Favorite Moments: S2 Ep3, May 17-19

meirya

Artisan
What were your favorite moments from the May event? Share them here!

I'll share mine in a separate post later on, but I wanted to get this thread started since it's a couple days after the event.
 
Holy smokes… so much happened!

1) Playing Thousand Bones in my own chapter! It was a blast to take a break from the story and interact with my tribe and just hang out and have fun!
2) Commanding the town for the first wave battle. It was nice to see people take initiative and do their thing. But that everyone worked towards a common goal of kicking butt, was just awesome to see.
3) Vines… everywhere… that was a fun component to the game! And annoying as heck to deal with!
4) The “shades” that were surrounding the entire encampment night one! Ugh! Terrifying! Also, being berzerked and then put to sleep.
5) The Red Gorgon declaring war against the PCs and PETRIFYING Lord Brightstone!? Whew… wasn’t expecting that one.
6) Vaeliss Heart-Drinker… mom… dear lord. That was the highlight of the entire event. It was nice for Bones to see his mother after 8 years of… not seeing her?
7) Also, the conversations between the Bleeding Eye and Bones’ mom. Whew. Some great roleplay. And some great foreshadowing.
8) When Petra pulled me outside for a VERY serious conversation. And the whole tribe came to check up on me. And then Aden came out and said “We need you inside” and Bones was like “NOT NOW CORSO!” and he walked away all butt hurt… only to learn that this was the queue to bring me inside for an AWESOME SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY! So much awesome. I had literally no clue this was happening. Whew… so much fun.
9) The conversations with all the PCs throughout the weekend. Including:
-Saoirse and Bones, chatting about leadership and town council positions.
-Sasha and Bones discussing the proper use of combat medics. (We still need to have that training!)
-Bleeding Eye and Bones. Whew. I miss my crew so much.
-The interactions with the Brothers and Bones. Faux and Koon are a ton of fun to interact with.
-Bekkur and Bones. Seriously, Bekkur has the respect of this orc, that is for sure. Dang!
-The interactions with the Dryads. Bones will always revere the Dryads from Vuka. Especially when they are so adorable! Solaris, Pa, and Val for president!
-Askeksa and Bones. Man… I love Askeksa so much. He is just fun to roleplay with.
-Riven and Bones. Getting that card reading was eerie… so good!
10) The Plot team was just… so good! I am grateful for them in every and all ways. They did such a WONDERFUL job this weekend.
 
A lot of preparation went into this event for Aden. I was happy to see a lot of it pay off in the end.
  1. The Council Meeting went just about exactly how I imagined it would. A HUGE amount of time, thought, and energy went into making sure the proposal was thoroughly conclusive, and to make sure the right people got the right information. The final, unanimous vote for something that is honestly a pretty big deal was very satisfying, and seeing everyone’s signatures on the proposal itself and tacking it to the notice board was a big moment, even if then no one noticed it.
  2. The terror and confusion of the fractured attack. Watching friends and allies kill each other, until we all got piled onto Saoirse’s bed within Dry Rot’s circle.
  3. The morning walk with Frederick. A good conversation and perhaps the first moments of a beautiful friendship.
  4. Wrestling with the morals of a distasteful task that must be done for the greater good, and the ultimate decision about it. Corso’s personal code of honour is something he holds very dear.
  5. The confrontation and declaration of war from the Gorgons. Physically pushing back Thousand Bones - a figure Aden holds in very high esteem - from making perhaps a fatal mistake. Leading the investigation into the gorgon claims, which led to…
  6. A personal audience and plea with Princess Andromeda. Such exquisite roleplay with Bri, who captured all of the hurt and rage and sorrow and majesty of a being who Aden had first met in the most humbling of situations. Once Aden realized that the coming war could not be averted, despite all he could offer and all he could do, and knowing it would be a War of Sorrows, was a humbling moment in time. Just being there in her presence gave him such a feeling of utter powerlessness, but damn if he wasn’t going to try anyways.
  7. Gassing the crap out of everyone as a spitty snake lizard.
  8. ‘The Greater Good’ discussions with Sasha and Torin. Life is not black and white.
  9. The mission to the resort. Sometimes it is a dark, dark grey.
  10. More moral wrestling with that mission’s aftermath. On the one hand, the family of a dear friend was avenged. On the other... Corso proved how monstrous he himself could be.
  11. Aden and Saoirse’s mad flight through town, fighting and hiding from the Fractured. So desperate and terrifying!
  12. Captain Flavius. And all that that entails.
  13. The discussion with Dani Fennec's brother & Karenza.
  14. Long talks with Saoirse.
 
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Saoirse loved:
  • listening to Petra sing that song about the Country Boy
  • spending time with Pa as scribe and her singing and putting a flower in Saoirse's braid
  • trying to keep the focus of an undead on her by pulling faces and teasing it with the glass door so other people wouldn't get attacked at the bottom of the long path
  • the grieving ritual
  • dodging most, but not all of Dane's gas attacks as a Lizardfolk
  • Going on two crazy missions to the Lizardfolk so that she could be certain all diplomatic avenues were exhausted and closed
  • trying to work the conversations with Stranglethorn, the Lizardfolk, Flavius and the council to get consensus and peace
  • beating Dry Rot in a one-on-one
  • Aden's sad song even though it made her cry
  • everyone piled on her bed for safety
  • Being grounded and the look of Dry Rot's face every time he saw her unsupervised
  • hugging Karenza after she came out of the circle
  • Watching the Inquisitors after the ritual and realizing, "These people are idiots!"
  • Finally beginning to understand Faux
  • Every time Thousand Bones rolled his eyes
  • the interrogation of Josh's Dark Elf NPC who made the best use of being charmed I saw all weekend! That was hilarious!
  • Catching a bunch of cabin thieves and setting other people on them while she tried to remember why she went to the cabins in the first place
Thanks for a great weekend all!!!
 
Running Plot for this weekend was insane, and a very different Larp experience... I didn't fight in any battles, I didn't have any casual RP, but here are some of my favorite moments from backstage:
  • Setting up vines in the pouring rain with Jamie--we were so bummed that our effect wasn't going to work at first, but as the vines got thicker we kept giggling because it was actually coming together.
  • Continuing Hildr's journey towards knighthood and our conversation with Alexander. The organic RP that arose from that situation was really rewarding, and I love seeing characters grow.
  • Getting up before seven to hide collectibles around those beautiful trails while it's STILL pouring rain, arm in arm with the lovely Laura, while teenage-boys dutifully TP the entire town with green thread (mwa ha ha ha)
  • Trying to lead a group of NPC's through a short-cut so players won't see us before the mod, accidentally getting us lost and running them up and down-mud hills. Whoops.
  • Every single solitary time I had to come back into NPC camp with a "Players need this! Let's hatch a plan!", my entire team rallied around to create some instant magic. So, so, SO much preparation went into this event, but the flexibility of player choice steered us in unexpected directions. My team was incredible, and always willing to find the BEST solution to any situation, and they always did it kindly, quickly, and brilliantly. Those impromptu war-councils were nothing short of artistic magic.
  • The solo audience with Andromeda was so much fun. I love Andromeda, and I love being a villain.
  • Every time an NPC came back from an encounter and the ensuing reenactment. Absolutely HILARIOUS. Every time. I had the best seat in the house.
  • "We need to get the PC's involved, but they're holed up in their cabins..." *sends out damsel in distress to make distressed damsel sounds outside* *cabin doors fly open and PC's come pouring out*
  • The Lords of the Edge finally getting to make an appearance. I nearly died laughing in the shadows.
Thank you everyone for your heart, your courage, your whimsy and your hard work. It was a joy from start to finish.
 
This event was beautifully paced and fantastically statted. I so often felt like we were going to wipe as a town, felt like I was entirely out of resources and so was most everyone else, kept hitting that point of "well crap, we're not going to survive this" on more than one occasion and then... we didn't wipe. In fact, only one person died.

That's the sweet spot in statting/pacing, IMHO, and it's so hard to hit. That place where it feels like you as players are going to die, and then you just barely don't. I was really impressed.

And there was so much happening the whole time! I had to check out for several hours on Saturday (I have a tendency to have a sleep-deprived emotional "crash" on Saturday afternoon of an event. Imposter syndrome rears its head, I have no energy, etc, etc; I nap and rest for a bit and then manage to recover and get back out there. Doesn't often happen as a PC in a boffer larp, mind you, because I typically get more rest as a PC and at a weekend boffer larp than I do as plot or at a 4-day destination larp, and it's usually lower emotional intensity at a campaign boffer event... but it's happened both weekends I've been at ALU, because you people run hard on Friday night, holy crap), so I missed a bunch of stuff, but I still had a very full weekend.
  • Grief ritual! (Aka "honoring the beloved dead" ritual. But it was for grieving, really.) I was beginning to despair on Friday night that I wouldn't be able to run it. Didn't want to run it during the day, and didn't want to run it over the Saturday night finale. I'd thought there would be some open space after the major wave battle, and then... trying to round people up for it became impossible, until the fractured spirits showed up and we all got stuck in the Earth Guild. Fortunately, almost everyone who was going was still up for it after that ended, so we went and ran a roleplay ritual in the gazebo as rain poured around us. At 2am or so. People cried, which is always my goal in roleplay rituals, so I consider that a success. ;) Great bonding moment, felt good to do some of the stuff I've made this character for, and roleplay rituals are seriously my favorite thing to do.
  • The actors. Oh dear. That was fabulously terrible. I hope we get to see them again!
  • The Litimore soldier/courier, and the skillful unspoken coordination of everyone involved to manage that whole situation.
  • The Council meeting to hear Bramblethorn's terms. Let me just say: I wouldn't want to be on the opposite side of Liz in a Vampire: the Masquerade game. Saoirse is amazing to watch in the sociopolitical arena.
  • Lizardfolk mod to save Bones' mom. I haven't gotten to have a solid, well-coordinated tunnel fight like that as a PC since my NERO days! Really fun and satisfying. Also bonus moral quandary and emotional challenges for Orsolya to wrestle with, which is something I deeply enjoy. ("A writer is someone who creates likeable, believable characters and does horrible, despicable things to them", right? If my character's feeling horrible, I'm probably having a great game.)
  • Racing onto the field Saturday night after seeing people down, seeing the fractured spirits swarming a knot of people, knowing I have a full stack of life spells and can help, and then seeing all the spirits turn towards me and hearing Hildr' yell "Orsolya! Run! Get out of here!" Fleeing, and then running into another spirit along with ... I can't remember the dryad earth caster's name, but he decided to try and see if a Sanctuary worked on them, walked towards the creature, and... it did! The small group of us heading back to the field, the dryad keeping his Sanctuary up. "Do you have a life?" I asked; "No," he said. "There are people down, I need to get a life to them. Can you draw the spirits' attention?" So he and his group did, and I got there in time to throw a life spell into one of the Brothers. Really cool moment of cooperation, ingenuity, desperation, and quick thinking on everyone's part.
  • The scene with the Inquisitors in the circle, and the Ashen Maidens outside of it, and thinking we were about to have to deal with an Outsider then and there. Looking forward to see what more comes from that.
  • Arguing with Hildr' about human nobles and the leashes of fealty, responsibilities and risks, on Sunday morning. It was just the two of us having a quiet tense argument in the tent, but it was really satisfying.
 
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