Trouble with notice boards and tournaments

The official Enferian guard must have done some serious work overnight -- everyone is talking about the flyers and notice boards the following morning. There's buzz and rumors flying about, bright and early, but as it happens you have an opportunity to push your way through a small crowd to get a look at the large, freshly painted sign along the quickly filling thoroughfare. As you squeeze, sneak, muscle, cajole, or teleport your way past the tiny throng, you hear murmurs and chatter about the sign's content.

"There hasn't been one in... what, six years?" a large, gruff man says.

"I heard the Queen's got bored," an older woman speculates.

"Bah, she won't go through with it," a wiry man spits. "She never loses anyway!"

"Don't pretend ya ain't excited, lad!" a bawdy man, who looks as if he'd been up all night, jokes.

The sign reads:
CITIZENS OF ENFERIA

THE QUEEN'S GAMES BEGIN THIS SUMMER

ALL MAY COMPETE FOR GLORY, GOLD AND PRIZES

GRAND PRIZE -- DUEL THE QUEEN

A small list goes on to outline the lesser prizes which include gold, titles, enchanted items, and land (...all things that the grand prize winner gets in addition to the honor of dueling the Queen). It lists the address of the Offices of the Arena, where one can apply. The relatively literate populace's audible speculation continues to buzz in your ear as you begin to react, muse, or otherwise participate in the gossip...

((feel free to hop in character if something like this interests you. I have ideas for some of the preliminary events but am still working out some kinks. It'll be good to have an idea of how many players are interested in doing some prolonged arena events over the next few months, up to and possibly including some sort of climactic battle at the end. I'm not rushing in to this project too quickly, as I intend to finish the pirate adventure (or at least get it to a better point) and hopefully do some arena battles before starting something like this.

I haven't been around in a while, but I have missed the board as I tend to do when away for a while. This would be a good premise for a few arena matches at the very least, no? Once I get warmed up again and review how the system works, I'll feel more confident in designing a Syndra fight for the players interested. It will be strict, and brutal, and weighted against the players, but there will be a legitimate chance of victory against the Queen herself!

I'll get to what I'm thinking so far, but first I do want to say that I'll be looking for everyone's input/suggestions on some fun ideas over the next few months for these games. If at any time you have good ideas for forfeits or competitions, or situations you think the players should get into, and to implement it, please send me a message and let me know! This whole thing is collaborative storytelling, so everyone's involvement will enhance this a great deal.

In the event that we get new players, or some players return after being gone a while, we'll need a way to knock the rust off. I certainly do. So, the 'preliminaries' or qualifiers will be pretty quick and dirty, but a good way to practice or even introduce new characters. Everyone who wants to should pick or create multiple characters (maybe 3-5, depending on how many players we get?) to be involved in the tournament, with the understanding that probably only one of them will make it to the final rounds.

Rather than do a full series of article-of-clothing by article-of-clothing fights, there is certainly some fun alternative. Some kind of 'flash rounds' are in order, in which the results occur really quickly but the forfeits aren't as bad. Meaning, two players exchange one to two posts to decide who wins in a hurry, and the loser's forfeit is relatively mild.

Anyways, I don't want to declare too much before knowing the scope of this thing; I assume if I'm lucky 2-3 players will join meh?

Once again, plz feel free to respond with in-character and out-of-character thoughts below. Also, there's always a chance the ENF fairy may appear if RP occurs. Glad to be back.))

Robyn looked over at Madyson, who was frowning. "Do you think they'll let us enter as a team?" Madyson bowed her head. "I ALWAYS lose. I'm getting sick of it. YOU enter, I'll cheer you on." Robyn shook her head. "I'm nothing without you. We're sisters. We work together. Besides, I've been practicing some new moves. There's no way we can lose. And the prizes sound A-MAZ-ING!" Madyson lifted her head, with a look of resignation. "All right, I'll see if they can take us as a team. Behind her back, her fingers were crossed, hoping it would be against the arena rules, and her sore and overexposed behind would sit this one out.

(Looks fun. I don't want to be greedy and put in too many characters before anyone else joins up.)

Several bouts of speculation continued to fly back and forth in the light of dawn, the general mood of the street scene being an excited one. The burly man nearby was recalling one of his favorite arena story out loud, gesturing emphatically around his chest in a motion like a shirt being ripped open.

Not ten feet away one of the sisters would hear a random voice asking loudly: "Hey, it's them sisters idn't it? They going to compete?"

"Oh, I hope so -- wouldn't mind seeing that bum again!" another laughed.

As one or both of the twins may have overheard their 'fans' nearby, an opportunist had targeted them in the confusion. A slender, spritely, black-haired pickpocket by the name of Nora lurked behind the sisters, pretending to read the sign. Her damp-looking short hair was matted down over her dark eyes, giving the teenage waif a boyish, unassuming look. No one was really paying attention to her, and that was just how she liked it. Nora definitely wasn't the only one taking advantage of the distracted crowds the news provided, but she was the only one desperate or ignorant enough to try to lift something off an arena competitor.

((I rolled just to get back into the habit, and to add an element of randomness... and Nora did poorly, ha.
It's a critical failure against both the sisters' perception...))

Nora cursed silently under her breath as a hand reached down and grabbed hers, just as it was fretting with the strings of one of the twins' belt pouches. Sheer bad luck, it seemed, prompted one of the sisters to check her belongings. Nora had been caught red-handed and would probably flee the scene as quickly as possible, given the chance. The cutpurse wrapped her dun-colored cloak about herself in an attempt to blend and began to try to wiggle her way through the swarm of oblivious peasants.

((I'll let you decide/roll to see which sister notices first, if they try to prevent her from running, that is))

Robyn glared at the little thief, "Hey, get out of there," she said, reaching for her wrist. (16 )
"Who are you?" she said.

Meanwhile, Madyson, so flustered by what she took to be comments about her expansive backside, that she forgot that magic casting in public streets was severely frowned upon, cast "hold person." (18 )

(( she rolled speed to avoid getting grabbed and got an 8 total...
she rolls willpower to resist the 'hold person' and gets a 12 total.))

Nora grimaced as she felt the Ranger swiftly grab her wrist. She didn't really feel the magic wash over her, and she didn't think too hard about the fact that she'd been caught. The waif was acting on the instinct that had saved her from close calls like this a dozen times.

With a yank, she attempted to slip her lithe wrist loose with sheer agility, not making a single sound yet in the hopes that the crowd took as long as possible to notice.

(16 is her final desperate attempt to slip free; if you defend then you'll basically keep her in the grapple and then can attempt to pin or do something similar)

(13) (sorry, waiting for her to move, we'll chase her, you can write for my chars too if you want to make it go a little quicker. Generally, they will chase her.

(and finish in their underwear, when the time they go after Fujimi ^^)Fujimi and Yuki was looking the board, the two girls where interested by the challenge. The ghost girl was interested because she can win money or item and the inventor reason was to improve her notoriety and fame.

((honestly, Myds, Im surprised at the luck in the rolls and have reminded myself of a little lesson about the complications involved 'making things interesting' haha...))

Nora squirmed and slipped until she was able to sprint for a good few seconds and worm and wiggle her way into another cluster of people. If the sisters really wanted to catch her, they'd have to barrel through a wall of bystanders, or get creative. Perhaps it was that the thief didn't actually manage to take anything, but Nora was already counting her blessings and wondering how to refine her next steal as if she'd escaped.

It would seem Nora had gotten away, narrowly... ((or had she? haha... perhaps she'll come up again if the sisters decide it's not worth it.))

"I can track her!" Robyn said. "Or maybe, you can look through your belongings, make sure it's all there, and keep us out of trouble. Remember what happened last time we chased a criminal?"

Robyn frowned. She was trying hard to remember, and thinking had never been her strong suit. "Ummm, you wound up covered in cake, while a little girl kept nailing you in the ass with a slingshot?"

Some bystanders overheard and started chuckling.

Madyson blushed, "Yeah, sis, thanks for remembering. I take it you pubic hair has grown back?"

"Of course, um, I think" said Robin, looking down and tugging the waist of her pants forward.

"Did she take anything?"
"Not my bush," Robyn said.
"OK, sis, concentrate. Do you have everything?"
"I think so."
"That's good, because she's long-gone now."

Robyn grimaced, "We shouldn't have let her get away. I should punish the brat. It's the prince-pull of the thing."

"Principle. I know what you mean, sis. But if your skills and my brain work together, I'll bet we find her, in due time."

"Ok, sis. I'm with you."