Happy Yulefest and a Merry New Year

*blows the dust off the screen*
*cough hack cough ahem*

Is this thing on?
Ah, first, apologies to anyone who thought there was a new comic after seeing the blog being updated, but I figured I should at least post something before the year was over.

For those who haven’t realized yet, your prodigal hobbit has been sorta kinda back in middle-earth for over a month now after wandering around jumping around WildStar and ArcheAge among other things. I’ve done some good chicken whacking and got my very own emergency food suppl- I mean, adorable pet chicken! You can find me coping with the degenerates every Saturday at the Pony nowadays.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of grinding the yulefest to buy whatever items I have lost and to complete the deeds. There has got to be a better way to have fun in festivals other than grinding for tokens, really. Through much patience I have finally acquired all the yule warsteed cosmetics and cosmetic companions. Yes, I am such a hopeless packrat as ever.

I am also almost done with doing errands for silly horse people of Eastemnet and next year I should be able to finally set foot in Gondor after all these years. At least they gave me some good food. I want my own mead hall, darnit!

Welp, time goes by so fast and maybe you’ll be able to see more posts from me next year, and just maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe if you’re lucky enough, a comic strip. No promises though!
I hope you have had a good year, and to have better one from tomorrow and forth!

– Carica, the Prodigal Chicken.

Carica Gets (NOT) Spam Mail

So, there I was, taking part in the Fellowship Walk for the baby bobbits, when the mail pigeon told me that I had a new mail waiting to be read. Because it happened just as we were leaving Bree however, I couldn’t check the mailbox for hours since then.
I was gradually getting curious what the mail could be as the mail notification icon kept taunting me, and I said to my kinmates that it would be funny if the mail I have wondered about for so long happened to be merely a spam mail.

And that’s when it happened.

Soon after, my mail notification started dinging (shaking to let you know you have new notification) and dinging and dinging even more constantly for literally dozens of times.
At first I thought “Oh great, I got more mail I can’t check,” but the much-too-frequent interval and the absurd quantity started making me nervous.
“Oh god, am I being bombarded with Unwanted Mail? Wormy Apples? Muffins? Or could it even be metal ingots?!”
And I was helpless, because we were out in the field of Lone-lands, walking across the Last Bridge and heading towards Bilbo’s Trolls, and nobody thought to place any mailbox on the route! I really ought to speak to Postman Redsmith about this.

Much later with the Fellowship Walk over at last, I made my way back to Michel Delving to finally solve the mystery of unread mails and found 30 parcels – yes, every mail had an item in it – so lovingly (Bah) crafted by tricksy man and hobbit!
The original mail that I wondered about was from Godwineson, sending me 13 Black Dust. Apparently when I made a claim that I do not eat metals but food that’s rich in mineral, he thought I would want to make mud-pies! The nerve! But after that, it was all Floradine – bless her soul – having fun with the mathoms (cough*junk*cough) she has acquired during the early part of the Fellowship Walk.

Sit back and light a pipeweed, because this is going to be a long read.

Thanks, Flora. You have indeed made this hobbit’s day a little brighter.
*vigorously shakes fist*

LOTRO Artists and Return of Chickening Around

Oh dear, it has been over a year since I last made an update! Apologies for that.

The stripper floated over to other games such as GW2, Neverwinter and The Secret World, and there has been some personal life issues as well, but now is finally back in LOTRO. (Just can’t stay away, that one.)

As for the big announcement, as you may have already seen in my tweets and Facebook and MyMiddleEarth updates, I have decided to republish Chickening Around comic strips on LOTRO Artists. Does this mean it won’t be on this blog anymore? Heavens, no!

Think of it as a cartoon being published on newspaper, but it will always be published here on the main blog first (as well as being archived over on deviantArt), and this is the only place where you will also be able to read the words of stripper and additional stories behind the comic strip, so don’t you keep your eyes away from here!

As an even better news: there will finally be a new chapter some time in early October! Huzzah!

That said, do check out LOTRO Artists that just went live today. It has news, interviews, podcasts, articles on many creative folks of LOTRO, and of course, muffins.

BBB (almost) Goes to Weatherstock

Check out the latest video from Bards, Beers and Longbeards!
BBB Goes to Weatherstock: The Rockumentary.

Featuring yours truly.
Script written by members of BBB.
Video filmed, directed and edited by Aegthil’s Fool. He does some good things sometimes.

Warning: Watching the following video may damage your innocence and decency, if you have any left.

Chapter 5: Anniversary Adversary

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It’s the 5th anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online!
Put on your cake hat, chase after envelopes, fight for the glorious beer, and shoot fireworks! And maybe you’ll find a mount hidden in an envelope!
I’ve only been in the middle-earth for less than a year, but it’s been such a good time.
Here’s to 5 more years! *toast* *smash mug*

Oh, and remember, if you see a box, there just might be a person inside!

Words of the Stripper:
It’s been much too long since the last update that I missed three scheduled comics. >_<
What can I say, other than that it was a time management fail?
I really should stop putting so much detail in backgrounds lol because it's taking up the most time!
Although… I must say I am quite pleased with the street tiles.😄

Chickening Around Joins LotRO Combo Blog!

Here are a couple of news – or chicken feed – regarding Chickening Around.

Feed #1
Chickening Around has joined the LotRO Combo Blog!
The LotRO Combo Blog combines the feeds of many popular Lord of the Rings Online related blogs, such as Casual Stroll to Mordor, Cosmetic LotRO, and even Keli’s LotRO Journal. If you happen to be following a number of blogs, this collective blog feed makes it easy to see the previews of all of them at a glance instead of checking each one individually for update. You can submit your own LotRO blog feed to be added too! Once it’s added, every time you make a new blog entry, the feed will be updated automatically. How convenient is that?

Feed #2
Follow Chickening Around on the new twitter account, @chickenaround!
It’s also Carica’s personal twitter – although I never really tweet other than during Ales & Tales, so chances of it being used are 1%. To be honest, I just made it because I saw ‘connect your twitter account’ option on wordpress and thought, why not?😄

Feed #3
Remember how I first said that In-character posts and strips will be posted under Carica and Out-of-character real life posts will be posted under SnowCrasher? I decided to get rid of the whole Carica/SnowCrasher thing because it’s a hassel to log in and out of accounts, and I started mixing the two up. So, to simplify things, both IC and OOC articles will be posted by Carica alone!

That’s it for this week’s chicken feed! Comic update will be next week.

Chapter 4: You Cannot Escape

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Darn Nosey Hobbit!
Bad Nosey Hobbit!!
Cursed Nosey Hobbit!!!

If you have ever come across the evil chain of quests for delivering mail in the Shire…
I pity your soul.
Those darn Nosey Hobbits will spot you from a mile away and make sure that you fail your quest no matter what.
Although, I must say that Nosey Hobbit is surprisingly well-dressed. I want her dress.

Word of the Stripper:
Did you see that? There was actually a new comic update within two weeks!
I’m trying to push for a bi-weekly release because I have so many ideas, and at the current pace it’ll be years before I get to draw them.
Then again, this could just be a coincidence and I could go back to my lazy state any day!