Tread nought upon the sodden moor
Lest Harrow catch ye scent.
For though this keep be thick hard stone,
His claws these walls have wrent.
If shadow falls 'pon seething waves
And thunder shatters sky,
Then know ye well that Harrow hunts
And clinging death is nigh.

The carriage sways roughly as it bounces over the rutted road. You fight off a grimace at a particularly nasty jolt that nearly lifts you from your seat. It’s been a long ride, and you are eager to reach your destination. Flicking the curtain aside, you cast another glance at the Scottish landscape you’ve been traversing for the entirety of the day.

The beauty of this country lies in its grand diversity. What you passed an hour ago is vastly different from what you travel through now. What once was forest and rolling plains is now steep mountain cliffs and a damp moor in the valley below. Night shrouds the sharp peaks and drenches the valley in shadow. But the moon pierces through a crack in the thunderous heavens to light upon a gleaming silver lake in the distance. If you squint, you can just make out a looming silhouette perched on its shores, pinpricks of light from illuminated windows in the old stone keep where your road finds its grateful end: Cairnhart Castle.

It takes a perilously long while before hooves clatter on ancient paving stones, the rattle and clink of the carriage echoing off thick walls as it finally enters the courtyard of the castle. It sways to a halt, and you take a deep breath, stretching each and every limb in your seat as you prepare to disembark.

The door swings open, revealing not the carriage driver, but a smartly dressed footman bearing the colors of the Archmage, the current occupant of Cairnhart. The young man greets you politely and steps aside, offering a hand as you step down. Ahead, the thick doors to the keep are open wide, warm light and the strains of an orchestra spilling out towards where you stand. The butler is waiting to welcome you inside, a practiced smile gracing their face.

You take a deep breath, excitement tingling through your nerves. You’re aware that the week ahead might very well change your life. And it most certainly will.

In ways you could never begin to imagine.

Welcome, mages, to the 2022 edition of the Epic Quest - Darkwater! You’ve arrived at Cairnhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Assynt in northern Scotland. The year is 1899, the turn of the century ahead. And you? You have been invited to join in an elite salon with the greatest magical minds of the Victorian era.

Here’s how the Epic Quest works: I will host an activity each month that plays into the story being told. You’ll earn small prizes for each activity you complete - like points, HPD, or cash shop items. You’ll also earn XP points, and the player with the most XP points at the end of the year - December 2022 - will win the grand prize: a fully coded tabbed layout from me featuring a high quality manipulation themed after this year’s quest, matching animal CSS, and a 1-year upgrade! The runner-up will also receive a prize this year: a custom coding slot for simple layout (scrolls or expandables), and a 6-month upgrade!

Participate in the Epic Quest activity every month of the year, and you’ll earn a special prize: an official HP achievement and a store pair with 100k points.

If you have any questions about the quest, prizes, or how it works, don’t hesitate to message me!



First, it's time to create your Mage! This is the official sign-up process for the Epic Quest, so everyone needs to complete this in order to participate. Players who join now, as well as those who might join in later months, will all be sent to one thread to get information on signing up and creating their characters.

To sign up and create your Mage, go here!

Once you've created your Mage and messaged me to receive the specific information on your role, you can move on to the first activity!

INTRODUCTIONS

As it is the first evening of this grand event, all the attendees of this gathering are generally strangers to each other. In order to encourage introductions and interaction, the Archmage has organized a little activity.

As you entered the castle, you were given a colored handkerchief and a list of names.

The butler informs you that all the other guests received the same items, although their handkerchiefs were in different colors. You are encouraged to introduce yourself to the other attendees and match each name on your list to the color handkerchief they hold.

Go down the list of mages in the post below, including staff (but not NPCs), and send them a message to introduce yourself! You can simply ask for their color and wait for them to ask for yours, or you can offer your color right away. Additionally, you can provide more information on your character or converse as your characters if you wish!

Compile a list of names and their corresponding colors, then send it to me (do not post it here)! You will be awarded prizes based on how many colors you turn in. XP will be awarded based on the minimum number of colors you have (for example, if you turn in 12 colors, you'll receive 5 XP. 18 colors earns you 9 XP).

Only those 20 players who signed up before the activity will have colors assigned to them, so everyone has the same amount of time to send and respond to messages. New questers are still able to participate, however! You can still collect the list of colors without having a color assigned to you.

PRIZES:
1000 points on an animal for each color.
(Due to the extended deadline, you may use these points on your mascot entry! However, if you are part of a team, your mascot can only receive these points once. Other teammates must put their points on another animal).
1 color: 1 XP
5 colors: 2 XP
10 colors: 5 XP
17 colors: 9 XP
20 colors: 10 XP

You have until 11:59 pm HP time on Wednesday, March 2nd to send me your list of colors!

Have fun!

Just sent my list =)

(can we say that those players have invisible handkerchiefs?!)

-Drunkenly sends her list-

So Lynelle just told me that she's not going to get a color after telling me a little earlier tonight that mango sent her a message she was getting one tonight. I'm guessing eyre is going to be the same. So if we have all 19 originally on the guest, do we get the max 10xp?

Do we just send the list or the character associated with that color as well?

N.adhima - there should be 20 without me or Eyre I believe. (make sure to include yourself!)  i think it was because we signed up late and there wouldn't be enough time for everyone to grab my color and eyre's.

Sad - but I do like the idea of having an invisible handercheif-

I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding, but there have been a few new sign-ups since the activity started, and none of them are getting colors. It would be unfair for someone to receive a color if they signed up today for example, and then all of you who already submitted your lists would need to send more messages, wait on the new colors, send me a new list, and do all of it by tomorrow (if I hadn't extended the deadline).

New sign-ups are very welcome to participate and collect colors though! They just won't be passing out colors of their own.

Nad, there are 20 players on the list if you include yourself! :D If lists that are sent to me don't include your own color, that's ok! I know who was assigned colors and who wasn't, so everyone will get the points they earn!

Aza, a list of colors and either the player name or character name that belongs to each color please! :D

Edit to thank Blitz :D

Mango already answered this, guys. There are 20 colours you need. If you look at the first reply to this thread, there are 20 players that aren't NPC listed/linked. Go by that, not the sign-up list.

She needs all 20 (including you) and their 20 assigned colours, if you want the full 10xp. So yes, your message should have each character and their colour given. 

Ok. I didn't realize our own was supposed to be in our own list part of the 20 for 10xp

Just popping in to say that I'm very sorry if I confused anyone or anything like that! :) I probably should've just kept my mouth shut but instead of doing that I think I confused alot of people and it's my fault and I'm very sorry everyone! 

I think everyone was just confused anyways, Oak.

half asleep from a return trip with near anxiety attck levels of stress sends her list.

im so glad to be back in queensland :)

Wow.. talk about cutting it close! LOL 
I just sent in my full list! 

I have my list at home!

Hope it hasn't ended yet!

11:59pm March 2, 2022 according to the above. but never mind me, late as usual. lol

I have sent my list!

Me too! (and just now read where all the confusion was about....SO thank you, thank you, to mango for extending Chapter 1's deadline!)