After many years away I decided to check out what’s been going on with the Realms of Despair.  I was active in the game from about 1998-2003 or so and returning after so much time has been quite the experience.

I logged in on Thursday April 4, 2013 and created a new character, hoping to find either someone I knew or perhaps even the keeper of my old characters.  It wasn’t long before I found Zistrosk, the Guildmaster of the Guild of Druids, who has been a friend of many years.  With a loaner avatar from him I was freed from the constant need for food and drink, a simple but annoying part of pre-avatar life!

Even logging in and sitting at Guild of Druids recall brought back a flood of memories.  When I regularly played in 2002 I was engaged to a lady who also played the Realms, known as Aurale.  When we broke off our engagement I simply left the realms and didn’t find a way to play the game on my own again.  It seems odd after all this time that I would have to face that, but that’s exactly what came to the surface … mourning an old relationship that we both have moved far past as if it was still fresh.  I also had memories surface of the time I spent with the immortal Julie off the MUD and my grief when she died but I did mourn her back then and so while sad, the hurt was an old one and perhaps better healed.  I have to admit, it was the hardest part of rejoining the Realms.

There are many, many friends who are no longer in the realms; people from the Guilds of Druids and Rangers, from the Order of Dragonslayers, from the Symposium or the Newbie Council, the immortals I was acquainted with, heck even people who were just characters everyone knew.  So here’s a little shout out to some of them, drop me a line if you ever visit: Alisia, Illiana, Shingo, Pheayre, Hoerkin, Xopus, Forgrim, Dirca, Hawpch, Linda, Edmond … The list grows all the time as I wander the Realms, wherever you are, I hope you are all doing well.