Summerfest 2011
Somehow king_pellinor managed to persuade me that I wanted to help run the Summerfest bar this year. He also similarly convinced ladyofastolat, though since she's married to him I suppose she has some excuse for the folly. Some years ago he persuaded chainmailmaiden that she wanted to nothing more with her summer bank holiday weekend than cook for live roleplayers - she is clearly a lost cause.
Helping to run the bar, it must be said, was pretty good from a doesn't-require-too-much-thought-and-people-are-grateful point of view. It was less good from a my-day-to-day-job-doesn't-require-standing-and-my-feet-legs-and-back-are-in-the-process-of-lodging-a-complaint point of view. We had minions which was a lot of fun. Any time something (mostly washing up) needed to be done we could confidently state "we'll get a minion to do that". We also tended to get minions to mix cocktails which they often opted to do "in character". The Primate of Kharach (god of death for the non-cognoscenti) kept getting distracted by requests that she lay the pork scratchings to rest, however on the Sunday we had a very over-the-top Traldan priest (goddess of luck, thieves, gamblers and prostitutes) who spotted a "Traldan Surprise" cocktail which involved picking two spirits at random. Within about half an hour he had a dice-based system worked out and we proceeded to offer all Traldans a copper off and the opportunity to roll the dice themselves. We sold a surprising number of Tradan Surprises that night. Some of them were even enjoyed by the recipients. I was amused by the following conversation though:
Cocktail Waiter: Try the Traldan Surprise!!! I'll let you roll the dice!! Only a Silver and a Copper!!
Traldan A (to his friend): Don't! I had one last year. It was horrible. It had chilli vodka in it!
Traldan B: I'm not sure.
Cocktail Waiter: You only get chilli vodka on a double six!! Go on, you know you want to.
Traldan A: Just don't.
Traldan B: Doesn't sound like a good idea, no.
ladyofastolat: There are other cocktails. Here's a menu!
Traldan B: This one has both chilli vodka and tabasco sauce in!! I'll have that.
Bar Staff: *bemused confusion*
I was less amused by the procession of people who wandered up the First Aid station at the end of the bar to report that they hadn't eaten or drunk anything in the last 24 hours except six pints of bitter and two extra-strong pain killers and were now feeling a bit funny. The ambulance had to be called six times and the police once (when two rottweilers appeared in the woods and bit another dog walker - who reported it to us).
As with the last Summerfest I attended, there were a lot of old friends to catch up with, and a lot more grey hair between us. Since I was working the bar I only got a hazy idea of the plot but I gathered that the adventurers managed to crown a new King of Ireland despite the objections of the Axirian Empire. As far as I could make out this involved king_pellinor, in his role of Knight Commander, talking polite legalities with powerful Axirians while other people conducted hasty rituals behind his back. Then the stone circle blew over, but I don't think that was intentional. Several people suggested I should play next year but although king_pellinor seems to manage this juggling act, I'm not sure I'd cope well with switching back and forth between managing minor crises involving running out of cups with handles and minor crisis involving dead kings and hordes of undead. If I'm to do it another year I also need to work out a good way to make some down time during the day. On Sunday I worked from about 8am to about 11pm and was pretty shattered by the end of it.
This entry was originally posted at http://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/52850.html.
Helping to run the bar, it must be said, was pretty good from a doesn't-require-too-much-thought-and-people-are-grateful point of view. It was less good from a my-day-to-day-job-doesn't-require-standing-and-my-feet-legs-and-back-are-in-the-process-of-lodging-a-complaint point of view. We had minions which was a lot of fun. Any time something (mostly washing up) needed to be done we could confidently state "we'll get a minion to do that". We also tended to get minions to mix cocktails which they often opted to do "in character". The Primate of Kharach (god of death for the non-cognoscenti) kept getting distracted by requests that she lay the pork scratchings to rest, however on the Sunday we had a very over-the-top Traldan priest (goddess of luck, thieves, gamblers and prostitutes) who spotted a "Traldan Surprise" cocktail which involved picking two spirits at random. Within about half an hour he had a dice-based system worked out and we proceeded to offer all Traldans a copper off and the opportunity to roll the dice themselves. We sold a surprising number of Tradan Surprises that night. Some of them were even enjoyed by the recipients. I was amused by the following conversation though:
Cocktail Waiter: Try the Traldan Surprise!!! I'll let you roll the dice!! Only a Silver and a Copper!!
Traldan A (to his friend): Don't! I had one last year. It was horrible. It had chilli vodka in it!
Traldan B: I'm not sure.
Cocktail Waiter: You only get chilli vodka on a double six!! Go on, you know you want to.
Traldan A: Just don't.
Traldan B: Doesn't sound like a good idea, no.
ladyofastolat: There are other cocktails. Here's a menu!
Traldan B: This one has both chilli vodka and tabasco sauce in!! I'll have that.
Bar Staff: *bemused confusion*
I was less amused by the procession of people who wandered up the First Aid station at the end of the bar to report that they hadn't eaten or drunk anything in the last 24 hours except six pints of bitter and two extra-strong pain killers and were now feeling a bit funny. The ambulance had to be called six times and the police once (when two rottweilers appeared in the woods and bit another dog walker - who reported it to us).
As with the last Summerfest I attended, there were a lot of old friends to catch up with, and a lot more grey hair between us. Since I was working the bar I only got a hazy idea of the plot but I gathered that the adventurers managed to crown a new King of Ireland despite the objections of the Axirian Empire. As far as I could make out this involved king_pellinor, in his role of Knight Commander, talking polite legalities with powerful Axirians while other people conducted hasty rituals behind his back. Then the stone circle blew over, but I don't think that was intentional. Several people suggested I should play next year but although king_pellinor seems to manage this juggling act, I'm not sure I'd cope well with switching back and forth between managing minor crises involving running out of cups with handles and minor crisis involving dead kings and hordes of undead. If I'm to do it another year I also need to work out a good way to make some down time during the day. On Sunday I worked from about 8am to about 11pm and was pretty shattered by the end of it.
This entry was originally posted at http://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/52850.html.