Fabulae Marrii - Guild Convention III

Guild Convention III (United Kingdom) - By Havak

The Cast

Pete aka Grel - Man with map.	James aka Calon - Dragon slayer.
Paul aka Mindtrix.	Mat aka Plomien - "Directions? It wasn't my fault."
Adam aka Westane - "Can I go in your car?" to MT.	Jo aka non-guildee - "Urh I feel car sick."
Simon aka Havak - "I'm not going on that!"	Jane aka non-guildee
Nigel aka Twopointfour - "Took 4 people to strap me into Nemesis."	Nicky aka non-guildee - "Nigel, stop that."
Marry Anne aka Razwyn - "I am soaked!"	Kevin aka Finn - "Water? I like to look at it, not get it all over me."
Paul aka Skinbacus - "Ooo, got to go on that!"	Nathalie aka non-guildee - How does she put up with Skins?

The Story

Converging from all over the UK to Alton Towers sounds like a simple challenge! However, the mighty Plomien (Mat) helped out everyone by placing a helpful post on the guild website containing a link to a handy on-line route finder and the post code of the lodges we were staying at. Did I say helpful? It might have been had it been the right post code! So everyone apart from the Mighty Grel (Pete, the Man with a Map) set off to a location about 40 miles away from the lodges.

So after all arriving late (well, I was late), we had a lovely chinese and lots of beer to drink. Finally, we settled down to show the non-guildees that we are all mad. We decided on an early night, so around 2 AM we went to bed.

The lodges were excellent, and after a good nights sleep I avoided an early morning Firby raid by the skin of my teeth and were on the doorstep to greet Nigel, as he arrived at our lodge. Nigel rushed off to ensure every one else had gotten out of bed! At 9:00 AM GMT we met at the cars for raid orders: Nigel, Nicky, Mary Ann, Paul (Skins) and Nat in Nigel’s Car; Paul (MT), Mat, Adam and Jo in Paul’s car; me, Jane, Pete and James in my little run-around. Nigel lead us off in a convoy to Alton Towers and we arrived in good time. Nigel headed for the special parking close to the entrance, while the rest of us parked in the back of beyond in a huge and confusing car park system (more on that later). We got the monorail to the park. Yes, they let us in looking like this.	Yes, they let us in looking like this.
We decided to go on a virtual reality styled computer game with headsets and a trigger thingy.	We found Nigel and friends at the entrance. They already had discovered Kevin (Finn) and without much time wasted we headed into the park! And straight to McDonalds, as we were starving. We then wandered around going on all the rides and talking non-stop about everything. We also managed to slay a dragon (well, entered a squirty spray sort of game), and Calon won. We also tried the Log Flume which managed to get a lot of us very wet. Ehh Raz? And only one of us wimped out and bought a silly rain hood, didn’t he, Skins? After an eventful day we decided to go on a virtual reality styled computer game with headsets and a trigger thingy. It looked safe and no one was around, so we put our names down for it and went on! After about 15 minutes of shouting "Bam bam!" and screaming when told to (including lots of punching, kicking, stamping feet and loud shouting), we got our scores (can't remember who won?) and took off the masks to find a sea of faces laughing and clapping us. Doh!
Hmm, yes, we did look a bit odd! So the raid reformed, and loaded down with loot and trophies we left the park to find the car. As the mono rail was very busy we left Nigel to his priority parking and walked back to the car! Hmmm, now which car park did we park in? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. After hours (well, ok, minutes) of walking around I finally let Jane tell me where we had parked, and off we went to the cars and back to the lodges. We had a lovely meal in the site pub/restaurant and went to one of the cabins for a few little drinkies. Grel said we had to find a castle. So a little later than Saturday (people upgraded doors to 10 to keep the Firby out) we formed up outside near the cars and planned the trip. We decided to head for a lovely stately home called Haddon Hall and then find some food. The trip was done in convoy with me leading the way in my tiny car, with Paul next and Nigel bringing up the rear. Apart from Nigel overtaking a cyclist on a blind corner because he didn’t want to go OOS and one little emergency ("I feel sick" from Jo in Paul's car) we arrived at Haddon Hall. It was a lovely place and we spent a while wandering around.	It was a lovely place and we spent a while wandering around.
Greldar (man with map).	We then headed into Matlock to find a restaurant called Merlins. After a very nice meal it was time to find a pub for a few drinks and more chat. Then it was time for the raid to break up and for some to return home. Nigel, Nicky, Marry Anne, Paul and Nicky set off for home. Jane and I dropped Pete and James off at the lodges and set off for home as well. No idea I had gone home. But you can probably guess what else caused an early retreat to home PC's. The GOOFY 2004 was over. A grand success so say we all, and here's to the next one. A special note of commendation to Grel the Coordinator and Man with Map. Well done mate, you made us proud!