Author Games: A Knight's Valor

A Knight's Ransom

Welcome one and all to the tournament!

To add a bit of fun to the upcoming games, your wonderfully creative royal court has devised a ransom system designed to not only keep well deserving knights in the tournament, but also to shake up the rankings on a weekly basis!

Each task will have a minimum of FOUR eliminated knights, sometimes more. But of those eliminated, TWO of you will have the opportunity to duel it out for the privilege of remaining in the competition! But it will cost you...

♔  RANKINGS AND CURRENCY:

As with other competitions, your score determines your rankings. Anywhere between 1 and 15 points per challenge. And also, as with other competitions, the bottom ranking knights will be up for elimination. Now this accumulated number of points throughout the competition is also your currency. So say in task three you have a total of 33 points, well that basically translates into 33 gold coins. With me? Good.

♔ RANSOM AND FLASH CHALLENGE:

At the end of each task, the TOP and BOTTOM ranking knights up for elimination will have the option of giving away a set amount of points (gold) to a knight or knights NOT up for elimination. Those two knights will then participate in a750 word flash challenge, with the winner of the challenge earning immunity and remaining in the tournament. If you are the 'middle' knight or knights, you're up for vote unless one of the ransoming knights forfeits their spot in the flash challenge. This can happen if they either choose not to continue, or don't have enough points to ransom.

♔ FLASH CHALLENGE:

The flash challenge will be 750 words, the task decided by your royal court, and you will have 24 hours to complete it. NO EXTENSIONS. NO PROOF-READING OR TIPS. PERIOD. You must earn your way back in. If the flash challenge is late, or if the court feels the word count of the challenger's entry exceeded 750 words by more than what is deemed reasonable, (say twenty words), then that knight will be immediately eliminated and remaining knight crowned victor. If both entries are submitted on time, and with proper word count, then the entries will be voted on by both the royal court and any knights NOT given ransom points.

After the flash challenge is decided, the losing knight will be put up for vote along with any other eliminated knight(s) who did not participate in the flash challenge.

♔ RANSOM COST AND DISTRIBUTION RULES:

The cost to remain in the competition will both be cumulative, and determined by your spot in the rankings:

TASK ONE:
Top knight: 1 point

Bottom knight: 2 points

TASK TWO:
Top knight: 2 points
Bottom knight: 3 points

TASK THREE:
Top knight: 3 points
Bottom knight: 4 points

TASK FOUR:
Top knight: 4 points
Bottom knight: 5 points

Are you seeing the pattern yet? Good.

If one of the knights does not have enough points to ransom, then the second highest ranking eliminated knight will have the option to ransom points and participate in the flash challenge. If we do not have two knights available for or participating in the flash challenge, then all knights up for elimination are immediately out of the tournament. No voting necessary.

Once you ransom your points away, they belong to the knight you ransomed them to. So ransoming, say, 1 point in task one lowers your total score by 1 point, and raises the receiving knight's total score by 1 point permanently. These points are not taken away from your chosen knight(s) when/if you are eliminated, and you do not get your points back if you win the challenge.

If/when you must ransom points away, you can give them to whoever you want,and divide them out however you want.That means if you must ransom say, 4 points, you can give 1 point to four knights, 2 points to 2 knights, or all 4 points to a single knight. Totally up to you. This could push someone at the bottom of the rankings to the top, or push a top ranking knight so far ahead of the competition they'll be impossible to catch. Choose wisely.

You will have 12 hours to PM your ransom choices to the court. Points will be added to rankings at the announcement of the next task.

♔ SEMI-FINALS:

The knight's ransom will continue through all the tasks until the semi-finals. When we only have three knights remaining in the tournament, (the semi-finals), the bottom two knights will be immediately placed into a flash challenge to determine who makes it to the final round. No ransom required.

 ♔ We hope this adds a bit of spice and intrigue to the tournament, and look forward to seeing what chaos it creates within the rankings! ♔