Halloween Party Aftermath

Yeah, yeah, it’s been a while. If we ever gave the impression that we were punctual and responsible, we apologize and wonder what insane conspiracy theorist you picked that idea up from.

So, last thing we mentioned was a Halloween extravaganza. We are pleased to report it went off without a hitch and we hope to host more themed parties at the Tavern in the future, so stay tuned if that’s your beef!

(A WILD HOBBIT appears!

Wild Hobbit: Where’s the beef?!

Codella: Er...)
 

A little open mic complete with refreshments. Try not to fall in the bear pool.

For a breakdown of the schedule, please see the previous entry, because we are not typing all of that up again.

After a suitable number of people arrived at our gates (mostly from Sons of Numenor, thanks for the representation, guys!), Chalse and Codella began the tour, with Miri noticeably absent. We trucked on regardless and eventually discovered her lurking in dark corners throughout the tavern, being generally creepy.
 

No, that’s not a disembodied lantern, that’s our kinleader. *sigh*

Anyway, after the ghost incident was sorted and the guests were suitably terrified, we settled down with some good old bagpipe/pibgorn music then took a break with an open mic.
 

Costumes as follows: Codella (left) as a goblin, Mirinaeth (middle) as Rowena Ravenclaw, and Chalse (right) as a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people-eater.

Next was the costume contest! And what a doozy that was. First place was the gorgeous Fionwyn, second was the indecipherable Fincin (so...much...orange!), and third was the adorkable Thompetti. Congrats, guys! Oh, but we’re not done. As an unannounced treat, we added two categories for scariest and silliest costumes. What we didn’t anticipate was the same person winning both: Benjimir the giant chicken in overalls! (We estimate he managed two sentences in Westron the whole night, and that was only after successfully completing the Inn League challenge.)

[Picture removed after complaints of frightening young children and hobbits...and elves. No matter what she says.]

 

And what do you follow up with after such a display of artistic talent and tailor-ish prowess? Musical chairs, of course. What universe do you live in? With four participants and a little confusion after Miri almost dropped her bagpipes into the reflecting pool, we believe Xandrin won this round...or possibly Vierra. It was a long night, guys.

After another rousing set of spooky music, we moved outside for the ghost stories contest. The rules were simple: two sentences in which the contestants tried to scare our pants off. With a unanimous staff vote, Thompetti won the first round with this chilling number:

“We had just begun to dance and I asked her name… Sara Oakheart was all she said…”

Kind of curdles the blood, doesn’t it? Fionwyn stepped up next with a historically frightening tale that won the audience vote by a narrow margin:

“It is said that Ungoliant came from the black void beyond the skies over Arda, some fell spirit of utter emptiness who took the form of a giant spider. It is also said she was a corrupted Maiar who drained the sacred wells of Varda and it is from there her ravenous hunger came to be.”

As if we needed another reason to hate spiders. *shudder* Miri threw her hand in as well, though the text has since been mysteriously lost. A-hem...I said mysteriously! Anyway, Xandrin finished out the night with a light-hearted story that lifted our spirits and earned him a consolation prize:

“The ghost howls through the Haunted Burrow at midnight. He would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those pesky kids!”

Finally, it was time for our Halloween skit, with our special volunteer, Vierra! She was a great sport, and we had a ton of fun gamboling around the stage. We had time for one more open mic before we played the night away and scared everyone off with more pibgorn and even moor cowbell. Haha, get it... get it? Once everyone was gone we polished off the last of the booze and wound up in some interesting corners of Middle-Earth.
 

“...I have no memory of this place,” the hobbit dressed as a goblin stated sadly, as she was led away to a comfy jail cell.

So! As an apology for the lack of pictures in this post, we’ve included a special behind-the-scenes look at what we went through to prepare for this monstrosity of a party. Have fun!
 

This was an early exorcism concept gone horribly wrong. ...We ended up keeping the turtle heads, though.

Picture taking is often a long and tedious process. But there are some fun outtakes to get out of it!
 

Wherein Miri plays the part of Gollum, Chalse tries to run away, and Codella is so done with this.

Wherein Chalse is creepy, Miri attempts murder, and Codella is still definitely not looking.

Wherein there are two equally terrifying things happening in Miri and Coda’s line of vision...and Chalse is oblivious.

Some more of Ghost Miri. Once she figured out it was possible to emote while using Silvan Shadows, well...the rest is history.

It’s not all fun and games though. This is just one of many days we spent fishing for dirty skulls. ...It seemed like a good prize idea at the time!

And my personal favorite and because I love you all and sleep is overrated anyway:
 

Miri’s nightmare closeup shot. You're welcome.

Announcements!

Yeah, we’ve been a little inactive these past few weeks, sorry about that! In an effort to rectify this, have two exciting announcements!

1. Flock of Smeagols is finally back, Free Peoples! This Friday night, September 13th, at 10pm EST on the Scholar’s Stair Stage.

 

Come for the booze, stay for the music! (Or is it the other way around…?) Either way, it’ll be wild, it’ll be crazy, it might even be pretty on occasion...but don’t worry, that won’t last too long! Hope to see you all there!

2. So, you know how things have been a little dead around the Trapdoor Tavern lately? Well, things are about to get…

 

...Deader?

 Well, yeah. But in a more lively way! With a special Halloween Spooktacular, the tavern will come alive in a...more dead way. *sigh* You know what I mean.

Miri: Okay, that’s enough Forsaken Cider.

Coda: *whimpers*

Anyway! This isn’t just your average tavern night, however. Expect all sorts of games, contests, and prizes, from musical chairs (using spooky music, of course) to ghost stories around a campfire all the way to the obligatory costume contest!

The house band will also be playing a few sets and putting on something of a skit, but there will be an opportunity for open mic, so bring those bagpipes and pibgorns and get your most terrifying tunes ready!

A breakdown of the event, for those organizationally inclined:

Who: Flock of Smeagols, featuring Chalse and Codella Mosstoes and Mirinaeth Galadhlin

What: Halloween Spooktacular of Epic Proportions!

When: Friday, October 25th, 10pm EST--???

Where: The Trapdoor Tavern: 5 Stonemirk Street, Skimsby, Thorin’s Hall Homesteads (from the entrance, just hang a right and keep walking)

Why: Erm…

How: Okay, this seems a little unnecessary...

Schedule of Events:

Haunted Tavern Tour: See the demonic origins of the tavern and its adornments up close and personal with a narrated tour featuring your 3 lovely tour guides. Beginning at the street entrance at 10pm sharp. (Relatively sharp. Not quite dull… Kind of like a slightly rusty steak knife. Rather than one that’s been rusting in the bottom of a lake for a century or two. We have some of those actually, if anyone would like-- *gets knocked out by Miri*)

Flock of Smeagols Musical Interlude #1: Featuring all your Halloween favorites and maybe some you’re not quite as familiar with…

Open Mic and Main Dinner: Enjoy the talents of your fellow patrons as you take advantage of the tavern’s extensive menu and the kindness of your wonderful hostesses. Halloween recommendations: [drinks] Forsaken Cider, Blind Troll Stout, Toad’s Tongue Ale, [vittles] Bubble and Squeak, Spiced Apple Pie, [smokes] Muddy Foot.

Costume Contest: Everyone is welcome to participate, so don’t be shy! Step onto the stage and give it your all! After all, there are 3 separate prizes…

 

GO GO POWER CHAMPIONS! Dun-dun-dun-dun-da...

-First Prize: 2 gold, 6 black dye, 6 orange dye

-Second Prize: 1 gold, 4 black dye, 4 orange dye

-Third Prize: 500 silver, 2 black dye, 2 orange dye

-Rules:

1. May enter as an individual or a group. (If entering as a group, please have a leader who will receive your prize to divvy up among you.)

2. Only one entry per person.

3. Must have a clear costume theme or idea. (Character titles and emotes are optional, but are considered in the judging.)

4. Winners are decided by total vote of audience members and staff members; contestants cannot vote.

5. If you would like to be announced, please send a tell to either Chalse, Codella, or Mirinaeth and the member you chose will recite your blurb word for word...with maybe a few emote-ish embellishments.

Musical Chairs: All interactive furniture counts for this one, so grab an armchair, a bench, or a stool and come join the fun! Listen carefully as Miri plays a short (but spooky!) song then grab a seat as soon as the music ends! Good luck to everyone, because the winner will be taking home a very special piece of furniture indeed.

 

So special.

Flock of Smeagols Musical Interlude #2: Now that Miri’s all warmed up, it’s time for a second set of creepy music that’s sure to send the chills down your spine...

Short Ghost Stories Contest: For this event, we’ll be trekking back outside to huddle around a campfire and tell stories specifically designed to creep out all your friends! But where does the contest part come in? Oh yeah…

 

“And the two little hobbits were never heard from again…”

-Staff vote prize: 2 gold, Wintertusk trophy, 1 black wall paint, 1 pumpkin-orange wall paint

-Audience vote prize: 1 gold, 50 dirty skulls, 1 black wall paint, 1 pumpkin-orange wall paint

-Rules:

1. Stories must be told in 2 sentences or less.

2. Content restrictions...there are no content restrictions. Go crazy! The scarier the story the better, because the winner (of the staff vote prize anyway, I can’t speak for the audience) will be the reason we can’t sleep for a week.

Halloween Skit: Featuring the…“talents” of your lovely staff members, sit back and enjoy a short production. You’ll scream! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You might even sneeze violently! (Well, you probably won’t sneeze. At least we hope not.)

 

You’re just lucky we don’t have a fourth band member…YET.

Open Mic and Last Call for Dinner: Missed the earlier open mic? Still craving that last midnight snack? Not a problem! Get on that stage and rock the house as your 3 hostesses return to being tavern wenches for a little while longer. (Not to worry though, the booze will always be flowing as long as there’s a need for it!)

Final Flock of Smeagols Musical Interlude: The house band is back and ready to shake it down til the end of the night! If you made it this far, congratulations! We’ll keep playing as long as there’s people who want to hear us...and maybe even beyond that.

That’s all folks! Hope to see you at some of these events and stay tuned for more entertainment!

 

...As soon as we figure out where our pants went.

Social Commentary: Weatherstock V!

Well, it’s been quite an eventful few months in the music scene for Flock of Smeagols (with our special guests from Don’t Tempt Me Frodo). Here to update you on this and other Landrovalian musical goings-on is your very own hobbit lass, Codella Mosstoes, in this blog’s very first Social Commentary!

First, in case there are some among our readers with the dreadful misfortune to not have the immediate reaction of screaming in excitement upon hearing the phrase ‘Weatherstock’, some explanations are in order.

The full gathering!

Weatherstock is an annual musical event organized by the illustrious Landroval group The Lonely Mountain Band. Every year, an enormous group of people flock to the Lone-Land’s most recognizable landmark in celebration of good music, great times, and lots of booze! (See, it’s a play off of the words Weathertop and Woodstock and...yeah, maybe better not to explain the joke.)

The preconcert concert held at the Forsaken Inn. For comparison’s sake, this is a smaller crowd.

Anyway, this year the festival boasted a record of over 700 people in attendance with only one mildly frustrating server malfunction during the Battle of the Bands...but that’s a later topic. For right now, all you need to know is that Weatherstock is the pinnacle of musical events in the world of MMO’s and we’re gonna talk about it!

First off, let’s meet the band...

From left to right: Chastine Banejones (leader of Silverlode’s Don’t Tempt Me Frodo), Codella Mosstoes (right-hand hobbit of Landroval’s Flock of Smeagols), Falillith Bane (right-hand elf of Don’t Tempt Me Frodo), and Durrann Duran (leader of Flock of Smeagols).

This particular poster advertises the official Concert Series, wherein each band plays a regular length concert (approximately an hour, with possible extensions depending on the amount of rotten fruit coating their instruments by the end). 

The reason we’re all facing different directions is both relevant and important. However...it escapes me at the moment. I know there was spinning involved...I was playing the bagpipes...and a cowbell at one point...Miri? Help?

As you can well imagine, our concert went off without a hitch...from what we can remember. Lots of beer, guys, lots. Our audience seemed to enjoy themselves, at any rate.

Fireworks: Odobocar likes them. Take note, Landroval. (This is during Mortal Kombat by the way, just in case you couldn’t figure out why Chas would be shouting “FINISH HIM.”)

Coming up to the big event, we had our first major group malfunction: Falillith was no longer available to play at Weatherstock! What’s a mostly functional band to do? Fortunately, Codella’s long-lost sister-in-law Chalse Mosstoes was available to play, soooo the show goes on!

The newest member of Flock of Smeagols: say hello, everyone! From left to right: Durrann, Codella, Chalse Mosstoes (kinshobbit of Flock of Smeagols), and Chastine.

Our dress rehearsal at the Old Stone Ruins in Bree: Sing it, Chas!

Finally, the big day arrives! Dressed in our finest, the band splits ways: Codella and Durrann (who, if you remember, is Miri in disguise), being the dedicated reporters that we are, decide to stay with the crowd and witness both the pre-concert concert and the walk up to Weathertop.

Complete with fireworks, The Andune Ensemble entertains only a portion of the audience that will eventually show up at Weatherstock. Good luck finding us in this...being the two shorter races in Middle Earth can have its disadvantages!

(Meanwhile, Chalse and Chastine take the road less traveled, quite literally, and camp out at the summit to avoid the crowds. Smart move, guys.)

Mounting up for the escorted journey to Weatherstock. Formation, you say? Chaos, I think you meant...

Finally, we arrived at the ruin, miraculously still beside one another. Now, to find our other two band members... Chalse was pretty simple to find, as she was standing on a wall jumping up and down and occasionally performing flips. Yup, that’s my family. Chastine remained elusive, however.

Where, oh where has that elf gotten to?

Finally we located her lurking near a pillar at the back of the group. Band members intact; now to dance, cheer on the other bands, and drink copious amounts of alcohol! Whatever you do, don’t eat the brown lembas.

You heard that, right Chas? ...Right?

As the opening ceremony shot off, we took the time to scan the highly diverse crowd for familiar faces or...interesting wardrobe choices, as the case may be.

And the award to the most unfortunate combination of colors goes to...I’m sorry Sir, I didn’t get your name. Too busy staring at your orange hat.  And of course we have the dynamic duo Breyog and his friend Zylandyria from Sock Drawer Weazyls.  They’re always dressed to impress (...circus goers).

Not to mention this odd doppelganger effect going on around the stage. I’m pretty sure I only had the one Beakbreaker so far...

Sorry, Harperella, got a little distracted there. You were saying?

After a fantastic start with some Old Winyards and a second round of the Andune Ensemble, the main event finally gets off the ground!

Night has fallen and it’s time for debauchery! ...er, music!

The Songburrow Strollers from Laurelin kicked it off with a funny little tune popularly referred to as “Catfish Action” concerning fishing as a hobbit (though let it be known the Strollers do not discriminate based on race). RKO (AKA Runic Knights Orchestra) of Brandywine took the stage next with justifiable aplomb, followed by the second band of Laurelin, The Shades, famous for their original compositions, and the beautiful, poised group Mornie Alantie of Vilya.

Harperella got to take a break from announcing at this point and handed over the stage to the capable Galenhir, who handled the introductions for the next four bands.

First up in the 2nd third of the show: A Rock and a Hard Place of Dwarrowdelf, newcomers to Weatherstock! Be nice now, everyone!

Following the Dwarrowdelfers (Dwarrowdelfians?) were The Chosen Few of Laurelin (no longer quite “a few”, having eleven total members with seven present at Weatherstock), the dynamic Die Meisterbarden von Bree of Vanyar, and The Breakfast Club, the oldest kinship of the Crickhollow server.

Whew, what a show! Obviously, we all know the next step: smoking! And again: avoid the brown lembas.

Accompanied by Smoke on the Water, courtesy of Old Winyards.

Finally, the time slot we’ve been waiting for: Flock of Smeagols featuring Don’t Tempt Me Frodo! Everyone ready to go? Codella, check. Durrann, er...nice outfit. Check. Chalse, check. Chas...anyone seen Chas??

How many times, Chas? We don’t eat the brown lembas. *sigh* Alright, who did it?

For the following pictures, we must give a shoutout to our last-minute band addition, Chalse Mosstoes! Thanks for the excellent photography, Chalse!

One successful rejuvenation later, Flock of Smeagols/Don’t Tempt Me Frodo is ready to go!

...Chas might still be a little affected by that lembas. First song up: Let’s Go to Mordor! (To the tune of We Go Together from that popular title, Grease!)

A sad fact indeed.

Next up: The Trapdoor Tavern Reel, featuring the composition talents of both of your talented co-authors: Codella and Mirinaeth (in this case known as Durrann)!

Third on the setlist: Thriftshop! Originally planned as Lalia’s Shop, complete with lyrics, we owe our musical consultant Eddenwulf a huge shoutout for his composition skills. You’re the best!

Fourth and last in the set: Troll You Up (Again) with music by Rick Astley and lyrics by our very own Chastine! A crowd favorite for Don’t Tempt Me Frodo, this year and last!

Flushed with the success of our set, we settled back to watch the remaining two bands: Andunie of both Landroval and Laurelin (pictured here) and the band that never sleeps: Animal House!

Finally, time for the awards ceremony! Our group lingered near the back of the crowd, waiting with bated breath... The Light in the Dark award (a people’s choice vote counted with raised hope tokens at the end of each band’s set) goes to: The Shades! Congratulations, guys!

The second award, the LMB Cup (decided upon by the good folk of The Lonely Mountain Band), goes toooo... Andunie! More congratulations are in order! A close run this year too, sounds like; so many good options to pick from!

Now on to the next (and last) big event: Battle of the Bands! The idea behind this little segment is to line the bands up around the perimeter of Weathertop, have them all play at once, and allow the audience to stand in front of their favorite band to vote for them. This year...it didn’t quite go down that way. Enter: server breakdown.

All dressed up and...why aren’t we playing anything? Why isn’t anything moving?

I’ve always heard that imagining the audience in their underwear makes you less nervous but when you see the actual thing...there might be a problem.

After some time of increasingly impressive glitches, our hosts finally decided an alternate approach was in order: an online voting poll. Giving plenty of time for the votes to trickle in, the winner appears to be...Die Meisterbarden von Bree! Fantastic, everyone, what a group!

And whew, what a concert! Seven and a half hours later, we’re finally ready to head home. See you guys next week and ride safe! *faint*

Links of interest concerning Weatherstock:

1. PineleafNeedles livestream: a full day’s worth of footage with fantastic commentary

http://www.twitch.tv/pineleafneedles/b/433303827

2. MMO Reporter livestream: another wonderful livestream with commentary (this is a link to part one but the other sections are easily found)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIAey2_vv9o