Droughtman's Challenge
Droughtman's Challenge was an event that ran from March 4th through June 4th 2011. It involved a 100 contests during that time frame. The challenge had up to ten contestants running though a maze looking for a golden key that would open a white door. The contenders had to be level three or higher. These contests would often draw crowds, some of them being quite adept at heckling. The audience could also bet on who might win the run.
Some of the difficulties included the fact that this was a maze, that there were traps involved - some deadly, that it was difficult to find the right key and the right door, and that there generally were three blockers opposing the contenders. Contenders could defend themselves with chosen run-of-the-mill weapons or a wand that would freeze a blocker or target for awhile. Some contenders described their time in the maze as a frantic tableau of running, pulling ropes, pulling door levers, going through open doors, running into closed ones, and trying (often without success) to stay alive.
Contenders would often end up with a fair amount of silvers by pulling ropes that gave such rewards. Pulling other ropes might end in wounds, webs, or death. The dead would revive again in the starting room after a short period of time. An average run might run close to an hour, net a contender over a million silvers, and involve a dozen deaths per contestant. Tickets to this event cost 30 dollars and were all sold.
Every contender would get to pull an item from a pile of treasure after someone had found and opened the white door. These prizes could vary from the somewhat mundane to the rather extraordinary. Many of the winnings reflected treasure of yore - items that had not been seen in the lands for years. Over a 1000 prizes were in that treasure trove at the onset.
Winners of each contest would go on to compete against each other at the next level until the finals. The winner of the final would be rewarded the grand prize, which included:
- A specially designed airship (mobile private property)
- A special prize package of Fusion Arms and Orbs
- A special item from Droughtman
- And a bit of glory and fame