What You Missed: Feast of Chimeron XXVI
by Kathy "Makhta" Fey
Feast of Chimeron XXVI had a whole lot going on, and all during some of the best weather we’ve had in months!
There was some action and mystery here and there as usual, which I managed to mostly not be in the middle of, mostly. I heard there were some miners around, having a bit of a ghost problem, for one thing.
Then some sort of bad-god-worshipping masked people (who are definitely not related to Avendar) came in at one point and gave Rekees some pretty dodgy stuff. Later on, Rekees got some bottled inspiration from a presumably reputable Fae source and when I drank it I could totally decipher the runes on Cecil’s staff. People were too amused by my readings, though, so I might have been a little off.
There were some ne’er-do-well interlopers who got summarily spacked by our heroes, who then bound the prisoners and raised them to gather information. I was not privy to the information myself, but I did learn through observation the following: If you use someone’s belt to tie up their hands, they can still run pretty far before their falling pants trip them up.
Oh yeah, more intrigue – I personally witnessed Princess Brynn be serenaded by a bard on behalf of a secret admirer. When she brought a complaint of this to His Majesty, King Cecil responded with a kind of a verbal flow chart about how we could marry off the Princesses of Chimeron most advantageously. Not the response I think Brynn was looking for. Anyway, the day ended with nobody getting married just yet.
Food, food, food! So much food. The soups and starters were tasty and included stuffed mushrooms and yummy dips. The beef stew was great, and I appreciated that there was cheese on a lot of stuff. The “French onion soup tarts” were delicious – well-cooked and seasoned onions on slabs of bread smothered in melted cheese. There was cheese all over a vegetable dish too, and the cheesy rice was the best!
The event also offered various classes, dancing beneath stately pines, the KoR Challenge, and the well-stocked Chimeron Shop.
Highlights form the bardic competition included a song-and-dance number with a message to always strive to be our best selves. We also enjoyed a song about the heroes employing the musical bones in the throes of their Ragnarok quest. There was also a prop-assisted retelling of the story of Bedlam (fun to see how history changes, um, slightly, in the retelling!)
The Game Design tourney featured a game with lessons about accruing wealth so I hear, although I didn’t catch wind of what exactly the lessons are… gonna have to play it someday!
Speaking of wealth, I heard from Wil that the Casino was in full swing running two tables plus a bonus “Hold’em” table. Malaki and Therian won a decent amount of coin, “memorable” in fact, to which Wil noted, “memorable is in the eye of the beholder.” All I know is those guys are generally better dressed than I am, and definitely richer.
Maybe that’s what made Malaki feel bold enough to smack His Majesty King Cecil across the face with a glove to challenge whether lying to a child to get them to take a knee really happened. So later during court each side chose a champion and Prince Sam and Dani Danger battled to the touch in an epic showing of bladework. Dani won, so Malaki was right, and Cecil admitted that Dani’s oathswearing may have been due to some subterfuge.
Otherwise, Royal Court was awash with good news and new titles and accolades, and finished off with a rousing song and cake for King Cecil on the occasion of his birthday.
Dessert! So much sugar, and I ate all of it. Peanut chocolate swirl bars, strawberries dipped in two kinds of chocolate, caramel blondie bar type squares of goodness, of course the birthday cake, a strawberry gel over a cake-crumb-type layer – I don’t know what it was but it was good, and heraldic cake pops – those cake pops were awesome. I don’t even know how many were consumed.
I was escorted home by the call of the great horned owl, and with my belly full of cake pops and all manner of sweets, I slumbered most soundly. Thank you to all the hard-working people who made Feast of Chimeron a success this year!