I got the *Shiverz* virus!
Apr. 14th, 2003 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzBelow is a detailed description of what happened during the Shiverz larp this weekend. But first, let me state I am exhausted, sore, and in pain and that it was all fucking worth it.
Thursday
For me, the larp fun sort of started Thursday, that is, if you count hauling very big bags of clothes and costumes over to a train, have a trip and then haul the bags somewhere else. Thursday night I went over to Sebastiaan. I met him at my first larp, spoke to him again at a DutchElfwood meeting and we exchanged phone numbers at Mousytails birthday. He was going to be in the good party, like I was, and I sort of figured we would be working on character sheets and learn a bit about the settings of the larp.
First we went to Wouter’s place and Wouter drove my bags to the campsite. Much better. Wouter was organizer and Evil Badass Game Master...
The Bongers Clan (Mousytail excluded, just her two sisters) came over and we played a lot of gamecube. Super Mario Smash bros. Melee or something and Timesplitters (shoot the monkeys!)
Sebs cat is such a cutie. He has a [Britse korthaar] and she’s so cute. The softest and silkiest blue fur, and deep brown eyes. I was so glad she slept on my bed...Her name’s Dewi, which is Indonesian for Princess.
Friday
We walked around Deventer a bit, exploring the market. Then we took a train to Zutphen and were picked up and carpooled to the site. Even if it was next to a railroad, the site was great. A small patch of trees, and a boy scouts camphouse (with four fireplaces). I set up my tent near a big tree and amidst the good party, and tried to camouflage it, much to the excitement and enjoyment of others. David kept telling me “do you know you’ve got some leaves on your tent?” to which I replied “Are there leaves on my tent? Are you sure?”
A lot of familiar faces there: Henning, Michiel, Eline, Niels, Sjoerd, Jan, Brian, Theo, Mousytail, Petra, Thijs. And I made a lot of new friends.
We ate some French Fries for dinner, I checked in, and we were briefed. Then we were escorted to the ‘portal’ and ingame time was called. The following is what Anna Vay experienced.
We fled from a lot of fire and bad news, into the portal, I mean, what else was there to do? I was one of the first to come through the portal and as soon as I was through I went to my left. A man tried to speak to me, I think the language was elvish, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I told him to speak common, and he went away. I found some nice trees and a little way off the path I kept close to one of them, observing the place we had just arrived in.
There were houses, it appeared to be a village. People came bustling out, looking at us. They looked like they had never seen so many strange people before. I heard the clan chief tell us to come inside.
Two hunters made sure everybody came, but they let two rat-likes stay outside. They didn’t see me. The rat-likes were discussing something and I decided to walk around in the village a bit. The two hunters could see well in the dark, and urged me to go inside. I was very suspicious but I didn’t think I had a choice.
Inside, there were a lot of people just standing around. I slid to the back of the building, which looked like an inn. I found a big table and sat down. On the next table, a white-clad man and his friends were talking. I was very scared and didn’t trust anyone there. But when the white-clad man sat next to me and asked me why I was so hostile, I thawed a bit. He got me a glass of water and we talked for a long time. He introduced himself as Sir Rion, a paladin of Imperito [justice]. His traveling companions were Sir Ravian, sir Quantum Ferrum, and Lady Thaliana, an Elf. I also met Rothgir the Dwarf, Cursin who had spoken to me in Elvish earlier, Holly and Fenris.
After I had spoken to them a bit more, I went to take a look outside. The hunters didn’t stop me. Where we had come through the portal, nothing was to be seen. I sneaked around the trees a bit and I listened in on some people talking. One of them was a woman with horns on her head. They were talking about a castle and more. After a while I went back inside and found out none of the villagers had heard about a castle. They said that besides this small fertile area, all they knew was out there was plains of ice and snow.
Soon after that, the village was attacked by undead. I helped fight them off, and went back inside to ponder. All I wanted was to find a quiet place on my own in a nice forest with happy little trees so I could find rest...and apparantly this wasn’t the place.
The clan chief announced there would be tests in the morning to see if we wanted to stay and whether we were strong enough to stay.
OC time was called. I lay off my weapons in my tent and got some chips and the passoa-juice I brought (which was well received). I sat near a fireplace in the back and spoke a bit to my new friends Axel (who played Rothgir) and Duncan and some others.
Saturday
After a lot of hugs “GOOOOODDDDMORning!!!” [at a live I am annoyingly cheerful in the morning except when somebody else is more cheerful than me, or (like elmar) thinks he is]. I had breakfast near a fireplace and a bit of coffee. As soon as I was back in my costume (I love that tunic) Ingame time was called.
I sought some herbs near the graveyard and found some. Then I joined a group of hunters to go hunting. We walked towards a small patch of trees away from the village where there was game, and I scouted. I found two rabbits and we hauled their bodies back to the clan. I tried to get a hair from the horned girl but she demanded it back. The hair was needed for a ritual. I did acquire a hair of the Skaven man (He wanted money later).
Some fireminions appeared, claiming a sacrifice for the firegodess, and we fought them. They called an earthquake but I could remain standing. Fenris kneeled before them, he is a follower of the Goddess of Fire. The demons asked him if he would sacrifice a member of the clan and he obeyed. The fire demons took a clansman, and he didn’t interfere. The clansman was incinerated and I kneeled besides the ashes and asked Storok, God of the Earth, to have mercy on his soul.
Then we were told to accompany a guide on a route past tests of courage and intelligence. I had found some herbs that morning and I brew a potion for courage. We were of the last group to go. I scouted with Cursin the elf, and we came upon the first test, that of throwing a log. We all passed, I threw it 7 and a half feet, just like all of the other men [OC: yes, Anna’s proud of that].
The second test was that of intelligence. We had to play chess against an old man. I don’t play chess but when we took one of his pieces, a fighter appeared on top of the hill we sat under. I immediately stood up again, but I was ordered to sit down. *sigh* I wasn’t comfortable at all. When we took the fourth piece, there was a fourth fighter and we were attacked. I fought bravely, but then died in battle.
A second later, I realized it had all been an illusion. We were ordered to walk along a path. The third test was that of magic. Two sorcerers cast spells on us and the rest of us had to guess what it was. After five tests we could go along the way.
We came across some more rabbits. I communicated with them by sign language, and ‘asked’ them which way we should go. They showed us the way and let us pass.
The fourth test was that we came across two lovers, who wanted to kill themselves. I was scouting the way, and didn’t interfere with that. The last test was when we came across two women fighting over whose cow it was. Then an old man also came along. Then two of the evil party killed the two women, thus solving the problem.
Cursin was very angry with them and attacked them. He ran after them and when I saw him run after them I followed. I kept the fight from becoming too bloody and told Cursin not to take justice in his own hands, and to let the clan chief handle it. Cursin had dropped his sword and agreed.
Once back at the clan I immediately reported to the clan chief what happened and after fighting another patch of fire demons there was a trial. The murderers were set free! Cursin was very angry indeed and tried to get at them. They were sentenced to public ridicule and we threw rotten meat at them.
After dinner, the clan chief spoke again. Apparently somebody had been tampering with the food, and all men between 25 and 35 were poisoned to be madly in love with the chief’s daughter. There was a tournament to determine who would have her hand in marriage.
Argh, a wandering hideous creature, won the tournament! The daughter called upon her right to challenge him and choose her own husband – if she won. She won, and chose Sir Rion.
Just before the marriage, I had a small chat with the son of the Chieftain, who stated that his grandfather (who was raised after his death and now was an undead clan head) was a servant of The Unnamed, and that he wanted to learn what he could do. I reported this to Sir Quantum and the other paladins. We suspected something would happen at the wedding, but it didn’t. Grandpa was present though. After the wedding he walked outside and stood talking to the horned girl. I told the paladins that Grandpa wasn’t at his grave. Ravian and Quantum said that that would be the perfect time to bless the grave in hope to stop the raids of undead. I scouted the area near the graveyard, and came across members of the evil party. There were too many to fight, and Grandpa cast a sleep spell of me, stole some of my strength and then the Ice elf robbed me! (I did have Alertness but you can’t be alert when you’re asleep)
When I was back inside – very grumpy indeed – I was told we were going to have a ritual to shatter the haunted sword of Sir Quantum. The ritual needed the hairs of all species and we had eventually captured those hairs. I had to keep all people away from the ritual but soon there was another undead raid. I was badly injured and luckily Fenris had a healing potion. It was slightly alcoholic though, and soon I was drunk. The Dwarf knocked me unconscious to keep me from disturbing the ritual...
After I woke up [sober again], the sword was shattered, and we were suddenly attacked by more and more undead. After a heavy fight I stumbled upon Sir Rion, who was bleeding to death on his leg. I went to search for healing and his wife. I found the potion, drank myself as well, and his drunken wife. She apparently had also had need for healing. The three of us, very very drunk but good shape, hugged some trees and giggled. Back inside I brew a healing potion for the dwarf and sat by the fire. Sir Ravian said he had come after me, when I was lying in the forest, but that he couldn’t find me. I was touched and cried. He put his arm around me and said that if I ever needed protection I should just call him.
All of a sudden, fire demons appeared again, and took three people, including Thaliana. We went to a field where she was kept, Cursin and I scouting ahead of the group. The field was lit by hundreds of candles, and there were fireballs and blasts in the air! We reported back and the group approached. The fire goddess was there! She demanded us to kneel before her. Then she summoned minions to attack us.
The fight was heavy, and I was injured a couple of times but healed by the strange fire wizard. [“By the powers of randall fire, I heal you”]. I protected Sir Ravien and he protected me. In battle we lost each other, and when I was attacked by three fire demons, I called his name for help. He came to rescue me. Sort of.
I was just too late to come to Rion’s help, and one of the fire demons incinerated him...
Then outgame was called. I was tired and sore. We stood on a field, and we had to get back to the camp. Since I had been wearing thin shoes (moccasin-like things) my feet were sore and I had hurt my calves trying not to strain my heels too much. Bart (Ravian) aided me in getting back. We spent some more hours at the fireplaces chatting, exchanging e-mail addresses and massaging sore shoulders.
Sunday
When I got up and finally was a bit more human (I was so sore) people started packing bags and tall Mike was getting ready to shooting his audition tape for Floris. I almost begged him to be a part of this, and he agreed to let me play in it. I borrowed one of Wouter’s Chain Mails, put mascara on the hairs between my eyebrows, on my lip, and my sideburns to look more male (and yes, there are pictures of that). Sadly I didn’t have the resources to bind my chest. We were trained in the moves and went to the back of the terrain to shoot the film. We even made up some bloopers along the way. After 10 tries we had enough material. I was the third to attack Mike, from the back, low-high-high-low-high, then block three of his blows and be killed by a grand slam. One time I fell too harsh on my shoulder and kind of hurt my neck, but I don’t feel it anymore now. As soon as Jan the ‘commander’ fought Mike, Brian would check my body, listen to my heart etc. and finally run away and stumble. It was fun. After everything was taped, I packed my bags.
Seb suggested we’d go to his place, order some fries and chill. We did that, and it was lots of fun. Brian offered me a lift and he dropped me off in Utrecht.
I was home near midnight. Sigh.
Thursday
For me, the larp fun sort of started Thursday, that is, if you count hauling very big bags of clothes and costumes over to a train, have a trip and then haul the bags somewhere else. Thursday night I went over to Sebastiaan. I met him at my first larp, spoke to him again at a DutchElfwood meeting and we exchanged phone numbers at Mousytails birthday. He was going to be in the good party, like I was, and I sort of figured we would be working on character sheets and learn a bit about the settings of the larp.
First we went to Wouter’s place and Wouter drove my bags to the campsite. Much better. Wouter was organizer and Evil Badass Game Master...
The Bongers Clan (Mousytail excluded, just her two sisters) came over and we played a lot of gamecube. Super Mario Smash bros. Melee or something and Timesplitters (shoot the monkeys!)
Sebs cat is such a cutie. He has a [Britse korthaar] and she’s so cute. The softest and silkiest blue fur, and deep brown eyes. I was so glad she slept on my bed...Her name’s Dewi, which is Indonesian for Princess.
Friday
We walked around Deventer a bit, exploring the market. Then we took a train to Zutphen and were picked up and carpooled to the site. Even if it was next to a railroad, the site was great. A small patch of trees, and a boy scouts camphouse (with four fireplaces). I set up my tent near a big tree and amidst the good party, and tried to camouflage it, much to the excitement and enjoyment of others. David kept telling me “do you know you’ve got some leaves on your tent?” to which I replied “Are there leaves on my tent? Are you sure?”
A lot of familiar faces there: Henning, Michiel, Eline, Niels, Sjoerd, Jan, Brian, Theo, Mousytail, Petra, Thijs. And I made a lot of new friends.
We ate some French Fries for dinner, I checked in, and we were briefed. Then we were escorted to the ‘portal’ and ingame time was called. The following is what Anna Vay experienced.
We fled from a lot of fire and bad news, into the portal, I mean, what else was there to do? I was one of the first to come through the portal and as soon as I was through I went to my left. A man tried to speak to me, I think the language was elvish, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I told him to speak common, and he went away. I found some nice trees and a little way off the path I kept close to one of them, observing the place we had just arrived in.
There were houses, it appeared to be a village. People came bustling out, looking at us. They looked like they had never seen so many strange people before. I heard the clan chief tell us to come inside.
Two hunters made sure everybody came, but they let two rat-likes stay outside. They didn’t see me. The rat-likes were discussing something and I decided to walk around in the village a bit. The two hunters could see well in the dark, and urged me to go inside. I was very suspicious but I didn’t think I had a choice.
Inside, there were a lot of people just standing around. I slid to the back of the building, which looked like an inn. I found a big table and sat down. On the next table, a white-clad man and his friends were talking. I was very scared and didn’t trust anyone there. But when the white-clad man sat next to me and asked me why I was so hostile, I thawed a bit. He got me a glass of water and we talked for a long time. He introduced himself as Sir Rion, a paladin of Imperito [justice]. His traveling companions were Sir Ravian, sir Quantum Ferrum, and Lady Thaliana, an Elf. I also met Rothgir the Dwarf, Cursin who had spoken to me in Elvish earlier, Holly and Fenris.
After I had spoken to them a bit more, I went to take a look outside. The hunters didn’t stop me. Where we had come through the portal, nothing was to be seen. I sneaked around the trees a bit and I listened in on some people talking. One of them was a woman with horns on her head. They were talking about a castle and more. After a while I went back inside and found out none of the villagers had heard about a castle. They said that besides this small fertile area, all they knew was out there was plains of ice and snow.
Soon after that, the village was attacked by undead. I helped fight them off, and went back inside to ponder. All I wanted was to find a quiet place on my own in a nice forest with happy little trees so I could find rest...and apparantly this wasn’t the place.
The clan chief announced there would be tests in the morning to see if we wanted to stay and whether we were strong enough to stay.
OC time was called. I lay off my weapons in my tent and got some chips and the passoa-juice I brought (which was well received). I sat near a fireplace in the back and spoke a bit to my new friends Axel (who played Rothgir) and Duncan and some others.
Saturday
After a lot of hugs “GOOOOODDDDMORning!!!” [at a live I am annoyingly cheerful in the morning except when somebody else is more cheerful than me, or (like elmar) thinks he is]. I had breakfast near a fireplace and a bit of coffee. As soon as I was back in my costume (I love that tunic) Ingame time was called.
I sought some herbs near the graveyard and found some. Then I joined a group of hunters to go hunting. We walked towards a small patch of trees away from the village where there was game, and I scouted. I found two rabbits and we hauled their bodies back to the clan. I tried to get a hair from the horned girl but she demanded it back. The hair was needed for a ritual. I did acquire a hair of the Skaven man (He wanted money later).
Some fireminions appeared, claiming a sacrifice for the firegodess, and we fought them. They called an earthquake but I could remain standing. Fenris kneeled before them, he is a follower of the Goddess of Fire. The demons asked him if he would sacrifice a member of the clan and he obeyed. The fire demons took a clansman, and he didn’t interfere. The clansman was incinerated and I kneeled besides the ashes and asked Storok, God of the Earth, to have mercy on his soul.
Then we were told to accompany a guide on a route past tests of courage and intelligence. I had found some herbs that morning and I brew a potion for courage. We were of the last group to go. I scouted with Cursin the elf, and we came upon the first test, that of throwing a log. We all passed, I threw it 7 and a half feet, just like all of the other men [OC: yes, Anna’s proud of that].
The second test was that of intelligence. We had to play chess against an old man. I don’t play chess but when we took one of his pieces, a fighter appeared on top of the hill we sat under. I immediately stood up again, but I was ordered to sit down. *sigh* I wasn’t comfortable at all. When we took the fourth piece, there was a fourth fighter and we were attacked. I fought bravely, but then died in battle.
A second later, I realized it had all been an illusion. We were ordered to walk along a path. The third test was that of magic. Two sorcerers cast spells on us and the rest of us had to guess what it was. After five tests we could go along the way.
We came across some more rabbits. I communicated with them by sign language, and ‘asked’ them which way we should go. They showed us the way and let us pass.
The fourth test was that we came across two lovers, who wanted to kill themselves. I was scouting the way, and didn’t interfere with that. The last test was when we came across two women fighting over whose cow it was. Then an old man also came along. Then two of the evil party killed the two women, thus solving the problem.
Cursin was very angry with them and attacked them. He ran after them and when I saw him run after them I followed. I kept the fight from becoming too bloody and told Cursin not to take justice in his own hands, and to let the clan chief handle it. Cursin had dropped his sword and agreed.
Once back at the clan I immediately reported to the clan chief what happened and after fighting another patch of fire demons there was a trial. The murderers were set free! Cursin was very angry indeed and tried to get at them. They were sentenced to public ridicule and we threw rotten meat at them.
After dinner, the clan chief spoke again. Apparently somebody had been tampering with the food, and all men between 25 and 35 were poisoned to be madly in love with the chief’s daughter. There was a tournament to determine who would have her hand in marriage.
Argh, a wandering hideous creature, won the tournament! The daughter called upon her right to challenge him and choose her own husband – if she won. She won, and chose Sir Rion.
Just before the marriage, I had a small chat with the son of the Chieftain, who stated that his grandfather (who was raised after his death and now was an undead clan head) was a servant of The Unnamed, and that he wanted to learn what he could do. I reported this to Sir Quantum and the other paladins. We suspected something would happen at the wedding, but it didn’t. Grandpa was present though. After the wedding he walked outside and stood talking to the horned girl. I told the paladins that Grandpa wasn’t at his grave. Ravian and Quantum said that that would be the perfect time to bless the grave in hope to stop the raids of undead. I scouted the area near the graveyard, and came across members of the evil party. There were too many to fight, and Grandpa cast a sleep spell of me, stole some of my strength and then the Ice elf robbed me! (I did have Alertness but you can’t be alert when you’re asleep)
When I was back inside – very grumpy indeed – I was told we were going to have a ritual to shatter the haunted sword of Sir Quantum. The ritual needed the hairs of all species and we had eventually captured those hairs. I had to keep all people away from the ritual but soon there was another undead raid. I was badly injured and luckily Fenris had a healing potion. It was slightly alcoholic though, and soon I was drunk. The Dwarf knocked me unconscious to keep me from disturbing the ritual...
After I woke up [sober again], the sword was shattered, and we were suddenly attacked by more and more undead. After a heavy fight I stumbled upon Sir Rion, who was bleeding to death on his leg. I went to search for healing and his wife. I found the potion, drank myself as well, and his drunken wife. She apparently had also had need for healing. The three of us, very very drunk but good shape, hugged some trees and giggled. Back inside I brew a healing potion for the dwarf and sat by the fire. Sir Ravian said he had come after me, when I was lying in the forest, but that he couldn’t find me. I was touched and cried. He put his arm around me and said that if I ever needed protection I should just call him.
All of a sudden, fire demons appeared again, and took three people, including Thaliana. We went to a field where she was kept, Cursin and I scouting ahead of the group. The field was lit by hundreds of candles, and there were fireballs and blasts in the air! We reported back and the group approached. The fire goddess was there! She demanded us to kneel before her. Then she summoned minions to attack us.
The fight was heavy, and I was injured a couple of times but healed by the strange fire wizard. [“By the powers of randall fire, I heal you”]. I protected Sir Ravien and he protected me. In battle we lost each other, and when I was attacked by three fire demons, I called his name for help. He came to rescue me. Sort of.
I was just too late to come to Rion’s help, and one of the fire demons incinerated him...
Then outgame was called. I was tired and sore. We stood on a field, and we had to get back to the camp. Since I had been wearing thin shoes (moccasin-like things) my feet were sore and I had hurt my calves trying not to strain my heels too much. Bart (Ravian) aided me in getting back. We spent some more hours at the fireplaces chatting, exchanging e-mail addresses and massaging sore shoulders.
Sunday
When I got up and finally was a bit more human (I was so sore) people started packing bags and tall Mike was getting ready to shooting his audition tape for Floris. I almost begged him to be a part of this, and he agreed to let me play in it. I borrowed one of Wouter’s Chain Mails, put mascara on the hairs between my eyebrows, on my lip, and my sideburns to look more male (and yes, there are pictures of that). Sadly I didn’t have the resources to bind my chest. We were trained in the moves and went to the back of the terrain to shoot the film. We even made up some bloopers along the way. After 10 tries we had enough material. I was the third to attack Mike, from the back, low-high-high-low-high, then block three of his blows and be killed by a grand slam. One time I fell too harsh on my shoulder and kind of hurt my neck, but I don’t feel it anymore now. As soon as Jan the ‘commander’ fought Mike, Brian would check my body, listen to my heart etc. and finally run away and stumble. It was fun. After everything was taped, I packed my bags.
Seb suggested we’d go to his place, order some fries and chill. We did that, and it was lots of fun. Brian offered me a lift and he dropped me off in Utrecht.
I was home near midnight. Sigh.
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Date: 2003-04-14 11:45 pm (UTC)I guess you guys were real lucky; the weather was great. So no real Shiverz at night, I guess.
Re:
Date: 2003-04-15 06:01 am (UTC)