The Rose and the Rat

[Johara]

A commoner woman, dressed in simple clothes and wearing her hair pulled back and done up in a practical bun, can be overheard whispering to another woman, who has gained the reputation for being a town gossip.

"Did you hear that that wealthy merchant man, Henri Villaneuve, is a bit superstitious after all?" The commoner woman inquires, doing her best to refrain from gushing all the details of gossip that she has heard.

The town harpy just smirks, "What makes you say that? The only thing he cares about is the glitter of gold and the sparkle of gemstones."

"Why, just the other day, he put out an elderly woman from his store for being penniless and broke. Several patrons gasped in shock at his audacity," explains the commoner.

"And that makes him superstitious?" asks the harpy incredulously.

The commoner rolls her eyes, "No! When pressed about his actions, he proclaimed that the old woman tried to steal from him, take something that did not belong to her!" She gives pause, allowing the harpy to continue her look of indifference. "When he uttered those lies, the old woman transformed herself from the shriveled elderly woman into a tall, dark, and exotic wizardess! She placed a curse on him! For his horrible acts, she inflicted him with lycanthropy - with the intentions of revealing his true nature." She nods her head once, saying definitively and affirmatively, "That of a true rat!"

The harpy has to stop and digest all this information. However, she's starting to come around.

"Henri ran to the Selunites, begging for help. However, the wizardess' magic was too powerful. But the way I hear it, an oracle divined for him a prophecy!" The commoner gives pause, "Or was it a Sunite that told him this remedy? I don't know. Some of those details are unclear..."

The harpy rolls her eyes, "Get on with it!"

"The prophecy goes that Henri Villaneuve is supposed to perform an act of kindness for someone down on their luck, someone less fortunate. If he holds true, the curse will be lifted!"

----------

There is to be a gala held at the Cynosure Hall courtyard. The lavish party is to have food, spirits, and the skilled tongues and musical instruments of bards from across the land. Dancing and mingling would be strongly encouraged for all of the party goers. The hostess, a young woman that goes by the name of 'Bunny', will be presenting each guest with a rose! Those in the know understand that a wealthy merchant has taken this misfortunate sewer rat under his wings in hopes of transforming her from a rat ... to a rose! If the above gossip holds true, then "his rose" will be saved from becoming "the rat".

OOC: I'm looking to hold this on Friday, September 7th at 7pm CST -- if I knew how to do the timeanddate.com thing, I would add a link to help with time zone translation.

And I'm looking for this to be a true RP event. Party goers will indeed be given a rose. The intent is for the party goer to keep the rose in their inventory for an entire OOC week. If you are able to return the rose (before the last petal falls), you will be rewarded with a gift from the merchant. Though, understand -- there are forces out there trying to prevent you from doing so. That 'evil' wizardess has her tendrils everywhere! Mwhahaha!

You are welcome to respond to any act how you deem fit. After all, ICA = ICC (In Character Actions = In Character Consequences). I do NOT want this to turn into a blood bath or a "might makes right" kind of event. So there are going to be rules in place! Any one caught breaking these rules will be excluded from the competition.

Rules and Terms & Conditions

1) If you are given a rose, the expectation is that you make yourself "available" on the grid for a "fair" period of time during the week. I'm not going to ask you to forego RL responsibilities such as work, school, family... but if you could be available "on the grid", it would be greatly appreciated and would help at making this event successful.

2) For those of you who might want to wreck havoc and prevent people from "keeping their rose" - whether you want to win the competition, or for other reasons... you will be held accountable to the laws of the land. So do so at your own risk!

3) If a failed robbery, or if you simply wish to be a thug and manhandle your way into acquiring a rose... all combat is to be done in killmode spar! I would love for the battle scenes to be posed, allowing a display of your true character! This is RP MUD!

4) There is to be no PK. I don't want this to be a blood bath. If during the spar, there is an accidental death -- please make sure the victim is taken to a temple and raised back to life. Should someone be subdued, aid them so that they are to recover. The victor should pose searching and taking the rose. The loser should graciously hand over the rose.

5) If the party goers "hide" or "conceal" their rose, they will be disqualified from the competition. The rose is to always be in the PC's inventory.

6) For those taking the roses -- again, you are responsible for your own actions. You may have to deal with IC consequences. Petty theft is still petty theft. And assault with deadly force is still assault with deadly force.

[Johara]

On a side note... if there are any bards that wish to show case their talents, I'm all for this! I would love for bards to come out of the wood work and perform their craft - whether that's play music, sing songs, or spin tales! Entertain the crowd! Payment can be arranged for your performance!

[Johara]

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ ... 7T19&p1=76

Thanks to Elisabeth for helping with the Time and Date thing...

[Aysa]

I still don't like the fact that you're making Z wear a dress...!!! It's going to be hard enough to mimic Audrey Hepburn from My Fair Lady!

*shakes her fist*

[Johara]

bumping for a reminder

[Benorf]

For those interested in getting a rose, is the party on friday, or are we getting the roses on friday?

[Johara]

Roses will be handed out at the party to all the party goers on Friday. They will be asked to 'return the rose in good health' in one IC fortnight (1 OOC week). This means that the Rose was returned to the merchant before the last rose petal fell...

It's during that 1 OOC week that the competition of 'acquiring' the roses will truly take place.

I hope that makes sense?

[Johara]

I would like to thank everyone that came out to the event. I'm hoping the follow up to the event is just as ... "eventful" as the gala itself.

There will be those who will now try to steal / take / physically manhandle those roses from the party goers. Please adhere to the rules listed above.

I'm hoping that thieves will be thieves... AND I'm hoping that lawful folk will get a chance to play that side of their character as well.

[Aysa]

Thank you, Johara, for the wonderful evening. I even got to show off my dancing skills -- even if it's a bit too... "vigorous" for some people. (I'm quoting the Legend of Zorro with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones for that don't know).

And for those of you want to try to take my rose... I say... BRING IT! (You just better pack a lunch)

[Althasizor]

A friendly reminder to an unfortunately bad sport taking part - As a general rule of the MUD, you shouldn't be sitting in the market square and just typing 'steal rose x' on anyone who walks by the room. 'Help OPP' and 'help steal' should clear up your confusion. And a quote from help rules: 6.You must roleplay any stealing from other player characters
and there are rules about what you may take from character's
corpse.
I would say it's particularly rude to do so as part of someone else's event, when the point of that event was(as I read the OP) RP.

[Algon]

How does one RP stealing from another character? If you RP doing such, doesn't that kind of defeat the point of being good enough at stealing for it to not be noticed?

[Althasizor]

No, not even close. There's so many ways to go about a theft that it would be absurd to start listing them here. There are three helpfiles(four of you count looting corpses) that touch on the topic of taking peoples' stuff without RPing it being bad. I mean first of all, you don't even need to use the "steal" command to pull off a theft, the fact that it exists to make said theft easier doesn't eliminate the need to detail how you went about it. That's why we call it a roleplay MUD.

[Johara]

I've moved this discussion regarding the theft of roses over to the general discussion page.