Searching For The Legendary Fern Flower
*Idea: Annele and ARTHANASIOS
*Art: Taken and edited from Wikimedia Commons and ElementsTheGamePROLOGUE:Spoiler for Some Cool Lore...:
The fern flower is a magic flower in Slavic mythology (Belarusian: папараць-кветка, Polish: kwiat paproci, Russian: цветок папоротника, Ukrainian: цвіт-папороть), in Baltic mythology (Lithuanian: paparčio žiedas, Latvian: papardes zieds) and in Estonian mythology (Estonian: sõnajalaõis).
According to the myth, this flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the Summer solstice (celebrated on June 23 or sometimes July 7) The flower brings fortune to the person who finds it. In various versions of the tale, the fern flower brings luck, wealth, or the ability to understand animal speech. However, the flower is closely guarded by evil spirits and anyone who finds the flower will have access to earthly riches, which have never benefited anyone, so the decision to pick the flower or leave it alone is left up to the individual.
In the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian tradition, the fern flower is supposed to appear only on the night of 23 to 24 June during the celebration of the summer solstice which is called Jāņi in Latvia, Joninės or Rasos in Lithuania, Jaaniõhtu or Jaaniöö in Estonia and juhannus in Finland. The celebration has pre-Christian origins. Here, the fern flower is a symbol of fertility...
parts from Fern Flower's text of Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia The Fern Masters lead this new massive non-PvP forum event, in which twelve rival teams, each one consisted of the same number of team members yet representing a different element, are going to fight their ways through riddles, hazards, challenges and evil spirits in order to reach the legendary fern flower, a magical plant known for the wealth, luck, power, influence and prosperity granting to its owner. Every human or elemental, mortal or half-blood has a reason to wish for it and some would take great risks to obtain its blessings... and curses of possessing such an artifact.
Recently, after a millenia of absence, such a Fern Flower has blossomed in a field full of ferns located on a recently discovered new plane which shine with a silver colour under an alien yet wonderfully-looking dark sky illuminated by a bright silver sun. Moreover, this plane is located somewhere between all the twelve major elements of the universe and its respective realms, attracting equally powerful entities from both the abyssal caves of Darkness and the white clouds of Light or the deepest depths of Water oceans and the lava pits of Fire.
Unfortunately, any elementals traveling to the silver plains are not just going to have deal with other greedy members of their lot but a ton of other harards, like the ancient evil spirits of unknown origin that were lured into the plains by the irresistible magnitude of the Fern Flower's own existence.
Those elementals are you, my dear players. Good luck... in surviving this challenge...!
BASIC RULES:* This forum events goes in turns (each turn last for as much as a day or a week or whatever amount of time is decided by the Fern Masters, but it must be at least 24 hours in order to give enough time to the various teams to send their answers & decisions, read below for more info).
* Each turn, the team leader (or another member) sends a PM to the Fern Masters which must have the following format...
...which has the following 'normal' appearence:
Warning: If the above field is not filled correctly (with the exception of Answer#1 and Answer#2) the Fern Masters have the right to penalize that team via any means he/she views as appropriate. Every team has the right to send
only one PM per round, so you must be sure you have made the right decision.
Now, let's view each field seperatedly, shall we?
Team:Each team has the name of its element (Team Aether for the participants of
, Team Air for the players of
, Team Darkness for the followers of
etc.), so there are up to 12 teams in this event.
The Masters of each element are the first choice for leading their team, but if they decide to not participate, they can chose their replacement or allow the Fern Masters to chose from the applicants. The rest of the teams are assigned randomly; anyone wanting to participate with PM the Fern Masters and they will assort them into teams. In the case of an uneven number of people, the people who applied first get first priority, and the ones who applied later become subs, or a team or few that are NOT being led by their masters will be cut, to allow everyone to be involved.
Each team, at the start of this event, begins from step 0 (read below for analytical description of steps) and starts with 100 Health, 0 Quanta, a Small Shield and a Small Weapon (see below). The team is also encouraged to discuss about their next move with each other to make sure everyone agrees with the team's decision and a single member of the team sends the PM (there is NO NEED for any single member to submit the PM, just one time is enough).
Step:Steps are the most critical part of the game, since they reveal how many steps stand between your team and your lovely prize (the Fern Flower) as well as describing any encounters of this turn. Every team goes according to the following step's board:
| STEP 0: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2 |
| STEP 1: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Shopkeeper |
| STEP 2: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Evil Spirit, Healer |
| STEP 3: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Explosion, Shopkeeper |
| STEP 4: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Evil Spirit, Shield |
| STEP 5: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Explosion, Healer |
| STEP 6: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Evil Spirit, Weapon, Shield |
| STEP 7: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Evil Spirit, Evil Spirit, Healer |
| STEP 8: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Explosion, Explosion, Shopkeeper |
| STEP 9: | Riddle #1, Riddle #2, Evil Spirit, Evil Spirit, Explosion |
| STEP 10: | The Fern Flower (Victory!!!) |
(Warning: The above table is very important, so it would be good, for each participant of this event, to copy/paste it and save it somewhere.)
* Each encounter mentioned in the step is executed in the beginning of each turn, before the team decides what to do. That means it is still possible to have a weapon or shield of yours being deflagged by an Explosion encounter and buy a new one from a Shopkeeper at the same turn.
* Each team PMs its next move as
"forward" (+1 step positioning),
"backwards" (-1 step positioning) or
"immobility" (no change of positioning, useful for getting healed by a Healer for more than a turn etc.).
Encounters:The encounters can be the following:
Riddle #1:There are a lot of those strange creatures roaming the silver plane known as Sphynxs. They love riddles; if you guess correctly, they reward you with Quanta. But if you fail, they drain your life force!* This encounter always appears at every step. The Fern Masters PM a riddle they invented to every team leader (the riddle must be the same for every team, despite each team's position on the Steps Board). The riddle can be anything from a crossword to a jigsaw puzzle; it is just limited by the imagination of the Fern Masters.
* Each team submits the answer of this riddle as Riddle #1. If the answer is correct, the team gains 5 Quanta. if the answer is wrong or not submitted at all, the team takes 15 damage (this amount is reduced by its health).
Riddle #2:"If you can't solve my easy riddle, how can you even stand a chance to my hard one, follish elemental?", says the Sphinx in a nasty voice.
* This encounter, much like Riddle #1, appears at every step. The Fern Masters PM a riddle they invented to the leader of every team (the riddle must be the same for every team, despite each team's position on the Steps Board) which must be relatively more difficult than Riddle #1 of the same turn. The riddle can be anything from a crossword to a jigsaw puzzle; it is just limited by the imagination of the Fern Master.
* Each team submits the answer of this riddle as Riddle #2. If the answer is correct, the team gains 10 Quanta. if the answer is wrong or not submitted at all, the team takes 25 damage (this amount is reduced by its health).
The riddles will be revealed at the end of each round, along with each team's points. They are not revealed before this because it is up to the teams to work out the riddles themselves.
Shopkeeper:Some greedy elementals found an opportunity for profit from this crazy treasure hunt. Why to risk their lives for the Fern Flower's vast riches when they can hoard tons of wealth by offering services to adventuring elementals? Beware, though. They do not demand Electrum for their items, but something far more precious. Quanta! A team that begins its turn to a step with a Shopkeeper may perform one of the following actions (which, of course, must be mentioned at the PM to the Fern Masters).
*BUY: The team buys a Weapon, a Shield or both. In order to purchase such an item, the team must not possess an item of the same type (in other words, a team may posses only a single weapon and a single shield at a time) and it must be able to pay the amount of Quanta needed for its purchase. The weapons are the following:
| Small Weapon (cost: 15 Quanta) | A Small Weapon helps at dealing +10 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
| Medium Weapon (cost: 25 Quanta) | A Medium Weapon helps at dealing +20 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
| Large Weapon (cost: 35 Quanta) | A Large Weapon helps at dealing +30 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
...and the Shields are the following:
| Small Shield (cost: 20) | A Small Shield helps at blocking +10 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
| Medium Shield (cost: 30) | A Medium Shield helps at blocking +20 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
| Large Shield (cost: 40) | A Large Shield helps at blocking +30 damage against an Evil Spirit. |
Also, a team may buy a Potion (which will be consumed instantly) to gain one of the following benefits:
| Healing Potion (cost: 40) | Your team gains +20 Health. |
| Immaterial Potion (cost: 100) | Prevent the next Explosion you encounter from harming your Weapon/Shield. |
| Holy Potion (cost: 150) | Auto-win the next Evil Spirit you encounter. |
*SELL: The team can sell the Weapon or the Shield in its possession and will gain its full value of Quanta. However, you CAN'T buy a weapon/shield at the same turn you sell one and vice versa.
Explosion:The field of the silver ferns is full of hidden explosive traps. The most intriguin fact is that these traps weren't placed from the evil wandering Spirits or the Sphinxs, but from the hostile greedy elementals in order to hamper any rivals of theirs who stayed behind. However, it is not unlikely these traps were invented by the shopkeepers themselves in order to increase their sell rates of weapons & shields! It is a hard bussiness indeed...When a team encounters an Explosion, if they hold a Weapon it is destroyed. If they do not hold a weapon, their Shield is destroyed instead. If they hold neither a Weapon nor a Shield, nothing happens. If more than an Explosion encounter occurs, BOTH apply (meaning it is possible for a team to lose both their Weapon & Shield at a single turn).
Healer:There are some spirits in the silver ferns' plane that act as the nemesis of the Evil Spirits. Though they won't engage any Evil Spirits directly, they are eager to heal any wounded elementals to keep them fighting the Evil ones! These spirits are known as Healers...A team starting its turn in a Healer encounter recovers 10 Health. Though it is not a lot, every little bit helps and a team may choose to stay in such a step for more than one turn just to recover any serious damage taken during previous turns.
Weapon/Shield:Since the arrival of adventuring elementals, the silver plain has become a constant battlefield; the carnage is leaving behind piles of the equipment of the fallen...A team starting its turn on a step with a "Weapon" or "Shield" encounter can immediately take in their possession a Small Weapon or a Small Shield respectively. Useful if you lack any weapon or any shield respectively, though it will surely come in handy, you know, with all these explosions lurking around...
Evil Spirit:It is not known if these foul entities were once the rightful denizers and owners. What it is known is their permanent hostility against anything that may cross their path. Beware! The closest you get to the Fern Flower, the more powerful they become!* Evil Spirits are the only creatures you really fight with (and at this point your Shield and Weapon comes in very handy).
* If a team encounters an Evil Spirit, the spirit attempts to deal damage to it. Its damage is equal to
10+(Step's number x 5)-(Team's Shield Modifier)-(Team's Weapon Modifier), so an Evil Spirit who lurks at Step 4 will deal
10+(4x5)-10-10=10 damage against a team carrying a Small Weapon and a Small Shield. Any negative damage counts as zero damage (so the team isn't acutally healed if blocks more than enough damage).
* If more than an Evil Spirit is encountered, both Evil Spirits attempt to damage the team, one after another.
Challenges:* Once a turn, a team can challenge a rival team at a riddle contest (however, the challenged team must be at exactly the SAME step with its challenger and
no challenges may occur
at the first 3 steps).
* The challenger must post the challenge at the corresponding topic. The challenged team can deny the challenge at the cost of 10 Quanta and 10 Health. If accepted, the winning team gains 45 Quanta while the losing team loses 15 Quanta and 20 Health. In case of a draw, nothing happens.
* The challenge is like a Riddle but, this time, the Fern Masters will have to create a riddle for only the 2 involved teams. Once again, it is up to the limitless imagination of the Fern Masters to come up with something both fair and challenging.
* There is no limit at the number of challenges a team may send or deny, however a team can't send a challenge 2 turns in a row (but it can deny as many challenges in a row as it wants).
Winning & Losing:* A team dropping to zero Health (or below) is considered defeated and leaves the event.
* The first team that reaches the Fern Flower is the winner.
* If more than a single team reaches the Fern Flower at the same turn, a challenge must be set between all the teams within the last Step (every team that hasn't reached the Fern Flower by now is considered defeated and leaves the game). The team(s) who fail to answer the challenge's riddle correctly are dropped from the event. If after the challenge there is still a tie, the challenge is repeated (with a different riddle this time) till only one team remains (or both fail at the same time, in which case the whole event is considered a draw!).
* The winning team must select between the following options:
1) Earthly riches: Each team member is going to recieve a small 16x16 electrum award forum icon (
) and a 1,000 Electrum code prize.
2) Denial of earthly riches: If the winning team choose this path, its members aren't going to win any Electrum codes, but instead of gaining a small unoriginal forum icon, they are going to recieve a reward code for in-game prosperity, and a big 32x32 Fern Flower award icon:
Spoiler for alternative rules:
Alternative Rules:
The Fern Masters may want to alter the rules in any way they see fit, like changing any Shopkeeper prices (too low or too high), adding new Shopkeeper items for purchase (like more kinds of potions), doing any balancing (e.g. Evil Spirits are too weak/strong, must be buffed/nerfed accordingly etc.). Moreover, a few more suggestions are represented below:
1) 2Dimensional field:
A two-dimensional field should allow not just forward/ backward/ immobility movement types, but north/ northeast/ east/ southeast/ south/ southwest/ west/ northwest/ immobility movement types. steps should be need an additional letter to describe them (e.g. Step 3b instead of just Step 3), movement would be more complicated with far more routes to the final destination and Evil Spirits should become more powerful according to a different formula than just each Step's number. Furthermore, challenges are going to be much rarer since it wouldn't be easy for 2 teams to be at the same space at the same time, making a rule like "you can challenge any team adjactent to your Step" a neccesity.
2) Helmets & Gauntlets:
If a rule like this is enabled, if a team encounters a shopkeeper, it would be possible to buy more types of armor. A Helmet should possibly cost something like a Medium Shield and provide protection like a small one; same goes with Gauntlets which should cost like Medium Weapons and provide a Small Weapon modifier. However, more pieces of armor possibly means more protection versus Explosions and Evil Spirits, so a different Explosion priority (something like "Explosion hurts Helmets first, Shields second, Greaves third and Weapons fourth") or even an increase of Evil Spirit's damage dealing ability (e.g. Step's number x10 instead of x5) are needed.
3) Steals:
If there is an Explosion and an Evil Spirit at the same Step, instead of Explosions, there could be Steals. The Evil Spirit steals the team's Weapon/Shield, using its modifier to its advantage. However, this could increase the difficulty dramatically, so an Evil Spirit nerf ought to be done in here...
