With the amount of points you started with, you were able choose different abilities. Lith made a straightforward warrior, specializing in a one-handed sword and large shield style. He went mostly for raw statistics, increasing his HP all the way to 22 and spending a fair amount of points to raise the damage of his sword to the next level, from 3 to 4. Overall, it seemed solid, if a little generic.
I tweaked around, and ended up with primarily a mage that could also use a two-handed sword. 14 HP seemed like it was a bit low, but it was better than the 10 HP other starting mages typically had, and the two-handed sword dealt a solid 4 damage even without raising it to the next level.
As for my spells, I decided on two offensive fire ones, one that dealt 1 damage but I could use as much as I wanted, and one that dealt 7 damage that I could use once a day. I also picked an ice one that made my target forced to stand in the same spot (he could move his arms, but not his feet), and a healing spell I could use 3 times a day to cure 4 hp. To use a spell, I would say the spell name and then throw or touch my target with small bean bags of various sizes, some only an inch long and wide while others were the size of my hand, while most fell somewhere in between.
When we had the characters finished and registered, we went over to Hardule, who was with three other people, including Ulcik. The event had not started yet, so everyone was still in their everyday clothing and they were discussing the game itself. I listened in, and discovered a few things that I probably would have liked to have known before I had come here.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:35
As told by Ulcik himself, he had played a vital role in starting this LARP, and wasn't merely a player, but a partial owner and one of the three head "Plot Masters." Also, it seemed that during this event, Hardule was actually going to become a noble, a count, who would serve beneath the Archduke Ulcik (who was using the same name as his character from the last LARP). Lith was very happy hearing this, because it meant that the adventuring party Cerberus had already taken its first step towards becoming a full fledged noble house.
The event started after an hour, with dinner. By that time, everyone had changed into their costumes. While me and Lith wore what could barely could be called costumes, and there were some teenagers who shared our shirt-and-pants fashion sense, everyone else had elaborate costumes and makeup. Robes, capes, frilly shirts, full body paint and there were even two people who wore wolf fursuits (they were playing a werewolf type race). I barely recognized Hardule, dressed in a purple robe with a full cape and hood and odd rune-like shapes painted on his face. He also must not have recognized us, as he walked past both of us as he headed towards a different table.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:35
Feeling somewhat miffed about the cold shoulder, we walked over to him. He told us that he and his noble house had some plot-related things they needed to discuss, and that he wasn't allowed to tell us. This was understandable, so Lith and I walked back to the other table, and started chatting with the people around us.
It was odd at first, and I could hear myself matching the rough, low, and unnatural voices everyone was using. Lith seemed to get the flow of things faster than I did, and I guess I was being just a little too judgemental at first. But, soon I was just talking normally to them without any odd accent, expressing my opinion as my character would. I think I started to get the hang of it when me and Lith were ushered into the new player training.
Besides the two of us, there were eight teenagers and two other twenty-somethings. Among them I noticed something that clearly stood out. Among the women who I had seen so far, all were borderline grotesque. Even with layers of heavy makeup and robes they still required a moment to get used to them after the initial shock of their appearance. This one, however, was rather cute. She was stand away from the two clumps of teenagers and the other twenty-year old, looking nervous and confused, which calmed me down for some reason.
Eventually, an old man walked up to us. He must have been over sixty, judging by his wrinkles and white hair. However, he was in surprisingly good shape, enough that made me wonder whether he was in better shape than Lith or me. With a calm yet commanding voice, he started to explain the rules of combat as we walked towards the "Cave."
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:36
The Cave is a cabin where the monsters would spawn from. Monsters were people who either volunteered (and didn't have to pay the event fee) or were conscripted from the players for a few hours if there weren't enough. It was also the place they stored the monster costumes and a huge collection of foam, duct tape, and pvc pipe weapons.
Combat had very simple rules. Avoid the head, try not to hurt anyone, and that you had to call out your damage each time you swung. When we finally reached the Cave, he explained that we would now spend the rest of the night as monsters as a bit of practice, and then the next two days we'd play as heroes.
Stepping inside the cave, I felt my blood boil with excitement.
Apparently, all the athletic people spent their time as monsters. When we entered, there were two of them wailing at each other with foam weapons, hitting with enough force to make the old man tell them to stop setting a bad example for us. Beyond them being athletic, they also almost universally had the same evil smirk on their face, which was noticeable enough for even Lith to whisper to me that he thought they all looked like sadists. When the two of them didn't stop, the old man stepped in between them and shouted an order for them to stop, at which point they went into another room.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:37
We then got outfitted as "grunks," which the old man described as rat-like humanoids. Wearing brown furry cloth and wielding foam daggers, the thirteen of us went out. The old man led us skillfully, sniffing the air at intersections and directing us with short barks and hand signs. In moments, we were all grunks, searching for unprepared heroes ready to slaughter.
The first group we met was a lone warrior, who was absolutely shocked to see us. The old man motioned for me and Lith to surround him, and the three of us stabbed the warrior several times before he managed to run past the old man, right into the waiting daggers of the rest of the group. We continued on, all of us fairly pleased.
We stumbled into Ulcik.
Ulcik had an entourage of five people with him, which was still less than half our number. Even so, I knew that we were all going to die. Though, when we died, we would just lie down, wait until all the heroes left, and then get back up. Thinking it a good chance to at least take down one of these nobles, I was more than ready for the old man's order to rush in.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:38
I ran in, trying to get around the warrior with the shield protecting Ulcik. Just as I broke past him, Ulcik threw down a bean bag, shouting "Fire Storm, 10 damage." Unsure what just happened, I continued to move, until Ulcik shouted "Every enemy within a fifty foot radius of me takes 10 fire damage."
With all of us having 5 HP, we simply laid down. I couldn't help but feel somewhat pissed, but the old man seemed rather happy about the outcome. He explained that a monster's job wasn't to kill players, but to be killed by them. And, it was a good lesson about just how powerful one of the strongest people in the game was, especially compared to one of the weakest creatures.
We got up, and journeyed around for a few more hours. We mostly ended up getting killed from a distance, but occasionally we managed to get killed in melee. Though I could dodge and block fairly well, each dagger dealt only 1 damage, meaning even against a weak caster I'd need 10 hits before he dropped, and it took one or two hits to take me down. I started to get foolishly frustrated, even though I knew I was just playing a really weak monster. It was a strange sense of futility I received from that experience, and I definitely didn't want to repeat it.
Afterwards, we went back to the Cave, but away the stuff, and then went to our assigned cabins. Once I arrived at Lith's and mine, I realized that Hardule was in a different cabin. Lith asked me why Hardule wasn't in ours, and I could only reply that it must be because he's part of a noble house. We then went to sleep, exhausted from having been rats for so long.
When we got up, we looked for Hardule. We found him in the main cabin/inn, talking to a noble. He told us that yesterday he was officially granted his title as a count, and now he could initiate us into Ulcik's noble house. Lith was very excited about this, while I guess I was less than enthusiastic. Hardule said that we should go adventuring right after breakfast, which I guess I was very excited about.
We went out, and I quickly realized I didn't serve much of a purpose. Hardule had been part of this LARP since it had started, and his character was several times stronger than either mine or Lith's. Lith would stand between a monster and Hardule, and Hardule would lob a spell he could cast at will that dealt 10 points of damage, often killing our enemy in 2 shots. We found three monsters after two hours of walking around, which apparently was a pretty high amount, especially during the morning hours.
When lunch came around, Hardule said he had something he needed to do, so he left us in the inn. After talking to a few people, Lith and I decided to go out and adventure on our own. Leaving the inn, we set out on the same path we had taken with Hardule.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:40
We met our first monster, a troll. I hadn't really seen any of the monsters get a chance to fight while Hardule had been with us, and though the three of us had taken out a troll earlier, I only had a vague idea of how strong it was. Of course, it dealing 8 damage with its foam club at least told us that it was much stronger than we were.
The man who was playing the troll was skilled, but not cleverly so. His attacks just kept on getting caught by Lith's sword or shield, while I kept cutting at him with my two-handed sword, using its long reach to keep me at a safe distance. After ten hits, he dropped, and we went on our way. Lith had taken a hit, but with 14 HP remaining, we decided to save my healing spells for a more dire need (because I could stabilize a person brought to less than 0 hp so that they wouldn't die).
On our route, we encountered one of the werewolf people. He was accompanied by a fat woman dressed like a warrior, and when we told them we were just going around looking for adventure, they told us that they were actually looking for help. They wanted to go to a field where they had been told there was treasure, but they also knew that it was guarded by trolls. When we told them we had taken down a troll only minutes ago, the woman stopped and asked us what level we were. When I explained it was our first event, she couldn't believe it. Either way, the two of them decided to let us come with them.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:40
When we arrived at the field, there were three trolls (I assumed) standing beneath a tree, a small box between them. As soon as they saw us, two of them moved out towards us, the last remaining behind. Lith and I moved towards one, while the wolf and woman moved towards the other.
This one was more skilled than the last, and quickly scored a hit on Lith for 9 damage. With only 5 HP left, Lith was in a bad situation. As he moved back, I moved forward attacking more carelessly, just trying to get as much damage in as possible. I pressed the troll back, but just when I thought I'd get the last few hits in, I took 9 damage in the back.
Moving quickly to the side, I turn to see both the wolf and woman lying on the ground, the troll they were fighting now attacking me. With the situation turning against us rapidly, I did some quick calculations.
These were definitely stronger than the troll we had faced before, but hopefully not by much. If the first troll had about 40+ HP, then the troll we had been fighting was probably a hit or two away from dying. Pulling out my bean bags, I began to throw them at him, calling out my weak fire spell. After 4 hits, he dropped, just as the other troll managed to land a strike on Lith, dropping him. Lith had done fairly well against it though, and as I hit the troll with my strong fire spell, it dropped as well. I learned later that trolls take double damage from fire spells, which is probably the major reason we managed to take them down.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:41
I quickly healed up Lith back to 4 HP (one heal spell), but as I moved towards the werewolf and woman, the third troll started running towards us. As he neared, Lith shouted "What do I see?" at him, since the rags he was wearing could mean anything. He replied "A troll much bigger than the rest!"
With both of us being one hit away from death, we had to make a hard decision. In a way, I ended up not having to make it. Lith ran first, and I immediately followed. Looking back, I saw the troll begin chasing after us. Seeing how fast he ran, I suddenly realized something.
Spinning around, I began running towards the troll, a bit slower than I'm fully capable of. He continued to run at me, until he came close enough to swing at me. He swung hard, but I just ran right past him, at which point he realized what I was after. Sprinting now as fast as I could, I reached the small chest and managed to pick it up just before he reached me. He swung again, but I managed to dodge and start running, sword in one hand, chest in the other.
I managed to get out of the field and ran down the path, all the way to the inn, where Lith was trying to get a rescue crew together. I showed him the chest, and opened it to find 30 gold, an absolute fortune, along with two magical rings. I was rather happy with myself, not realizing just how much I was going to regret my actions later.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:42
Within the inn was a healer, and both Lith and I were healed back to our full HP. We then led the crew of six people to the field, where both the werewolf and woman were gone, and the lone troll under the tree. The six surrounded the troll, but even then it was a hard fight, as it probably had well over 200 HP, though I quickly lost count. Eventually, it dropped, and when I asked where the werewolf/woman was, I learned how death works in the game.
After your HP goes below 0, you have five minutes where you can still be healed by normal healing spells (like mine). After that five, you have ten minutes where you can be healed by advanced healing spells. After that, you are dead, and need to be ressurected, which means you lose both money and experience. More than fifteen minutes had passed for the wolf/woman, which meant they simply stood up, and walked back to the inn to get resurrected.
I felt bad for those two, but it meant that both Lith and I would be the only ones to split the treasure. To explain how much a single piece of gold is, you typically might be able to get 3 pieces of gold an event, if you work hard. Getting 15 (split between me and Lith) on the first day meant we could basically buy excellent gear for ourselves and still have some gold left over.
Thinking about our good fortune, I didn't even suppose that I have any sort of problem immediately as I returned to the inn, especially not because the woman had, somehow, while she was unconscious, managed to see me run past a troll to get a treasure chest as opposed to come over to them and heal them, an ability I had only shown I was capable of after she had been knocked unconscious. And her being part of Ulcik's noble house didn't help matters.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:44
The woman had been telling her story in the inn while we were out trying to save her, and as we returned she pointed me out as the guy who cared more about gold than people's lives. At first, the six who had come with us supported me, saying that I was new and didn't know how death worked and that I still went back out to help her. This was quickly drowned out by her mentioning that I had not even bothered to offer any portion of the chest's treasure.
Things immediately turned even more sour.
No one in the rescue party had even known about the treasure chest until they had heard her story, and they suddenly became very interested in why they, the people who had managed to kill the troll, did not deserve the treasure. The woman who had died, realizing that everyone was now caring more about the treasure than they did about her dying, began to harp even louder about just how terrible of a person I was.
I quickly offfered them each 5 gold pieces (thinking to keep the two rings for me and Lith), but they were more curious as to why I hadn't offered this to them before they had set out. I was in a very bad situation. If I explained that I had felt that I had earned the entire treasure, and would have been completely content leaving that troll alive and the two corpses where they were, there was no way that would have gone over well. However, my silence as I tried to piece together what to say instead didn't really help my case.
Especially, because during that silence, Archduke Ulcik decided to make his appearance.
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u/Vinccool96 Transcriber Oct 15 '18
Image Transcription: Greentext
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:34
With the amount of points you started with, you were able choose different abilities. Lith made a straightforward warrior, specializing in a one-handed sword and large shield style. He went mostly for raw statistics, increasing his HP all the way to 22 and spending a fair amount of points to raise the damage of his sword to the next level, from 3 to 4. Overall, it seemed solid, if a little generic.
I tweaked around, and ended up with primarily a mage that could also use a two-handed sword. 14 HP seemed like it was a bit low, but it was better than the 10 HP other starting mages typically had, and the two-handed sword dealt a solid 4 damage even without raising it to the next level.
As for my spells, I decided on two offensive fire ones, one that dealt 1 damage but I could use as much as I wanted, and one that dealt 7 damage that I could use once a day. I also picked an ice one that made my target forced to stand in the same spot (he could move his arms, but not his feet), and a healing spell I could use 3 times a day to cure 4 hp. To use a spell, I would say the spell name and then throw or touch my target with small bean bags of various sizes, some only an inch long and wide while others were the size of my hand, while most fell somewhere in between.
When we had the characters finished and registered, we went over to Hardule, who was with three other people, including Ulcik. The event had not started yet, so everyone was still in their everyday clothing and they were discussing the game itself. I listened in, and discovered a few things that I probably would have liked to have known before I had come here.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:35
As told by Ulcik himself, he had played a vital role in starting this LARP, and wasn't merely a player, but a partial owner and one of the three head "Plot Masters." Also, it seemed that during this event, Hardule was actually going to become a noble, a count, who would serve beneath the Archduke Ulcik (who was using the same name as his character from the last LARP). Lith was very happy hearing this, because it meant that the adventuring party Cerberus had already taken its first step towards becoming a full fledged noble house.
The event started after an hour, with dinner. By that time, everyone had changed into their costumes. While me and Lith wore what could barely could be called costumes, and there were some teenagers who shared our shirt-and-pants fashion sense, everyone else had elaborate costumes and makeup. Robes, capes, frilly shirts, full body paint and there were even two people who wore wolf fursuits (they were playing a werewolf type race). I barely recognized Hardule, dressed in a purple robe with a full cape and hood and odd rune-like shapes painted on his face. He also must not have recognized us, as he walked past both of us as he headed towards a different table.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:35
Feeling somewhat miffed about the cold shoulder, we walked over to him. He told us that he and his noble house had some plot-related things they needed to discuss, and that he wasn't allowed to tell us. This was understandable, so Lith and I walked back to the other table, and started chatting with the people around us.
It was odd at first, and I could hear myself matching the rough, low, and unnatural voices everyone was using. Lith seemed to get the flow of things faster than I did, and I guess I was being just a little too judgemental at first. But, soon I was just talking normally to them without any odd accent, expressing my opinion as my character would. I think I started to get the hang of it when me and Lith were ushered into the new player training.
Besides the two of us, there were eight teenagers and two other twenty-somethings. Among them I noticed something that clearly stood out. Among the women who I had seen so far, all were borderline grotesque. Even with layers of heavy makeup and robes they still required a moment to get used to them after the initial shock of their appearance. This one, however, was rather cute. She was stand away from the two clumps of teenagers and the other twenty-year old, looking nervous and confused, which calmed me down for some reason.
Eventually, an old man walked up to us. He must have been over sixty, judging by his wrinkles and white hair. However, he was in surprisingly good shape, enough that made me wonder whether he was in better shape than Lith or me. With a calm yet commanding voice, he started to explain the rules of combat as we walked towards the "Cave."
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:36
The Cave is a cabin where the monsters would spawn from. Monsters were people who either volunteered (and didn't have to pay the event fee) or were conscripted from the players for a few hours if there weren't enough. It was also the place they stored the monster costumes and a huge collection of foam, duct tape, and pvc pipe weapons.
Combat had very simple rules. Avoid the head, try not to hurt anyone, and that you had to call out your damage each time you swung. When we finally reached the Cave, he explained that we would now spend the rest of the night as monsters as a bit of practice, and then the next two days we'd play as heroes.
Stepping inside the cave, I felt my blood boil with excitement.
Apparently, all the athletic people spent their time as monsters. When we entered, there were two of them wailing at each other with foam weapons, hitting with enough force to make the old man tell them to stop setting a bad example for us. Beyond them being athletic, they also almost universally had the same evil smirk on their face, which was noticeable enough for even Lith to whisper to me that he thought they all looked like sadists. When the two of them didn't stop, the old man stepped in between them and shouted an order for them to stop, at which point they went into another room.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:37
We then got outfitted as "grunks," which the old man described as rat-like humanoids. Wearing brown furry cloth and wielding foam daggers, the thirteen of us went out. The old man led us skillfully, sniffing the air at intersections and directing us with short barks and hand signs. In moments, we were all grunks, searching for unprepared heroes ready to slaughter.
The first group we met was a lone warrior, who was absolutely shocked to see us. The old man motioned for me and Lith to surround him, and the three of us stabbed the warrior several times before he managed to run past the old man, right into the waiting daggers of the rest of the group. We continued on, all of us fairly pleased.
We stumbled into Ulcik.
Ulcik had an entourage of five people with him, which was still less than half our number. Even so, I knew that we were all going to die. Though, when we died, we would just lie down, wait until all the heroes left, and then get back up. Thinking it a good chance to at least take down one of these nobles, I was more than ready for the old man's order to rush in.
Anonymous, 07/22/2010, 22:38
I ran in, trying to get around the warrior with the shield protecting Ulcik. Just as I broke past him, Ulcik threw down a bean bag, shouting "Fire Storm, 10 damage." Unsure what just happened, I continued to move, until Ulcik shouted "Every enemy within a fifty foot radius of me takes 10 fire damage."
With all of us having 5 HP, we simply laid down. I couldn't help but feel somewhat pissed, but the old man seemed rather happy about the outcome. He explained that a monster's job wasn't to kill players, but to be killed by them. And, it was a good lesson about just how powerful one of the strongest people in the game was, especially compared to one of the weakest creatures.
We got up, and journeyed around for a few more hours. We mostly ended up getting killed from a distance, but occasionally we managed to get killed in melee. Though I could dodge and block fairly well, each dagger dealt only 1 damage, meaning even against a weak caster I'd need 10 hits before he dropped, and it took one or two hits to take me down. I started to get foolishly frustrated, even though I knew I was just playing a really weak monster. It was a strange sense of futility I received from that experience, and I definitely didn't want to repeat it.
Afterwards, we went back to the Cave, but away the stuff, and then went to our assigned cabins. Once I arrived at Lith's and mine, I realized that Hardule was in a different cabin. Lith asked me why Hardule wasn't in ours, and I could only reply that it must be because he's part of a noble house. We then went to sleep, exhausted from having been rats for so long.
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