January 2019 Event Highlights!

It's always great feeling comfortable in your character's skin; for me as Nalick, it's been a lot longer than I would've liked but I'm getting back to it. He felt like a brand new character. Getting in-game a little after midnight after closing at work meant I had my own personal soft lay-on and I had no idea what to expect on multiple fronts. Before even getting into the main hall of the Inn, I was told that, "We're not sure how many people in town are still alive." That was something else!

Kevin/Jediael crafting a mace holster for me in real-time and adding to the atmosphere of the Inn. Best of all, it works nicely. Thanks again!

Kevin A. hitting the ground running in the kitchen--hopefully, we're working together more often, brother; chugging along with Ben W. and Kevin making sure everything was ready on time. Matt's mastery of orange sorcery allowing him to pop into the kitchen to give us a few additional instructions and compliments before disappearing to run yet another mod. Rich, thank you for helping us with Julia Childs-ing the rice. Shout out to Chelsea for the logistical help in the dining room and making sure the buffet area was set to go.

"Wonkay way-lord" silliness with Jun and Cara. Thank you to Jacob F. and friends for reviving the Chronicle!

The looks from Victor, Bob, and a few others when Nalick was acting "strangely." We're only getting started.

When you're called to the principal's office and sitting at the desk are Lois, Bob, and Oren and you don't have a will prepared. That was an enjoyable scene; I wish we could've kept going but I had to get into the kitchen!

Saturday night I used the fact that Jonas Kane was on the battlefield to raise morale and kept wishing I had Battle Cry, especially when Reed and I got almost the whole field chanting Jonas' name. It was a tough fight and getting hauled back to the Inn while OOG exhausted lent a lot more realism to the fight, especially when we saw Starling's light go out on the battlefield and started making an exit strategy.

Stupid O'Clock at the Inn, and then the Blackbird, and then back at the Inn. I haven't laughed that hard in quite a few events. Everything seemed all the sillier and I appreciate that very much.

Sunday afternoon I cleared the ice off of my car with Nalick's shield and then did the same with a couple of other cars. Good to know it has its real-life uses as well.

Hello to all the new friends who came out in a snowstorm to be even more dramatic than meteorologists with us! Hope to see you again soon.

Breaking Jeff/Chet (but really Jeff) behind the Bar.

Realizing that the theme song for the weekend was written by the Carnberries...and filking it on the fly. (I'll write it up and post it...maybe "The Ballad of Bailing Out Fallows Bales"?)

watching a large pack of people about to go off to mass turn on their heals and save a player being dragged out to become undead. (Jeff...get off my favorites list)

Meeting Saemus and having a comment about a nice cloak being good camouflage for the night turn into a long in depth RP session that really made the world a bit more alive for me.

Playing a Mercenary with an odd concept of the proper use of Counterspell

Battle Buddying with Grim Friday night to keep rouges off his back...at least a little bit.

The kindness of crafters and not quite strangers leading to getting some gear.

Getting to talk with Eregos for a while and realizing I need to work with him more

Tag teaming with the Patriarch for main mod and therefore surviving....barely.

Hell, just the whole main mod, and all the occurences of "hey guys, ***" "We're all spirits..."

Knowing who the few and the brave are that dare the snow!

See you all in February.

Well, this was certainly an event for poor Cobus to hit the ground running at, to say nothing of the guy playing him. Undead, weird white stuff falling from the sky, liches, and scary magic...quite a lot for a simple soldier to get used to! As a whole, a huge highlight was the community's willingness and support helping both character and RPer get used to Travance and its vagaries, but there's a few special things I want to note:

The two barflies whose names I sadly can't recall off the top of my head who were the first people Cobus met. Every time they ran into him, they'd ask why he was still in Travance. Cobus was wondering much the same thing, himself!

Heck, the very existence of the Dragon's Claw and Blackbird! As someone who came from RPing via MMOs where bars/cantinas/inns/what-have-you are such a big part of the in-game social scene, having such wonderfully immersive watering holes for Cobus to relax and banter with his fellows was a great comfort zone to start my LARP off in. My thanks to the staff of both venues!

Cobus' first contact with the undead: one arquebus round on-target and one undead still coming makes for one very terrified mercenary soldier! Heck, every scrap he had with Fallow's forces---they were routinely hitting him for most of his body points (special shout-outs to the living statue and fire elemental lord for one-shotting his sorry backside and then some) but he kept going, courtesy of the incredibly patient healers who had his back, and in the meantime he got delightfully well acquainted with that cold white inconvenience powder falling from the sky.

Speaking of healers, Cobus was lucky enough to make friends with one of the local medicos, and if it wasn't for Victor he'd have walked away from his first few scraps in WAY worse shape than he otherwise did...to say nothing of being more confused! All that on top of Victor lending his knife so Cobus wasn't high and dry with his trusty arquebus.

Ninnyhammer kept Cobus alive with some guidance and support of her own in those first couple of actions as well, plus just turning out to be a darned good friend for a new face in town...even if she had to be the one to put him down out there for good on the Garrison Field.

Oakley was a versatile and fun character to play off of: equally compelling when wracked by one of her closest friends being turned undead or just being an absolute riot and lending some much-needed levity among the undead crisis overall.

Owen gave Cobus some much needed familiarity as a fellow military professional amidst all this magic and madness so far beyond his ken, nevermind for being the most down-to-earth senior officer he's encountered. Credit where it's due as well for being able to convert an Army man to joining the rival service!

Ash, Kevin and Cobus had a great chat about bard songs, and an impromptu rendition of "Come out Ye Black and Tans"...much to Bengarion's dismay.

It's not every day that a flag officer takes such an interest in a new recruit, albeit an experienced one, but Jackdaw was a comforting and steadying influence for Cobus in the eleventh hour, helping him across the Garrison Field and through the aftermath.

And of course, Cobus' sacrifice and resurrection. Last chats with Adalia, Owen, and Kardin (plus some impressive singing from the latter two!), the cold and snow lending a real sense of foreboding to the ritual. Going up against that dratted black dragoon who had scared the hell out of him, getting imprisoned by Victor and managing to have enough of his personality break through to grit out an apology through Fallow's conditioning, begging for forgiveness for those he wound up going knife-to-sword with, and finally one hell of an emotional resurrection scene with Midori who got to see the battered soldier bare his soul.

There's more I could go on about. Stupid o'clock shenanigans (PISS), skeletal lounge singers, pig-headed undead warlords, Cobus reassuring Vennick that he was still alive every time the two crossed paths until rather suddenly he wasn't, getting a damned good death pool roll, swapping war stories with Kardin---but this post is long enough as it is, so I'm just gonna wrap up by thanking you guys again for a hell of a weekend. I can't make February, Uncle Sam is stealing that weekend away from me, but you can bet I'll be there in March to continue the adventure.