ConQuest 2009 (PacifiCon) report
It begins...
I went to pick up Bonita who happened to be staying over night at Rob's house for Conquest. Mi amigo treated me to breakfast at a little place in downtown Benicia. After stoking the furnance with food we loaded up the keg and hit the road for Santa Clara. Traffic was pleasantly light and we were in Milipitas before you knew it. We swung into a Safeway to pick up some cups and the phone rang. Lori was looking for an ETA so they could plan a lunch trip. 30 minutes later we were checking in and off loading the truck. Meet up with the Rousher clan and we all headed off to Pedros for a late lunch "right around the corner". Rob, David Priebe, Matt and Courtney were holding down a table when we arrived. Laughter and merriment followed and we all walked back to the hotel together. A little refueling at the Team Volare room followed. We then wondered over to Susan and Chris's "Yuri's Party" Larp. Sadly a few of us did not get in. Including Stefon, Patrick and myself so we retired to the room for whiskey, beer and cribbage! People came, people went, conversations were had, Lunch money was played by my roomie and some others. We apparently were playing epic cribbage because we "out louded" a Lunch Money game. After the Yuri game ended we added the rest of the gang and the party rocked along till 3am or so.
Saturday El Camino and I were up and out the door early to hit Bennigan's an Irish pub across the street that happened to serve breakfast. Dave O was hanging around the lobby so we added him in and grabbed omelets. Heading back to the hotel we were in time to see that we had made it into the Star Wars larp starting at 11:30. Dreams of Deirdre was running a Star Wars larp called "Togatto Nights". I played a down on his luck pod racer who seemed to be on the decline and suddenly had been having better luck lately. My genius mechanic played by "Evil Ben Lopez" (as a side note how many friends do I have whose nicknames include evil exactly?) had rigged up booster pads on the courses I run. I achieved all my goals; don't get caught, don't let the course be changed and keep my sponsorship.
Saturday night was Joe Parzanese's "The Funeral of Benjamin Llaraby" larp. In which I played the mild mannered book owner possessed by the big bad demon. Most people were suspicious simply because I was nice and helpful. LOL. In the end I managed to release 12 more of my brethren from the dimension of demons and may or may not have escaped the hell hounds the meddling magicians summoned to hunt me. As an added bonus I got at least three mortals killed and severely wounded some others. Sadly now Mellisa thinks I play nothing but the big bads in games. Late Saturday night was more cribbage with Patrick and Stefon while we killed a bottle of patron' silver. I must testify that tequila does indeed make my clothes fall off per the song. Or at least decent quality tequila makes one very warm. Went back to the room at 2am or so and kicked everyone who was left when 3am rolled around.
Sunday morning was up early again, grabbed El Camino for another trip to the Irish pub for breakfast. Sadly did not make it into the Team Volare Supers Larp. So grabbed Stefon, Wendy, David Priebe and Courtney to chit chat and talk till nearly 2pm or so. Then on the way to lunch Wendy got a request to NPC in the game. The rest of us went back to the room to play the board game version of "Order of the Stick" which was interesting and fun. We didn't actually finish the game before the Larpers invaded the room, maybe another time.
Sunday after dinner I assisted Ammy and Erik to run their Evil League of Evil game. I must say it was blast from start to finish. We we're all laughing our respective butts off at one point or another. Sadly Matt Gaston and Joe Parzanese were just too good at being evil so we had to kill them at the end of the game. After game it was back to the Team Volare room for partying and no shit stories till 2am again, then the munchies struck Wendy, Jeff, Chad and I. A slow trip to the worlds slowest service Ihop yielded food, eventually. Of course your food options are rather limited at that hour of the night within walking distance to the hotel. When we got we back to the room at 3:50 I had to round up the zombie room guests and send them back to their own rooms.
Monday woke up at 9am, how decadent of me. Grabbed the traditional goodbye buffet with a bunch of the gang. Hit the road to drop Bonita back off at Berkley Pyramid Brewery. Then dropped mi amigo off at his house in lovely Benicia. Home again and there you go.
Great Con, no major drama, no major problems. :)
I went to pick up Bonita who happened to be staying over night at Rob's house for Conquest. Mi amigo treated me to breakfast at a little place in downtown Benicia. After stoking the furnance with food we loaded up the keg and hit the road for Santa Clara. Traffic was pleasantly light and we were in Milipitas before you knew it. We swung into a Safeway to pick up some cups and the phone rang. Lori was looking for an ETA so they could plan a lunch trip. 30 minutes later we were checking in and off loading the truck. Meet up with the Rousher clan and we all headed off to Pedros for a late lunch "right around the corner". Rob, David Priebe, Matt and Courtney were holding down a table when we arrived. Laughter and merriment followed and we all walked back to the hotel together. A little refueling at the Team Volare room followed. We then wondered over to Susan and Chris's "Yuri's Party" Larp. Sadly a few of us did not get in. Including Stefon, Patrick and myself so we retired to the room for whiskey, beer and cribbage! People came, people went, conversations were had, Lunch money was played by my roomie and some others. We apparently were playing epic cribbage because we "out louded" a Lunch Money game. After the Yuri game ended we added the rest of the gang and the party rocked along till 3am or so.
Saturday El Camino and I were up and out the door early to hit Bennigan's an Irish pub across the street that happened to serve breakfast. Dave O was hanging around the lobby so we added him in and grabbed omelets. Heading back to the hotel we were in time to see that we had made it into the Star Wars larp starting at 11:30. Dreams of Deirdre was running a Star Wars larp called "Togatto Nights". I played a down on his luck pod racer who seemed to be on the decline and suddenly had been having better luck lately. My genius mechanic played by "Evil Ben Lopez" (as a side note how many friends do I have whose nicknames include evil exactly?) had rigged up booster pads on the courses I run. I achieved all my goals; don't get caught, don't let the course be changed and keep my sponsorship.
Saturday night was Joe Parzanese's "The Funeral of Benjamin Llaraby" larp. In which I played the mild mannered book owner possessed by the big bad demon. Most people were suspicious simply because I was nice and helpful. LOL. In the end I managed to release 12 more of my brethren from the dimension of demons and may or may not have escaped the hell hounds the meddling magicians summoned to hunt me. As an added bonus I got at least three mortals killed and severely wounded some others. Sadly now Mellisa thinks I play nothing but the big bads in games. Late Saturday night was more cribbage with Patrick and Stefon while we killed a bottle of patron' silver. I must testify that tequila does indeed make my clothes fall off per the song. Or at least decent quality tequila makes one very warm. Went back to the room at 2am or so and kicked everyone who was left when 3am rolled around.
Sunday morning was up early again, grabbed El Camino for another trip to the Irish pub for breakfast. Sadly did not make it into the Team Volare Supers Larp. So grabbed Stefon, Wendy, David Priebe and Courtney to chit chat and talk till nearly 2pm or so. Then on the way to lunch Wendy got a request to NPC in the game. The rest of us went back to the room to play the board game version of "Order of the Stick" which was interesting and fun. We didn't actually finish the game before the Larpers invaded the room, maybe another time.
Sunday after dinner I assisted Ammy and Erik to run their Evil League of Evil game. I must say it was blast from start to finish. We we're all laughing our respective butts off at one point or another. Sadly Matt Gaston and Joe Parzanese were just too good at being evil so we had to kill them at the end of the game. After game it was back to the Team Volare room for partying and no shit stories till 2am again, then the munchies struck Wendy, Jeff, Chad and I. A slow trip to the worlds slowest service Ihop yielded food, eventually. Of course your food options are rather limited at that hour of the night within walking distance to the hotel. When we got we back to the room at 3:50 I had to round up the zombie room guests and send them back to their own rooms.
Monday woke up at 9am, how decadent of me. Grabbed the traditional goodbye buffet with a bunch of the gang. Hit the road to drop Bonita back off at Berkley Pyramid Brewery. Then dropped mi amigo off at his house in lovely Benicia. Home again and there you go.
Great Con, no major drama, no major problems. :)