Birdsong and Spintriae
The mysterious man who’s running the Locksmith’s Dream is selfishly on holiday with his children (tch) so it really is Lottie talking at you this time. I wanted to share a bunch more information about our live events coming up in Monmouthshire, UK later on this year. So HOPE YOU’RE SITTING COMFORTABLY!
What you’ll do
We’ve talked about the Locksmith’s Dream as ‘a series of live, invitation-only overnight events’, but what do you actually do during your esoteric weekend in Wales? The experience triangulates somewhere between a high-end murder mystery (but nobody dies and you don’t have to act), D&D in a Castle (but we’re not LARP) and occult Downton Abbey (without, sadly, Maggie Smith). It’s a cross between a luxury weekend holiday and a scavenger hunt.
You’ll arrive to find your welcome pack in your chosen room, providing you with instructions, backstory, a badge and a mask, a personal journal and possibly some hidden things to find… Then you’ll make your way downstairs to (probably) the Wheel and Flint Pub to meet your fellow seekers, the genial Bartender and his excellent refreshments, and the Inspector from the Suppression Bureau, who’ll give you the lay of the land. It’s up to you how you spend your time from here: seeking out snippets of Birdsong, outwitting a puzzle-box discovered in the Oak Chamber, braving the fading light outside to find secret things on the edge of the wood, or piecing together scraps of triptychs with your fellows, figuring out the location of a secret piece of lore.
Our Mysterious Man is quite a gourmet, so dinner will be opulent and excellent, prepared specially by the unflappable Cook. And when night falls and the open fires crackle in the halls, you’ll wear your masks, become part of the Locksmith’s pageant, and find the deepest secrets buried in the darkest places of the house…
Where you’ll stay
Treowen is a 17th-century Grade I-listed manor house in the bosky hinterlands between England and Wales. It’s four storeys of oak panelling, ancient staircases and one secret priest’s hole that’s really hard to find. The Locksmith’s Dream takes place in all of it (as well as, almost certainly, the extensive grounds around the house – including fields, lakes, forests and – sometimes – lil fluffy sheep). But the bit that matters most to people buying tickets are the individual, unique rooms across three floors, all of which come with their own character for you to roleplay as much or as little as you like during the event. So here they are!
(Please note: all prices are for the whole weekend experience and include your room, food, drink and welcome packs etc. Details below may change over the next six months as the project progresses – we reserve the right to take backsies.)
Let me know if anything isn’t clear in the comments! It’s difficult to show such a meandering, beautiful house as Treowen in floor plans alone, but it’ll make sense once you’ve visited.
How much it costs
You can see the usual ticket prices included in the floor plans above: this is how much tickets for the Locksmith’s Dream will cost in December 2022, when we run our first full live event. But we’re also running a beta in October 2022, to make sure everything works in real life as we hope it does on paper (narrator: it won’t). As such, we’re able to offer a low, flat rate for all beta tickets, as you’re helping us make the Locksmith’s Dream excellent. (The beta will be as much like the real thing as we can make it, it might just be a little rough around the edges.)
For the first year, the Locksmith’s Dream is a loss-making experiment. If it works, we’ll run a much larger number of events next year – but for now we’ll have to see how it goes. So here are the full ticket options:
| BETA | REAL THING | |
|---|---|---|
| October 2022 | December 2022 | |
| EMINENT tier | £450 | From £765 |
| EXALTED tier | £450 | From £680 |
| HONOURED tier | £450 | From £510 |
| CABAL tier | £450 | From £510 |
Please note, again, that these prices are per person and cover your whole Locksmith’s Dream experience. You’ll almost certainly be able to add on a night for a small extra cost if you’d like, and Monmouthshire is well worth spending time in as it’s totally beautiful and the land of green and pleasant hills pubs wind-y roads dragons etc.
Tickets go on sale at the end of next month when the Locksmith’s Dream’s website launches. For now, have some more photos to give you a flavour of the house. Hope to see you there!
So only straight couples allowed then?
wut?
I’VE LITERALLY JUST UNDERSTOOD WHY YOU’RE ASKING THIS! This is because of the ‘Lord/Lady’ or ‘Mr/Ms’ labels, is that right? We’re definitely not limiting people to het couples. 🙂 Those labels are just for illustrative purposes, to show you that you have the option of being Lord OR Lady when you book the appropriate room on your own, and you can be Lord/Lord or Lady/Lady or whatever fits your friend or partner if you book for two people.
oh right sorry! Yes, what Lottie said.
So are you expecting most rooms to be with couples? Will it be awkward if I come alone because I’m poor and my partner has no earthly idea what I’m getting all excited about?
We expect *most* people will book with a partner or a friend, but you’re absolutely able to book a room for your own (and you won’t feel left out if you do – the event is not couples-focused). You’ll just have to pay a bit extra to cover the cost of a second person who’s not actually going to be there. That’ll all be explained on the LD website when it goes live. 🙂
This looks amazing, what a cool idea for an event and in such a beautiful location. I am so jealous of those who get a chance to partake of this experience. I hope it’s a big success so that Weather Factory can run similar events in the future.
Thank you! If we can make the financials work we’d *love* to make this a proper thing. Fingers crossed…
Hope it is a big fat succes and that you can keep developing the idea and see how the puzzles and elements interact – I love that focus is less om acting and intensive roleplay and more on immersing yourself with others in the mystery while enjoying good food and a relaxing weekend. I think that is a fantastic concept.
Hope for more dates next year and hope it will be possible for “non-invitees” to snag a ticket then 🙂
PS. The Lady Afterwards took our house by storm. Make more stories with the same rule system, please k thanks.
What a lovely comment – thank you! Delighted you’re enjoying TLA too. <3
I think it’s great that you two are making something so cool together.
Thank you very much, Mr J <3
This sounds so cool I’m going to drag my lady into this! Been looking to do some more traveling, how could I not stop at this mystical location? You two are great at what you do!
Thank you so much! Hope to see you and your lady there. 🙂
Would this be a good time for someone less familiar with the secret histories, cultist sim, lady afterward etc? I myself am but unfortunately most of my friends aren’t, though the occult mystery vibe seems right up their alley.
Definitely! We’re designing the whole thing to use the Secret Histories as a backdrop, but absolutely no Cultist Sim knowledge required. Anyone who likes fancy hotels, nice food and things like murder mysteries / escape rooms / puzzle boxes will have a great time. We’re trying to make it have as wide an appeal as possible. 🙂
Will the website-and by extension specific dates, times, etc-be released somewhat before the tickets actually go on sale? Id rather know all of those specifics beforehand and then later prepare to buy tickets instead of doing all that *while* racing other people for the date I want.
Definitely! We’ll be releasing the exact dates and times in our next blog post at the start of May, giving people a month before they go on sale.Hopefully there’ll be a date that works for you.
A question, please, on the ‘By Invitation’ aspect – is the idea to put one’s name forward in hopes of receiving an invitation, as in, yes, I am free to be invited on X date?
Hi, thanks for your question. The Alpha testing is the only part of Locksmith’s Dream that has a “by invitation” element. The bulk of the tickets for the events this year will be available for everyone to buy when the site goes live at the end of May.
Is this a weekend experience, like for two days? And how many nights are we supposed to stay?
This year there will be two mid-week, and two weekend experiences (in addition to the weekend Beta event). The experiences will run over the course of two days, with an overnight stay (on the Wednesday or Saturday night). For those who wish to explore the area, there will be the opportunity to book an extra night before the experience on the Tuesday or Friday night.
Hi, thank you so much for this, it looks amazing! I’m really looking forward to the specifics latter on, hopefully the dates will work for us.
I have one concern, I see food is included, would it be possible to have a vegan menu?
Absolutely. We can meet any dietary requirements you might have. As part of the booking process we’ll collect details of any specific requirement and allergies, to make your stay as welcoming as we can.
Lovely! 🙂
This sounds fantastic! How will the booking system on the website work? Will it be first come first served/a system that reserves your slot for a certain amount of time while checking out/something else? Just thinking about my nerves when trying to get tickets, as I imagine this will sell out pretty quickly
Hi. We’re working to make the booking journey as simple and streamlined as possible, only asking the bare minimum information needed to book and pay. We’re also using standard payment provides (like Paypal, Stripe and potentially Klarna) which will also make the process as smooth and friction free as possible. It’s only after you book, that we’ll be asking for additional information that we need (dietary, guest names, etc).
1. College Student
2. American
Unfortunate.