The most interesting experience The White Rabbit related
was when a large guy fell asleep in the back of the video room where
The White Rabbit was showing fan parodies (he's in charge of programming
that track). He wouldn't wake up when the building was closing and everyone
had to leave.
The White Rabbit tried to rouse the sleeping guy by himself
to no avail, and he finally had to call on security people to help.
According to him, the guy woke up in a very disoriented state, "As
if he had never seen a building before." And they had to convince
him that he had to leave, "and leaving meant moving towards the
door until you were out of the building." The White Rabbit does
have a talent for telling stories.
Next, The Dormouse regaled us with stories from the LARP
(Live Action Role-Playing) game, which he runs along with The Cheshire
Cat. Aside from a couple incidents, there wasn't too much real-life
drama, but the in-game events were entertaining. Apparently, the bad
guys banded together and took over the police station. The next time
one of them pulled a robbery and the victim called the police, the baddies
proclaimed, "We are the police." They did get their comeuppance
eventually, which I believe involved explosives.
The major focus of the weekend's story was an even bigger,
badder menace. Seems an evil nemesis planned to crash an orbiting colony
onto the planet of Neo Baltimore, thus killing everyone. A massive computer
named ALOS (pronounced "Alice") was aware of the problem and
was trying to warn everybody, but her system had been sabotaged, so
that she could send only fragmented messages through radio transmissions.
The players discovered both an obelisk and colored disks
which could be hung on pegs protruding from the obelisk, which controlled
ALOS. Different patterns would cause the computer to act in different
ways, until eventually they hit upon the right combination to restore
her intellect and allow her to help them.
I don't remember exactly how The Dormouse said the players avoided
their doom, but I think it involved firing the colony's engines to send
it on a different course, which was achieved with just seconds to spare.
It sounds like The Dormouse had a really good time, and it was an entertaining
time for all involved.
After we left the restaurant, we settled in chairs in the lobby, where
we could swap more stories, including some we'd heard from others, and
some of the drama that had happened this weekend. We were also waiting
for The Pottermaniac, since she lives near The Gryphon and I, and we'd
volunteered to give her a ride home. Soon, she arrived with just a small
suitcase and a backpack, and I walked her out to the car to load her
gear.
We all hung out in the lobby a while longer, swapping stories. As we
were sitting there talking, The Gryphon got a call from Doc the Stampede,
telling us that he had program books, signed by the guests, for The
Gryphon and I. He wanted to know if he could give them to us now, rather
than finding another way to get them to us. We said that was fine and
invited everyone to walk along with us to Doc's hotel, which they were
happy to do.
The weather had been remarkably moderate for this time of year in Baltimore,
and Monday was no exception, with pleasantly warm, sunny skies. We met
up with Doc in the Guest Suite, and as we arrived they were finishing
their pack-up. The Pottermaniac and I both had some orange juice and
grapes that they offered us. Doc gave us the program books, as well
as a bag for Mistress Chimera, whom we'll see at the wrap-up meeting
next weekend.
While we were there, we spoke with the people who were hanging out,
and when several of them wanted to go get lunch, we all agreed to go
along. Our group included me, The Gryphon, The White Rabbit, The Dormouse,
The Pottermaniac, The News Producer, and a married couple, The Engineer
and The Biologist, who are expecting their first child literally any
minute.
We took our time walking towards the restaurant, Burke's. Even though
we started out earlier, several other people beat us there, we would
soon learn. When we arrived, we asked for a table and they told us it
would be a while. Then The News Producers poked his head into the main
room and saw it was filled with our friends, so he told the hostess
that we were with them. They pushed a couple tables together for us,
and we joined our fellow staffers for one last meal.
Burke's is a traditional restaurant for Otakon staff to gather, primarily
because it's open for long hours and it's easy to seat large groups
there. Another favorite restaurant, for similar reasons, is Uncle Lee's,
a Chinese restaurant.
Everybody was tired but in good spirits as we wrapped up another convention
weekend. We got a chance to talk to more people we hadn't seen. The
Engineer, who along with his wife, The Biologist, runs the Photo Suite,
told us that they did extremely well this year. They set a new record
for photo sales, he said. They've been trying out new technology, as
well, and new ways of handling orders.
The Dormouse had several people hanging on his every word as he relayed
some stories from LARP. Hopefully, he'll write down at least a little
of what he remembers, because it was entertaining to hear.
The kicker to the meal was when the waitress brought out a cake and
we all sang "Happy Birthday" to the head of the Loss Prevention
Team. He was very surprised, since it wasn't his birthday. But his friends
like to do this for him, the head of Exhibitions told me, because his
real birthday is on September 11, a difficult time for Americans to
celebrate. As he put it, "Every day is his birthday except his
birthday."
As we finished our meals, people said their good-byes and drifted on
home. We had a nice drive back, with The Pottermaniac and I engaged
in conversation while The Gryphon drifted in and out of sleep. I was
surprised he managed to stay awake as long as he did.
We dropped off The Pottermaniac, collected our doggie, Una, from the
pet sitter, went out for dinner, and then did some serious relaxing.
Some final observations about Otakon 2008:
