Baldur's Gate Summer Games Fair

[artemitavik]

As part of the ongoing Midsummer Fair, there will be a Tournament held in the Northern Farmlands Arena on the 1st at ((20:30 GMT)).

This Tournament is sponsored by the Church of Tymora and presented by the Bladestone Foundation. There is no entry fee but there will be a grand prize of 50,000 gold provided. Other prizes may or may not be forthcoming for higher-placing participants.

Rules for the tournament:
Double elimination (you have to lose twice)
6 wards allowed per fight.
Shapeshift, Bardic inspiration, and Stealth (unlimited use) all count as 1 ward of the 6.
Please don't shapeshift and use Enlarge, we only have so much space.
No healing, mundane or magical, other than your equipment.
Wards that run out may be refreshed during the fight as long as they are the same ward.
No offensive magics, this is for weapon fighting. And this way none of the spectators get blown up.
No summoning, this is YOUR fight
This is a melee fighting tournament. Use fists, sticks, or steel please.
Don't leave the combat square, or be disqualified.

There will likely be refreshment tents set up for you to partake food and drink from

-Derik Ranloss

[zhazz]

The second day of the fair proved to be as big a success as the opening day.

Where the first day was full of entertainment, and a delightful performance by Freya Evans of the Church of Tymora, the second day was full of games. There were rumours of a market too, but apparently too few merchants made an appearance, or none at all. Even so it was still a day or merriment, with many visitors enjoying the games on offer. Some even opted to add a game of their own!

Tymora certainly smiled on several of the visitors trying their hand at the games. Barely had the games been announced open before the first game was played, and won. Followed by several more wins in short order. As the day progressed, however, it tended to even out. At the end of the day, however, more gold was handed out in prizes than was received. Not an unwelcome development, given the positive effect it had on the overall mood.

As the day turned to evening the Sword Coast decided to bare its teeth. A heavy down-pour of summer rain settled on the fair grounds, sending everyone scrambling for dry cover. At least it gave everyone an excuse to be more social until the rains began to subside. At this point it was late enough in the day that the fair was called to a close. While visitors went home, on-site staff began the lengthy job of clearing the grounds from the aftermath of the rain, so it would be ready for the next day.

The next day also being the third and final day of the fair. With a martial tournament to conclude!

(( Link to tournament info: viewtopic.php?p=922161#p922161 ))

Fair Grounds ready to rumble!


Fair grounds fully decorated!


Visitors enjoying themselves!



(( Bonus screenshots, courtesy of Izzul! ))








(( Bonus screenshot, courtesy of Milluw!))

(( There was a server crash after about 3½ hours. I wasn't feeling well, and needed a break. Thank you to everyone whom showed up. And to DM Dreamer for helping add some atmosphere too! ))

(( If anyone have screenshots from the first day, please send them to me. I forgot to take some ))

[zhazz]

((
Sorry for the long delay before posting this closing update to this year's Midsummer Fair.
I've been sick, down and out last week, and am feeling better now. Hence the delayed update.

Thank you to Milluw for providing the screenshots used in this post.
))

The third day of the fair turned out just as strongly as the first two. At least among the common people. Adventurers and people of standing turned up in fewer numbers — not surprising given that the same weekend held a wedding as well, and most were likely to attend that. Even so it was a splendid day at the fair.

Visitors were treated to a small, but still entertaining martial tournament. One officiated by Derik Ranloss of the Bladestone Foundation. Even though the turnout for contestants were smaller than most such tournament, it was still a good show. The prize money of 50,000 gold was handed out to the winner. No doubt with some of it to be spent in further celebration!

In true show-man fashion, though he may be loath to proclaim himself as such, Derik even participated in one mighty brawl towards the end, involving a host of summoned beings!

As the day came to a close, so did the fair. Now began the work of disassembling the work done at the fair grounds. Over the next ten-day or so everything was packed down, and what could be reused next year put into storage for safe-keeping. Now was also the time to estimate the number of visitors that had turned up for the fair; and tally up the final profits. With these in hand, it would be much easier to persuade the Dukes and Dutchess to agree to next year's Midsummer Fair. Of course most of the profits would be going to charities for the benefit of all the peoples living on Ducal lands. Such was the original proposal and premise after all.


(( Thank you to everyone, whom showed up for the weekend-long event. We aim to be back next year — hopefully with a fully developed independent fair grounds area. ))