Duncarron Halloween. Orcs in the woods, dark elves in the trees, screams along the pathways and fire in the fort. The Clanranald Trust for Scotland went all out for the Halloween event at Duncarron this year.
The weather was kind to us for the family friendly show on Saturday afternoon. There was the once in a lifetime opportunity to witness a dance off between the orc army and the night watch and a friendly-ish game of orc tig. The children did a grand job of screaming the marauding orcs away and defending their parents from attack. With a short fire show, stalls, pumpkins, birds of prey, witch protection and creepy crawlies there was plenty to keep everyone happy and just scared enough. We even had one brave young soul who quite took to our orcs, defending them from the humans. Young orc in training - we salute you!
The atmosphere for our two nights shows was given a helping hand by the good old Scottish weather. Heavy rain accompanied the crowds of brave visitors along the orc and dark elf infested pathways. Through the darkness came the courageous visitors shrouded in screams of terror, protected every step of the way by the night watch and our rangers. It is foolish to travel the woodland paths on Halloween night without magical protection so the Non-Human Division troll hunters took our guests on a small detour to visit the witches and gain a little wisdom before dashing past the renegade troll and into the safety of Duncarron's walls.
Once there, they were greeted by elves, dwarves, a scarily friendly vampire and King Kev. Whilst they enjoyed the stalls, the tavern, Rat Boy's creepy menagerie and the spooky glare of pumpkins, they were also treated to the screams of those who travelled the paths behind them and the ominous rumbling of that restless troll. All sense of security was shattered with the slamming of the gates. The orc army was on the move and we could not know where there attack would come from. A wraith on the pallisade heralded our doom, the orcs appeared amongst us and all hell (literally) was set loose. Weapons clashed and a desperate struggle between the wicked and the righteous ensued. It looked as if all was lost until the elves came to our rescue. With their magic they froze time and called upon the cleansing power of the eldritch fire.
Danse Infernale performed a magnficient fire show, aided by two of our own fire performers. Flames danced and twirled, sparks exploded, the audience was transfixed by the mesmerising performance. The power of the eldritch fire drove away the orc army and there was peace in our rain soaked fort for a while, the visitors were able to browse and relax. That orc king was not to be deterred for long though. The gates burst open to swinging fire balls and burning swords. A mighty battle was fought, the battle to end them all. The elf queen and the orc king met in the midst of the chaos. A power struggle raged and the king fell to the ground where our brave fighters fell upon him and put an end to his marauding.
As the orcs carried away their fallen leader, King Kev praised Duncarron's defenders and our visitors were able to return to their homes, the paths now free of threat.
Duncarron Halloween is over for another year. We are so grateful to Danse Infernale for joining us and performing their spectacular fire show. Many thanks also to all of our visitors who turned up and shared in the fun and the scares amongst the rain and the mud. We hope that you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did and we look forward to seeing you at future events.
