Aidynni's Memoirs of Neverwinter

[Joseph K Shraibman]

(Published in the 3/2/97 News of the Realms, AOL keyword NEVERWINTER)

Aidynni's Memoirs of Neverwinter - Part 1

As many of may or may not have known, Aidynni (Guild leader of the Bards and
charter member of NWN) has left the world of Nevewinter to pursue other
venues in the real world. We here on the NWN Staff wish her the best of luck
in these future endeavours and that we will miss her presence in the game
greatly!

Her memoirs follow below detailing her feelings and experiences with the
myriad of personalities in the game throughout the years.

-- News

**************************************************************************

1: In the beginning

Gad...it's been a long while since I wanted to do this, but wasn't able to in
one way or another because of the personal relationships involved. And I feel
that now I can write all this without censor since majority of people that I
would end up offending in one way or another has left the system for good. On
that note, however, I would like to make one thing clear before I go on
further. It is not my intention to slander or belittle anyone in the pages
below. They are simply the events and the personal impressions that was my
previleage to have accumulated over the long years being online and living
the nights of Neverwinter. Please don't get the impression that I am out on a
personal vendetta to smear other people's good names with my words here. I
merely want to leave for the new players and old a record of the way things
were beginning in June of 1991

Because that's when I got on board, never dreaming that I would be in it for
such a long haul...

2: Neverwinter Square

Gee, I dunno. About 10 or 15 people in the game? And they all seemed to be in
the town of Neverwinter, walking around, asking each other what was going on,
how do you hook on to some one...I managed to hail down Frank####, who seemed
to be wandering around in circles, and this is how the conversation with my
first Neverwinterite went:

Me: Hey, Frank.
Frank####: Hello. Where am I?
Me: I don't know, Frank. I just got here myself.
Frank####: I've been on for 2 hours and I don't know how to get out of town.
Frank####: I followed some dude, but we got separated because he started
moving.
Me: Huh?

After a few more minutes of this and that, we finall managed to agree to
follow the words that said, "warehouses to the east..." that was in front of
Lord Nasher's palace, and carefully went out to the warehouses. Frank
followed one step behind because we didn't know how the hook function worked,
so I had to wait for him to catch up if I went a bit too fast. Once we got
out of town, much to Frank's delight, we started to open this door and that,
and were attacked by a bunch of Orcs. We got killed, of course, because Frank
and I foolishly kept trying to run away from the monsters as they pounded us
over and over. We didn't care, though. We were all giddily congratulating
ourselves on actually triggering a combat event, wowing and clapping as the
little orcs trotted across the screen, smashing our online persona brains
out.

We got separated after that fight, however, for I was transported to the
gates first and immediately went through the door leading back to
Neverwinter. I never saw Frank again after that.

3:Thinkdrunk, Xandor3, Songbird, Trollsbane and the
Southwall party

After my initial "success" at the warehouses, I was once again alone, walking
dazedly around Neverwinter, marvelling at the different shops and having a
blast getting impressed with the EGA graphics when Thinkdrunk stopped me by
yelling at me to stop and asked me if I wanted to join an adventuring party.
There was a bunch of people milled around Xandor 3, who was proposing that we
go to Southwall and kill a troll. Xandor 3 stood out like a beacon. He had
about 70 hps, of which we all marveled at jealously since we all had 10 or 11
at the most, and he also had a magical two handed sword. Thinkdrunk was a
priest, with about 23 hps. He seemed to me like a drill sargeant, getting
everyone organized into a cohesive group and going over the hooking procedure
with each and every one of us, emphasizing that when we were hooked, under no
circumstances were we to use our arrow keys. We listened to all this with
absolute dread and terror, for we were all going into an uncharted territory
and the only way for us to get back to Neverwinter was to get killed. During
the trip, one person did touch the arrow keys, and was lost somewhere in
Southwall as the party left him behind. It wasn't that we didn't want to go
back for him, but we had to leave without him because he started to try to
find his way back and made it worse by getting hopelessly lost. It was a big
deal to be lost in those days since only a few people other than the beta
testers were familiar with all the twists and turns of Neverwinter roads, and
to be lost meant certain death!

I immediately made friends with Songbird and someone else that I've forgotten
the name to(his other name was darkspyre). Since we didn't have to "drive",
we fell into talking about the game and how excited we were as Thinkdrunk led
us deeper and deeper into Southwall, while Xandor3 periodically checked in to
see how we were doing, for he was scouting ahead and had an intimate
knowledge of the roads. It was a magical time, with each turns and twists in
the roads leading us to God knows where, everyone giddy and excited out of
their minds. It was there that I jokingly complained to Thinkdrunk that
drinking and driving didn't mix, and Thinkdrunk replied amidst laughter that
his name meant "think before you drink".

When we finally got to the battle that Xandor started, we all whistled at the
tall green blob, and started to get into the fray. I remember doing a doing a
Three Stooges impression and charging headlong into the Troll, with Xandor
and Thinkdrunk trying valiantly to save me while trying to hold the others
back from making the same mistake that I did. Everyone cursed and sent esps
telling me how sorry they were when I was splattered by the troll, while
Xandor3 frantically told me to stay put in front of the gate so they could
come back and get me.

When they finally got back to me and regrouped, we headed back to
Neverwinter, where we planned our next excursion at Inn. It was there that I
met Trollsbane, sitting inside and giving out magical swords and handing out
sage advice. He seemed to me like an old, wise man, holding a class on
Neverwinter survival 101, and to this day, I still think of him as old,
lovable grandpa Neverwinter.

Trollsbane told us of giants that threw huge stones that would squash people
like a bug, and of skeletal dragons that would fry people to a crisp. We all
stood around him, totally enraptured with his stories. Thinkdrunk esped me
that Trollsbane was one of the beta testers for the game, and he knew about
the ins and outs of Neverwinter more than anyone. I was suitably impressed!
Before I left though, he gave me a +2 Two handed sword so I could take of
myself better:D

4: Father Moy, Koolbrez,
Handler1

I was back the next night and ran into Songbird, who was waiting for me to
show up even though we didn't even make any arrangements to meet. We looked
for Thinkdrunk too, but he wasn't online and wouldn't be online for another
few hours. So, the two of us and Darkspyre(I can't remember his other name!),
who was traveling with another party but came back to Neverwinter to join us
when he saw that we were online, started to walk around town, looking for
people going out to adventure. It was in front of Daglow's inn that I met
Father Moy and Koolbrez, who stopped in to meet Trollsbane. As Father Moy
passed by, I couldn't help but blurt out, "Forgive me father, for I have
sinned!" Songbird thought it hilarious while Darkspyre thought I was crazy.
Father Moy merely smiled and answered back, "You are forgiven, my child."

Ever since that day, whenever I would run into Father Moy, I would blurt out
my line and He would reply his answer. It was a beginning of a beautiful
friendship. Over the months, we would become fast friends, and we would try
to hook up together whenever we were online together. He was always with
Koolbrez, whom I called, "Green Giant" because his icon was all green. My
first visit to Port Llast was with those two, where on the way, we
encountered a wolf with 50 hps that almost killed us all. Later, we found out
that it was a bug and were quite relieved! We travelled together for about a
few months, with Father Moy busily mapping the roads we travelled while
Koolbrez drove, with me, Darkspyre and Songbird talking and laughing. Father
Moy quit the service a few months after because his bill was skyrocketing.
You have to remember that it was 4 dollars an hour back then, and he wanted a
new motorcycle. Koolbrez left a few months after that as well, and came back
a few years later in version 2 for awhile, then disappearing back into
nothing. I can understand how he felt when he came back, with almost all of
his old friends gone, in a place that didn't know who you were. I don't fault
him for going away the second time. Darkspyre left two years later because of
money too. He had been spending a lot of time online and said that only way
he was going to save himself from bankrupcy was to quit AOL altogether.
Needless to say I was devastated. These people were like my extended family
to me. I had gotten to know them well and we were very close. And one by one,
they were disappearing from my life. On some cool, dark summer nights, I look
back on those days, traveling with Father Moy, Koolbrez, Darkspyre, and
Songbird, feeling like we were actually physically traveling down the roads
of Neverwinter, feeling the road dust on our faces, laughing and joking as we
traversed those winding trails...Those days are gone forever.

It was around the first month that I ran into Handler1, I believe it was in
Vilnask. I was with Darkspyre, standing in the middle of the road, because
Father Moy and Koolbrez got killed in the previous battle and we had to wait
for them to catch up. Handler1 was with another guy, whom I've forgotten the
name to(He was searching for a magical bastard sword). He took one look at me
and said that he could get me two levels real quick if I would come with
them. I hesitated, for I couldn't just drop everyone and go off with him. So
I told him no, and he replied, "you're missing out." and left. To be honest
with you, I thought he was a stuck up jerk and I wanted nothing to do with
him. It's ironic really, because Handler1 would always be popping back into
my Neverwinter life, and would care for my welfare even though I didn't think
he cared at all. It was he who had wanted me to use my talents for Born's
sister's wake in Neverwinter, and would sometimes go out of his way to help
me and my guild to succeed. I've done nothing to thank him for all those
little things really, as you'll see as you read along the years.

5: Beelzebul, the first
murderer

With so few number of people online, everyone knew everyone. We would
exchange greetings by ESP when we signed on, and behaved as though we were
all part of a big family. Everyone looked out for each other, and would
gladly help out a fellow player if they could. So it came as an utter shock
to everyone when we heard that a person named Beelzebul killed another player
in the lost hills. I remember that day vividly, for it was a day that would
change the face of Neverwinter forever. It was as if the spirit of
Neverwinter itself had been murdered that day and nothing anyone could do
would bring to life the days of familiar closeness, the comradery that
everyone shared, back. The news spread by word of mouth via esp to everyone
online. I was in front of Lord Nasher's palace when the esp hit me. I didn't,
I couldn't believe it. However, when Trueknight, one of my friends and a true
gentleman, came up to me and told me that he had just been killed by
Beelzebul in the hills, and wanted me to revenge his death, I knew then that
Neverwinter was no longer a place that I had known. I actually got into a
'posse' to visit Beelzebul in the lost hills to see it for myself, and when I
got there, found that he was surrounded by other players, being sternly
lectured to. I asked him if he was really killing other players, and he
replied, "Yes. Would you like to be poisoned too?" Whereupon all my friends
and the lecturers grew outraged and started a battle with him, while I was
whisked away for my safety.

To be truthful, I wanted Beelzebul banned from the realms, and I wasn't the
only one to share this view. People saw him as a danger, a threat. Not only
to themselves, but to Neverwinter as we knew it. However, this wasn't to be.
Looking back on it now, I have to admit that Beelzebul was a true innovator,
and his reasoning that Neverwinter should grow as time passed and not remain
stagnant a valid one. It is true that some have left Neverwinter Nights
because of what he had started, and I sometimes find that the reasons that
some people use to attack other players that mind their own business a poor
one at best, but PVP is a fact of life now in Neverwinter, and a very sacred
one at that. I wonder, however, how many of those that PVP today know that
they owe it all to the murderer of the lost hills, and that without his deed
and his crusade to make PVP legal, that it woudn't have been possible at all.

6: The first bard of
Neverwinter/The guilds

How many of you still remember Doswacko and LadyDos? I owe a lot to these
two. Indeed, the bards guild owes its very existance to this couple. Back in
the days of the first year of the game, I was steadily gaining a reputation
for my songs about Doswacko and LadyDos, whom I've run into accidentally at
the gate to Vilnask once. People soon invited me to be in their parties to
hear "that bard girl sing.". I happily obliged them, singing my Doswacko song
first and then picking on one of my party members and singing a made up song
about his supposed quest. On one night, I turned one of the latter songs a
bit too randy (If I were to sing it now, I would get TOSed:X), and ever since
then, whenever someone saw me online, it was always, "Hey, Aidy, sing that
song about the lemon!".

A few months later, I ran into Doswacko in the Lounge and he actually thanked
me for the song about him and his lady. Actually, I was deathly afraid of
running into him because the song made him and Ladydos out to be brainless
twits, with Father Moy helping them in their "domestic situation". He was
nice about it though, even though he knew that we didn't actually know each
other that well for me to craft a song about him.

When Beelzebul created the first guild to further his crusade to make PVP
acceptable, the Guild of Chaos, the people in Neverwinter didn't know what to
do, save for one. While I was esping in Daglow's inn, Handler1 came in. By
now, we had become close, although I still felt that he was a bit too stuck
up for his own good. We fell to talking about Neverwinter and the subject of
GOC came up, and I stated that something must be done about this. Handler1
replied that he had a surprise in store up his sleeve about that, and told me
that maybe I should think about creating a guild myself, to balance things
out. I told him that I was thinking about creating a guild for bards, and he
wished me luck. The next day, I saw that his "surprise" was the Crusaders of
the Realms. The clerics guild followed afterwards, being the 3rd guild
created in the realms(a lot of people don't know this fact:D). Headed by
Snnie, they were the first true neutral guild, accepting clerics of all
alignment. As a matter of fact, Pentagrame, one of the best evil RP player
that I have known and a very good friend of mine, belonged to that guild, as
well as GOC. Snnie was a strong woman, and I admired her strength a lot. And
I don't think the neutrality of the guild, nor the concept of it, would have
been as strong had it not been for her firm hands on the reins. Indeed, the
clerics guild's stance on characters of different alignment working together
stood as a model for my guild. When she left the game, the guild left with
her. That's why it no longer exists. I still remember the time when one
Neverwinterite sent a chain letter to the most of the people of the realms
and how Snnie chewed the beejesus out of him for his stupidity. It would be a
long time afterwards that I would finally get to meet Snnie, who jokingly
told me how she managed to keep control of all those "boys":D one summer
night in the bowels of the temple in Longsaddle.

People in Neverwinter were quickly being polarized to either the GOC or the
COR. Being evil in the realms in those days was still a taboo, and the other
players really ostracized them for it. So, initially, COR members outnumbered
GOC by a wide margin back then. However, what the GOC lacked in numbers, they
more than made up for it in quality. Other than Beelzebul, there was
Hellhammer and Pentagrame, who were already pretty skilled in PVP and didn't
give a flying fig about what other players thought of them. Soon, most of the
old players in Neverwinter converted their alignment or created evil
characters to join the GOC. It was only natural, I suppose. Such a change
gave them a new lease on Neverwinter life that had begun to grow dull.

So where are the bards? Well, the guild was created by me a few days after
the clerics guild. This was because my guild was so unique that I had to have
a base of support from both GOC and COR of our neutrality and a promise of
safe passage through the realms unmolested. Not only that, I had to find
other players who had the same interests and the "skills" of gab who were
willing to join. The first task was easier than the latter. All I had to do
was to traverse through the realms, meet the guild masters of each of the
guilds, and get them to agree to my charter. I first talked to Beelzebul in
the lounge about our guild, and got him to agree to my position. This was the
last time I would talk to him after our initial encounter in the hills so
long ago. It wasn't because of any animosity in my part that we didn't
communicate. Events and timing just happened this way. I would not see
Beelzebul again after this meeting, nor would I miss his presence. I was
indifferent to him and he was to me.

It was also around this time that I ran into Temptis, who wanted to try out
PVP with me in Triboar. I feebed him twice on the first cast on two battles,
which left Temptis laughing his head off. I felt awful about it, but he
assured me that it was all in fun. Our paths didn't cross for many months
afterwards, with hilarious results. But that's much later and under another
disguise.

With Handler1 and the COR, well, what was there to be said? They gladly said
yes and sometimes actively sought us out and invited us to come along with
them as they battled other guilds. The other guilds that came along later
also agreed to do this as well, since we all knew each other and knew what my
guild was about. I remember once when I was traveling in the lost hills and D
Payen of the berserkers actually came to get me so I could witness his
berserkers fight against the COR. I or one of my members would post the
results of such encounters, including the SUPERBASH, with poetic flourish
later on, and we became the unofficial newspaper of Neverwinter.

I have to say though, the guild that was the closest to us was not COR,
although I had many a friends in the guild such as Xandra3, who along with
Handler1 was the pillar of the guild and a PVP icon back in those days,
Sunkist, who always was a gentle, fun loving soul, Sir Redrum, a later member
who made it fashionable to be a parent in Neverwinter, Sinestra, Bjorn Llar,
Volant, who had a few fun run ins with my other selves, Viznek I, who started
the whole trend of matrimony in Neverwinter, and many others. No, the guild
that I was most closest to was the GOC. This all happened because one day I
actually went over to Berun to track down Pentagrame to get him to agree to
my charter, and I happened to make friends with Hellhammer, who was traveling
with Pentagrame. Between Pentagrame's angry threats, Hellhammer esped me that
Pentagrame was just RPing and that I shouldn't worry about it. We hit it
right off after that, Bruce(Hellhammer) and I, and soon we became fast
friends. I sometimes hung around with him as another character in PVP battles
at Port Llast and beyond, and sometimes we would talk for hours in the
lounge. I was really crushed when he had to leave the realms because of
outside problems, of which I won't get into here because it is personal. I
myself had to consider if it was really worth staying online when he left.
Not only had I lost a friend, I had also lost my excuse for PVPing, for he
was my first real teacher of PVP and let me tag along for his wild rides.
And of our bellicose Pentagrame? I turned the tables on him and rolled a
character named Nimue, who by sheer coincidence made friends with Branwynn,
his online and offline girlfriend. Soon, I was friends with him too and found
out that underneath that gruff online personality, he was just a cuddly teddy
bear. We travelled the woods together, the three of us, and spent many a
happy nights adventuring before they too faded away with time's passing.

It was as Nimue mostly that I began to help other players throughout the
realms. And one of the main reasons why I was so close to the GOC as well as
COR was because I had helped train some of their members. One night, I gave
away a magical shield to a girl with a funny name, My My. But that's a story
that is best left to other pages of this book. Nimue also met Natasha666,
training at Port Llast. It was then that I asked her to be a "nice" evil
person. She laughed and told me that in real life, she was a nice girl. It
was my misfortune that I was at that time still under the impression that
people attacking other people were a bit deranged and touched in the head.
Little did I realize that I myself would be even a worse terror than some of
the others that I so haughtily criticized for being so "evil".

One person that really made the bards guild happen was Peer Gynt. He was the
one that thought my lemon song was a bit off kilter and from the first moment
we spoke, I knew that without him in the guild, the bards would not happen. I
must have made a terrible first impression, or my reputation for lewd songs
must have preceeded me because he refused to join the guild for a few weeks.
It was only when I made it clear to him that the bards guild was concerned
not only with neutrality, but we were working towards personal growth as a
writer that he agreed. I had to lose him for a few weeks when he was turned
into a tiger because someone had accidentally cast confusion on him, but out
of all the bards that there ever was, the one that really put us on the map
was Peer Gynt. He was a tireless worker, and his writings seemed to just flow
out of him effortlessly. Pretty soon, everyone knew Peer Gynt, although I
dare say that his tiger incident helped him in this regard. It was Peer Gynt
who had introduced me to Tylston, someone so much like Peer artistically, but
yet so different in personality. Later I found out that Tylston was a
missionary, emailing me time to time to tell me of his long absences are due
to his work out of the country. May God bless you, Tylston.

As the years passed, Peer Gynt's work grew more and more complex, and it
upset him that people didn't get the true meaning behind his words. My motto
for all my members at that time was to just write for yourself and to hell
with what everyone else thinks. However, I guess it got to Peer that he was
putting up very beautiful works and wasn't getting any intelligent responses
from the readers. Coupled with the fact that he was going through what I call
a "Neverwinter middle age syndrome", he turned in his resignation after a
personal meeting with me and left, never looking back. I tried my darndest to
keep him, for he was the bards guild, but it proved fruitless. Peer's
departure didn't affect me as the others had. I felt angry that he would just
toss in the towel like that. The funny and sad thing about it is, the last
true friend that I had from the old days, the one I had shared many nights
talking about classical music, or gabbing poetry with had gone, and from now
on nothing else about Neverwinter or its citizens would touch me ever again.

There were some nice, sweet memories from this guild that I left behind. The
piece that I composed for the death of Born's sister that was read at a wake
in Neverwinter Square, making me realize that perhaps the spirit of kinship
amongst members of Neverwinter's family were not dead afterall, the many
wacky guild meetings in private rooms that always ended up with someone
getting tossed into the racks, the series of concerts that we put on in
Southwall, the guild quest in the closing days of version1 that netted 100
people online for our event, the dozens of battles in the woods that we got
to attend and root for, the numerous wedding poems that I wrote when the
craze hit Neverwinter, the fellowship of intelligent guild mates that always
made me glad that I was previleaged to be a part of. Surely there were times
when I was the only guild member of the guild and wondered if it was really
worth hanging onto it all those years. Whenever I had doubts like these,
there were always friends who told me that a guild like mine was needed, and
without me, there would be no more bards in Neverwinter. Perhaps I found it
easier to leave my creation behind when I stopped listening to them, or
perhaps my time had finally come, reaching a point in my life that I no
longer was the bards guild, and Neverwinter was no longer a part of me.
Because I am no longer that girl some years ago that loved to gab and sing.
Time passes, people move on. Yesterdays are like dreams, half remembered and
always warm and fuzzy when returned to. Perhaps that's why I write this now,
to remember because I have no more songs left in me.

Aidynni's Memoirs of Neverwinter - Part 2

7: Anita, My My, Natasha666 and
Blacome

It's funny. I've jokingly claimed to be Lord Nasher, Handler1, or Azagthoth,
but I've never ever claimed to be anyone as totally different as Anita.
Although the shock that I and Anita were the same person wouldn't be as big
as disclosing it 3 years ago, it's a fact that I still have a bit of trouble
owning up to. She was cautionless, wild, southern talking gal that threw
etiquette and poise of my other selves out the window and slammed it shut for
good measure. Originally created because I wanted to show everyone that an
evil character was just as welcome in my guild as any, she overstayed her
welcome and just went totally out of control. I didn't know what to make of
Anita, and was really wary of playing my "evil" character out. But it was
her, not Aidynni nor Nimue, that met and befriended My My. I was sitting at
Daglows when we first met, having been both shunned and chewed out by another
player for being evil. I was ready for the same treatment from this stranger
with a funny name, but she was glad of my company, and agreed to go with me
to Longsaddle. On the way we picked up some guy that turned out to be an
asistant system administrator for NWN and another person named Blacome, who
later formed the Gray Knights of the Balance. I guess it was in those few
hours that I found that I had found a friend in My My, and was glad of her
company. She later on joined the helpers guild, who helped new players online
and showed them around Neverwinter. Our friendship remains to this day over
the years, her encouragement and care always managing to stave me off from
joining my other comrades in the netherworld. I must have tired her out from
all my constant complaints and laments about my lost friends over the years,
because I know if I was in her shoes, I would have told me to shut up and
leave already.

Oh, the trip to Longsaddle...I led the party to Longsaddle temple alright,
whereupon Blacome suddenly turned on us and called up Natasha666. And between
those two, we were killed rather easily for none of us could cast any spell
of import. When I managed to get back to the Longsaddle inn, My My was
sternly lecturing Natasha666 about her misdeeds via esp. I ignored Blacome,
who told me some rubbish about Natasha666 being his mistress and how he
obeyed her will. I would ignore and scorn Blacome ever afterwards, both as
Anita and Aidynni. He got the hint, I suppose, and shut his mouth when I
refused to answer him. I chatted with Natasha666, my conversation with her
months ago at the mages in Port Llast when she was in training ringing in my
ears. It was perhaps because she and I knew each other that I could forgive
her for it so easily, I suppose. Looking back on this now, I feel a bit
foolish about how I acted towards Blacome that day, for he was doing nothing
more than role-playing. Nevermind the fact that we told him and Natasha
repeatedly that we weren't interested in PVPing while they were frying us to
a crisp.

This experience in Longsaddle didn't sour the two of us for our taste for
adventure. I still thank My My in my heart for bringing me back from the
brink of cancelling, for without her, I don't think I would have stuck around
long enough for me to completely enjoy myself in my new calling in life,
newby baiting. The routine was simple, really. My My would gather a bunch of
new players while I "jumped" them at some point and threatened them with
certain death. It was fun watching the new players jump out of their skins
and not quite lose their fear of being zapped to death by me even when I
stuck around them and helped them get experience points. One time, I actually
cast resist fire one some hapless new player and proceeded to blast him with
a fireball. When he asked me nervously what I was doing, I happily replied
that I wanted to see how well I could protect him from myself, amidst nervous
laughter from the others. Those werer happy times, making friends with the
new players and feeling their joy of discovery renewing my waning interests
in Neverwinter. I wanted them to last forever, moments so precious and
sweet...Yet when I try to recall the names and the faces that me and My My
had the pleasure of helping out, I can't recall them. Perhaps it's just as
well. No one can be that lucky in life.

8: Cold Chill, Azagthoth, Lord Bane, Loucifer
and the MCA

There was a period in those early years when I exclusively played as Anita,
for HellHammer had gotten wind of who I was and sometimes invited me to fight
alongside him at Port Llast. I was so hooked up in this newfound adventure of
PVP that I've sometimes even forsook My My for it. Her stance on this matter
was rather firm anyway, and I ended up fighting those long nights along with
the GOC, where I met my old friends from COR and had the guilty pleasure of
trying to slay them. It was here that I met Loucifer of MCA, who later on
encouraged me to try my hand at some short stories. Without his encouragement
and criticism, I don't think I would have even attempted to go into the scale
of involvement that I committed myself in the GOH magazine. I still think of
good old Lou as my patron saint of literature. If you're reading this Lou,
I'd like to thank you for getting me off my butt and pointing me in the right
direction.

Learning about as much as I could from Hellhammer, and getting introduced to
the rest of the GOCites in the process, I felt pretty confident about the new
hobby of mine, so much in fact that Kalandryl of COR tried to recruit me to
the guild afterwards after a particularly confusing fight in Port Llast where
everyone was fending for themselves. He found out that I was evil after the
fight much to his chagrin since during the fight I was incessantly yelling
the COR battle yell, but we remained good friends afterwards until his
departure from the realms. As a matter of fact, the thing that was missing
from all these PVP battles online were the giant egos that are so prevailant
in today's Neverwinter. We were still one big happy family afterwards, often
talking for hours at an inn or having fun gabbing at the lounge. It was
always fun to chew the fat after a particular PVP battle, talking about
offline stuff or just going off in a big group to take on a beholder or two.
It kept us real. It made us into a tightly knit online family.

My adventures in Port Llast were numerous, for the place held one thing that
everyone wanted, quick and cheap exps at the mages battle. In time, it had
become passe' to go there, after so many of the neverwinterites abused the
facilities to gain quick maxed out characters. As a matter of fact, I myself
was guilty of this too, managing to finally max out Anita in about an hour.
There were about three characters that quickly gained their notoriety because
of that place, barring other players from abusing the mage battle. One was
Xxanthor, of whom I've never met since he came way after the others and by
that time, I was not interested Neverwinter to go and see for myself. The two
that I had the pleasure of pestering to death was Tharizdun, who I
mercilessly followed around and bugged, and of course Cold Chill, who had
proclaimed himself king of Neverwinter and played the part of a deranged
megalomaniac with corny perfection. I first ran into Cold Chill when he was
being attacked by the MCA outside the Port Llast Inn, and went into the fray
to investigate. There he was, surrounded by the MCA, getting multiple feebs
over and over. As I watched this go on, I thought it was pointless to let
this continue, and cast stinking cloud on Cold Chill. He promptly choked and
was slain by a boar as the others watched with laughter. Azagthoth didn't
think it was too funny though, and smacked me with a slay living that hit me
for 2 hit points. After the battle, I didn't see Azagthoth again until the
next day in the lounge, where we struck up a conversation and by the end, we
became good friends. I called him Zaggy ever afterwards, and even got to sing
at his wedding to Kimba/Mothra, who was another long time friend of mine who
had the habit of dumping off her new players on me while she offlined for
something important, leaving me with people with the personalities of card
board boxes. Unfortunately, it was at this wedding that I gave one of the
worst performances ever. That whole wedding was a sore point with me, and I
don't think I've ever forgiven myself for that awful piece of trash that I
crafted for two of my best friends online. After that fiasco, I couldn't
bring myself to read my poems in public and had to have other members of the
guild read it at various functions and gatherings. I wouldn't read in public
again until the days of version 2, when we had the two very successful
concerts in Southwall. If you're reading this, Kimba and Zaggy, I'm really
sorry for that awful poem:X I'm just glad that I didn't ruin the rest of the
evening!

The MCA eventually was run out of the sanctioned guild folder because Zaggy
wouldn't divulge the member roster, justifying his actions because he stood
by the guild's principles. By this time though, NWN had become so structured
and institutionalized that he didn't stand a chance. I watched with sadness
as the guild withered and disappeared, with Zaggy and Kimba leaving away in
anger.

Oh, and Cold Chill. One day, I took a new player to the port as bait so I
could actually attract him to me, and proceeded to humiliate him by having
the new player attack him while I had him held. He got back at me for that
humiliation though by ambushing and feebing both me and My My in Berun.
Everytime he was online, I got Anita and proceeded to bug him via esp. It got
so bad that he started to run away as soon as I was anywhere near him. But it
was all in fun though. We got together and ran one of the scenarios for our
guild quest. It was a blast to work with him. Whether people liked him or
not, Cold Chill brought new life into the game that was in danger of becoming
stagnant. And for that, we should thank him. He was a gentleman, and a fine
role player. I still miss hearing him yell, "Peon!"

The last person that I met and formed a long friendship in Port Llast was
Lord Bane. I met him at the inn and got him to agree to act like a bunch of
new players, abusing the mage battles for exps and hoping that other self
rightous people would jump us for it. It worked, and we had a good laugh as
we held the surprised and shocked players that were expecting helpless
newbies. We kind of drifted apart a few months afterwards as he became
scarcer and scarcer online. I was glad to talk to him if only for a few
minutes when version 2 came online, just to talk to an old friend.

9: Holy matrimony

Marriage was a big thing in Neverwinter for awhile, and it seemed on certain
months that you couldn't walk a few paces in Neverwinter without somehow
finding yourself at a wedding. The whole trend had stared with Viznek and Aly
Oops, who has the distinction of being the first wedded couple in
Neverwinter. I had a chance to spend some time with the happy duo in
Longsaddle, and managed to keep myself from crafting a song about them like I
had done with Doswacko and Ladydos. Actually, Viz and I had been friends from
the first few months in Neverwinter, so I was happy for him when he managed
to "settle down" with a nice girl like Aly Oops since rumors persisted around
that Viz was quite the cassanova and wouldn't pass up a chance to flirt with
the other ladies online. Over the years though, he's been more like an old
familiar blanket of mine. Always there to remind me of past happy days of
endless summer nights. He's the last link to my past, of times spent in
adventure with Father Moy, Koolbrez, gabbing with Handler1, Hanging out with
Pentagrame and Branwynn....tagging along with Hellhammer and the rest of the
GOC gang..The fights at the port with Xavier, Lou, Kalandryl and the rest of
the COR gang...laughing at Xandra's glib, witty esps..

My My was a magnet for marriage proposals. She always seemed to have someone
new always falling for her and asking for her hand in marriage. She always
turned them down however. Plenty of others weren't as resistant about
matrimony as her though. Wraith1391, the last of the COR guild masters that I
was to know as a close friend, tied the knot with Kalandryl. I heard that it
was a beautiful ceremony, and of course I wrote a poem as a gift to them,
read by My My during the wedding. I dared not show up in public for a reading
in those days. The sting of Kimba & Zaggy's disasterous wedding poem was
still fresh in my mind.

I was not immune to this latest fad. Anthrax, the newly appointed guild
master of GOC had been proposing to me for about a week and I had been
refusing him. Like all GOC guild masters before him, he was a good friend of
mine and I didn't want our friendship turned into a sham by jumping on the
latest bandwagon. At one point, I stated that he was better matched with
Natasha 666, but he told me glumly that she was already expecting that he
would ask her and thought that she was too power hungry. After another day of
this and that, we had a contest. If he would defeat me in PVP, then I would
agree to marry him. I was rather vexed and angry when I was immediately
fumbled on the first cast, and thus had to marry. But this was not to be, for
he told me after the fight to ask Arwen if it was okay for me to marry him. I
did so and her reply was that he was still hurt by the loss of Snow, his true
love, and needed a woman who would take care of him and be by his side. So I
promptly thanked her and told Anthrax that Arwen had said no. That was the
end of it and Anthrax did not bother me about marriage ever again afterwards.
We continued to be good friends afterwards, and it was he who made a place
for me in the Guild of Heroes magazine so I could continue with my literary
endeavors. It was much later on down the years that he asked whether I was a
bit uneasy about our past. What's there to say? Some things are best left as
they are.

My run in with Temptis came full circle in the heydays of version 1 when
Temptis started to chase me through the realms as a wacky suitor. I have to
say that I enjoyed every minute of it. He was exciting, always unpredictible,
and had a bundle of energy to burn. We both knew that it was all in good fun
and we had a blast doing it. Him doing the chasing and me doing the running.
He was and always will be a true gem of Neverwinter. With him around, I
always felt and knew that he'd make things happen. And for a few moments that
I was with him, he brought back the memories of the olden days, both of us
traveling down the cobbled streets of Triboar where I first met him as
Aidynni.

My last and final proposal came in the waning days of version 1 in the woods,
and it was from Handler1. I thought he was joking. I had known Handler1
longer than anyone, and for him to get into a fad like that would have seemed
pointless since he's been able to stay out of the marriage race this long.
Little did I know that he had already been rejected by My My some time ago
and by the time I got through being high and mighty and lecturing him on how
ridiculous the idea sounded, he left. I esped him to ask him if he was
serious about this, and he replied, "Since when is anyone serious about
anything anymore?"

This is not the way I envisioned my relationship with Handler1 to end. But
there it was. I should have seen it coming. He had once asked My My whether I
had a personal dislike towards him, and I suppose all those years, I wasn't
exactly nice as I could be with Handler1, even though he's been there with me
and for me all those years. I did meet him again once in the beginning days
of version 2. We talked for awhile about how the place and the people had
changed. He was rather chagrined by the attitude that some of the new players
exhibited. Then that was it. I never saw him again afterwards. That's how my
relationship with one of the true icons of Neverwinter and one of the family
members of the old class of Neverwinter ended. To say that I have no regrets
about this is an understatement, I suppose. Kinds of things that are best
left in the dustbins of time, to be faded away.

10: The slow end

In the last few months of version 1, I met a few people online that would
make a big impact on the New Neverwinter. One was Malhavok, who I've met
while resting at Daglow's. He wanted to know if I would be interested in
marrying Blaylock. I replied, "yuck!" and to my dismay he esped Blaylock my
reply, causing him to huff over to the inn and started to complain why I
thought he was not right. We all had a big laugh out of the whole bruhaha.
Ever since that, we esped each other occasionally when we found ourselves
together online. I've followed Malhavok's progress through the years, first
in the Sierra Network where he started his guild, KAAOS, and shrugged as he
transferred it over to Neverwinter, eventually eclipsing the other guilds and
setting a new standard in guild management and rp lingo. It's rare to see a
guild dominate the Neverwinter landscape like KAAOS. I've never seen anything
like it in all my years of NWN. And it was only possible because Malhavok had
the attitude, the charisma, and the drive to make it all work.

With the death of version 1 came my death as a player in Neverwinter as well.
I found it hard to justify spending time in a place where I was now a
stranger. I could have applied for a staff position long ago like some of my
other friends, but Trollsbane advised me once not to do it, with good reason.
So with no commitments other than my writing obligations for the GOH
magazine, I began to slowly disappear and become a ghost. With that came the
loss of ties that I had worked so hard to weave as time passed and friends
disappeared. My last link to the GOC, Drk Anjel, was severed when she
resigned as the guild master. She didn't have to reach out to me, since I
hardly knew her at all. But she did. I suspect that she and I met under
another name some time ago, but I thank her anyway for her generosity in
considering that there were still bards in Neverwinter.

Time passes, people move on. Things can't stay and remain the same. I tried
to change with it, but now I feel that my time for change has come to an end.
This work is my last stand, my last link to Neverwinter as I knew it. I
wanted to share it with someone before the dreams of those Neverwinter
Nights, those few people in the beginning that were my brothers and sisters
so long ago fade away like memory. Thank you for reading and remembering them
with me.

--
Joseph Shraibman <*> TuPari on IRC http://pages.nyu.edu/~jks2557
jks...@is4.nyu.edu (for my other email address see web page)
PGP fingerprint: 1D 8D 94 48 79 C6 B1 5E 18 9F 09 5A CE F1 76 8E

[Kin Hoong CHUNG]

Joseph K Shraibman (jks...@is4.nyu.edu) wrote:
: (Published in the 3/2/97 News of the Realms, AOL keyword NEVERWINTER)

: Aidynni's Memoirs of Neverwinter - Part 1

Swords, scrolls, magic... what has this got to do with computers?
Alright, I will admit magic, and maybe scrolls, but swords??

Cheers,

Kin Hoong

[Carl R. Friend]

Kin Hoong CHUNG wrote:
>
> Swords, scrolls, magic... what has this got to do with computers?
> Alright, I will admit magic, and maybe scrolls, but swords??

They're really good for disconnecting the power to DOS/Win/NT
boxes...

--
______________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin) | West Boylston |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast | Massachusetts, USA |
| mailto:carl....@stoneweb.com | |
| http://www.ultranet.com/~engelbrt/carl/museum | ICBM: N42:22 W71:47 |
|________________________________________________|_____________________|

[jmfb...@ma.ultranet.com]

In article <33374AE0...@swec.com>,

"Carl R. Friend" <carl....@swec.com> wrote:
>Kin Hoong CHUNG wrote:
>>
>> Swords, scrolls, magic... what has this got to do with computers?
>> Alright, I will admit magic, and maybe scrolls, but swords??
>
> They're really good for disconnecting the power to DOS/Win/NT
>boxes...
>

I was wondering what piece of auxilliary equipment I was missing [laughing
emoticon here].

/BAH - subtract twenty to e-mail