Gollaon grabbed up a shield from a fallen guard. “Moon’s smile! That bastard is using a snake sword.”
Voddick frowned and hunkered down behind his shield. “Let me take the lead then. Guard my back.”
“Gladly,” said Gollaon.
Serpent Weapons
These melee weapons are always decorated in snake or serpent motifs, snakeskin is often used in the grips and sheath if is a weapon that uses a sheath. They seem to move and flex when held.
Gollaon turned down the alleyway and gestured for Voddick to follow. “More guards,” he whispered.
Voddick pressed himself into a doorway. “More Tyrants. Cannot we ever be free of such petty cruelty?”
“We just need to do our job and keep them busy chasing shadows for the new few hours. The locals have a plan to finish the Tyrant off.” said Gollaon, weighing a few stones in their hand.
“As long as we can avoid actually getting into a fight with any of the Tyrant’s soldiers, it should work out.”
Tyrant’s Bane Ribbon
These ribbons seem ordinary but they are woven of tears, sorrow and a desire for justice, not the easiest materials to work with. They are usually black but if another color is common for mourning in the culture it was made in, it will likely be that color.
Voddick watched as the tyrant batted at something only he seem to be able to see, whispered “Is he alright?”
Gollaon, whose attention was on the crown, replied, “I think he is haunted by his victims.”
“Are not all tyrants?
?This one more than most I think.”
Crown of Ghosts
This crown was commissioned by a tyrannical ruler to help them enforce their will, the sorcerer who made it did so only because their family was threatened. To at least exact revenge against the ruler, the sorcerer layered in a hidden curse to punish them for their transgressions.
Following from Day 1 & 2.
Day 3 (Saturday, 5th August)
Ugh, up early. Shower, coffee, booth. First task, all of the stock that was left over from BGN off loaded from the pallet, unboxed and on the shelves. That went pretty well, Howard, Nick and I are a good team and we had some help with the shelving of games. After I ran a game over to Black Oak Workshop to trade for lovely dice, I got a Firefly D20 for Howard’s daughter Evie and a dice bag for Nick as well as some dice for myself. The print pictured is from Kat G Birmelin and actually purchased on Day 2, it was the last one at the Con and I was very pleased (and perhaps fortunate) to acquire it.
Work was work, blew through most of the new items that we had restocked the shelves with and had to bring out lightly used copies of the Guild of Merchant Explorers that had been played at BGN. And those moved a bit slower. But the shelves were looking pretty bare by the end of the day. So after the hall was closed to the public, we brought out all of the games we had on special, multiple cases, and put them on the shelves for tomorrow.
Following on from Day 0:
Day 1 (Thursday, 4th August) the first real day of the Con and it was going to be a busy one.
Up early, showered and off to Starbucks for some coffee, the wait was only about five minutes but I suspect it will get longer from here on in. Then off to the exhibit hall, wandered around and visited Baldali jewelry where I picked up a [REDECTED] as a gift for my lovely wife, the Goodman Games booth where I picked up some Dungeon Crawls Classics stuff, and checked in to see how Drew had done finishing the setup for his booth and picked up a lovely mouse pad from him too.
Finally, back to the AEG booth, which I had kept looping back to all through the above waiting for our team leaders to appear and give instructions. We were told to report at 9am, and they arrive around 9:30ish. But the booth was still ready when the floodgates opened
People poured in and started buying things, and things, and things, without a break for the first forty-five minutes. We sold out of one of our recent games in the first hour and a second by mid-afternoon. The third of the newest games . . . we only have what is out on the shelves and we are out of that too. Many of the other games that AEG brought are in the same shape. We only have significant backstock on one major game and a bunch of games they are using as giveaways. And remember, Thursday is not even supposed to be that busy of a day for sales at GenCon. Tomorrow will be interesting.
Gollaon ducked as the crackling arc of lighting blasted the tree around them to flinders. “We need help here!”
Voddic fired a crossbow bolt in the direction the lightning had originated from. “Elprie is on here way.”
“Not a moment too soon,” said Gollaon as the warrior-woman rushed forward catching the lightning on her bracelets.
“Come on,” she said through gritted teeth, “let’s take the fight to them.”
Lightning Strike Bracelets
These bracelets can be plain on the outside but the interior is always inscribed with runes of protection and the elements. When the exterior is decorated they often have gemstones associated with lightning and distinctive runes or markings.
Day -1 (Tuesday, 2nd August) was devoted to travel from Georgia to Indianapolis, not a short hop. We were trying a new route up through Kentucky and Tennessee which, although it took a little longer (maybe) was really beautiful and included traveling through the Cumberland Gap Tunnel (one of only two tunnels in the United States that cross state lines).
But by far the most exciting part of the day was a little after one o’clock when we had been on the road for about four hours. We pulled off to stop at a Cracker Barrel and Howard, who was driving, said, “Do you hear that?”
To which I replied, “No, but don’t be surprised. I don’t hear a lot, I have a genetic defect that prevents me from hearing a range of sounds.”
“It sounds like a cat.”
“A cat?”
You may wish to review my advice to those going, though the preparation section is of less use as the Con is upon us!
I will, again, be working in the exhibitor’s hall for Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) as usual, and we should have banners up, but you can find us at Booth 903. Right now my schedule looks something like this:
Thursday, working in the booth 10am-6pm.
Friday, working in the booth 10am-6pm. And from 6:30pm – latish, you will find me helping with AEG’s Big Game Night (BGN) which is down in the Lucas Oil Stadium. No idea how it is going to be run this year so I am probably inaccessible until BGN is over.
Saturday, working in the booth 10m-6pm.
Sunday, last day, working in the booth 10am-4pm.
S0, yeah, does not look like I will have much free time except on Thursday and Saturday evenings, at least one of which I hope to be able to hit up Games on Demand for some sweet indie roleplaying.
Spotting me in a crowd! On duty, I will be wearing a black AEG “Dead Reckoning” shirt, and a red AEG t-shirt the other day, with a geek-adjacent mask. My hair (pulled back in a ponytail) and beard are mostly white, and I am an average height slightly overweight white man, so, yeah, I will not be that easy to spot. However, I intend to be wearing these lovely masks made for me by my wife when not of duty during the Con. Photo attached for reference.
Beyond that, who knows? So drop me a note if you want to try and meet up, I am sure we can work something out.
In any case, to all those going and not going: Have fun and play more games.
Gollaon shook his head. “Why is he even trying? That will never fit in that small bag . . . Well, I’ll be.”
Voddick laughed. “Those are quite popular where I come from. Sometimes they have competitions to see how much they could fit into a bag.”
“Really? And how much could be fit into one?”
“The most I saw managed was a small cart.”
“My goodness.”
Untearable Bag
These bags start as normal-seeming pouches, but as things are placed into them, the bag expands to contain the items put inside. There is an upper limit but it is a challenge to reach.
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