The event began with a downpour and questing Friday night, but that did nothing to dampen the spirits of the Adventurers or Staff. The questing party came to the aid of an Apprentice to gather items stolen from his master. They encountered undead in the form of skeletons and a werewolf, all in the cover of darkness. The only light was provided by the lightning streaking across the sky. They also came upon traps and puzzles. The Adventurers were given color designations and told only certain colors could affect certain things and go in the color designated areas. Potions were provided to the adventure seeker--in the form of candy!-- to change their colors or make them colorless. The dastardly werewolf was conquered that night and the party was able to return an important artifact to the Apprentice.
The next day brought with it copious amounts of sunshine and beautiful weather. Tournaments were held Saturday, beginning with a Grand Melee to determine generals of the Purple Team and the Green Team(have you noticed a pattern?). Sir Shandar was named General of the Purple Team and Vuel was named General of the Green Team. It was an alternating choice of who was on what team. After teams were chosen, individual unlimited tournaments were run, with points of the victor also being awarded to their perspective teams. There was consistent marshaling and there was never any marshaling gaps. The staff of ToB V provided both hydration and delightful healthy snacks for the participants to partake in. They had even made PB&J sandwiches, which I was particularly excited by because mine came with an extra knife! The day was finished up with some fun unlimited team tournaments including castle battles, field battles, bridge battles, and some non-standard tournaments. There was also some pick-pocketing and scavenging fun for team points! Several families were gathered around the tournament field and all the children wandered around in small mobs, reeking havoc and having a grand time.
Once the tournaments were wrapped up, the staff provided a barbecue with an abundance of standard grill fare such as cheeseburgers and hot dogs as well a barbecue chicken and a variety of salads and pasta. There was even cutely shaped watermelons and fruit salads!
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| Photo by Ally Cunningham |
Following the beginning of darkness, they began the night quest with a brilliant display of fireworks. The show lasted several minutes and was very well put together. That night, there was a larger group of adventure seekers who sought out the quest. Returning to the goals of the previous night, they broke into smaller groups to retrieve more artifacts for the Apprentice. Some completed puzzles while others completed trials to gain more artifacts. Shortly after, the adventurers came upon a corrupted Treant, a sentient tree creature, which needed to be cleansed of its corruption. It was decided that they would gather the necessary supplies and create the elixir that would fix the angry tree creature. Having successfully purifying the Treant and receiving another item of power, the adventurers set off back for home, but were cut-off by pack of ferocious werewolves. The werewolves needed to be defeated before the all-white alpha could be taken down. Guess what the brave adventurers found after defeating the werewolves-- you guessed it! Another artifact to return to the apprentice! Once the night quest was over, players gathered around several fires to bask in their warmth, roast marshmallows, and reminisce about current affairs and past happenings. The night was cold and clear but the company was pleasant.
The next day's sun again brought with it the warmth and beautiful blue skies. Morning slowly turned to afternoon and the limited tournaments were run on the tournament field. Again, the event staff provided fruit, sandwiches, salty snacks(even a ton of cliff bars!), and drinks to all the event goers. Once the tournaments were over and the points were awarded, the tournament field was turned over to a worthy cause. For three hours, brave individuals fought, beating the competition and the heat, to raise money for TakeThis, an organization that was near and dear to Buddy Wolfhope, a great player and friend to many who recently passed away. The Fight-A-Thon, which we will go into greater depth in a later article, ended and the certificates and prizes were awarded. The purple team won the team challenges and the overall event, with Shandar being the winning general.
The last night of questing, the adventurers sought out the last item which needed to be recovered. After killing more undead, werewolves, and having some divine intervention, their task was completed. It was a win/win situation for all parties.
Having been an attendant at the last few Tournaments of Blackwood, I would like to compliment the staff and event holders that throw this event. It gives all player types a little bit of everything, while not sacrificing fun on other aspects of the event. I would highly recommend this event to folks who want to have a fun experience for the holiday weekend. My entire family had a blast and I will be going again next year. Thanks for throwing continually throwing a quality event!
P.S. Don't worry about the knife thing(I won't tell anyone)!
**Special thanks to Joe Sims(Rillan) and Chalan Whelan(Quinn) for filling me in on the quest details!**