This was an action-packed weekend.

Well anyhow.

On Saturday I went to Raptorcon, which is out in Gaithersburg. I was in three great slots. The first of which was kind of brutal, and nearly ended up killing my character. Twice!

The first near-death experience; if I had not counted the zero hit point, my character (Scepter Kreel) actually would have been killed outright by a fireball that went off.

We were in the Hornwood, trying to defend the (secretly half-dragon) elven king from his evil draconic brothers. The king was already dead at this point-- having sacrificed himself for the royal consort. The elves who had gathered for the Reverie were all scattering into the forest-- but we still had a chance at driving the invaders off, and the king could be reincarnated at the Heart of the Hornwood (and purged of his draconic blood at the same time, because the Heart only reincarnates you as an elf).  
As I closed to melee with the draconic invaders, a Redspawn called down a fireball directly over his own location.

And that was it for Scepter. Counting the "zero", he was at -9, and I had a Campaign Card that allowed for an immediate stabilization, so I was down for the count.

Later, Scepter almost bought it again, after the battle was over, I was healed. Our party brought the kings body back to the Heart of the Hornwood at the request of our elven advisor, so the king could be reincarnated. As we stood vigil over the king's body, my character was charmed, and then brought down by one of the king's enemies. This time I stabilized at -8. Tragically, the druid that went out of her way to stabilize my fallen character in the battle was killed outright on the next round. The king's body was carried off by the fiend (and not reincarnated), so the druid was reincarnated instead. This was encounter was close to a TPK, with 4 out of 6 adventurers being unconscious at the end of the battle, and the Fiend carrying off the kings body so it could not be reincarnated. Technically we "failed" the adventure. Which is kinda cool in a way.  

Aftermath: Scepter suffered horrible burn scars during this near-death experience. After this adventure he takes some time off to reflect on lost causes. He's now seen two friends die in battlefield incidents similar this, (former companion Jonen died at DDXP in a similar situation, when a suicidal caster called down a massive acid burst right nearby, which knocked Scepter down to 0 as well).

This time, it very nearly was him.

So I think I shall change Scepter's cheerful vagabond persona just a bit- he becomes more cynical, although still funny. I'll add the detail about the burn scarring, and have him start wearing a full-face-covering helm that conceals the worst of the burn. I'm also going to invest heavily in fire resistant stuff (I got access to lots of stuff from City of Brass and another mod, so this should be fun).  

After that rough adventure, I played in one more slot, plus the Interactive (which is kinda like a Larp). I'll get to that in a second.