Open Competition

The King

The King

Cosmic Mongoose
To celebrate the coming sourcebook « Accross Thunder River », We, King of Valusia, decided to organize a competition from within Our City of Wonder.

The winner shall be the one who can precisely guess the exact number of gold pieces contained in the Treasure of Tranicos.
In case of several good answers, the second question will be to determine the exact number of silver pieces (full coins please).
Then again, to decide between the several applicants who give the right answer, the last tiebreaker shall be to guess the exact weight (in British pounds) of said treasure, considering the chest has a size of 5’x3’x4’, is 77.89% full and is composed of rotten wood with as many as 259 worms in it.

The first prize is a 30 days safari tour (on foot) in the Black Kingdoms among the man-eaters and the other animals and monsters of the savannah, whith the theme: “Following the trails of Amra”. Perhaps the lucky winner will also discover the remnant of the civilization of the "Serpent that Speaks" and spend a night with its beautiful queen.

The second prize is a 2-weeks holiday spent with the Pictish clan of the Eagle (inclusive of all costs), where you will be invited to participate to a hunt, whose prey is still to be determined.

The third prize is a 7 days tour of Stygia, with its remarkable pyramids, its splendid catacombs, its slithering starving snakes and its smiling population.


Therefore, We, King of Valusia, declare the competition open and are wishing any applicants good luck.

King Kull

----------------------

PS n°1: Any cheating person caught red-handed shall be sacrificed to some unwholesome idol to be chosen among Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth or Nyarlathotep (according to their availability).

PS n°2: We decline any responsibility in case of accident during the prize holiday but assure you we will send teams of volunteers to search for your remains, should any subsists.

PS n°3: Please note that We have no relationship with the reknown Mighty Python of Acheron.
 
Love to, but I think we have no idea what you're on about... :lol:

Sounds cool, but I have no notion of what to do about it.
 
Now King, you know that to properly answer those questions, we need the following additional information:

1) What percentage of the treasure is Zingaran gold dubloons, Zingaran silver pesos, Argossean gold talents, and Argossean silver drachmas? Also, as to the weight tiebreaker, you do not mention gemstones and jewelry...

2) Of the Zingaran dubloons, are all Royal Dubloons or are some of them lesser local dynastic dubloons, and if so, from which dynasty (as each dynasty had a slightly different grain and alloy consistency to each coin).

3) What wood is the chest made of, and are the clasps and hinges bronze, iron, or steel? Does the chest have a lock, and if so, how complex?

4) Valusian rot worms or Thulian pine worms? If Thulian pine worms, have they spawned recently, and if so, what percentage?
 
And the Hyborian Earth's spin was presumably slightly faster back then, so gravity would have a marginally greater effect making the thing weigh a little more than you'd expect.
Has this question been thoroughly researched? :wink:
 
Sutek said:
Love to, but I think we have no idea what you're on about... :lol:

Sounds cool, but I have no notion of what to do about it.
Click to expand...
Egyptians knew of astrology and astronomy and mathematics to build their pyramids and you wouldn't be able to calculate the content of a small chest? :wink:
 
It must be know that I took all the gems for myself as organizational expenditures for this competition.
Moreover to make the said competition easier I removed all the old gold pieces to exchange them for newer currency. Of course these older pieces have greater value but the profit made is quite negligible (for kingly standards that is).
I also took a greater part of gold pieces and replaced them with lower-value silver pieces to pay for the potential search & rescue team of volunteers that will be contracted to gather the remains of the winners.

The ratio of gold to silver pieces amounts to 28.5% (yes I took many gold pieces but after all I'am the King).

As to the worms I took them personnaly from the greatest worm (you probably heard about the great white worm in the Pictish wilderness). Those worm's larvaes have a very important growing rate, so each day that passes without any right answer will increase the difficulty proportionnally.

Concerning the kind of wood, I believe it is oaken wood, but I think I read in some scrolls I found in the caverns that they could possibly originate from a Kulamtu tree that was killed immediately after having ingested 3 humans given as a sacrifice (2 young man and a virgin woman).
Note that this possibility can be important in answering the third question.

Note also that in my great magnificence, I will not ask how many power point was gathered by the sorceror before the tree was killed.
 
Thanks, your answers are recorded.
We forgot to tell you that the lastest date when We can receive your answers is the 35 days of the month of the Tiger.
By then all answers will be thoroughly examined and the winner will be determined.
In Our most Great magnificence We will also give awards to the 2nd and 3rd best answers, respectively.

In compensation, We had to take some coins from the chest to ensure Our winter holidays.

Moreover, in order to make up for some power points, We decided that the last 500 to give the right answers would be sacrificed to whatever evil deity will be then available (but please understand I NEED those points).

We, King of Valusia, from within Our City of Wonder, thank you very much for taking the time to read this addenda as well as for participating in this worldwide reknown competition.
 
On behalf of your subjects, as well as those from far and wide who are unfortunate enough not to be your subjects, I would like to thank your Majesty for this most generous opportunity. Truly does this prove to the world your greatness in such things.

*bows*
 
We thank very much the fact that you bring to Our attention. Indeed this competition is open to all from within Our realms as from without.

Showing Our greatest understanding of mankind We thus authorize the participation of anyone : be it a Nemedian Scholar or an illiterate ignorant uneducated barbarian from the remote lands of the Black Kingdoms or a tribesman of distant Hyperboria or even an unkempt nomad of Hyrcania.

Of course We think that scholars and nobles will be among the most probable winners but Fate can sometimes decide otherwise.

So be warned: do not use Fate points to the sole purpose of being left for dead or other silliness such as avoiding the killing blows of your ennemy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Communication - the 2 edged sword
Replies
9
Views
443
alex_greene
alex_greene
ottarrus
Jim Ward, RIP
Replies
0
Views
350
ottarrus
ottarrus
S
How standardized is the tech in your setting?
2 3
Replies
52
Views
1K
Condottiere
C
MongooseMatt
  • Sticky
State of the Mongoose 2023
2 3
Replies
57
Views
6K
MongooseMatt
MongooseMatt
GabrielGABFonseca
Music for Traveller
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
Seffix
Seffix
Back
Top