Kari Lidelse – November 2nd, 2013: All-Hallows
I gaze, from the tree line of town centre, across the large open field of Majik Morn farm in Lindsay; where Jericho, Underworld’s Toronto game, takes place. My costume consists of a thin, cotton long-sleeved shirt over an old white tank top and my great grandmother’s green, brown, and cream past-the-knees kilt. A long, thick woollen scarf does laps around my neck. I clutch the strap of my messenger bag with warm, suede, hand-me-down gloves. My feet roast in wool socks, crammed into wool-lined, knee-high, brown leather boots. And an oversized brown fur cloak shrouds it all.
As I clutch a latex staff Leo gave me, I spot a woman wandering around the field. Her tied-up red and black hair shows off long, pointy ears. Blackness engulfs half of her face, dotted with silver stars and crescent moons. A long, red dress, cinched by a black and red corset, peeks out from a grey cloak. The citizens of Jericho give her a wide birth. One Hobling, a short man with hairy feet and a unibrow, wanders over to the woman.
“No. Come back here! She’ll kill you,” yell the group of people sitting in the hospital to the left of me. My eyes bounce back and forth between the Hobling and the woman. As they get closer, she grins. She outstretches a hand, presses it to his chest and whispers into his ear. The Hobling’s eyes grow wide and he bolts back to the hospital.
“What happened? Are you okay? What did she say?” his friends, and worried onlookers, persist. He does not say a word; franticly gesturing to his mouth.
“His tongue is gone!” somebody screams. I cringe and look back at the woman. Now she has three men with her. One of them I recognize as, Max. We spoke briefly prior to game starting the night before. But, our conversation was cut short when my friends and I were ushered off by a veteran to get our tents set up.
“If you see me in-game, just run,” was the last thing he said. All three men have pointy ears and tribal markings. I think they are Wild Elves, but… their skin looks… grey? Another Einher, Vrael, strolls by.
“H-hey,” I murmur, trying to get his attention, without the woman in the centre of town noticing.
“Oh, hey Kari,” he swaggers to my side. “What’s up?”
“Um… what is that lady in the field?” I subtly point at her.
Vrael turns to look. “Who? Her?” He extends his full arm to point at her. She notices. Her eyes fix on me and my muscles quake. I crouch down, blocking her view with a line of tents. Vrael looks down at me. “What’s wrong? She’s just a vampire. Her name’s Scarlett.
“W-w-why do you know that? What are th-those guys following her?” I stay seated, staring up at Vrael with wide eyes.
“Those are her thrall. They are her followers. Don’t you know anything about vampires?” He puts his hands on his hips. I shake my head. “Come. Let’s go see what she wants.”
“Vrael, no!” I jump up and grab his sleeve. “The last person who went up to her got their tongue taken out.”
“Oh!” Vrael stops. “Well then let’s go talk to Grymskald. You know who he is, don’t you?” He turns and heads toward the hospital.
“Uh… n-no,” I mumble.
“He’s our Jarl, Kari. And, one of the leaders of Jericho.” As we walk behind the tents and duck into the hospital, Vrael pauses and puts a finger to his lips. “Hm… Bifford said he would be here. Well, I guess we’ll wait,” he takes a seat. While he gathers information about the tongue-less Hobling, my gaze follows Scarlett and her thralls. Then, one of the the thrall, Max, notices me. A cold, fall breeze kicks up, blowing my cloak open. I grabbed the sides and wrapped the faux fur around me, trying to keep the warmth in. When I look back up, he is pointing at me.
“Eeeinheeeer…” Max growls as he marches over to me. I grimace and start to shake. Should I run and hide or fight? Without breaking eye contact:
“H-hey Vrael. Why is he doing -”
“Run!” Vrael shouts, already disappearing into the woods behind the hospital. Fear shocks my nerves as I dart out of the hospital, my bag catching on a chair. I yank myself free, overturning the flimsy piece of furniture, and race down the path that Vrael took. Roots catch my feet, making me stumble. But my veins pump with adrenaline, forcing me to keep running. My heart races as I look back. Nobody is chasing me. By foot rams into something hard. A log. I ram, face-first, into the cold, dirt path.
“Uuugh. Ouch,” I groan and wince, slowly getting up and brush myself off. Hobbling off the path and into the brush, I find a large tree with brown moss at its base. He won’t see me here, I’ll blend in. I crouch down and breathe deeply; in, out, in, out. Slowly, my heart takes on its normal pace. I tug out a bottle of water from my bag. The cold liquid satiates my dry throat but punched my warm stomach. I actually thought I was going to die back there, I giggle. Then, fall silent, hearing my friends, Lea and Gabe, off in the distance.
“Come on. Keep up! Let’s go this way,” Gabe’s voice shouts over the others. Footfalls thump along the path that I had run down. When I peek around the tree, I see Lea run by, then three strangers, followed by Gabe.
“Hey,” I whisper. Gabe disappears from my sight, running right by.
“Kari?” He reappears less than ten feet from me.
“Hey, I’m right here,” I murmur, without moving. Apparently my camouflage is doing its job, because Gabe’s gaze darts over the woods behind me.
“Kari. Wherever you are. If you can hear me. Just stay there. Don’t move.” Then, he runs off after the others. I press down in my spot on the ground, behind the tree. My heart pounds so hard I can hear. The cold air nips at my arms, making my skin crawl. Something black, with an orange face, saunters after the others.
“Shit. Quick, get it uncaught. It’s coming!” I can hear Lea screaming. Riiip, tore some fabric. Her skirt must have got caught on something. Gabe and I had warned her that it was too long, that she would not be able to run it in, that it would get caught on everything. Told you so.
“Okay, let’s go,” Gabe exclaims. I hope my friends are okay. They better not die on their first game. That would be embarrassing. I snicker as I wait a few seconds. The forest goes quiet, so I creep back onto the path. I should go find them. They’re probably going back to Fenheim. As I wander along, in the direction that Lea and Gabe went, I spot a figure standing in front of a barbedwire fence. A shred of black cloth, matching Lea’s skirt, waves at me from one of the spikes. The figure in front of me turns around. It appears surprised to see me, just standing in the open, staring at it. The orange face is now, clearly, that of a pumpkin. A walking jack-o-lantern. Oh great. Now what? I wave my staff frantically as the creature takes one slow step, after step, toward me.
“I do not like you,” I state, pointing a finger at it. I pivot on my heels and run back up the path to town centre. Its footsteps plod along the dirt behind me. As I come up behind the hospital, the vampire sees me and points. Fuck! Not again… The same thrall starts his brisk walk toward me. I dart to the right, putting tents between us. He growls and starts weaving through the obstacles. I twist around, to run. The jack-o’-lantern stands at the top of the path behind me. Damn it. What now? I glance back and forth between the jack-o’-lantern and the thrall. Max is easily two feet taller than I, but the pumpkin stands around my five foot stature. Maybe if I jump to the side of the pumpkin then I can dodge its attacks and get by. Decision made. Let’s go! I sprint at the pumpkin, leaping between it and the hospital tent. Sailing through the air, I feel like one of the coolest people alive. Just an inch more and I will have my foot on the ground, be able to run, and get out of this crazy mess to rejoin my friends.
“3 normal. 3 normal,” the pumpkin calls as she swings her foam weapons at me. Each one lands solidly on my back. No! I slip on the slick grass and face-plant the ground, again. I lay on the grass behind the hospital. I’m dying. How can I be dying? I’m five feet from the freakin’ hospital! I count out my six minutes of bleeding out and dying.
Placing my hand on my head, signalling that I am out-of-game, I trudge to NPC camp, where story tellers dress volunteers in monster costumes. A woman, with unkempt dirty blond hair and blue bags under her eyes, tells me to pick a number between 1 and 10. “Five.” She makes a note in a small, black notepad.
“Is this your first game?” I nod. “So, your deaths this weekend don’t count. You don’t remember how you died but you remember a sort of nightmare. There are talking skulls surrounding you in an otherwise dark, empty space,” she tells me. “Now, the nearest resurrection circle is at the House of I,” she gestures at the other side of the field, in the camp’s general direction. “There will be a healer there waiting for you and it should take about one minute to get your body back.” She spins around a walks off.
I shuffle back across town centre, my hand still on my head, fingers going numb. As I enter the tree line, I see Max. He wears a white headband, signalling that he is out-of-game too.
“Thank you so much, Max. That was insanely fun. I’ve never been that scared before. You made my game. I’m definitely going to keep LARPing.”
“Aww, thanks. I’m glad I got you to have so much fun.” He smiles and rubs the back of his head. The two of us hug and then I follow a path, lined with rotting planks of muddy wood, to the resurrection circle. I got squashed by a squash. I snicker. In my mind, I vow to never let Kari face death again. And, that was all it took. One game to hook me onto LARP.
Credit to Underworld LARP for the photos.
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~Mel
TheLARPLife 