Hello awesome people,

We hope that this message finds you in fine form, fetlock and fettle and that you had an excellent weekend wherever you were and whatever you were doing. Last week through to yesterday was the rollercoaster that we all expected and so we are a little behind with our weekly salute but here we are, better late than never. We’ll kick off with our continuing love and admiration for all of the folks out there, frontline, emergency servicing and saving lives. We remain resolute in our offer of free games and priority bookings to our ambulance staff and hope to be able to expand that soon.

Moving onto RoC things:

This weekend just gone marked the first Tharinos since 2019, for obvious reasons and it was one of the most in depth and entertaining bits of story that we have run in a long time. Taking a relatively new venue and turning it the Mighty Celyn Halls and its surrounding estate and woods was pretty challenging but I think we can say that we knocked that out of the park and that the crew owned the stage that we set for them.

Friday night opened in the lively glamour of the Fae in the Dishevelled Courts of the Whispering Mists, full of cursed days and opportunities missed. The fantastic Hollybeans made us beautiful food, the mystery of the hall unravelled and finally the mist filled moors and woodlands were braved. Lessons were learned, especially about the nature of Fae confectionary and lost Gillieabad were met, majestic but fettered by the torment of the past but before the night could be realised the glamour was breached and all were cast as reflections of themselves in Wood and in Bronze.

Awakenings in the morning brought a frantic struggle against the cursed nature of the Hall before the quarry of the night before; Vermillion, an Oath Maker, was recovered with Weave so badly damaged that only the strength of a pure Freehold could restore them. Tharinos was opened but before the players could arrive the Winter Rivers swooped in to take up hosting duties and recover her prey! The Tharinos that our cast walked into was a shadow of its true self and a challenge for all involved:

With Vermillion the prize of the grand tourney, a Damaseu of great need, many turned out in number to defeat her challengers and the defenders of the Tharinos. While those that fought strived for victories others used the dwindling power of the Tharinos Arch to travel to Egaria where they met with members of the Azure Order and learned what they could about the betrayal of Sennig. In the background entertainers sang songs that brought tears from the eyes of the audiences listening to them and still more made their way to the City of Rendrith which is under VGC occupation.

The story erupted when, as one, they entered the glamour and witnessed the story of the origin of the Winter Rivers, told by the Herald of Tharinos in a way that will be remembered long and spoken of in legend despite its efforts to bring them low. After winning Vermillion in the tournament the Winter Rivers tried to cheat the glamour and kill the prize before it could be given which led to a visit to the gatherings by Olmenia, the Death that haunts Tharinos and the Soul Trader that many call “The Bastard”.

When the Sun rose high those that came to visit the Tharinos found a Ghulish Bonesaw working on the bodies of the fallen of the previous nights terrors, few had survived without serious injury or, indeed, death. The Winter Rivers had fled in the confusion but Vermillion was theirs and with him the power to restore the Oaths and the lives of Edmund Lionsgold and his Fae. With haste and speed they returned to the Halls of Celyn and there incanted the power to make the Oaths whole in great convocation. The overwhelming forces of the Winter Rivers claimed many more lives and left even more marked with its power but victory was had in the end.

In the shadows of the Hall the Winter Rivers was forced to name itself: Ironmark; Monarch of the Court of Stolen Tales and its story and form were driven from the halls for all time. In the aftermath of battle there was little time left to act and all returned to the skies aboard the protector and to the rooms of Edmund did they march. Here, as one, they spoke the Oaths that they had gathered to give him back the right and duty of his family line, restore faith from broken sins of old. Under their words he woke once more, restored to the world and ready to lead a broken nation to a unity once more should that be his destiny.

So that was last week on RoC and this is next:

We have SO much to do in the coming weeks that it’s going to be hard to get it all down in one message so we’ll try and get it down to a quick sentence: Coming up on RoC – November event announcements, next years rosta, Legends of Larp, the next Kit Fayre and all the rules and fluff updates. Land needs to be ratified and planned on and there is a whole slew of kit and props that needs to be sorted out and put away, in short: We are going to be busy. 

To finish with: So many welcomes to all of the new folks that made it along for the event whether it was your first ever larp or just your first ROC you were absolutely brilliant! Of course ALL of the thanks, appreciation and love to our ever marvelous viginti – Our twenty Core Crew! For all of you that made it along and worked all of those hours – You did the system proud! To put it into numbers:

Fifty Four hours straight crewing with a few hours tacked on for travel and in between those the MOST sleep that any of you could have got would have been Ten hours sleep to go with it. Forty Two DPC’s wheeled out. Six big meals made, Forty Sandwiches, Untold cookies, three Big Vegetable loafs and one round of Holbean soup. One MASSIVE combat, Five major skirmishes and myriad one to ones. 

Well done team. We love you all.

That’s all we have time for today folks. If you want to get involved, tell stories, play games, run games or whatever we are continuing to build that community and you can find us here and that goes doubly for anything you need for the LARP or just for company on long locked in days. Equally If you want to join us on Patreon we are here.

As ever folks: If you need us, for any reason, let us know and if we can help in any way we will, whatever you are up against.

In the meantime have a Foxes and Crows week people, we look forward to seeing a whole bunch of you at the online game and bumping into even more of you, online, between now and then. 

Take Care of Each Other

Much Love,

Stephen and the RoC Core Team x