Author Games: A Knight's Valor

Task Five: A Knight's Mercy

♔ THE TASK

Knights, we would be more than happy to tell you that the worst is behind you. However, that would unfortunately be a lie. This task is going to be multi-part, which is both good news and bad news for you. The good news is, you will have no word count. The bad news is, we will be grading you on not only the task in general, but all the parts separately. Don't worry too much, you'll only get one score, but that score is greatly dependent on each part.

PART ONE: This will happen before your trial. You have been called in to a private audience with the Royal Family. This includes the King, Queen, and the newly recovered Prince Johnathan. They want to know about your time in the dungeons. The Trials of Loyalty are the most controversial trials in this Tournament, and they want to know what your person opinion is. They will also reveal to you that it was not just anyone down in that dungeon with you, but Roland Delmere. (If you killed him in your entry, this is going to be a very awkward conversation for you.)

Tell them what you experienced in the dungeon, explain why you passed or failed. This conversation can be taken anywhere. You can even try to convince them of the impending danger, although you'll find that only the Prince takes your claims seriously.

PART TWO: After your conversation, you will be summoned to complete the next trial. This will be the Trial of Mercy, located in the highest tower of the castle. Nobody will know where in the tower you are, as anonymity is important for this task. You will be brought into a room with one outer window. It will be bare, aside from the five chairs that sit in front of you. In this trial, you must act as the King's Mercy. Each of the five people in these chairs are different, and you can only choose one of them to save.

Your mercy will be extended to ONE of these five people:

♔An Elderly Citizen

♔A Child

♔A Priest

♔An Expectant Mother

♔ A Pardoned Criminal

You can take as long as you like deciding. We encourage you to talk to these people, weigh the pros and cons of each choice. Give them lives and emotions, they are entirely in your hands. However, your knight must not only chose one of these people to save, but we must be able to see and fully understand their choice. You do not know what will happen to the other four, and you never will. That is the burden of the King's Mercy.

PART THREE: Part three is entirely optional, it is only for if you really want to, or you feel that your entry is a little short. Part three consists of a conversation you will hear outside of the room itself. This can be as brief or as long as you want it. This conversation will be between the Traitor and the Spy, and their upcoming plans. You might even recognize their voices.

♔ WORD COUNT

Since this is a rather large task, there will be NO WORD COUNT

♔ BALLOTS

Three ballots will be given this task.

♔ DEADLINE

The deadline will be Thursday, March 31st, at 8:00 PM U.S Central Time. This will give you (roughly) six days to complete your entry.

♔ SPONSORSHIP

"Cyn, my darling, we understand. On your behalf I will make the first part of this easy on you, for we here at the Royal Court trust you." -Queen Melinda

"Renauda, fair knight, you have done well to please the kingdom. You will receive the option to ballot two extra people, and these two people will receive a penalty in the next task. Be sure to separate these from your other ballots." -Sir Adeline

"Eleos, Keiko, I told you that I would reward you well in this Trial, and I always keep my word. You have a safety net of 12 this round. Make me proud. -Sir Thomas

♔ THE TRAITOR'S CHALLENGES

Renauda Lancaster- This challenge is too much for you. You will be reduced to tears by the end of it.

Aloïsa Beaumarchais- A sweet girl who writes sweet letters shouldn't have any enemies. You receive no ballots for this task.

Eleos Eiríni- Never let it be said that our Traitor doesn't have an eye for beauty, your entry must include a poem.

♔ BALLOT CHALLENGES

1-2

You two are the most intimidating forces in the games. But intimidation only goes so far. Because of this, you will receive NO SPONSORSHIP PERKS this task.

3-4

This is a difficult task, and being such we have decided to reward you. In your trial, you have the option of only including four people.

5- Unlisted

For managing to keep under the radar so long, it's time for a small reward. An extra ballot has been awarded to you, but this ballot needs to be kept separate from the others because it will deduct half a point from the score of whoever you name.

♔ NAME THE TRAITOR

This is your second opportunity to name the Traitor. There are fifteen of you left now, not many to search through, but to make things easier, we have decided to narrow the search down for you even further. We will give you the top five choices, and reasons for each one. Knights, we promise you that a traitor's name is on this list somewhere. You just have to decide which one.

Taran Gassett- An outsider with a flirtatious smile and an eye for manipulation. This one has always seemed too good to be true.

Trustin Mee- The name says it all. "Trust In Me". What better way to hide in plain sight?

Zenith Nadir- A talent with poisons and alchemy. Surely it would be easy for this young knight to slip something into our good King's drink.

Fennett Abernathy- She's been leading the pack for so long now. But her disappearance in the last task has certainly been noted.

Keiko Kenemoto- A sweet girl from Alian? Everything we know about Keiko is a lie, from her name to perhaps even her personality. How can we trust her?