Aia del Mana

I will commence the bidding, if I may, at one gold coin.

Mayhap, one would have a present which has a chance of awarding a wishpoint, and a chance of receiving something of this sort?

I am quite in agreeance that the creature pool should be altered significantly. Perhaps it would be reasonable to do so based on days of activity or some other similar measure of progress. I am happy for creatures whose creation I have been involved in to be added to the pool provided they are appropriately rare. Permanent buffs (Friend slots/Heat spheres/creature age/creature heat as the current examples) are reasonable provided they do not trivialise other methods of progress in these areas. I would suggest removal of the temporary combat buff and replacement with some temporary spell appropriate to the season. (For example, everyone clicking the tree gets three temporary casts of some spell that heals everyone in a certain location?) Of wishpoints: I am not opposed to a single wishpoint (or fewer - e.g. one per every two players) being granted given the paucity of them presently. I think it would also be interesting if one of the gifts bestowed some benefit to someone or everyone else who was present at the tree. This would promote staying present at the tree (as a combat target as well as being present for social reasons). Perhaps one of the gifts could be "everyone present receives 1 max AP", for example.

As described in the title. Even when manually changed back, the bug recurs on changing the tag again. An example is the descriptor for Queen of Loreroot:

/gf and /gb were the preferred scene movement, as these are tied to the up and down arrows respectively.

A first attempt at the GoTR challenge: And a second attempt, using a similar technique: Given that creating flow will eventually devolve into something somewhat less orderly, I found it was useful to capture these images well before they settled. Additionally, touching up abnormalities will tend to create more heat, which will decrease the contrast. Nonetheless, the touch-up of the second image resulted in this, which perhaps has more semblance of the alliance logo.

Symmetry is somewhat possible, provided one follows the same direction as the existing flow. The above was drawn by merely drawing two (diagonal) figure 8's. This is my attempt at laminar flow: This was achieved by moving from the top to the bottom in parallel lines in one direction only. When there are small eddy currents, these can be laminarised by simply drawing over them - again, in the same direction.

Some stability will also arise from leaving the eddies to flow for some time. It is interesting that there appears to be a set distance between each stream:

Attempting to create some order: And, oddly, attempting chaos appears to bring some order: Commencing in the centre and swirling outwards will also create some order: Of note, I believe that static imagery doth not show the beauty or mesmerity of this feature. One could consider to meditate while watching such movement.

I have messaged thee on the Forum, Mur - but it may be that I am not the next.

Jakubhi and Chriselnenepr have also each received a coloured Water Elemental.

The bestiary were restored to normal function, save that this were displayed on each page: and that this were visible when the bestiary is first opened:

Death Ray has received a coloured Water Elemental for his victory in this quest.

I declare this contest closed. Ledah has received his prize for the contest Of Heads - a coloured Water Elemental. I count four total entries for the contest Of Tales: chriselnenepr about chriselnenepr Ledah about jakubhi Fang about Fang The Puppeteer about The Puppeteer 1. @chriselnenepr about chriselnenepr A nice poem with alternating rhyme and with some depth to character, with an ominous conclusion which would make me want to read more from the writer in question. 2. @Ledah re: @jakubhi: The bolded line, I believe, is the most amusing in the contest. I assume that this was added not by an artificial intelligence of sorts, given that the line in question is the only one in the entry which does not fit the rhyme. The remainder of the entry reads well, and creates some depth to the character in question. 3. @Fang Archbane re: Fang Archbane This reads as if a human wrote the entry in completion, and the story is the most engaging of the lot (although the other entries are constrained by the fact that they are poetry, and not prose.) It is difficult to compare the entry with the others for the aforementioned reasons. 4. @The Puppeteer re: The Puppeteer From a strictly linguistic perspective, this rhyme is the easiest to read and to follow, and the perspective were one which it were easy to sympathise with. It is difficult to choose a winner, but as the contest rewards will go to the top half of submissions (i.e. two entries), I will award the two prizes to jakubhi (for the most enjoyable read - note that Ledah wrote the entry, but the prize will go to the subject of the entry), and to chriselnenepr, for the most engaging. Would the subjects (jakubhi and chriselnenepr) please kindly contact me to obtain this new coloured creature - a Water Elemental.

I have granted Ledah his reward for this quest, a very valuable coloured Water Elemental.

Upon the boughs of Raven Hold, I have - with permission from Mur - created scene with the aid of the mind of artifice. With Mur's permission, it is eponymously named. Following its creation, I did issue a challenge to overcome the enchantment placed upon its entry, and @death ray is the first - without administrative power - to visit Aia's Retreat, having done so within two weeks. For this I have granted him a wishpoint. I also confirm that at the time of this declaration, the method that he had used were still available to any who wish to visit - although further visitors will not receive a wishpoint reward for this feat, I maintain that observation of the scenery were also a reward in itself.

I suggest an award for the most popular player (as judged by daily votes) and for the most infamous (as judged by most negative daily votes). I do not have access to this data, so cannot nominate these players.

As discussed within the realm, the dynamic at present must cater to retaining current players. I too have purchased the locate spell, and I believe it is a worthy sacrifice for this function - as it may be useful to find one who has returned after a long absence, and to offer them greeting and discourse.

This is enchanted as desired. Let me know if it doth not suffice.

@Ledah has won the pre-commencement round Of Heads, and I will await his choice of prize. The second round Of Heads has commenced, for those who have been preparing. I will remain accessible as I may; this will usually mean I am present at the Gazebo of Equilibrium, or whithersoever the day shall take us, during the Anniversary. A reminder that the quest Of Tales remains open, and, as an anniversary contest, I will be requesting plushies for all those who would participate in either contest.

I have sent the item transfer code to Blackshade Rider, that he may claim it at his leisure.

I believe this to have occurred in the last 24 hours, as this had been functional prior. It appears that the main window of the interface (and any overlay windows also) do not show any information. This was the case upon login to the realm. (Edit: Brave Browser on IOS 16.3.1. I had verified it anew after Fyrd's message - this is still the case, but I can confirm it were functional upon a desktop portal.)

Surely this is its own answer?

As this appears to run concurrently with my quest, and doth provide of a readily available source of heads, I am quite in favour of this contest, and will sponsor a coloured creature (winderwild, elemental, moss, priest, or the yet unreleased new coloured creature from this year) to the winner, and also to Mallos for arranging this contest, if he should so desire.

Although I have seen similarities between this and the heads contests previously conducted, there are indeed quite some number of implications with this contest that are not present (and have not been present) in previous iterations. I will leave most of these to the imagination (or to the ingenuity of MagicDuel's inhabitants - such as not to ruin their strategies currently) but one may consider that I do not need to be present at all times, and the difficulty of travelling to my location may become less trivial in future.