Isles of Darkness National July 2011
Thursday
So the entire experience started on Thursday for me, Henderson and Keymer. Myself I spent the daytime collecting the last bits and bobs for the weekend including my costume that was rented from York Theatre Company for a reasonable price of £20.
Later that day there was some drinking and Nandos (compliments of Henderson and Keymer combined thank you) which luckily did not put much of a dampener on our plans to leave early from York so we could get into Birmingham early for the National.
Friday
This began fairly relaxed, myself I merely got my stuff into a pile ready to go while tidying up the house somewhat. Keymer I believe was doing last minute packing while Henderson was punishing the enemies of the Empire with force lightning and lightsabers.
We set off around 1pm and the journey was marred by the horrible weather and incessant jams across our route. At some stages we were driving 30mph due to how heavy the rain was and in Birmingham itself it took us 30 minutes to move about 10ft at one point.
The end result of the travelling was it took us the better part of 5 hours to get from York to Birmingham and unfortunately I was unable to meet up with Emma and Adam Round like I was hoping to.
The first game of the evening was Requiem. The ST's including the main one Jez seem to have put in 110% as the set dressing was stellar, the NPCing above par and even the kindred exploding into flame was handled rather well (apparently some local plot brought by another). Its all pretty much a blur as I was moving from one conversation to another trying to get into the feel of the evening. There was the standard politicking, information gathering and I even obtained some honeyed blood as well in character. I spent the last part of the game out of character with my camera taking a few pictures which I will endeavour to upload so people can have a look at them.
I made sure I had enough time to get ready for the next game of the evening which was Geist run by the ever lovely Chris Chapman. With a bag of nik naks in tow and also a badge announcing my characters nakedness I plunged into the Grave Yard shift (thank you for that James). Once again 110% had been put in with set dressing, props, plot, NPC's it was all evident and I didn't find myself with a moment with nothing to do. Plus Kerebos with googly eyes is for the win. The game went really well and the scientologists trying to convince the druggy to come to a meeting was one of the big highlights of the game.
After this there was much socialising in the bar of the hotel with a barman who I can only describe as pretty much being the shiznay! or anything else that is cool. I know I stayed up until 5am before I finally gave in and went to bed.
Saturday
Woke up at 9am for my brekky at the hotel, nice amount an quite tasty as well. I think after this I went back up to have a couple more hours of kip until Requiem that was scheduled in the afternoon (though I cannot remember off the top of my head). I think there was some conversations and I did some Invictus things including organising a meeting.
So Requiem came along where I spent a lot of my time in the Chapel due to the meetings, masses and eulogies being held within there. The Invictus meeting came and went which was ok pretty much because it was an informal meet and I also got to publicly snub someone IC (very sorry Sue) with the use of my dirty bloodline poworz!
The rest of the game continued uneventfully I had managed to select someone to win a prize from the Princes collection but there was very slim pickings and it may have been slightly biased but I did try an give the pretense that it was not so.
In between this game and Ling later on me, Jamie Smith and Mike Nudd went for some grub at a Chinese Buffet in Birmingham centre. After taking an interesting route there an back I had what can only be described as a most tasty meal but I was somewhat round after leaving there.
The Changeling game has to be my highlight of the weekend. Something about Croc is just relaxing, he is my escape from the usual mold of characters that I play. I think this one deserves an extra 10% on top of 110% as the set dressing was overwhelming. It had been brilliant for all of the games but it seemed that Rik Sowden, Johanna Scott and the others involved in running had managed to top it somehow with it looking and feeling like I was visiting a Carnival.
As Croc I delved right into the event and the competitions going on winning a substantial amount of them including the seeking one where I collecting a total of 59 pennies. My hat that I created at the game in the art competition seemed to go down very well and Croc was made Queen an I would of been King if they didn't give IOU's to my runner up after telling Croc he could no longer win anymore fish.
I believe there was some plot happening during the evening but I was too distracted with other things happening and the conversations I had gotten into with PC's there. I did however tag along to some tale crafting right at the end of the game which I pretty much did not understand (an neither did Croc)
There was an emergency Invictus meeting called to discuss revelations that happened at the end of the Requiem game earlier on but it wasn't really an Invictus meeting due to the people from other covenants who were in attendance. Its probably best if I keep mute to the details that were discussed in said meeting other than to say it was interesting (how cryptic)
That pretty much ended the night, there was a bit of socialising but I was flagging and decided to go to bed early at 2am.
Sunday
I was dead for this one so I decided to skip out of Changeling and Forsaken. I had my breakfast and retired to the sofas where I managed a bit of WOW (being given helpful advice by Steph Ferguson) before conking out and having a bit of a nap. I think my body didn't like me having 7hours of sleep the night before.
After this I bimbled into the Centre with Alex Findley and Harriet Goldstone an we had some tasty grub at Pizza Express before bimbling back to the Hotel just in time for the end of Wolf.
The journey back was uneventful and this time unmarred, with me falling over on my front steps just as I got home.
Summary
In summary a brilliant weekend. My thanks to all the ST's James Holloway, Jez Poppenbeck, Jamie Smith, Paul Regan, Johanna Scott, Rik Sowden, Chris Chapman, James Moody (there are probably a few more but I cannot remember all of them but thank you) The people who npc'ed you did a fantastic job. The people who sorted out the venue and were organising during it (even if some of the single rooms lights did not work), Beka for not injuring herself on the stairs, me for injuring myself on the stairs there and just as I got to my front door.
As a result I am very enthused, looking forward to the next one and have a million an one emails to write.
Just in case however I have not said it enough, thank you for everyone who was involved and made it really enjoyable.
Nick Lambourn
Queen of the Carnival