Indy's intro:

The need to play MN0's journey started with CG0's journey. Julian, Dela, and I all do roller derby. Dax, in his infinite wisdom, hosted CG0's journey on the same day as one of our derby bouts. But these FOEcakes shall not be denied their journey! I bought my Megabus tickets to this one in May. Oh yeah.

I convinced Minneapolis local Tankman I had met at Marscon earlier this year that he wanted to let me crash at his place for the weekend, and that he also wanted to run this crazy thing with us. Look who has now joined SF0! w00t! The powers of persuasion worked! We met up with Dela and Julian right before the start time, and proceeded to the starting line. We found Dax and Kid A, and after warming up somewhat sporadically decided to run the journey as a group together, with eyes on the new prize of the team unity award. Team 'CG0 & Friends' (proportion: 4 CG0 to 2 Friends of CG0) was born.

Julian Muffinbot's intro:

Dela Dejavoo and I bought our Megabus tickets a few days before leaving. We were unable to take any days off work for this event, so what we did was board a Megabus at 7 AM Saturday, arrive in Minneapolis in the late afternoon, have only a couple of hours in which to prepare for the game (in a city we had, up till that point, never visited), play Journey, afterparty it up, somehow find our way to our host's house in St. Paul, steal a few hours of sleep, and then board another Megabus at noon on Sunday for the 2nd 8 hour bus ride in two days. Crazy? Maybe. We didn't think of it at the time, but in fact, the most horrible aspect of our travel plans was the not really being able to stretch our legs on Sunday for all those 8 hours. We experienced the repercussions for *days* and in my case, *weeks* (well, a week and a half) during which I was unable to participate normally in derby practice.

With rain predicted, Dela and I spent some time on the Megabus, as well as at a Target in Minneapolis before the game started, using clear packing tape to laminate a set of printouts of maps of the playing area, in case it rained. (Actually, we laminated 2 sets, knowing we were likely to become separated over the course of the game.) Waterproof maps FTW!



However, the rain stopped before the official start time of the game, and never started again, so we never needed them, but we would have been VERY PREPARED.

Starting Line:


Kid A's intro:

After what I like to call my Freetime Expansion Event '08, (Read: I no longer had a job to worry about.) I had decided to do some traveling. Looking at the SFØ events page gave me a reason to plan a mild excursion to Minneapolis and Chicago, to make Journey and A&U, respectively. I planned my trip ahead of time, which is always a bad idea for me, because I never stick to solid plans. I purchased Megabus tickets from St. Louis to Chicago, Chicago to Minneapolis, Minneapolis back to Chicago, and finally, Chicago to St. Louis again. I started off my trip by already deviating from my plans. I ended up not taking my bus to Chicago, and therefore wasting the money I spent on it. I caught a ride up to Chicago a day later with a friend, as I had an unexpected guest pop into town the day I was supposed to leave on the bus. Once in Chicago, I stayed the night with Dax, and we boarded the bus to Minneapolis the next day. We arrived and split ways. The day of arrival was also the day of my 25th birthday. I met up with a few old friends that live in Minneapolis, and they proceeded to provide me with the debauchery that a twenty-fifth birthday deserves. Including, but not limited to, drinks, laughter, friends, strangers, support (To Stand!), and one, very short trip to a horrible, horrible place called BJ's. I'll let you make your own assumptions. Yes, my friends thought that was a very funny joke. The relevance of this to Journey is the hangover it provided me with that lasted well after that starting time. I vowed never to run future Journeys the day after my birthday.
At the starting line, I did indeed become a part of Team CGØ and friends. I normally would have objected to being on a team with that name (Something more appropriate, like Team SLØ and Subsidiaries, would have been nice), but I wanted to be on that team for one specific reason, which I'll touch on a bit later in this praxis.

START TO CHECKPOINT 1

(writeup so far by Indy and Muffinbot)

Wanting to avoid what we assumed would be a mass exodus of players and chasers going down University, we decided to try to follow the river to the first check point instead. We were met with a construction site and construction workers shooing us away. As we retreated back the way we came, we found a way into the woods and tried to minimize our back-tracking by going up through the woods and continuing east. We eventually ran out of path through the woods and hit the construction site again, and continued to get shooed out. This was near the interstate (35W?), so we made it halfway to the checkpoint without using University (or any road at all, really). The caveat- we lost a lot of time and were way behind everybody. The bonus - we were climbing walls within the first 10 minutes! We continued to the first checkpoint, full of paranoia, and things remained uneventful. Same with the first bonus checkpoint nearby.



CHECKPOINT 1 TO CHECKPOINT 2

Muffinbot convinced everyone to take what she felt would be a less direct, less obvious route. (This would be a theme all night and one that I (muffinbot) argues worked well to the group's advantage.) The one problem with this route was that it involved crossing a VERY LONG bridge that was NOT a safezone, as several other bridges were. However, Muffinbot was convinced that fewer chasers would be staking it out, because of the various more obvious and quicker ways to get between checkpoints 1 and 2.



About halfway across the bridge, we encountered several other runners who informed us that a chaser was waiting at the other side. Crap!! Was our first chaser going to catch us in a chokepoint of a bridge? As soon as traffic allowed, we cut across to the other side of the bridge, and as we neared the bottom, we saw no chaser, but all the same, ducked off the road immediately and began traveling behind buildings and through parking lots, heading in the direction that we thought was another bonus checkpoint. As we emerged into one of the safezones that was near Checkpoint 2, we became disoriented and had to ask bystanders for help. We realized we were much closer to the actual Checkpoint 2 than the bonus checkpoint we had originally meant to go for, so we decided to just save the bonus for later.

While walking down the safe zone street, we encountered a large group of runners-turned-chasers going the other direction. We decided to stop them for a photo-op, and they warned us check point 2 was a war zone.

It was as we descended upon Checkpoint 2 that A HUGE SWARM OF CHASERS came at us. The group scattered! Each person probably has their own tale to tell here.

Muffinbot: Not having really sussed out which building was the checkpoint, I ran away from the group, pursued by a single Chaser. As I ran across the (fortunately traffic-less at that moment) street, with her right on my heels, I realized that we were running at the exact same speed. I was not creating any more distance between us but nor was she gaining on me. It would be a test of endurance! Fortunately, I won this test. Way sooner than I anticipated, my chaser stopped running, and called out, "Bye bye, runner!" I continued running until I had reached some stone benches that I could hide behind. Once safely behind the benches, I took my map out, panting with the exertion of my first successful escape, but knowing I wasn't *truly* safe until I'd reached the checkpoint, which I now had no idea where it was. I also did not know what had happened to my team. Maybe everyone but me had been caught. Maybe everyone but me was safe, and they were now all assuming I was the enemy.

At this point I thought of the many Team FOEcakes writeups of the Chicago Journey I'd read, in which someone would get separated from the group, and hilarious phone calls would ensue in which no one could really trust each other anyway. I felt it would be a waste of time to call anyone in my group. Apparently my group felt the same way, since no one called me.

I studied my map, figuring out where I was and where the checkpoint was, and then peeped out from behind my bench to see if the way looked clear. I spotted my teammate, Tankman, walking back and forth on the sidewalk to one side of the checkpoint. What the hell was he doing?! That behavior was very suspicious. If he was still blue, why didn't he run into the checkpoint? I could not, in the dark, see his armband. I waited until his walk took him out of sight, then ran for it. A couple of chasers spotted me as I ran toward the checkpoint, but I was enough ahead of them that I made it, safe! And, all of my teammates were also there, safe! Even Tankman. Apparently he was pacing back and forth while waiting for a safe entry time, too.

Indy: I bolted from the chaser tailing me, but in the direction of the checkpoint. After darting somewhat haphazardly through the traffic, I reached the safezone of the checkpoint. Dax made it about the same time, in about the same way. Or so it looked to me. I had to wait very anxiously for many minutes to learn what would become of the rest of my team. Had we lost our local guide? Were my fellow foecakes toast? Here we eventually had the first of several happy reunitings we would have throughout the night.

Kid A: When the scattering started, Tankman and I split off towards the same direction, with me following him. I wasn't really worried at this point, as I had sized up our attackers already, and decided our entire group was probably faster then them. We just had to figure a way around them, since they were standing right in front of the safe zone. It's at this point that something very bad happened to me. You see, I think my muscles were being deprived of lovely oxygen from my birthday drinking the night before. As I'm following Tankman around the back of the building, my left calf muscle pulls and slows me to a limp. I try to keep up, but can't, and Tankman vanishes out of my sight. Luckily I wasn't followed, or I would probably have been done that early. Knowing I couldn't out run the chasers at this point, I crouched behind a car in the parking lot, and waited for a moment to sneak in. This, made for one of the funniest moments of my night, in retrospect. As I'm crouched behind this car I see someone walking into the parking lot and directly towards me. I couldn't see if they had an armband on at all, let alone what color. As they get closer, I'm about to make a break for it because I know they've seen me, when they suddenly turn back around and leave. I breathe a sigh of relief and continue to wait for the chasers to clear a bit. Moments later, the same person is back in the lot, once again, coming directly towards me. This time, though, they brought reinforcements! At this point, I'm thinking it's pretty much over for me, I have a pulled muscle, and I'm getting pinned by two people. Once they are so close that my nerves can't take it anymore, I jump up, and attempt to begin the game of keeping cars between me and them. As I jump up, I realized neither of them are wearing armbands. One of them, the lady, happened to be the owner of the car I was ducked behind. The other person, was a worker from the place she was at, escorting her to her car because their was someone crouching behind it! After realizing their obvious suspicions, I could do nothing but laugh, and then hobble into the safe zone and hope for the best. Neither of them said much to me, but I can only imagine what the poor lady was thinking.

CHECKPOINT 2 to CHECKPOINT 3

So, as previously noted, approximately 1 zillion chasers were surrounding Checkpoint 2.



A safe zone (a long stretch of Cedar Ave) was only about a block away, but how to get there? Indy apparently took it upon herself to make a run for it by herself (claiming she thought the rest of us were behind her). Tankman called her once we realized she had gone, while Muffinbot freaked out, going "WHY ARE YOU CALLING HER! SHE COULD BE THE ENEMY!" (Again, shades of my fellow FOEcakers' experience with Journey Chicago took hold here.) Indy, on the other end of the phone, claimed she was waiting for us just inside the safe zone. Muffinbot DID NOT BELIEVE HER. She could be turned, and waiting just OUTSIDE the safe zone to catch us.

Nonetheless there was nothing to do but wait till the way looked clear, and then make a run for it. Turns out Indy was still safe, and waiting just where she said she would be, but Muffinbot defends her paranoid instincts nonetheless!

Indy explains her side of this one: While plotting escape, there were groups of chasers also talking amongst themselves, often not paying close attention to us. Dax said something about 'we should just saunter off now, in the other direction while they're not really looking.' After several more uneventful minutes, I agreed that that was a good idea and did it. I assumed everyone else was behind me, but I was wrong. After getting to the safe street, I was met with Julian's unreasonable paranoia as I tried to call and find out when they were coming. She thought I was a chaser, even though the street is within view of the checkpoint and I jumped up and down waving my blue-ribboned arm to prove my status. (Julian would like to note here that Indy was NOT visible while doing this blue-ribboned jumping up and down, and that paranoia is NOT unreasonable)

The rest of the journey between Checkpoints 2 and 3 were punctuated by two trips to bonus checkpoints and no chaser sightings at all, though we were still extremely paranoid. We first hit the bonus checkpoint in Gold Medal Park, then we used Chicago Ave (which we felt would be lucky) to travel south to the bonus checkpoint at Chicago & 10th St. This was an uneventful, if fast-paced walk. As we returned back up north on Chicago, Muffinbot insisted upon overshooting 6th St (where Checkpoint 3 was, several blocks west) as well as 5th St (also bordering the checkpoint) and approaching via 4th St, continuing to overshoot the checkpoint by going an additional block too far west, before entering Checkpoint 3 safely and receiving our yellow extra-life ribbons for the 3 bonus checkpoints we had hit. (We decided not to go for any more bonuses at that point. Time was short and we felt good about having just the 1 extra life.)

Kid A: There are two more noteable things to mention here. I mentioned earlier that I joined Team CGØ and Friends for one particular reason. You see, I was acting as a Sleeper Agent, and upon a phone call, I was to change to a red ribbon and wreck havoc on my group. I picked this group specifically to target Dax, what with all his bragging before the Journey. My orginal plan was to receive the phone call, and drop back behind the group, out of sight for a bit. When out of sight I was going to change my ribbon, and walk calmly back to them a little bit later, hoping they didn't think anything of it until it was too late. I had to rethink this since I had a pulled left calf. I decided it was still my best chance, hoping I could get close enough to them before they realized what was going on. I received the phone call moments after the "Mothra Sequence Activated" text was sent out on twitter. This immediately made Dax paranoid. He looked at me with shifty eyes and quickly begin walking away from me well telling the group to watch out for me. His paranoia was partly my fault, as I was feeding it quite often pre-game with off-handed comments. All of the paranoia was wasted though, as I was told they weren't going to activate us yet, due to not knowing the Chaser/Runner balance yet. The other thing is that, shortly after this, as we closed on Checkpoint 3, during a brisk jog, I suffered more trouble. I was favoring my right leg, which was allowing me to keep up with the group as long as they weren't at a full sprint. During this jog, my right calf muscle went out on me too. I became a fully functional sitting duck. Without being able to favor either leg, I was physically unable to run, or jog. Walking was possible, if I didn't mind ignoring the mild pain with each step. Realizing I'm not even halfway through the game, and running was not an option for me anymore, I started to get mildly disheartened. Now, even if I did get activated, I wasn't going to be much of a threat. If I didn't get activated, I also figured there was no way I was going to just walk into every check point, including the final one.


2nd Bonus Checkpoint


3rd Bonus Checkpoint


Checkpoint 3

CHECKPOINT 3 to CHECKPOINT 4

The red-haired chaser, Oliver X, was obnoxiously FOLLOWING US AROUND as we tried to plot our exit from the checkpoint.



To divert his attentions, we quickly split into two groups of 3 as we discussed our plans for escape. Oliver stayed with one group. Then each group sent 1 rep to the other group and there was a bit more back and forth as an escape direction was decided upon, hopefully while confusing Oliver but none of us. It didn't work. As we made a mad dash out of the checkpoint, heading further west, Oliver and possibly several other chasers were behind us. Another team of chasers was also running. Kid A, having pulled his calf muscles by Checkpoint 2, was unable to run, and had told the group he would nobly sacrifice himself as bait if we were set upon, so he was not running with us.

Several blocks away, part of our team - Muffinbot, Indy, Dax, and Tankman, were still safe and together, but Dela was gone, and Kid A was gone. The four of us continued to where we saw a bus that would take us to quite near Checkpoint 4, so we quickly boarded. Buses are safe zones. However, our relaxation was short-lived. Ink Tea, the dreaded Caped Bicycle Chaser of our game, was GETTING ON THE BUS! She was loading her bike onto the bus's rack, and then came and sat down with us.

It is hard to describe the feeling that came over me at that time. I feared Ink Tea. I wanted her to go away. I felt a strong sense of negativity toward her, though it wasn't hate (enough of me was still aware of the "playing a game" mindset), but I could not really name the feeling.

"What," said Ink Tea, "did you think you weren't being tracked?"

We looked at each other in horror and shock. Well, Muffinbot and Indy and Tankman did. Dax was not surprised as his being tracked since he'd spent so much time shit-talking before the game. Ink Tea made it obvious that Dax, not us, was her main target. Dax bravely took one for the team, getting off the bus a few stops earlier than we had planned, with Ink Tea following him. We watched from the bus as he ran for un-bike-friendly terrain, while Ink Tea grabbed her bike from the rack and headed after him.

The story of Dax at this point is well known to everyone who was at the afterparty. With Ink Tea hot on his trail, and nowhere in sight to escape her, he ran for a portapotty, thinking that if he could at least get inside and lock it, it would be a stalemate. (Arguably it is NOT a stalemate when one person is trapped in a portapotty and one is not, but this is beside the point.) However, he fumbled with the lock and Ink Tea crashed into the portapotty and tagged him.

Meanwhile, back on the bus, the remaining 3 of us met another single blue runner, whose name I do not remember. We all got off the bus together, to the west of Loring Lake Park. The checkpoint was on the eastern edge of the park. Walking through the unfamiliar park at night was very terrifying, but we met no chasers. We did meet Mean Janine, a runner who had also lost the rest of her team, who had already been to Checkpoint 4, but who agreed to join us and guide us back to the checkpoint in exchange for gaining a new group to run with. It was not until we reached the checkpoint that we saw chasers, but it was too late for them to get us. As we took a few minutes to rest at the checkpoint, Dax showed up, still a runner after his encounter with Ink Tea in the portapotty - she had only gotten his yellow ribbon.

Kid A: As my team sprinted away at Checkpoint 3, I knew there was no way I could keep up. Oliver X remarked "Not in much of a hurry are you?" As he jogged out of the safe zone, away from me, but after my group. I watched them momentarily, then started walking slowly south through the safezone, then east to a street that I forget the name of, Hennepin maybe? I strolled calmly down this street all the way to checkpoint four, with no real issues. I saw Oliver X once on the street, but either he didn't notice me, or wasn't concerned with me, so I continued on, walking all the way.

Ink Tea herself also showed up at Checkpoint 4, with her bike. (Cue feelings of horror and fear.) Shockingly, our team member Kid A showed up! Despite his inability to run, every time a group of chasers came, the chasers would always be too distracted by the running runners, completely failing to notice his now gimpy self still strolling along. By this totally unintentional method, Kid A made it to the very end, never being turned, despite being UNABLE TO RUN. Holy shit. We would run into him at every checkpoint, with him explaining that he had meant to give himself as bait, but it never worked.

He did lose his yellow ribbon at this point in a way that was kind of sad- the safezone was the grass within the sidewalk, and he was on the sidewalk when chaser's got him here and took his yellow. The chasers were only kind of trying- he could have stepped into the grass at any point. They seemed kind of shocked when they tagged him. We tried to yell at him to take a sidestep into the grass, but obviously it didn't quite work. He thought he was already in the safezone. Whoops. Our limpy gimpy teammate could have finished with his yellow still intact! (Alas! What was I thinking!! I just remember seeing the checkpoint literally ten feet from me and figuring there was no way I wasn't in the safe zone already. The perils of not double checking! Also, I can say a bit of my disheartening played into this. I was sort of in this mindset that I wasn't going to make it to the end anyway, so it didn't really matter. With that mindset, I wasn't concerned with trying my best to make sure I was safe and sound.)

We did not see our last remaining teammate Dela at this or any checkpoint until the end, and were unaware of her fate.

CHECKPOINT 4 to CHECKPOINT 5

I should note here that, so far, the hardest part of the game was leaving the checkpoints. Chasers hung out at all the checkpoints, inside the safe zones, following groups of runners around and just waiting for them to leave. It was impossible to leave a checkpoint sneakily. It was only possible to leave a checkpoint at TOP SPEED. (I have to disagree at this point, as I calmly walked out of every checkpoint from 3 onward.) I found this both really annoying, and also a bit obvious on the chasers' side. If I were a chaser, I was sure I would wait just *outside* the checkpoint, behind things, where the runners would leave without knowing I was there, and then I would ambush them. The chasers who hung out at the checkpoints following us may have been obnoxious, but they were not mysterious. It was only a matter of outrunning them once we had left.

As we hung out at Checkpoint 4, Dax surreptitiously let the air out of Ink Tea's bike tires. Then we made a break for it. We seemed unpursued, but not for long. A few blocks further toward Checkpoint 5, Oliver X began chasing us! We ran from him for what seemed like forever. Suddenly, Indy and Muffinbot felt a THUMP on their backs, one after the other. Oliver had gotten us! Fortunately, we had those yellow bonus life ribbons. Before we could hand them over, though, Oliver continued running and tagged Dax, taking his blue ribbon. Dax was turned chaser (not for long, as we later learned). We handed our yellow ribbons over and ran for our lives. (Kid A, once Oliver started chasing us, had continued walking, unmolested, as usual.)

Indy and Muffinbot, now alone, knowing that Dax was a chaser and not knowing the fate of Tankman at all, ran through a vacant lot, down side streets, and across a bridge, trying to put distance between ourselves and Oliver the orange-haired demon, who had had to give us a 30 second head start. We ran for about 4 or 5 blocks, at one point crossing a very barren lot with a few shrubs and a small metal thing which Muffinbot wanted to hide behind. Indy convinced her this was a horrible idea even as the demon came within view and surely saw us crouched behind it. Again we took off running.

We eventually found relative safety in an alley, crouched between two parked cars. We rested there, drenched in sweat and paranoia. After about 10 minutes, we felt that Oliver must not be about to get us, so we cautiously left the shelter of the cars, and took a route consisting mostly of alleys to get closer and closer to Checkpoint 5. We were extremely aware that with our yellow ribbons gone, one more chaser would certainly mean our deaths.

Looking back, this trip between checkpoints 4 and 5 was one of the more pleasant, as we walked through alleys and down side streets, encountering no one but a friendly local who directed us to more alleys. We used the time-honored strategy of avoiding the most direct route and going several blocks out of our way. As we neared the checkpoint (a coffeeshop), we still felt the best way would be to approach from the alley, though we could basically see the checkpoint's street corner by then. We went for the alley that the checkpoint would open up in back of, and were as close as seeing the coffeeshop's back door. We began to head for it, but all of a sudden, the girl standing outside smoking turned, and had A RED RIBBON AROUND HER ARM! OH CRAP!! We ran from her in fear, but she did not attempt to chase. I guess we were either too far for her to think she had a realistic chance of catching us, or she just didn't feel like it, because she definitely saw us.

Knowing the back was guarded, we had no choice at this point but to approach from the front. We made a run for it and were safe.

Kid A: My journey from 4 to 5, was once again, almost effortless, despite the pain of walking with two pulled calves. I took the most direct route, as it hurt to walk, and just hoped for the best. If I saw a red band, I pulled my phone out, and began looking very involved in sending a text message as I continued walking. There was one point when a chaser did notice me, and started a mad dash for me. I calmly looked up from my phone at them and gave them a puzzled look before looking back down at my phone and continuing to text and walk slowly. I suppose this completely confused them, as they halted suddenly, and turned away from me, looking like they felt very awkward. This lends a point to conditioned responses, albeit mildly. As I was walking along, I also ran into Tankman, whom accompanied me to Checkpoint 5. When he showed up I told him he might as well just walk with me and get some rest until we see a chaser. When we see a chaser, he can take off, and they'll probably go for me as I won't be moving anywhere fast. In this way, I sort of became his second yellow band. Once again, as was par for the course for me this night, we didn't have any issues. As we neared the checkpoint we split and both went around the back of the building, since chasers were right out front. The back door was open, and we walked in and sat down inside, the nice comfy safe zone.

CHECKPOINT 5 to CHECKPOINT 6

We rested a good long while in checkpoint 5, consuming refreshments and plotting our next route. Muffinbot and Indy were reunited there with Tankman, Dax (who had tagged a resurrection runner shortly after becoming chaser), and Kid A, who had once again strolled his way out of danger. Five out of our original six! We soon became six again with the addition of Minneapolis local Martin, whose knowledge of the bus system was truly invaluable. Martin, sitting down with us over coffee and pita, told us that a bus that stopped *directly outside the coffeeshop* would take us *directly to checkpoint 6*. Holy shit! Martin also had a bus schedule with him! Our stroke of luck in meeting him at that point was truly excellent.

Plotting at Checkpoint 5:


As we waited, Julian Muffinbot got a bizarre phone call from Burn Unit.

Burn Unit: Hello, Julian? Where are you now? How are things going?
Muffinbot (immediately paranoid): What? Why would I tell you that?
Burn Unit: *snicker*
Muffinbot: I don't see why I should tell you anything! (realized later that this totally gave away the fact that i was still a runner)
Burn Unit: Well, are you with a group where at this point, your turning chaser would cause chaos?
Muffinbot: Uh, no, not really. We are in a coffeehouse at checkpoint 5, planning to take a bus to checkpoint 6, and there are already many chasers here watching. One more won't make a difference, plus I have made it this far and don't really want to go chaser at this point.
Burn Unit: OK, that's fine. Good luck!

(To explain the above conversation: Burn Unit had informed me ahead of time that he might use me as a "sleeper agent", calling me at some point to turn chaser within my group and cause chaos, but since he hadn't up till that point, I had sort of given up on thinking that would happen, and when he did call, I didn't really think that was why at first. I thought he might be tracking me to give info to chasers. Once I knew why he was calling, though, I was no longer paranoid about giving information.)

After this phone call Muffinbot returned to the group, hoping no one would think she was now suspicious.

Once we had picked out a bus to take, the trick would be to get onto it without being tagged. As usual for the checkpoints, chasers were there, hanging around, waiting for runners to leave to be tagged.

Chaser guarding the door:


Soon we formed a plan. A couple of runners who still had their yellow ribbons would hug the chasers while the rest of us ran for the bus (we would wait in the safe zone until we could actually see the bus). Then the huggers would also make a run for it. Kid A volunteered to be a hugger since he couldn't run anyway, but apparently he did not end up hugging. (After volunteering, it was decided that me hugging would be a bad idea, as I had zero chance of getting away once I let them go, which is why others took up the duty. Keeping me alive helped for the Team Unity award!) Tankman, who still had his yellow, hugged, and so did Dax, who was only blue, and got away through sheer skill, from his (very pissed off) chaser.

The plan worked brilliantly! All the runners (our team plus a few others) made it onto the bus. Safe... for a single block! A chaser, Loki, ran ahead as our bus pulled into traffic, and boarded at the next stop.



While the runners on the bus plotted a similar strategy of containment in order to safely get off the bus - hugging the chaser or otherwise impeding him - Muffinbot went to the bus driver to try to determine whether the bus would let us off on the side of the street with the checkpoint, or the other side of the street. Once she learned it was the wrong side, she used her amazing powers of persuasion to convince the friendly bus driver to stop on the checkpoint side! Yay, bus driver! The many runners on the bus LOVE YOU!

As we neared the bus stop by Checkpoint 6, a very large runner sat down beside Loki, trapping him in his seat.



The bus driver announced that he would make a special stop on the other side of the street, totally blowing our cover, but it didn't matter. We all ran from the bus and made it to Checkpoint 6! Five out of our original six, safe and together at the end! Much rejoicing!



Some of the runners from other groups were so enthusiastic that they ran full-on into the fountain that was next to the finish setup. I wish I had gotten a picture of this.

Kid A: The finish line sprint was quite humorous. The bus stopped so that we literally got let off inside the safe zone. We did have to take like, three steps away from the bus, but, basically, inside of it. Everyone just scrambled into the safe zone, and through it, with Loki chasing some even though they were safe. Tankman and I climbed the fountain down, and he, in his franticness took a leap into a very shallow bit of water that he expected to be deeped. I was right behind him, and have to admit a bit of laughter, as there was a walkable way down the fountain just to the side.

Shortly, Dela arrived full of stories of her adventure of being turned chaser. (to be elaborated on by Dela)



The story of the girl who failed her team and brought home a big-ass trophy to show for it, AKA dela dejavoo's story:

My experience up to check poiny three is covered quite nicely by my teammates. Initially I had wanted to run
the journey alone because I'm a bit of a loner, but I found being with my teammates both enjoyable and advantageous. I do not have the most strategic brain, nor do I succumb to needed levels of paranoia all that well, so I've no doubt that having them around is what got my relaxed, star-gazing self all the way to checkpoint three. I mean, seriously, I actually mis-placed my manifest somewhere after checkpoint two.

There were maybe a dozen of us who left checkpoint three at full sprint in order to escape the chaser who had
followed us to the boundary of the safe zone. At some point my lizard brain made the decision that turning left made more sense than continuing with my forward motion. Left I went and this put me behind a 30ish foot long construction board. Knowing the chaser could be on the other side I stayed in the center, not wanting to go to either edge for fear of being tagged at the corner. I stayed there for a really long time. And then eventually I sauntered off.

For a few blocks I tried to be all fancy strategic sneaky runner. I picked out on the map where my teammates might be and set out that way. I focused very hard on being serious and paranoid and afraid, ducking in and out of stoops and lobbies and darting from behind columns and such. But before I knew it I was distracted by the lights and crowds and newness of a strange city. I followed the crowds and neon for a while, high on the movie-esque feeling of traversing dark, puddle-strewn unknown streets, a stranger with a mission, sought out by countless predators who could be hiding around every corner. I glanced at my map every once in a while. I went in a lot of circles. Lost in mystery and perhaps even lost in the idea of being lost, I somehow eventually got to checkpoint four. At least I thought I had. My map insisted it was so. But there was no one there. My cell phone/timepiece dead I concluded I must have arrived after the checkpoint had already closed. Ah well, my replacement manifest already mostly blank, I left the checkpoint with yet more empty space as documentation of my journey.

My arrival at checkpoint 5, after many more minutes wandering and playing games in my head, was truly exciting. After a bit of a chase I was greeted by hugs and enthusiasm, promises of safety, and excitement at my arrival. I was escorted to the checkpoint and given more hugs. There were many exclamations of a congratulatory nature. I was given a flower. And after explaining the blankness of my manifest I was given a stamp. Except the stamp was in the wrong place! And then I realized what I'd done. Hanging my head in utter shame I explained I'd accidentally come to the wrong checkpoint, that I had not actually finished the game at all, and that I was going back out to find the actual checkpoint five. How embarrassing.

All strategy had left my brain. As I walked down the largest most direct street between checkpoint 6 and 5, hanging my head in humiliation and wanting nothing more than to get as far from my accidental victory as possible, I found myself noticing the extreme quiet of this many-laned, generally heavily trafficked (i would imagine) street. There were no cars. No people. No sounds except for my soft footsteps and...oh dear. Slowly I turned my head and looked behind me. And there, merely 20 feet away, was a young man dressed in a dark suit, a red ribbon bright as day on his left arm. My first though was, "wow, he certainly looks handsome." My second thought of "ah, shit" came pretty much immediately after that. I darted but this handsome stranger was simply faster than me. I gave him my yellow ribbon and in turn he gave me 30 seconds to run. These 30 seconds were
horrible. I hated them. There was no place to turn and hide where he wouldn't see me go. I had no choice but to simply run down this seemingly endless street until I could run no longer. Finally, unable to keep moving any further, my lungs and legs burning, I slowed to a walk. I glanced behind me and let out a breathless sigh of relief. I turned forward and immediately gasped that sigh right back into my pained lungs. About 10 feet in front of me, walking directly toward me, was Loki, red ribbon all ablaze. Apparently my gut instinct was to pretend like nothing was wrong. Hands in my pocket I sauntered nonchalantly a few steps more toward him and then made like I was heading toward a parked car and stepped into the street. If I'd had any air for such uses I would have been
whistling. Later on, at the after party, he told me he had admired my reaction. But at the time he gave chase. And I had no running left in me. And at that moment, with only an hour left in the game, I became a chaser.

Now, I would say that being a runner is not really my forte. But where I am lacking in strategy and paranoia I seem to be quite adept at instinct and sneakiness.

For the first few minutes as a chaser I kicked the ground a bit and felt sorry for myself. But pretty quickly things changed. Unafraid of being caught I was able to move anywhere at whatever speed I wanted. I spent the next hour at a crouched, silent jog. There was no time to waste. I would move as fast and as quietly as possible until I found runners. I would follow them for blocks, slowly gaining on them as I moved in shadows, then come around corners and ambush. I would watch patiently, counting footsteps and holding my breath until just the right moment and then step out in front of them. I only truly gave chase once in order to gain a ribbon. Otherwise there was no running, only me stepping out of a shadow, grasping an arm in my hand, flashing a smile, and saying "hi there." Ribbon after ribbon was handed over. It seemed I was good at this.

But having the skills of a chaser did not necessarily mean I had the heart of a chaser. This became apparent when
I made one of my "kills". I stepped out of the shadows, grabbing an arm, only to have my runner respond hysterically, flailing about and making a 180 turn, sprinting directly into his friend and knocking him down. The one I'd caught was bleeding from the scratch across his face. His friend who he'd knocked down was lying on the ground, his leg covered in blood, moaning and making whimpers of pain and terror. Standing above him my mind told me to reach down and tag him but I simply couldn't do it. Looking back my reaction seems more sadistic than had I just taken his ribbon. I stood over him screaming for him to get up and run, looking at all that blood and thinking that if only he would run everything would be ok. And he did, eventually, limp off. And I could not chase him. It is only a game, after all, and with all the tension and paranoia and exhaustion pushing us all into altered states as the hour closed in on midnight, I found myself hoping he found refuge somewhere and could tend to his wounds, ribbon in tact and without fear of me.

My short yet fruitful time as a chaser was up when I realized the game had ended. I made my way to checkpoint
6, this time as a chaser. I found my team, CG0 and friends, and hung my head a bit in shame when I realized I was the only one of us to not make it as a runner. I feared I had destroyed our chances at the team unity award. It wasn't until the awards were given out and my team walked away with their unity award, and I walked away with the chaser trophy, that I truly felt like I'd succeeded at the game.


AFTERMATH

Afterthoughts by Julian Muffinbot

-Making it through to the end was pretty fucking awesome. At each checkpoint I felt very certain I would not make it to the next one, a feeling that grew stronger as the journey continued, yet I somehow did make it each time!
-Knowing that there were no "second lives" in the Chicago journey made me feel a bit weird about having survived only due to the yellow bonus ribbon I had gotten, but not *that* weird. Different game mechanic is not equal to cheating.
-One of the oddest things to come out of this is that, because Journey was my only experience of Minneapolis, I now have a conception of the city that it is basically just, "Minneapolis is a large board upon which a game is played". I will have to go back again to gain an understanding of the city as a city.
-Having made it through the entire game without being turned Red, I *really really* want to play as a Chaser next time!
-Several times on the 8 hour bus ride to Minneapolis, I thought "this had BETTER be fun." It completely was. Totally worth the two 8 hour bus rides in two days.

Kid A
-My only thought after the game was, "Did I seriously just finish with two pulled calf muscles?" I was so sure I wasn't going to finish that I was surprised. Maybe that tortoise in the tales didn't have such a bad idea!