By Kyra “Omri” Barry
What *did* you miss? What did I miss? There was so much going on I don’t think I could even cover it all. But I’ll try.
Blood, guts, and glory to those who reign at the tournaments. The newbie tournament this year was filled with ten people giving it a go. Alias made a strong start, bidding high and raking in the chips, until he soared too close to the sun and lost it all. Despite not betting as strongly, coupled with my poor understanding of the game, I was gone not long after. Once I was gone I left so conclusion of that will be left a mystery. I guess you could ask Zula or Daekara, who played the newbie tournament as well, but they were not the ones asked to write this, so mystery for the ages.
I’m told that this year’s main poker came down to chip count, which I’m also told is quite rare! Once more I highlight my lack of poker knowledge for lack of further commentary on this.
This would prove to be unfortunate with this year’s escape rooms, which featured: Realms heraldry, logic puzzles, spells puzzles, and most unfortunate for me, Poker based puzzles. People worked in groups of four at a time to solve a number of intricate puzzles. At the end if we figured out a certain thing involving cards decks positions there was a prize, and Tuilli headed up the effort to collaborate. The puzzles were too intricate for me to lay out in writing to do it justice, but it was lots of fun. And a bit humbling. I don’t think we ended up getting that prize.
While food or drink wasn’t allowed in the main hall where the gambling and auctioning was occurring, that didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to indulge. Lady Kyomi kept us well fed with delightful and filling food. The bacon chocolate chip cookies were interesting and delicious. Despite having limited areas to partake in food, I was very happy with the options available and how well fed we were kept. I didn’t hear a single complaint.
The food was needed with the amount of running around I did helping out with Blackwood Domai plot questing. People were given rune names and then met outside to fight off corrupted spirits from the Glass Plains. Even the little ones got in on the fun and took on many an opponent! It was well fought and hard won figuring out how to purge the corruption from the lands. Just a little more in the fight against Change.
During a little break the Wild Response organization did a demonstration on some first aid. I heard there was lots of fake blood, but I was catching my breath, so literally did not catch the show. I heard it was quite the spectacle. The Wild Response team were very engaged with the event, one dressed up and in attendance.
Part of the fun of this event was the auction items available throughout the day. These items were generously donated, some of which were from South Africa. All the proceeds of this event went the Wild Response organization. If at any point you wanted to cash in chips for auction tickets, you could do so. As a reader could probably guess from several hints through this article, I’m not much a gambler, so most of my chips when to tickets. And I ended up winning pants!
All in all, a very exciting and eventful day for many. It was an excellent mix of activities that favored non-com, featuring the poker tournaments and games. Even for a non-gambler it was lots of fun, and I never felt I lacked for something to do. It was a good opportunity to catch up with friends, partake in food outside of the main hall, and make some bad decisions.
Oh, and I was told it would amuse people to hear Captain Daekara won a rhino.