I apologise in advance for the complete lack of recognizable likenesses in this comic. I did NOT have my camera with, and retain only a hazy memory of what everyone looked like on this epic adventure.

In fact, expect edits to this piece as people write to tell me what REALLY happened. meanwhile, this is a long-winded attempt to explain the comic. I could have done another 6 panels, but that'd seriously cut into my BEER TIME.

Now then...
If you ever get an invite to a party hosted by CCP (Eve Online) and White Wolf (World of Darkness)... grab it. Put it in the safest part of your wallet right by your green card, passport and Burger King coupons.

They throw the best... parties... EVAH.

As a bonus, they seem to like the dark goth/industrial scene, which suits me just fine; my favorite dance music.

I gained one of the super hot tickets from the very kind Charles "Kieron" Dane (Community Manager for Eve Online, last seen being whipped at the CCP/WW party at GDC), and I was really hopping, ready to go.

As is obvious by now, I also loooove costume. Dorf, Goth, whatever!
After trying to coerce Brakk into sending me my Goth gear (he: "$75 for FedEx overnight? are you NUTS?"), I managed to at least buy some cheap boots and requisite lipstick/eyeliner. Luckily I own a lot of black clothes, so I made do.

My roommates, Jodie and Nicole (of MPOGD.com) surprised me by putting on some of the dark and scary makeup too. I am really sorry that I did not get any pics of them before we left. Yay! It is always better to go as a crowd. If anyone commented, I could let Nicole beat them up, especially if she was in her alter ego of Svetlana. Von day yu shall mit Svetlana - eef yu arr lukki!

Even more better, Tallika had stayed over. He claimed he was staying in a motel a few miles off, but I am pretty sure I saw him snoring in a ditch with other long-haired scruffy types when I went to breakfast. Anyway, the good news was that I had the BEARD to keep me out of danger. He was also good enough to carry my teeny purse. I hate purses and hate carrying them (and subsequently losing them) more, but that's another story. He was invited to the group, and after some discussion, realizing that he was a DPS and not the TANK he looked like, we moved on.

There were supposed to be shuttles going to the event, starting at 8:45. The line that appeared to be waiting for it, as with all things at GenCon, was sloppy, large and there was no way of telling where it started.

More or less in the "line" I saw Jeremy Dale, Lead Animator for Warhammer Online. I immediately went to harrass him, and I swear he took a step back in fear. Not sure if he was scared because he thought I was a very aggressive prostitute, or because he's been ducking people trying to mug him for WAAAAGH beta for three days. Once I said, "Ver iz mine BETA, yu Kapitalist svine?" he figured out who I was.
Jeremy was duly invited to the group. I am pretty sure he is a Squig herder.

There were now five of us in the party, and that is the magic number for a cab. As there was no sign of the shuttle, we hailed one, piled in, and gave the driver the address that was on the ticket. 151 East Ohio. I am making that up, actually. It was some number on East Ohio. If anyone has seen my memory, please send it, collect. Won't cost much.

Minutes later we spilled out onto the sidewalk, heartened to see that there were others obviously there for the same purpose. They looked and smelled like gamers. Don't know what gamers smell like? Come to GenCon, walk into the main hall, and sniff. You'll never forget it. Even if you want to.

The door was still locked, but it wasn't quite 9pm yet.
There was no sign on the place, but that is pretty common with clubs. No worries.

By 9:05, we were starting to look around, everyone feeling a bit bolstered by the fact that there were so many people there, also waiting. Some of us checked the address on our tickets.

By 9:10pm, everyone had checked their ticket and verified that they all said the same address.

By 9:15pm, lack of alcohol was starting to make its effects felt, and we started looking for red-shirts to send round the darkened building to seek a side-entrance. For some reason, we checked our tickets, again, in case they had changed or something.

By 9:20pm, Charles and his wife Margreth arrived. She looked like a piece of art, in red and black leather. They had the same address. We know because they checked their tickets.

By 9:25pm, Kelley Barnes-Herrmann arrived. She is the Marketing Director for White Wolf, a striking and organized person who immediately got on the phone and within a few minutes had the news for us.

Kinkos had printed the WRONG address on the tickets.

If you took the shuttle, you were fine.
If you took a cab and the driver had ever heard of "Club Industry", you were fine.
If your cab driver little speak English and no hear of "Clup Inussri" and has to have a street address, you are on the sidewalk with us.

There were options. Kelly could try to get hold of the shuttle and have them come by to get us, but this would probably take a while.
The club was said to be about 8 blocks from where we were, but I'd been around Indy enough to know how easy it was to get lost.
There was also the cab option, but they were REALLY few and far between on the side-street we were on.

There were enough people for a raid party, and so, after 3 or 4 minutes of figuring out which way was up on the map, we set off behind a reasonably confident raid leader who was very possibly dyslexic. Worse yet, maybe he'd never actually played a Ranger!

Having been to a CCP/WW party before, there was NO WAY IN HELL I couldn't give this a try. I took up position toward the rear, as is appropriate for a Mystic. Off we went. I was very, very happy that my boots-of-buttkicking +2 did not have spiked heels.

Margreth Dane was not so lucky. In fact, I am not sure how she managed to even stand on her pretty, pretty stilts, but the psychic in me saw a cab ride in her future.

So, off went the raid party. After several blocks and a few more on top of that, the lead scout pulled in to a little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop while we stood around outside trying hard not to look like a herd of geeks. One of Indy's finest gave directions that seemed sure to send us past the gates of Hades, but that was more info than we had.

So we went down a few more blocks, across the street and entered a very long, very dark and very scary alleyway. It looked just like the kind of passage you get funnelled into in a dungeon just before the Epic x 4 manticores and balrogs materialize on all sides.

However, there were a dozen of us, and we could almost smell the free bar. I don't have to decribe that smell to you, do I? NIRVANA, and I don't mean the band.

Ahead, in the distance, just down from the moon, was a building that emanated a dark, heavy beat. Only a street and a few more menacing buildings lay between us.

We were prevented from jaywalking by the appearance of a fast-moving ambulance. "Ranger down!" someone yelled and we all started waving.

The ambulance driver waved back. I figured he knew there was a good chance he'd be coming back to peel one of us off he pavement sooner or later.

WHOMP, WHUMPA, WHOMP WHOMP.
Yep, the beat reverberated right through the liver. We were at the right place. It didn't say "Club Industry" on the outside either, but it was da PLACE!

That is the end of my tale, other than it was a GREAT time, exceeding expectations. The music was loud and brilliant.

I discovered that Spyke Alexander of EA/Mythic not only looked good in a kilt, but that we had mutual friends in Naomi Denmother and the House Ogre. The gaming world is very small, and I like it.

I got to know some of the CCP/WW folks better, including the aforementioned Kelley, as well as Valerie "Pann" Massey (PR/Communications Director, WW); these companies continue to impress me with the depth and intelligence of their people.

Margreth finally managed a wardrobe change from the very sexah but ohmygodicantbreathe dress and shoes of pain +4 to a very comfy poofy shirt and slacks, so we didn't have to call 911 after all.

The Beard was seen dancing... a lot... and I'd pay well for visual proof of this. Unfortunately, all I have is this dark, grainy cell-phone pic of myself and Tallika, moments before THE BEARD swallowed all of the light in the room. Impressive.

(photo by Grimwell - yah, that Grimwell. I hope he survived)

...and CCP/WW upped the ante on anyone ever topping one of their parties. EVAH.
I can hardly wait for the next one. I'd walk even further.

UPDATE: Yeah, I figured someone would see this and give a few corrections. Enter Eddy Webb, a freelancer for CCP/WW. Here is his addendum - I dredged up the comic this morning and gave him long hair as he should have had in the first place. =P

I slid in a few other corrections as well. You did not see me do that. Move along.
;-)#