When Seamas designs a Quest, he usually gives each team a page of text which includes the premise for the quest, the rules, and the task the pilgrims must accomplish. This year, I decided that “listening” should be one of the skills the successful team should posess, so I read the instructions instead. Below is the text from my original notes of the information the pilgrims heard. At the end are my notes of the items needed for each team. I’ve also included my hindsight notes in brackets [ ].
In 959 AD, Dunstan was appointed to be Archbishop of Canterbury. He travelled to Rome the next year to receive the pallium from Pope John XII [The previous is historical fact. Next is pure fiction and where the fun begins!]. On his way back to England, Dunstan stopped in Venice, where he discovered the citizens were celebrating Carnival. That evening, Dunstan celebrated Carnival, too. The next morning, he discovered his cape was missing, along with a scroll given him by the Pope. Your task is to find Dunstan and return his cape and scroll to him.
Team instructions and info:
- Quest is limited to 2 hours. Pay heed to the Town Herald, for he is your timekeeper for all quest-related events.
- Use your time wisely. Some items are unique and available only to the first team to aquire them. [This backfired a bit in that the pilgrims’ enthusiasm led them to mob some of the denizens. I should have stated that only one team at a time should approach a station or denizen.]
- All gold and tokens must be kept in pouch. Pouch must be kept on belt hook. If pouch is lost, see the Magistrate, who is responsible for the Lost and Found.
- Thieves may also be taken to the Magistrate for judgment. [I shouldn’t have mentioned theives. Teams reacted by protecting their pouches too closely, which frustrated the Cutpurses.]
- Teams may not fight each other for any reason. Boffer weapon rules apply – no blows to head or below belt, no thrusting.
- Only designated member(s) of team may carry weapons and fight. If team member is injured or killed in fight, weapon may not be passed to another team member. [I caught a bit of flack for not allowing anyone under 18 to carry a boffer and fight, but there wasn’t much I could do - I had to comply with Kingdom. The only other choice was to remove fighting entirely.]
- Indulgances and Pardons must be used if necessary to heal injured team members.
- The Venetian Underworld knows the value of gold. Use what gold you must, but only what you must. [Shouldn’t have mentioned this, either. Some teams reacted by lying about how much gold they had in a couple of cases. This was not something pilgrims were supposed to do.]
- In the “spirit” of Carnival, each team should compose an original song or poem of at least two verses (or stanzas) about a beverage of your choice.
- When you believe you have completed your three-fold task, or when time is up, please give Dunstan your pouch, boffer weapons, and all items you have collected during this quest.
- In addition to the Magistrate, there is also a Tavern and a Pawn Shop. You are also invited to watch the Carnival Parade when it occurs. [Though I was trying to keep this Quest as simple as I could, I should have had more stations with set locations. The Pawn Shop got mobbed right off the bat…]
[I should also have clearly defined the Quest area. Though I did state that none of the Quest was in the woods, a couple of teams wandered way down the field and into an unattended pavillion.]
Team Receives:
pouch
pouch hook
15 coins
2 pardons
2 indulgances
notecard with team name
Next…Denizen Instructions…
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