[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I think Pitchwife's summary of the Finlandmoot (especially accompanied by Nog's and Esty's pictures for a better idea) is worth Bilbo Baggins' Annual Literary Prize, and there would be very little to add. I believe it could be better described perhaps by the one who stood at the beginning of the abovementioned Die Kunst der Wurst Ensemble, that is, Hookbill Himself - at least he was the one who started humming during one long evening in Nogrod's appartment the mysterious words "Das ist Wurst, Das ist Wurst, ja", which ensued in chorus which can be readily compared to that of the thirteen Dwarves on a different evening in Bilbo Baggins' house. Nogrod then only did the simple thing that he recorded, polished and edited the sound - I am sure a link will appear here sooner or later, if there is interest. That, in case you readers haven't gathered that yet, was one of the greater activities we managed to do since Pitchwife left us; the other one, preceding it, and possibly worth mentioning, was visiting a local amusement park in Helsinki, where especially Shasta must have made the impression that he is a servant of Ulmo, given how many times (and maybe it was the magical seven times?) he attended one of the local rollercoasters, more specifically, the one whose speciality was drenching you in water at the end.

I would probably have very little to add otherwise to the already large account of the great Finlandmoot 2011 without feeling repetitive. Perhaps I might at least contribute with some impressions I have gathered, especially relating to the present 'Downers, of whom many I haven't met before. Generally, even though I am basically a naturalised Finn by now and have attended two such 'Downer meetings in that far northern country, the third time was this far the best time. Of course, it has been this far the longest moot and also with the largest number of participants.

I won't go speaking here much of the Finns, in whose company I have spent already quite a lot of time, but about those many whom I haven't met before. There was one whom I didn't know even much from posting on the 'Downs, and that was Squatter. I had read some of his posts in some older threads, but I didn't know anything more about him before meeting him. At first I wasn't sure how he is going to turn out, but after the initial moments of carefulness, which accompany every meeting with people you don't really know, he turned to be a cheerful companion with sense of humour, and supplied us all also with rather geeky Tolkien-esque material, including among others photos of baby Tolkien and "tourist guide" which could be well used for making a Tolkien-related pilgrimage, if anybody intended to visit the important places connected with the Professor's life. Simultaneously with Squatter, we had the arrival of Oddwen, whom I knew a bit better from 'Downs interactions, but still it was nice to meet her. I would say more of us will possibly agree that she turned to have a bit more wicked sense of humour than we have expected, but her sense of humour was an important addendum to the show, so to speak. Despite what I said about the wickedness, I think she is a lovely person, which was shown also by the memorable gifts she brought to all of us, mystical runestones with "G3" inscribed on them. With the two of them, we spent the first official day (or afternoon and evening) of Finlandmoot visiting Helsinki's forest which is for some reason called "the Central park", playing Apples to Apples and dissing Mel Gibson (for his performance in Braveheart - probably had something to do with Squatter's proud British heritage).

On the second day after the first guests' coming (not counting myself), there were two people who turned out to be very close to what I have imagined them as: Esty and Hookbill. I have yearned to meet them for a long time and now it happened both at once. Esty is as delightful a personality as she is on the 'Downs, very kind and very nice to talk to - part of that is also because she is very interested in everything and therefore one gets to speak about many things with her (it may seem to resemble a Pippin-Gandalf dialogue, even though the roles keep changing during the time). Her reading of LotR on her last evening was very emotional just as Pitch had mentioned. Hookbill, on the other hand, raises a different kind of emotions, as you can imagine if you have ever read The Downer, but he is also a nice and merry fellow (only his boots are not yellow). I also managed to get a Phantom and Alien cartoon drawing into my notebook, which I shall now bear proudly.

Next in the list of participants, by the date of arrival, would be Pitchwife, and here he already managed to tell everything about himself, I believe, so there are no surprises to be made. Now as for myself, I've been looking forward to meeting him, but the reality surpassed my expectations. How should I put it so that it does not sound like something ridiculous. .. Well, he is hilarious and German. Okay, that was definitely a bad way to do it. No, he's a lovely person, both witty and funny. And from now on, whenever I am reading his posts, I am sure I will imagine him saying it with his voice. His sudden yells of amused horror (or how should I put it), like when in live-Werewolf he caught Skip making a Wolfy slip -"If we don't kill an innocent today..."- (sadly he did not hold on to it), are something I shall remember probably for a very long time.

Shasta is a 'Downer I have played quite many Werewolf games with, but did not know him much otherwise. He surprised me completely, and in the most positive way. He is funny and has a great artistic talent, which I would almost envy him (his and Esty's performance of reciting the Ring-verse was one memorable experience). Even though it is obviously far more difficult for him to come to Europe than for the Europeans (and he could tell you about his adventures at the Paris airport), I would very much like to meet him again, too.

Rikae, Mac and the lovely Wereduckling (even though corrupted by Aganzir's education and taught to eat 'evil people') were other people on my list whom I really wished to meet at some point, and I really enjoyed meeting them, even though the time was really short to get to know them as much as I would have wanted. Well, at least the Wereduckling I managed to get quite well acquainted with (as everyone did, being pursued by her much of the time, see above for the explanation about 'evil people'), but also Mac and Rikae were very kind (with Rikae maybe having a bit mean streak to her, which worked well in encouraging people to play the "pointing game" and asking sometimes mildly mean questions to each other) and really reminded me of their Werewolf-selves, too (in the positive way!).

The last two... ahem, alright, three to have joined us, Skip and Kath and The Expectedly Unexpected Rune (of whom most people assumed that he won't be able to resist to come... and lo, he did!), I have met already once (in Rune's case twice) before, two years ago (uhh... has it been that long?). Rune has been around only briefly this time, but I think he tried to catch up the best way he could, and already knowing him well from before, it was fun to see him again. Skip this time had the proper chance to show his musical (and dancing... ) qualities, and also his skill as a fisherman in the Finnish lakes (and hence managed to amuse the Wereduckling with a couple of living fish in a bucket when we needed to take care of cleaning Nog and co.'s summer cabin). Concerning Kath, actually speaking of art, this time I was surprised to find out how really nice is her singing (as proven especially during the last days in relation to the Wurst ensemble, but also outside it). I am also baffled by how she can manage to be such a merry person all the time, basically working as a little sunshine (in that, possibly taking over a bit the Wereduckling's role).

All in all, the time we have spent together - from the summer cabin through Helsinki, its islands, Tallinn, amusement park, wherever we were - has been one of the loveliest in my life, and I am most grateful for all of it. Thank you, and once again, thank you all! And thank you, the Barrow-Downs... and as Esty had pointed out to us participants as well, thank you, Professor.