A cold day in January

It was January the 21st, 1989. The snow slowly drifted down to earth, as it had been for the last couple of days. The schools had been closed because of it, and everywhere children could be seen playing in the snows. Snowmen made up most of the population in the park that day, some larger than three children put together. A child was crying after having received a snowball straight in his face, his friends looking worried. Under a tree, a boy was building a little fort, using the tree as its center.

The boy wore a dark red wool hat, which hid most of his blond hair. His clear blue eyes shone with excitement, as his fort was nearing completion. Even though it was not much more than a low hill of snow, he felt like he could take on the world from there. His hands worked furiously, trying to make the hill higher and higher. He didn’t notice the falling snow increasing in strength. The other children in the park hurried home, as the winds started to pick up. The large snowman toppled over, unable to longer withstand the force of the wind. But still, the boy kept building. He kept building, even though the snow kept falling harder and harder, until you couldn’t see more than 2 meter in front of you.

A tall woman appeared from the snow drift, her long hair dyed blue, seemingly untouched by the harsh, cold winds. She walked towards the little fort.

“Stop!” the boy shouted, “no girls allowed!”

“Don’t worry.” the woman said. Her voice carried an icy tone, and the wind seemed to lull for a moment, as if retreating before the woman’s voice. “I wouldn’t dare to enter the fort of the might warrior…”

“The mighty hero! The might hero John!” the boy said, exalted by the words of the woman. “And this is my great fortress! Made it all by myself!”

“Wow, what a great and mighty hero you must be”. Again, the wind seemed to lull a bit. But the boy didn’t notice. He was too proud of the fort he had built. “But you must be getting cold, even in that mighty fortress of you. Why don’t you come back to my home? I’ve got nice hot coco, and a roaring fire by which you can warm yourself. Plus, a mighty hero like you should be able to help me with a very difficult quest.”

The boy, excited by the woman’s kind words, agreed without second thought. He left his fort, and followed the woman into the blizzard, which seemed to part in front of her. He followed her, ever deeper into the Hedge.

The Frozen Library

Crysto hurried along the freezing floors of the great library. A cold chill blew between the bookcases. He was used to it by now, having been cataloging the Frozen Library for over seventy years now. His hair had, over the course of the many years, frozen solid, turning into thick ice crystals that hung from his head like a frozen waterfall. His eyes were as cold as ice, revealing no apparent emotion. His skin was white as snow, and long blue robes extended almost towards the ground, crackling as if frozen as Crysto hurried along the frozen corridors of the great library.

His mistress, the Snow Lady Ghiandara, Keeper of the Frozen Library, would surely be delighted by the great feat he and his fellow archivists had achieved. Even if she didn’t show it, Crysto was sure She would be delighted. He and some other archivists had discovered an entire new wing of books previously unknown to anyone in the library. Crysto raced through the frozen halls, leaving behind Changelings, looking curiously at him.

“No running!” A deep, booming voice came from one of the many corridors the Frozen Corridor counted.

Crysto came to a skidding halt. He turned around. From the corridor, he saw a big ball of white fur appear. Huge feet left small imprints on the library’s floor. A huge fist, easily capable of crushing rocks, gripped the side of one of the bookcases. A set of razor sharp teeth jutted from its mouth. It was one of the Yeti, Changelings who had been transformed into near primal monsters, set with guarding the library. Why they existed at all, Crysto didn’t know. According to some of the elder archivists, there hadn’t been an attack on the library in centuries.

“Mistress no like running!” said the booming voice again. The Yeti were not known for their compassion. Crysto knew he had made a mistake. Then again, this yeti looked familiar somehow.

“My most humble apologies, master Yeti.” said Crysto, bowing deep. “I was on my way to meet the Mistress, bringing her splendid news. In my excitement, I forgot myself!”

The yeti laughed a deep laugh which broke a few icicles from the ceiling, which shattered on the floor of the library. “Crysto funny!” the yeti said, patting Crysto on the head. Crysto’s hair cracked a little, as the big behemoth pushed the ice crystals down. “No do again!”

As he felt the warmth of the big hand touch his head, he knew he’d been lucky. He knew the yeti standing in front of him. He’d come to the library about 5 years after Crysto, and he and Crysto had grown a bond of friendship.

“As watchful as ever I see, Oomp.” said Crysto, slowly patting the big furry hand as he gently pushed it away from his head. “Now go along, before they see you goofing off.” Crysto walked off.

“Mistress mad, danger!” Oomp growled at Crysto’s back. A cold chill ran down Crysto’s back. He didn’t like to go see the Mistress when She was in a foul mood. Yet, if he didn’t report this now, the result of reporting this discovery so late wouldn’t be pleasant either. He walked on, through the frozen corridors, towards the tower in which his Mistress resided.

Crysto stopped before a huge double door, made entirely of ice. Intricate carvings of great snow beasts could be seen on it, obscuring the view of the room behind. As he neared the door, the carving of a giant snow tiger jumped out of the door. The guardian towered over Crysto, bearing its fangs.

“Greetings Guardian” said Crysto, as he bowed. “I bring important news for the Mistress. I beg for an audience with Her.”

“Mistress Ghiandara, Keeper of the Frozen Library is in a foul mood today, Archivist.” the snow tiger growled. “It would be best for you to return at another time.”

“I’m afraid I have to press on, and still request an audience.” Crysto replied. “The news I bring has top priority.”

“Then I will announce your request to the Mistress, little archivist. We will probably not meet again.”

The now tiger sank back into the door, and moments later, the great double door slowly opened. As soon as they did, a cold blast of air hit Crysto in the face, chilling him to his very soul, even though he was quite used to the freezing cold. A harsh blizzard obscured his view, and it took all of his strength just to stand straight.

Still he knew he had to press on, if he stayed still, he’d die. Straining his body to its limits, he pushed on, into the cold heart of his Mistress’ room. The blizzard obscured nearly all his view, and he had to guess as to the direction he was heading in. Ice crystals pelted his face, causing a multitude of lacerations. However, no blood flowed from them. Crysto’s blood had been frozen solid for decades.

When he reached what he thought to be the center of the room, he heard a cold voice, carried by the air.

“What did you come here for, Crysto? Be fast, or I shall freeze you to the core and turn you into a beautiful statue for in the library!” the voice shrieked. The blizzard intensified.

“Mistress!” Crysto shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to raise his voice above the sound of the blizzard. He knew he had to choose his words carefully; there was no telling how his Mistress would react. “I have come to report that we have uncovered an entire new wing of the library, previously unknown!”

The blizzard seemed to lessen in intensity. “An entire new wing you say…” the voice responded. The blizzard lessened even further, and Crysto thought he could see the outline of his Mistress, even if it was just for a second. “Well then, how far has it been catalogued?”

Crysto knew he was in danger. The cataloguing hadn’t even started; he had hurried to his Mistress to tell her the news as soon as they had uncovered the wing. “I thought you would like to be the first one to know about this new wing, Mistress.” Crysto said somewhat reluctantly, “We have… yet to… begin cataloguing it…”

“WHAT?!” Crysto felled as if the world around him exploded. The blizzard grew even more furious than it had been when Crysto had entered the room. He fell to the ground, pushed down by the sheer force of the blizzard. “THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE INSTEAD OF DOING YOUR JOB ARCHIVER?” His mistress’ voice sounded furious, the blizzard intensifying her voice, making it reverberate through the entire room. “GET OUT OF HERE, AND DO YOUR JOB!”

A strong blasts off air picked Crysto up, and he was flung out of the room, landing harshly on the cold floor outside. The doors closed with a loud bang. He stood up, rubbing his shoulder, which felt soar. He was grateful. He was alive.

It had been a few weeks since they had discovered the new wing, and the archiving of it was going smoothly. Crysto was working on an upper section, looking through some books. It was one of the few privileges the archivists had; they could take their time carefully reading through books.

One of the books intrigued him. It was entitled “Games of Winter”. In it there were pictures of strange creatures, throwing snow at each other, or skating on ice. The creatures seemed familiar to Crysto, as if they existed in some long lost memories. It was as if a thick sheet of ice was encasing them, getting thicker every time he tried to grab them.

He leafed through the book, stopping at some pages, making notes. The memories still tried to free themselves, but he just wasn’t able to penetrate the thick layer of ice encasing them. Then he stopped at a page. A couple of smaller creatures had built a large fort using snow, and were again tossing snow at each other. The sheet of ice exploded, and memories Crysto had long since forgotten came rushing back to him, memories of himself as human, his parents, and the terrible day at which he had been taken to Arcadia. There was a name, John, though he couldn’t quite place it. A tear ran down his eye, freezing immediately and falling to pieces on the cold floor of the library. He wanted to go back. To go… home.

Crysto hid the book well, and whenever he had a chance, he read parts of it. More and more memories came flooding back, and he had started formulating a plan to escape. One thing he decided, when he was going to escape, he was taking Oomp with him.

His plan was made quickly, taking advantage of the lack of intelligence the Yeti had to escape during the night. The way to the Hedge was easy; he could see it from some of the towers of the library. The only thing left, was navigating the Hedge itself. Oomp and he could hopefully overpower the stuff they found in there, but navigating through the maze would prove tricky.

As he pondered this, he turned into a corridor of the new wing. It was dark, and he lit a candle. It was a cold candle, burning with a bright blue flame. It bathed the corridor in a cold, bluish light. Crysto walked on, and then tripped over something. The candle fell, and where it fell, it froze the floor.

Crysto quickly picked it up, and turned to see what he had tripped over. On the ground, lay a small sheet of ice, extremely thin. As he picked it up, it unfolded. Crysto’s eyes grew bigger. The sheet of ice had unfolded into a map. A map… of the Hedge.

“Impossible”, thought Crysto, “The Hedge is just like the rest of Faerie, mutable in any way. There can’t possibly be a map of it.” No sooner had he thought it, or the lines on the map started shifting, as if they were rearranging themselves to keep up with the ever changing Hedge.

“This could work.” Crysto said to himself.

He had it all figured out. He would get Oomp alone during the day, and try and convince him to come. Then, under the cover of darkness, they would slip out, probably having to deal with one or two patrolling yeti on the way. The cover of darkness might be tricky if there were a full moon out, but he’d just have to take the gamble. There was no telling when a moonless sky would appear in this crazy world.

As he walked through the frozen corridors of the library, he felt eyes staring at him from everywhere. Crysto couldn’t be sure whether or not his Mistress knew, knew what he was thinking, knew what he was about to do. He didn’t even notice running into a big wall of fur until a hand grasped him and lifted him in the air.

For a second, Crysto thought he’d find Oomp, but that thought quickly fled as the hand started crushing him.

“Stupid man hurt Grok!” the yeti said, squeezing Crysto even harder.

Grok was known as one of the most aggressive Yeti in the entire library. Many were the archivists that had died after running afoul of him.

“Damn…” said Crysto, as the world started to fade to black. It had all been for naught.

Suddenly, the grip of the beast lessened. Crysto fell to the floor. His senses returned slowly, though he could make out two vague white shapes, intertwined with each other. Vaguely, he could hear the sounds of the two shapes, growling and snarling.

When Crysto’s senses returned, one of the white shapes lay silent on the floor, the other panting as it stood above the other. Both were covered red with blood. Crysto’s sight sharpened and he could now clearly make the shape of Grok lying still on the floor. Oomp stood over him, panting. Oomp turned around.

“Friend!” it growled, looking at Crysto.

He approached Crysto, shaking a little bit. “Friend good?” it asked.

Crysto nodded, and tried to stand up. He fell. Oomp’s hand caught him however, assisting him.

“I’ll be fine Oomp” Crysto said, still a little bit shaken. Most of his frozen hair had cracked under Grok’s squeezing grasp, and it now hang limp over his head. “Come Oomp, I have to show you something.”

Crysto took Oomp to the new wing, to the dark corridor where he had first found the map. He showed Oomp the book. He showed him pictures of children playing in the snow, telling Oomp of the world Crysto came from.

“Will you help me get home Oomp?” Crysto asked.

Oomp reached for the book, taking it into his large hand. His eyes betrayed something Crysto had not seen before in any of the Yeti. They showed intelligence, compassion. It was almost as if Oomp were, or at least had at one time been, human. Oomp leafed through the book, stopping at some of the pages.

“Home…” Oomp growled. “I’d like… to go… home… Crysto, let’s go home, together. I’ll help you escape.”

Crysto was dumbstruck. Never had he even considered the big, near mindless Yeti to be Changelings. But if this was true, they had to escape now. Not only had Oomp killed another Yeti, he had also regained, at least to some part, his intelligence. There was no time to wait for darkness to cover their escape.

The escape route they were going to take was set up so that they would exit from the library as close to the Hedge as possible. It would take them past few areas that had active patrols. The Yeti following an archivist was a rare scene in the library, but not unseen. They were great for lifting heavy loads, but due to their big hands they were rarely used unless the archivist had no other option of moving items.

They had reached the exit without any incidents. The doors stood open, and a cold wind blew through them, meeting Crysto and Oomp head-on. Two big yetis guarded the door, looking suspiciously at the pair. They snarled, baring their teeth.

Crysto raised a hand. The wind picked up. The yetis had just enough time to realize what happened. A second later, they were frozen solid. Crysto and Oomp ran, never looking back. They ran as fast as their feet could carry them, scared that their escape would be noticed. The Hedge kept drawing nearer and nearer, and still, no sound of pursuit came from the Frozen Library.

Oomp and Crysto dove into the Hedge, never looking back at the library they had just escaped from. Had they, they might have seen the two cold eyes staring at them from a window of the tallest of the library’s towers; two cold eyes, belonging to a cold woman with even colder emotions. She smiled a cold smile, and turned around.

Zondag aanstaande (22 februari) is er een LARP wapen workshop in Utrecht. Er is keuze uit het aanpassen en schilderen van nerf guns, of het maken van een dolk (Zwaarden zijn helaas iets te groot voor een workshop).

Zelf heb ik nooit eerder larp wapens gemaakt, maar toen Koen mij op deze workshop attend maakte wist ik dat ik dit erg leuk ga vinden. In de Citadel ligt een klein stapeltje handouts met meer informatie.

De kosten zijn 10 euro exclusief materiaal kosten. Het is dicht bij het station, dus we gaan met de trein.

Als het je leuk lijkt om mee te gaan ben je natuurlijk van harte welkom.

Ik schrijf ook maar eens een stukje. Ik ben Alwin Penterman, de voorzitter van Knights of the Kitchen Table. Dit is mijn derde jaar bij Knights en het bevalt me goed, ook al heb ik nog niet zo vaak in campaigns meegespeeld.

Mijn schoenmaat is 43 en favoriete dobbelsteen is d10. Mijn favoriete systeem is op dit moment Exalted, maar ik ben aan het kijken naar Paranoia (moet nog steeds het corebook doorlezen). Storyteller boven GM en DM omdat het gaat om het vertellen van goede verhalen. En piraten verslaan ninjas is direct combat (maar magiërs en draken winnen van allebei).

Nu de formaliteiten afgerond zijn wat meer over mijzelf. Ik ben derdejaars Technische Natuurkunde op de TU/e dat gaat nog steeds redelijk. Ik zit te vaak achter de computer maar speel niet veel spelletjes. Ik houdt van sciencefiction en fantasy, lees boeken (als ik tijd heb), kijk anime, probeer een setting te maken, speel keyboard, typ te lang aan deze blog, doe bestuurstaken, en waarschijnlijk nog veel meer.

Mijn bestuurstaken kan ik moeilijk omschrijven. Ik ben een aanspreekpunt van de vereniging (vooral vanaf buiten de vereniging), herinner mijn mede bestuursleden eraan hun taken te vervullen, doe mijn actiepunten te laat en moet daarom vlaai halen, maak agenda's voor bestuursvergaderingen en zit die voor, etc.

Het was leuk een stukje te typen. Mischien komen er nog revisies in de toekomst. Als iemand me wil spreken kan dat bijna elke avond in de citadel, of stuur anders een mailtje naar voorzitter@kotkt.nl.

Aan dit document kunnen geen rechten ontleend worden.

Alwin

Hallo,

Mijn naam is Desirée Theunissen en ik ben de huidige penning meester van de knights of the kitchen table. Ik zorg voor het financeel wel zijn van onze vereniging. Dit is pas mijn 3e jaar binnen de vereniging, maar ik heb het er altijd erg naar mijn zin. Nu ik zal de standaard vragen maar vast beantwoorden voorik hier vragen over kijg; mijn schoenmaat is 40, en mijn favoriete dobbelsteen is een doorzichtige glitter dobbelsteen. Favoriete rpg systeem, tja lastig ik denk soap en Grimm. Maar ik denk dat favorite setting een betere vrag is, ik heb namelijk niet zo veel met systemen. Ik hou me als het even kan liever niet zo bezig met sytemen. Maar ik heb sinds kort wel een rpg boek gekocht namelijk grimm. Wellicht dat ik dit ook ga runnen op het knights weekend maardat is ng niet zeker. Andere settings die ik erg leuk vind zijn allo (a life less ordenary), Agot (a game of trones) en Changeling (van the world of darknes)

Ik zit dit jaar net als vorig jaar ook in de weekend commisie. (Deze commissie zorgt voor het knights weekend, een weekend waarin er veel rpg one-shots gespeeld gaan worden, en waarin ook de bordtspellen en een larp avontuur niet ontbreken. Het weekend is dit jaar van 6 tot en met 8 maart ;-) )

Ook heb ik geregeld dat veel van onze leden nu in een mooi zwart knights vest rondlopen. De net uit het eigekomen draak op de achterzijde is erg leuk geworden.

Verder doe ik nog allerlij kleie dingen voor de vereniging, en als je nog vragen hebt, stuur me maaar een mailtje, naar penningmeester@kotkt.nl laat hier een reactie achter of spreek me even aan in de Citadel (onze verenigings ruimte).

Desirée