Tag Archives: christmas
Contest Winners
What a wonderful time we had looking at all of the entries! It was fun for the whole team.
Here are the winners of the Christmas Decoration contest, prizes will be sent to the email you provided:
- 1st Place -
Austin Death: Aero plains Bundle
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Austin-Death-1024x526.jpg)
- 2nd Place -
Jeffery Shade: 5,000 crowns
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Jeffery-Shade-1024x576.jpg)
- 3rd Place -
Laura Battleblood: Yuletide Parade Truck!
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Laura-BattleBlood.jpg)
- 4th Place -
Jerry Tom: 7 packs of your choice
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Jerry-Tom-1024x485.png)
- 5th Place -
Nathan Darkblood: 4 packs!
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Christmas-Decoration-Contest-Nathan-Darkbloog.png)
Take a look at these other amazing screenshots
We tired to add many of your pictures as we could, sorry if we missed yours. There might be a special surprise coming from Santa for all of you who worked so hard decorating your homes for the season! Keep a close eye on your emails!!
Thanks to everyone who entered, we will be having more contests like this in the year ahead and would love to hear your feedback or suggestions. Please email us with any thoughts at [email protected] or comment on this post.
Dorm Decorating: Xmas Edition
It’s Christmastime in the Spiral once again! I’m sure all of you are just about as excited as I am (as if that’s even possible!). It’s the most wonderful time of the year and you can show your Christmas cheer with an exciting and original Christmas themed dorm room!
I am completely new at glitching and Castle Magic, but I’ve picked up a bunch of fun tricks this season to share with you all! For my dorm, I didn’t want to use any of the Christmas themed trees we all love so much. Instead, I decided to make my own original Christmas tree.
For my Christmas tree, I chose to use six of the Blue Holiday Ornaments and glitched them into the air using my trusty Maple Bookcase and Black Checker. For this glitch, all you have to do is set down whatever object you want to float and then place the bookcase next to it. Then you place the Black Checker on whichever shelf that you want your item to be in the air. You grab your Black Checker on the shelf and move it so your bookcase sinks into the floor. Once it’s there, you can move the item into the bookcase and then move the maple bookcase and your object is in the air! After this, to remove your bookcase, you grab the checker again and move it so your item stays in place.
I found all of the ornaments used for this in the Bazaar (and for quite a cheap price). All around my tree I have floating presents using the aforementioned ornament glitch. I thought this would be a really magical focal point and it turned out better than I had imagined. Speaking of the actual Christmas tree, it’s the Snowy Polarian Tree shrunk down twice along with the ornaments using Castle Magic. As you’ve probably noticed by now, my not-so-Christmas tree topper isn’t actually on the top of my tree. I did this because outside of Photomancy, the tree is too tall for it to show. For this, I just grabbed a handy Star Staff and enlarged it five times with Castle Magic as well.
To the left of my tree, I made a cozy sitting space featuring one of the goodest of boys. Right next to him, I glitched a Regular Keeper Tank with a Red Cap Carpe (the perfect Santa fish!) into the floor using a rug and the Maple Bookcase. For this glitch, you start by placing your tank in your dorm and then set out your Maple Bookcase with the Black Checker on the lowest shelf. Once that is done, you grab the checker and move the opposite end on the bookcase into the tank. Grab the Maple Bookcase and set it down so that your tank is up in the air. After this you grab the checker once more and move it so that the bookcase is no longer touching the tank, which is now floating. Then you pick up your bookcase and then place it once more. This time you will put your checker on the second shelf and place a medium rug (either the Medium Magenta or Medium Purple). You then move the checker so your bookcase sinks once more and place the opposite end on the long side of your rug. Next, you move the bookcase and make sure that the rug is placed evenly inside of the tank. As you’ll see now, the rug fits perfectly where the wooden bottom stops and the blue base starts. Once this is done, remove the bookcase by grabbing the checker and place it somewhere else in the room. Pick up the bookcase. Grab the rug and move it anywhere in your room where you want your tank and you’ll see that the tank is sunk into the floor without the bottom wooden piece showing!
Inside the tank, I have a shrunk down Snowman and a Snow Pile. Remember that when glitching items inside of the tank, you need to place them where the tank will be first, which can get tricky if you need to float each item. That’s why sinking the tank is a perfect option if you want some extra flair! For the Snowman and Snow Pile, I shrunk them both using Castle Magic Reflectors and Start Detectors with the shrink cards in place (this is all trial and error, depending on how small you want an item. Using a Magic Reflector, you can use castle magic on up to eight items and you can shrink or grow a single item at least eight times!). On top of the tank, we have another Snow Pile shrunk down. I also included some Yuletide Candy Canes and peppermints for all of the guests to enjoy.
One of my favorite glitches of all time would have to be putting the Silver Chest over the plain wooden one for your bank. It was revolutionary for me when I first tried it and it worked so well! I simply used two medium rugs and the chest. All you must do is place one rug on top of the other at different angles and rotate the first one until it is under the wooden chest. Once that’s done, you set down your Silver Chest (which is the one found under the furniture tab in the Bazaar) directly on top of your wooden bank chest. You’ll never have a plain chest for your bank again!
Next to the chest, we have a matching table with the Cookies and Milk glitched on top using the Maple Bookcase once again since they wouldn’t fit normally, you always have to give a little something back to Santa! (even if he is trapped in your fish tank at the moment).
Next to my glitched chest, I used up my spare Blue Holiday Ornaments and glitched them into the air and placed the Azteca Basket underneath. For that, I used the Maple Bookcase and Black Checker glitch with the bottom shelf, one with the second shelf from the bottom. All ornaments were shrunk two sizes down and I enlarged the basket by a size. All the String Lights were enlarged twice with Castle Magic as well. Last but not least, in the window, I placed the Gingerbread House to finish off my dorm.
I hope you all enjoyed my article on How to Make the Most of your Dorm: Christmas Edition! Decorate those dorms and have a very magical Merry Christmas!
This article is by Community Contributor, Jen Skullbreaker
Christmas Festival 2018
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rafestive.png)
Join Ravenwood Academy Saturday December 29th at 6pm Eastern to celebrate the season together with all of your community friends. We will be throwing a big house party and everyone is invited! There will be tons of fun for everyone with Gauntlets, PVP, Fishing, Mini Games, Freebie vendors, rides.
We will be in realm Greyrose with porters to take you to the house party!
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to comment here or email us [email protected]
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Photo_Houses-2018-11-26-21-08-01-1024x576.jpg)
There will also be prizes, so be sure to come to the event to win some!
The event will also be streamed on our official Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/ravenwoodacademy
Krampus Guide
It’s Christmas in the Spiral! You know what that means? You now have access to the skeleton key boss, Krampus. You can find the dungeon entrance in Wizard City Ravenwood behind the Ice Tree, Kelvin.
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-11-at-7.53.30-am.png)
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-11-at-7.57.37-am.png)
When you enter, everything will be decorated and pretty for Christmas.
Until you are caught running in the Halls. Everything turns dark. Now you’ve made Krampus angry and have 3 options to choose from.
- Wooden Key Krampus
- Stone Key Krampus
- Gold Key Krampus
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-11-at-8.01.11-am.png)
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-11-at-8.08.55-am.png)
Wooden Key
Behind the Wooden Key option, you will find a Krampus, Rank 6, with health maxing at 4,900.
He Resists to:
- Fire – 15%
- Balance – 10%
- Death – 10%
- Storm – 10%
- Myth – 10%
He Boosts to:
- Ice – 15%
- Life – 15%
You will not be able to Stun or Beguile him.
Stone Key
Behind the Stone Key option, you will find a Krampus, Rank 11, with health maxing at 15,072.
He Resists to:
- All schools – 20%
He Boosts to:
- Ice – 30%
- Life – 30%
You will not be able to Stun or Beguile him.
Gold Key
Behind the Stone Key option, you will find a Krampus, Rank 15, with health maxing at 30,144.
He Resists to:
- Fire – 50%
- Death – 50%
- Balance – 30%
- Myth – 30%
- Storm – 30%
He Boosts to:
- Ice – 30%
- Life – 30%
You will not be able to Stun or Beguile him.
Cheats
- Maycast shadow Steal Charm on any blades casted on yourself
– You can use Aegis the first time to get around this cheat. Any other time could get your unprotected blades stolen.
– You can also cast Blades on other Wizards. Be warned that he could take your blades if you have any. - Removes Feints
– Indemnity will not work. Cheat is triggered twice. - At the beginning of every 3rd round, he will dimension shift any traps
- Every 5th round minions will be summoned.
- Late Rules:
– Wooden: Will cast an enhanced power link
– Stone: Will cast Scald and a -75% accuracy Smoke Mantle
– Gold: Will cast DoT for 1,596 Fire damage over 3 Rounds and a -75% version of Smoke Mantle on the Wizard.
Strategy
Hitter: Buff up using non-blades. For example, traps and Windstorm or Star school aura spells.
Supporters: Blade up the hitter and get them set up to hit before the 5th round to prevent having to deal with the minions. Supporters should also heal and shield to prevent defeat.
Make sure the person Hitting goes last
Round One: Supporters should begin to set up by casting Elemental or Spirit Blades/Traps and any other Blades/Traps that the hitter can use. The hitter should use any of their school traps.
Round Two: Enchant Blades and Traps using potent/sharpen to increase the damage.
Round Three: One support team member can use the hitters’ school global spell, ex. Time of Legend, or Darkwind, and the rest can continue blading up the hitter. The hitter can use their preferred Star School damage spell, e.g. Frenzy, Berserk etc.
Round Four: This is the round you will want to use any last buffs you have while the hitter attacks with their strongest spell. Preferably a shadow hit if they can and no DoT spells. If you do not have Shadow magic yet and you are the hitter, use your highest damage spell to hit.
Now you know how to beat Krampus, go save Christmas before It’s too late!
A Yuletide Carol
Intended for Musician and Non-Musician Alike
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere in the spiral. We sit by the glowing embers, drinking our hot chocolate, cuddling with our fuzzy kitten, when ho! – there’s Christmas music in the Bazaar! You run by the great tree near The Commons pool, through The Shopping District and take a peek into the yuletide scrolls, and in a wild frenzy, you decide to buy them all. ‘Tis the season, am I right? So now, the music is playing in your home, perfectly seasonal and festive.
Let’s take a look into these heart-warming music scrolls and see how well they rival Mariah Carey and examine the musical craftsmanship the composers at Kingisisle took arranging these holiday favorites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u92UQSI4NvM
“Jingle Bells” and “Yuletide Jingle”
Like snowflakes twinkling on the new-fallen snow, we begin with a glockenspiel and sleigh bells that set the festive tone. The piano glissandos, adding a new texture, heralding the melody, joyous and free. At 00:16 seconds in, the big band comes in. Heaven and nature sing as the trumpets and trombone begin to swing. The sax and percussion add such vibrant color, it really brings out a new Christmas wonder.
By 00:36 seconds, the first idea we heard with the twinkling and the melody being played on the piano develops, adding a new jazz band texture. It’s also worth noting the vibraphone playing a countermelody against the main jingle bells theme. This line arpeggiates the chord progression while the rest of the band plays.
With a strong, tutti finish, we enter a new section. The piano plays an impressive solo as the brass of the band stabs at some of the syncopated notes, adding emphasis. The saxophones take over the melody as the brass continues while the piano flourishes the piece with arpeggios. We are brought back to the first section we heard before a ritardando to the end.
Overall, our form was AABA, or in other words, we played our first section twice, played a new section, then went back to the original. In our culture, it’s very common to have Christmas songs played in a jazz style, even if we don’t know that it is. White Christmas and All I Want For Christmas is You are good examples with their jazz chords and interpretation.
Above is a simple arrangement of the piece “Jingle Bells.” The capital letters beneath each note match the pitch on your computer keyboard related to the Grand Playable Piano and Playable Toy Piano items found in the crown shop.
Notice the points of the music where it has the number 1 and number 2. In music, we typically call these “first” and “second endings.” The idea behind this is that you will go back to the beginning of the section, indicated by colon called “the repeat sign,” and play the same thing that you have just done before, but now with a variation on the ending. The first ending is called the “antecedent” phrase, because it does not resolve, setting up the theme’s repeat. The second phrase is the “consequent” phrase since it contains the resolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tIwlRqPx60
“Deck The Halls”
In a rather upbeat manner, we start off with a line of eighth notes with some sixteenth note syncopation played by the piano as the harp glissandos along. A wind instrument calmy takes the melody. The flutes play along, strengthening the fa-la-la-la-la-ing of the chorus. This pattern continues until the reeds join in to resolve the phrase.
Next, at 00:39 seconds in, the melody is handed to the bassoon. This personally reminds me of older family members like grandparents that have a deeprooted joy for Christmas. The wood blocks add emphasis to the articulation the bassoon displays, developing the melody. The clarinets rock back and forth between their notes, like little youngsters playing with their elders.
The strings delightfully swoon through, gaining the household’s attention. The bassoon adds ascending arpeggios and it appears like the family is talking to one another. The family seems pleased with each other, all ending in the same melody.
We have a ritardando that leads us into the next section. The Commons theme begins to play, proclaiming that Christmas shall be brought to Wizard City with great fanfare. The Commons theme replaces the Deck The Halls theme seamlessly, because of the melody’s similar contour and rhythm, as some of the original melody still shines through.
In this simple arrangement of “Deck The Halls,” we play with the idea of different voices having different parts of the melody. At first, the treble staff rings out the melody as the bass staff holds the primary note of the chord, known as the “tonic” and also the “root of the chord.” We seamlessly switch the melody to the bass, giving emphasis on “fa-la-la-la-la,” but immediately switch back to the treble to complete the resolution.
The words at the end of the music, “D.S. al fine” means to go back to the sign and stop where it says “fine,” meaning “finish.” Unlike “Jingle Bells,” the resolution is built into the music. This is what we call “ternary form,” where we end with the section we started with, having a contrasting section between them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zymp2tyEbc
“Carol of The Bells”
Dramatically, the piano and sleigh bells set the tone, as though we see a dim candle lit in midst of a storm. Short and plucky, the bass line comes in, descending down a major tetrachord. Scales are composed of two tetrachords, which are four note patterns. Echoing the line, the strings harmonize going down the next four notes. When notes move towards a descending motion like this, we typically feel calmed. This is also why the resolution of a piece relies on the tonic note when the rest of the scale ascends above it.
A rhythmic motif is added, emphasized by the piano and strings. A motif is a short, recognizable phrase that can be developed throughout a piece by using different notes or adding variation to the rhythm. This introduction is hinted at when we come to a cascading figure built upon a melodic minor scale.
This brings us to a new section at 00:20 seconds that reminds me of children playing beneath the tree on Christmas day. This melodic figure develops by changing the pitches whilst maintaining the rhythm for continuity. This is followed by the same cascading scale we heard before. This repeats, as the strings add-in again, leading to a climax.
Next, at 00:45 seconds, the brass come in. Their dark tone adding to the quality of the minor chords they play. This develops the line the piano has played previously, giving the notable ostinato new context with this texture and reharmonization.
This leads us into 00:53 seconds, where it feels truly magical with the sustained chords in the strings, the arpeggiated solo in the piano, and of course, the wind chimes. The horns come into the texture, introducing the trumpets, playing chords. The progression goes from the minor tonic i, to the relative major III, to the dominant V. In music analysis, we typically label chords with Roman numerals and capitalize the numeral based on major or minor tonality. This progression is the climax of the piece, using the chromatic voices to cause linear dissonance which then leads to the chords that point us to where the tension can be resolved.
We end the piece in a recapitulation of the melodic content that occurred at the beginning of the piece. We end in the very way we started, like that dim lit in the storm, fading away to nothing. This piece contrasts compared to the others. Neither in a jazz style, nor a Major key, we have a dramatic orchestral style set in a minor key, which evokes the sense of Christmas past, similar to other pieces like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Take note of how the second staff is now also a treble clef. This means we play the second one with our left hand, but now we are playing in a higher register than before. Looking through the piece you will see that when we have the majestic ascending scales, the left hand will cross above the right hand in order to give the needed harmony while working with the restrictions of the in-game instruments.
Thank you, Starlight, for venturing through my Yuletide edition analysis. You have truly made this Yuletide bright. I bid you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Disclaimer:
Please note: The above sheet are not transcriptions from the music scrolls, as they would be in previous articles. These are simple arrangements I’ve made to accommodate the simple nature of the in-game playable Wizard101 instruments.
Christmas Decoration Contest!
![](https://ravenwoodacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen_Shot_2018-12-01_at_9.51.45_am-1024x512.png)
Christmas is about sharing love and friendship and spending time with the ones you hold dear. This year we would like to do a Christmas Housing Decoration contest together with you, our community. Gather together all your Holly and your Mistletoe. Deck all your Halls and make everything merry and bright because we are coming to town!
In order to qualify, submit a Winter Holiday themed screenshot of your Wizard in his or her decked out house. Submit your very best screenshot and your Wizards name to [email protected] Only one entry per person will be considered, entries will be verified for originality. Contest ends December 18th 2018.
Prizes:
1st place: Aero plains Bundle
2nd place: 5,000 Crowns
3rd place: Christmas mount
4th place: 7 packs
5th place: 4 packs
Winners will be Announced on the @RavenwoodAcadmy Twitter December 21st 2018 at 7pm Eastern. Emails will be sent to the winners, Good luck to everyone, we can’t wait to see what you come up with!