Our wandering merchant was probably one of the most “hated” characters of the day.  His job was to sell some items needed for the quest, and a whole bunch of items that were merely decorative, or completely worthless.   His real job was to fleece the groups for everything they had, something for which our merchant seemed to have a real knack, and to always be as far away from the group that needed him most at any given moment.  He would go on and on about the origins of the items, their magical properties, how difficult it was being a merchant….     Several times during the day you could hear the familiar refrain echoing through the woods, “I’M GOING TO KILL THAT MERCHANT!”   Yeah, they really loved the Count.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to enchant semi-precious stones and then arrange them in decorative patterns?  Why the costs of the materials alone are worth twice what you are offering me!  I have a family to feed!  You can’t really be serious!”

The Dragon....or...what passed for one.

Somehow one of the dragon’s two ears got bent back and flopped around during the day.  The kids spent more time trying to figure out why the dragon was “missing” an ear than they did trying to figure out how to kill it.  It was invulnerable to all attacks, and impervious to most magic.  There was however a magic spear (fairly obvious if you took the time to look for it) standing in the ground behind the dragon.  All they had to do was stealth past the Dragon, or distract it, and get the spear…then hit the dragon before he hit them.  Easy!

The Sorceress

The Sorceress possessed spells desired by the groups and wore the fabled Diamond of Glimmermere that Raurik the Demented so desperately desired. The diamond, it was rumored, would keep one’s armor from rusting indefinitely. I’m not sure if our Sorceress named her familiar, but I called him Spike! She valiantly sat wearing black, in the hot sun and humid air, for nearly four hours. What patience and dedication!

The Wise Sage

The Sage challenged the group to select the wisest among them to play a game with him. Upon a very large grid were arrayed before them any number of fantastic creatures on both sides. The Sage would advance a piece and make some comment explaining the move like; “I advance my Hobgoblin within sight of your Red Dragon.”

The kids would invariably say, “What are the rules?”

“If you are wise,” the Sage would reply, “you surely know the answer to that.”

Then they would advance something and the Sage would nod approvingly, “Ahhh, you have brought forward your blue ice devil. A good move, but not the best you could have made,” or words to that effect.

This would go on for some time until the group finally figured out that there were no rules. The rules were whatever they made them out to be. One ingenious group demanded, after several rounds of play, that the Sage switch seats with them, since he clearly knew more then they did. Then used the rules he had already elucidated for his own pieces to remove the other side from the field. Fun for all. For their troubles, they earned a map of all the other characters in the land.

More to follow tomorrow…

I thought I would add a few more pics from the birthday party.  Please let me know if you like them. 

The Mysterious Prophetess

The prophetess would look into the future for the group and provide them with one or more prophecies.  Most were linked directly to clues in the game, though some were just downright distractions.  Who can tell when a prophecy is good or bad.  The knight in the forest, Raurik the Demented, could only be killed by cutting off his arms and legs, even though the kids kept trying to hit his head and/or body.  ONe of the prophecies said “some knights would give an arm and a leg for a noble death.”  Unfortunately, no one drew that clue from the Chest at the Prophetess side.  She also had one of the three main items in the overall quest, a huge amethyst, which she happened to be wearing on her finger…though the groups didn’t catch on at first.

Raurik the Demented

Raurik blocked the path leading farther into the forest towards the Ogre and the Dragon.  He was a stalwart opponent to any that came upon him.  Immune to most spells, he certainly occupied a lot of the group’s time as they tried to figure out how to beat him.

The Healer

If the kids thought the healer was going to be a kind old man who would heal their boo-boos, they were sadly mistaken.  Ours was grumpy, crotchety, and difficult.  We laid out a bed and a whole table full of saws and hammers and implements of cutting.  Once they talked around his bad mood however, they might learn that they could regain a life by paying a Florin, or gain something more valuable by helping the healer with his lame leg.

The Innkeeper

One of the Innkeeper’s jobs was to talk very slowly and deliberately and keep the group engaged.  Ours did a marvelous job.  At one point one groups’ eyes were literally glazing over.  The innkeeper had gargoyles on his inn that he would sell, was seeking the return of his missing bottles of wine, happened to have eye of newt on stack and wanted to get some fairy cinammon sticks and cardamon seed to mull it with.  He would also pay Florins for any group that entertained his patrons.  One group of teens performed “I’m a Little Teapot,” with all the hand gestures, for which they earned multiple Florins.  Okay, I guess no one at our house was quite “normal” that day.

More tomorrow if there is still interest.