jousting in Gyldenfeld

The first Summer Joust was held at the Red Wolf Cafe in Gyldenfeld Monday evening. The event drew a number of contestants as well as an even larger crowd to spectacte the ancient sport. The contestants were both skilled and gallant as they stepped up to give their all in the test of arms. After a series of matches, the field had dwindled to the final three contestants - Ingot[CC], BabyKat[TDA] and Lissa Eldi[*V*]. After a final round of matches, Ingot emerged the victor, collected his 50,000 gold prize, a 100 Luck bracelet as a surpise prize from Corinthius and was named Champion of the Joust. BabyKat won second place, taking 25,000 gold and Lissa came out in third place winning 10,000 gold.

As a reminder, be sure to check out the town's event calendar! August is almost over and September is just around the corner and full of events. As always, anyone is welcome in Gyldenfeld to come to town for events!

Coming up this week, Xotche will be holding Part 2 of the six part series "Survivor" on Wednesday at 9pm EST.

Corinthius will be hold another intellectual battle this Sunday at 7pm EST with the monthly Chess Meet. The rules are standard tournament rules, single elimination and there will be wonderfully generous prizes provided to the winners provided by Corinthius himself. Both events meet in the Red Wolf Cafe.

Also Sunday evening, the monthly town meeting for all town residents, starting at 9pm EST in the Gyldenfeld Commons. There are a number of items to cover including a new resident applicant, a town logo contest, and other matters of town business. Be sure to bring a chair if you don't wanna sit in the grass!

August 16, 2004

Hunters Gather for the Chase!

The Red Wolf Cafe in Gyldenfeld held it's first ever "Running Man" event Monday evening. Masamune[*V*] of the Fellowship of Virtue volunteered to be the first Running Man. However, due to the lag accompanying the advent of Publish 26, released earlier in the day, the event has herky jerky for everyone. Masamune chose his battleground as the windswept town of Serpent's Hold in the south seas. Nine guilds and twelve people began the hunt upon hearing of Masamune's whereabouts and immediately scoured the area.

Masamune was soon located and the battle was begun. After skirmishes on the western edge of town, he made his way for cover in the jungles to the south, but having difficulties with the lag, he soon succumbed to the hearty Shylocke[TDA] of the The Dark Alliance guild. Among the prizes was a 50,000 gold bounty, a +10 stat scroll and a 110 Magery power scroll. The latter two items the very generous donations of Bonami from the Stratics Chesapeake Messageboard and vendor of the Patavino Mall. In addition to tonight's extra prizes, she also graciously donated several other stat and power scrolls as prizes for future events. Thanks Bonami!

Death pays a visit

Casualties

Given the relatively short run of the event, it was agreed to go ahead and run a few more rounds just for fun! Masamune next chose Vesper as his battleground and managed a number of kills before being slain by Lothar[KCR] of the Keepers of the Crimson Rose. Since everyone was having such a great time, a third installment, just for fun, was held in Nujel'm, but this time Masamune took on a partner, the powerful Shylocke[TDA] who had won the first round tonight. In the end, the pair proved devastating as they slaughtered all of their pursuers except one!

The first ever Running Man event hit a few bumps in the road with the unanticipated lag, but everyone still managed to have fun and Masamune was given a great shout for his efforts at the end of the evening and hopefully it won't be long until the next Running Man event. If you're interested in being a Running Man for a future iteration of the event, please contact Tancred RedStar.

New Red Wolf Cafe

In other news, the Red Wolf Cafe has finally finished principal construction at it's new location, just in front of the old plot. It features a smithy and stables in the basement, cafe on the first floor, stage area on the third and an auction ring on the roof. The old location just behind the new one will become something that will be announced shortly on the ocassion of it's grand opening. Although construction has finally ended, work remains to be done with the furnishing and decorating of the interior and exterior but hopefully should be complete within the next few days. On a related note, the cafe will be the meeting point for Tuesday night's monthly Archer Night hosted by Niallis[*V*] at 9pm EST. The event will begin with an archery tournament and will be followed by an archers-only hunt. Tamer/Archers are asked to leave their pets in stable or other safe place.

crowd gathers for regatta

The 16th monthly Chesapeake Regatta was held Monday night at the Red Wolf Cafe. Several contestants turned up for the sailing race, but only one would walk away the winner! After reviewing the rules and taking questions, Tancred wished the racers fair sailing as Sweet Dreams opened the gate to the course's starting point. Bedlam ensued as the racers frantically ran about trying to get their boats in the water and underway with all deliberate speed, but within a moment the fleet of ships was sailing quickly out of Minoc's harbor. The onlookers watched the boats disappear into the distance and then made way for the finish line in Cove.

It was just a matter of time and tides before the first ship sliced it's way through the water at the breakwater in Cove. Yanni, aka the Pink Pirate, docked his ship first to take the 50,000 gold first place prize and setting a new course record time of 17 minutes, 53 seconds. Anton was not far behind him and won 25,000 gold. Magni broke ahead of the remaining pack and took the third place prize of 10,000 gold.

the Pink Pirate

As everyone reconvened back at the Red Wolf Cafe in town, the pirate contest began with Felintus and his most outlandish tale of his formative, younger years. He was soon followed in the competition by other boasting, swaggering pirates, but after they'd all given their best, the judges chose Tammy Lynn as the best pirate and awarded her the 5,000 gold check, the first female pirate to ever win the contest!

waiting at the finish line

new Red Wolf Cafe taking shape

In other news, construction is boisterously moving ahead and on the new home of the Red Wolf Cafe. Located in the plot just in front of the current cafe, the new one will be larger than ever before. Formerly the site of many famous structures before such as Rosewood Crossing, Fernaan Healden and others, and most recently the House of Merchants, the new Red Wolf Cafe will continue it's mission of providing great, organized, player-run events that have always been, and will continue to be, open to all the citizens of the realm. Among the planned features are increased capacity for events in both the cafe and stage areas, a larger stable, a smithy, a veranda, donation box, longer bar counter and even an auction area on the roof. Construction began just a few days ago and the work is proceeding well, so keep an eye out for the bigger and better Red Wolf Cafe!

Gyldenfeld's first Chess tournament

It was an interesting night in Gyldenfeld as 10 Chess players battled it out at the Red Wolf Cafe. All of the players in the tournament did an incredible job playing, and I was amazed at the skill many of them possessed in the game. The tournament Came down to 3 players; Magni, Moe's Tavern, and Doctor Gonzo. With the current rule set we were using, Moe and Gonzo tied for first place taking home 500k each. All around it was good clean fun. Most of the players showed courtesy and respect for the other players. They won well and bowed out gracefully upon defeat. I was very proud to see people such as this playing in our little tournament.

This was our first in game Chess Tournament and it was a real learning experience for us all. I made a bad call at the end of the tournament, declaring the match a draw because my mind was entirely too tired to remember the draw rule...50 moves without checkmate after your opponent is reduced to a king results in a stalemate or draw. I declared it a draw with the old sandlot rule of 5 moves, my bad. Both the winners were paid the full first place prize in any case, but the results would have most definately been Moe's Tavern declared the winner, I just wanted to give him the credit due to him for his skill in the game.

I also learned that we need a very organized and customized set of rules for playing a tournament in game. I am going to attempt to get a set of more specialized rules for us in the game to play with in order to make tournament play more feasable for us. I will do my best to have these available in game for players to read before the next tournament night.

I think that our next chess tourney should be earlier in the day. It was obvious that we were all tired, not thinking our best, and easily distracted. I beleive that earlier in the day would be far more conducive to a good tournament worth playing in.

I would like to thank everyone that came out tonight, both to play and to cheer on the players. I enjoyed meeting everyone and hope to see you all soon at other events in our lovely little town. Thanks for your patience during the games and for keeping an atomosphere where players wouldnt be too terribly distracted. Hope that I will see you all tomorrow night at the Regatta.

a bit of background as the show starts

The Travelling Vaudeville Troupe from the Legends shard paid a visit to Gyldenfeld and put on a spectacular show before a huge audience in the Red Wolf Cafe Tuesday evening. With a mixture of jokes, skits, magic and even a bit of historical background about vaudeville, the show was a huge and entertaining success. The troupe had worked hard to write and rehearse the material beforehand and their dedication really showed in the fine production they put on for the crowd. At one point, even diehard enemies Army of the Dragon[ATD] and Army of Thieves[AT] sat quietly in the same room to watch the show.

Running nearly two hours in length, the show was interspersed with rounds of Let's Make a Deal in which a random item would be requested from the audience. The first person to produce the item via trade window would then exchange it for a bag with unknown contents. Sometimes the bag contained to Doom rares, gold checks and other fabulous prizes... sometimes it contained items otherwise considered common street refuse! If the "winner" did not like the item in the bag, they could trade it for another bag, sometimes with greater or lesser results. Barring the second chance, there was also a third and final bag. Some of the nicer prizes included a lamp post and a 20K check!(as compared to hair dye, dead plants or a single nox crystal which some people "won").

Lancer the Great performs a trick

Overall, the evening was a huge success and well enjoyed by the dozens and dozens of people in attendance. A big thank you goes out the Travelling Vaudeville Troupe for a great performance and also Xotche for organizing a great event!

a gracious comment from someone in the audience, name lost in the crowd

Winfield of PaxLair performs a sketch

The Red Wolf Cafe presented a Comedy Night hosted by Anton Monday evening. The night began with a sketch by Winfield of PaxLair which recalled the early days of the realm and his true life adventures with a twist. This entertaining re-enactment was followed by the improv contest in which teams of volunteers vied to generate the most laughes with their antics given a topic by Anton. Some of the improv topics included "the guild hunt," "pvp," "a romantic encouter" and others. After several acts, and more than a few laughes from the audience, the red team was chosen by the judges panel as the winners and were awarded a nice gold prize.

Although eggs and vegetables were close at hand for the audience to throw at the stage, little use was made of these items during the evening, much to the relief of the contestants.

Gyldenfeld's Opening Week of Events continues Tuesday evening with a performance of The Traveling Vaudeville Show from the Legends shard at 9pm EST sharp in the Red Wolf Cafe hosted by Xotche!

August 1, 2004

Gathering in Gyldenfeld Commons

Gyldenfeld became the newest dot on the map in the realm as it incoporated today amid fanfare and fun. Tancred RedStar, the provisional mayor, welcomed the assembled crowd and gave a short speech which focused on embuing hope for the future of the town in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years to come. Many of the other towns of the realm had citizens present for the ceremony in the Gyldenfeld Commons. After a bit of introductions of the townspeople, it was time for the Round the World Relay to begin!

The Round the World Relay began in Gyldenfeld on the road outside Dizzy's shop, "Back to Basics." As the racers lined up, Tancred reviewed the course which extended up the road to link up with the Northern Road where racers took the eastbound route to Vesper. Once there, they were to take to sea and sail with best speed to Skara Brae. Arriving at the docks there, the course wound east through Nidaros, then curved north until it returned the racers into Gyldenfeld once again, completing a path around the world.

Racers lining up as spectators look on

Crowd awaits at the finish line

With a mighty shout and best wishes, the racers sped off at full gallop. Soon enough, the docks in Vesper were abuzz as the spectators had gathered to watch the racers transition to the seabourne phase. The lead had already swapped racers, Lothar now ahead of Crimson with Kara close behind. Once at sea, there was disrray due to the farflung navigation involved and other seagoing hazards. One racer was even ambushed by a group of water elementals with an unfortunate outcome. But as the first sail was sighted in Skara Brae, Lothar of Nidaros had a hefty lead which he maintained as he rode across the finish line back in Gyldenfeld.

Lothar was soon followed across the finish line by other racers and everyone went upstairs to the Red Wolf Cafe for the presentation of awards. Lothar was awarded 150,000 gold pieces for his victory as well as a surreptitious bonus of an ethereal horse donated by Dizzy. Magni came in second and won 75,000 gold which he kindly donated back to the event host. Last, but not least, Lady Hinotori placed third and garnered a 30,000 gold check for her efforts.

The next event of the evening was the Trivia Challenge presented by Lissa Eldi. She had carefully selected questions spanning a number of topics including Ultima lore. Upon being the first person to correctly answer a question, the winner took to the stage where they were to select from a red, blue and yellow bag, each containing a mystery prize. Lissa Eldi graciously provided the prizes which were in turn boosted by the genorosity of Dizzy once again. With so many people present, the competition was fierce, the answers fast and the prizes were distributed widely as no one mastermind could dominate the intellectual contest.

Lissa Eldi poses a barrage of questions

The sun began to dip lower in the sky and Tancred took to the stage to thank everyone for attending this first day of Gyldenfeld's life. The schedule of events in the coming week was covered by Xotche and Tancred describing some of the interesting and fascinating things in store this week to give everyone a taste of the fun to come(*all events meet at Red Wolf Cafe at 9pm EST unless otherwise noted)

• Monday - Comedy Night hosted by Anton
  A fun-filled night of hysterics and laughter complete with improv performances by audience members.
• Tuesday - Legends Comes to Chesapeake hosted by Xotche
  The Traveling Vaudeville Show comes from the Legends shard for a perfomance not to be missed including an amazing illusionist magic show.
• Wednesday - Survivor (Series Debut) hosted by Xotche
  First installment of a 5 month-long epic contest where contestants struggle to accomplish survival tasks. The prizes get larger as the series progresses! Come prepared for anything!
• Thursday - Looting Race hosted by Tancred
  A mystery city is chosen and then seeded with a slew of boxes. Some boxes will contain prizes, some will contain point-scoring items which lead to other prizes for the top looters. Contestants are then unleashed upon the mystery city via gate to start looting!
• Friday - Fish Fry hosted by Xotche
  Meeting at the Red Wolf Cafe but then departing to embarkation point, this sea journey will feature fishing, messages in a bottle, fishing nets and other seabourne excitement.
• Sunday - Chess Meet hosted by Dizzy
  Single elimination chess tournament with top three winners awarded prizes. Complete rules to be detailed at the event. (*Meets in House of Merchants Vendor House and Rune Library*)

The latest news making the rounds in the realm:

In other news, website improvements continue and all prior news archived as PreNews.

Town of Gyldenfeld, Chesapeake