The Feast of Daggers: Tourney across Prespur

[Wids]

[Identical notices are scribed on two rather long scrolls by a practiced hand and tacked up among the pillars at both the Marvelous Mermaid of Palaggar and the Drowned Rat of Uarhold.]

Ahoy, O Warriors, Wayfarers and Fortune-Seekers!

For years beyond number have seafarers, scoundrels, sorcerers and tribesmen settled their disputes in duels of blades, duels of cunning or duels of magic. For half as long have knights and nobles of the mainland hosted tilts and tournaments to determine the mightiest, most valorous and most honorable among themselves. And only now do I join the two in union, combining the esteem and progression of a knightly tourney with the ruthlessness and unpredictability of many cutthroat duels.

Over the course of several days shall the registered combatants clash in their arranged duels, each vying to become the champion of his or her league. And of those leagues, we find three.

Needle League

Here be the league for any recruits, squires, neophytes, apprentices and other green sorts right off the boat. Join this league if you're not too proud to admit humility; it may spare you a terrible thrashing later.

(OOC: For Levels 1 through 6.)

Dagger League

The league for those who have weathered perils enough to make lesser hearts quail. Ogres are no threat to you, and the Lurking Pirates know well your sting. Be you veteran, adept, priest or seasoned highwayman, this could be the league for you.

(OOC: For Levels 7 through 12.)

Dragontooth League

For the prelates, paragons, dread lords and virtuosos among us, here is the Dragontooth League. You have sacked the dreaded tomb in the Halfway Forest and escaped with your life. You have stared down the towering Four-Eyez without flinching. Mayhaps you have so much as torn a fang from Sssrexiss' horrible maw. Now join your vaunted peers in battle!

(OOC: For Levels 13 and beyond.)

Each league is greater than the one before it, and so are valued the prizes to be had from each league.

For the Champion of the Needle League
Twenty potions for Curing Moderate Wounds
Can any amount of gold truly outweigh your own health?
OR
Two strangely formed daggers
For any wary treasure hunter, these daggers help with pulling pins, unhinging steel jaws and snipping tripwires.

For the Champion of the Dagger League
A Pack Mule Box with a Scroll of Resurrection
A box to spare you from a heavy-footed death, with a scroll to revive an ally who may perish to the same.
OR
A twice-enchanted Dagger of the Second Circle
However you would wield this dagger, it shall gravely pierce any armor, any magick or any flesh.

For the Champion of the Dragontooth League
A Dinichthys Helm
Sculpted from the unyielding scales of an ancient sea devil, this helm is a bulwark against injury and death.
OR
My trusted and true Sssrexiss Dagger
However wicked this dagger's cut, however bloodied its blade or however fatal the scarlet deluge it spills, I promise that its power is but a fraction of what terrifying beast birthed it.

And now, the rules and conditions for the Feast of Daggers:

1) Each day's matches shall take place in a new arena somewhere on Prespur's soil, its whereabouts to be announced here at least three days prior. As the combatants and the spectators are responsible for their own timely arrivals at the arena, the area and its hazards shall be chosen with the league in mind. Inviting a pack of novices to the harrowing Northern Red Hills for a Needle League tilt simply will not do.

2) Any combatant who fails to arrive within a quarter-hour of the slated time shall forfeit the match to the combatant who did arrive. Should both combatants fail to arrive at their match, the match will be brushed aside and slated for a later time.

3) In a similar nod to fairless and propriety, none of these areas have been or will be considered for use as an arena:
• Any island or other area which demands a fee for passage.
• Anywhere within the confines of Palaggar or Uarhold.
• Any undersea area.

4) Each match will involve three tilts (or rounds), and the victor of any two of those tilts will be declared the winner of that match and shall progress to the next rank of the tourney.

5) As the judge and the mistress of ceremonies, I shall provide all due healing, restoration and resurrection to both combatants in any match, at no cost. However, I will not provide any combatant with any powers of augmentation, protection or use other than the cures described above.

6) As the judge and the mistress of ceremonies, I also hold the right to compensate, penalize or disqualify any combatant as I see fit. Test not my tolerance for fools, for it is thin indeed.

7) As I am bound to refrain from interfering with the outcome of any match, so bound are our spectators. Any spectators who aid or hinder any combatants will be asked to leave...forcefully, if needs be. Shouted advice to the combatants is permissible, but try to refrain from being an irritating prig about it.

8) Though I and my cohorts will clear the arena and its area of any hostile natives or denizens before the combatants arrive, know that such enemies may return in force and hurl themselves at the combatants at any time! Be prepared for this happenstance. The first combatant to fall through any permitted means--including this one--loses the tilt. Spectators retain the right to defend themselves from such marauders, as do I.

9) Combatants may bring any potions, scrolls, wands, healing kits or other aids to help themselves in any match. However, once the match begins, combatants will not be allowed to leave, nor will they be allowed to purchase, trade for or otherwise acquire more such aids. Bring what you may, but beware your encumbrance, lest an opponent with the means to sap your strength bring you to your knees.

10) I shall provide a small number of camping supplies for each day's matches, and combatants and spectators may bring and use such supplies as well. Combatants may rest before each match and after it, but never during the match. For those who wield spellfire, holy power or magic items with limited uses, take care to invoke your magic judiciously, lest you find your powers spent too soon.

11) Spells may be cast only during a tilt, not ere the match begins, and not between tilts. Spells cast in one tilt need not expire or be dispelled before the next tilt begins.

12) All who would join the Feast of Daggers as combatants have until the end of this tenday--and no later than the 24th day of Ches--to register with me. For the duration, I will be staying in the lavish double room at the Borderline Inn; pray leave your written notices of registration there.
(OOC: Posting in this topic will do just fine.)

13) When registering, do include such insights as these:
• Your name
• Which league you wish to join (though I reserve the right to judge otherwise)
• Which of the league's prizes you would choose, should you emerge as the champion.
• Your role as a combatant. This knowledge is important, as it will decide your place and position in the arena, and mayhaps even the arena itself. Be truthful in this; if your deceit is learned amid the match, your opponent will be awarded a tilt in his or her favor!
Roles include these and more:
• • • Melee warrior
• • • Archer/Crossbowman/Slinger/Hurler/Ranged warrior
• • • Backstabber/Ambusher/Guerilla (Stealther and/or hit-and-run stylist)
• • • Trapper
• • • Beastmaster/Summoner
• • • Blast Mage/Smiting Priest (spellcaster focused on raw damage)
• • • Hex Mage/Cursebringer (spellcaster focused on debuffing or crippling)
• • • Spellsword/Warrior Mage (spellcaster focused on melee or physical ranged attacks)
• • • Mystic Defender (spellcaster focused on healing, buffing or protection)
• • • Jack-of-all-Trades
• • • Any combination of two or more of the above

(OOC: As always, no exploiting any faults in the Neverwinter Nights engine to ensure your victory, either. This includes excessive walking backwards, rapid weapon-swapping, excessive sidestepping while encumbered and so forth.)


May these battles be as enlightening as they are entertaining. And may what champions emerge claim their places with glory and pride.

Fight Bravely and Well,
--Serrica Thallys
High Priestess and Orchestrator of the Feast of Daggers

[minion]

//busy as hell, but will help with this and/or join in if possible. this is very cool, man.

[Wids]

// Do you think I should extend the sign-up period beyond ten days (and March 24)? There hasn't been a lot of activity so far.

[Wids]

// Gentle reminders and clarifications:

1) This is just the sign-up stage. Once I figure out who's joining in and where to put them, the tourney itself can begin. Note that I included no time of day for the event, because there is no event yet.
2) Shoot me a PM with the required info above; that would probably be better than posting in this thread anyway.
3) Better hurry. O.O

That's all. Thanky. //

[Wids]

Serrica returns to her lavish room at the Borderline Inn to find a parchment slid under her door, waiting for her return. The parchment promptly finds its way to the writing desk, where Serrica begins to read.

"Heh! And this, just when I was near to losing hope for the Feast of Daggers," she smiles with a stark satisfaction. "'Tis about bloody time that someone with a spine came forth to take up the gauntlet...."

The aqua-clad priestess sharpens a writing quill and unstoppers a fresh inkpot, duly jotting Molly Tungold's name into the roster for the Dagger League. Mayhaps, she reasons, the high-sandaled warrior will be the first of many to come....

[Wids]

A new message passes beneath Serrica's door and is summarily taken up for her review.

"Ah, Manus. I knew that you would never pass an opportunity for battle, graybeard."

But Serrica pauses in fetching her quill from its inkwell, her focus hazed with consideration.

"I have fought at your side many a time, and I dare wonder if you, despite your station, would fare mightily enough for the Dragontooth League. And yet for all your strengths, your frailties have not eluded my notice...."

A long sip of her dark, waiting wine measures the heavy spell of her speculation. The bitter wine courses through neck and collar, and the black-slicked quill scratches the paper again in whispered strokes.

"Right, then. Let us see how the ranks are filled. You'll suit the Dagger League for now, mate. Mayhaps Miss Tungold--or her better--shall prove quite worthy of your mettle, eh what?"

With one more combatant--or ideally two--for the Dagger League, Serrica surmises with some comfort, the affair could at long last get under way. And she could hardly wait.