Firstly: A really great weekend with really awesome stuff happening! Thanks to all the people behind the scenes and to the npcs who did a fantastic job as per the usual. (<3 you guys)
1- What I liked
Let me count the ways..
I had to have two life spells cast on me AND my dirty little secret also popped..and it was -witnessed- by an npc (and maybe some pcs, though not sure they pieced it together). I know it sounds weird to think this is a good thing, but I fricken loved that things got intense and real and that Derya had her first brush with death, quickly followed by two more! The..risk and danger felt a little more real and thus really helped drive in some immersion for me.
The Beholder and Treant, even just ignoring the fights, -looked- fantastic. That was beautifully done.
Dancing for nigh on 20 minutes, and the energy the faeries kept up for it
Also, the gnolls were highly amusing. When I asked permission to hit a gnoll after witnessing him waylay one of us, and then got locked behind the tavern with two of them, all alone, that moment of 'uh oh' made me giggle inside. Leave it to Faeries to get so distracted they just wander off and leave a poor pirate to fend for herself.
All. The. Running. I am sore as all hell but it was worth it. I ran and yelled and got physically and emotionally invested a lot this weekend. Thank you.
This list is already getting long and I could keep on going and going and going.
2- Improvements
Dishes
I felt sad that it was always so hard to find volunteers and that I heard some people ended up there every single time. With 24 of us there (21 who were available for dishes) and only three meals, we had more than enough people to cover it. I understand it can feel a bit sucky, Nick and I were trying to hustle our buns in the kitchen that neither of us was very familiar with so we could go do the big mods with everyone (thanks to everyone who came in to help us finish up the last bit as time got closer), but if everyone takes one turn now and then, no one should even have to volunteer each event, let alone each meal.
And this one isn't a huge deal but I'll toss in my voice on the cheat sheets. They'd be great. Not only because there were new things given to us, but because we got so many. I can usually keep one or two new things straight, but I think I had something like four boons and three vexations and I paid more attention to the vexations than the boons because I wanted to make sure I was being fair about them. A cheat sheet would've been great for helping me remember how to use what I had.
3- Growth
Derya has been noticing a lot of the ruthlessness that seems to plague the Breach. From slaughtering Gypsies last month to slaughtering children (and the Faeries, despite the justification) this month to Fredrick's (a newfound friend after that -ridiculous- game of late night cards) execution to the King whom she had only ever heard vaguely about while growing up acting like, as she put it to a few other pcs, a boy who grew up too fast, she's beginning to question her own place and standing when it comes to morality and personal views. She's begun to question people she thought she might trust, is finding herself giving respectful looks to people she once either dismissed or was/is wary of. Being rather young for an Elf, she's beginning to go through the process of finding out who she is and, in the Breach, it's a bit of an emotionally violent process for her. She's learning that life in the wide world isn't life on the Silver Fin, but some of those hard lessons her mother drilled into her are coming back to mind and are coming in handy. At the age of 60, Derya's finally hitting her coming of age, but it's only just begun. There may be rough seas ahead.
And out of game I am immensely glad for this. I love the concept of Derya, but I was having trouble seeing her as a deep and meaningful character and was already beginning to plan out a possible replacement. After this weekend, especially with some of the small bits from last event overlapping, I've suddenly got a huge well of a character to explore and the laugh and cry with and that's what rp is for me.
4- Memory
The door to the tavern swung shut as the male faerie flitted back inside, beckoned by his fellows. "Uh oh."
Derya tried a nervous smile at the gnolls she had already taken swings at, had thought she had faerie backing for. But how do you trust something as fluttery as that? She chided herself silently as the gnolls took their turn to grin. A slash of heat and pain took her calf and then her hip. She swung her sword clumsily in retaliation, still getting used to the feel of close combat, even as she tried to position herself for a clear path to flee. Another searing pain tore a grunt from her throat and another and suddenly it was as if her knees were water. She didn't feel the ground when she hit it. Didn't feel anything but that wet, warm seeping. Staring up at the sky, it struck the elf once more how different the stars were around these parts, how the constellations weren't where they belonged. How far from home she was, far from the water, far from everything that she knew and was comfortable for her. And a tear rolled down her cheek.
Darkness. A hum. The antsy feeling of waiting but not knowing why or for what.
And then it burned. By the tides, did it burn. Derya shot upward with an inhale into lungs that had, for a short while, forgotten how to function. Her heart pounded behind her ribs, nearly tearing itself from her chest. Dark eyes shot open and it took a moment for her to realize where she was. A bench..the fire. A faerie..a Faerie sat across from her. The Faerie hadn't saved her.. The Faerie..had witnessed. A moment of panic flooded her already scattered and dizzy mind as she locked gazes with the creature. "You did not see anything. I'm fine."
She stood, took a quick look around and hurried past. "I promise, I will dance with you all you like the next we meet, but you must not tell anyone about this."
She tried to wait for confirmation, but the need to be gone, to run, to hide from this, overwhelmed her and she moved quickly back into town, limping along and fighting waves of nausea. She was spotted by others, their faces blurring before her. "Are you alright?" She didn't recognize the voices.
"I'm fine. I was waylaid is all. I was just knocked out. I'm fine. Nothing happened." Panic seized her throat and she tried to sneak some healing elixirs without being overly obvious. Crow. She had to find Crow. He'd fix her armour. He'd tease her about being a poor shot, about nearly getting killed in a fight and he wouldn't ask too many questions. She had to find Crow...
