Saddening times
I'll try and do a hot and not later for the lions forums but for here it's going to have to be fuller and more (hopefully) coherent tale.
There were two events for me.
Friday night-Saturday midnight and the rest.
I'm going to start with the second half of the event, there are reasons for this mostly that I want to finish on a high and partly that the second half made me forget so much that happened and I had enjoyed so by ending on that I can focus on what's going on.
Polly died late on Saturday night, she was killed by what is apparantly the major new LT bad guy on his first appearance and was just failed to be rescued by Hengist, Sheyna and Elrood. For fairly obvious reasons this destroyed Karnak and for perhaps less obvious ones broke me. I spent the next 2 days crying fairly constantly and it was set off by the slightest thing, for example walking off the PVP battlefield seeing bluebells and realising that we weren't going to have ice cream because she was gone.
Toni and I created the back story following a conversation the night before my eldest daughter Ceri's Christening, it swelled into a huge missed opportunity which then was carefully ignored. That was meant to be it and we'd play the characters as good friends, I'm not sure many people will believe this but we weren't really expecting anything to happen between us, but to have it as a bit of flavour text concerning Karnak's womanising similar to his relationship with Sid., but as time passed Polly became very protective of him, to the extent that she became his constant companion during the mess that was Alfhildr's break up with Karnak. Then Meg and Sid happened and they were forced closer together as what became "Team Moral Compass" was formed. So after a truly and honestly flippant comment at the winter event they dated and 6 months later they married after an attempt to check if Rob Norfolk was pretending to ignore us, turned into the ultimate game of Brethren chicken. 20 Months of marriage happened and I've never known roleplay like it and then she died and we had a new type of roleplay experience. I've known roleplay like that only once and that was for a small time with a character that I'd known a day, so this was on a whole new level. Now I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that something wonderful is over and that something new is starting and I have no idea if that will play out and if that sounds like melodrama then it gets worse as both of us have described it as it feels like a break up. :)
So what happened next well. Karnak survived because no bugger would let me die. Now it would have been easy to grab the axe find a corner and do the neccesary but that isn't Karnak. His original plan of get the axe and slowly work his way through everyone he felt was a liability to the faction had gone out the window since they were dead already, so he was left with the option of try to find a meaningful death. Sadly Sheyna saw his attempt to join Polly by engaging the horde and grabbed Seraphim and they stopped me. Unfortunately that meant for the rest of the weekend he was sat on. I had some great roleplay with some surprising and not so surprising people Nethanial, Kaelin, Iranyae,Tara, Sid, Meg, Karen, Lenia, Coircre, Cosaint, Bliquis, and Alyssa amongst others.
Eventually after some communication issues, Karnak got his answer that Polly was safe in Avalon and was she was prepared to wait, so I'm left with working out what to do now with him until he can find that meaningful death and rejoin his love. I have some ideas and have already realised what a break Polly was on Karnak's madness as I'm actively considering 2 things that I would never have dreamed of doing because it would hurt her.
Other things were the tough Elemental fight which killed Neantog and Sylvia and caused Marinus to suicide. Saving Morbo from suicide (God Karnak felt like a hypocrite)
Sid telling him that couldn't let him die on her wedding night. Pouring a drink for Polly and leaving it in the cocks all day. Sadly Robert Ashlar was stopped from drinking it twice, otherwise Karnak may have been the first person to get knighted on an active death mat ;)Acting as both parts of Team Moral compass in Pol's abscence. Being asked to be Karens protector. Being the acomplice in Tope breaking Iranaye, Jenny's reaction was priceless and will stay with me for ages, and of course Hengist's retirement which I was at least aware of in advance.
So The first part of the event was amazing, the stag and hen was unbelievable fun. OC I was pleased to see it so popular and not insular. IC seeing Sid and Meg having big grins and knowing it was reflected OC. Toni/Polly pulled a blinder there and it was fun to help co host and showed again why they were such a good couple. As did Karnak's reaction to "Maids when you're young.." sweeping Polly off her feet and snogging her for 20 seconds, she pronouced that "he had lots of falorum" I had lost of fun wandering around inflicting cocktails on people including the new ones our barman put together.
Saturday was about Sid's wedding and pretty dresses, Marianne and Polly meant I was very happy OC and IC, and it was a lovely day spent chatting with friends and each other as we fought for Meg's right to win Sid, had a lovely small wedding and then just wandered happilly, around meetings and rituals. I managed to injure my foot with what was described by the first aider as "Fat Larper to the foot" which i believe went in the book.
Then it was my ritual, it was my first plot ritual and while that in some way makes it easier it also makes it weird. The paperwork doesn't make sense as much and its not so easy to think of relevance. The over run of the monster slot cost me contributors and the traditional fear in the run was more this time as I knew the whole faction was coming.
So I managed to run and 18 minute ritual which fitted in an arthurian quest with 5 seperate monster roles and monty python references. Accompanied by a suround sound Stadium style audience. Paul played the most thug like monster ever, Marianne freaked out several lions as the Avatar of Mal, Bria got wolf whistled, Will got the receiving end of an over enthusaitic contributor barage as Ads had picked a mixture of old and new Lions for his Questing Knights. Dave surprised a few Lions as hr reprised a very old Lion as an Avatar of Rhino. Briege took and reacted to me heckling the circle and also provided everything else I needed at short notice. It also provide a much needed lift for Helen and Alyssa got to go home one last time. The ritual finished with me walking around the circle shaking hands like a rock star. It scored an 8 but would have been a 9.5 if I hadn't paniced about the time and assumed that Barry had made the opposite call to what he had with the Avatars.
There was time for one last happy moment as Karnak pulled out the necklace he brought Polly that she'd admired that afternoon and it took 3 people to fit the fiddly clasp round her neck, they returned to the Cocks and then the Bell tolled.......
So thanks to everyone who helped me this weekend who said the nice things and understood. Thanks to Toni, Dan, and Marianne for the help with the ritual.
Thanks to my monsters,
Thanks to Marianne for her care and understanding.
and of course thanks to Toni for 4 years of tears and laughter, and however many that Karnak fails to die in yet to come. It's been emotional, and now that we've broken up can we still be friends ;)
There were two events for me.
Friday night-Saturday midnight and the rest.
I'm going to start with the second half of the event, there are reasons for this mostly that I want to finish on a high and partly that the second half made me forget so much that happened and I had enjoyed so by ending on that I can focus on what's going on.
Polly died late on Saturday night, she was killed by what is apparantly the major new LT bad guy on his first appearance and was just failed to be rescued by Hengist, Sheyna and Elrood. For fairly obvious reasons this destroyed Karnak and for perhaps less obvious ones broke me. I spent the next 2 days crying fairly constantly and it was set off by the slightest thing, for example walking off the PVP battlefield seeing bluebells and realising that we weren't going to have ice cream because she was gone.
Toni and I created the back story following a conversation the night before my eldest daughter Ceri's Christening, it swelled into a huge missed opportunity which then was carefully ignored. That was meant to be it and we'd play the characters as good friends, I'm not sure many people will believe this but we weren't really expecting anything to happen between us, but to have it as a bit of flavour text concerning Karnak's womanising similar to his relationship with Sid., but as time passed Polly became very protective of him, to the extent that she became his constant companion during the mess that was Alfhildr's break up with Karnak. Then Meg and Sid happened and they were forced closer together as what became "Team Moral Compass" was formed. So after a truly and honestly flippant comment at the winter event they dated and 6 months later they married after an attempt to check if Rob Norfolk was pretending to ignore us, turned into the ultimate game of Brethren chicken. 20 Months of marriage happened and I've never known roleplay like it and then she died and we had a new type of roleplay experience. I've known roleplay like that only once and that was for a small time with a character that I'd known a day, so this was on a whole new level. Now I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that something wonderful is over and that something new is starting and I have no idea if that will play out and if that sounds like melodrama then it gets worse as both of us have described it as it feels like a break up. :)
So what happened next well. Karnak survived because no bugger would let me die. Now it would have been easy to grab the axe find a corner and do the neccesary but that isn't Karnak. His original plan of get the axe and slowly work his way through everyone he felt was a liability to the faction had gone out the window since they were dead already, so he was left with the option of try to find a meaningful death. Sadly Sheyna saw his attempt to join Polly by engaging the horde and grabbed Seraphim and they stopped me. Unfortunately that meant for the rest of the weekend he was sat on. I had some great roleplay with some surprising and not so surprising people Nethanial, Kaelin, Iranyae,Tara, Sid, Meg, Karen, Lenia, Coircre, Cosaint, Bliquis, and Alyssa amongst others.
Eventually after some communication issues, Karnak got his answer that Polly was safe in Avalon and was she was prepared to wait, so I'm left with working out what to do now with him until he can find that meaningful death and rejoin his love. I have some ideas and have already realised what a break Polly was on Karnak's madness as I'm actively considering 2 things that I would never have dreamed of doing because it would hurt her.
Other things were the tough Elemental fight which killed Neantog and Sylvia and caused Marinus to suicide. Saving Morbo from suicide (God Karnak felt like a hypocrite)
Sid telling him that couldn't let him die on her wedding night. Pouring a drink for Polly and leaving it in the cocks all day. Sadly Robert Ashlar was stopped from drinking it twice, otherwise Karnak may have been the first person to get knighted on an active death mat ;)Acting as both parts of Team Moral compass in Pol's abscence. Being asked to be Karens protector. Being the acomplice in Tope breaking Iranaye, Jenny's reaction was priceless and will stay with me for ages, and of course Hengist's retirement which I was at least aware of in advance.
So The first part of the event was amazing, the stag and hen was unbelievable fun. OC I was pleased to see it so popular and not insular. IC seeing Sid and Meg having big grins and knowing it was reflected OC. Toni/Polly pulled a blinder there and it was fun to help co host and showed again why they were such a good couple. As did Karnak's reaction to "Maids when you're young.." sweeping Polly off her feet and snogging her for 20 seconds, she pronouced that "he had lots of falorum" I had lost of fun wandering around inflicting cocktails on people including the new ones our barman put together.
Saturday was about Sid's wedding and pretty dresses, Marianne and Polly meant I was very happy OC and IC, and it was a lovely day spent chatting with friends and each other as we fought for Meg's right to win Sid, had a lovely small wedding and then just wandered happilly, around meetings and rituals. I managed to injure my foot with what was described by the first aider as "Fat Larper to the foot" which i believe went in the book.
Then it was my ritual, it was my first plot ritual and while that in some way makes it easier it also makes it weird. The paperwork doesn't make sense as much and its not so easy to think of relevance. The over run of the monster slot cost me contributors and the traditional fear in the run was more this time as I knew the whole faction was coming.
So I managed to run and 18 minute ritual which fitted in an arthurian quest with 5 seperate monster roles and monty python references. Accompanied by a suround sound Stadium style audience. Paul played the most thug like monster ever, Marianne freaked out several lions as the Avatar of Mal, Bria got wolf whistled, Will got the receiving end of an over enthusaitic contributor barage as Ads had picked a mixture of old and new Lions for his Questing Knights. Dave surprised a few Lions as hr reprised a very old Lion as an Avatar of Rhino. Briege took and reacted to me heckling the circle and also provided everything else I needed at short notice. It also provide a much needed lift for Helen and Alyssa got to go home one last time. The ritual finished with me walking around the circle shaking hands like a rock star. It scored an 8 but would have been a 9.5 if I hadn't paniced about the time and assumed that Barry had made the opposite call to what he had with the Avatars.
There was time for one last happy moment as Karnak pulled out the necklace he brought Polly that she'd admired that afternoon and it took 3 people to fit the fiddly clasp round her neck, they returned to the Cocks and then the Bell tolled.......
So thanks to everyone who helped me this weekend who said the nice things and understood. Thanks to Toni, Dan, and Marianne for the help with the ritual.
Thanks to my monsters,
Thanks to Marianne for her care and understanding.
and of course thanks to Toni for 4 years of tears and laughter, and however many that Karnak fails to die in yet to come. It's been emotional, and now that we've broken up can we still be friends ;)