…except we really did want a lie-in, so given how few trains and directions we can go to from Bad Blankenburg, @darkphoenix@not.an.evilcyberhacker.net and I actually headed to Erfurt Hbf last night, as it was the most likely direction for me to catch this morning, and it gave me an opportunity for an extra lie-in. Oops!
The train I theoretically caught from Bad Blankenburg is at 08:19 with a scheduled arrival at 09:19, and so far is running on time. I’ll head up to the platform at this station when it arrives, and from there, well, who knows?
I mean, I do, obviously, I chose last night. But I’m not letting y’all know any more than the seekers get to know.
Food
Well, I wasn’t expecting to be reroute this early, before my first train even arrived in Erfurt, but somehow it’s happened, and I find myself in… die Frühstückszone, Schatzen!
Today we have Rührei mit Schinken, Brötchen, butter und tee.
Filling! It is the most important meal of the day after all…
Selfie, eye contact
And here’s my train arriving from Bad Blankenburg a few minutes ago. In time for me to make my connection here in Erfurt.
The game is on!
I think I have been pretty thorough in shuffling this card deck. But yes, these poker-sized cards are unwieldy.
I am where I am,
I’m in my own special location
So, come take a look
Is this my nook -
Or just frustration?
It’s my world
That I want to have a lot of pride in
My world
And it’s just the place I want to hide in
Life’s not worth a damn
‘Til you can shout out:
“I am where I am!”
For those of you wanting to see what the seekers are saying, @darkphoenix@not.an.evilcyberhacker.net is live tooting here: https://not.an.evilcyberhacker.net/notes/aaf0m1p3wsij00r2
And @quixoticgeek@social.v.st is also live tooting over here: https://social.v.st/@quixoticgeek/114884739440787788
From experience though, as the game gets more intense (and it does so in very weird ways sometimes) the tooting will fall by the wayside. I am going to try to keep up a live commentary all day, though.
For the moment I’ve been asked if I’m in the same Bundesländer as the seekers, who are in Thuringia, (I’m not) and whether I am closer to a foreign consulate than them (I’m also not)
They just asked me if I am closer to the coast than them. We’ve decided this is basically a north-south question.
I think I heard their collective WTAF all the way from over here when I replied south.
@darkphoenix@not.an.evilcyberhacker.net looked like she needed a nice boost of adrenaline to wake them up,
I decided to be nice to them and curse them early on.
The cards were definitely in my favour.
We’ve modified the contents of this card since yesterday. I’m much more willing to accept verifiable connections to nobles, not just sleeping or eating. I will also accept locations named after nobles.
Based on yesterday’s precedent, there is a 2 hour time limit on this card. But frankly, there’s plenty of noble connections in Erfurt, so I don’t think they’ll need it.
And they have found this fascinating location near the station. It’s within the new rules, so I’ll accept it.
The seekers decided to take a train between Erfurt Hbf and and ask for a thermometer at Marksuhl, towards the south west roughly. It was warmer. They stayed on the same train as far as Eisenach, which is where they cast a 75km radius (outside) and asked if I was on the RB6 route (no).
And then they decided to declare their half hour lunch break.
So, we’ll see where they end up next. It’s fun to watch from here…
Just as their lunch break ended, I sent them this curse…
It seems to have backfired on me. I thought they might stop at a station where they knew there were bridges and then keep going, but I seem to have inadvertently tipped them off to a fact they didn’t have, and they decided to unerringly head in my direction, with no further questions other than a rules clarification.
Now they are in Bad Neustadt (Saale) and have declared the endgame.
On the plus side, they are currently doing an 800m thermo across town, presumably to try to break the curse under one of the bridges in this town. They have no clues as to where I might be other than that.
They managed to clear the curse, and asked me a very pointed tentacle question that has basically made the final search area minute.
In a desperate attempt to salvage some dignity, I cursed them with the curse of the mediocre travel agent, and sent them to a petrol station.
Given how yesterday’s trudge was terrible, and this one requires photos of all the seekers… I decided that sending them to a castle that was 800m away and about 200m uphill was not the gentlemanly thing to do.
I believe they are very much taking their time about this challenge in response…
It looked like they had a lot of fun at the petrol station! They even played I spy.
Now it’s time for a leisurely stroll through the old town of Bad Neustadt am de Saale til they find me.
Surprisingly, I won!
And whilst, there was a certain amount of, um, throwing it my way, especially as they failed to bring back the souvenir from the last curse, I had a final surprise for them:
A 10% time bonus. And a duplicate card. (As well as 30 min in time bonuses) so when all that added up… I actually won!
But, tbh, we all did. We all made mistakes, we all learned a great deal, and above all, we all had fun!
For now, though, I’m tired. The game ends tonight, and tomorrow we have a leisurely 200kph train in the morning up to NRW, before we split up and go back to the real world. Or travel, in my case.
We will be doing a lot of post-game breakdown tomorrow, I’m sure.
And of course, I got a trophy awarded to me. I shall put it up in my cabinet and treasure it always.
…And they even arranged a fireworks display for me when we arrived in Würzburg for the night!
Which was pretty impressive, given they only knew we were going there about four hours earlier.
Moof! 🔜
T3chFest