home from Nordanil
I am just back from Nordanil, the Lajv (LARP) where I got to play a Viking Storman for the weekend. Everyone tells me that with the beard and man muscles I was convincing enough that they never had any difficulties remembering to refer to my character as "he". This pleases me. I was one of three women on site playing male roles, but the other two were playing young boys who didn't yet have beards, and at least on one occasion that I know of, someone referred to one of them as "your sister" to which herhis brother corrected "my brother".
So, how did the weekend unfold?
We arrived on Friday afternoon, about an hour after check in opened, and a couple of hours before the pre-game meeting. This gave us time to unload the car and haul the stuff down the trail (~0.3 km) to the site (it took the three of us three trips each to carry it all, plus a couple of other folks helped out for one trip), then, when the car was empty, go fetch a rope bed that the organizers had in storage, set it up, set up that bed for my character and his wife, unroll the bedding for my two brothers (lord_kjar and linda_linsefors), change into costume and add my beard before the meeting. (Ok, I only changed into costume before the originally scheduled meeting time, then found out it had been postponed, so I added my beard, too.)
The pre-game meeting gave us all of those announcements that one needs to know (where to find the toilets, the fire extinguishers, brief reminder of rules for combat etc.) and I let everyone know that if it important that my character understand something they say, please speak slowly.
Then we had some pre-game exercises, since this game is set in a world with a social hierarchy ranging from thrall (slaves) to Odal (technically free farmers who don't own the land they farm, but instead tithe a percentage of their crops to the land owner, and can't carry weapons) to Cogaid (the noble land owners who are allowed to carry weapons) to the stormen (that would include me!), the elite of the Cogaid who rule over the others (ok, there is a Jarl above them, but he wasn't at the event, so he doesn't count, yet).
The first exercise we were all given a slip of paper with a random number on it (0 to 3, for each of the above levels, in order) which we were not to look at, but instead hold onto our foreheads so that everyone else could see our number. Then we were to walk around and nonverbally respond to everyone else based on their number, with the intent that we should then be able to correctly guess our own number based on how people treat us. Then we did it again, but this time with the numbers that actually attach to the station of our characters, so that we could all get familiar with who was above and/or below us in the pecking order.
The game opened shortly after that, but by then I was really tired from having gotten up early every morning and stayed up late every evening the whole week, so I went to bed just after 22:00 without actually interacting much with the other characters that night. Around 04:00 I woke up needing to pee, and remembered that I had forgotten to do my yoga before bed! I can think of only one other time that has happened, and I did the same thing then that I did on this occasion. I got up and did it, then went back to bed for a few more hours of sleep. Then I took care to do Saturday's yoga as soon as I had finished breakfast, and before everyone else had, so that I wouldn't forget it again. (Since my character is a warrior it totally makes sense for him to do a stretching routine every day, even when attending a wedding, so that he will always be ready to move his body during battle. Then again, I wouldn't play a character that I couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for them to do daily yoga-after 10.6 years of doing it every day I am so not interested in skipping days now!)
Playing Vitbjörn was interesting, since he is one of those men that doesn't believe in idle chatter, and prefers not to say anything unless it is actually necessary to communicate it. This meant a lot of interactions that involved a nod of acknowledgment, and then just looking at one another, since the other person didn't initiate the conversation, and Vitbjörn won't, unless he has something that needs saying to that person (and I did a couple of times-my pre-game "Intrig"(character plot goals assigned by the organizers) included the suggestions that I might want to talk to the merchant who does trading with the elves because the rönnbärsvin(rowan berry wine) that we make might fetch a good price with the elves, so we want an introduction) and that the slaves on my farm have been breeding too well and we might want to sell some to the other stormen). I did hear later from one of the organizers that my character got a reputation for not saying anything, so that if he did people played attention because it "must be important" (ah the results of wanting to cover for the fact that my Swedish is still not as good as it could be).
The setting for the game was the wedding of one of the other Stormen in the area. There were three of us on site, the groom (played by a real man, with a long, braided, beard and short mustache), me (playing a man with a long unbraided beard, and long, braided mustache), and Dis, a female beardless storman, played by a woman without a beard). Shortly after the morning breakfast the groom and his bride sat in their thrones and the guests gathered and we all presented our wedding gifts in turn. We stormen went first, each with an impressive pile of loot (both to show off our own wealth and status, and to court him as a potential ally, in addition to just being generous), and then the other guests presented their gifts, in order of precedence, so the gifts quickly became less numerous and less expensive, yet it is probably safe to assume that pretty much every character or group of characters presented about the same percentage of their personal net worth.
The members of my character's personal household who traveled to the wedding with him were my wife, our 16 year old daughter, my slightly younger brother, who is a musician, our much younger (17 years old, to my 33 years) half-brother, an additional (non-related) musician who has been living on our farm for some time, and a herdsman(warrior sworn to my service, played by my minion). They were all a fabulous group, and it was a delight to have them with me. It took all of us to present our gifts. The full list of gifts:
First those items which were made and owned by Master SvartulvR, and loaned to me for the occasion:
*a nice wooden chest with fancy bronze hinges and handles
*a hunting horn with red incised knot-work and runes
*a large grey wool cloak with red and black knot-work wolves and fur trim
*a large manly neck-chain (think SCA knight's chain in a pretty chain mail pattern)
*a bronze ring (ok he didn't have one in the bag that fit her-we tested it in advance, so she gave me one of her own rings that looks similar to his, and I presented that instead, so that she would be able to wear it)
…then the things I have made:
*a fur (mink) lined hood
*a fur (mink) lined muff, with tablet woven carrying strap
…and the things I have purchased years ago:
*a pretty pottery water jug in early period style
*a silver knotwork dragon broach
…then the things my wife donated to the pile:
*some fine yellow wool fabric
*a variety of colours of silk embroidery floss
After the gifts there was a short break, then the wedding ceremony itself, which included the couple singing a song together (which was really sweet!), followed by a bunch of Viking appropriate games, including spear throwing, wrestling, rock throwing, tug of war. My group acquitted themselves well in these games. During the games a cloaked and spear carrying stranger approached and the groom went over to talk to him. They exchanged a few words (some of which I couldn't hear from where I was standing, and other bits I couldn't quite follow) and the stranger left the broken spear behind, turned and walked away. Causing the groom to make a short speech and ask a question. I was fairly certain that whatever had happened was some sort of declaration of war and a request to see who stands with the challenged storman, and a quick question to my wife and brothers confirmed that, so I went forth and grasped the groom's arm in a gesture of solidarity, and then the other storman did the same (but she included a few flowery words to go with it).
After this they called for sword fighting, and my youngest brother, who is actually a half-brother with an Odal mother, which, since status is inherited from the mother's side, means that he is Odal, and so not allowed to own a sword, asked, right there in front of everyone, if he could participate. I wasn't completely certain if they were talking about a sword fight as part of the wedding games, or the upcoming war, so I asked the groom if more men were needed, and he said that they were, so I gave my brother permission to try, which brought the total number of combatants to four (if I remember correctly)-my hird, both of my brothers (who shared armour and weapons, so had to change between the fights), and the hird of one of the other two stormen (at the time I didn't know whose, but I later found out he was attached to the female storman).
First my full brother fought the other hird, and was disarmed and yielded, then the other hird fought my hird (I don't recall how that bout went). Then my half-brother fought my hird and won, and fought the other hird and lost, and the other hird was declared victor of the day. Someone asked me how my half-brother had gotten so good as to win one of his fights, and I mentioned that he has a habit of watching the warriors at home when we are training (and rather suspected that he has actually been training with our brother, though, of course, I had long since forbidden him to do any such thing, since it is more important that our family keep to tradition than to yield to his desire to fight despite being an Odal).
After the combat, around 15:00 they served the wedding feast. Yay! A feast early enough in the day that I was actually hungry, so I got to eat the yummy food! During the first part of the feast I noticed a HUGE difference between an SCA event and the first Larp in a new campaign world-how quiet it was in the hall! So many people couldn't think of anything for their characters to say to the people sitting near them, and my character, who is not given to idle chatter, also didn't say anything, so most people just ate. It was weird to be in a room with around 30 people in it, no one speaking for a minute or three at a time. Then the musicians started playing, and everyone paid rapt attention and applauded after every tune. I think they were grateful to have something to do. Then the Skald (our littlest brother) did a poem in honor of the bride and groom, and after that people started talking (well, except to Vitbjörn, who spoke only briefly in reply if spoken to, and rarely initiated anything).
The food came out in waves for a couple of hours, then the bride stood up and announced that she knows that we are all tired (most people stayed up much later than I did, though everyone had gone to bed (or at least left the main building) by the time I did my 04:00 yoga session), and suggested that everyone go lay down for a short nap before desert. She didn’t have to say that twice! Many of us went and did just that, including both me and my wife. I slept for about 30 minutes, and woke to the sound of laughter and applause from outside the open window, where they were doing more games, so I got up and joined them, but my wife was deeply enough asleep that she didn't notice my crawling out of the rope bed, and happily slept for another 20 or 30 minutes.
Around 18:00 we all returned to the feast hall and desert was served. However, having eaten plenty at the feast I was no longer interested in food, so I didn't take any (well, other than the one saffron-rice-almond pancake, which I set aside to eat for breakfast, because I can't resist those things, and they keep just fine overnight). During this part of the feast the Groom's sister announced that she hadn't yet given her gift, which she did-she had one from the past and one from the present. The one from the present was a single sea-shell, brought all the way from the sea, while the one from the past was an old shoe. So the groom then explained that one time when he was a child he needed to go somewhere, but couldn't find one of his shoes. He knew that his sister was to blame, but she wasn't returning the shoe, so instead it tied one of her dresses around his foot and went anyway. Now, after all these years, she was returning the shoe (which was now too small for him to wear). I understood his story just fine, but I wasn't clear if she was returning it after all these years because she only just found it after years of not knowing where it was, or if she had known all along where she had hidden it. Then the bride stood up and announced that she too had a gift, that she was already pregnant with their first child, and the groom looked appropriately joyful, and they were all cute and lovey with one another for a while.
Then we had an evening of hanging out and socializing, and around the time I was feeling tired and wondering if I could reasonably go to bed someone mentioned that we were waiting for the "blota>. To which I responded "Vad?" (repeated) "Blota."> and again I said "Vad?", so they whispered "sacrifice". At which point I wondered "what sacrifice?", but didn't ask out loud, as my character wouldn't have done so. Somewhere in there it was announced that one of the wedding gifts, a ring, was missing from the display table, and had anyone seen it? I asked questions enough to determine that it wasn't the ring I had presented, and promptly didn't worry about it anymore.
So I stayed awake and fought yawns for a while, and then my wife wondered when the sacrifice would be (so clearly she had heard more details about the after-feast plan than I had), and after a bit she went and asked the Druids, who said that they wanted it to be after dark (and while the sun is setting again as summer winds towards it close, it isn't doing so till sometime after 21:00). Since my wife's character was clearly interested in witnessing the sacrifice I decided to try staying awake a bit longer, and we waited. After a while I decided that I really was tired, so I went and brushed my teeth and took off the belt with my axe and sax (a type, worn hanging from the back of the belt and long enough to stick out past my hips on both sides) before running to the outhouse for one "last time before bed". However, as soon as I finished the outhouse trip one of the guys (who is also one of the event organizers) asked me if I had taken off my weapons, since it was important that no one carry weapons to the sacrifice. I said that I had (never mind that I hadn't done so because I knew about that part) and he said I was wise to have done so.
The next thing I knew I was yawning and walking into the dark forest with my wife and all of the other characters, and that was when everything went weird, as they do.
First one of the druids gave a speech, much of which I couldn't follow, but his stage presence was impressive nonetheless, then he guided the group into chanting, first three notes in a rising pattern, followed by three descending, then repeat. As we did that he did a variety of clearly ritual things to prepare the alter stone and who knows what all. Then he called forth the groom, who brought along his young female slave (on a leash) wearing a plain, clean, white robe, and announced that she was his very best slave, and he handed her over to the druid. At this point my character really wanted to speak up and say something like "Nej! Du kan inte döda en duktig flicka!". However, I was totally aware that it was likely that I wouldn't understand whatever he replied, and it isn't possible to formulate a good persuasive argument when one can't understand what the other party is saying. So I didn't, and the druid took the girl and laid her on the altar stone.
Then the druid raised his knife, placed it over the girl's breast bone and begun to cut. I could, just, see the stain of blood that rose onto her white robes from where I was standing (remember that it is rather dark, and while there were torches, they weren't very bright), but then the druid clutched at his own heart and a matching blood stain appeared there, and he collapsed (with appropriate theatrics), the girl screamed, sat up, and ran off into the forest, and the other druids rushed forth, some to tend to him, and others to examine the alter stone. After looking at it a bit one of them pointed at some detail on the stone, and started screaming something complicated that included a phrase which means "who did this?"
Even before the druids started reacting I (and my character) couldn't help but think that the druid had gotten what he deserved for trying to kill the girl, and was pleased that she had run away, yet I inferred from the one druid's screams of "vem?" that it isn't normal for the druid performing a sacrifice to be injured, and they thought that someone set it up to do so on purpose and in advance.
Then the populace returned through the forest to the hall (I don't recall if we just went or if the druids dismissed us, though that may be because all of the speaking was too fast and too unexpected in content to understand any of it). When I was most of the way back to the hall my hird came back to tell me that my daughter had started running towards the hall, so he and my youngest brother (who you may have noticed by the ages mentioned above, is only a year older than the daughter, so they grew up together) ran after her to look after her. Therefore I hurried into the hall and put my arm around her like a protective father and watched, but failed to understand, most of the next events.
Sure, I understood when they carried in the injured druid, and people (including my youngest brother) rushed over to help clear a spot on the feast table for him to lie upon, confirmed that he was still alive, and started fussing over him to try to help. I even understood when the druid demanded the charcoal he needed to start drawing runes. I didn't understand why they cared about the druid-the wound was clearly self-inflicted, after all, and he had tried to kill the girl.
There followed a time of noise and confusion and loud, unintelligible to me, words, but during it all my daughter still appeared to be in shock, and I continued to hold her in a comforting manner. Then everyone gathered around and held hands in a circle around the druids working to save their comrade. Even though I (and my character) had been thinking thoughts about the druid deserving his fate, I still joined hands in the circle, since I had my daughter on the one side and my hird on the other. There must have been some instructions I didn't understand, because I soon realized that I was the only person in the circle who hadn't closed my eyes, so I fluttered mine mostly closed to fit in to the group, but continued to look around through half lidded eyes because it was interesting to watch, even if my character was annoyed with it all.
Fairly soon after the circle formed the injured Druid gave more signs of life, and the circle broke up (I am guessing we were told that it was ok, but I totally missed whatever they said). Then there were people speaking harsh and rapid words to one another that I didn't understand, including someone coming in from outside and giving a panicked sounding report that I also didn't understand (did I mention that Swedish is easy to read these days, and I can usually manage to find a way to say what I wish to communicate, even if I don't say things the way a native speaker would, but I still have problems understanding the spoken language if it is fast or contains unexpected things?)
Then one of the characters started doing an impassioned speech that, while I could understand many words and phrases, I totally couldn't understand what he was talking about, and I gave up trying. Soon thereafter my littlest brother asked if I was following it and if I wanted him to give me a running translation, and I replied (in Swedish that I didn't understand nor did I wish to), and I went off to the outhouse for a much needed pee break.
When I returned my littlest brother told me that he had spoken to the Druid, who said that if we all stayed in and kept the fire burning all night that everything would be fine-that they didn't know how long the night would be, but eventually, dawn would come. Since neither I nor my character had any reason to believe that dawn wouldn't come as it always has before we weren't worried (remember that I hadn't understood the panicked report from outside), but I didn't like the sound of not being able to use the outhouse, so I asked him if there were a chamberpot (yes, I said that word in English, since I had no idea of the Swedish translation) available if we couldn't go out, to which he clarified that by "in" he meant "the circle of runes". "What circle of runes?", I wondered, but didn't ask, because I didn't really care, I just decided that meant I could use the outhouse whenever I wanted, and that therefore there was no reason I couldn't go to bed just now, so I said something to the effect that dawn would come much sooner if I slept, and I was off to bed.
I looked at my phone as I crawled into bed, and it was just after 23:00, or 2.5 hours after I had first wanted to go to bed, so no surprise that both my character and I were feeling cranky. As I went to sleep, ignoring the now much quieter (since I had taken out my hearing aids) sounds of occasional screams and impassioned speeches) coming up from downstairs, I couldn't help but think how angry my character was, both at the storman for being so wasteful for wanting to sacrifice his best slave (when my character is convinced that this stuff is naught but superstitious nonsense) and because none of the rest of it would have happened if he hadn't, and at the Druid for trying to kill the girl, and how annoyed I as a player was that all of these major plot twists came up after I wanted to be asleep for the night.
I slept happily for about eight hours (not counting a couple of trips to that outhouse, since I had been drinking plenty of water all day), and got up around 07:00. There were a few people stirring by that point, but the kitchen slaves did not have breakfast served yet, so I ate a bowl of my own muesli, remembered that saffron-rice-almond pancake and at that, then went out for a walk while I waited for the others to get up. My character really wanted to just pack up and go home, since everyone here was clearly mad, but wasn't willing to disturb the rest of his wife and daughter (but so would have roused his brothers and demanded that they pack and be ready to go in five minutes if the women hadn't have been along).
On the walk I often stopped to eat blueberries. Yum! My character thought that the slaves on this farm must have been too busy with wedding prep to have done the berry harvest yet, and felt smug about the fact that at home we had already picked all of the nearby berries and dried them for winter (both slaves and free people pitching in to help with it). (I am told that at larps, at least in Sweden, it is actually fairly common for people to experience a decent sized percentage of the game/story in their own heads that no one else ever gets to hear, unless they decide to share it.)
When I returned from the walk my women folk were still asleep, but my hird was awake. Oh, I should mention more about the hird, and by extension some of my character's back story: …Once upon a time my uncle, Mård, was storman on the farm Givheim, and my father, Halvard (who had married Siv, the sister of Savnhild, my uncle Mård's wife), lived with him, and often went on long trading missions to enhance the wealth of the extended family. When I got old enough I started going with him. It was during one of those early trips with my dad that a man named Sten challenged my uncle Mård and took the title of storman from him (along with the farm and everything on it), and so my uncle retired to the smaller farm that his challenger used to have (as is the custom in this world). We, of course, knew nothing of the change of power until we returned, arriving home on a stormy, dark, cold night after a difficult journey, looking forward to a warm welcome, hot food, and soft beds. Instead we were greeted with drawn swords carried by men I didn't know, and cast back out into the storm.
We didn't know where our family was now living, but we were cold, wet, tired, and discouraged, and an Odal family took us into their humble cottage, fed us, took off our wet clothes, gave us dry blankets and a spot by the fire to warm ourselves, and made us feel welcome in their home. In that indignant way that kids have I declared that the woman who was caring for us would make a better storeman than the new one who had just cast us out into the storm, and she laughed and pointed out that only a Cogaid could be storman, never an Odal, so I swore that if I ever became a storman I would elevate her family to Cogaid for the kindness she had shown us on that night.
Years past, I grew up, married an ambitious woman who encouraged me to challenge Sten and become storman of Givheim, my childhood home, so I did, was successful, and soon after I took power I went back to that Odal farm, where the woman who had been so kind to me was still living, with her daughter and grandson. I kept my word and raised her to Cogaid, and, since status in this world is only inherited from the mother's line, that made her daughter and that grandson also Cogaid. Therefor the grandson joined my household and trained as a warrior and became one of my hird.
Before the event I had borrowed a bunch of cool stuff from Master SvartulvR to improve my own costume/accessories and for the wedding gifts. Among the stuff was a bunch of rings, so I put one on, hoping that I would find some occasion in the event to give it to someone. Sometime late on Saturday afternoon I decided to give it to my hird, and explained to him that I was proud of him and appreciated all that he had done to enhance my farm's reputation with his skill in the games. By Sunday morning he was still toying with the ring and looking happy/surprised to have gotten it.
I (which is to say, Vitbjörn) explained to him that it was my plan to head back to our farm as soon as my wife and daughter were awake, since everyone here was clearly mad. Not too long thereafter our musician was awake, so I told him the same thing. When my brothers got up I told them the same thing. When my wife and daughter got up I told them that as soon as they finished breakfast (which had finally been served) we needed to pack up and go because everyone here was mad. I made no attempt to ask about what had happened the night before, since I didn't think my character really wanted to know, and I was pretty certain I wouldn't understand the explanation anyway.
After eating some of the provided breakfast I went up and packed up the bedding and the few other odds and ends that could be packed. I couldn't touch the wedding gifts, of course, since they were no longer mine (never mind that I would be taking them all back after the game ended), which meant that I was done with everything I could do and then just kind of pacing restlessly, wishing my women folk would finish eating and talking and come pack up so that we could leave (which, of course, they couldn't actually do in-game, since it is custom to stay, no matter what happens, through to the end of the larp when the bell rings to signify game over).
During this time my musician came up to tell me that he wouldn't be going back to the farm with us, and he tried to explain why, but I couldn't understand all of the nuances, though part of it had to do some bit of advice that one of the druids had given him. While I didn't understand what he repeated about the advice, I did know that it was a druid he was talking about, so I pointed out that the druids can't be trusted, that they are all mad, and everyone on this farm is mad, and that he wasn't likely to be happy here, considering the way that they treat their animals and slaves, and what kind of guy is so wasteful as to try to sacrifice a useful girl, anyway? A bit later, when my wife joined me, the musician again repeated that he was going, and he returned the fancy leather belt decorated with lots of bronze bits that we had given him when he joined our household. I pointed out to him that he would always have a home at our place and hoped that he would return again one day, and that he would be missed.
Eventually I remembered that I had brought some yarn and a nålbindining needle to the event in case I got restless and needed to work on a hand-project (which I normally do, but this weekend whenever that happened I just started stroking my beard and keeping it tangle free, which worked to keep my hands content until this point in the game, when my character was annoyed that we weren't leaving, even though everyone here was clearly mad). That yarn was still in a skein and needed to be wound into a ball, and I decided that my character would have rather done that, though that task was normally beneath him, than wait with nothing to do (at home he would always be busy with tasks that need doing, so he isn't used to being idle). However, also suspected that he wouldn't know the proper way to do that task, so rather than asking someone to hold the skein for me, I just draped it over my shoulder and started winding the ball. Sure enough, eventually I managed to drop both the ball and half of the skein, at which point my wife took pity on me, came over, and held the skein up for me so that I could keep winding the ball. This took longer than it should have, because when we picked up the two halves of the skein and put them onto her hands we did something wrong such that every single thread for quite a while got tangled with the same loop on her arms, such that I had to put it through that loop. Eventually the problem solved itself, once we got past that half skein. When I was nearly done someone called me over to speak with them, so my wife took the ball from me, and when I was done talking to them (I don't recall who it was or what was said) my daughter handed me the ball that she had finished winding for me, so I had nothing left to do with my hands, so I went back into the room and looked for more things to pack, as someone called forth everyone to stand outside and listen to something. I decided that my character didn't care what was being said, so I packed something else, then went to the outhouse while the taking was happening, and while I was there the "game over" bell rung, so when I came out everyone was talking at once and hugging, and I happily joined in the group for my share of hugs and happy babble, now in English when speaking to me.
Between conversations with people on site and with my traveling companions on the drive home, I have pieced together a few plot details that I had missed:
*Before the ceremony the druid made a point of telling us that it would be very dangerous to move or leave this holy ground during the ceremony.
*Someone had, in fact, set runs upon the altar stone to rebound the sacrifice
*The slave girl had actually had her heart cut out before she jumped up and ran away, after which she turned into some sort of monster, that someone else saw (that was what had been reported from outside the night before that I didn't follow)
*There was a circle of runes set around the house to protect the people in it, but the odal family who had come to the wedding from the nearby farm couldn't go home, so they wound up spending the night sleeping in front of the fireplace (and presumably keeping the fire going all night so that everyone would have the protection of which the druid who had spoken to my brother had mentioned)
*the ring missing from the pile of wedding gifts was magic and may or may not have had something to do with the slave girl turning into a monster
*The other storman's brother wasn't really her brother, but an elf in disguise, who had kidnapped the brother and taken his place (though he says that the real brother is being well treated) and it was the elf who had been doing the impassioned speech the night before that I hadn't bothered listening to (though if I had tried I probably would have understood more of it than I did some other things that happened that night, since he spoke both slower and louder than many). Apparently the elf is doing this as part of his campaign for equal rights for his people (who are treated much the way Jews were in the Middle Ages). I am not clear how this is supposed to help.
*People got tired of not being able to find the missing ring on searches, so one last plea was made for the guilty culprit to come forward, and when no one did the druids worked a ritual that would cause the guilty party to get sick, and everyone watched to see who would collapse. It was one of the other storman's slave girls who collapsed, but she no longer had the ring
*Somewhere in there the storman and his bride had to do something (that dealt with the monster?), but it came with the high price that she would never be able to have another child after the one she now carries.
As you can see, even with hearing bits of it in English afterwards, I still don't have a clear picture of everything that happened, and I understand that this is an important feature of Larp as done in Sweden-there is no "main character", but everyone is the main character from their point of view, and there are plot bits all over that may or may not get resolved, and no one can ever know the whole story. But most of the people present probably got more of it than I did on the first go around!
Was it fun? Yup.
Would I do it again? Yes, but only if the weather is nice and cool like this weekend was-no way would I be willing to wear my man muscle padding under layers of wool clothing on a hot summer day!
Would I have changed anything? Yah, make more of the major plot bits happen during times of day I (and my character) wanted to be awake. (I would change the part about how much Swedish I understood, but that problem will solve itself if I keep living in Sweden long enough, which I plan to do.)
Oh, my goodness--it is now 01:30 and I started typing around 21:00. This is nearly nine full pages in Word. I wonder if anyone will read all of it?
So, how did the weekend unfold?
We arrived on Friday afternoon, about an hour after check in opened, and a couple of hours before the pre-game meeting. This gave us time to unload the car and haul the stuff down the trail (~0.3 km) to the site (it took the three of us three trips each to carry it all, plus a couple of other folks helped out for one trip), then, when the car was empty, go fetch a rope bed that the organizers had in storage, set it up, set up that bed for my character and his wife, unroll the bedding for my two brothers (lord_kjar and linda_linsefors), change into costume and add my beard before the meeting. (Ok, I only changed into costume before the originally scheduled meeting time, then found out it had been postponed, so I added my beard, too.)
The pre-game meeting gave us all of those announcements that one needs to know (where to find the toilets, the fire extinguishers, brief reminder of rules for combat etc.) and I let everyone know that if it important that my character understand something they say, please speak slowly.
Then we had some pre-game exercises, since this game is set in a world with a social hierarchy ranging from thrall (slaves) to Odal (technically free farmers who don't own the land they farm, but instead tithe a percentage of their crops to the land owner, and can't carry weapons) to Cogaid (the noble land owners who are allowed to carry weapons) to the stormen (that would include me!), the elite of the Cogaid who rule over the others (ok, there is a Jarl above them, but he wasn't at the event, so he doesn't count, yet).
The first exercise we were all given a slip of paper with a random number on it (0 to 3, for each of the above levels, in order) which we were not to look at, but instead hold onto our foreheads so that everyone else could see our number. Then we were to walk around and nonverbally respond to everyone else based on their number, with the intent that we should then be able to correctly guess our own number based on how people treat us. Then we did it again, but this time with the numbers that actually attach to the station of our characters, so that we could all get familiar with who was above and/or below us in the pecking order.
The game opened shortly after that, but by then I was really tired from having gotten up early every morning and stayed up late every evening the whole week, so I went to bed just after 22:00 without actually interacting much with the other characters that night. Around 04:00 I woke up needing to pee, and remembered that I had forgotten to do my yoga before bed! I can think of only one other time that has happened, and I did the same thing then that I did on this occasion. I got up and did it, then went back to bed for a few more hours of sleep. Then I took care to do Saturday's yoga as soon as I had finished breakfast, and before everyone else had, so that I wouldn't forget it again. (Since my character is a warrior it totally makes sense for him to do a stretching routine every day, even when attending a wedding, so that he will always be ready to move his body during battle. Then again, I wouldn't play a character that I couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for them to do daily yoga-after 10.6 years of doing it every day I am so not interested in skipping days now!)
Playing Vitbjörn was interesting, since he is one of those men that doesn't believe in idle chatter, and prefers not to say anything unless it is actually necessary to communicate it. This meant a lot of interactions that involved a nod of acknowledgment, and then just looking at one another, since the other person didn't initiate the conversation, and Vitbjörn won't, unless he has something that needs saying to that person (and I did a couple of times-my pre-game "Intrig"(character plot goals assigned by the organizers) included the suggestions that I might want to talk to the merchant who does trading with the elves because the rönnbärsvin(rowan berry wine) that we make might fetch a good price with the elves, so we want an introduction) and that the slaves on my farm have been breeding too well and we might want to sell some to the other stormen). I did hear later from one of the organizers that my character got a reputation for not saying anything, so that if he did people played attention because it "must be important" (ah the results of wanting to cover for the fact that my Swedish is still not as good as it could be).
The setting for the game was the wedding of one of the other Stormen in the area. There were three of us on site, the groom (played by a real man, with a long, braided, beard and short mustache), me (playing a man with a long unbraided beard, and long, braided mustache), and Dis, a female beardless storman, played by a woman without a beard). Shortly after the morning breakfast the groom and his bride sat in their thrones and the guests gathered and we all presented our wedding gifts in turn. We stormen went first, each with an impressive pile of loot (both to show off our own wealth and status, and to court him as a potential ally, in addition to just being generous), and then the other guests presented their gifts, in order of precedence, so the gifts quickly became less numerous and less expensive, yet it is probably safe to assume that pretty much every character or group of characters presented about the same percentage of their personal net worth.
The members of my character's personal household who traveled to the wedding with him were my wife, our 16 year old daughter, my slightly younger brother, who is a musician, our much younger (17 years old, to my 33 years) half-brother, an additional (non-related) musician who has been living on our farm for some time, and a herdsman(warrior sworn to my service, played by my minion). They were all a fabulous group, and it was a delight to have them with me. It took all of us to present our gifts. The full list of gifts:
First those items which were made and owned by Master SvartulvR, and loaned to me for the occasion:
*a nice wooden chest with fancy bronze hinges and handles
*a hunting horn with red incised knot-work and runes
*a large grey wool cloak with red and black knot-work wolves and fur trim
*a large manly neck-chain (think SCA knight's chain in a pretty chain mail pattern)
*a bronze ring (ok he didn't have one in the bag that fit her-we tested it in advance, so she gave me one of her own rings that looks similar to his, and I presented that instead, so that she would be able to wear it)
…then the things I have made:
*a fur (mink) lined hood
*a fur (mink) lined muff, with tablet woven carrying strap
…and the things I have purchased years ago:
*a pretty pottery water jug in early period style
*a silver knotwork dragon broach
…then the things my wife donated to the pile:
*some fine yellow wool fabric
*a variety of colours of silk embroidery floss
After the gifts there was a short break, then the wedding ceremony itself, which included the couple singing a song together (which was really sweet!), followed by a bunch of Viking appropriate games, including spear throwing, wrestling, rock throwing, tug of war. My group acquitted themselves well in these games. During the games a cloaked and spear carrying stranger approached and the groom went over to talk to him. They exchanged a few words (some of which I couldn't hear from where I was standing, and other bits I couldn't quite follow) and the stranger left the broken spear behind, turned and walked away. Causing the groom to make a short speech and ask a question. I was fairly certain that whatever had happened was some sort of declaration of war and a request to see who stands with the challenged storman, and a quick question to my wife and brothers confirmed that, so I went forth and grasped the groom's arm in a gesture of solidarity, and then the other storman did the same (but she included a few flowery words to go with it).
After this they called for sword fighting, and my youngest brother, who is actually a half-brother with an Odal mother, which, since status is inherited from the mother's side, means that he is Odal, and so not allowed to own a sword, asked, right there in front of everyone, if he could participate. I wasn't completely certain if they were talking about a sword fight as part of the wedding games, or the upcoming war, so I asked the groom if more men were needed, and he said that they were, so I gave my brother permission to try, which brought the total number of combatants to four (if I remember correctly)-my hird, both of my brothers (who shared armour and weapons, so had to change between the fights), and the hird of one of the other two stormen (at the time I didn't know whose, but I later found out he was attached to the female storman).
First my full brother fought the other hird, and was disarmed and yielded, then the other hird fought my hird (I don't recall how that bout went). Then my half-brother fought my hird and won, and fought the other hird and lost, and the other hird was declared victor of the day. Someone asked me how my half-brother had gotten so good as to win one of his fights, and I mentioned that he has a habit of watching the warriors at home when we are training (and rather suspected that he has actually been training with our brother, though, of course, I had long since forbidden him to do any such thing, since it is more important that our family keep to tradition than to yield to his desire to fight despite being an Odal).
After the combat, around 15:00 they served the wedding feast. Yay! A feast early enough in the day that I was actually hungry, so I got to eat the yummy food! During the first part of the feast I noticed a HUGE difference between an SCA event and the first Larp in a new campaign world-how quiet it was in the hall! So many people couldn't think of anything for their characters to say to the people sitting near them, and my character, who is not given to idle chatter, also didn't say anything, so most people just ate. It was weird to be in a room with around 30 people in it, no one speaking for a minute or three at a time. Then the musicians started playing, and everyone paid rapt attention and applauded after every tune. I think they were grateful to have something to do. Then the Skald (our littlest brother) did a poem in honor of the bride and groom, and after that people started talking (well, except to Vitbjörn, who spoke only briefly in reply if spoken to, and rarely initiated anything).
The food came out in waves for a couple of hours, then the bride stood up and announced that she knows that we are all tired (most people stayed up much later than I did, though everyone had gone to bed (or at least left the main building) by the time I did my 04:00 yoga session), and suggested that everyone go lay down for a short nap before desert. She didn’t have to say that twice! Many of us went and did just that, including both me and my wife. I slept for about 30 minutes, and woke to the sound of laughter and applause from outside the open window, where they were doing more games, so I got up and joined them, but my wife was deeply enough asleep that she didn't notice my crawling out of the rope bed, and happily slept for another 20 or 30 minutes.
Around 18:00 we all returned to the feast hall and desert was served. However, having eaten plenty at the feast I was no longer interested in food, so I didn't take any (well, other than the one saffron-rice-almond pancake, which I set aside to eat for breakfast, because I can't resist those things, and they keep just fine overnight). During this part of the feast the Groom's sister announced that she hadn't yet given her gift, which she did-she had one from the past and one from the present. The one from the present was a single sea-shell, brought all the way from the sea, while the one from the past was an old shoe. So the groom then explained that one time when he was a child he needed to go somewhere, but couldn't find one of his shoes. He knew that his sister was to blame, but she wasn't returning the shoe, so instead it tied one of her dresses around his foot and went anyway. Now, after all these years, she was returning the shoe (which was now too small for him to wear). I understood his story just fine, but I wasn't clear if she was returning it after all these years because she only just found it after years of not knowing where it was, or if she had known all along where she had hidden it. Then the bride stood up and announced that she too had a gift, that she was already pregnant with their first child, and the groom looked appropriately joyful, and they were all cute and lovey with one another for a while.
Then we had an evening of hanging out and socializing, and around the time I was feeling tired and wondering if I could reasonably go to bed someone mentioned that we were waiting for the "blota>. To which I responded "Vad?" (repeated) "Blota."> and again I said "Vad?", so they whispered "sacrifice". At which point I wondered "what sacrifice?", but didn't ask out loud, as my character wouldn't have done so. Somewhere in there it was announced that one of the wedding gifts, a ring, was missing from the display table, and had anyone seen it? I asked questions enough to determine that it wasn't the ring I had presented, and promptly didn't worry about it anymore.
So I stayed awake and fought yawns for a while, and then my wife wondered when the sacrifice would be (so clearly she had heard more details about the after-feast plan than I had), and after a bit she went and asked the Druids, who said that they wanted it to be after dark (and while the sun is setting again as summer winds towards it close, it isn't doing so till sometime after 21:00). Since my wife's character was clearly interested in witnessing the sacrifice I decided to try staying awake a bit longer, and we waited. After a while I decided that I really was tired, so I went and brushed my teeth and took off the belt with my axe and sax (a type, worn hanging from the back of the belt and long enough to stick out past my hips on both sides) before running to the outhouse for one "last time before bed". However, as soon as I finished the outhouse trip one of the guys (who is also one of the event organizers) asked me if I had taken off my weapons, since it was important that no one carry weapons to the sacrifice. I said that I had (never mind that I hadn't done so because I knew about that part) and he said I was wise to have done so.
The next thing I knew I was yawning and walking into the dark forest with my wife and all of the other characters, and that was when everything went weird, as they do.
First one of the druids gave a speech, much of which I couldn't follow, but his stage presence was impressive nonetheless, then he guided the group into chanting, first three notes in a rising pattern, followed by three descending, then repeat. As we did that he did a variety of clearly ritual things to prepare the alter stone and who knows what all. Then he called forth the groom, who brought along his young female slave (on a leash) wearing a plain, clean, white robe, and announced that she was his very best slave, and he handed her over to the druid. At this point my character really wanted to speak up and say something like "Nej! Du kan inte döda en duktig flicka!". However, I was totally aware that it was likely that I wouldn't understand whatever he replied, and it isn't possible to formulate a good persuasive argument when one can't understand what the other party is saying. So I didn't, and the druid took the girl and laid her on the altar stone.
Then the druid raised his knife, placed it over the girl's breast bone and begun to cut. I could, just, see the stain of blood that rose onto her white robes from where I was standing (remember that it is rather dark, and while there were torches, they weren't very bright), but then the druid clutched at his own heart and a matching blood stain appeared there, and he collapsed (with appropriate theatrics), the girl screamed, sat up, and ran off into the forest, and the other druids rushed forth, some to tend to him, and others to examine the alter stone. After looking at it a bit one of them pointed at some detail on the stone, and started screaming something complicated that included a phrase which means "who did this?"
Even before the druids started reacting I (and my character) couldn't help but think that the druid had gotten what he deserved for trying to kill the girl, and was pleased that she had run away, yet I inferred from the one druid's screams of "vem?" that it isn't normal for the druid performing a sacrifice to be injured, and they thought that someone set it up to do so on purpose and in advance.
Then the populace returned through the forest to the hall (I don't recall if we just went or if the druids dismissed us, though that may be because all of the speaking was too fast and too unexpected in content to understand any of it). When I was most of the way back to the hall my hird came back to tell me that my daughter had started running towards the hall, so he and my youngest brother (who you may have noticed by the ages mentioned above, is only a year older than the daughter, so they grew up together) ran after her to look after her. Therefore I hurried into the hall and put my arm around her like a protective father and watched, but failed to understand, most of the next events.
Sure, I understood when they carried in the injured druid, and people (including my youngest brother) rushed over to help clear a spot on the feast table for him to lie upon, confirmed that he was still alive, and started fussing over him to try to help. I even understood when the druid demanded the charcoal he needed to start drawing runes. I didn't understand why they cared about the druid-the wound was clearly self-inflicted, after all, and he had tried to kill the girl.
There followed a time of noise and confusion and loud, unintelligible to me, words, but during it all my daughter still appeared to be in shock, and I continued to hold her in a comforting manner. Then everyone gathered around and held hands in a circle around the druids working to save their comrade. Even though I (and my character) had been thinking thoughts about the druid deserving his fate, I still joined hands in the circle, since I had my daughter on the one side and my hird on the other. There must have been some instructions I didn't understand, because I soon realized that I was the only person in the circle who hadn't closed my eyes, so I fluttered mine mostly closed to fit in to the group, but continued to look around through half lidded eyes because it was interesting to watch, even if my character was annoyed with it all.
Fairly soon after the circle formed the injured Druid gave more signs of life, and the circle broke up (I am guessing we were told that it was ok, but I totally missed whatever they said). Then there were people speaking harsh and rapid words to one another that I didn't understand, including someone coming in from outside and giving a panicked sounding report that I also didn't understand (did I mention that Swedish is easy to read these days, and I can usually manage to find a way to say what I wish to communicate, even if I don't say things the way a native speaker would, but I still have problems understanding the spoken language if it is fast or contains unexpected things?)
Then one of the characters started doing an impassioned speech that, while I could understand many words and phrases, I totally couldn't understand what he was talking about, and I gave up trying. Soon thereafter my littlest brother asked if I was following it and if I wanted him to give me a running translation, and I replied (in Swedish that I didn't understand nor did I wish to), and I went off to the outhouse for a much needed pee break.
When I returned my littlest brother told me that he had spoken to the Druid, who said that if we all stayed in and kept the fire burning all night that everything would be fine-that they didn't know how long the night would be, but eventually, dawn would come. Since neither I nor my character had any reason to believe that dawn wouldn't come as it always has before we weren't worried (remember that I hadn't understood the panicked report from outside), but I didn't like the sound of not being able to use the outhouse, so I asked him if there were a chamberpot (yes, I said that word in English, since I had no idea of the Swedish translation) available if we couldn't go out, to which he clarified that by "in" he meant "the circle of runes". "What circle of runes?", I wondered, but didn't ask, because I didn't really care, I just decided that meant I could use the outhouse whenever I wanted, and that therefore there was no reason I couldn't go to bed just now, so I said something to the effect that dawn would come much sooner if I slept, and I was off to bed.
I looked at my phone as I crawled into bed, and it was just after 23:00, or 2.5 hours after I had first wanted to go to bed, so no surprise that both my character and I were feeling cranky. As I went to sleep, ignoring the now much quieter (since I had taken out my hearing aids) sounds of occasional screams and impassioned speeches) coming up from downstairs, I couldn't help but think how angry my character was, both at the storman for being so wasteful for wanting to sacrifice his best slave (when my character is convinced that this stuff is naught but superstitious nonsense) and because none of the rest of it would have happened if he hadn't, and at the Druid for trying to kill the girl, and how annoyed I as a player was that all of these major plot twists came up after I wanted to be asleep for the night.
I slept happily for about eight hours (not counting a couple of trips to that outhouse, since I had been drinking plenty of water all day), and got up around 07:00. There were a few people stirring by that point, but the kitchen slaves did not have breakfast served yet, so I ate a bowl of my own muesli, remembered that saffron-rice-almond pancake and at that, then went out for a walk while I waited for the others to get up. My character really wanted to just pack up and go home, since everyone here was clearly mad, but wasn't willing to disturb the rest of his wife and daughter (but so would have roused his brothers and demanded that they pack and be ready to go in five minutes if the women hadn't have been along).
On the walk I often stopped to eat blueberries. Yum! My character thought that the slaves on this farm must have been too busy with wedding prep to have done the berry harvest yet, and felt smug about the fact that at home we had already picked all of the nearby berries and dried them for winter (both slaves and free people pitching in to help with it). (I am told that at larps, at least in Sweden, it is actually fairly common for people to experience a decent sized percentage of the game/story in their own heads that no one else ever gets to hear, unless they decide to share it.)
When I returned from the walk my women folk were still asleep, but my hird was awake. Oh, I should mention more about the hird, and by extension some of my character's back story: …Once upon a time my uncle, Mård, was storman on the farm Givheim, and my father, Halvard (who had married Siv, the sister of Savnhild, my uncle Mård's wife), lived with him, and often went on long trading missions to enhance the wealth of the extended family. When I got old enough I started going with him. It was during one of those early trips with my dad that a man named Sten challenged my uncle Mård and took the title of storman from him (along with the farm and everything on it), and so my uncle retired to the smaller farm that his challenger used to have (as is the custom in this world). We, of course, knew nothing of the change of power until we returned, arriving home on a stormy, dark, cold night after a difficult journey, looking forward to a warm welcome, hot food, and soft beds. Instead we were greeted with drawn swords carried by men I didn't know, and cast back out into the storm.
We didn't know where our family was now living, but we were cold, wet, tired, and discouraged, and an Odal family took us into their humble cottage, fed us, took off our wet clothes, gave us dry blankets and a spot by the fire to warm ourselves, and made us feel welcome in their home. In that indignant way that kids have I declared that the woman who was caring for us would make a better storeman than the new one who had just cast us out into the storm, and she laughed and pointed out that only a Cogaid could be storman, never an Odal, so I swore that if I ever became a storman I would elevate her family to Cogaid for the kindness she had shown us on that night.
Years past, I grew up, married an ambitious woman who encouraged me to challenge Sten and become storman of Givheim, my childhood home, so I did, was successful, and soon after I took power I went back to that Odal farm, where the woman who had been so kind to me was still living, with her daughter and grandson. I kept my word and raised her to Cogaid, and, since status in this world is only inherited from the mother's line, that made her daughter and that grandson also Cogaid. Therefor the grandson joined my household and trained as a warrior and became one of my hird.
Before the event I had borrowed a bunch of cool stuff from Master SvartulvR to improve my own costume/accessories and for the wedding gifts. Among the stuff was a bunch of rings, so I put one on, hoping that I would find some occasion in the event to give it to someone. Sometime late on Saturday afternoon I decided to give it to my hird, and explained to him that I was proud of him and appreciated all that he had done to enhance my farm's reputation with his skill in the games. By Sunday morning he was still toying with the ring and looking happy/surprised to have gotten it.
I (which is to say, Vitbjörn) explained to him that it was my plan to head back to our farm as soon as my wife and daughter were awake, since everyone here was clearly mad. Not too long thereafter our musician was awake, so I told him the same thing. When my brothers got up I told them the same thing. When my wife and daughter got up I told them that as soon as they finished breakfast (which had finally been served) we needed to pack up and go because everyone here was mad. I made no attempt to ask about what had happened the night before, since I didn't think my character really wanted to know, and I was pretty certain I wouldn't understand the explanation anyway.
After eating some of the provided breakfast I went up and packed up the bedding and the few other odds and ends that could be packed. I couldn't touch the wedding gifts, of course, since they were no longer mine (never mind that I would be taking them all back after the game ended), which meant that I was done with everything I could do and then just kind of pacing restlessly, wishing my women folk would finish eating and talking and come pack up so that we could leave (which, of course, they couldn't actually do in-game, since it is custom to stay, no matter what happens, through to the end of the larp when the bell rings to signify game over).
During this time my musician came up to tell me that he wouldn't be going back to the farm with us, and he tried to explain why, but I couldn't understand all of the nuances, though part of it had to do some bit of advice that one of the druids had given him. While I didn't understand what he repeated about the advice, I did know that it was a druid he was talking about, so I pointed out that the druids can't be trusted, that they are all mad, and everyone on this farm is mad, and that he wasn't likely to be happy here, considering the way that they treat their animals and slaves, and what kind of guy is so wasteful as to try to sacrifice a useful girl, anyway? A bit later, when my wife joined me, the musician again repeated that he was going, and he returned the fancy leather belt decorated with lots of bronze bits that we had given him when he joined our household. I pointed out to him that he would always have a home at our place and hoped that he would return again one day, and that he would be missed.
Eventually I remembered that I had brought some yarn and a nålbindining needle to the event in case I got restless and needed to work on a hand-project (which I normally do, but this weekend whenever that happened I just started stroking my beard and keeping it tangle free, which worked to keep my hands content until this point in the game, when my character was annoyed that we weren't leaving, even though everyone here was clearly mad). That yarn was still in a skein and needed to be wound into a ball, and I decided that my character would have rather done that, though that task was normally beneath him, than wait with nothing to do (at home he would always be busy with tasks that need doing, so he isn't used to being idle). However, also suspected that he wouldn't know the proper way to do that task, so rather than asking someone to hold the skein for me, I just draped it over my shoulder and started winding the ball. Sure enough, eventually I managed to drop both the ball and half of the skein, at which point my wife took pity on me, came over, and held the skein up for me so that I could keep winding the ball. This took longer than it should have, because when we picked up the two halves of the skein and put them onto her hands we did something wrong such that every single thread for quite a while got tangled with the same loop on her arms, such that I had to put it through that loop. Eventually the problem solved itself, once we got past that half skein. When I was nearly done someone called me over to speak with them, so my wife took the ball from me, and when I was done talking to them (I don't recall who it was or what was said) my daughter handed me the ball that she had finished winding for me, so I had nothing left to do with my hands, so I went back into the room and looked for more things to pack, as someone called forth everyone to stand outside and listen to something. I decided that my character didn't care what was being said, so I packed something else, then went to the outhouse while the taking was happening, and while I was there the "game over" bell rung, so when I came out everyone was talking at once and hugging, and I happily joined in the group for my share of hugs and happy babble, now in English when speaking to me.
Between conversations with people on site and with my traveling companions on the drive home, I have pieced together a few plot details that I had missed:
*Before the ceremony the druid made a point of telling us that it would be very dangerous to move or leave this holy ground during the ceremony.
*Someone had, in fact, set runs upon the altar stone to rebound the sacrifice
*The slave girl had actually had her heart cut out before she jumped up and ran away, after which she turned into some sort of monster, that someone else saw (that was what had been reported from outside the night before that I didn't follow)
*There was a circle of runes set around the house to protect the people in it, but the odal family who had come to the wedding from the nearby farm couldn't go home, so they wound up spending the night sleeping in front of the fireplace (and presumably keeping the fire going all night so that everyone would have the protection of which the druid who had spoken to my brother had mentioned)
*the ring missing from the pile of wedding gifts was magic and may or may not have had something to do with the slave girl turning into a monster
*The other storman's brother wasn't really her brother, but an elf in disguise, who had kidnapped the brother and taken his place (though he says that the real brother is being well treated) and it was the elf who had been doing the impassioned speech the night before that I hadn't bothered listening to (though if I had tried I probably would have understood more of it than I did some other things that happened that night, since he spoke both slower and louder than many). Apparently the elf is doing this as part of his campaign for equal rights for his people (who are treated much the way Jews were in the Middle Ages). I am not clear how this is supposed to help.
*People got tired of not being able to find the missing ring on searches, so one last plea was made for the guilty culprit to come forward, and when no one did the druids worked a ritual that would cause the guilty party to get sick, and everyone watched to see who would collapse. It was one of the other storman's slave girls who collapsed, but she no longer had the ring
*Somewhere in there the storman and his bride had to do something (that dealt with the monster?), but it came with the high price that she would never be able to have another child after the one she now carries.
As you can see, even with hearing bits of it in English afterwards, I still don't have a clear picture of everything that happened, and I understand that this is an important feature of Larp as done in Sweden-there is no "main character", but everyone is the main character from their point of view, and there are plot bits all over that may or may not get resolved, and no one can ever know the whole story. But most of the people present probably got more of it than I did on the first go around!
Was it fun? Yup.
Would I do it again? Yes, but only if the weather is nice and cool like this weekend was-no way would I be willing to wear my man muscle padding under layers of wool clothing on a hot summer day!
Would I have changed anything? Yah, make more of the major plot bits happen during times of day I (and my character) wanted to be awake. (I would change the part about how much Swedish I understood, but that problem will solve itself if I keep living in Sweden long enough, which I plan to do.)
Oh, my goodness--it is now 01:30 and I started typing around 21:00. This is nearly nine full pages in Word. I wonder if anyone will read all of it?