by Christopher "Mikey" Donnelly
Hello and welcome to the judging of the second task. For a reminder of what the task was this week, I challenged people to write the best spell verbal they would never use. We received a total of 7 entries this week, several new participants (one of whom even sent a video.) So, let us start in the order we received them.
First, from Cressida is a verbal for Ward: Enchanted Beings which is intended to be sung. I feel you’ll know to what once you read it.
“This is a spell that never ends or else my life would surely end. You best believe I am warding cause…. (Repeat Sing Chanting Forever)”
Next up, from DelHemar is a Seed of Life verbal sung near to the tune of "The Sewers" from Les Mis.
“Oh, here's a magic ring, pretty little thing, wouldn't want to waste it, that would really be a crime. If you weren't a stiff you would get up in time.”
Following up that is a non-musical spell from Kwido for Heal Limb which he assures is to be used when you really need to heal a limb right now:
“Good a good a good a good a bad a bad a bad a bad a good a heal limb!”
After that utilitarian verbal is an entry from the trio of Aeston/Areni/Gwen is another musical verbal this time for Cry of Life sung to the tune of "Let Her Cry," by Hootie and the Blowfish
“Cry of life, if the bodies fall down like rain; Cry of life, if it eases all their pain; Let them rise, let them fight in front of me; And if the enemies get up also, let me be; let me be. Let me beeeeee, (all in the sound of my voice, rise and fight).”
Following that is a nice and short verbal from newcomer Bart for the spell Light, who assures us they would never use this verbal because they hate the spell and wouldn’t waste a spell slot on it.
“Ow, my eyes!”
This brings us to our penultimate submission, newcomer Kara Nithisdottir for the spell Raise Dead:
“Can the gods just pity us once? Can the gods just pity us once? Can the gods just pity us once? Can the gods just pity us once? Can the gods just pity us once?”
Now for our final submission is the newcomer Iawen who decided for a more educational approach to Heal Limb with her daughters:
There were some really good and creative verbals in here. So, let’s get Tao, our guest judge for the week, to rank the best verbals:
In fifth (1 pt) is the verbal that never ends, while highly annoying, it's still good enough to hit the top five
In fourth (2 pts) is the chaotic ramblings of a player 4, the cuteness it burns, burns, make it stop
In third (3 pts), the verbal that I will have in my head for another decade as the bodies hit the floor, no, wait that is another song, in third is let her cry
In second (4 pts), and more creative than some, Magic ring
And finally in first place (5pts), it sounds like it should be a counter spell, not the verbal itself, but it also made me laugh out loud, My eyes have seen the best.
From my point of view, here’s how things worked out:
5th place (1 pt) goes to Iawen for a verbal even a child could use. Also cuteness.
4th place (2 pts) goes to DelHemar for a solid verbal based in musical theater.
3rd place (3 pts) goes to Kwido for a verbal that nearly rival’s Bart’s in speed.
2nd place (4 pts) goes to Aeston/Areni/Gwen for their extra-long Cry of Life verbal.
My top spot (5 pts) goes to Bart for his amazing Light spell verbal.
In addition to this, there are a few bonus points to hand out:
½ point to Kwido for making a heal limb verbal slightly better then “one, two….”
½ to DelHemar, for making me go look up a particular section, finding the movie version and reminding me why I hated that version all over again.
And ½ point to Ms. Nithisdottir for a really good first line
So after the point for participation, this week’s scores are:
Bart: 11 points
Aeston/Areni/Gwen: 8 points
DelHemar: 7.5 points
Kwido: 4.5 points
Iawen: 4 points
Cressida: 2 points
Kara Nithisdottir: 1.5 points
And the combined scores after two tasks are:
DelHemar: 15.5 points
Bart: 11 points
Aeston, Areni, and Gwen: 10.5 points
Saka: 10 points
Cressida: 8 points
Kwido: 6 points
Tarun Ul-Sikar: 5 points
Iawen: 4 points
Vanduke: 4 points
King Alexander Cecil: 2.5 points
Kara Nithisdottir: 1.5 points
Thoril: 1.5 points
Stay tuned later today for the Third Task!