Just in case you all hear exaggerated tales,
I'll admit here that the quest run I organised last night was a fiasco.
Not all my fault, I was assured, but just lots of unfortunate
circumstances. We didn't get a balanced group together, it wasn't a full
group, some people had connection problems and others were playing
unfamiliar character types. If I made an error it was probably in
deciding to carry on even though only two people were originally signed
up! Anyway, we wiped at the first group of goblins in HoC and things
didn't improve after that; we never got to the first boss. I regret that
a PUG champ who joined us found it a bad experience and left abruptly; I
hope he didn't carry away a bad opinion of RFI. Anyway, I now have much
more admiration for the smooth-running easy-seeming groups that RFI
officers usually run.
OK, so that could have been a bad
experience, but I believe we found a remedy afterwards. Three of us,
staggering away bruised and battered with the jeers of the goblins
echoing in our ears, decided to go to a pub and get drunk. We headed for
the Bird and Baby in Michael Delving:
Singing
about gold was fun, but we suspected the proprietor, Carlo Blagrove, of
watering the beer. Even after half a dozen tankards, we still hadn't
forgotten the goblins. But eventually I noticed that, far down his price
list, he was keeping some Old Winyards. This soon produced satisfactory
intoxication.
In
fact, the intoxication was so effective that Brrokk began to think
Esmerelda Burrows quite attractive, even though she isn't a dwarf.
Samorin got on Blagrove's nerves by trying to do handstands on the bar.
After
getting thrown out of there for our rowdy behaviour, we decided to go
to another pub. The Ivy Leaf at Hobbiton in fact. Riding was a bit
tricky in our inebriated state; we seemed to be off-road much of the
time and may have spoiled some crops. But we made it there in one piece.
Shirrif
Robin Smallburrow had noticed our erratic riding but he let us off with
a warning, seeing that the fresh air had sobered us up a bit. A bit of
smoke clears the head before more drinking and singing.
Well, most of us sobered up. Of course, Carlfreud isn't a dwarf.
Anyway,
one lesson from last night is that, even if things go wrong, a bit of
RP can have a cheering-up effect. Our disreputable behaviour in the
Shire afterwards has, for me at least, changed a recollection of a
frustrating evening into one of those memorable milestones in a LOTRO
career.