The Enchantress and the Silver Lady face off in Boston

It happened suddenly. The skies darkened slowly, the subtleness of Drocilla’s touch upon the lands causing the air itself to become denser with Her will as She arrived in Boston. Noting the change immediately, Lisaera arrived on the scene to protect Her beloved city (yes, city, because sadly Boston isn’t a commune – just go with it). Though the Enchantress came by train, Her impressive command of the world caused the very streets to flood with people, who fell on hand and knee, to greet Her, but the sheer might of the Silver Lady forced the Traitor back – then the fun started.

… I don’t know if I can keep that up and still do the meet justice, so let’s just pretend I have really cool role-specific dramatic overtones riddled throughout this blog.

As some of you might have guessed from the sudden burst of activity in the Meet and Greet section on the forums, Drocilla is essentially making Her way across the world to visit notable cities. As I am fortunate enough to be living in one of the areas She wanted to visit, I got to place host to the Enchantress for a few days. And it was amazing.

Day 1

We started out in my neighborhood, where we found a delightful little burger joint not too far from My temple (read: house). Fifth Element was playing on the TVs above the bar, so we knew it was a sign that we made the right choice for dinner. After that, we found our spirits of choice (I, of course, went for the gin and She chose a spiced rum), and went back to My place for some music and general merriment. We talked endlessly about you guys (players really do make the world go ’round!) and about Lusternia in general; all kinds of ideas for quests came up (who would be interested in another dozen or so with the Lights Out puzzle? cackle), we talked about each other’s orders and the nations We patron, and we, of course, gossiped about the other gods. That’s just in Our nature.

Once We had our fill of drink, We ventured out into the night to see what Harvard Square had to offer. Drocilla had never seen the legendary Ivy League school up close, so I took Her directly into its heart. We wandered around Harvard Yard for a while, examined the architecture of its dorm buildings, strolled by old cathedrals that have been converted into makeshift “memorial halls,” and eventually found our way back to the square, where we took a side trip to the Charles River to relax by the water. After that, we walked a few miles back to My house to flip on Netflix for a round of Orange is the New Black (Drocilla had never seen it! Can you believe that?!). 

Before we got home, We stopped at a little convenience store for ice cream and pizza. Gods like snacks, too. 

Day 2

This is where it starts to get good. I saw My opportunity to strike back against Drocilla once and for all, while She slumbered so peacefully on My temple furniture, and took it – I tried to poison Her with breakfast. Even after the coffee and omelets, Her power was just too great, so I chose instead to lure Her back into the city where I knew We’d find some of the Serenwilde’s faithful. 

Before that, We got all dolled up – someone on the forums told the players that all they had to do was look for the fiercest people in Trident (an amazing bookstore/bar/diner), so We had to live up to their expectations. After We looked utterly divine, we struck out on the train. When we arrived, we noticed a couple lingering suspiciously outside the resturant. Not wanting to disturb them, We wandered inside, but both of Us shared a divine revelation that these mortals were, in fact, expecting Us. After we put grabbed a table, We went back outside to greet the couple in question, and it turned out We were right (obviously): Gabriella and Cadfael were hanging out, waiting for Kalnid to arrive. 

“Hey – are you guys Lusternia?” was My rather eloquent introduction. 
“Yes – uhh, I’m Gabriella…” the woman, who looks a lot like an elfen-sized faeling in real life, hesitantly replied.
“Ah! Great! I’m Lisaera. This is Drocilla.”

A heartbeat of silence.

“I’m Cadfael!” And We were off!

Kalnid arrived a minute or so later, and then We all went inside.

We spent a few hours just getting to know each other, which was awesome. Once the nerves were gone (were they nervous? I really don’t know – I know I was, a little), it felt like a cozy group of friends, rather than two Gods and a few mortals. Lusternia, obviously, was a major topic of conversation (trap doors, My tattoos that look a lot like symbols in the game (unintentionally so!), quests we love, quests we hate, lore, history, lore, lore, more quests, bugs, bugs, lore, and so on).

When we were finished with that location, we zoomed on to another – the Boston Commons, where we found a patch of grass under a few big trees (who’s shocked that I picked the location?). We chit-chatted a little more here, diving deeper and deeper into the gossip of the mortal coil (who knew what all of you are REALLY up to!), and then, sadly, Cadfael had to depart for something – work? another group of text game friends? Just kidding, it was work.

Shortly after we lost one mortal, two more sprang up in his place – Nanun and Othero appeared, and much hugging ensued. Maybe too much hugging… I was quickly wondering if amassing a small army against the Enchantress was such a good idea after all, when all of a sudden it hit me – I was being suckered into some sort of devious trap! To keep the advantage I needed, I decided to take them all to a bar, where we drank to our health, to Estarra, to Lusternia, and to many happy futures (and I watched to make sure the Enchantress didn’t poison anyone). 

It was neat to see what we all ordered there. I had a gin and ginger, of course, because it tastes like trees. Drocilla had a Red Death (my idea), Othero had a gin and ginger because I obviously won him over to my side, Gabriella had a whiskey sour, Kalnid was probably the wisest and only had water, and Nanun drank a crisp and fresh vodka. In retrospect, I should have watched her more closely, too – any being that can drink just vodka must be up to something.

The World

After our thirst was quenched, we decided to head into the harbor, where we stumbled onto a slew of well-to-do party-goers at the Rowes Wharf. Deciding that may not have been our best place to linger, we moved on to a lesser known dock with full access to the ocean. We snapped a few pictures, Gabriella and I finished a few song lyrics at each other, and then we ran away from the centipedes that crawled up from the water. They were gross.

Then it was off to see the flickering gas lamps of yore, which are now electric lights. It was kind of disappointing to see such amazing feats of engineering transformed so, but they were neat nonetheless. We strolled through Beacon Hill, which looked a lot like Magnagora in the dark. It was around then that we determined just how far we had traveled through Boston, which seemed, in retrospect, like the perfect rendition of the Basin of Life: 

Serenwilde: The Commons
Gaudiguch: The Sidebar (where we had our drinks)
Hallifax: Trident (with all the books)
Glomdoring: A few creepy patches of forest and the centipedes (ew, Viravain, gross)
Magnagora: Beacon Hill, with the gas lamps and freaky architecture
Celest: The wharf and the HUGE archway that is Rowes Wharf

The Duel

After we spent hours wandering the streets of My beloved Boston, it was time for Me to finally face the Enchantress once and for all: we found a park where, with My daughter’s light shining down on Us, We dueled with umbrellas. Before the fireworks, We stood, facing each other, with our fingers trailing our necklines with disdain etched into our features. Yes – we did the pearls emote IRL, without shame. We also seriously  had pictures taken of us pretending to smack each other around with umbrellas, purely for your enjoyment.

 

In conclusion – neither of us won. We’ll have to meet again in the future to truly settle the score.

I had an AMAZING time with everyone, and I really hope the players who could attend did, too. If I left ANYTHING out from this experience (like all of the cool anecdotes we came up with along the way), I hope you guys fill in those blanks. I’m also going to try to stick all the pictures on this post, but if I can’t, I’ll figure it out another way.