Jeffrey Sherwood - in his mid twenties and going through a rough spot.

With a short fanfare a road fades into view leading towards a gate set in a huge crenelated wall and flanked by two bored guards leaning on their halberds. And just about the time viewers might notice the turnstiles blocking the gate or that the banner hanging above the gate proclaims this to be “AnaChronicles Adventure Park”, the camera pans forward and through the gate just in time to catch the fireworks rising above the themepark beyond.

As the first colourful explosions light up the evening sky, loudspeakers all around the park play the theme-music of this season, triumphant horns and sweet violins evoking a sense of wonder and excitement while faint drums add a sense of underlying danger.

After giving the audience a few moments to appreciate the sight of the fireworks against the backdrop of the obligatory Ferris-wheel and a fairy-tale castle further inward, the camera pans down to show a small plaza, surrounded by trees. Colourful signs proclaim the various paths branching of from here to lead to areas like “Deadshot Gulch”, ”Jungle Dome” or “Ancient Ruins”. The camera quickly move onwards down a path through “Brigand Forest” and past its network of ropes, bridges and walkways running though the canopy and soon emerges out of the woods and into “Hub City” - a typical medieval fantasy town. Albeit a town that consists of only a single street surrounding the royal castle from season three of AnaChronicles Quest.

The camera sweeps past the souvenir-shops, overpriced restaurants, and info-points, past employees dressed as elves, knights and peasants until it finally reaches the drawbridge leading towards the castle. As the huge gates swing open before the approaching camera, the theme-music starts to shift, the horns and violins recede while the drums slowly grow more prominent and threatening as the camera moves down a wide staircase yawning in the middle of the white marble hall.

Down it goes, through dimly lit corridors of bare stone, past doors that have been carefully painted to give the impression of neglect and rusting iron, on it goes towards and through a heavy door labled ‘Transdimensional scrying chamber’. The camera flits through the dark movie theatre beyond the door until it comes to a stop in front and slightly above a massive throne fashioned entirely from skulls and bones that is sitting right in front of the screen. The woman sitting on the throne, looked slightly bored when the camera entered, but now she quickly rises and throws her arms wide as she looks up towards the camera “I feel your eyes on me, my Dark Masters! ” she proclaims “ I am your humble host for this season: the Sorcerer Queen Liliane . ”

She certainly looks the part: tall, skin pale and smooth as porcelain that contrasts nicely with her generous blood-red lips and long ebon nails, an elegant black dress that reveals a maximum amount of cleavage and thigh. A snake wound around her forearm like a living bracelet. The upper half of her face hidden by a goat-skull with a jagged sliver crown nailed to it.

But it is clearly an act. Her words and ecstatic smile are just a tad too stiff to be genuine ” “ Let me be the first to welcome you to this Season of Harem Hotel: Isek…. “ she stops than starts anew, not quite concealing a flicker of annoyance” Adventure Edition. “. The projector springs to live and lighting flashes on the screen behind her as canned thunder fills the theatre. ” Even as we speak the meddling goddess is looking for a hero from another world to defeat your loyal demon king. Or demon queen in this case. “ she quickly corrects before resuming her grandiose act .

“ But fear not my Dark Masters! For I, the supreme sorceress Liliane, may not be able to prevent the summoning ritual that will bring this wretched Hero and his companions to this world. But I have prepared several fiendish schemes and devious challenges to test their resolve. And when they are weakened from battle I will call upon you, my Dark Masters, to place all manner of diabolical curses on them that will sway their wavering hearts and lead them towards debauchery. “ she reveals with a theatrical cackle ” The hero will not be the first to fancy himself a Champion of Good only to look back at the end of his journey, to find himself surrounded by twisted monsters he calls comrades and his heart filled with dark desires. “ she pulls out a large crystal ball ” So behold my Dark Masters, the man the foolish Forces of Light choose as their Champion!” as she holds the crystal ball in front of her face the camera zooms in. “See how he already dabbles in dark alliances and blasphemous worship.” The face of a young man emerges from the depth of the crystal ball as Liliane lets out a triumphant cackle. A rune is painted on his forehead with something that looks suspiciously like blood

The camera dives deeper, the face in the crystal filling the entire screen as Lilianes laughter fades into the background, before the camera zooms out again showing a young man in tattered black robes above a cuirass, crossing blades with an elf in gleaming armor, as a fierce battle rages around them.

…………………………………..

Jeff Sherwood barely managed to bring his sword up in time to catch a fatal blow. His opponent was good.

But that was ok. He was just mercenary scum inducted into the cult of Dee’Tvan’Ti after all.

All he had to do was buy enough time to let the head-priest escape so their dark work might continue.

Jeff managed to avoid three more strikes and even get in one of his own – all while chanting frenzied prayers to Dee’Tvan’Ti - before his opponents foam-padded blade hit him square in the chest.

<There goes my last hit-point.> he thought, as he let himself collapse to the ground.

Looking around Jeff saw that he was amongst the last cultists to fall. His fellow cultists were ‘dying’ left and right, as they fought battles against two or three opponents at once. Jeff realized it had been a small miracle his duel against the elf hadn’t been ended by a blade to his back.

The elven warrior saluted his fallen opponent, “You may have been a deluded soul, but you were a true warrior.” flashing Jeff a quick grin and a thumbs up before striding off to rejoin the fray.

Jeff stayed a ‘corpse’ a few moments longer, before getting to his feet and setting of towards the edge of the battle were the other fallen were waiting. He was kind of glad another scene had run on longer than expected, and the staff had come looking for players willing to be disposable minions for a bit. Being slaughtered by the forces of good had been a lot more fun than lounging around camp as a hero who was ‘between quests’.

“Do they need us for anything else?” he asked as he joined the other group. “Naw. I think we are pretty much done here. ” a girl dressed as a Mongolian warrior replied “Thanks for doing this on short notice. “ “It’s no problem. This was a lot of fun.” Jeff said, noting the staff badge hanging on a lanyard around her neck.

She gave him a warm smile “Still, I owe you one. I have a bit off downtime coming up after this ” she nodded her head towards the ongoing battle “ so why don’t I treat you to a drink for your trouble? As a reward for your valiant effort. ”

“We volunteered too, you know. Shouldn’t we all get drinks?”” A lanky guy with the cultist symbol on his forehead complained, prompting the polearmwielder beside him to groan “Read the room.”

“What?!” the cultist said defensively “We all put in the work. Just because he stayed in the fight longer…” “I am getting the same xp from the staff as the rest of you.” Jeff interrupted him gently “The invitation of a drink was strictly from one con-member to another, I think.” He gave the girl a questioning look and got a nod. “Yeah, that one I’m not doing as a staffmember.” She agreed

“What kind of lawyerly bullshit is that supposed to be?” the guy said indignantly “We all put in the work we should all get the same reward.” He repeated stubbornly

Jeff sighed inwardly. He knew the type. Some players got very invested in the idea that -unlike real life – fairness and justice were supposed to come out on top here. And nothing annoyed them more than people playing fast and loose with the rules to get some unfair advantage.

Mongol-girl had apparently come to the same conclusion “I know you are just trying to keep everyone honest. But I only get a 30 minutes to hang up my staff-badge before I have to get back to herding cats. And I’ll spend it in one of two ways: Either having a nice relaxing drink with a cute guy or venting my frustrations by provoking as many duels as possible. ” she explained with a sweet smile “ And it’s not that you aren’t cute. But Jeff here comes highly recommended in a friend-of-a-friend kind of way. ” she turned to Jeffery affecting a coquettish pose that seriously clashed with her martial costume “ Soooo would you be willing to soothe the heart of a poor overworked maiden or do you want to see me beat the stuffing out of that guy with a foamsword?” prompting a few chuckles from the assembled dead.

“That sounds lovely milady.” Jeff answered in a snooty British accent, sweeping into a deep bow and prompting a few more chuckles.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to…” the cultist began only to be interrupted by the GM waving him off “I know. I am not angry. If I couldn’t deal with some minor misunderstandings ” she tapped the badge around her neck “I took the wrong job anyway. ”

“I am Allison by the way.” The girl told Jeffrey holding out her hand to him.

Jeffrey was tempted to kiss the offered hand and keep up the mock-courtship but might go a step to far. “Nice to meet you Cassie.” He shook the offered hand “So I come highly recommended?”

“You do. Larry also told me this LARP might be the last chance to see if you live up to your reputation. Oh grow up!” the last comment was directed at the wolf whistle coming from somewhere among the fallen “ The size of his ehem sword wasn’t part of the rumors. Or his swordmanship. You know what? It wouldn’t be your business even if it was. And I’m on break anyway. ” she started to stalk away with quick determined strides.

When Jeffrey hurried to catch up to her she accelerated her stride “I’ll need to swing by the admin-tent real quick. We’ll meet by the Prancing Basilisk Ok? Ok.” And off she went at a pace that was almost but not quite a jog.

The tips of her ears glowing a curious shade of pink as she did so made it easy for Jeffrey to guess the reason for her abrupt departure. So she was forward enough to outright ask someone out on a date, but flustered by coming across as wanting a one-night-stand? That was …kind of a shame actually. Jeffrey didn’t make a habit of hooking up at events like these. But it was true that this might be the last time he was in any position to attend a con like this for the foreseeable future.

The last year had been a bit of a shitshow, to put it mildly. First he’d had to move from his cozy little apartment in the city to the suburbs, adding the prize of longer commutes on top of higher rent. He’d lost his tutoring side-gig, shortly before the aftermath of a break-in saw him fired from his other job at an antiques-dealer too.

Logically speaking he didn’t have the money to visit this con either. But Jeffrey had wanted one last chance to say goodbye to his friends, give his characters story a proper ending and make a few last bittersweet memories.

Meaning it’d probably be the last time he’d see Allison in person. And memories didn’t get more bittersweet than spending his last night here in the embrace of a girl as cute as her. But instead he’d just have to settle for spending his last night surrounded by friends and maybe gaining a new one in Allison. <Oh woe is me!>, thought Jeffrey with a smirk.

A loud growling just behind him stirred Jeff from his reverie, and as he whirled around he had just enough time to wonder “What the hell is a speeding truck doing here!?” before everything went to black. None of the other people were close enough to see Jeff wink out of existence a mere millisecond before being flattened against the windshield. And a few seconds later nobody remembered there ever was a truck. Or someone named Jeff.