Cres and Back Again | Part II
Day Two | Saturday, 27 June 2026
or How I Learned to Relax and Take Initiative
I woke up early, with the Daggerheart book still lying next to me. Because of the festival's packed schedule, I devised a battle plan the night before to have an early hotel breakfast in hopes of avoiding any Intelligence Saving Throws induced by an empty stomach. For the Pen & Paper signup games, I’ve cast my Hunter’s Mark on Candela Obscura that was to be run by Rowan Hall. After the success of her Daggerheart session the day before, I was determined to try as many different games as possible.
– A dragon in the Cres port from the previous year
I arrived at Moise Palace as the signup queue was already snaking its way down the stairs of the registration office. No more than 5 minutes later, the word spread that Candela Obscura was booked. That deflated the atmosphere a bit, but the disappointment quickly faded as I remembered there was an Old-School Essentials one-shot in the early afternoon, so I kept my fingers crossed and a Forgery Kit ready just in case. Luckily, I secured my spot and went for a coffee before the panel with Daggerheart’s creators.
I can’t emphasise enough how enthusiastic and delightful Rowan Hall and Spencer Starke were in person. I watched their interviews online, but I never could have imagined their connection to the Positive Energy plane to be so powerful. They expanded on the beginnings of Daggerheart, their Hopes for the game, what Fears they experienced while starting in the industry and how important it is to be the “Yes Person” in someone else’s life. They also touched upon the Campaign Frames, my favorite part of the book, and shared an Easter Egg for all the cartography fans: all the maps connect into one massive one! They got me thinking about turning some of my unfinished homebrew settings into a playable campaign frame, as soon as I am done with Part III.
With an hour to spare, I had a choice between taking a Short Rest or going and trying Riftbound trading card game. My HP was still fairly high thanks to the bountiful breakfast, so I found myself playing my first TCG. After a brief explanation of the rules by Igor, a dozen of us started playing. Due to a lack of assistance or a spare Scroll of Haste lying around, we were sometimes ignoring or making up rules, while Igor was doing his best to help everyone. Still, kudos to him as the game was really fun and engaging. There could be a future TCG player in me after all.
It was soon time for the OSE session, so I checked my Inventory, filled up my flask and hurried down to the Dungeons once more to meet my fellow adventurers. Karlo, the GM from the “Ona Druga Grupa” crew, was setting up while Samo and Lan were already at the table with Ana and Gorana joining us a few minutes later. Karlo explained that the story would be taking place under a dying sun on the scorching sands of Athas. My heart skipped a beat as I realised we were about to play in Dark Sun, one of my absolute favourite TTRPG settings. As I expressed my surprise and joy, I was handed a character sheet for The Rat, the only Dark Sun native in the party. The rest played members of an excavation crew in Egypt that got transported to Dark Sun by mistake. We all had a blast playing even though we did not experience that famous OSR lethality. We managed to squeeze through all sorts of shenanigans, negotiations, assassinations, persuasions and bribery with some very lucky rolls. The adventure concluded with most of the earthlings being teleported into the middle of a desert, happy to be back home, only to find the darkened red sun still looming above. I guess some PC deaths possibly did occur at the end. Regardless, their courage will forever be remembered.
After the session, I went upstairs to say hello to Winton, a friend from my childhood and the person who actually first introduced me to Dark Sun. He was there, alongside his team, to play-test their new video game “Dragon Tribe Chronicles”. We reminisced about old times while Flashback Scenes played in the background. In the end, he gave me a tour of the game. It is a strategic deck builder with an intriguing and diverse skill system. Even in this initial stage, it promises to be a real treat for the tactically minded players.
I said goodbye to Winton and headed towards the Market Place for a change of pace and stumbled upon Marco Bernardini’s stall his wife was running. He was still at the Art Forge part of Moise Palace, making original work for the last day charity auction, alongside other artist guests of honor. I decided to get the map of Tu’narath, a githyanki city in the Astral Plane. His wife was extremely nice and helpful. Because I was afraid of damaging the map, she agreed to bring it to the hotel reception as they were staying there as well. When I picked it up later that night, I was delightfully surprised that he even signed it for me. Thank you, Marco!
– Map of Tu’narath by Marco Bernardini, map of the festival’s locations and the character sheet for The Rat
After a while, I bumped into Mislav from the Daggerheart session and his friend Matej. We spoke briefly and already said goodbye to each other when something clicked. I decided to use my Heroic Inspiration on that failed Charisma check and asked if I could join them for a while. They were more than happy to accommodate me into their plans, and we continued to browse the stalls and chat about the festival. Mislav is a member of the “Hero’s Rest” crew and has been GM-ing one-shots there based on his homebrew world and Matej is a player in his home campaign located in the same setting. There was a D&D game that day, with none other than Kate Welch, herself as the GM, and Mislav the Lucky got to play. As he was telling us about how amazing she was, I was seriously considering utilizing my Survival skill and putting up a campsite in front of the registration office as there was one more Pen & Paper signup game with Kate the next day. After a few circles of the stalls, we went for a drink to cool down before the cosplay competition at the local open-air cinema.
This was my first time attending such a contest, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. There were so many incredibly dressed people there. Some were not even competing and still managed to ignore the massive Fireball forecast just for the fun of it. The ones I remember most vividly were The Powerpuff Girls casually sitting in the audience, a tag-team of Princess Fiona in her ogre and human form, the Baywatch dynamic duo of C.J. and Mitch, a definite standout at a fantasy festival but absolutely impressive, a cunning Tiefling original character and even two ”Monty Python and the Holy Grail” team costumes. My honorable mention goes to Ana from the Dark Sun session, who I ran into before, at the Market Place. She was dressed as the Headmaster of the Air Ashari and Voice of the Tempest herself, Keyleth of Critical Role. I immediately reached into my pocket to give her the fan vote sticker for competing cosplayers only to learn she was not competing, which was even more impressive in my book, especially considering all the aforementioned high-temperature metaphors, and the self-confidence needed.
– The Powerpuff Girls enjoying the cosplay competition
Before the cosplay competition wrapped up, I remembered that eating and drinking cannot be Homeruled away and treated myself with the fritto misto mentioned in Part I. Mislav and his friends went for a night-swim themed Adventure but we exchanged numbers so we could meet afterwards. On my way to the beach, I once again ran into Ana, Gorana and Samo, my Dark Sun companions, geeking out about TTRPGs in the street. A few moments and a Group Charisma check later, we moved the conversation to a local ice-cream-themed watering hole. At some point, Lan joined us briefly, with a Mandalorian helm under his arm, to deliver a map by Marco Bernardini as a gift to Samo. I asked Lan if he was competing with his outfit, to which he responded, “No, I am just representing my Clan”, which was probably one of the coolest statements of the festival. We finished our drinks, exchanged contacts and called it a night. Hopefully our stories don’t end there.
Mislav went back to his apartment to prepare for his lecture tomorrow, so I took a long walk along the coast to the hotel. It gave me time to process the day and realise that I should prolong my stay for one more night, an option I was contemplating for the better part of the day. I didn’t want to miss out on the wonderful Experience Points that this festival was bursting with, so I was very happy when Hotel Kimen’s staff were more than happy to grant me my Wish. With that out of the way, I slipped under the covers looking forward to the last day!