| Like my old teammate and friend Kuami said "Where to begin?"
But unlike him, I'm going to be at the beginning. Or at least one day from the beginning, since that was all that separated Snowloch, Calaranduil Tanonanya, Gilles Arrane, Majestic, drion and gester from Salocin. And he had a bit of an advantage there. Now a new 10th oldest will appear.
At the beginning, I wasn't even ON the someday to be famous Warlords Of Shaolin (WoS). It took an arguement between TripVader and Shyn Myrshyl, in which TripVader convinced me to leave the original team and join up with WoS. And, as they say, the rest is history.
For it wasn't any individual that made WoS so great, but the whole team and its spirit. Willing to explore, even if it meant being the first to find out: "There's a bug. As a level two, I can't get back to the easy rats of Suraly. Oh. Not a bug you say." And finding ways to deal with the lvl 3 wolves. Potions. Lots of potions, and rezes.
In the process, we made a number of firsts to find out. Some unpleasant: Samos had a lvl 50 monster that hit for 8,000 hp. That was a bug. Megas and Metset had the same higher level monsters in it. Another bug.
Some not:
Boat trips originally cost only money, no travel points. So, WoS became the terror of the high seas for a while.
Other first were: First TC (bribes in Loken) and while not the first mayor, first to use murder (Salocin was the first victim of a political program).
Way back in the beginning, it was TripVader who was number 1 in HW. gester was a also ran at number 5. I would have given up the number 1 slot that I had, if I could have convinced Trip to stay on. But it was not to be.
The team to beat was Anarchy Knights. And one of the top players not on WoS was a future WoS, named Soul Harvester. Slowly and surely, WoS teammate got a lock on the top 5 positions. But it was not to be that way forever. Players for one reason or another quit or left to join other teams. WoS lost Trip and the players for Rei and Graken. DoE lost some as did AK. The game itself went thru a couple of different version of Forest Fights, before settling on this one. And in the turmoil, WoS made it to lvl 100, but not as the first team, but as the second. Still, gester was the first fighter there, and is happy to share that award with the rest of his team.
gester was quite active in the political arena as well. Not only was he one of the first TC, mayors, nobleman and Lord, but he managed to take effective control of HW... in character, that is. At one time, he was Lord of 7 provinces. And as such, controlled who became a knight and who did not. The first 4 knights were completely elected by gester, including two current knights, Kadayn and Jackson. The Jackson election to knighthood will probably remain the biggest political deal in HW history. For Jackson was King (Lord of Feldar), and I agreed to elect him to knighthood in exchange for Feldar, thus becoming King gester as well. And gester becoming a knight himself.
While killing monsters and player were somewhat fun, and gester is in the top 10 of both, the best achievement again goes back to the team. WoS has well over 1000 more wins than loses. Like I say, a great team.
And beyond any game stat, there was also the rping in the inn. gester always consider the inn as very special to him. Much to the dismay of a few others. But, *grins* for the most part, he outlasted those. So, there!!
The snowball fights, the attack of the Ishy bear, the hole in the roof that never could be repaired even tho the rest of the inn automatically did. How the inn grew to have a kitchen and the grounds around it. The hiring of bartenders and cats to help the bar. Buying the bar, then losing it.
There are so many that I would like to say thank you for making gester's rp that much better. I apologize in advance
if I have forgotten you.
The older regulars that are gone: Rosanne, Boy Duck, Darius, Aphy and Arwen.
The old ones that remain: Kadayn, Jackson, Majestic, Sac D, Spike, Wildfire, Gix, Ecthy and Gun.
Sabre George, you hang in there.
Special mention to RedAngel, my niece (or close enough), Gandalf, my good friend and ElfLord. Very special hugs to Kiyoine, my student of which I was her sensei, Lady Desolee, Sylvie keeper of the Jester, Kiri Nectter, another good friend who really was, Dark Angel and her many faces of alts and to my wife Alendria, who suffered alone as gester was out having fun fighting lvl 94 monsters (a Wosie that is).
Lastly, I wish to thank once more my teammates: TripVader, Kuami, Rei and Graken. Then the players that took their place, either by hand-me-downs or joining the team. This includes SoulHavester, Robbo, John Holmes, Tantulus and of course, the lovely, talented, and always controversial Daimonicus.
It's been irritating, glorious, frustrating and a lot of fun. Nick provided that. ;) I will think fondly of it.
*Takes off his cloak of many items, and turns off the last illusion device in the inn.*
Every thing you see now, will be real. *he chuckles*
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