Catbirds it’s even better!

Grey, I’m glad it amused you! As mentioned earlier, the characters here are based on a group of people I lived and worked among when I lived in Walhalla, a mining ghost town (population 17 at the time). Paradise! They are all long dead now, except for me, but I think they would have been greatly entertained by being in a story, since at the time I mostly wrote poetry and they liked being in my poems, especially if those poems got published or broadcast. Even old Bill, who was a serious hermit of the kind who would see off trespassers with a shotgun full of rock salt except for a couple of days a year. Though Jack and I liked him fine. I figured that group would fit fine in the Minnaverse. And I hear Kitty is still there, friends who still own land there have seen her now and then. She has quite a story, and I like her. Her grave is one of the nicest spots in the area.

Alkia, I love your artwork! What great friends for the crew to celebrate with.

Grey, the second part to your story was very compelling and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Catbirds, your artwork is lovely!! The light from the window, and Reynir's sleeping face, and all the little doodles and details make it really wonderful.

Róisín, your writing is wonderful as always - you get a real sense for the people and place and attitudes within it! As another Australian, I always enjoy reading your fics about the rash in our country.

Tehta, wow! Your game is really fun and engaging - it took me quite a few passes to get a non-meh ending! And all the different writing for all these different results - just wow!

Jitter, what a beautiful poem! While I don't speak a lick of Finnish, I enjoyed reading the Finnish version just to get a sense of the rhythms and sounds of the poem (which I feel are a very important part).

Keep, your poems are actually so captivating and pleasing to read! It reminds me of the epics I liked in high school, with the vibrant images of nature. Did you pay attention to the stressed syllables, or were they there coincidentally?

I very much do pay attention to the stressed syllables! This poem is a sonnet, so it's very important that it's in iambic pentameter (five unstressed/stressed syllable pairs per line) - otherwise it loses what makes it a sonnet, y'know? But once you're used to writing within a certain meter, the rhythm often comes quite naturally to you. My mother's a poet, so I grew up having a lot of poetry read to me, which is probably why the rhythm of it comes easier to me than it does to a lot of other people.

Meter is very important in a lot of epic poetry, because epic poems were created in order to pass long stories through spoken form - it's far easier to remember and recite something when it has a rhythm, and also means you can put music to it! So it's no surprise that the rhythm in my poetry reminds you of the epics. A lot of modern free-verse poetry doesn't have so much emphasis on rhyme schemes or rhythmic meter, because it's not so much written to be sung or recited, but to be read on a page or spoken out loud in a different kind of performative manner - breaking from rhythmic regularity allows you to bring more emphasis to certain words and phrases - isolating them, stressing them more, breaking the normal pattern of speech, and thus adding to the meaning of the poem. Each type of poetic writing has its own value!

@tehta, that is awe-inspiring.  I managed to get the Christmas miracle (yay!) and a result with four injuries.  I have not managed to get five injuries, though I keep trying.

In case you're still stuck and want a hint

Spoiler: show

There are many ways to get five injuries, but all of them require Onni to decorate. If that leads to an injury, you're on the right track.

I did have Onni decorate; that's how I got four.  I will have to try switching up some other people.

"You have accumulated zero elements of Yuletide cheer, which is awful, while allowing four injuries to occur on your watch, which is terrible."

Zero elements of Yuletide cheer!

Is it possible to get zero elements PLUS five injuries?  So far the best I've done on injuries is five injuries and three elements.

This concludes our Advent Calendar for the year 2021, and WHAT a year it has been!  Thank you all for being on this ride with us.

Thanks go out to our contributors: skranken, alkia, thegreyarea, Jitter, catbirds, Keep Looking, Róisín, Clayres, moredhel, and Gwenno!  Some of you contributed twice, you're spectacular. 

I want to single out tehta for a special mention, coming up with two contributions, one of which is that game that keeps on giving!  I have not gotten through all the combos of players, but my hat is off to you for the whole construction!

Wow wow wow! 

This is amazing! I'll have to make a list to properly comment all this!

Meanwhile many thanks to our extraordinaire promoter, organizer and contributor Wave! You are awesome!