Munched!

Italian Parsley is one of my favorite herbs.  It grows well in most any type of soil, it needs little water, it stands up to all but the coldest weather, and I can snip leaves from the plant for two years before it goes to seed and dies.  Parsley also has a distinctive, fresh taste that goes especially well in dishes that are not subject to high heat.  If colors had taste, parsley tastes green.

Whenever I plan my kitchen herb garden for the year, there is always space reserved for parsley.  I plant enough for myself, then I add another plant or two for the caterpillars.  "Caterpillars?" you ask; yes, the caterpillars.  The caterpillar of the black swallowtail butterfly dearly loves parsley.  Since this is one of my favorite butterflies, I do not mind sharing my plants.  I snip parsley leaves throughout the spring and early summer, but when the caterpillars arrive in late summer, they can have all the parsley they can eat.  When they are finished, the plants usually recover well, and I can eat parsley leaves again until winter forces the plants into dormancy.

This year, however, the combination of heat and caterpillar attack was too much for my poor parsley plants.  When the weather finally cooled, they did not revive.  This summer's oppressive heat also took its toll on my entire herb garden, decimating everything except my chives.  Saddened, I began planning a small winter garden of kale just to have something green growing outside my kitchen window.  I went to my local co-op for kale plants and was surprised and delighted to find they also had Italian parsley!  Certain that the black swallowtail season was over, I only bought a few parsley plants, planted them next to the kale, and waited for the scrawny little plants to settle in and fill out enough to supply me with leaves.  Three weeks passed.

Ready to add some parsley goodness to a yogurt cheese ball, I took my scissors out to my herb garden only to find that my parsley had been munched!

Here is a closer look at the culprits.  Note that the caterpillars do not all look the same.  This is because they are in different stages of their life cycle.

When a black swallowtail caterpillar is annoyed or frightened, it grows little yellow, fleshy horns and emits a strong odor as a defense mechanism.















I was shocked to find my plants covered in caterpillars so late in the season but also resigned to losing more parsley.  Hopefully, my patience will be rewarded next year by an abundance of butterflies!  The plants have recovered somewhat, but not enough to supply me with fresh leaves this year.  I may attempt to transplant one into a pot to grow inside over the winter.  Meanwhile, I will use grocery store parsley for my holiday yogurt cheese balls and plan next year's kitchen herb garden.

Spiced Tea

I did not originally intend to post two recipes in a row, but after enjoying a cup this morning, I decided it would be nice to share.  This is my mother’s recipe, and making it is one of my favorite family traditions.  The scent of spiced tea filling the house is our acknowledgement that cold weather has officially arrived.

Spiced Tea

(makes approx. 2 gallons)

8 C strong black tea (8-10 regular or 2 family-size tea bags)

46 oz pineapple juice

12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1 gallon apple juice (not cider!)

1 Tbs lemon juice

1 C sugar

1-2 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot.  It is wise to put the cloves in a tea ball for easy removal later.  Simmer, do not boil, on the stove for at least one hour.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Though it was something I had never done while growing up, I have lobotomized a fair number of Jacks in recent years and stood by while hubby and kiddos carved, too.  Until last year, the inside goop, seeds and all, went directly from pumpkin to trash.  Last year, Hubby wanted to try toasting pumpkin seeds in the oven.  Neither of us had eaten toasted pumpkin seeds before, but I enjoy sunflower seeds, so I was willing to try.  Following directions we had seen somewhere (probably on a Food Network show), we separated, rinsed, oiled, salted, and toasted.  We barely allowed the toasted seeds time to cool before popping them into our mouths.  The outer shells were rock-hard and nearly impossible to split without shattering the meat within.  All the salt had remained on the outer shell, leaving the meats utterly bland.  Yuck!  This was not what we expected!

This year, I decided to try again.  Wary of repeating last year’s disaster, I did a bit of quick research and discovered that there are two main methods of toasting pumpkin seeds: the oil and season method we used before and the boil and season method.  The recipe below, based on a recipe I found at Simply Recipes,^* is the method that worked best for me.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

4 C water

2 Tbs salt

1 C raw pumpkin seeds (in shell)

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Place a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet, or coat the baking sheet with olive oil.

In a saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil.  Add pumpkin seeds and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain the water from the seeds and spread them in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Bake on the top rack for 10 – 20 minutes, or until the shells reach your desired shade of brown.  Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool.

Do not be alarmed if you hear popping noises from the oven; some of the shells are popping open from the pressure of steam that has formed inside.  No harm is occurring to either seeds or oven, but it is amusing to watch the reaction of the unsuspecting cat who happens to walk by the oven!

A minute or two after the seeds come out of the oven, they will begin to crackle as they cool, similar to the sound Rice Krispies make in milk.  It probably has to do with steam escaping the shells again, but it was another opportunity to astonish the children.

Just as the taste of coffee or chocolate beans depends upon how long they were roasted, pumpkin seeds will develop their own characteristic flavor according to how long you left them in the oven.  I prefer the meats of mine to be brown for a roasty, toasty, nutty flavor, but it is hard to tell how dark the meats are by looking at the shells.  If I can find a source for raw unshelled seeds, I intend to try toasting them next.

^*  You know you are in grad school when you still feel obligated to cite your sources – even in your blog!

No Grand Promises

Reading my most recent posts, I can only shake my head and sigh. In spite of all the reasons I started this blog, it became a victim of procrastination. Like many of the things I do purely for myself, its priority slipped in favor of tasks and projects for other people.

I cannot promise that this effort will be any different.

My reasons for posting again are not purely noble; there is an external factor goading me into writing now. My hope is that, this time, I will keep going. Though all of my writing in the past couple of years has been for other people, this blog has always remained on my project list, while other things have been removed.

Other projects I have recently pursued and about which I intend to write include:

• knitting
• felting
• inkle weaving
• beeswax taper candles
• Dutch oven cooking
• heraldry
• calligraphy

Yes, I am still a Rambler, sampling various mediums of expression and enjoying them all!

Rhetorical Question?

What is it about this mad, mad hobby of mine that after a demanding week which has shaken every facet of my mundane life, I can spend a physically, emotionally, and spiritually grueling weekend helping my beloved Shire host an event, yet, now that I am warm, dry, and have my children safely home, I can say with all sincerity that this has been one of my best weekends in months? Oh, I do so love my friends...

Resumed!

Yesterday's Statistics exam awaits my professor's red pen, and I have caught up somewhat on neglected sleep and housework, so blogging can now resume. I do not flatter myself to think I am one of the cool kids, but I did miss posting.

Seamas has gained some noteriety with the Librarian's Challenge. We have received comments from four kingdoms now, which is truly flattering. He has been working on updating SCAdia this past week; I expect him to release the update soon.

Last weekend, I photographed some of the softball games at my company's family picnic. Though I usually do not engage in much action photography, I am very pleased with how most of the photos turned out. I am even more pleased with people's reactions after I posted the slideshow on our server. For example, I overheard one of my co-workers talking on the telephone about the slideshow that afternoon. She was telling the person on the other end to look at specific slides and was talking about what was going on at the time each photo was taken. A truly positive experience, and I find myself looking forward to next year's games.

So life returns to normal for a few weeks - until my next exam!

Ramble Pause

Gentle Reader, I beg your indulgance for a few days. As many of you know, I am pursuing a Master's degree and am taking a statistics course this semester. Saturday is our first exam, and I must therefore focus my attention in that direction for a few more days. The recent flurry of posts will soon resume...!

Quest XII Denizen Instructions

In Smythkepe's quests, the "denizens" are the people playing roles (parts). In order to make sure each denizen understood what was going on in the Quest and what his or her particular role was to be, we gave each a page of General Notes (which applied to all the denizens) and a page of specific notes for his or her own station. This year, we used the camp's "Fort" (Seamas called it a "Palisade") to set up a small town.

The theme of this year's MSKD was the Siege of Malta. Most activities for the entire weekend was broken into Ottoman vs Maltese, with War Points awarded for the victorious. Even Quest was worth a War Point, so Seamas and I worked the theme into this year's design.

First, the General Notes:


GENERAL NOTES FOR TOWNSPEOPLE

The teams of questers entering the town are escaped prisoners of war. There are Maltese teams escaped from the besieging Turks, and there are Ottoman teams escaped from the defending Knights. They do not know which forces control this stretch of coastline or this small town.

Frankly, neither do you!

The Turks are at the end of their resources, and will break off the siege in just a week, on September 8th - but of course you don't know that today. Although your town is obviously Christian, you should avoid offending Ottoman visitors until you are certain that the town will not be shortly invested or occupied by Turkish forces. (Just for safety's sake, the taverns have sold out of anything alcoholic.)

The town itself is a small coastal outpost with a lighthouse. The west side of town is the seafront side. The town guard has been sent out to patrol the roads, leaving the town defenseless. Hurrah!

[Seamas drew a marvelously scaled map here, which I am unable to reproduce as of this writing.]

Miscellaneous notes:

• Please don't help the questers solve any of the puzzles or quizzes.
• Moira calls her tavern the "Sable Falcon" but everybody else calls it the "Black Bird."
• The lighthouse also holds the town library (although few people can read).
  

Librarian's Occupations Quiz - Part 2

Huzzah! The quiz is posted!
Please visit SCAdia for the Librarian's Challenge.

Librarian's Occupations Quiz - Part 1

Tonight, Seamas put the Librarian's Occupations list into a format that lets a person input their answers and then see their scores. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the code to work on Blogger. Tomorrow, he will work on adding the quiz to his own site, SCAdia.

Orange Omlette for Harlots and Ruffians

Have you ever eaten a meal that was so well prepared you simply couldn't express yourself through words? I had the good fortune at MSKD last weekend to sit at the feast table served by one of the Seige Cooking competition teams. We were, in no uncertain terms, well fed both in quantity and quality of food. (Truly, I did not eat again until after 2PM the next day.) Afterward, I could find no better way to express how much I enjoyed the meal than to hug the team captain!

This was one of the dishes we were served. In my own interpretation (read "guess") that I cooked for dinner Tuesday night, I used 2 Tbs orange juice, and 1 tsp honey for each 2 eggs. Not quite the same as her proportions, but pretty close. More importantly, my children (including the finicky eater) loved it and have asked that I make it again this weekend. Yippee!

Down

A lady within my company died over the weekend. I didn't work directly with her, or even know her well, but she lived and worked closely with a dear friend. That, coupled with the fact that the circumstances surrounding her death are virtually identical to how I lost Mom, has really got me down.

Bruce

I have referred in the past to the "Brandr factor." This is the theory that, no matter how thoroughly you predict and prepare for the ways a Quest team can react to an element in your quest design, someone will do something totally unexpected. When we think we have nearly completed a quest design, Seamas and I will sit back and ask ourselves, "What Would Brandyr Do?"

This year, however, I found myself thinking, "What Would Bruce Do...and How Can I Trip Them Up?"

"Bruce" is a perinneal Quest team, captained by Kat the Strange, that usually does very well in our quests. They don't always win, but they certainly know how to play. (Note to self: perhaps they could be persuaded to guest-design a quest one year and give Seamas and me a much needed rest?) Kat herself has collected more bits of screwball knowledge than I would know what to do with, and the rest of the team is just as bright and just as eclectic. This year, Bruce did not leave the Quest village with the most gold. Bruce did not get the most correct answers on the Librarian's Occupations list. They did OK in those areas, but they excelled because Bruce knew heraldry, knew history and geography, knew kindness and charity to the less fortunate. As Bridget told Seamas, they not only knew the answers to all the Peddler's questions, they knew a song about each one!

Gentle Reader, I had to look up the answers to most of those questions!

So should other teams lose heart from the successes of Bruce? NO! In fact, knowledge of previous quests may be a liability to the team who thinks that because they remember something from a previous quest, they know what is going on in this one. Each Quest is different, and arrogance in a pilgrim is never kindly rewarded. Each of our quests is designed to be winnable by any team that gets into the spirit of Quest and really tries. We are, at heart, a group of people who believe in chivalry, learning, and fun. As the song goes, "...that's what it's all about!"

Another One Down

There is nothing like the adrenaline rush that comes from the successful completion of a much anticipated, and somewhat dreaded, event. No, I don't mean "event" as in this past weekend's MSKD; I mean another successful Quest. Seamas and I worked together again this year, but for some reason, our ideas didn't gel easily or quickly, so our last minute preparations were even more frantic than usual. I don't remember ever being so worried about a Quest before, including last year when I soloed for the first time. Still, everyone involved - denizens, pilgrims, and spectators alike - had a great time.

Seamas and I had fun with it, too. He did a fantastic job putting together and painting the signs (they were made from wood salvaged from a fence we'd torn down in our backyard years ago). He also really, as always, got into the details of fleshing out our rough ideas. I think he was proudest of his map, though. From a single site visit, he was able to use the photos and a few measurements he took to create an accurate map and plan exactly what to put where to take best advantage of the available space...and the available shade at that time of day. That's quite a feat!

Me, I had a blast researching Tablero de Jesus and creating a variant that could be played reasonably quickly. I am tickled at how many people enjoyed the game and want to get together to play again soon. Making the boards and pouches for prizes was also a good way to wind down at the end of a mundanely busy day. We nearly went too far with the Barber's station, though. It's probably just as well that I couldn't find a mannequin limb in time and had to use a crock for the pasta and jello mix instead. But the mix turned out well! I was going for "Yuck!" and was pleasantly surprised to discover I had achieved "Ewwwww!" Even I, knowing what it was, didn't want to stick my hand in it! I initially resisted the idea of requiring the teams to sculpt a falcon from simulated horse flop. However, others liked the idea so much that I had to go along with it. It didn't take much research to find a good homemade playdough recipe, but coloring it brown was another matter altogether!

I will be posting Quest-related stuff over the next few days, including the Librarian's Occupations list. Seamas wants to try to format it as a form so folks can take it as a quiz, then see their scores. I told him he has until the end of the week.

Brown

Tonight, I learned that I can make a very good brown from 2 parts red, 1 part green, and 1 part yellow food coloring. I am having entirely too much fun with this!

What a Relief!

When I started participating with the SCA so many years ago, I quickly chose "Moira" as the name I would use. There were several reasons for my choice: a person I highly admired in my mundane life was named Moira, I like the sound of the name, it was easy to spell and difficult to mispronounce (though both are possible!), and - when combined with my short stature - it forms a pun which makes it easier for folk to remember. Unfortunately, I felt the name locked me into an Irish personna. Now, that's not a bad thing at all, but it wasn't what I really wanted. So I chose something out of a book to use as a last name, and tabled the issue.

Years later, I started thinking about documentation and registration of both name and device. I think I'm close to having a device I can live with (kind of like choosing a tattoo...once it's registered, I'm stuck with it, so I'd better choose well!), but documenting a name has had me tied up in knots. First, I can no longer locate a copy of the book I found it in. Second, that book probably wouldn't be accepted as a source, anyway (sour grapes). Third, I haven't been able to find it in any other source I've looked in, and fourth, I still don't especially like it, and am not especially interested in researching documentable variations on it.

Meanwhile, I realized that I felt more affinity with the Scottish than the Irish. But I've been using "Moira" as my name for over 15 years now, and I'd sooner give up sewing than stop using that name. If only "Moira" were a Scottish name too...IT IS!

So, with great joy, I am pursuing completing a documentable, registratable full name. It's about time!

Under Construction

While I have been working on other projects, like the first semester of Grad school, I've been ignoring this one. I have several posts-in-progress and regular service will soon resume. Meanwhile, I have become thoroughly sick of my previous template, so I'm playing with something new. It will no doubt take a bit of tweaking before I'm ready to settle with something, but I will at least try to get my link list back up soon. Thank you for your patience with me so far!

Quest Denizen Instructions

(Gentle Reader, this post will make much more sense if you have already read the Quest Overview and the Premise and Pilgrim Instructions.)

Quest Denizens not only get to role-play, they also have to improvise. Below is the text from my original notes of the information given to each denizen. I’ve again included my hindsight notes in brackets, but I’ve omitted the names of the people playing the various roles. At the end of each section are my notes of the items needed for each denizen/station.

Dunstan:
In 959 AD, Dunstan was appointed to be Archbishop of Canterbury. He traveled to Rome the next year to receive the pallium from Pope John XII [Again, this part is historical fact. The next part is where the fun begins!]. On his way back to England, Dunstan stopped in Venice, where he discovered the citizens were celebrating Carnival.
Dunstan may admit he was out “enjoying Carnival” – do not admit to visiting a tavern. The next morning, his cape was missing, along with the scroll given him by the Pope.
(Teams will return pouches and all items collected during quest to Dunstan. Please make sure pouch contains notecard with team name, and keep all items returned with team’s pouch for scoring. Small items & scroll can be put in pouch.)
[Serious oops! I utterly failed to let Dunstan see the cape I’d made ahead of time. He had no idea how to describe it for the teams…]
Needs:
1 true cape token – give to team who brings true cape (w/ pocket)
2 false cape tokens – give to team(s) who bring imposter cape


Pawnbroker:
Chatty and willing to deal to sell her wares. Has fake cape priced out of teams’ reach (15 gold), but is willing to come down (bargain with them, but don’t accept less than 7 gold) for a good sob story (story must include the waif). Also has several scrolls and other items for sale. These items may be sold if the team wants them.
Display only one cape at a time. Display only one fake scroll at a time. If asked how long you’ve had cape or scroll, don’t name a specific time. Say something like, “they were acquired recently.” The idea is to give the impression these items may have been stolen. [Poor gal was located too close to the teams’ starting-off point…she got mobbed. She still did well, though. Not only did she manage to sell a fake scroll to four of the five teams, she sold several of the other red herring items as well!]
Needs:
Imposter cape #1 & #2
Fake scrolls
other items for pawn
notecards for pricing


Fagin & Cutpurse(s):
Fagin and Cutpurse(s) travel together. Fagin attempts to recruit team’s children for the Carnival parade. While the team is distracted, the Cutpurse attempts to steal the team’s gold pouch. If caught, the Cutpurse must stop and return any stolen pouch and its entire contents. If Cutpurse is successful, take 2 gold and leave pouch with Magistrate. Note that the Children’s Parade is another opportunity to steal pouches. [These three did a fantastic job of preparation. They had planned ahead and had their costumes coordinated in such a way that one or two of them could distract the crowd while the third made off with the team’s pouch. The boys had even done a remarkable job of hiding their excitement by not mentioning to anyone beforehand that they had parts in the quest. I was really proud of them and felt awful that I had unintentionally sabotaged them by mentioning thieves earlier.]
Teams may take Fagin and Cutpurse(s) to the Magistrate. If this happens, pay Magistrate 5 gold penalty & 3 gold to avoid jail time.
Needs:
token for successful recruitment of children (neg. points)
gold for Magistrate bribes


Magistrate:
The Magistrate is as crooked as they come. “Justice is blind…and somewhat hard of hearing…” The Magistrate is blind, and selectively pretends to not hear well. May be bribed by Fagin or Bravi for reduced penalties. If team tries to bribe for more strict penalties, Magistrate becomes offended and accuses team of trying to bribe him. Keeper of the Lost & Found. Doesn’t know anything about any item of Dunstan’s. [I tried to leave the Magistrate plenty of leeway in how he handled teams, because I simply could not predict what they would do. He improvised really well.]
Penalties:
Theft by Cutpurse or Bravi – 5 gold & 3 days jail
Attempted bribery by team – 2 gold
Needs:
pavilion
table
chair


Bravi:
Roving wanderers lookin’ for trouble and a bit of gold. If you beat team, take pouch from team. Take 2 gold and leave pouch with Magistrate. May take bribe to leave team alone. If team fights particularly well, may take only 1 gold. [Yes, this was the obligatory fighting station. These two had a lot of fun sneaking up on teams. I wish I had been able to watch them, because I’m sure they played this part with flair. The only thing I really should have done differently here was have the Bravi take more gold from the pouches.]
If taken to Magistrate, pay 5 gold penalty & 3 gold to avoid jail time.
Needs:
boffer swords
token to give if beaten in fight
gold for Magistrate bribe


Town Herald:
Makes announcements regarding Carnival Parade (Moira will tell you when to announce what). Bad-tempered fellow. Was given a scroll by a young waif, but was too busy to bother with reading it at the time. Still has the scroll. Won’t read it to team, but will allow them to see scroll if they prove they represent Dunstan by asking questions regarding Dunstan’s life. [Loved the way he started making random announcements about whatever crossed his mind. This made it easier to improvise later when the “Brandr factor” kicked in.]
Needs:
5 true scrolls – give if team answers 3 questions correctly
5 fake scrolls – give if team answers less than 3 questions correctly
list of questions


Gondolier:
Stationed at Tavern. Carried Dunstan as a fare the night before. Thinks he came from the Tavern. Does not remember seeing a cape. (May argue with Tavern Keeper over whether Dunstan had cape or not.)
Request team perform a song or poem about a beverage of their choice. [It was very important that the person playing the Gondolier be someone with a bardic background. What was really fun here, though, was the way some teams performed more than one piece. One team went so far as to have every member perform something.]
Needs:
penalty token – give if no performance or not original
tokens marked with 1, 2, or 3 – give to score quality of performance (1 – wrote something, 2 – made an effort, 3 – really good)


Tavern Keeper:
Wants 2 gold bribe for information. Served Dunstan the night before. Says Dunstan was “somewhat in his cups” when he left. Definitely left with his cape. Offers to roll dice with teams for return of bribe. Roll die only once. White – return bribe to team. Black – keep bribe. Yellow – return half of bribe to team. [I wanted to somehow arrange a tavern brawl here, but I ran out of time before I could come up with a workable idea.]
Needs:
water
table(s)
cups
boats game
gold


Waif:
The one true innocent in this Quest. Found Dunstan’s cape next to a canal and wears it for the Children’s Carnival. Also found a scroll, but couldn’t read. Took it to the Herald, but he wouldn’t read it for her. Will give cape to team in return for replacement. “Money won’t keep me warm.” Do not offer cape to team – they must ask for it. [I think she forgot to mention the scroll to the teams at first. When I realized the Herald wasn’t getting mobbed, I asked her to go around and mention it to all the teams.]
Needs:
True cape

Children’s Parade:
Begins approx. 1 hour after beginning of Quest. Round up as many masked children as possible. Children who were recruited by the Fagin may also participate. The Waif also participates. Mainly a diversion, but also puts the Waif with the true cape into play. [Partly due to the lack of stationary stations, teams were beginning to get frustrated, so we started the parade about 15 minutes early. We started with a parade, and ended with a mob. It was a bit overwhelming, but our Waif handled it well.]


Next…the true text of the two scrolls and the answers to the Town Herald’s questions.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

I mentioned earlier that one of my favorite starting points for cruising the internet is www.refdesk.com. Today, I found an interesting tidbit that I'm going to have to follow up and research. According to The Free Dictionary, it appears that the earliest forms of the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin may originate in period. Reading the article further, this may not be the best subject for Children's Activities, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Quest Premise and Pilgrim Instructions

(Gentle Reader, if the title of this post means nothing to you, do please go back and read the Quest Overview.)

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…