.

You want me to go tell him thank you… for you? You know, he is just across the hall? Le sigh…

Hiya Bilbo. Frodo says thanks. You are welcome. You have a present for me on your birthday? Hobbits are interestingly odd people. J You should walk across the hall and see Frodo some time. He has a neat ring that he wears on a chain around his neck.

Bilbo gave me the choice of receiving a toy flute or a toy dulcimer. They play a tune that lasts a couple of seconds and… that is it. It has a 30 minute CD. It is the thought that counts, right? J


CSTM Live Event
I got to enjoy the CSTM Live Event on Saturday! It turns out that CSTM was recording their weekly show but added on a streaming video while they were doing it. I usually fly across the spatial abyss into Landroval once a week or so to check fan mail and visit whoever happens to be around (thank you so much to all you who leave messages there J) and found my friends Tomrica and Goldenstar both in Bywater. It was great timing since CSTM was in the middle of their show.

As I headed to Bywater, there was quite a crowd and I found Tomrica waiting for me at the back. The poor thing won’t be able to see with all these trees standing in the way. I got a chuckle out of just how many hobbits there are around here. Yeah… I don’t make it to the Shire enough. Hobbits, hobbits everywhere.

It was a great gathering. It seems that if you get enough of the Lonely Mountain Band together, it is like a bring-your-own-party. I got to meet several lovely hobbits, including the hobbit-gnome Anthemisi and her dancing friend Carica.

Tomrica and Goldenstar pose for photos and autographs at the Green Dragon. These last two shots were taken by Tomrica, who is a most excellent photographer.

The Lonely Mountain Band hobbits ride a team of goats collected from the Treasure Hunt. Tomrica is out front, followed by (L-R) Galspi, Elyita, Carica, & Anthemisi.

How can you not smile seeing a line of hobbits riding goats?? That is so cute. Lol!


23 comments:

Tomeoric said...

Great, great post... I will be sure to pass this along to the LBM!

Asma said...

Great post. My goal this past weekend was to get all (or as many as possible) my toons a Goat better than the Adventurers (or some such) goat who only has 60 morale. Assmunahi had the Thorin's Hall Goat & Liriodendron had the Ale Association Goat so they were set. Crocosmia is way too young to try her bow in Sarnur so she hunted treasure and got her goat 2nd Huge Dig site in. Other toons didn't have it so easy. Kipton still does not have a goat with better than 60 morale. But she is almost there with the Thorin's Hall rep.

Don't tell Bilbo and Frodo but I forgot their birthdays :( In years past i have celebrated with them so I don't as bad as I should.

TheElvenTailor said...

I wish I had your persistence in those randomized Treasure events, Danania! I always get bored or frustrated with them. That Harvest Brew Goat is amazing, though.

Unknown said...

Thanks Tomeoric!
...and what a treat to hang out with you, and Goldenstar, and the hobbits of the Lonely Mountain Band! It's like it was a birthday! :D

Unknown said...

Go you Asma! Thanks for the peek inside the life of an alt-ernator.

I wouldn't worry too much about Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. It felt like they both had other things on their minds. Heck, they were even too preoccupied to go into the next room and exchange gifts themselves, preferring to wait til I showed up to assist.

Unknown said...

Thanks Cat, The Elven Tailor!

I think what helped drive me forward in this event was the quick pace at which the events moved and restarted when the rounds were won. It was addicting. When I ran out of picks on one character and was waiting on Cooldown for more, I immediately switched to another character. It just kept going non-stop, and with periodic wins, it just fueled my interest to keep going. :D

Anonymous said...

Go go team goat hobbits!! /toast

Elyita

Anonymous said...

P.S. Can you teach my goats to fly?

Unknown said...

Yay Elyita! Yay goat hobbits!

Fly?
It's easy, all you have to do is to... Ha! That's funny. I never thought about it before. You think a wonderful thought. And all it takes is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust. Yep, just a little bit of pixie dust. Now think of the happiest things...

Anonymous said...

Well, I think of wonderful things all the time, and I do not fly, so it must be the pixie dust.

Or perhaps it's the goat's thoughts weighing me down. They have beards, so they're prolly thinking all sorts of weird things.

Anonymous said...

I tried a pony and it worked! I'm flying! http://ponyloversanonymous.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/i-believe-i-can-fly/

Now how do I get down?!

Wynnie said...

OMG, you met LotRO celebrities *faint* Would have loved to join the Fellowship Walk, but I was busy killing Saruman on T2 :P

And grats on getting all the 3 steeds AND the new goat during the treasure hunt, well done ;)

Anonymous said...

It was a great hobbit birthday party indeed! And we are the allies of the famous goat girl! Thank you for the great post :)

Apis said...

It looks like you had a great time! I didn't make it at all to the treasure hunt this time around, sadly. There was way too much going on for one weekend, with the treasure hunt, Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays, all the player celebrations, the bonus experience weekend, and the last weekend of RoR beta before they shut it down for this round. As a certain festival deed proclaims... too much of everything!

So thanks for sharing your pictures of the things I didn't get to. =)

Unknown said...

Yay! I knew you could do it!
You are right; goats are notoriously stubborn. They can probably fly; they just choose not to.

Unknown said...

Yay Wynnie!
Go you and your Saruman fighting!
I'm glad someone kept him in check so I could Treasure Hunt for hours and hours. Priorities, donchaknow... not real concerned whether the ring of power is safe when there are Steeds to be wrangled. :D

Unknown said...

Thank you Curious Took!
Yay that you came both to the party and to danania.net.

Great to meet you at the party!
Are you calling me a goat girl?? Or one of the many other girls who were at the party? :D

Unknown said...

Aww you were missed Apis. I was looking around, feeling like something was amiss, and realized there was an Apis-shaped void.

I'm glad you liked the pictures! :D

Aktaie said...

The treasure hunt this year was certainly a trip! That cave claw horse still eludes me... one of these years, one of these years...

Did you ever try out those Unearthed Sacks? They were the buzz of the KAOS group (as Caylia managed to find a first age symbol!) and kept a few of us going back out for more digging, even after getting that adorable new goat! And speaking of that goat, if only there were a horse with that nice beer stein dangling in front of it... :p

Also! I don't comment much (or at all until now, I suppose, hehe), but I have been lovin your blog and am certainly glad you showed it to me back when it got started. You've done an excellent job here, Dana, keep up the good work!

Wynnie said...

Totally agree... my only excuse for not working on getting any Steeds is that I'd already got the goat on the Thursday so I was free to heal Saruman :P Well, not Saruman, you know what I mean.

As for the Ring of Power, that's with that annoying hobbit, isn't it. Not gonna go anywhere near him!

Unknown said...

Oohh, Unearthed Sacks... that is nice Aktaie!

I didn't get an Unearthed Sack, but all the loot reported from people around me was actually quite nice! (not like the ridiculous crappy loot from the loot-boxes...) For me, I decided I didn't "potentially need" anything at this time, so all the excess tokens I got I just left in the barter wallet for future Hunt bartering. :D

I am so very glad you showed up and commented! That means so much. :D

Aegiowulf of Firefoot said...

Was that a WowCrendor reference I saw in there? :) If it was, the blog just got more awesome :D

Aegiowulf of Firefoot

Unknown said...

Lol Aegiowulf. ;)

Your reference is fairly obscure; I googled it to try to guess what you might be talking about.
I should just say, yeah... that's what I meant... Lol!
Sometimes I am just inadvertently awesome. :D

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