The Thessaliad Redux

So the running in brief from yesterday's Brighton Below game:

- Almost didn't get there because I missed my bus
- Got there late
- Character died
- Had to leave before aftermath

Yeah, Travesty finally did the stupid one time too many (after three sessions, woohoo!) and got left behind in an inescapable crypt full of monsters who beat her well unto death. Still, it was a heroic thing - they were trying to get some parchment that gave a way to cure the Vultures - a group of life-force-eating NPC creepy types who used to be the elite army of one Lord Lewes - and she found it on the body of an ancient mystic in a sealed-up crypt that they reached via powerful magic. But the magic didn't send them back quite when they thought so she let go to try to beat back creatures that might have escaped with them ... and then it worked. So she was trapped there with the monsters, with little in the way of combat skills and the beasties having range on her. So ... yeah, that's about the end of that.

...Or so I thought while I was sitting on the coach home dreaming up an alternate character concept. Then, after running a scene for courtcat79 and ilyena_sylph to let some of the post-LARP adrenaline burn off, I went to bed and crashed for a considerable length of time. I woke up to a text message from Daz, who plays that utter sweetie of a technology-eating crafter-man, Hack. Apparently he and Saint, my character's one worshipper, have a bit of an idea or two about how to bring Travesty back from the dead. One idea involves the soul copy that Travesty left with Saint and a clockwork body as built by Hack. The other involves Saint finding an entrance to Hades - so very Orpheus and Eurydice.

I was not expecting any of this, and I'm immensely flattered and intrigued by the whole process. I do feel bad for Otto's player, though - no one seems to be talking about ways to bring him back. Of course, I don't think he had Soulcopy, so it's a lot harder in his case, but ... anyway, it begs the question of whether Daz is going to be allowed to steampunk my character. AGAIN. Man. Madness. *glee*

Though honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better pre-death session for any character. Lord Preston said, directly to her face, that Fragments (knowing, of course, that Travesty is one) aren't people, with no feelings or anything, so they don't count for basic human rights. So Travesty went off trying to explore that whole 'being human' thing, was curious about "the meeting of lips that you all call 'kissing'..." and, when told by Hack that one should do it with someone you're fond of, picked Saint to be her first kiss ever. (We'd discussed this, Saint's player and I, before session happened.) This happened right before the mission that led to her death. That's gonna mess a man up. And the last things she heard from the nobles of Brighton Below were things about unity between the Houses and actually treating Fragments like the people they are, so ... hey, bonus. Died under the impression that she had made a difference and that her work was well underway. Even if she can't be brought back, she'd trust Saint with the rest.

Amusing tidbits from the journey to Brighton and the game in general.

- Riding the bus up to Hangleton, hearing these girls who couldn't have been more than sixteen talking about how waste gets flushes out of airline toilets and doing their makeup on the moving bus and then one of them saying, "...Well, I went through, like, a chavvy phase..." (Which, I am assuming, is not actually over yet.)

- Game was awesome, but I'm noticing a pattern. My character comes up with a plan that makes sense and doesn't involve attacking anyone, everyone ignores it and me, violence and mayhem ensues, and somehow my character ends up maimed. In this case, I got near-killed by my own people's anthropomorphic personification of law over two chunks of upside-down cake. Law's a pompous, stuck-up arse.

- I never want to hear the phrase, "We can't let the terrorists win" ever again in-game. Especially when it renders my character's risking her life to make peaceful restitution and so forth absolutely meaningless.

- I made the gossip slips. The one I got to see was even about 2/3 accurate!

- Knife vs Sword = ... eh, no. Note to self - pick up the means to use a quarterstaff before next game.

- White chocolate vid cards will not survive in this miserable heat. However, I improvised. Daz was pleased. He ate them so fast he didn't even get to show them off. I'll see if I can't improve upon it all next time.

- The guy we sort of hired to do magic tricks didn't really show up (or something), there was extra cash in the Brighton Below kitty at the end of the night. And since I was the only one left without a ride back to civilisation, Trez basically refunded my entry fee to pay for a cab to the train station. (Which it did, exactly.) So gallant - he even pointed out when he called the cab that "it's a woman on her own so please do be prompt as we don't want her out here on her own this late for very long". Chivalry ain't dead.

- The train ride home was hell, and the buses weren't any better. The last one - 134 to Tally Ho Corner - was chock full of drunken arseholes and one guy actually decided that standing in front of the bus was a good way to make it stop where it wasn't supposed to so he and his friends could get on. Smaaaaaaaart move.

- My right shoulder hurts clear down to my wrist. I think Law may have hit me a bit hard with the foam rubber sword.

Further details available on request, but right now ... whoo. Let's just say it's been a long, eventful day. Fun, too. Roll on, November!

This weekend's been fun. Friday was sinus pain, sore throat, fever and groggy, Saturday wasn't much better but I thought I was on the mend, Sunday was migraine from hell and while that's got better today, my head still hurts and right now my gut is unequivocably stating that it is likely to expel anything I put into my digestive system in unpleasant ways.

I'm fed right the fuck up with being ill.

Honestly, I think a day spent predominantly between bed and, when I can sit upright, the computer would not be a bad thing. A four-day week at 7.5 hours a day (because this lot only lets me have a half-hour for lunch no matter what) isn't going to cause intense problems, all things considered. I originally rang in saying that I was going to be late because I hoped that things would settle but there's no way I'm going to manage an hour and a half commute in my present condition anyway. I'd better be feeling better by tomorrow, though. Missing work because of health problems is no good when one is paid by the hour and has no sick pay.

Really, I just want a decent week before I have Brighton Below stuff. I don't want to miss that; not when I've already paid up and bought the train tickets and everything. Also, I now have an ill-fitting velvet carriage coat that will add a certain je-ne-sais-quoi to my outfit. I can't button the thing because it was meant for skinnier people, not to mention people with way narrower shoulders than mine (aside from being 'aerodynamically curvaceous', I am apparently built like a linebacker. Whoopee), but it's a Neverwhere LARP. Things don't have to fit and are generally not expected to. So too-big boots, too-small carriage coat, shredded-looking skirt and I think I still have this one blouse that will just complete the outfit on the whole ... there's just the hair issue, but I think I have that sorted. Depends on whether the clip I bought the other month will hold the amount of hair I have. In any case, at least part of why I don't want to miss this is because I picked up the white chocolate and green food colouring I'm going to need to make those edible 'memory cards' for Daz. I'm looking forward to that as a culinary experiment.

I'm also pondering drabble and short story bits and bobs. It looks for the moment like the drabbles from Daz and yshala's prompts have won the day, but it's that third one that's going to be tricky. Looks like it might be the one from prettyarbitrary's prompt, which is funny because it's the only one that got anything like criticism. But then there's dodgyhoodoo's one - lugubrious-pinhole-smock, not soupy pignoodles - which ... well, as the votes are spread, it's impossible to tell. Everyone's got a favourite, and most of them are different favourites. I think next time, I'm doing three write-in boxes and linking to all the drabbles. Hey, at least I'm not limited to fifteen clickable options on the poll then...

Anyway, I'm currently pondering 'lemonade power' and the 'bucket of black powder' thing. It gives my brain something to do besides being miserable. But I think I'll do that pondering while lying down because ... blech.

I'm sure only one person here is going to understand exactly what I'm talking about when I start in on this, but what the hell: Brighton Below is awesome but the Downtime navigation thing is fucking confusing. I've read the Downtime rules over and over again and I still can't work out whether you can navigate the Known Areas without Exploring them first. Investigating them, fine, I get you'd need to do that before being able to find herbs and what have you (not to mention those pesky secret entrances and exits) but ye flippin' gods, I'm hoping I can at least assume my character can get to the places classified as Known Areas. I mean, after all, she got to the Floating Market okay, she can't be that bad at navigating. Plus I suppose there was an in-game look at Saint's map to consider, so at least there's something to pin various bits of information to...

Anyway, with the nifty little spreadsheet the lovely staffers made, I am trying to put together something that vaguely resembles a map of the Known Areas in-game. Now, this is a little difficult as this is a Neverwhere-style game where, much like in the Dreaming, the distance and direction of various things is a bit ... changeable. Just when I thought I'd got a whole bunch of it done ... well, I hadn't. And the format I did that quarter in over lunch doesn't want to let me edit it at home. Which bites, frankly, as it means that if I want something I can work with at home, I now have to start all over again. Lots of pretty little colour bits and pieces and teensy little text boxes with numbers on and aaaaaargh. The amount of research time I put into these things gets just an eensy bit ridiculous at times.

Still, it's all a lot of fun, and I won't deny that for a moment. Currently in the middle of IC-PM-chat with Saint and that's proving enlightening and entertaining. Pondering Downtime actions and ways in which to justify XP expenditure (the great thing about playing a displaced deity is that you can ... probably ... get away with explaining at least one or two expenditures as "regaining that which was lost, in some small way, owing to having people who actually believe in you again") and stuff like that there. Sometimes it is just nice being a player again...

Oh, and back to that whole "icon yammer" meme thing I did the other day ... while I'm here, here are doccy's picks.

( Never-ending icon squee )

Anyway, I'm going to go work on that map for a bit and then I'm going to bail because my right foot is doing that swelling thing again and I think I'd like to give it more of a rest than putting it on the floor gives it at some stage.

And so I spoke to trishiekaty about what happened with the gift voucher whojamaflip. And she fixed it - more than, as a matter of fact. So instead of paying for half of it (which I'd have been more than happy to do), I paid just under three quid towards postage, and now must think of something awesome to send her for her birthday / Christmas / whatever. (Do you reckon they do War-Dancing Weasels on eBay?)

Additionally, I had a much-needed vent that's been building for weeks now, so I can only really thank ilyena_sylph (via AIM) and dodgyhoodoo (via RL) for listening. I think I have a lot clearer an idea of what to do as far as that situation goes now, whereas prior to the venting I really was just foaming at the mouth.

And of course, there's courtcat79, who kindly showed me how to set up Sims 2 so it shows up in a window rather than just taking up the whole screen, so now I can play Sims 2 and do other things at the same time. Vaguely distracting, but makes the detail work when I want to build, say, hotels and what have you so much less infuriating because I can take breaks more easily.

Sometimes, there's an awful lot of suck. Job suck, financial suck, occasional family suck, hobby-related suck, transport and travel suck, and so it goes. But between the friends (and fiance, obviously) mentioned above and the ones I have given so many kudos to previously (particularly yshala and her help with getting me to Brighton Below), there's really no excuse for forgetting that life isn't so bad after all.

So ... yeah. Anyone who says 'getting there is half the fun' should be shot.

Saturday panned out like this - I packed my gear, meeped briefly (see previous post) and then left. Miracle of miracles, the stations north of Finchley Central were actually open today (they're so often not) and I didn't have to amble very far to get to a Tube. That, in effect, was the only bit of travel luck I had trying to get to the Hangleton Community Centre and the Brighton Below LARP.

Northern Line to Euston, fine. Got off at Euston to change for the Victoria line. Discovered that the platform I sought was shut. Fuck, say I, and stomp back to the platform I just left to take the Tube one stop down and change at Warren Street. Manage that, finally get to Victoria. Huzzah. Stop off at that little shopping centre dealie to grab some food and a top that is suitable for such doings, head for the bus station in (I think) plenty of time to grab the 1pm bus out to Brighton. Spot a Whittards, stop for chocolate-covered espresso beans. Woman in the queue ahead of me is being a total pain in the arse and holds up the queue for ages. Finally get to the bus station, and the queue for tickets there (as the ticket booths are undermanned) prevent me from making the 1pm coach. Next coach - 2pm. "No problem," think I. "That'll get me there at a little past 4pm and I should be able to make it to the venue before game starts." However, then my coach is delayed. Which is a right royal pain in the arse, but still, I think, "It's not that big a delay - I should be able to make it there just before the game starts..." Except that when I get there, the roadworks on the Old Steine appear to be gumming up the traffic all over Brighton city centre. Bang go my chances at getting to LARP on time. I text the man in charge, as he was at that point the only person whose number I had, letting him know I was going to be late and sat through the bus journey, which involved one of a small pack of teenagers throwing up in the seat just ahead of mine. Then I got off the bus too soon, and wound up walking a good two miles uphill in unsuitable shoes and in the rain until I finally got to where I was going. Needless to say that by the time I got to Hangleton Community Centre, I was flustered, bemused, and vaguely pissed off at the world. Which I suppose is as good a 'getting into character' method as any for one's first time in the Underside in some frail mortal shell.

Further complications ensued about costumes. Turned out that the lab coat I was offered had been left in Dan's garage workshop through no real fault of anyone's, and as Daz hadn't known whether I was coming, the Gladstone bag didn't materialise. However, I did get a briefcase that worked well enough for my initial foray, and in a way I'm glad I didn't have the lab coat because it really would have changed my first entry into the whole thing. As it was, it went very well, and Travesty Moran came away with a fealty pledge to a noble House with a very big loophole in it, various allies and people very interested in her and what she can do, primarily in a positive way. Also quests to pursue. There are tales - many, many tales. So much to say about the Foundry folk and Hannington and Saint and the preacher and the 60s reject and Dawg and Morley and ... so, so many stories for a five-hour thing. However, they're going to have to wait for at least a little as I am rather sore, incredibly tired and possibly hungry. Suffice it to say, however, that I saw Daz and yshala and Dan and Gav and Drinn and someone who was on JN ages ago who calls himself Uncle Steve, and they are all still awesome people, with particular kudos to Daz and Gav, for making my RP with the Foundry folk so fun, and to yshala for her hospitality and 'group mum' instincts. I also made at least one new friend (the first person to hug me on relatively short acquaintance in some time, and I didn't even mind overmuch - he was like a puppy, really), who complimented me on my LARPing ability and said that our IC stuff had been a lot of fun. So I'm very flattered. And yes, there are tales, but they must wait.

Then we crashed at Dan and Kate's overnight. There were cats! Three of 'em! Yay for cats! Also yay for sofas to sleep on and finally getting those bloody boots off for awhile! Then there was helping yshala with the washing up and then watching her and Kate pack 'posh plates', thus seeing yshala buried in bubble wrap. There are pictures of that... Anyway, then yshala and Mark were kind enough to drive me as far as London Bridge station on their own way home. So after an uneventful Tube ride, here I am.

I am achy. I am tired. I'm pretty sure I am hungry now. But I had such a good time. Can't wait 'til the next one. Now I just have to figure out how 'down time' actually works...