Five in a Line - Countdown to Winter's Warming

[Kairiel Bosburn]

To feed my winter laziness, and to discourage everyone else's, here's a contest-challenge-thingy-majiggy. Every box has a potential challenge in it, and every one of them is yours to take up or dismiss at your leisure. All carry a reward. Participation is the name of the game. Er, and bingo. Bingo is also the name of the game.

It's kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure, except with games and contests.

Prizes
Per Box: 10 plat
Per Line (diagonal, horizontal, or vertical): 150 plat
Whole Card: ???
End Date: Right before Winter's Warming begins

See Kairiel or Falx for winnings.

((See below the image for details on the lot, including the requirements for completion. Proof for the challenges can be sent to Kairiel Bosburn or Falx Monde. Though you are free to complete boxes across multiple characters, each line only counts for a prize once per player.))


((
B1 - Collect the listed items, either by finding them or by obtaining help. Screenshot proof of all four, or send links to the item pages.
B2 - Using the counter on the main screen, set a time limit and see who can garner the most kills within that time limit. All participants in your competition can take credit for participation. Screenshot proof of the kill counter to show your group of participants.
B3 - Fill some folks' pockets with scrolls of law or whatnot, as indicated. Let one of us know in PM who you got. We won't tell.
B4 - Find seven places where there's music in the page description. Let one of us know in PM where you found.
B5 - Collect the fish! Show us the item page for the fish you caught. We'll take it on the honor system that you're the one who caught it.

I1 - Screenshot proof of your character dressed as an initiate, or let one of us know at the time. Have fun with the pretending.
I2 - Share your tale in this thread, identified by its square number. It can be poetic, artistic, prose, whatever. Short or long or weird as you want.
I3 - Let one of us know where you went. This can count for all participants.
I4 - Let one of us know where you dueled, who with, and who won. This counts for both participants.
I5 - Pray to one of the gods. Pretty easy. The hosts of this challenge do not take responsibility for any smitings, explosives, or godsly disapproval for the form of your prayers. If the gods find this challenge to be annoying or otherwise worthy of disapproval, then we will improve upon it by replacing the challenge with one of putting our best blasphemous jokes here instead. Feel free to do both if you feel fortune favors the prepared.

N1 - Let us know where you went and who you took there. This counts for both/all participants. Kidnapping, while not advised, is an acceptable method of completion.
N2 - Pretty easy. Play the game of hide-and-seek, and let us know who won! This counts for both/all participants.
N4 - Share your tale in this thread, identified by its square number. It can be poetic, artistic, prose, whatever. Short or long or weird as you want.
N5 - Let us know who all participated. This counts for all participants.

G1 - Share your thing in this thread, in whatever form it takes. Identify it with the square's number.
G2 - Decorate a tree, either by collecting some friends for in-game roleplay or putting a description in this thread with the square number. Or both. If in game, it counts for all participants.
G3 - Share your wintry joke in this thread with an identifying square number.
G4 - Trick challenge, a convincing impersonator wouldn't do it either. Points for trying though. Literally - just prove you tried for this one.
G5 - Tell us where you raced from and where to. Tell us who the participants were, as this one counts for all involved.

O1 - Share a description of your character (altered if you already have a description) with a beard, in this thread, with the identifying square number. Enjoy the pretending as mentioned (or not pretending, if old).
O2 - See riddles below. PM one of us what you think the answers are.
O3 - Tell us who participated, and what the target of your hypothetical mischief was if you'd like. This counts for all involved.
O4 - Tell us who participated. This counts for all involved. Simple.
O5 - Either roleplay it out in game or post a description here with the square number. Or both.
))

Riddles for Square O2:

1) Scattered tracks on scattered trails
Dare to catch us by our tails?
We all are known for standing out
Though most are humble, most are stout.
Sniff us out by our own fames
And know at least three by our names.

2) Set your plate upon the table
Lend these restful walls a fable
Name us three before you rest:
First an inn of pirates’ mess.
Second lies in place of lore.
Final near rogue’s broken door.

3) If your weary bones begin to ache
If your life’s blood beats down the gate
If the gods would call you soon
Come to us, we’ll bear your wound.
Through all the cycles we stand true.
Name five of us whom gods imbue.

Best of luck.

[Viviyana]

So excited!!

[Topaz]

Do we have to do these in any particular order?

[Kairiel Bosburn]

However many you want, whichever ones you want, in whatever order you like.

[Bifrost Janger]

Woo hoo

[Loki Jester]

"Wow! Hmm.. where to start.." Thinks.

OOC: This is cute and fun omg

[Topaz]

G1: Pretty Things

AMULET OF EVILSBANE
First find the stair that leads to darkness foul,
where stench of rotting flesh pollutes the air.
Go north, then west. Be cautious as you prowl.
First find the stair.

The zombies seek your living blood; beware
their claws, their grinning jaws, their hungry scowl.
Go further down, and westward, if you dare.

Once they were human. Now they only growl
and gibber, creatures cursed beyond despair.
Behind a door now hear their master howl!
First find the stair.

[Topaz]

G3- 'Sno way

A greater frost demon and a lesser frost demon walk into a bar. There's a big fire in the fireplace, and the two frost demons feel themselves starting to melt, so they hurry back outside.

The bartender, wrapped in his cloak, hurries right out after them with two big cold drinks. When he tells them the price, they are surprised. "Why so much?"

"There's an extra charge," says the bartender, "for rime service."

[Kairiel Bosburn]

*a pinned up note*

IMPORTANT STUFF:

So, apparently the fish have all fled. We're looking into it. Weather or not it'll come to anything remains to be seen.

((If the spot is gone, we'll just make square B5 a roleplay thing, and you can pretend to catch whatever you like. Even if it's shoes, or a fishing buddy's pole.))

[Viatrix]

*a smaller note is pinned over part of Kai's*

Whether.

[Pallas]

Just a small query regarding square N1 - Exploration
Did you mean escorting a person through creatures they can not fight, to get them to an area in which they could not survive on their own? Or does it count if we escort an adventurer who wants to go somewhere, but is so geographically challenged they can't find their own elbow with a map, and need someone to show them the way?

[Kairiel Bosburn]

Either works, to my mind, Pallas.

[Cody F]

Geez Pallas you dont have to tell everyone about my geographical and map reading...difficulties

ITS A WORK IN PROGRESS...a very very looooong work in progress

[Kairiel Bosburn]

[Pallas]

Geez Pallas you dont have to tell everyone about my geographical and map reading...difficulties

ITS A WORK IN PROGRESS...a very very looooong work in progress

I mentioned no names, Cody. Must be a touchy subject for you!
To be more specific I was talking about ...*the string of a red balloon tightens around the throat, causing a coughing fit and frantic gasps for breath, totally muffling the name*

[Topaz]

I2: Winter's Warning

______

SNOWSKULL

There is a legend that in the western mountain passes, a hermit cleric once made his home -- not Jensen, known to all who travel those passes, but some other cleric. Call him Osborn.

Osborn was well liked by those who came to shelter in his cave. They often shared meals with him, and almost always paid something in return, either in coin or in produce, although Osborn never asked for such. He lived his simple and holy life, doing the best he could with what he had.

I say he was well liked by his lodgers, but there was, alas, one exception. A man called Axim -- a fellow cleric -- looked at Osborn with suspicion. He saw the coins and occasional jewels that adventurers poured into Osborn's hands, and wondered where it all went, even as he dined on fresh bread, well-roasted bos, and ale by Osborn's fireside. He even asked Osborn as much, and Osborn told him that it went to feed travelers and keep his fire with sufficient wood and himself in enough furs to stay warm. Anything beyond that, he donated to the temples in Milltown or Dundee.

But Axim did not believe him. He became obsessed with the idea that Osborn was hoarding coins and jewels and riches somewhere, although even he could not see where anything of that kind could be hidden in Osborn's cave. He began to spend more time with Osborn, and that open-hearted man was glad of the company and thought no evil of his fellow cleric.

One day a crowd of adventurers came to warm themselves at Osborn's fire, laughing and telling tales of battles and mysteries and far-off places. Osborn fed them roast meat and stew and bread and ale, and this time one of his guests had wine to share and another had sweets made of honey. By the time they were ready to go, Osborn's pantry was bare, and the generous adventurers opened a leather bag and each of them threw something in. It looked heavy and made a clinking sound. "May the mighty gods bless you, Osborn," they said, "and may these coins do good for you who do good for all, and may nothing but ill come to those who wish you ill."

They threw the leather bag at Osborn's feet and went on their way. Osborn did not even look at the bag, but went to his pantry, took out a slate and began making a list. He was still murmuring about firewood and ale and root vegetables and a side of bos when Axim quietly picked up a hammer and struck him down dead.

Axim stepped over his dead host and eagerly picked up the bag. It was indeed heavy with silver, gold, platinum, and two or three diamonds. He threw it into his pouch and began a thorough search of the cave for the riches he believed were hidden there. His disappointment quickly turned to anger when he failed to find more than a few silver coins tucked into Osborn's belt pouch. He decided to dispose of the body and then come back and dig up the floor of the cave.

Axim was a strong man and Osborn was not large, so Axim bundled the body in his cloak and started off for the snow-covered plateau, where he planned to hide it. A snowstorm started to blow as he left the cave, but Axim was used to the mountain climate and well wrapped in wool and furs.

Or at least he had thought he was used to the climate, but this seemed to be the mother of all snowstorms, and he could barely make his way down the pass. The snowflakes were huge and seemed to have a strange shape. He looked down at his sleeve and blinked at what he thought he had seen -- but no, he must have been seeing things.

He struggled up to the plateau with the snow swirling all about him and howling in his ears. It seemed to be howling "Osborn! Osborn!" but of course that was just his imagination. He put his hands up to his eyes for a moment's respite from the wind, and this time he could clearly see snowflakes on his hands and arms.

They were shaped like skulls. Cold little skulls looking back at him as they disintegrated on the backs of his hands.

Axim might have screamed then, but his voice would have been drowned out by the wind. He might have tried to struggle back to the safety of the cave, but he could not keep his bearings on the plateau, blinded by the blowing snow. He might have tried to find the obelisk he knew was somewhere there, against he might have sheltered -- or perhaps he did find it, but only to discover it also covered with snowflakes leering at him with the faces of skulls ...

But we will never know. All that is known is that no trace of Osborn was ever found, but some time later, a group of adventurers found the frozen body of Axim on the plateau. Unlike most people who die of cold, his face was not peacefully sleeping but twisted with fear. They left him buried in the snow, for they feared that he was cursed after they searched him and found a bag of coins -- silver, gold, platinum -- all of them stamped, not with the sigils of Valorn, but with the face of a skull. And three diamonds, all shaped like small skulls.

[Turcko]

So, Winter's Warming is upon us and as such this has ended. Thanks to everyone that indulged us!

Scores that we have recorded are as follows. Feel free to present proof if you feel someone or something is missing:
Pallas: B1, N1, B3, I3, B4 -> 50 plat -> PAID
Topaz: B1, N1, G1, B2, I2, G2, O2, B3, G3, B4, B5, I5 -> 120 plat plus 150 plat -> PAID
Viviyana: B3 -> 10 plat -> PAID
Shadow Darkmoon: B3 -> 10 plat -> PAID
Kestrix: B3 -> 10 plat
Jobe: B3 -> 10 plat
Atreya: B3 -> 10 plat
Mervin: B3 -> 10 plat
Draca: B5 -> 10 plat


Topaz was the most dedicated participant, managing to do all Bs! Congratulations!
See Falx Monde or Kairiel Bosburn for prize collecting.

Edit1: Added the names provided by Shadow (Thanks!)

Happy Winter's Warming!

[Shadow]

Thank you Kai and Falx for setting this up! Everything was a lot of fun to do. There were a few other things that Viviyana and I completed, I'll see what proof I can find.

Kestrix, Jobe, Atreiya, and Mervin all attended the picnic with the queens. Draca completed B5 with a few of us as well.