IRON DM 2022 The Tournament Thread

[FitzTheRuke]

@Radiating Gnome Thank you for your fair and considered judgement!

Yes, the rate-mechanics behind the melting ice got cut for space. As did more depth to the encounter with Greymalkinous. I couldn't cut enough from the ice-mission to add to the other two without ruining everything I liked about it. Such is Iron DM!

Thanks for the excellent match, @Helena Real ! I enjoyed your entry and didn't know which way it would go.

 

[Helena Real]

Thanks for judging, @Radiating Gnome ! I appreciate all your commentary and the way you compared and contrasted both entries.

Congrats to my fellow competitor and winner, @FitzTheRuke ! As I said before, I really enjoyed reading your entry and I wish you all the best in the next round

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Round 1, Match 3

Andrew Anderson vs Kobold Stew

Below I'm going to copy the format from the other two judges to start off your match. However, I just wanted to thank Wicht for the kind words about my having the most Iron DM wins. What he didn't mention is I also have an incredible amount of losses. In fact I failed more often than succeeded in my first few competitions. But I just kept at it and became sharper over time despite the frustrations. One lesson I learned was the following: it doesn't matter how awesome your idea for an entry is if your ingredients usage is not integral to your entry. If I am able to replace any of your ingredients with a random McGuffin or location and it doesn't harm your entry, it probably isn't a clever or integral use of the ingredient. Over time I learned that if I had to sacrifice an awesome story idea or an integral ingredient, it was always better to sacrifice the awesome idea first. The word count limit often makes such sacrifices necessary. Now if you can manage both and even link ingredients together... well, you probably have a solid entry. With that, here we go...

@Andrew Anderson and @Kobold Stew, you have 24 hours to post your entries to this thread. Please limit your entry to a title, a list of the ingredients used and 750 additional words. Remember that if you include descriptions of your ingredients with the ingredients list, those descriptions will count against your word-limit! Entries that exceed their word-limits will be considered to end once they reach that limit; everything after will be ignored.

The judges will be using Wordcounter.net to ensure that our counts are consistent.

Please include your list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted. Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own. You are on your honor to do so.

Your Ingredients Are:

Imprisoned Hope
Transparent Mask
Alchemist's Machine
Smoking Alembic
Mountain of Debris
Profitable Blackmail


Your 24 hours starts now!

 

[Kobold Stew]

IRON DM 2022 Round 1, Match 3
Imprisoned Hope
Transparent Mask
Alchemist's Machine
Smoking Alembic
Mountain of Debris
Profitable Blackmail

Scree-crawlin’ (with apologies to Tom Petty)​

A D&D sidequest for characters level 5-6.

The town of Rock Bottom, beneath the fabled basalt cliffs known as the Wall, has a small magic shop, from which adventurers may purchase consumable items. When the players arrive, they find the shop ransacked, with a smoking alembic still under heat, the potion being brewed reduced to a residue now filling the room with a nauseating cloud. Even if they do not need supplies, smoke is visible and is pouring out the shop’s window. Gauvine Gramercy, the gnome artificer who runs the shop, is missing, and the flask’s burning residue suggests her disappearance took place in the past few hours.

Robbing the emptied store, if such were the players’ intent, nets only a few healing potions and the attention of the local constabulary. That is because Gauvine uses an interplanar secret chest to store the wares she sells. This was news to her abductors, too, a band of bugbears who did not know that the tiny chest in the child’s dollhouse, next to the empty crib in the back room, is the material counterpart of the ethereal treasure chest. Nearby, a chain connected to the wall, the shackle of which has been snapped off.

Rescuing Gauvine is possible, though villagers will discourage such recklessness. Indeed, it is suspicious how firmly they are dissuaded from attempting rescue. Gauvine is held by the bugbear band, at the top of a hill of scree that has accumulated from repeated rockslides off the cliffs. It is not so much of a hideout as simply a place hard to access: climbing the mountain of debris is difficult terrain, and offers nowhere to hide; any move upwards risks rocks falling on those below.

Finding the culprits is not the main challenge. The abductors have even left a trail to follow, pieces torn from the alchemist’s machine: coiled springs, counterweighted plates, trap doors from a device meant to ensure fairness of transactions (the object purchased and the payment price, each in a separate container, locked and requiring both parties to press buttons on opposite sides to signify agreement and conclude a contract). Unable to open both sides at the same time, the bugbears have taken it apart in hopes of finding a reward inside, and this has left a trail out of town that is easily followed.

The bugbears have always been a nuisance, and while they keep the road free from other bandits, when they do descend from their hole in the Wall, Rock Bottom is effectively cut off. Even without the abduction of Gauvine, their elimination ought to have been a priority.

At the same time, direct assault is not easy: thrown rocks and javelins, with the advantage of the high ground and the difficult approach, reinforce the bugbear position. If players make it to the top, the shallow cave reveals what appears to be an abomination: oversize legs, arms and bulky torso, ten feet tall. This is their leader, whom they call the Gut. In fact it is a hill giant, wearing a transparent mask: an invisible bag with two eyeholes cut out, worn as a hood. This creates the appearance of the Gut’s headless form.

Resolution does not require combat: the bugbears had hoped to extort magic from Gauvine. She has been selling to them as well as the village, and they know that her position in the village would be threatened if that were revealed. They were attempting to blackmail her, asking for the contents of her shop or all would be revealed. Because they did not know about the chest, they were frustrated and took her as a hasty alternative. The bugbears simply want to make blackmail profitable.

Gauvine is herself compromised, and can be ransomed if the Gut is offered something to make the whole misadventure worth his while. The villagers have tolerated the bugbear presence, because they know that with a threat just outside their walls, Rock Bottom has a strong economy providing for travellers safety and shelter, and they can justify inflated prices. This is profiteering, and can explain their indifference to losing a cornerstone of their town’s economy.

Also in the cave is the creature which had been shackled in the magic shop: a sprite named Hope, who is now being kept in a cage in the cave. The imprisoned Hope has been held by Gauvine, and if freed can be persuaded to accompany the party as a sidekick.

 

[Andrew Anderson]

Ingredients
Imprisoned Hope
Transparent Mask
Alchemist's Machine
Smoking Alembic
Mountain of Debris
Profitable Blackmail

Don't Forget to Remember
Ameles is the devil of remembrance and forgetfulness. He traps memes in blocks of concentrated frozen Lethe water to keep them forever forgotten.
There is a hero who has committed a sin. Afterward, they had a brief hope of redemption. Ameles captured this hope and imprisoned it in a block of Lethe ice. Then he bargained with the hero: in exchange for service, Ameles will make the sin forgotten to everyone. The hero, with no hope of redemption, is falling into despair and will accept this blackmail, to Ameles' profit.

Hooks:

• Causing an idea to be forgotten, rather than keeping a forgotten idea forgotten, disturbs the universal balance. Lawful powers wish the imprisoned hope freed and restored to the paladin, returning to the balance.
• Good powers wish the hero to be redeemed.
• Evil powers are determined not to let Ameles get the hero for himself.

These powers send omens to their respective followers, bidding them to free the imprisoned hope. Unfortunately, they've forgotten where it is, who might have it, and how it can be freed.

Figuring out the problem

• The River Lethe causes forgetfulness and traps ideas. It is the best place to look for an artificially forgotten and imprisoned idea.
• A mask of perfectly clear thought will protect you from Lethe water.
• All else has been forgotten.

Thinking up the Masks

• Characters must give up a memory and solve a logic puzzle to make the mask. (If the mask is broken the memory returns.)
• Each character has to give up their own memory. The group solves a single puzzle.

Going to the Lethe
Impressions

• The descent into Hell is easy; the return may be less so.
• The foggy clouds of the Lethe are an easy landmark to follow.

Threats
- None entering: a host of devils leaving. The party will need a big distraction to avoid a big fight.

Finding the Hope
Impressions

• An infinitely high mountain of intellectual debris: forgotten ideas: ancient spells, secrets of history, Nehru jackets, birds that call "O RLY?"...
• Infernal alchemical machines heat the air to drive away the Lethe fog or distill and concentrate it to imprison specific ideas
• Infernal work gangs in masks made of clear thought and rationality comb the mountain for useful ideas, maintain the machines, ensure that imprisoned ideas stay imprisoned.

Goal
- Find the hero's imprisoned hope of redemption.
Interactions

• The hope of redemption is a very good thing. Characters detecting good will find it easily.
• The hope of redemption is trapped in a block of ice. Following the workings of the alchemical machines here will show where the ice is and reduce the area to be searched.
• The infernal minions will provide information if bribed or intimidated.

Threats

• Distilled Lethe water - if it touches a character, it freezes them in place and causes the rest of the party to forget their existence, so they will not be able to help the frozen character get out.
• Minions -- attack characters with fire from Plegethon.
• Plegethon burners -- get too close and you get burned.
• Alluring information -- characters will find valuable forgotten knowledge if they delay.

Freeing the Hope
Impressions

• A feathered thing imprisoned in a block of ice made of frozen Lethe water
• The block grows as distilled Lethe water flows over it from a steaming alembic heated by a burner of plegethon water.

Goal

• Melt the ice and free the hope of redemption.
• Shatter the great alchemical machines that sustain Abelard's domain and power?

Threats

• Ameles -- causes characters to forget what they are doing, makes distressing revelations
• Minions -- in previous section

Interactions

• Only the flame of the river Plegethon can melt Lethe ice.
• Characters can melt the ice slowly by turning the Plegethon burner all the way up. The Lethe water will burn away and the alembic will smoke and burn slowly.
• The ice could be melted away quickly by dropping Plegethon water into the alembic. The Lethe water will boil away and the block will melt.The alembic will begin to smoke and burn quickly from the heat of the Plegethon water.

Consequences

• If the hope is not freed, the good guy begins to redeem himself;otherwise, he falls into despair and agrees to serve Ameles.
• Placing Plegethon water into the alembic causes a backflow through the machines. All the alembics and braziers explode, shattering the mountain of debris and Ameles' power. This distraction allows the characters to escape without a fight.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Judgement of Round 1, Match 3: Andrew Anderson's "Don't Forget to Remember" vs Kobold Stew's "Scree-crawlin’"

@Kobold Stew presents us with an adventure filled with monsters and villagers that aren't all what they seem. @Andrew Anderson gives us a an adventure that could easily fit into a Planescape or Greek mythology-based fantasy RPG.

I am going to grade each entry on whether or not they made the time and word count limit, each entry's readability, use of each ingredient, and finally the potential for a potential Dungeon Master. Each section has a possibility of 2 points to be awarded.

And here we go....

Spoiler

Accordance to the Rules

Both entries were posted within the allotted amount of time and under the word count limit. Good job!

Andrew Anderson (AA)- 2 points
Kobold Stew (KS)- 2 points

Grammar and Readability

The only problem I had with "Scree-crawlin'" was the following poorly structured sentence: Nearby, a chain connected to the wall, the shackle of which has been snapped off.

Still, it's a minor quibble. Otherwise I was able to breeze through the entry easily enough in one go. I award KS full points for this category.

"Don't Forget to Remember" is a great title and it reminds me of Phillip K. Dick. Unfortunately, the rest of the entry is written in a choppy, almost categorical format. I suppose this was done to better make the word count, but it also makes for difficult reading. I can only give one point here.

AA- 3 points
KS- 4 points

First Ingredient: Imprisoned Hope

In "Don't Forget to Remember", the Imprisoned Hope is a literal embodiment of the main NPC's despair. This fits well narratively with the theme of being trapped in the afterlife by a myhological devil. It hits upon both Greek beliefs of emotions equating to spirits that can be released to infect people or locked safely away, and on Christian themes of repentance. I award full points to AA for this ingredient.

In "Scree-crawlin'", the imprisoned Hope seems almost an after thought. It's just a sprite that has been imprisoned and if I removed the sprite entirely from the adventure it would not be noticed. I award zero points to KS here.

AA- 5 points
KS- 4 points

Second Ingredient: Transparent Mask

In "Scree-crawlin'", the mask is not too critical for the story as it just make's the hill giant appear as a headless monstrosity. Still, it is a clever use of the ingredient and I'll award a point.

In "Don't Forget to Remember", we have a similar issue. The ingredient is more important to the story here as the characters have to create it to advance, but it could just as easily have been a helm or bubble. There is no real reason for it to be a mask.

This is a wash and each entry gets only one point.

AA- 6 points
KS- 5 points

Third Ingredient: Alchemist's Machine

In "Don't Forget to Remember", there are alchemical machines used to heat the area around the River Lethe. Although this works, the machines could just as easily have been thermal vents that need to be sealed or hot springs that need to be clogged. Nowhere does it seem to be important that the heating needs to be done by a machine. And who is Abelard? He is only mentioned once in the entry, and that's in regards to the machine. I can only award one point and I suppose Abelard would have been more important to the necessity of these being machines if he had been written more about.

In "Scree-crawlin'", the Alchemist's Machine is central to the tale. They kidnapped the alchemist, grabbed the machine from the same shop, and broken parts from it create a trail for the characters. Most excellent. I award full points here.

AA- 7 points
KS- 7 points

Fourth Ingredient: Smoking Alembic

In "Scree-crawlin'", the smoking alembic works perfectly in this entry. It shows that the destruction of the shop occured only recently and that the players may be able to catch up to the offenders. And the alembic works well with the alchemist machine ingredient. I award full points for its use here.

In "Don't Forget to Remember", the smoking alembic is the weakest ingredient of the entry. Why is it important that it is a smoking alembic that heats the ice? It seems that the alembic's smoking is incidental to the story. So is the alembic for that matter. Why couldn't the party use torches or a fireball spell? Is the alembic some sort of artifact and if so, what more can be said about it? I can't award any points here.

AA- 7 points
KS- 9 points

Fifth Ingredient: Mountain of Debris

Nothing much to say here. In both cases the Mountain of Debris is just an obstacle to overcome. In "Don't Forget to Remember", it is a mountain of discarded ideas that needs to be climbed down. This ties narratively with the entry, but nothing much else is done with it. In "Scree-crawlin'" it's a mountain of loose rocks used as the monster's base that needs to be climbed up. 1 point for each entry.

AA- 8 points
KS- 10 points

Sixth Ingredient: Profitable Blackmail

In "Don't Forget to Remember", the profitable blackmail drives the background narrative. A hero agrees to work with a devil to hide a shameful sin. The hero serves the devil, which the devil is profiting from. The players get involved to free the hero from the trap he is in. The ingredient's use is integral and I award full points.

In "Scree-crawlin'", this ingredient is a bit of a mixed bag. The blackmail plot is a little weak and has a couple of narrative holes. If the villagers are scheming with using the monster's presence, why would the alchemist be able to be blackmailed for scheming with the monsters? It seems like the villagers might want to be in on it. If they want to blackmail the alchemist, why would the monsters capture the alchemist instead of smashing some stuff as a warning that the alchemist better pay up? The intent to blackmail is there in the story, but it certainly isn't profitable for the monsters once they capture their target.

AA- 10 points
KS- 11 points

Potential for the DM

I'm going to give both entries some credit here... both of them have multiple solutions to the main problem and the players are not required to use force to progress. This is much appreciated and to their benefit.

"Scree-crawlin'" is an adventure that can be played with little tweaking. The adventure doesn't really stand out, but it is written in a way that a DM could set-up and run with maybe an hour or two of prep time.

"Don't Forget to Remember" is a lot more memorable, but it seems incomplete. A Dungeon Master is going to have to put in a few hours to seal the cracks and fill in some of the blanks. This entry had some very good ideas, but it needed more time in the oven. It probably would have won if Andrew Anderson had another day to rewrite it, but alas that time limit...

AA- 11 points
KS- 13 points

Judgement

I am only human and ultimately my decision is subjective. Please do not take my critiques personally, but at least consider them so that you may improve future entries.

Spoiler

Kobold Stew advances to the next round. He's an old pro at this and tied his ingredients well to a clean narrative.

Andrew Anderson, you have the imagination to compete in these tournaments and I approve of the direction you were going, but you need to make your entries more readable and polished in the future. I believe you simply ran out of time. I look forward to seeing more from you.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Thank you, @Deuce Traveler, for your thoughtful and generous comments. I really struggled with the ingredients, and particularly with integrating blackmail into the adventure -- I'm going to think more on that (I wanted to make it profitable for the players, but could not find a way to do so). And your observation that Hope needs better integration into the whole thing is completely fair.

@Andrew Anderson, your entry was an amazing read. I was totally charmed by the idea of Lethe ice (yoink!), and I love the whole season-of-mists vibe that you created here. Really cool.

 

[Andrew Anderson]

@Deuce Traveler
Thank you for your notes. You are right: I stole this format from Rune, thinking it would be a good way to reduce word count. I understand Rune used the Dungeon World concept for his entry and your notes are why I have a hard time with Dungeon World.
@Kobold Stew, good job with a complete adventure concept. Now go ahead and win this thing so I can say at least I was beaten by the best.

 

[Imaculata]

Got to remember to steal Lethe for a future campaign. So many great ideas here. Inspiring!

 

[Kobold Stew]

Marketing idea.

Lethe ice: every sip feels like the first time.

 

[Wicht]

Round 1, Match 4
Gradine vs. Snarf Zagyg

@Gradine and @Snarf Zagyg, you have 24 hours to post your entries to this thread. Please limit your entry to a title, a list of the ingredients used and 750 additional words. Remember that if you include descriptions of your ingredients with the ingredients list, those descriptions will count against your word-limit! Entries that exceed their word-limits will be considered to end once they reach that limit; everything after will be ignored.

The judges will be using Wordcounter.net to ensure that our counts are consistent.

Please include your list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted. Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own. You are on your honor to do so.

Your ingredients are:
Cultured Beast
Hidden Jungle
Bewildered Gambler
Last Soiree
Glass Sword
Fast-acting Yeast

Your 24 hours starts now!

 

[Fenris-77]

Hah. That last ingredient is a doozy. Awesome.

 

[Wicht]

Hah. That last ingredient is a doozy. Awesome.

I must confess I am eager to see what they can do with a fast-acting yeast.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The Great British Snake Off (A Cthulhu Dark Adventure)

Ingredients
Cultured Beast
Hidden Jungle
Bewildered Gambler
Last Soiree
Glass Sword
Fast-acting Yeast

Spoiler

Teaser
The scion of the Fleischmann Empire paid to have GBBO filmed in Suriname. PCs are interns with Channel4.

Paul Hollywood has gambling debts. Armie Fleischmann has agreed to bail him out provided Paul recommended that GBBO film the series in a specific part of Suriname, on a specific date, to promote Fleischmann’s fact-acting yeast. But this isn’t about yeast or soggy bottoms; it’s about unspeakable terror.


Plot
GBBO is being sponsored by Fleischmann’s Fast-Acting Yeast in the deep jungle of Suriname! To meet the sponsor’s demands, every day of shooting eliminates three contestants- one each in the morning, afternoon, and evening; with Fleischmann’s, your baking is fast.

After three days of filming, there is a one-day break, and on the fifth day the remaining three bakers present their dishes. The winner gets the glass sword- a giant, ceremonial crystal cake cutter.

But the eliminated contestants are actually driven to a temple where they are sacrificed, using the glass sword, to Yog-Sothoth and then eaten. The goal is to summon the Yugg-urts on the night of the Last Soiree.


Locations
The tent and the surrounding area have been cleared out of the jungle. Generators provide electricity. This location is not known or marked on any map. There are sparse sleeping quarters to last one week.

Pokigron is a small village that Armie uses as a staging area. Locals live here, and it is 10 miles away- with no roads. No authorized rides to Pokigron will be provided.

The temple lies two miles away. If the PCs find it, they will discover ancient carvings depicting the summoning ritual and a blood-stained altar. The remains of cannibalized bodies will be strewn around the altar.


Characters
Hollywood
Paul is clueless about the sacrifices, and doesn’t like Armie or the nickname he’s been given. Paul is embarrassed about his gambling, but unable to stop and will play any game of chance offered. If befriended or drunk, Paul reveals that Armie demanded specific dates and this location.

Leith
Prue does not want to be in Suriname, and will divulge Paul’s gambling habit. Prue mistakenly believes that GBBO is shooting in Suriname because of Noel Fielding’s “weird goth stuff.”

Fleischmann
Armie is handsome and friendly, but also a dominating bully. He has demeaning nicknames for everyone; Paul is called “Kenny Rogers.” Armie will not reveal any details of his plan, but will be unable to hide his love of macabre subjects, such as cannibalism, if significant time is spent with him.

Locals
The hired locals do not speak English, will appear to be surly and menacing, and will walk back to Pokigron before nightfall. If they are befriended or approached in their native Dutch creole language, it will be discovered that they are terrified of this area. At least one will know the location of the temple. They will acknowledge not having seen the contestants that have lost.

Contestants & Crew
All of the contestants are “happy to be here,” and have no knowledge of the plot. Use standard GBBO tropes. None of the crew has any knowledge of the plot, but may divulge details such as car pickup times and the planning of the last soiree.

Fleischmann’s Team
Armies’s team is the security and transportation for the crew. There are three SUVs, three drivers, and five security. All are armed, unfriendly, loyal to Armie, and are part of the Yog-Sothoth cult.


The Last Soiree
The final competition is yogurt cakes. During the day, SUVs will be going to Pokigron and bringing back the contestants’ families. When the yogurt cakes are brought out, Armie with smile and pronounce

Y'AI'NG'NGAH,
YOG-SOTHOTH
H'EE-L'GEB
F'AI THRODOG
UAAAH

before cutting into the yogurt cakes with the blood-stained glass sword. The cakes will transform into monstrous unearthly white snakes, the dreaded Yugg-urts that will devour all the onlookers.


Running
Play up the constant tension between the oblivious contestants and crew and the strangeness of the setting and the apparent surliness of the locals. Contestants will refuse to help the PCs- they are “in it to win it.” Nighttime should be terrifying as they are in the middle of a jungle. Armie’s staff should be unfriendly, but their job is to protect everyone until the time comes for the Yugg-urts to feed. Armie’s plan will be foiled if he doesn’t sacrifice three people each day leading up the last soiree, or he doesn’t use the glass sword with the blood of nine people on the yogurt cakes.

 

[Gradine]

The Sourdough Finisher
A Low-Level Adventure

Cultured Beast
Hidden Jungle
Bewildered Gambler
Last Soiree
Glass Sword
Fast-acting Yeast

Spoiler: The Adventure

Hook

Spoiler: The Adventure

The local baker, Jacqeyz, has gone missing. Their assistant noted their absence from their bakery that morning, and they were not home either. She tracks down a group of helpful adventurers to investigate.

Zuggtmoy, the Demon Lady of Rot and Decay, has a hand in these proceedings. She and Pavel Avalon, master baker, have made an important wager, one the demon lady has no intention of losing. Jacqeyz’s assistant has been corrupted and controlled by Zuggtmoy, and seeks out an adventurous party of spanners to throw into Pavel’s intricate works.

The adventurers find the baker’s home to be fairly neat. He has a set of luggage that appears only half packed. There is no sign of forced entry, only a single letter on the floor, the invite to an event Jacqeyz had been looking forward to for months: the retirement soiree of Pavel Avalon. However, as soon as the adventurers read this letter, they find themselves whisked away to a faraway location.

Hollywoodland Manor
The adventurers, Jacqeyz, and anyone who reads one of Pavel’s invites is immediately teleported to Hollywoodland Manor, Pavel’s reclusive mansion on the other side of the world. The sun is setting, and the guests are settling in to what they realize is the famously eccentric baker’s retirement soiree. Pastries, cakes, and breads, savory and sweet, line endless tables throughout the halls and banquet rooms. Pavel himself is nowhere to be found. The adventurers have about an hour to investigate before the “festivities” begin.

An Illusion Shattered
It starts with a scream. A large Dundee cake, having sprouted legs and a mouth, has torn into the flesh of a nearby partygoer. Winged cupcakes assault all assembled. The centerpiece, Pavel’s famous cottage loaf, has risen to gargantuan proportions, and begins to chase down guests. The illusion maintaining the well kept manor begins to fade, revealing the hidden reality: a rotted and overgrown chateau, long-since overtaken by the damp jungle outside.

Wood and cloth have rotted and metals have rusted to the point of uselessness, including any equipment brought in by the adventurers.

The Wager
Pavel, old but longing for immortality, has struck a bargain with Zuggtmoy in exchange for a fungal lichdom. Pavel bet that he could murder one hundred bakers with bread and pastries, and without using poison. His plan: to utilize a fast-acting yeast, enhanced by the heat and humidity of the enchanted jungle (a region deeply connected to Zuggtmoy’s supernatural rot) and his own dark magics. These living microbial cultures would then quickly gain full sentience. When baked into cakes and rolls and breads of all kinds, this would create living, horrifying “yeast beasts”, which would then descend upon his hapless guests.

Zuggtmoy is actually shocked at the ingenuity of the master baker’s plan. She had not expected him to be so clever. She does realize, however, how to use Pavel’s own hubris against him to throw the bet further in her own favor. Pavel, ever the pretentious baker, routinely brags about his very rare, very expensive, set of volcanic glass cutlery (“Obsidian holds a much finer, sharper edge than steel, you know!”). He is so well known for hawking his obsidian cutlery that many of the guests at the party will joke about it in the time leading up to the yeast beast attack. Pavel, knowing his yeast beasts’ weakness to edged weaponry, has counted on the powerful magics of the jungle to eat away at any knives, swords, or other bladed instruments that might make short work of his creations.

After the yeast beasts attack, a large volcanic glass carving knife (treat as an obsidian short sword) appears on the centerpiece table. A bow of mycelial thread is wrapped around the hilt like a present. A note is attached to it, saying simply “-Z”.

Resolution
The adventurers must use the obsidian cutlery to fend off attacking yeast beasts, including the massive cottage loaf, and save as many guests as they can. A bewildered Pavel, watching from a hidden location, attempts to intervene personally. While he is an experienced mage and somewhat dangerous, his magics are ultimately better suited for the bakery than the battlefield.

The immediate threat ended, a new threat rises: the adventurers and party guests are far from civilization, and the trek will not be an easy one, especially should the party decide to spare or capture Pavel. More yeast beasts, adapting the forms of jungle predators to survive, lurk along their path.

 

[Gradine]

...Well that was a weird thing for the forum to decide to do...

 

[Gradine]

Spoiler: Thoughts

The fact that we both decided to use Paul Hollywood as the instigator here is hilarious, and to be honest I had a feeling that we were both going to lean into the GBBO in some manner or another. I can't wait for the judgment!

 

[Wicht]

I have read both entries. I probably won't have a judgment until tomorrow.
Without giving any other thoughts away, I find it more than a little interesting that somehow Hollywood made it into both entries.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I have read both entries. I probably won't have a judgment until tomorrow.
Without giving any other thoughts away, I find it more than a little interesting that somehow Hollywood made it into both entries.

No matter who wins or loses, both @Gradine and I get ...

A HOLLYWOOD HANDSHAKE.

 

[Gradine]