Malor

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 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.

After a comparively restful week pre-Symbols, strangely enough post Symbols was a lot more hectic. With a little more time now of course, that resulted in LOTS to tell. So here goes. First up was Symbols, of course, and despite the fact I had to work my friends had my back and pretty much prepped everything for me. Getting there was easier said then done. While my friends had picked up the packed cart and gotten it to the grounds, I was working till 16:30 and driving from Zoetermeer to Deventer past some of the busiest traffic-intersections of the country. Luckily I would not be driving alone as I also know that some of the Children of Nature (Gert, Simone and Bas) would be travelling from Leiden and my work was right next to Station Zoetermeer-Oost. Just as I walked out of the building they arrived on the parking, and we loaded the car and went underway.
Till Utrecht it went quite smoothly, but 6 accidents between Zoetermeer and Deventer generated over 20 km of trafficjam, and we decided, wisely, to stop in Soesterberg for food and bathroom. Just past 7 we got back in the car and arrived on the grounds just past 8, quickly unloading and preparing to go in-character. I was pretty moody then, tired and overwhelmed by negative emotions due to the traffic situations (the trip was _really_ too long, depriving me of my lovely chill time to get into character), but the fact that everything was prepared cheered me up fast. After unpacking the car, a quick talk to Jules, reporting to Glok and getting into my costume I was finally ready to go.

( Symbols VI - Moon, pictures will be added as soon as they are online )

The week after was tough in that I had to make a few hard decisions and had a few talks, and it was quite busy. Thursday especially was heavy with the Department meeting concerning us, and it was pretty clear that I cannot start working less which I so direly need; unfortunately that decision is made then. Now, how to break it gently to my collegues... Still, I have two new offers waiting for me, one of which I will probably take. My overworking days are over burning me up. Still, with that decision made creativity flooded back to me and I could finally rebuild a file that has been in bits all over my harddrive for over six months of research and collection notes: building a detailed, living (pun intended) city of over 800.000 people for my dear Kindred & Co to populate. Dorestad is nearly done, my Children of the Night, and it is Thine.
Friday I want lasergaming with my collegues after dinner in Den Draeck, playing two games. Both I ended up first of the entire group, and I managed to even make the Day Top 5 Players, which is a definate first for me; played alongside my boss twice, and we tag-teamed our way through the mazelike warren beneath the Ozebi, scoring good points. Also, Lies joined me for the second game, not doing bad herself and ending just behind me. Never underestimate secondary skills for the Larper Prestige Class...

Saturday I got up frightningly early, packed a smoke machine and several guns, plus a laptop and Dell backpack. After picking up Cora and Rennie we drove to Utrecht to attend Dood Spoor, the experiment by Richard and Onno. After having a difficult time finding it and a more difficult time parking the car we arrived at the RBT headquarters where the players had gathered: René played our Team Leader and Investigator Willem van Laren, JW added necessary muscle and weapons expertise as Weapon Expert Carl van Houten, Karijn was Naomi van Miltenburg - Biometrist, Brian our valued Medic and Forensic Specialist Malcolm Kelly, Cora was Francien Stamhuis, Chemist and Olga our overworked linguist Alexandra "Alex" Justine Amélie van Asperen. I was, somewhat typecasted *evil grin*, Tom "Uffie" van Uffelen, Computer Expert and "Network Security Analyst". Together we formed the "Recherche Bijstandsteam Utrecht" - very roughly translated to CSI Utrecht. We were joined by our overall leader, John's neatly suited charachter Van Dongen, a notorious hardliner boss, but we kinda liked him.

Now, as a note beforehand, Richard and Onno had kept us almost fully in the dark. We only had the initial address in Utrecht, had no clue about the locations and no clue about who would be NPC-ing, or where our day would go; it made it all very, very special, and to experience for once as a player a modern day roleplaying thing... thanks guys!

( Dood Spoor, pictures will be added as soon as they are online )

So that was it.

While there is a lot of spit-and-polish still required for this type of concept and a serious re-evaluation of in-character and out-character logistics, both the NPC's and the SL's really made it happen. Multi-locational high-tech high-end larps which _almost_ could be real, and this I think gave me a bit of the feel of Lex that I miss when I SL. I will echo Richard and Onno saying that I hope that other people will go out of their way to make these kind of larps. And when they do, sign me up.
I happily greeted the NPC's that were present that I had not seen yet, a veritable all-star cast from the many events where I play and though the suspense of disbelief had been very difficult for me, I was happy to have done it. Was also glad to hug my girl again, who I had not seen since the morning when we parked and she went off to the NPC location. After finding all my ammo back and showing the Crime Scene pics it was time to go home, close to two already. Dropped Jolanda of home, dropped Rennie and Cora off and lost consciousness till 11 the next morning.
Watched Stargate Atlantis, picked Rene and Cora up again, picked up Janou and went to Bunik again, a mere three kilometers from the Fort and less then 12 hours later. The NPC day was great, though I can't tell much about it. It was cool to see the characters come to life and the group mixing well. Exodus grew up. However, the less said about that, the better, so I'll stop right there *evil grin* The weekend ended for me after dinner on the couch, watching 4400 and typing a little behind my comp.

My week is going to be nice. Next weekend I am not going to the Moots as it just costs me too much, so I will have a weekend off. Monday I will have Crossfire Open Door Question in WoW, Tuesday Lex Meet, Wednesday EE Meet mainly about Exodus, Thursday dancing with Lies and Friday prolly a quiet night with the Stardust Movie. In the mainwhile I am working on a last few thing for Exodus and Lex and making sure the right peeps have the right info...