Mystic Realms 2012

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We set off Friday afternoon after everyone got out of work. The weather was bad with a major storm system about to break over our heads. All of the major roads were backed up.
But, I know back roads.


There was some sympathy for the motorcycle rider in a thunderstorm with shorts and a T-shirt.


Of course, wet roads lead to other problems.

But, fortunately, not for us.

The faire is held at Wheaton Arts in Millville NJ. They seem ambivalent about having a faire there, but do it anyhow.
Anton, the faire organizer, says it helps them fight them “stogy old museum image”.

We were happy to find the site much safer than last year.

It still bothers me when they drive cars through the faire, and they do it a lot. But, now they are going 1/3 slower.

Saturday morning we were supposed to have a full dress rehearsal at 8AM.
We folks who had driven 6 hours to get there were the only ones there at 8.


But, eventually the others all showed.


The Jester is quite a character. Since she can’t have “ye olde spot light” she makes one around her out of sand.


One thing I like about the faire is that even though it is small and run by a LARP group, they have actors do all the major cast parts. I guess it helps when the faire director’s wife is on the board of directors of the local community theater.
It means that the folks in the cast know their lines, their marks and how to interact with the crowd. A nice change from other faires we’ve done.

The site being a glass museum is nice too.



We were given an area off to the side. Maybe not on the main drag, but I happily accepted a spot in the shade since it was in the 80’s.

(The degrees Fahrenheit, not the decade.)

Of course, off the main drag meant not as many people stopping by. This gave plenty of time for interesting discussions.


But, folks still came by for the shows.



I like it when the swords shine in the sun.


On the stage next to us was a young man who was doing an “Arms and Armor” show.
He brought neither.
He asked if he could borrow ours. We hadn’t brought any armor, but did loan him several swords, daggers and one ball peen hammer.


The main drag had more folks and more sun.


It also had THE MAYPOLE.


Rule #7 of Phoenix Swords says we can’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. Over the last 10 years, that rule has been invoked for the Mystic Realms Maypole more than any other item.
(I told them I might go join in if they could explain why a spring May pole was being done in the summer in June. They told me it took too long to explain. I sat and watched and took photos.)

We did give sword lessons.
I had not planned on doing it. But, apparently it was in the program that we’d give them for $5, so we did. Even if it was to kids who used their own foam swords.

Of course, being a bad influence, I couldn’t let him leave without using real steel.

(I did say to the woman with him “Is it OK if I let your son use real daggers?” “I’m his aunt, not his mother,” she replied. “Use whatever you want.”)

For the Champions of the faire, the Mystic Realms Fight Team have people portray mythological figures, gods and heroes.
I thought it was very funny that “Athena” had two mini amazons with her.


They also had a beast man, and Spartacus.


Of course, if you have a beast man, you have to fight him with whip and chair.


Poor Spartacus lost the lower part of his costume. I did not take a photo of Spartacus getting pantsed.

Other than the amazets, the thing I liked best about “Athena” was that she did sword fights in the cape.


But, not when she had to dodge the 10 pound chain.


We keep trying to lure their fight team to be guest stars with us, but so far no luck.

We also watched another group “Pretty Evil” that also included sword fights.


10 years ago there seemed to be more groups that would do a 1/2 hour act around a small number of sword fights. Some of them were good shows (The Good, Bad and Ugly) some of them were not (Dogs of War). This was the first time I’ve seen one like that in a while.

Anyhow, at the end of day 1 we went back to the hotel where we found strange sights.


We told everyone to get to bed early. Gil did not and by the time he got back to the room (some time after midnight) Tom was in full snore mode. “Poor” Gil couldn’t get to sleep. To be fair, my wife could hear Tom snoring through the wall of our room. So, it must have been loud. But, we did warn him and he was given ear plugs and told to get to sleep first. So, not much sympathy.

In the morning, our fight ring had a glowing spider in it. (Center of the photo)

I’ve never seen a spider glow like that before.

Gil was not impressed and tried to regain his lost sleep.


But, he was rousted so we could go to the cast photo.


Where, we beat everyone there again by being on time.


One young child took out sitting on benches as a a challenge and jumped between us on them.
This endeared him to Gil who was trying to sleep again on his.


The rest of the cast showed up and photos were taken.


Members of Phoenix Swords still came out on top.


Anton, the faire organizer, is outstanding in his field.


Then, on to our shows. Although we were in the faire main act 2 and 4, we didn’t get any pictures of it as we were all in the show. (Except Gil, who stayed to watch out stuff.)
But, here is a picture of my wife and Tom practicing.


We had crowd members who were very enthusiastic to bag Tom in the falchion demo.


But, Tom gets back at me later.


In between shows blue_micha helped me repair my wife’s chair.

(It was too damp Saturday and the wood swelled too much for me to get the dowel through it.)

Of course, more sword lessons too.


And, my wife and blue_micha were happy to visit with “Porthos”


Even Tom seemed happy to see “Porthos”.


Gil slept more.


blue_micha thought the best way to wake him would be to sprinkle water on his face. He did not seem to agree.


Then, pack up and go home. Because of bad traffic reports we decided not to go the direct way, but take an alternate route.


Phoenix Swords does not do well in Pensilvania. But, we decided to risk and and cross the bridge.


Phili looks like a nice town.

But, having slept in their airport last month, I wasn’t fooled.

It does have nice bridges and stuff.


Gil slept more.


My wife and blue_micha did their best to survive sharing the back seat with him.


The road went ever on.


But, just after midnight we got back to our place. Everyone got in their cars and headed out. Hopefully all got home OK.

Not a bad show. But, I’m tired.