Chatting with Angels

Chapter Seven ~ Staskas

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Who is Staskas and what does he have to do with Monty's Dark Weekend?

Chapter Seven ~ Staskas

Montine had discovered the Live Action Role-playing (LARP) game, Dark Confrontation at Dragon*Con. You would have thought that a nerdy looking guy like Monty would have been into D&D with his fruitful imagination. However his main outlet for activities was the singles group at his church and they frowned on that. It was more "tool of the devil" nonsense like his parent's view of rock music.

But he had played the hacker at the Dark*Confrontation convention game and had really enjoyed himself. He had felt a part of what was going on and he wanted to feel that way again. He liked making new friends so he hoped that spending the weekend playing a LARP would be something that he would really enjoy. He wanted to see what it was like to be able to submerge himself completely in the game without all the other things happening at the same time that he wanted to be part of too.

Monty enjoyed the trip out to A. H. Stephens Group Camp. He thought it was interesting that the camp was named for the Vice President of the Confederacy. The only really big display of the Confederate Battle Flag that he saw was on the way in through town at a business which sold flags and souvenirs outside the actual state park.

He went in to the cafeteria and kitchen where he was given his cabin assignment and game materials.. Each of the major races had one of the four lodges which were surrounded by cabins and a bath house. Monty was assigned a cabin along with the other four Goblin race players. He met for the first time Sean who was playing a tall lanky Holmium, Kevin who was playing short and stubby Larwined, and Kent who was playing a massive Glerwon. The three of them along with a few others had played Goblins in the first Midgaard weekend. Monty playing Staskas was the new person of the group.

The Goblin's had the third most remote location. The Humans were located in a lodge on the left from the cafeteria. The Elves were located across a bridged creek behind the cafeteria. The Goblins were located way in front of the cafeteria, across a long open field and nestled in the woods with a cleared path cut through the wood. The Dwarves were located in the same woods as the Goblins but roughly across from the humans.

While another group's Lodge might be captured, since the actual sleeping cabins were out of bounds and the sleeping quarters were fixed for the weekend no matter what the game play indicated. Unlike summer camp type pranks and rivalries, all of the activity during the weekend would be within game play. Once things were opened to play Friday evening after supper, It would proceed 24/7 until Sunday Breakfast when there would be a wrap up.

Once Monty had his bed set up, and he had studied his game materials, it was time for the dinner so he made his way to the cafeteria. The other Goblins had preceded him, They were checking out the relative numbers of the competition. There were roughly 25 humans and 20 elves but the Dwarves had roughly the same number as the Goblins.

He thought that it was interesting that the Goblins were supposed to be Amazons and a matriarchy. In fact the only reason that Glerwon had held onto his leadership position is that all were males playing which meant that the female superiority in game was meaningless. However if a woman were to join the Goblins, and there were no others then she would become the Goblin Princess.

One of the attractions were that the pair of men who originated Dark Confrontation were joined by their wives and other volunteers who cooked wonderful meals and took care of all of the housekeeping details of our presence at the group camp. This allowed us to be pampered by not having to think about the necessities and concentrate on having a good time for the game. While one of the wives was required to oversee the kitchen almost constantly to manage the meal preparation, The other who played Hecate, a NPC, presenting herself as a gypsy woman was able to get away in the evenings. One of the men played Loki as his NPC while the other played the NPC, Bacchus.

Besides what ever mischief, the players could come up with, The originators of the weekend had a overall story in mind for the Midgaard campaign. Usually it involved a new twist on an old theme filled with the compassion and passion with which everything was conducted. Following a wonderful meal shared with Monty's goblin band at the table where they chatted about what they hoped to do. Everyone had come costumed as their characters. Monty had taken great care with his makeup which rendered him green as all the other goblins were. It was also a primer for Monty who literally was coming in on the middle of things about who the different characters.

Finally they were advised to all of the game mechanics and rules. Objects in their world were represented by cards . In order to decide any action directed at another, other than talking, reality was paused while things were decided by flipping hands full of coins. While there were set locations to play while actions were suspended, there were no safe havens for the weekend. The only exception was that there was a 15 minute delay to allow the people to scatter following the meeting before actions were allowed to occur.

Instead of "Free Fire Zones" there were "Displacement Zones" which would displace anything in safety hazard areas to more safe places before the conflict was settled. Likewise at the climax on Saturday night, only limited actions were permitted so that the climax could occur rather than one big conflict involving everyone there. There was a hint that in the area around the amphitheater by the lake something new was occurring. We all went out in character when the meeting ended as Monty joined the Goblins as they went to their lodge which now had become the Goblin's Keep.

Staskas, knowing that his strength more than equaled Glerwon one on one, also knew that unless he won over one or more of the other Goblins he would be defeated in a grab for power. It made sense with his superior intelligence to see what developed. One way that he could prove his worth was to beat the other groups in solving the mystery which would provide the weekend's climax. Glerwon set up a schedule for a watch on the Goblin Keep. (The game rules provided that as long as one goblin was inside that the Keep was held. Physical force to break in was prohibited. ) Glerwon had taken the first watch and he busied himself setting up a banner in a stand that he had made with the symbol of the Goblins displayed upon it. We left him to gather in our camp outside the keep. We saw Hecate who was disguised as a gypsy woman come into our camp.

She told us, "Truthful answers I will give if you can provide to me the token I seek. The token required is green and spherical."

Larwined / Kevin whispered, "Objects in our LARP are represented by cards that indicate the object's properties. Should we go on a scavenger hunt to find green balls?"

Monty / Staskas whispered back to both of them, " I can't help myself to think outside the box. I have an idea. I will invoke an action that will involve our disguised Hecate. Larwined, please stand far enough away from her so you can all escape the action In the first round. Hobulm please heal me if Hecate does not and otherwise escape. If this works Hecate will have the token that she seeks. "

The other Goblins nodded, and I took my place next to the gypsy, "I desire a boon in order to provide the token you seek, milady."

She said simply, "Proceed."

Staskas invoked the action, " Hold & Confront!" The action was paused and we arrived at the planned order of action, Staskas, Hecate, Larwined and Hobulm, Staskas acted to use the game card of the knife he had to make a virtual incision and give figuratively to Hecate, as the gypsy, the result of the virtual castration.

Glenda stepping outside her role as the gypsy started giggling and when she finally stopped told us, "I'm going to act as game judge if you all will permit me."

The Goblins all nodded. "I am going to rule that my character has as a result of Staskas's action two of the tokens that my character requested, I can't wait to tell my hubby about this. I feel like this idea may lead to a game mechanic to create items. Let me have your character card, Monty"

Monty gave her the character card and she produced a pen from somewhere and made some alterations to Andy's stats. Andy looked at the new stat distribution and felt like the new pattern was significant but could not recall the context. Those stat changes are permanent for the weekend in order to produce the tokens. My ruling is complete so I'll return to the action and it is my turn."

As the gypsy she directed her five free words to Staskas, "I accept. You won't die!" She used her superior healing powers to counter the dire consequences that Staskas's action might evoke. Not only was the incision healed but her spell took away the shock and restored Staskas to normal functioning except what was missing remained missing. As was agreed both of the other goblins escaped leaving only the Gypsy and healed Staskas left to act. Both declined further action so reality resumed."

The Gypsy declared, "I accept two of the tokens I requested from Staskas who has two questions to ask. What is the first?"

Staskas decided to apply his observation of the NPC playing an Avatar who quickly headed toward the amphitheater presumably to guard it when the meeting ended. "What could be so powerful a formation that it requires an avatar to guard it?"

"The avatar guards a doorway phasing into existence into a realm which promises an abundance of power, wealth and untold pleasures which awaits those who unlock the portal. What is your second question?"

"How shall I find the key to the portal?" Staskas asked without thinking. Hecate giggled and thrust an object into his hand which enchanted him to be the only person to be able to read the magic scroll within the unlootable magic bag and also prevented him from revealing the contents to others. The object did not prevent Staskas from explaining that he could read the scroll but could not reveal the contents to them and it would require him having the freedom of action to retrieve it alone.

Distracted the goblins failed to see Hecate vanish in a puff of theatrical smoke. The goblins presumed that the Gypsy would be appearing in the other camps with them trying to find what Staskas already possessed. The goblins, once Staskas shared what he could, agreed that allowing Staskas to act alone was the best way to proceed. Decoding the clues led Staskas to realize that the key's path would not be available till 4 am so Staskas elected to go ahead and get some sleep, setting an alarm to allow him to proceed with it when he was able.

.At 4 AM Staskas quickly silenced the alarm and left on his mission to follow the clues to the key. Upon securing the key, Staskas, placed it for safe keeping in the unlootable bag. After discovering the key, the scroll still had a last clues indicating that he should seek out Bacchus for something important. However that would have to wait until after breakfast so Staskas returned to sneak back into the cabin and into bed until the rest of the group awoke.

Glerwon had decided to substitute a goal of his own for the one that he hoped the game judges would excuse them from. He hoped that the Goblins would be able to defeat the Dwarves and capture the wealth of their mines. Staskas indicated that he had one errand to complete before breakfast and they correctly assumed it involved the object Hecate had given him. Glerwon urged Staskas to return quickly so he wouldn't be late for the siege of the keep. Obviously Staskas represented their numerical advantage in the assault so they would not leave without him.

Staskas saw Bacchus leave the dining room of the "Inn" and he exited quickly to secretly tell him the code phrase that he had figured out from the clue. Bacchus smiled and gave Staskas another scroll which was readable but would have to be decoded with a key provided in the original scroll. Staskas did not have time to decode it because he had promised to return for the attack as soon as he could. Staskas was able to catch up with the Goblins as they lightheartedly went back to the keep hoping not to give away what they had planned.

The Goblins expected to overwhelm the Dwarves with their superior hand to hand combat skills. Before beginning combat, Staskas drew out his sword and shield and placed the remainder of his belongings in the unlootable bag. The Goblins drew lots for the order of march since they would have to march single file over the bridge over the creek that separated the Dwarves' camp from the Goblin's. Staskas went first followed by Glerwon, Larwined and their caster, Hobulm bringing up the rear.

Staskas elected to go across quickly and silently to sneak up on one of the Dwarves that had his back turned to him, smoking in the front of the keep while the other two in back of the Keep were distracted, intent on the chess game they were playing.

Staskas called confidently and quietly so only the one Dwarf could hear, "Hold and confront" Using the game mechanics Staskas took a swing with his sword at the Dwarf. However, Staskas and the other goblins had failed to consider the effects that the reduced stats would have on his combat. It was now too much sword for him to handle so he had a critical failure. The Dwarf at point blank range surprised all of them by shooting Staskas and instantly killing him with a musket. Glerwon directed the Goblins to retreat since if all the Dwarves had similar weapons which they had not had at the last game then it would have been the Goblins who were wiped out and defeated.

The Dwarves were frustrated only being able to loot Staskas's sword and shield. Finally the game mechanic kicked in so that Staskas's body was not enchanted into a zombie so his spirit was able to leave to go to the graveyard.