Ava's Chronicles in SecondLife

As I mentioned in my last post one of the risks of being female in SL Gor RP is the risk of being captured. I experienced a prime example of this very recently.

To the rear of the tavern building I’ve adopted is a bridge leading into the woods.

Crossing the bridge takes you into the next region over and through the woods is a path leading to a city, by the name of Lydius.

Previously I’d had a look around but not RPed with anyone there, however my friend Sigmond the Healer is based there.

I could see on the map there was someone there at the back of the city, so I thought I’d go knock on the door and say hello.

However while I was stood knocking on the gate, someone came up behind me. I turned to greet them and it transpired they did not have my best interests at heart. Below is a transcript of the RP.

[04:40:51] Maddock Bracken (maddock) found himself in the company of fortune this day . . a lone woman inside the gates could be a challenge . . but here, he found one outside the gates, alone and unknown . . he closed upon her, thick dark hands reaching to grasp her

 

[04:43:26] Ava Delaney (avadelaney) takes a step back ” looking at his outstretched hand “What are you doing? I’m not some wench you can lay your hands on, I live in the fort just to the north”

 

[04:44:47] Maddock Bracken (maddock) paces her as she steps back . . the firm gate and stone wall soon making itself a barrier to her escape, leaving her words unanswered, he locked a firm grip upon her arm

[04:45:39] zCS # [Mod] Estinie Resident [RP] logged into the region.

[04:45:40] Long Range: Estinie Resident [94m]

[04:46:43] Ava Delaney (avadelaney) thinking since she’s agains the gate she may as wel try getting someones attention again and hammers the wood “Anyone home!”

 

[04:47:02] East Gate Door L shouts: AvaDelaney Resident knocks loudly at the door ♫

 

[04:47:33] Maddock Bracken (maddock) grabs the other arm, pulling them behind her, he wrenches them into the small of her back ..  drawing out rope

 

[04:47:46] Ava Delaney (avadelaney) shouts: Anone Home in there?!

 

[04:47:50] Rurik (Estinie) shouts: Coming!

As soon as Rurik announced himself, my would-be captor departed with great haste. No exit RP, like maybe “hears the voice of the guard and backs away” or something, he just ran. Given the contents of his profile he only had capture and more on his mind. This is the kind of behaviour that gives Gor RP a bad reputation.
To say I was fortunate in IC terms that Rurik came along is quite an understatement. Because despite his dubious intentions, my would-be captors actions would have been legitimate in the RP setting.

I was once captured when I was new to Gor, it wasn’t much fun, but was a bit of a mix up due to my newness and was resolved rather promptly. It was shortly after that time I switched from playing a fair-game panther girl character to Free Woman Inn keeper.

While my assailants RP was mostly legitimate it would have been debatable. Free Women in Gor have a high status and given the location, he was being very reckless.

For a comparison to the real world, it would be something like abducting a minor celebrity from outside a police station at gun point when there’s a SWAT team inside. That’s the level of nerve (or stupidity).

That’s not my ego regarding the value of my person, it’s based on the way Free Women are depicted in the Gor book series. Here are a few quotes to illustrate my point:

“A free woman is inordinately precious. She is a thousand times, and more, above a mere slave.” (Players of Gor, p.92)

The next stop after the Ikeri became surprisingly convoluted. I intended to visit the camp of a tribe I had known as the “Veck ‘En”, however as with other places, the landscape had changed quite a bit. I followed the path from the arrival point, but I ended up at waterfront.

It’s common for a trade area with a bell being what you arrive at first when approaching such a camp. I could see where it was but there was no immediately visible way of reaching it without getting wet. However the camp was clearly empty.

So at this point what I had intended to be an IC (In-Character) meet with whoever may now inhabit the camp, became an OOC (Out of Character) tour of the nearby regions.

An old friend by the name of Angel was in the nearby camp of the Wa Ngao, she TPed me across to her.

She then took me on a tour of the nearby places, given my character history as a Tavern Keeper, first stop was the Drunken Oak Tavern. Accompanied by a not-so-suble “which is currently without a keeper” remark which I found rather amusing.

When I posted my Tavern Fire RP (which can be found towards the end of Part 1 of my Gor story) via Notecard among the SL Gor community I had a number of offers of Taverns that were in need of keepers. So it shall be interesting how many I get as I attempt to re-connect with people.

Then we passed through her tribes territory

Until we came to a border crossing in to the neighbouring tribes territory, the Sa Jesuil.

By this time I admit I was rather lost, the camps and a trading station cover 4 regions in a 2×2 square layout. The paths in between the various camps zigged and zagged in an irritatingly pointless fashion, except perhaps if they were like that for defensive purposes I thought. When I queried this, I found out that a lot of the areas were non-combat, RP only.

Once we were out of the maze and back to one of the docks, there was a sign, showing which areas were combat or RP areas.

I think to do this place with it’s numerous and varied inhabitants justice and make sense of it, I shall have to return. Next time however starting from each of the 4 regions landing points. The fact it has large RP-only areas quite appeals to me, since one off-putting thing about Gor RP for me is the constant risk of capture. For many players in SL Gor combat,raiding and capture RP is their main draw to it,but not for me.

Following on from my last post I’m continuing the search for my friends and allies. First stop was the Ikeri tribe and their En (leader, Gorean term for First) by the name of Sky.

On my second attempt to visit there was one of the tribe bonds met me outside.

She invited me inside and we talked for a little while as she served me a drink.

She was the only one there at the time, though it was quite early in SL time, so I went and returned a little later. When I returned the place was lot busier.

Third-time-lucky, Sky was around this time

I chatted to her and the other huntresses as the place began to fill up fairly quickly.

I had quite a surprise however, there were two bond girls and the second turned out to be one of the friends on my list of people to track down! It turned out that shortly after my tavern burned the nearest tribe, of which she was a member, disbanded. She was captured by one of the Ikeri and liking the place, she stayed.

I stayed around and chatted for a little while, surprised at how many were appearing, but there was mention of an incoming raiding party, so I made a hasty exit so as not to be caught up in the fighting. Although given the number of panther girls in the camp, I’d probably have been quite safe sat in one of the huts while they fended off the intruders.

This last week I decided to revisit some of my old friends in SL Gor.

It has been almost two years since the Tavern Fire storyline that preceded my departure from the Gor RP community, but I hadn’t cut ties completely. I’d kept a few good friends on my list and remained in a small number of inworld groups on mute.

The events described happened over the space of roughly a week but have been re-arranged and summarised for easier reading.

As a brief recap, I had left one community where I had run a large tavern, which accidentally burnt down one night.

I moved to different forest location where I took up residence in an outpost hill fort,from where I became a roaming trader. This got extremely hard work and just not fun anymore, so just stopped going there or any other SL Gor places.

My story resumes with my return not immediately to the fort, but to the nearby camp of my old friend, Dani.

I was, as expected, welcomed with open arms by Dani who was glad to see me after such a long time.

We sat and talked of old times and what I might do now. I would have been welcome there, but I prefer a proper bed and walls when I sleep these days, plus my complete ineptitude with weapons would make me a liability if the camp was attacked.

So I met with Sir Courgan who offered me a choice of two homes in the fort, being aware of my character history suggested maybe I could mind their local drinking establishment.

I chose one of  the offered huts and promptly made it my own

Once I was settled into my new home I decided I needed to begin tracking down my old friends and acquaintances ICly.

(Meaning while I could look them up in SL and see from profiles which bands or affiliations they were now part of, in RP terms my Character didn’t know these things, so I needed to find out.)

I thought a starting point would be to ask Dani what she could tell me, so another trip into the woods was required.

When I was leaving the fort I found an unusual scene at the bottom of the hill, a group of Dani’s huntresses gathered around a man on the floor. I recognised the man as a former acquaintance by the name of Castor. (I really wish I’d remembered to get a snapshot of this amusing scene, but alas no.)

I thought he might appreciate my aid and be of use to have around if running the tavern so I bartered for him, a cheap bottle of ka-la-na wine and he was mine. I left him at my hut in the fort an continued on my way.

On my arrival I was met by rather agitated Dani.
She informed me that one of the women was “going a little nuts and hearing voices”.  I admitted this was well beyond my rudimentary first aid skills, but I had seen a well-known healer by the name of Sigmond in the area and said I would mention it if I saw him.

I then had a pleasant chat with Dani while another huntress listened drinking her morning cup of black wine (gorean coffee). However Dani didn’t have much information for me and the visit was cut short by an intruder in the forest and I was safely escorted back to the village none the wiser about the location of any of my old friends.

I met up with the physician, Sigmond, a couple of times over the following days

I told him of the sick panther girl as I told Dani I would, one of the huntresses even dared to enter the village to give him some more detailed information, although she claimed to have been hunting and following her prey.

Towards the end of the week the girl that was with Sir Courgan when I met him,by the name of Ame visited the Tavern. Keeping it clean and tidy is among her regular tasks apparently. While she was there a local warrior by the name of Sorin paid a brief visit long enough to make introductions.

In my further attempts to reconnect storylines with old friends I paid a visit to the Ikeri tribe that were my neighbors when I had my old tavern.

Their leader,Sky, my friend was not there at the time, but I met a pair of twins who assured me they would inform her of my visit.

Well those were the events of the week, which were fun to rp, I think there will be a bit more to come!

I heard from some of my older friends that I have yet to reunite with IC that things have changed a bit in my absence. Apparently the concept of IC info (like my character knowing where her friends are now) are concepts not often followed and not many are interested in long-running storylines. I hope this is a misconception or an exception, because I love a good story that runs for a while.

I’m going to stay around a little while longer and see how things play out. I hope roleplay here isn’t as dead as some are suggesting, but from what I’ve seen this week I’d say it’s still got a pulse!

If you want to read about my previous Gor history click HERE to read from the beginning.