The First Garden Lake Weekend

The first fishing competition, 30 October to 1 November 2026

The story in words

On 27 October 2026 Mur released fishing: a feature that needs no credits and no gold, chairs by the water, fish to discover, a first competition promised in a few days. The next day more ponds were added, fish got personality and lures, and the weather came to the water: when it rains in the realm it rains while you fish, with lightning.
The competition was moved to the weekend: Friday 20:00 to Sunday 20:00 game time, two full days, any fishing spot. Every landing counts, a streak counts more, a miss breaks it. The heaviest catch wins a trophy whatever the score; the winner unlocks Fishing Champion. 'Fishers unite at Hollow Den in Loreroot, friday.' On 30 October at 20:01 the gate counted 24 players who had fished in the last three days, 10 were needed, and it started: 'it will be brutal.'
The first evening at Stunted Mere, the new Loreroot pond below Hollow Den: Chewett left for dinner, Marvolo pulled up junk after junk ('If it was a fishing junk competition I'd be winning'), Mur fished from his phone, Seigheart fought a piece of tree bark. Ledah settled at the Mere and did not miss: a streak of 100 before midnight.
At the Storm Docks a storm was on the water. At 01:25 lightning struck samon while he fished, and he died; the realm's first death by weather. 'I think the competition might just all die,' said Seigheart. Blackshade Rider had hoped Ledah would be the first struck. Seventeen minutes later Ledah killed Blackshade Rider at the Docks with a Poisoned Dagger, paid with pure gold: 'Enjoy the loading screen.'
redneck came to the Storm Docks at eleven and stayed. Through the storm, through the night, cast after cast, lake after lake, thirty and forty fish an hour until eleven the next morning. At 08:36 Mur wrote: 'redneck is on a rampage.' Ledah slept from three until noon.
Day two. Ledah came back at noon and did not miss once: 200 by one o'clock, 300 by four, the Lampless Wels of 44.48 kilograms landed at the Mere, the heaviest fish of the weekend. The Forge had made fishing gear in the night; only Ledah and Chewett found it. The Garden Lake, the spot the weekend was named after, stayed shut in Sagekeep's garden the whole time.
At 17:18 Ledah spoke to redneck at the Docks: 'Sorry redneck. It seems DR had to get involved. So you must die. But that will do for now,' and banished him to Golemus; and again at 18:09, and again at 19:09. redneck's casts fell to a handful an hour. At 20:14 Eggdar announced the rule changed: a spell can take your cast, but no longer your streak, and every point lost that way was given back.
The second night. Ledah fished the Drywater Bridge and the Storm Docks without a miss and reached a streak of five hundred at 01:25 on Sunday. Then he stopped, and never cast again. redneck did not stop: forty fish an hour, hour after hour, through the dark and into the dawn, his thousandth landing before noon.
At 12:25 redneck wrote from the Mere: 'Got to get some food now. I will be back in a little bit.' He came back at six for the last two hours and landed his last fish at 19:58, two minutes before the end.
The results, at 20:01: 27 players took part. redneck 46,359.8 points, 1000 landings, 26 misses. Ledah 31,422.1 points, 606 landings, 3 misses, the best streak of 500 and the Heaviest Catch Trophy. Invie third with 6,358.8. redneck claimed his 100 gold four minutes after the end.
After: the Fish Market opened that same afternoon, so no one would hold their fish for ever. Chewett gathered fifteen players, the dead included, for feedback; Mur cut the Garden Lake's stock to ten, 'as there is no need for more if the place remains closed even on important events'. The next competition, The Second Cast, let the winners fish but not score. Nothing personal.

One thousand fish, two nights without sleep, and a hundred gold. Written down so that it is not forgotten.