My first Aon event was pleasant. I only started to feel like it when I was already in character, which is very late because normally I have quite some anticipatory pleasure weeks before the event. However, it was my first solo playing event in a long time, it was raining when I got there and I had some stress with my Mio and making an IC tent last-minute. That last thing did pick up my spirits a bit, since it has been done in half a day and looks rather good (for something made out of green curtains), if I may say so myself.

We started by getting all newbies, like myself, into the dark and muddy forest, carrying our luggage. I had borrowed Matthijs' IC chest and filled it with Annebels belongings (dress, nightgown, tent, hand mirror, some jewelry and tools, bedding, etc). First thing the SL did was grope around in the chest and taking away the valuable stuff like jewelry. Darn, there goes the merchandise/bribes. Then we went into the forest and walked for a few kilometers in the dark, with our luggage. Fortunately one of the men was gallant enough to offer some help.

When we arrived at the spot where we were put on land by the boat, we started walking all the way back to get to the settlement. This time Lieutenant Even (spelling?) ordered her man (Ares) to carry my chest for me for which I was, both in and out of character, very grateful. On our way to the settlement we were being watched from the brush and when we were close enough to actually see the village some of us were attacked and fell asleep. There were Talfar in the woods, a tribe of slave traders hunting for merchandise.

When I was inside the village walls (or wall, some part was missing) I put up my little tent and went into the bar to write about my adventures. There I was tapped on the shoulder by a man from the militia, warning me that I could not just sit there and write if I didn't have a permit/certificate. So I went to the priestess of Nandoah, one of the priests of the Domus in this New Land, and asked for a certificate. The rest of the night was spent writing ('practising') in her tent and talking about laws and such.

The next morning started really chaotic with some guys' eyes being cut out because of disagreeing with Holster (head of militia) and Ares being stoned to death because of being an enemy of Holster. OC I thought it great, I like drama and harsh things like that on a larp. IC I got sick and wondered what on earth I had gotten myself into.

I won't go into detail on the rest of the event. I spent most of my time with the DeMerodes, a ritualist family and my neighbours in the village. Got kidnapped on Saturday night by the Talfar, though it was a bit of an OC/IC mix up. I was asked to leave the DeMerodes tent because they had to talk OC, but when I was two steps outside I got kidnapped IC. I went with the monster crew anyway and was sold later on the slave market. Fortunately some of the knights (I think, it was very dark) and drow bought me and my fellow slaves back.

The village was in total chaos because of some seal of Nandoah being broken by a priest of Celes and the DeMerodes trying to fix that in a second ritual. However, something went wrong and Kiara disappeared. Rest of the night I tried keeping Tibor, Kiara's brother, from doing something stupid like dashing himself against the power of the new seal or killing the Celes priest.

On Sunday the DeMerodes tried a new ritual to get satisfaction for Nandoah (a Celes ritual had been performed during the dark hours) and for the DeMerodes family, who had lost one of its members. During this ritual the Celes priest (drugged or half knock out) got killed and then every ritualist was gone. They all disappeared, leaving me feeling alone and dumbstruck.

Almost everybody that Annebel met (Ares, the Celes priest, the DeMerodes), is dead or disappeared now. She's very confused about it all and is seriously asking herself why the hell she had to leave home. On top of all the disappearing or dying people, three waves of people came rushing into the village crying about Holster being a murderer, but they all got killed and Holster still lives. This village really is a hell hole.

So, despite the fact that I didn't do any researching like I had planned, I did have a good time and the weather was great. Seeing all those people again felt good too.
In two weeks is Symbols 6: Moon and I'm looking forward to that.