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When I wrote the first half of my German Larp Adventure (2010) I did it when it was freshly in my mind. Time has passed and now I write of the memories that are still with me, and I suspect will be with me for a long time to come....
Cathrin and I drove to her home where I met her family again. I got to spend more time with them and learn more about them. Away from the larp it seemed I could see differences in culture a bit more. Much time was spent doing laundry and Bear came to visit. I very much enjoyed my time with Cathrin's family and even now thank them for their generous hospitality, even if Cathrin's husband and I did not see quite eye to eye on all matters.
So it was off then to pick up Anne, she who would be Siobhan, Nyame of the West. We arrived at her flat to find her not quite ready to go. A decision was made to eat and let her finish her preparations for the event. When is anyone ever on time for an event? I promptly fell asleep but was awoken by the cooking of some excellent pasta. Sadly I did not take the opportunity for a shower (and that was a mistake!). Then it was loading the car so we could finally be off. I managed to travel all the way to Germany, for a two week holiday, with a single bag. How many dresses do you think I carried to that car?
Road trips to events are always fun. Whether in the States going to a SCA event, in the UK going to a re-enactment or in Germany going to a larp festival. Its great to bond with your friends as the excitement builds. Like kids before Christmas morning! Radio going with theme music on. Pre-event frothing to excess.
We arrived at the Mythodea site and Anne quickly introduced us to various VIP's, who were quite friendly but also very busy. We unloaded Anne's stuff into the main VIP house and made our way to the field where Earth Camp was supposed to be. We found Bear there and since we were all so tired it was an early night in a tent that had been put up for staff I believe. Cathrin complained about my snoring, which I thought odd considering we had shared a tent for almost a week already, but I took that as my cue to sleep as far from her as I could in the rather large tent. Last thing I wanted to do was upset the woman who had already been so kind to me!
In the morning it was time to start work. And work it was, setting up the tents of the Archon and Nyame of the West. They had this cool set of joined black tents that actually allowed you to have partioned rooms. Very cool, but somewhat complicated. Then Cathrin said she wanted some privacy for the ladies in our section of tent, so a wall would need to be rigged up. Luckily I had help in this!
I was fortunate enough to have been invited to serve in the Household of the Nyame of the West and there were some other cool guys there. David was an experienced larper and as dedicated to Anne as Cathrin. The other fellow as a first time larper. He seemed a nice guy with a good attitude (just how good a guy he turned out to be I didn't realize at this point). And we went to the task at hand. We found room for the camp beds for us and also for Cathin, Anne and a woman called Steffi who was playing Anne's sister. It was rather close quarters but we found a way to manage. Over the course of the next few days these people became my family.
There were other people staying in our little camp within the larger encampment of the Earth avatar. Marius was playing the Archon of the West and he had his household as well. Some of the people were new to larp, some old hands. One woman, a beautiful blonde German that lends truth to the stereotype, caught my attention when we were chatting away. There was something about the way she said, "I know" when I told her I was a cop. It was a coy little smile and flash in her eyes. Funny how things stay with you. Great things often start with small beginnings.
One of the plans we had made for the event was to hire French mercenaries. We had done some IC messages via the internet and Cathrin was keen for me to get into character and go hire them. I was concious that it wasn't time in yet and I still had not really gone shopping properly yet. But she was quite determined. So, I got into kit and went looking for them (with a small detour through town to have a look at the merchant stalls!).
When I got to the mercenary camp I had fun going from group to group trying to find the one specific French group I had been in contact with, La Compagnie de Lile Noir. The Company of the Black Lily. I should have realized they would be the ones all in red and black, with lillies on their kit. They were only half in kit, but who could blame them. It wasn't officially time in yet.
There is an art at many of large UK larp festivals of getting into kit at just the right moment. Wearing kit too early will get you mocked and teased for it. Getting into it too late and you will feel out of place in your modern clothes and you miss some excellent role playing opportunities. It seems this is not the case in Germany. No matter when the organizers say the official time in is, people seem to start early.
The French mercs were gracious about this, and despite the looks of dismay as people rushed around to get things in order I was offered food and drink. What madman passes up a chance for some wine at a french camp no matter what the hour?
My contact with the Black Lily was a wonderfully charming and attractive woman. She was pleasant and spoke English with a lovely accent. We talked about the details of the work and we made arrangements for her and the company Captain to come to see us in our camp to formalize things. I got perhaps a bit carried away and asked for a kiss to help seal the deal... which did not impress one of the jugglers performing in the camp. I was promptly hit in the back of the head with a thrown dagger that we all agreed only stunned me and caused no lasting damage!
I made my way back to camp to find there was not a great deal of time left before time in. I met with the lovely blonde from earlier, Anja being her name, and off we went to check out the Roman camp which was near ours. Bear had invited me to see the Roman tavern and sample some mead. We arrived and was greeted by Bear and two large Celts. Well one was large. The other was HUGE. I mean monsterously huge. And very heavily muscled. The mead was good and the company better. I remember thinking at the time, "Now this is why I larp."
So much happened after time in. Much of it is a blur. The site was so huge and there were so many people. So much to see and do. I had been impressed with Drachenfest. After that I didn't think much would impress me more... but what can I say, Mythodea did.
The town was stunning. Blacksmiths actually making things. Amazing food and drink. Brilliant entertainers. Gifted artisans selling their wares. I definitely did not bring enough money.
The facilities at the event were also amazing. Now this isn't the kind of thing people normally like to consider but I've run a few events myself over the years and I'm fascinated by how people manage their events. There were brilliant showers, clean toilets, excellent medical facilities, and a well stocked "supermarket" in a semi-OOC area. I did not see any OOC camp area. I'm not even sure they have one.
Early on in the event I learned a lesson. I have to be careful what I offer to do for people. I had offered to be the standard bearer for the Nyame of the West. This sounded like a bit of fun and I am a vain man, I like having people look at me. I told Cathrin I would be happy to do this as long as the banner was light enough for me to still be able to fight one handed. The banner she presented me was unbelievable. I mean we are talking about a proper banner. It looked lovely but was heavy as hell! She smiled sweetly at me and said, "but it comes with a leather harness to wear as well, that will make it easier". Suddenly I was reminded of the time I carried the US flag for an American Civil War group. This was going to be hard work!
On top of that, I was feeling a bit poorly. I picked up a slight cough and was tired. I imagine this came from drinking out of the communual water bottles that were being passed around at Drachenfest on the battlefields but it could have been any number of other things. Camp life is not the most hygenic.
Within the first day of carrying the standard I knew it was too much for me. I hated to give up and say I couldn't do it. Cathrin had warned me about Anne and what she was like. I was told she moved around like a hamster on speed. That was an understatement. Here I was trying to wear chainmail and carry this heavy standard like I was 20 again. In the end my pride gave way and I had to pass the priviledge on to our new player. He rose to the challenge magnificently! It was the right move. If you are at a larp and you are not having fun, change what you are doing. I spoke with Cathrin and Anne, and they were fine with it. So I spent less time with the household and more time on my own running errands for Anne. And I loved it!
But my illness took a turn for the worst and I found myself spending a lot of time in my camp bed. My blisters were getting worse as well. I tended to have early nights and late mornings. Once I'd been to the paramedics for treatment for my feet and cathrin got me some cold/flu remedy medicine, I was on the road to recovery. Thankfully this didn't stop me enjoying the event!
I spent a lot of time in the town but I also spent time scouting the battlefield and the Undead Fortress. I ate, drink and made merry. I fought the Undead and the Black Ice. I flirted with women, bought a great pair of shoes and watched some amazing entertainers.
At one point I was hot, tired, thirsty and hungry. I had just gotten some food and a drink in town. I was just sitting down on the ground to watch some Elven linedancers when an Elf and his lady stepped in front of me. They stood there, blocking my view of the lovely dancers. I was not impressed. Now me personally I would have probably just quietly kept my irritation to myself and focused on my food but it wasn't just me this time it was Bryn, the slightly mad Dark Age Celt and was one to speak his mind! A brilliantly role played argument broke out between Bryn and the Elf (I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did) and in the end the Elf and his lady moved on to greener pastures. How positvely empowering that experience was. One of the things I love about larp is trying things out that you wouldn't do in real life and seeing how it would work out.
The role playing at the event was amazing. There was a great bit for me on the battlefield. I had been doing a lot of fighting on my own, just joining in with other settlers and forming adhoc groups. At one point I was fighting in a very loose shield-wall, not quite open order skirmishing but close when I noticed one of the Black Ice talking to another, who looked to be a young lady that was new to the fighting. You can almost always tell new fighters by the way they hold their weapons and look around with big "deer eyes". He seemed to be trying to urge her to rush and attack me but she was hesitant. He looked over and said something to me that I didn't understand. I smiled and said "English bitte?". He smiled, nodded and gestured that he wanted to shield rush/bash me. I smiled and nodded in agreement and he came flying at me. This quickly turned into a grappling match with both of us losing our shields and weapons. We were punching, kicking, wrestling... it was great fun. Some of those fighting around us stopped to watch. A circle formed around us. I was very concious of the attention and decided it was time to finish him before I ended up embarrassing myself. I pulled off my leather water bottle and threw it him, which he graciously role played as hitting him and hurting a lot more than it really did. He fell over and I jumped on top of him, pulled out his own dagger and killed him with it. The settlers around me cheered! Now that was an epic moment.
Another moment that stands out was just outside the gates of the Undead fortress. There was a big group of settlers, well over a hundred but only a couple of us out front, closer to the gate. We were challenging the undead champions to come out and fight in duels but without success to date. I could see some on the walls and they appeared to be grinning.... Then suddenly it was like all those films where there is a whistling sound and the sky is darkened with arrows. Ok, maybe it wasn't darkened but certainly more larp arrows than I have ever seen fired in a single volley at a larp or a re-enactment. More than a couple of dozen and less than a hundred. All fired from the courtyard of the fortress over the walls, so we had not seen the archers. I was stunned for a second then crouched down behind my shield, willing myself to be smaller than I was. Amazingly the arrows all flew right over me into the packed mass of settlers behind me. The ones who had been sure to be out of arrow range. There then came some archers to the walls and they tried to hit me and the other challenger but to no avail. In the end him and I looked at one another, shrugged and moved back into the mass of settlers. Obviously there were no undead champions to be fought at this point. We were just complimenting each other on our bravery when I was hit straight in the face with an arrow and collapsed like a sack of potatoes. Thankfully there were some good healers around!
The fighting itself was very confusing. The event organizers and refs had asked players to consider not spending too much time on camp defences and instead build seige works to attack the undead fortress. This suggestion was largely ignored. There were many, many seige engines but the player groups could not seem to coordinate when to bring them to the fortress and would always return them to their own camp after using them briefly. We ended up taking and losing the fortress a couple of times, mostly I heard because people did not stay and defend the fortress at night. This irritated me to no end, and I decided the next time we took the fortress I would volunteer to stay in it all night long. It wasn't long before I had to live up to that vow.
Night had fallen, it was getting late. I needed to get to the fortress and was going from group to group trying to find volunteers to join me. I knew the Collin, the Archon of the West would need more swords with him to hold back the undead. I was met in camps of celebrating settlers who generally said things along the lines of, "we're adventurers not soldiers!" and then promptly offer me a drink. Frustrating. I was just telling this to Senator Congerius, the Voice of the West when one of his men said. You should take a bunch of blankets out with you for the others. I'm not sure why his advice irritated me so much, but for some reason it got to me. Maybe it was his tone of voice. Maybe it was just the frustration of knowing no one else was going. I said, "why dont you join me?" He declined. I said, "I have to travel in the dark, through bandit and undead infested lands, on my own, carrying my weapons and armor... so I can sleep rough in an undead fortress and you want me to carry a bundle of blankets as well? Why don't you join me, carry the blankets and then come back here to sleep in your nice warm tent?" He said, "no." And off I went.
Then I noticed we had no guards on the Earth Camp gate. Where had they gone. Seems they got taken away by either undead or pestilence. I stood guard on my own for a bit and tried to get someone to organize a replacement guard. Finally some folks agreed to relieve me so I could go round up some guards. I tried and really lost my temper when I could not find anyone willing to volunteer. In the end I released the visitors who had short-term volunteered and left the camp. If something nasty came, the people in the camp would get everything they deserved!
In the fortress I found a number of people, but it seemed more of a party than defensive position. I found Collin, the Archon and his right hand Lucien. They were remarkably generous with me, speaking with me as if I was an old friend and trusted ally rather than some new guy. I was told to get some sleep and tried my best to sleep on a wooden pallet. Unfortunately the wood had soaked up a lot of rain earlier and a couple of hours later I was cold and wet. I was finding it impossible to go back to sleep. The party had died down and folks were looking rather miserable. It must have been around 4 am. I spoke with Collin and Lucien. It was decided that we would head back to our camp to get some proper sleep so that we could effectively fight in the morning. As soon as I walked out of the gate I regretted this decision and tried to go back in but the guards refused to open the gate for me. Sigh. The die had been cast.
I woke up stiff and sore. My mood was grim. I was greeted by the same Roman who had suggested I take blankets to the fortress. He now suggested I bring coffee to the defenders of the fortress. I was not impressed but bit my tongue. "Good idea, where is it?" I growled as politely as I could manage. "You'll have to make some" he replied. ARGH! I stomped off to the fortress, as much as a man with with bad blisters can stomp. It was a little later than I'd wanted to be up. The fortress had just come into sight when I heard something. What was that noise? It was a column of Black Ice, marching and chanting something. About 200 of them. Crap! I began to run, a lopsided, painful run given my blisters. "Open the gates, open the gates!" I would be in real trouble if the guards were awkward with me again. "Black Ice coming! Let me in! Hurry!" In cinematic fashion the gate opened and closed behind me, I gasped out my relief. It would not be long until we were under attack. How long until the settlers arrived to help?
There were about 30 of us in the fortress. But the gates were strong. I had high hopes of holding until I realize the postern gate was open. It was being guarded and some mage had a magical barrier up but now things were looking a bit grim. Still, hope dies last. Then one of the gates collapsed. A giant golem had knocked them down! Collin the Archon was shouting for us to form up in the courtyard. We made a shieldwall, me on the far right. We gave a pretty good account of ourselves but there were just too many of them. The had some crossbows that fired nerf bolts, those were pretty ineffective. I was thankful they did not have the better crossbows I had seen in the hands of so many of the settlers.
One by one we fell. We realized we were not going to be rescued. Collin came up with a plan of escape. He had a magic mace and would try to use it to knock a hole in the wall whilst we protected his back. Might have worked, but then the undead arrived. Whereas the Black Ice had been slowly, relentlessly unstoppable the undead flowed around them. Moving very, very fast. Two were on me and before I knew it I was on my back. I had taken a healing potion earlier but it had not had time to take effect (healing, even magical, in the german systems is not instantaneous). I watched everyone else get cut down, Collin taken prisoner. I was doing my death count, trying to decide what my next character would be when a dark wraith looking being came over. He told me I was healed and had been taken over by the Black Ice. Assimilated. I had to either fight for them or do a mission. I chose the mission. I was to infiltrate my home camp then return with intelligence on the camp.
It was a bizarre bit of role playing this. Playing a mind-controlled character. When I walked past the Romans, Bear and his 2 Celtic friends said hello. I ignored them and this seemed to irritate them. I guess they thought I was being a jerk for some reason and did not realize I was now one of the enemy. I was in our camp for some time before it clicked and I was "cleansed". This involved a lot of role played pain and screaming. I should have taken the option to fight.
There was a lot of fighting. Alot. If we weren't fighting the Black Ice or undead, we were training. The huge Celt friend of Bear's was an amazing fighter. I felt like a child when I sparred with him. A lot of shield work, where the shield is very active, almost a weapon itself. Cathrin impressed me with her close-in work but I could tell her heart was in her archery. There was a rather overweight fellow playing what looked like a horned ogre to me, with a big axe and without a shirt. He impressed me with the fact he was clearly fighting in heroic fashion rather than just to win. He was making the axe look heavy and I told Bear, if he hits you with that axe maybe you should fall down. The guy deserved respect for that much atleast.
I am unsure if I really want to respect goblins on the other hand. The lovely blonde Anja and I, along with a fine fellow whose name I never did get, had been fighting outside the fortress one morning and we all decided to get lunch in town. I was very much enjoying the food, beer and company when my ears were assailed by high-pitched english. Some goblins were harassing some pirates. The very sound of their voices was grating on my nevers profoundly. I wanted to kill them however I wasn't sure I was allowed to. You generally can't fight in taverns in the UK larps. And when I suggested it, Anja disagreed with me. Still I had seen people attack and kill other people in the same area, just outside the tent itself. In the end I decided not to chance it.
But fighting can happen in taverns it seems. There is a tavern in the Dungeon. Its called the Mad Goblin. I went there with a bunch of the French mercenaries we'd hired earlier. It wasn't nearly as hard to get to as I had first thought it would be. Still, I would not have gone there alone. I was having a great time socializing with one of the ladies of the group when some fellow whom I mistaken for a harmless drunk bit the lady on the neck, saying "infected bite" when he did. Neither one of us knew if this was within the rules but I ran with it. I got up walked behind the undead and despite him carrying a bottle of beer I hit him with my sword, saying "if you can bite her, I can kill you". He looked at me and grinned. "So you want to fight? Good!" he said in a strong accent. He gestured to the open space in the tavern, close to the stage where apparently there is pole dancing if you catch the dancers at the right time. I hit him with my sword but it seemed to have no effect, then I got the idea... he wanted to grapple. I wasn't much in the mood and simulated kicking him in the groin, knocking him over and sawing his head off with my sword. I then promptly went back to drinking and socializing. This fellow then walks up again and asks if he can drink with us. Amazed at this, I point him in the direction of one of my mates who is so drunk he is flirting with a female french mercenary that is also a drider and off stumbles this crazy drunk undead monstrosity. Bizarre.
And on the note of bizarre, I had a dream sequence... although it was not intentional. I was walking with the household of Siobhan, Nyame of the West when we came across a group of settlers who appeared to be entertaining a bunch of undead nobles! Singers and musicians playing for our enemies! When questioned about this behaviour, they said fighting had not worked so far, maybe love and art will find a way. I was truly appalled, in character and out of character. The very idea was shocking to me. I began to berate them, "Shame on you! You betray every one who has died at their hands, they are the undead!" I thought the emotion in my voice was quite realistic and compelling. I was getting myself more and more worked up. This was going to end in tears, I could just sense it, then a ref said that it was a dream sequence that it wasn't "real" and that there was no way we should have come across it. Seems to me that if that is the case, they should have held it somewhere other than a busy route of foot traffic near the center of the event.
There is just so much to talk about, and I don't want to bore you all. There were the Vi'inshar. Think of them as the counter-point to the Nazgul. Beautiful ghostly women in white, with voices that can cause fear and the ability to steal your memories. Led by Aniesha Fey, an amazingly gifted role player who can say a great deal with just a look. She has a way of moving that makes her look other-worldly. She is one of the all time best larp villains. Ever.
There was the pestilence. Think Warhammer Fantasy Nurgle followers. I dreaded having to deal with them. After being sick for real, the last thing I wanted to do was have to role play being sick. They had water they would spray around and if it hit you, you were in trouble. Even the idea of having to clean my armor was more trouble than I wanted. So I avoided them.
There were the Tivar´Kharassil, sort of Knights Templar of the Elements. They had a set of command tents near the fortress. From here the seige works were to have been commanded but no real seige works ever developed. I spent a lot of time there with Siobhan and Collin. At one point I was passing by when one of the servants there recognized me and called me over. He knew I worked for Siobhan and he told me she had left a bowl of stew there. He wanted me to take the bowl back to her camp. Sigh. Just as I was leaving I heard my name called. It was that Roman again. This time he told me that Cathrin, who was playing Jaleh, Siobhan's bodyguard had left her helmet. He handed it to me. I wanted to say something clever but it was hot, I was tired, and I knew I was about to lose my temper. So I accepted the helmet and walked away. As I was going to the camp, thinking about how much my blisters hurt, I saw a giant chaos knight. Skulls and chains hanging off him. He looked impressive! And I thought to myself, "I bet he never has to carry a dirty bowl".
I could go on like this for ages. So much happened and when I look back it was just a few days. There was so much I did but also so much I didn't get a chance to do. Epic is such a great word for ConQuest of Mythodea. I made so many friends and had such a great time. When the end of the event came it snuck up on me. Before I knew it, it was the last night. I did my best to spend some time drinking with the beautiful Anja and was introduced to a group called the Six Winds, who displayed such an amazing sense of esprit d'corps and comeradery that I didn't need to speak German to understand. I envied them and told myself one day I will experience that myself.
In the morning the tents came down. As usual it rained before we had everything put away. The rain helped hide some tears I think when people said their goodbyes. I had had the most amazing holiday. I made so many good friends. I'd run the whole gamut of emotions. I think some people who've been to the events a few times have grown jaded and forgotten how lucky they are. We often take for granted what comes easily. I'd remind them that not everyone is so fortunate as to have a gateway to a magical world like Drachenfest and Mythodea on their doorstep.
Guess thats why I built the Grand Expedition.
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Zeno Sidonius, First Spear of the Army of the Western Seal, Jarl of Dunholme, Lord-Captain of the Grand Expedition
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