After a while, I scrape up a few players for a game of HeroQuest. I GM them through the Ship Rasing from the Praxian point of view. I learn a few new things about that story. Now it seems like it is a critical juncture in spinning off plots I already knew about, but didn't know when they originated. Good stuff. Thanks guys! Also noted: it sucks to be a shaman in the god plane. (I didn't find out until later that the WoG list's consensus was that the Ship Raising was in the Hero Plan. Oh, well. Sorry, Stu.)
After dinner, I played in Ian Cooper's Red Cow scenario. [SPOILER ALERT! Scroll down to the "unalert" below.] I was "Torvald the Pop Skald." I was something of the foil to Andy Dawson's stolid Barnatar farmer. He thought he should be the leader, just because he was all leader-like, while I knew I should be because all the young girls swoon over me. Apparently, the gods aren't quite so swoon-y. We travelled to a rival clan's tula for the contest of the Summer Queen. There, we discovered that the clan chief had been deprived of Elmal's warmth because he was using Gagarthi to support his rule. He also had a really annoying solar guy from another tribe as his advisor. We got support from his traditionalist opponents, then went on to the contest. We knew the judging panel was stacked against us, so our plan was to lose the three contests (just like Orlanth), then win a fourth contest of combat. One problem was that we would need a lot of augments in any combat contest. We got community support from our traditionalist allies in the form of an Arming of Orlanth ritual, where Argrath the Impatient, our young warrior, got a good spear. Another problem was that we would have to leave the ceremonial circle, then re-enter it against the resistance of any guardians. On the way, our brewer made friends with some of the folks who would be running the contest, whom he bribed to let us back into the ceremony.
I competed in the three contests: dance, magic, and music. Although we knew we would lose, we wanted to get the crowd on our side, and I wanted to woo the Summer Queen. Cuz she was a hottie. First I did the sword dance. She was not all that impressed. Our main opponent, from our rival clan, had his horse dance back and forth. We worked the crowd, making fun of him. There were a few other contestants: a solar guy from that other tribe, a weak Doburdan (sp?) worshipper, etc. Then I did magic, using the shooting stars of our guardian to make fireworks. She was much more impressed this time. The other guy had his horse do something, counting, I think. At this point, our brewer was passing out "horse-f*(&er" brand beer. Finally, I sang my song. I sang about "Cold King Ugrain" who let foreigners advise him, who let outlaws run loose, who took thanes only from outside the clan, who taxed the farmers, who didn;t like beer, and whose son loved his horse more than his wife. We put a lot of augments into that. The crowd and the Summer Queen pretty much turned our way. I don't even remember what the horse-f*(&er did, but it was something to do with the horse. We worked the crowd as the judges deliberated. Finally, the chief announced that the solar guy from the other trbe had won! That took us by surprise, and we realized that we had been set up. We stormed out of the ceremonial circle, and the chief started to declare the winner.
According to plan, we immediately turned back around and re-entered the circle with the aid of our allies. Our rash young Argrath challenged the solar guy to a contest of arms. The solar guy accepted it (as he had to) and shot an arrow a long way and hit something small. Our warrior summoned up his courage and used his spear -- to stick the solar guy through the throat. We grabbed the Summer Queen, and our supporters rallied to us, helping us get to the edge of the tula. There, we got another surprise. Our Doburdan ally informed us that we didn't know the full story -- that Ernalda went home with Orlanth only so that she could hook up with him! He prepared to fight us, but our good leader convinced him that the right thing would be for the Queen to spend her year with us, and then she could join him if she wanted. That was good enough, so he agreed.
[SPOILER UNALERT] Finally, we returned to our tula, where the Queen chose her hero: me, of course! (OK, so we used rock, paper, scissors to decide for her, but whatever.) After a year with me, she'll never want to go back to that loser. Great scenario, Ian!
After that game, we hurried back to the Rittersal for the auction, which was already underway. When the main item came up for bid, there was a titanic struggle betweenmght heroes for lost knowledge. Rick and I got into a real bidding war for the "Lost Chapter" from King of Sartar. Rick started off using his Gloranthan Collector 15w2, but I matched that with Never Lose to Rick 20W2. Then he tried playing on More Money 5W3, augmented with Friendly Rivalry 10W, but I countered with I Have a Credit Card 13W3 and What Wll Your Wife Think 17W and won. Bwah ha ha! I have the power! Now I can cite an esoteric source that no one can check for any stupid proposition I choose. Harrek was a Samurai Penguin Keet! Orlanth isn't dead; he's a transvestite! It says so right here!
Finally, there was the closing ceremony, where we all worshipped the magnificent job that Fabian and his ring did at the con. I really can't say enough about that. Given how smoothly the whole thing came off, I have no doubt that they were slaving away at it for months. Huge kudos.
After another long night of drinking, I went to bed at about 4:30, then got up at 8 so that I could check out by 9:30. I played some card games and Puerto Rico with some of the Dallas crowd. Then we went down to town for a late lunch. I had schnitzel with mushrooms on it. Yum. Germans know how to do pork. After that, I departed Bacharach until next year. This was totally worth it. I can't wait until next year.
Chris
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