ACC Challenge C - Surprise (hey look, a distraction)
The third challenge our competitors took on...
Surprise Challenge: You’re at a feast with your person, and they have decided they desperately need an entire tray of the next hor d'oeuvres (ok, let’s be honest, it’s probably the soup tarts) for themselves. They have given you the vital task of drawing the attention of anyone nearby so they can do so without being noticed. (you’re getting a cut of the noms in exchange of course) How do you do it?
We had some truly surprising distractions sent in and you won’t believe what some contestants would do for the best food at the feast!
First up, Kedol Maas has several distractions ready to go:
“I am best boy! So I be cute to distract while Janus gets noms! First, I find other dog, and have it carry me around! How can anyone resist Corgi-Wolf teamup!”
“Next, if that wasn’t enough of a distraction...I take something, but try looking cute at same time. Something people don’t want me to take from them.”
“Finally, if that doesn’t work, I start howling in pain and acting sick! Nobody can resist this! Also...maybe i’ll get bellyrubs this way!”
Cressida: I NEED to give bellyrubs to the best boy!!! Even if that looks suspiciously like my box of Thin Mints...
Cimone: Thin Mints… but puppy dog eyes… but Thin Mints… but puppy dog eyes…
Next up is HelperPink:
Watch as HelperPink distracts Bright with a dance as DaniDanger grabs pancakes.
Cimone: Smooth moves, dancing and otherwise. A solid distraction for a delicious heist. (Can I have some of the pancakes?)
Cressida: I love dancing so this would work well to get my attention off the delicious pancakes being prepared.
Malcolm Mallard had some clever ideas this week to make sure the noms were achieved:
“For this challenge I have two ideas. Pretty much every feast will support at least one. The first is that there must be some sort of sweet bread, or biscuits, and well, I am a mallard, and I like bread. Steal some off of people's plates, and along with my previous demonstrated noise making, I do a great distraction. If somehow, there is not any bread, then there must be some sort of soup or punch (Though I would prefer it not to be poisoned) that I could turn into a bird bath, and while I am more refined than either of these, occasionally it is fun to make the bipeds freak.”
Cressida: Bread and punch are staple food/drink items at any feast so I think both ideas would work very well. Just be careful around the punch at Black and White!
Cimone: Maybe go for a single bowl of soup? You don’t want to court the wrath of a Feast-O-Crat by messing up an entire pot of soup. Although watching an angry cook is very distracting. (just a bit more dangerous to you than I think you realize)
Aara has a trick up their chainmail for this challenge that is sure to get them the best noms:
“A distraction, you say? Who can resist these puppy-dog eyes?”
Cimone: And the wolf one two punch strikes again. (my, what a big snoot you have Aara)
Cressida: *Stares into eyes* Yes Aara is best pupper. Take all the food.
Jharru mulled over this challenge and came up with several somewhat approved of solutions:
“Make a distraction so Aranel can get food? Alright, sounds easy enough. And for a worthy cause too, Aranel has trouble finding food to eat at feasts sometimes, so if there's something that won't upset her stomach for once, she deserves all of it! So, I figure I have a few options here, but I'm not sure what to choose... It might depend on the room and the people in it, you know?
Plan A would be to just be really cute and try to talk to the people around the food table and get them to look at me not at her. I'd try to strike up a conversation with whoever might be watching, making sure to be *extra* cute so they pay attention to me. Aranel says I have big expressive eyes and it's easy for me to manipulate people with them if I wanted to.
Plan B, if no one fell for my cute routine, would be to make up an emergency to get all the adventurers to rush out of the tavern. I heard there's a little girl in a nearby village that needs rescuing! *wink* By the time everything got sorted out, I'm sure Aranel would be able to eat her fill.
Plan C, which Aranel says she does *not* approve of, but who cares, is to do what dragons do best, and light things on fire. What?? Don't look at me like that, my human needs food!”
Jharru giving his cutest expression:
Jharru practicing his fire making skills:
Cressida: Gonna agree with Aranel here, fire starting is frowned upon in the feast hall, but if an emergency arose outside the hall I would be out there ready to help and far from the food.
Cimone: … could your fire plan turn into getting someone to do a hibachi show? That seems less destructive and equally distracting.
Our final challenge response this week comes from Cleopatra in her pursuit of Soup Tarts:
“SOUP TARTS SOUP TARTS SOUP TARTS I WANT SOUP TARTS!!!!!”
At the mere question of “do you want a soup tart?” Cleopatra immediately proceeds to run into the middle of the room while screaming about soup tarts. Onlookers are confused about how this tiny handmade-looking lion cub can scream so loudly or run so fast. She manages to trip a few servers, who are stunned but uninjured. Hildegard, in the guise of helping a server or healing a limb, manages to grab a tray for her table. Neither she nor her companion has ever had a soup tart, but Cleo will go nuts for any kind of food.
(For those wondering, the foiled dish in the video is cottage pie.)
Cimone: Meep, everyone quick, pay attention to your feet not the sideboard so you don’t get knocked over. The fact that she doesn’t know what the food she’s yelling about even is makes it all the better.
Cressida: The concept of yelling about the item so loud and running around haphazardly through the hall is quite the strategy. I wouldn’t be looking at the tarts when I could be knocked over any second!
We were shocked by some of these surprising distractions, but truly all of them would succeed in diverting our attention so a certain someone could sneak away a fresh tray. But it's not what we think that matters, it’s what you at home thinks! Which of these distractions would take you by surprise? What would you steal an entire platter of at a feast? Let us know in the comments!
Make sure to return next week for the ever important Talent Showcase!