Return from the Crusades
Oy, what an event!
Ryu and I got such a late start Thursday afternoon, we figured we wouldn't get to site in time before troll closed, so we did a layover at my folks' place! So we didn't get to Winkelman until a little after noon on Friday, which was alright. Tatsuyo and Kat showed a little later, followed up by Meadow, Stegasis, and a new friend of theirs, Sarah. We all got our tents set up and were going to put up the lamps that Christopher sent with us when we realized that he didn't pack any propane for us to light them with! Silly squid...
But Friday night was good fun anyway! Kat and I got drunk, I got me a mug of hot apple pie cider, thanks to Magnus' much appreciated contribution, and went and performed with Meadow and Stegasis one of their songs at the bardic competition (good thing I was drunk... I think). There really wasn't overly-much going on otherwise. I talked a lot with Ryu when we'd gone to bed that night (most of it I don't reeeaaallly remember, but I know I didn't say anything I'd regret - I always have that much awareness when drunk), and apparently said a couple of things that made him feel all gooey inside. :)
Saturday was good (before it got dark). Meadow entered his first rapier competitions, and he did rather well! None of the House was prepared for hard-suiting, but Ryu and I had brought our archery equipment for the practice sessions. He has a new Japanese bow, where the bow is so tall, the handle is off-center, so the archer can fire it without the bottom tip dragging on the ground. That caused quite a bit of curiosity with all the European folk. :) Over all, the day's activity consisted of dodging bees attracted by all the drink left sitting out.
Saturday night, however, was... not so good. A new house camped next to us, Bear-Wolf, consisted of college-age folk as well, so we formed a temporary alliance of friendship. That night, we all brought out food for the potluck, one of the Bear-Wolf guys supplying deer meat! Ryu was cooking all the meat and I was keeping busy trying to clear enough space for the food to sit, while everyone else got in the way and got drunk. Gotta love it! But Meadow was calling for shots every couple of minutes and got incredibly wasted. By the time dinner was over and I'd changed clothes more suitable for dancing, he was trying to head-butt people. When we all left to watch the belly dance competitions, I realized Meadow and Kat weren't with us. Quite soon we found out why... Kat came running up to us, telling how Meadow had wandered off to the Baronial camp (which was right next to ours), and had fallen into the fire pit. Thankfully, the Baron, Gunnar, was right there, and is incredibly fast for a giant gnome. Meadow got nothing worse than a few singed hairs. But when he fell in, instead of trying to escape the fire, he started to count! Then he tried to escape Gunnar grasp and jump back into the pit, exclaiming that he was trying to do a fire dance. Gunnar then tripped him backwards and pinned him to the ground until he stopped struggling. The folk at the Baronial camp had just finished making sure he'd survive when Ryu and I had just ran up to make sure Meadow was okay. So Ryu and I spent a good amount of the night keeping vigil outside Meadow's tent to make sure he kept breathing. A little afterward, Stegasis and Sarah showed up to grab more to drink and a quick recap of how Meadow was doing (notice the order I put those two objectives?). Then Sarah started yelling at Meadow to get is lazy ass out of bed. When I told her to be quite, she told me, “Fuck no! He needs to get his fucking ass up! Look, I probably care more about Meadow than anyone else here…” blah blah blah. Not sure what else she might have said; my vision had gone rather red and hazy by that time. But then she started to say, “Ryu, dude, I know this is your camp, but-“. “That’s right. It *is* my camp.” His tone brooked no argument, and she (drunk as she was) wisely refrained from challenging his authority. I sat with Ryu outside the tent he’d supplied for Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dumb (names gratefully supplied by Magnus), and their dumb bitch friend to use, trying to figure out how to keep such problems from arising again, when -Dumb started throwing up. In the tent. Awesome. At least he was on his side, so we didn’t have him choking to death on his own vomit. Ryu eventually sent me to bed at about 11, and followed about an hour after. He and I woke up bright and early at 7, cleaned camp, and resumed our vigil. Essentially, this time we were waiting for a Kingdom authority to come and reprimand us all, but thankfully the Baron had cleared up any problems, freeing us from Kingdom dealings. I love that man. When Meadow awoke, he cleaned up his mess, and apologized to the Baronial camp, and they forgave and forgot the whole incident. I love our Barony. The rest of the day passed without incident, with lots of dust, and with Meadow fighting with an immense hangover.
Well, at least we know what to discuss at the next House meeting! The protocol of inviting guests to camp with the House, and possible rationing of alcohol to be enforced! Woo. I love being House Matron. ... Okay, not really.
Ryu and I got such a late start Thursday afternoon, we figured we wouldn't get to site in time before troll closed, so we did a layover at my folks' place! So we didn't get to Winkelman until a little after noon on Friday, which was alright. Tatsuyo and Kat showed a little later, followed up by Meadow, Stegasis, and a new friend of theirs, Sarah. We all got our tents set up and were going to put up the lamps that Christopher sent with us when we realized that he didn't pack any propane for us to light them with! Silly squid...
But Friday night was good fun anyway! Kat and I got drunk, I got me a mug of hot apple pie cider, thanks to Magnus' much appreciated contribution, and went and performed with Meadow and Stegasis one of their songs at the bardic competition (good thing I was drunk... I think). There really wasn't overly-much going on otherwise. I talked a lot with Ryu when we'd gone to bed that night (most of it I don't reeeaaallly remember, but I know I didn't say anything I'd regret - I always have that much awareness when drunk), and apparently said a couple of things that made him feel all gooey inside. :)
Saturday was good (before it got dark). Meadow entered his first rapier competitions, and he did rather well! None of the House was prepared for hard-suiting, but Ryu and I had brought our archery equipment for the practice sessions. He has a new Japanese bow, where the bow is so tall, the handle is off-center, so the archer can fire it without the bottom tip dragging on the ground. That caused quite a bit of curiosity with all the European folk. :) Over all, the day's activity consisted of dodging bees attracted by all the drink left sitting out.
Saturday night, however, was... not so good. A new house camped next to us, Bear-Wolf, consisted of college-age folk as well, so we formed a temporary alliance of friendship. That night, we all brought out food for the potluck, one of the Bear-Wolf guys supplying deer meat! Ryu was cooking all the meat and I was keeping busy trying to clear enough space for the food to sit, while everyone else got in the way and got drunk. Gotta love it! But Meadow was calling for shots every couple of minutes and got incredibly wasted. By the time dinner was over and I'd changed clothes more suitable for dancing, he was trying to head-butt people. When we all left to watch the belly dance competitions, I realized Meadow and Kat weren't with us. Quite soon we found out why... Kat came running up to us, telling how Meadow had wandered off to the Baronial camp (which was right next to ours), and had fallen into the fire pit. Thankfully, the Baron, Gunnar, was right there, and is incredibly fast for a giant gnome. Meadow got nothing worse than a few singed hairs. But when he fell in, instead of trying to escape the fire, he started to count! Then he tried to escape Gunnar grasp and jump back into the pit, exclaiming that he was trying to do a fire dance. Gunnar then tripped him backwards and pinned him to the ground until he stopped struggling. The folk at the Baronial camp had just finished making sure he'd survive when Ryu and I had just ran up to make sure Meadow was okay. So Ryu and I spent a good amount of the night keeping vigil outside Meadow's tent to make sure he kept breathing. A little afterward, Stegasis and Sarah showed up to grab more to drink and a quick recap of how Meadow was doing (notice the order I put those two objectives?). Then Sarah started yelling at Meadow to get is lazy ass out of bed. When I told her to be quite, she told me, “Fuck no! He needs to get his fucking ass up! Look, I probably care more about Meadow than anyone else here…” blah blah blah. Not sure what else she might have said; my vision had gone rather red and hazy by that time. But then she started to say, “Ryu, dude, I know this is your camp, but-“. “That’s right. It *is* my camp.” His tone brooked no argument, and she (drunk as she was) wisely refrained from challenging his authority. I sat with Ryu outside the tent he’d supplied for Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dumb (names gratefully supplied by Magnus), and their dumb bitch friend to use, trying to figure out how to keep such problems from arising again, when -Dumb started throwing up. In the tent. Awesome. At least he was on his side, so we didn’t have him choking to death on his own vomit. Ryu eventually sent me to bed at about 11, and followed about an hour after. He and I woke up bright and early at 7, cleaned camp, and resumed our vigil. Essentially, this time we were waiting for a Kingdom authority to come and reprimand us all, but thankfully the Baron had cleared up any problems, freeing us from Kingdom dealings. I love that man. When Meadow awoke, he cleaned up his mess, and apologized to the Baronial camp, and they forgave and forgot the whole incident. I love our Barony. The rest of the day passed without incident, with lots of dust, and with Meadow fighting with an immense hangover.
Well, at least we know what to discuss at the next House meeting! The protocol of inviting guests to camp with the House, and possible rationing of alcohol to be enforced! Woo. I love being House Matron. ... Okay, not really.