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Aug-9-2016 16:36

There will be 3 activities this week. All events will start on Thursday, August 11, 12:00 AM, SST. Last week was a sprint. This week (and next) is a marathon. Good luck. ;-)

1. Treasure Hunts - Week 1
This event will last TWO weeks. You need to complete a total of six hunts, 3 Single-City, and 3 Multi-City. Any hunt opened before Thursday, August 11, 12:00 AM, SST, will be discarded. Hunts can start in any city, and be from any faction. All teams get 30 points for each hunt they participate in. Teams who win a hunt get 100 points. Once teams have completed all hunts, they are ineligible from further competition in this activity.

Hunts will be divided under the following categories:

Prizes you can Wear.
Prizes you can Hold.
Prizes you can Use.

For example, The Sacred Atlas of Al Capone is a Multi-City hunt currently being run out of Delhi. An atlas is NOT something you can wear. It is, however, something you can hold, or use, so it would qualify for the second or third categories, but not the first. Another example, The Golden Ring of Al Capone, is a Single-City hunt currently being run out of Shanghai. A ring is something you can wear and hold, but not use. So it would qualify for the first and second categories, but not the third. Teams may determine which categories their prizes fall under, but only one category may be used for one prize. You must use 3 Single-City hunts in each category, and 3 Multi-City hunts. If you have a question about what category a prize falls into, please PM the Judges (Breitkat, Riza, or Squirrel).

2. Scavenger Hunt - Week 1
This is part one of two. Teams have ONE week to complete this activity. All teams must empty their Lockers of all IH favor reward items, unless they are a part of a member's uniform. Please send a screenshot to Riza Hawkeye when you have done so for verification. Please also remember that we have an honour system in place for this competition, and we are trusting you NOT to hoard things in your Apartments.

Aug-11-2016 00:08

This is your starting point. Your story does NOT have to specifically include the murder. It DOES have to revolve around the elements (somehow, someway) of the story that you've been given. Where you go from there is entirely up to you. A couple of examples:
Have somebody go comfort (or fire) the manager, and describe the fallout.

Have somebody go steal a horse from the equestrian team, and sneak it into the gymnasium for the gymnasts to use instead of the missing pommel horse, and describe the results.

Anyone who has questions is free to either post them here, or PM me. Again, good luck, and happy scribbling!! ;-D

Breit

Aug-11-2016 00:10

Blue Pagoda is usually chasing every (or near enough every) available hunt. This spreads their members out all over the world. If there's competition for a particular hunt they can have agents pile into the city to help out, but with four other agencies competing against them they're not going to be able to do that everywhere. Blue will win some of the hunts, but at 16-11 as a collective the Olympic teams have actually got the edge.

Just work tightly, be clever about held favours, you'll be fine. :) I think having Blue involved makes it all the more exciting.

Aug-11-2016 00:26

By the way, several of Blue's people are Unsubbed at the moment, so they're working with a limited staff. Yes, they're a powerhouse in the treasure hunting world. But every team here has just as much chance to win a hunt as they do.

So quit worrying about Blue, and start concentrating on YOUR team. You can't change what Blue (or anyone else) is going to do. You can change what your team does.

Thanks for the good advice, Yeti!! ;-)

Go get 'em, guys!!
B.

Aug-11-2016 00:36

... and may the deity of your choice have mercy on your souls.

Aug-11-2016 01:08

"spelling and grammar will be looked at during the judging." Just a reminder that not everyone is a native English speaker and I think that should be taken into consideration. Unless you're offering someone up to be a beta reader and correct every mistake, this should be kept in mind by the judges..

Aug-11-2016 01:18

The Judges can tell pretty easily if someone is not a native English speaker, and no, that is not used as a punishment against an individual writer. We WILL, however, be able to tell if someone hasn't used spell-check (I know, it's not worth much more than the dynamite it takes to blow it up, but if you're not a good speller, please use it anyway), or had somebody else read through your work and look for obvious errors. And that we WILL take into account. Is spelling and grammar worth a huge part of the score?? No. But it will be worth probably 10%. And that could be enough to divide first place from second.

So, please, do your very best to use good spelling and grammar, and have at least one other person look at your final work before you submit it.

Hope that clears things up a bit. ;-)
B.

(By the way, Devi, you speak and write English better than I do. You have nothing to worry about. B. ;-)

Aug-11-2016 01:31

Well, I earn my living by writing in English. Have done so for the past four years or so. But I know there are others that don't. I'm simply bringing up an issue I noticed :)

Aug-11-2016 01:56

Yep, thank you, Devi. ;-) That's a standard rule of judging for all writing contests around here. ;-)

B.

Aug-11-2016 02:32

Thank you squirrel! We need all the help we can get!

Aug-11-2016 03:38

You do; good luck to you all! :D If you could get the items for the scavenger hunt in any order, it would be too easy, but this is almost too hard! Looking at the list, I think I might have to play the favour I've had open for six weeks and a few more after that.