Dragon's Gate Block Party

[Anya de la Rose]

End your long weekend with another party!

Baroness Anya de la Rose and her Squire, Sheridan Driscol are hosting a block party in Dragon's Gate on June 2nd.

Come out for food from Nicole's Bistro and Matadero Meats, sweet treats from Anya's favorite baker and drinks from local Inns.

Dris will be coordinating live music throughout the day and possibly contributing himself!

In recognition of the efforts of past Barons and their dedication to keeping the Dueling School active, students will be putting in exhibition performances at the following times:
10 AM
12 PM
2 PM
4 PM

Rumor has it, Maggie Harker herself may return to show off some of the moves she's been passing on to her students!

Food and drinks start flowing at 8 AM and will continue to midnight!

((Feel free to post board attendance or come out and play live! The block party night life will happen in The Streets on Discord from 9PM to 12 AM ET on Wednesday, June 2nd.))

[Anya de la Rose]

GAMES!!!

Games have been set up in the grassy areas along the streets and especially in front of the Golden Perch Inn including cornhole, classic horseshoes, street hockey, and street volleyball. The road that leads between the Perch and the Dragon has been blocked off to allow street games that require pavement.



For the evening, The Squire’s Sticker Stunt Challenge Drinking Game will be hosted by Dris and Anya. Every drink purchased after dark will have a sticker on the bottom. Every sticker is a dare! Good luck!
((This will be a live event with the sticker meanings posted in the Green Room. Participants are welcome to roll for their sticker or ask for a roll on their behalf.))



FOOD!!!

Breakfast

Start the morning off right! At 8:00 am, trestle tables will have been set up under a weather protecting pavilion, lined with several breakfast staples! Heaping piles of freshly pressed waffles are lined up with piping hot sausage links, ham steaks, and bacon courtesy of Matadero Meats.


Lunch

By noon the tables will be cleared and restocked with a variety of pizza pies and cold cut sandwiches, courtesy of Nicole’s Bistro. Create your own salad bar.


Dinner

Once again at 6:00 pm, the menu will be flipped! On the lawn just outside, volunteers from the Matadero Meat Company’s main processing facility will have completed cooking a whole hog on a spit. Slow roasted on an open fire all day long during the festivities, by the evening this plump pork will be ready for slicing. Platters of meat will be available for feasting alongside an assortment of grains and breads, fresh fruits and vegetables, and picnic staple sides courtesy of Nicole’s Bistro.


Drinks

Flaming Dragon's Blood and Swinging Sword Cocktails will be on special all day courtesy of the Red Dragon and Golden Perch Inns


MUSIC!!!

Being a man with connections, Dris called in some favors to once again assemble an assortment of live bands to perform throughout the day. A temporary stage was erected just for these acts. These groups were slotted in between the live swordplay demonstrations and scheduled as follows:

8:30 - 9:30 First thing in the morning, wake up softly by listening to a classical octet perform.

10:30 - 11:30 Enjoy games and strolling the streets accompanied by folk music.

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch is served along with throwback hip-hop.

2:30 - 3:30 Keep the energy up with power ballad cover bands.

5:00 Dris himself will do a special performance.

7:00 - Midnight With the kiddos all in bed, a DJ will set up outside of the Red Dragon
to play while Anya and Dris host.

[Mairead Harker]

Maggie arrived for breakfast along with the early morning class of DGDSS students, who ranged in age from 5 to 12. At 10 AM sharp, the Rhydin High School marching band and the Harker's Academy dueling team joined them. As the students paired off, the Rhydin High band played I'll Make a Man Out of You as a march. The combined group demonstrated their fighting skills with staves. The fluid and graceful motions in the kata resembled a well choreographed ballet.

The group drew back to let two of the Dragon's Gate students to take center stage. A little over a year ago, on Maggie's first day at Dragon's Gate Sword, Brandermeir and Joanna had been arguing in the ring. As they now engaged in this form of King of the Hill, it was clear they had learned how to use their weapons and control their tempers. While the young lord still had a way to go with his entitlement issues, he had learned to curb it when training with his fellow students. Joanna seemed to have no interest in competitive dueling, but Maggie saw the potential. They had all grown in the past year. Smaller group demonstrations with other weapons including long swords, glaives, and maces followed.

At the end of demonstrartion, several students approached the teenager to share a secret. She smiled and crouched down to take a bouquet of lilacs and white roses. She carefully divided the flowers into two bouquets. The students rewrapped Maggie's and placed the others in an unbreakable vase for Anya. The others dispersed among the crowd to enjoy the games and music for a while before heading on their way home. Maggie, meanwhile, had charge of her two youngest aunts until her Aunt Crissy came to collect them.

((The staff demonstration looks a bit like the training session in this video without the flubs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVPwoWIP24 from 1:40 to the end.))

[Gideon Convor]

Gideon had worked the overnight shift at the inn after putting in long hours in the Tower of Earth library after meeting with Anya. From the inn, he tried knocking on Lici and Kairi’s door to see if they were home so he could talk about how awesome the tower was, but either they weren’t home or they were both sleeping.

He was tired, but not too tired to not take in the earliest of the festivities while in this community before returning to the wilds. As he rarely needed the sleep the rest of his family did, he would probably be back with Luna and a few of the kids later in the day, but the man was famished and needed breakfast now!

Once delicious waffles were consumed, he sighed happily and made his way back home to snuggle a sleeping elf.

[Strawberry]

Not much of an early bird, she wandered by the block party sometime around noon for the sake of nabbing the last of the waffles, playing some street games, and to cheer for the ongoing exhibition matches. It all lined up nicely so that after some food and a pickup game of street hockey (she lost, badly), she could continue on her way with a promise to return later that evening.

[BardGallant]

Dris took the entire day off and sacrificed his beauty sleep to be there bright and early on Wednesday morning. During the entire day, he worked the crowd, making time to visit with students, their parents, and other friends and patrons who came by to join the party. Later in the afternoon, he shared his talents with one of the school’s volunteers to put on a short rapier demonstration.

After the final weapons demonstration of the day, a red carpet was unrolled on the street. To one side, a small swing ensemble set up their kits, including an electronic keyboard and synthesizer. Once they were settled, at 5:00 PM, two sharply dressed men emerged from the crowd and pounced upon the carpet together. The band kicked off with Jamie Berry’s “Lost in the Rhythm” and the two men started dancing!

Dris (in gray) and Rhys (in black) completed a two minute choreographed electro swing dance demonstration, ending in an enthusiastic embrace full of laughter. The bard took his boyfriend by the hand, raised their arms high and lead him into a series of bows. He introduced Rhys to the crowd and thanked him for stepping out of his comfort zone to help him with that opening act. After seeing him off the stage to rounds of applause, Dris caught a microphone that one of the band members tossed his way.

Following a short speech in which he thanked everyone for coming out to the block party, Dris joined the band and lent his voice to a full set of other moving swing numbers, both of the traditional and electronic variety. When he wasn’t singing, he was on the red carpet dancing, and pulling in anyone who looked even a little curious to join him. Anyone who protested that they didn’t know how, he was happy to take the time to teach them his moves.

Later in the evening, happily exhausted, the bard could be found lounging around with Baroness Anya de la Rose and other friends at the Red Dragon Inn.

[Death Knell]

Ettyn returned from the southern Wilds with a wildfire salamander that had crossed over from the elemental planes. It was normally unable to be cooked with fire due to its nature, but the slayer had taken it down with weapons coated in a hoarfrost poison. Ten feet long from head to tail, the salamander had to be curled into a circle, its tail tucked into its mouth after vegetables and spices were stuffed into it, and grilled. The meat was very juicy; the legs were especially tender.


Before --


After (but bigger!) --

[Partly Cloudy]

Thanks to a phone call from Dris, the young man called gatito had learned of the Dragon’s Gate block party in time to bake up some special treats. He arrived at the party in the early afternoon, with Salvador in tow, to drop off dozens of macarons and small tartlets.

While he was there, he mingled with friends and the school’s students, and found a few minutes to catch up with Baroness Anya. Then he found an out of the way spot to sit with the Spaniard and watch the remaining swords demonstrations, as well as Dris and Rhys’ dance demonstration.

As the day yawned into evening, gatito went around the crowd to collect hugs from friends and family. Then he slipped off into the evening with Salvador, headed to parts unknown.

Macaron flavors:

• Dirty chai - Chai-spiced shells filled with rich espresso buttercream and decorated with a drizzle of spiced caramel
• Strawberry cheesecake - Light vanilla-flavored shells filled with cream cheese frosting and strawberry jam, topped with a drizzle of white chocolate and crushed graham cracker
• Nutella - Delicate chocolate shells filled with Nutella buttercream and topped with a drizzle of chocolate and chopped hazelnuts

Tartlet flavors:

• Chocolate cherry - Chocolate pastry shells filled with port wine-poached cherries and chèvre cream (think chocolate-cherry cheesecake!)
• Apple rose - Buttery pastry shells filled with lemon-scented apple “petals” seated in warm cinnamon-spiced caramel
• Tiramisu - Sweet cookie shells brushed with coffee, dipped in chocolate, and filled with mascarpone cream, topped with a dusting of espresso powder and a rose-like swirl of pure chocolate

(Please note that the alcohol in the port was cooked out during the poaching of the cherries, leaving behind only the flavor. Therefore, the tartlets can be safely consumed by most partygoers.)

[Michelle Montoya]

Michelle came by with her two children, Allen and Nadella, to visit the kids at the Dragon's Gate School and watch the demonstrations. Allen and Nadella enjoyed the food, games, and music. Michelle took some time to catch up with Hubert and a few of the parents but mostly kept to herself until it was time to return to Cadentia as per the conditions of her court sentence.