While lolly-gagging in a little used area of PAX, our own dear Elvyra unexpectedly found herself in the midst of a live-action quest.? It turned out to be quite a hoot.

Want to know more?? Just hit the jump!

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While perusing a little-used corner of PAX, Elvyra and I stumbled across a very nice lady who offered us a tattoo.? Nothing more, just a friendly smile, and the offer of a strange, cryptic, temporary tattoo.? Elvyra accepted and…the nice lady announced that she was really a demon in disguise, and that our own little Elvyra had been cursed.? In order to remove the curse (and possibly win a prize), Elvy would have to complete a live quest and collect a series of colored gemstones.?

We located the first leg of the live quest nearby.? A “curved bridge” kiosk had been set up, where we had to answer questions about monsters.? Since we’re total MMO-playing geeks, monsters are our specialty.? We identified the monsters from the clues that were given, and we obtained the properly colored gem.? Easy peasy.?

Next, we had to complete a quest for a sky stone.? This involved identifying patterns in the “clouds” above us.? It’s somewhat hard to explain, but if you identify the pattern on the card you were given, a letter was revealed.? After obtaining all six letters, a codeword was spelled out.? We told the codeword to the quest giver, and he gave up a nice, light blue stone.

The next quest involved attempting to free a mad prisoner.? The prisoner could only tell the truth when nearby flames were out, but when the flames raged, he could only lie.? We quickly identified the demon that possessed him, the madman was freed, and he gave up his gem to us. ?

We were halfway there.? Elvyra’s curse would soon be lifted.? Along the way, we learned that prizes would be awarded, too.? Since we like prizes, and dislike being cursed, this was working out.

Up next was the hardest part of the quest.? On a series of 5 small islands, gems were laid out in a series of patterns.? These gems were hidden under fake rocks, 5 rocks per island.? We had to find the one pattern of gems that did not have a match on any of the other islands.? Thus began an epically futile effort to lift up some styrofoam stones, look at the pattern of gems underneath, then run around to 24 other identical stones, and try to find a similar pattern.? If we could find the rock hiding an unmatched pattern, we’d be given a green gem.? Allow me to assure you that after about 30 seconds of this, every single pattern of gems looks exactly the same. ?

We finally came up with a system, in which we systematically (with the help of another cursed quester) eliminated every freakin’ stone on every island.? Finally, finally, we found the unmatched pattern and got our gemstone. ??

Next phase was the “appeasing the fire god” quest.? In order to appease him, you had to throw a beanbag in his mouth.? (No, we have no idea why a fire god would want a beanbag in his mouth, but who are we to question the gods?)? Elvyra’s throwing arm being what it is, this took a while.? Finally, after repeated efforts, we scored the orange gem. ?

We were now on the last leg of our quest.? We had to free a woman named Ayumi.? This was accomplished by snaring the demons that surrounder her by throwing magical hoops.? This turned out to be reasonably easy, and soon Ayumi was freed.? This got us our last gemstone.? The quest giver for this phase then sent us to find a booth for a gamed called X-Blades in the main convention hall.? Seeking to get our own little Elvyra uncursed (and wanting some epic prizes) we trekked onward. ?

The prize turned out to be a bit of disappointment.? It was a simple slip of paper.? We filled it out, and found that we were now entered in a drawing for a copy of X-Blades, as well as a big screen TV and some other prizes.?

Overall, however, I must say the quest was a surprisingly good time.? We hadn’t heard of X-Blades before and, thought it’s not an MMO (and you know how we are about MMOs!) we may give this one a try.? It’s due to be released in October of this year; if you’re interested, you can have a peek at the game here.

Oh, and on the way out of the area where the live quest was held, one of our quest companions was eaten by a gigantic beholder.? Who’d have thought THAT would happen?

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If you enjoyed this post, visit our illustrious Wandering Goblin main page. There’s lots more tomfoolery just like this.