Ritz Orton

[knifey]

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Ritz was a very special character to me and I've never experienced this kind of emotion or catharsis in a video game. I'll start by saying I love this community - the players, the team, everyone. I've gone back and forth on writing this, debating whether I had it in me to see her to the end or to simply allow it to happen off-screen.

I've decided on the latter as it became a bit much for me to hold space for the character's mindset, and it was difficult for me to find motivation to play her following the death of (almost) all her friends.

She was my 2nd PC on this server, after a small stint biting off more than I could chew with a Modini Detective (in hindsight, not the best idea for a first character). I was greatly inspired by Manta Wholt and wanted to interact with this culinary world, and thought maybe he could use some competition.

"Pretzel Fencer" was one of my first thoughts, match that with the thematic relevance of a fencer using chef knives/short swords, and now we're cooking. I had also mis-thought that cooking was an intelligence skill and believed there would be some mechanical cohesion with an INT forward fencer. But alas, I thought wrong. Oh well - it was still a blast.

I'm happy I got to level 10 and was able to see the Pretzel Fencer in action, but I wasn't able to hold it for long. It's hard keeping a mentally unwell, fire and blood adjacent chef alive for extended periods of time (is what I tell myself to cope and refuse to learn from my mistakes).

She really took off, at least for me, following Manta's death at Vae Mojem. I had to dip out before the point of no return, and I decided to lean into that as some sort of djinn-related PTSD - and well, that's where her journal picks up. I wanted to touch on the cooking-brooking trope/meme from a different angle and explore the ideas of what happens in the wake of tragedy, trauma, and grief - an unfortunate reflection of my life at the time.

One thing I regret is not writing a cookbook, but that's something I'll likely pursue on a future PC!

Special shout out to these PCs - and so many more:

Manta
The Gold League
Grenth
Cort and Selwyn
Luther
Calliope
Garen
And a certain Makhyoon

I hope you all enjoyed her as much as I did, even if a lot of things didn't pan out. What can I say, she had commitment issues.

Without further adieu - Ritz Orton:

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[The sun sets over a remote canyon, in the distance a great fire illuminates the sky - a vast plume of smoke, dancing with the illusion that the demon lingers longer than it ought.]

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Stats and Loot

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The First Dinner

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Post-Mojem

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[The smoke grows thick in the air, and the source of the blaze becomes apparent. The fuel unclear, the bones of a well-suited caravan turn to ember and ash. A set of tracks approaches the eye of the storm. Another set of tracks departs into the dunes.]

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The Murder

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Mastering the Art of Cooking

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Gerg and the Oven Spirits

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[The ground turns to slush underfoot, the sand is wet. A thick, viscous slosh. Any further would spell doom, but in the near distance - just a glimpse, a flash. A door closes.]

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A Clockhand's Birthday

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Vengeance

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Answers

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[Dugs]

Rhuk had to be the #1 customer! Enjoyed a lot of what you did with this PC, cool to see you had stuff I had no clue about too!

Best of luck on your next, and remember kids!


If they COOKS, the BROOKS!

[zerotje]

We had great drama and religious RP, thanks for that it was fun
And for giving continuity to <spoiler> that was unexpected and cool

[Lannister]

Ritz was one of those characters that I tried to interact with because I could see how interesting they were. Sadly due to timezones it just never really worked out.

They were great and your efforts to breath life into them were recognised and certainly made people want to interact with you!

The Well is less for her departure.

I look forward to your next.