Lady Katarina appeared in his peripheral vision, then moved to stand in front of him. Her long brown plaits were wound in a coronet around her head. Her smile was cold. Her left hand was hidden under her black fur cloak.

“Well met, Rickard. Why dost thou run through my forest without my leave? Mayhap you were looking for this?” She revealed what she had hidden under her cloak. The Sacred Feather of the Gryphons.

More players allied with Lady Katarina stepped from behind trees and bushes, surrounding him. Most faces were familiar. A few not. Clearly, he’d been double-crossed by Black Fox.

“What kind of a man carries two swords and no shield?” a woman said mockingly. She hoisted her own shield and menacingly waved her sword.

“The kind of man who falsely fancies himself a fighter,” her compatriot sneered. “And here he is, stuck without even unsheathing a weapon.”

“He’s not real smart, is he?” a third man said, shattering the illusion they were all working so hard to build. Derrick had never seen him before. He wasn’t an NPC (non-player character), because they were provided with good-quality costumes. This guy’s tunic was just a T-shirt turned inside out, with the hems cut off, and slit halfway down the center. The resulting V had been laced with one of the cut-off pieces of fabric. It was basically the cheapest, fastest costume you could make. He was wearing it over black sweatpants. Around his wrist, he’d tied another piece of fabric, but it did little to disguise that underneath it was a Fitbit. And on his feet were tennis shoes. Tennis shoes! What had the logistics committee been thinking when they checked this guy in? Had they been too busy pretending the apple juice in the tavern was really liquor?

The advent of the Swords and Shadows TV show had raised everyone’s expectation of what proper garb should look like. It had also resulted in a plethora of Halloween costumes that weren’t half bad, if you didn’t mind polyester fur and plastic instead of metal. Halloween had only been two days ago. Yesterday, November 1, was also known as LARPers’ Christmas, because costumes went on clearance. So this new player character had no justification for his sorry excuse for garb.