Friends, Booze, D&D

Ah, camping. Nothing like the peace and tranquility of being out in the middle of nowhere, with no distractions to the outside world. I went up to this cabin in the Shenandoah Valley this weekend with my friend Aaron and a bunch of his buddies. I knew it was going to be a good weekend from the moment I asked him what I should bring and he replied, "all you will need is a sleeping bag and an extra liver." From the moment I got there, I was not disappointed. The booze was flowing like, well, booze, the people were great, and the music was pumping. Yet, it seemed something was amiss when I spotted the inhabitants of the other cabin on the property. From a distance, they looked like relatively normal, everyday people, but upon further inspection it became obvious that these were not normal people at all. As a few of us went to check out the situation, it became clear to us that our fellow campers were wearing strange costumes and staging elaborate fights. Well, when you see a trainwreck, what else is there to do but stare? Upon talking to these people, we found out that they were from a role playing group, and they acted out weird and complex fantasies a la Dungeons and Dragons. So here we were, this group of 20 or so, raging it up till sunrise every morning amongst this group of many, many costumed people living out these weird fantasies, elf ears and all (in fact I actually met someone who called himself a Wolven, this meant he was half wolf/half elf) totally sober. We got a chance to watch a few of their "fights" and let me just tell you, it was one of the most surreal experiences ever. There were actually points that I had to remind myself that, although it felt like I had, I really didn't take any hallucinogens.

Anyway, all in all it really did turn out to be an incredibly fun, if not ridiculously absurd weekend, that I won't soon forget...