Wizz Crelan and Sean (Shane) and Carmilla (me) decided to go on another trip back to Jackson Bay to satisfy that nerd craving, and we managed to convince Nathan (Jeff) and Howie (Ian). Martin (Darryl) was harder to convince. He was firmly under the belief that the whole thing was a setup by Wizz & Sean, with paid actors, animatronics and stage makeup, and that somehow they had changed his shotgun shells to blanks. "... and then those LARP bastards actually hit ME with real weapons!"
Sean hired a boat (with outboard) and trailer, and we went off for another trip to Jackson Bay.
We went better equipped this time with packs and tents and useful gear. Plus I bought a .308 rifle, Howie bought a shotgun, and Martin had his shotgun. Wizz had a crossbow. Plus we had the re-enactment sword and two axes from last time.
We launched the boat off the beach at Jackson Bay jetty and then sailed around the point to Smoothwater bay, and then tramped through the thick bush for a few hours (2km) to get to the same track where we met the zombies last time.
We marched on up the path and could smell a revolting stench. Wizz, now really into it, did his LARP paladin's Detect Evil (affected stance and all: left hand on forehead, palm out, as if swooning, right arm extended), and pointed. Then was promptly sick. Off to one side, was one of the zombies we had "killed" last time (the one that wasn't hit in the head). Its rotting head, a bit of shoulder and an arm was tied to a tree. And it was frantically pulling on a length of string which disappeared into the bush - an alarm.
Strangely enough, Howie and Nathan suddenly had the Nerd-glow and could feel the same euphoric affect as me, Sean and Wizz. Martin was still cynical, skeptical and disbelieving (despite the reek and stench and this half-alive thing, which he could see up close). Howie blew it apart with his shotgun at close range.
Then up the path, two more zombies. These were quickly dispatched by me (308) and Howie (shotgun). But by then an alarm could be heard through the trees - like a burglar alarm siren. So we advanced quickly. The track T-ed into a sealed drive, to the left went to Jackson bay village and to the right we could see the same group of buildings that me, Sean and Wizz saw last time trip. There were three buildings, an old car hulk, and some bits of rubbish. Behind the car were two guys in medieval re-enactment armour with heavy crossbows, a guy with a 303 who seemed to be in charge, a huge hulking thing, 8 feet tall and wide which we recognized as an ogre ("clever animatronics" said Martin), and three more zombies. The zombies were shuffling up the track, so I took them both out and the leader ordered the last one back, but I shot it too (all lovely head shots).
Martin, the skeptic, was by now gibbering and wailing: "You shot those guys in the head!! You killed them!". The soft-nose 308 bullets certainly utterly destroy the heads.
The leader had a walkie-talkie and was using it. So Nathan went down the road towards the bay, and quickly returned: He had seen a group of twenty soldiers in camo gear, flak-jackets and guns, approaching and they would be here in 5 minutes.
So Sean decided plan A: Sean and Wizz rushed into the fray, I backed up with my rifle, and Howie tried to circle for some shotgun blasts. Nathan, with his pocket knife, and skeptical Martin stayed behind me. Using a tree, I braced for a shot where I thought the leader would appear. Sure enough, he popped up with his 303 - and died with a nice head shot. The two crossbow guys fired too. One hit Wizz's shield nearly blowing off his arm. The other missed.
Howie blasted one. Wizz, Sean and Howie bravely/stupidly took on the ogre. Wizz and Howie were hit by its huge hammer crippling them, but it finally went down with Wizz's sword, Sean's rapier, Howie's shotgun and my 308.
The second crossbow man surrendered, called Dolf, so we ushered him along with us. We could feel the Nerd-field stronger from one of the buildings, so we headed there. These were all old mine buildings and one was built over the entrance to tunnels into the rock. We locked and barricaded the door behind us and ventured in deeper. Down one of the tunnels we could see ... daylight. And there was a strange shimmering unnatural disjunction where our Earth tunnel met the other tunnel.
But we didn't have any time to wonder, so rushed headlong through the disjunction and emerged into a short cave and into a temperate forest. This was not New Zealand.
Our nerd-fields were in a state of euphoric overload. We were alive! All the colours, smells, scents seemed somehow better, more real, more tangible. Wizz's voice dropped two octaves. I positively glowed. Martin, however, STILL disbelieved. "It's bloody virtual reality"
Not wanting to hang around in case those other twenty soldiers emerged, we moved away from the cave.
We got Dolf to tell us of this world: gravity, night and day, weather, seasons, sun and moon were the same. The nearest city is Cleophany about a week's travel away. The nearest village is Pund - a little over a day's trekking through bush. The nearest large settlement is the Darklands Keep about 3 days away - ruled by Master Loofah (yes, the bath back-scrubber). Dolf described himself as a Bahn Mercenary in the employ of Master Loofah.
More interesting for me, there are nine gods:
The Three of Virtue & Goodness.
Vull (The Righteous), patron of all who value truth, justice, law and order.
Illana (The Caregiver), patron of the downtrodden and the weak. Source of all healing.
Grism (The Fist), god of war and righteous force. He marches with the largest battalions and resides in the hearts of the proud and fierce.
The Three of Life & Balance.
Norman (The Reveller), god of festivals, celebration and joy.
Loki (The Trickster), god of luck, balance and fortune.
Hale (The Nurturer), god of nature and all that grows or runs wild.
The Three of Darkness and Evil.
Fotherington
Zaahl (The Slayer), god of death and master of the hidden paths. All those who pass to the afterlife must travel through his realm.
Dierdra (The Necromancer), goddess of chaos and evil. She cares nothing for morality and offers command over dark powers to those who sacrifice the life energy of others to her.
First aid was applied to the horrendous wounds of Wizz and Howie. I had an inkling, so placed my hands on Howie's wounds and said "In the name of Her, Heal", and suddenly I could feel something in me go from me into Howie, and his wound healed in front of our very eyes - good as new. Martin had a bit more trouble to explain that, so he shut up for once. But my new-found healing powers didn't work on Wizz.
During the healing, Dorf ran off. Sean grabbed a crossbow and shot him. Dorf fell over and we got him back, injured, and we put him on a leash. I tried to heal him with my power, but no luck.
Dolf seemed to be okay, and we did some more chatting about his world, when suddenly blood poured from his nose and mouth, and he collapsed and died in front of our eyes. We checked for poison and other foul bane, but nothing was found. Dolf *was* talking about the dark goddess Dierdra's huge tits, so maybe that was it; he had mentioned earlier that one ought not mention her name.
All our modern equipment was melting or disintegrating. Anything plastic, electronic, or with a lot of processing was subject to this effect. So bye bye guns, and most of our stuff.
We wandered a bit, trying to hide deeper in case those soldiers arrived. Sure enough, we heard them, but they passed at some distance and we heard no more.
Something was happening to us, my ears and Howie's ears were growing more pointy and our faces thinner and more fey. Sean had shrunk a bit, a sagittal crest had started to appear on his forehead and his nose had grown. And he started to smell of curry. This seredipitous event was too much for Martin and his skepticism suddenly left him in a nerdish epiphany: "I believe!"
A few hours later Sean spotted a small bipedal creature and befriended it. It was called Gwyffin and was an "elf-goblin" (but then he would happily agree to any species classification, so we still aren't sure).
