Flight of the Oehoe - Symbols VII: Shadow
The past two Symbols were rushed affairs to me, mainly due to having to work on Friday and never properly de-stress before going in character. Not this time. So much happened that I will try to stick to the highlights and observations (though knowing me that will be too damned long still).
Preparation was fairly easy, with a part being done as early as preparing for Myriad: going through my stacks of physreps and getting out all the various bits and bobbins for Oehoe, as well as getting the Aegolius 2.0 costume (thanks, Helen and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
wannabe_bitch!). Getting all the luggage together was fairly easy, though I had to replan my pick up runs due to Cora and Rennie joining me (JW did not know if he could get off until the last minute). Also had a snag in my logistical planning as one of the new poles for my big tent was not up to the load and cracked while testing. A backup was found and packed, and just before 12 we all loaded up and left towards the Symbols grounds. I drove there at a leisurly pace, meeting JW again halfway at a gasstation, and we arrived there between 1 and 2, with plenty of time to spare. The tent was set up, sleeping places claimed and friends greeted, after which we raided the local snackbar as we did not know when it would close shop (the First of May being an important holiday). It all turned out that we had plenty of time, so after a good meal it was time to dig up the costumes and go in-character, for this four-day Symbols.
It was hard getting out of the starting block and had a difficult time with a few things, still a throwback to last year's situation at work, but some laptop-assisted downtime and a good chat with the Symbols Orga sorted it, and despite the startup trouble I really got into gear around Saturday Afternoon, staying in my 'flow' till time-out on Sunday, healing people, saving the Sun from extinction, bandaging, making potions and even working on a murder investigation which will likely keep me busy till well into the next Symbols.
Biggest thing on my program was finding a cure for the Changeling problem, or at least a better solution then the Mira-potion, which only works on willing Changelings (so no cure for Changelings who are too far into the change to have any higher brainfunctions left). Had some minor succes, but some kind of auto-regenerating Thama-proporties in the blood managed to baffle my research. Still, blood is the key now, and I intend not to stop for anything (including a death threat, which I duly ignored as I have any ace up my sleeve the size of Kansas).
Noticable this time especially was a more open attitude between the various groups. In the past Nightkin, Changelings and Children of Nature already freely intermingled, assisting each other in problems, patching up their hurt and respecting the various cultural traditions / 'things' that each race had. The Guardians were the odd one out, though, especially the Blackhammers, which had caused some IC/OC friction, but a good open discussion had sorted a lot of things out. While there had been a few individual 'openings' in the first day, it was most pronounced just after dinner on Saturday, when we played in-character tag with pretty much the whole village. I don't know when it started, but with all the problems having pressed on our moods for days you could almost litterally feel the tension draining as we 'frolicked' through the village, replacing the normal long 'after-dinner-dip' (a lot of people have trouble getting back up to IC speed after dinner) with some in-character fun. Incoming wounded soldiers quickly made us coming back to business, but all groups - especially the Blackhammers - have made strides to put aside a lot of the more radical differences and just 'be'.
The village had a fairly happy mood, despite loss of magic, two armies (Venada vs. T'dora) fighting a war nearly, Ixo's and termites, mostly because everybody was determined to live on their lives to the fullest. Was 'veil-holder' at the wedding between Drass and Ina (something the Guardians assure me is a position of honor), was invited to the engagement between Rallin and Ashala and had a lot of general planning fun with trying to get the Sun to mate ("hump already, you're going extinct"). It is this type of play that I really like, because it keeps my character very grounded as just the village alchemist. Personal highlight for me as babysitting a next of eggs of a Changeling, and them hatching, so I had a next of cute hatchlings.
The Changeling group was somewhat debilitated due to the absence of Vaj, Julian having decided to NPC in lieu of PC due to a few snags, but we managed to keep ourselves in the game due to assisting with and reinforcing on several things going on with the other three main groups in the village. Without leadership issues we are a bit more relaxed, but I sincerely hope we can return to some bearer kicking next time with Vaj back in the fray. Did manage to score nicely against the Ixo's, as I had been saving herbs that they dislike for over a year and a half (ever since meeting them in the Land Beyond the Great Bridge, aka the other continent in the Symbols world). We'd been finding eggs and Ixo's all weekend, so we suspected an egg-laying Queen nearby (to the point of me kicking Elana to go find the bloody thing) but it wasn't till it litterally took over the council tent that we could finally hit something, and the seven phials of anti-Ixo stuff were deployed. Score for preparation. In the end they also turned out to have something to do -sideways- with the loss of Magic that our Mages had, but that was a different story where I could do little else then babysit the bottle of mana that the mages gave me for safe keeping. Did manage to burn my hands trying to whip up an emergency truth-serum for Killburn, but at least did not blow myself up.
All in all, a good Symbols. Have an idea for a special now, but will give it time till everybody has rested.
Was home before 10, even after dropping Jules and Mone off home, and after a quick emailcheck plonked down on the couch to watch the last bit of the Matrix II which happened to be on after some random zapping. Watched the end while Lies promptly fell asleep nestled against me, so I took the hint and suggested bed once she woke up. Slept for eight hours. My next week I'll spend in Delft as the school is closed, and I will keep my evenings chill as I prepare for my third week of larp, this time as Ambrogino 'Gino' Schnoodaert, member of the Schnoodaert family at Aon.
Edit: Ugh. Got sick and spent the last day hugging a bucket on the couch. Dunno what happened, but hope to be ready for Aon. Blegh.
sleepy
