The Courant: October 2002

October 30, Wednesday

Report on Spiritwood’s forth anniversary festival. - Elv'eng

This past Sunday evening saw a grand gathering in the lovely town of Spiritwood as the faithful travelled from all across the realms of Sossaria to join us in celebrating our forth anniversary birthday party. The town of Spiritwood was established when these lands of Europa were as new, and ever since it has stood as a beacon of welcome to all. As ever, it was to be a grand event, a celebration for the whole realm, and this year’s festivities did not disappoint. The evening started with the gathering of a vast crowd of well wishers from all corners of the land. Some arrived via magic directly into the heart of the bustling town of Spiritwood, others traveled along the brightly decorated festival rout from the Skara Brae docks and soon joined in the celebration. Anticipation ran like a gathering electrical charge through the crowd until at last the appointed hour arrived and the festival began! The first event was a grand horse race from the Skara Brae docks into the heart of Spiritwood itself. Under the watchful guidance of Ashoka of the Sultanate of Nujel’m, the expectant racers gathered and lined themselves up at the starting post, their powerful steeds pawing the dirt in expectation. The Lady Ashoka calmly announced the rules to all, only horses were allowed, no assorted reptiles, llamas, ghost creatures or mutant bugs would be permitted. The race was to be a straight dash along the assigned route, and no short cuts would be tolerated. The first over the finish line would be declared the winner and would take home the crown of champion jockey along with a cash prize. When all were ready, Ashoka calmly paced the route back to the finish line then sent word to Jordan to count them down and----They were off! The assembled riders dashed off at full gallop, their horses snorting and charging forward in a mad dash. Some veered left and right, others bucked and kicked, but most ran true along the course clearly marked out in bright green silk ribbons, first inland, then turning right and racing through the farm lands of Spiritwood, before at last careering around the corner shop and sprinting towards the expectant crowd gathered round the finish line before the famed Spiritwood tavern. The first to cross the line on his humble but valiant steed was a rider named Rimmstar, to whom lady Ashoka bestowed the winners garland and prize money, much to the general approval of the gathered assembly. The next event was then announced and the party moved quickly on. This time the celebrants were to be given the opportunity to try their luck at catching the illusive and by now legendary Vorpal Bunny, thanks to the good graces of organizers Salix and Sun of the Pixie clan, who it seems have a special affinity with the little beasts whom they referred to as Sun Bunnies. Soon a vast number of would-be-bunny-hunters were pressing around the edges of the local pumpkin field, apparently a favored haunt of Vorpal Bunnies, and the mysterious pixies were soon flitting about in the center beginning their arcane summoning rituals. Mages twiddled their fingers nervously, warriors rubbed sweating hands and tried to grip their weapons, for the legendary bunnies were known to be illusive and indeed surprisingly dangerous beasts. Just as it seemed the rituals might not work, the first mystical bunny leapt from its burrow and like a tiny ball of flashing light, darted between the legs of over a dozen revelers before any knew what had happened. It was but as moment later and the whole area was aflame in magic and flashing blades as the mob fell upon the hapless streak of magical rodent fury. But try as they might, the Vorpal Bunny was simply too fast, leaping at the attackers and inflicting terrible gouges in their cheeks before darting on again through their confused legs this way and that, tying more than one into knots as it scampered by. Finally exhausted, the shinning ball of brilliance was felled under the combined onslaught of the attackers. But before they had but the merest chance to catch their breath, the Pixie’s incantations had called forth another, and yet another maddened Vorpal Bunny, at one point two at once were wreaking havoc among the crowd. Mayhem filled the air and vision was obscured by the blazing incantations that shot forth after the streaking balls of fury zigzagging this way and that. Finally, the last bunny was blasted and the happy revelers patched up their wounds, counted their brightly colored eggs and with great thanks to the Pixies, gladly went along to the next event. The festival crowd now gathered in the immense splendor of the New Spiritwood Town Hall, a grand castle whose mighty crenellated walkways had by then been decked out as a magnificent bistro in the sky. This afforded excellent views of the next event which was to be a Drunken Relay Race held along a course that circled the great castle on all sides. As the spectators positioned themselves along the brightly decorated upper terraces, below them teams of four were selected by the host of this event, Aralnlindale of the famed Spiritwood Tavern, and each member duly issued a regulation robe in matching team colors. Each team member was given a copious amount of alcoholic beverage and each team was then entrusted with a single wand, the baton for the team. As the spectators were plied with a great feast of rich foods and drink above, thanks to the good graces of master chef Lord Paul Bocuse of the Tower of Roses and his lovely assistant Caer Nic Adair of the Custodes Fati, below the teams were lumbering up by gulping down vast amounts of booze until all were quite blind drunk. It was only at this point that Aranlindale pronounced the race ready to begin! And off they went, round and round the great castle, stumbling round corners, tumbling over cunningly placed obstacles and generally bumping into anything and everything along the way including each other. Three times round raced each team member before handing off their “baton” to the next in line, who then dashed trippingly off to repeat the effort. The crowd roared its approval, drank to their favored teams and bet large amounts of gold on the outcome. Eventually, one team stumbled bleary eyed and incoherently across the finish line- Team Red, who were duly pronounced this years Drunken Relay Race Champions! The next event was to be yet another of the splendid Talent Shows made famous by past festivals. This years special theme was impersonations and soon the grand hall of the Spiritwood Town Hall castle was packed to over flowing, its many fine tables groaning under a rich assortment of food and drink. The contestants lined up at the front of the hall and one by one stepped forward to present their acts under the watchful eyes of the show judges, Ysabell of the knights of Virtue, and Aznagul, diplomat of the Custodes Fati, The first up was Paxicon of the Custodes, who strode forth resplendent in shiny new plate armour. He announced that he represented Gaylord the Guard and selected Hamilton McCoy as his “volunteer” from the audience. Hamilton cautiously stepped forward and had no sooner done so when “Gaylord” was shouting at him “You will regret thine actions swine!!” before leaping at him, halberd flashing in deadly arcs over him much to the amusement of the gathered crowd. Next up was RalKof who presented a dance, followed by yet another dancing contestant, followed by the lovely Kitty Wzel who told a comical tale of a tamer and his somewhat handicapped beast. Finally Zaragopha, a scholar of the Order of the Blue Dragon stepped forward and did a fine duel impersonation of a meeting on a Feluccan road between a notorious blood-thirsty killer and a tourist new to these lands. The skit started with the Tourist causally wandering down the road, resplendent in fine new robe, who comes across the vicious Killer. Zaragopha whipped off his robe, revealing a full set of armour and cried out in Killer-speak: “DIE I ROXXOR JU NOOB!” Zaragopha stepped back to the other side of the stage, deftly putting on his rode again as he went, spun round and was once more transformed into the role of the newcomer who stammered something along the lines of: “Please don’t hurt me, I don’t want to lose my new ring mail” Back again he stepped to the killers role, again doffing his robe to reveal the terrible armed form, and so forth, carrying the skit on to the next day when naturally the killer bragged of besting a pack of deadly foes and not the single lone traveler. The crowd was mesmerized by this ambitious duel role performance and Zaragopha duly won second prize in the Talent Show, narrowly missing top honours which went to Paxicon for his insightful portrayal of the average town guardsman. As the applause died down, the next and final event was announced: The Grand Festival Ball to be held in a specially arranged out door theatre with open bar, dance floor and full band! The crowed rushed to the Spiritwood square and were astonished by the sight that they there beheld. The band was tuned and ready, the bar was filled with ready food and drink, the lights of the evening were dimming and people were in splendid mood to dance the night away. After introducing her band members, Dragol, Linda-gull, Lady Willow, Lord Durnick, Gandalf Grey, Ysabell then invited her singers Steveo and Maria Bitterlark to step forward and together they sang and danced and played for over an hour to the delight of the gathered crowd. Old friends and new clapped and danced and sang along. Indeed, it was a truly awesome spectacle and one that will live on in the hearts of all who were gathered here on this fine evening. It is the sincere hope of the entire Spiritwood community that all who came had as much fun as we ourselves had this past Sunday eve, and that this very first Spiritwood Festival to be held in Trammel be but the first of many more to come!! Thank you all who came to share it with us. On behalf of the whole town, Shri Proconsul Custodes Fati Town of Spiritwood

October 28, Monday

Trade Caravan to TRINSIC on Tuesday! (fixed) - Videric

Tradeport Caravan will be leaving for TRINSIC on Tuesday at 20.30 CET. All additional volunteer escorts are welcome addition to the Tradeport guards and Trinsic guards. (And as usual, we are looking for people to trying to raid it.) More information on: http://cove.rper.org/ The Caravan which I presume all taking part will follow, can be read at: http://cove.rper.org/rules.shtml

October 22, Tuesday

Trade Caravan to Spiritwood on Thursday! - Videric

Indeed it is once again time to bring much needed supplies to Spiritwood and offer people a chance to buy quality products of the Tradeport. We will begin at 8 pm (CET) at the Tradeport of Cove and proceed to Spiritwood by the roads provided by the king. We welcome any mercenaries and volunteers to proctect the Caravan (specially those who have declered to most of the possible raiders). Fighting rules here: http://cove.rper.org/rules.shtml

October 11, Friday

Tradeport Tavern Night - Videric

It has once again come the time to announce a tavern night at Tradeport of Cove. We would like to welcome thee all to cheer the beginning of the week with good cider and cheap ale. We will begin at the 8 PM (CET, 7pm GTM) on Monday the 14th, and the night lasts as long as there is guests. The night also includes following program: Knife throwing competition hosted by Lord Videric Gaveston. The entry fee is 1000 gp and winner gets all the entry fees, so more people taking part, the better ... for the winner. So if thou art a knife thrower doth bring thy friends along. Shopping quiz Hosted by Lady Fiona The entry fee is 1000 gp and winner will win design outfit tailored by Lady Fiona, just to fit thy taste. See thou at the Tradeport Tavern. The exact instruction of location can be found at our tome at: http://cove.rper.org/