Haiku Hide-and-Seek - Every second Saturday

We're nearing the first game, and I've decided to "knock it up a notch" (line courtesy of Elzar from Futurama). All haiku solutions, including the example, will have an accompanying picture, pieced together from screenshots, to show you the meaning of the riddle. "A picture is worth a thousand words", so they say. Check the OP for the first picture!

And there is now a gallery on my Picasa account to showcase past riddles:

http://picasaweb.google.hu/endrosz/HaikuHideAndSeek#

Nothing new to see there right now, but late-comers will enjoy browsing through it, hopefully.

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I appreciate your concern, but I think that way the gameplay would be worse. See, the winner would be someone who is near me when Vilag Jaro enters the outpost, or someone who clicks faster than anyone else... I don't want to reward faster clicking. Also, the game would take longer, much longer for most people, without being more fun. Providing a fun little game that only takes a few minutes of your life was one of my goals.

It was actually mild sarcasm when I said "I'm fine with rewarding stubbornness". If there are at least a dozen people playing this game by straining their mental muscles, there's no way hoppers will get to me faster. Racking up three-four good guesses and then trying each of them in quick succession will be much faster than random hopping.

There is also the possibility of playing this game cooperatively. A group of people activate their Hivemind, come up with a list, then each of them tries one place, poof, one of them wins. I thought of this playstyle, too, and I see nothing wrong with it. Guild Wars is an MMO, so an "all for one, one for all" attitude is perfectly fitting.

I'm sad to hear that. See, I had to choose a time which favors the majority of the players - from the US West to EU East. Tell me, what time would be okay with you, GMT-wise?

You're either a mind reader, or a very generous person - or both. I thought of accepting donations, but first I wanted the game to prove itself. If later this day the topic will be flooded with messages like:

"ohh #$@$!#, someone figured it out faster, but I had fun, thanks!"

- then, and only then, will I announce the donation thing, and also a fair system of handing out 2nd, 3rd, etc. prizes.

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The first haiku is coming 10:45 after this post!

I think the picture makes it too easy, in my opinion, make people think more. And you did mix up the two fangs in the pic.

The pics will only be posted with the solution! It's just an "extra feature", I won't make the riddles easier, no-no!

The first one is as follows:

Breeze rests on the sand
Bees have flown to a new hive
The king stays on guard

The game is on!

The winner is:

Bringer of Carling

Congratulations! Thanks to the donation by Smilin Assassin, the prize went up to 10 Gifts! In later games, prizes might be even higher, and there will be 2nd, 3rd place prizes, depending upon donations.

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Sand, that could be one of the numerous deserts throughout the the world of GW. But cool, refreshing breezes are not usually associated with deserts. We tend to think of long beaches, where you can take a walk with your fiancee, and finally gather your courage to make that proposal of a lifetime... wait, where am I? This isn't an ad for Sioux Travels?

The breeze - pic



Bees, that was a rather obscure clue, but it's special, too, not many events in the GW storylines could be described like that. It refers to the flight of Ascalonians, mostly farmers and crafters, led by the ill-fated Prince Rurik, over the Northern Shiverpeaks. Upon their arrival in Kryta, they settled in North Kryta Province. The settlement is closest to Bergen Hot Springs, but that place doesn't have beaches. It could be D'Alessio Seaboard, but we have one clue left...

The word stays is very important, as opposed to simply saying "the king is on guard" or "the king stands on guard". Although the White Mantle gained control over most of Kryta, the Lionguard retained control of Lion's Arch. The lion is called the "king of the animals". The pic shows the Lionguard Barrack with Firstwatch Sergio posing for a sexy, muscle-showing ad for Sioux Travels... err, where am I again? Another interpretation: There is Princess Salma, who was featured in a few Prophecies quests, and later, in the M.O.X. adventure, who is the hope of the secret royalist opposition all over Kryta - including the Lionguard.


Bees and guard - pic



Lion's Arch was the solution. Good ol' bustling town of Prophecies times.

(PS. If you're wondering about the whole Sioux Travels joking, here's the story. My second PvE character was a ranger, and I made a lot of running with him to make money for GH NPCs. I chose my character names from a name dictionary called Onomastikon. I named my ranger Kohana Hunkpapa, which means "Fast as the wind, from the Hunkpapa tribe" in some Sioux dialect (there were many). I came to love playing a ranger, and especially running, so much that I began telling my clients after finishing a run: "Thank you for choosing Sioux Travels!". Usually, that line gathered a few "lol"s and sometimes even bonuses, which is a good thing when you're in a saturated business sector. At that time, running was a saturated business.)

Bah><Started off there, didn't bother looking
Couldn't get my head around it, kept focusing on the king and sand.
bone Palace, ToPK, and 2 missions in kryta
Was thinking maybe pre also, left it tough, was fun

MAybe next week:P

Ahahaha! I slept through it! Darn my sleep-in habit.

This made my day
Took me a while to realise where it was though, thought Amnoon First, then re-read it. Long may this continue, and a special thanks to those who donated Gifts(and the organiser of course).

I saw Carling in many of my stops, we apparently thought alike - tis a shame I had to go do the dishes otherwise I might have beaten him.

Congratulations!

This was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Yes, nasty, evil Endrosz chose a place like LA because he expected people to go like: "Nah, it can't be LA, it's too obvious."

Thanks to everyone who participated! See you in two weeks, on August the 15th!

Woops, I missed it. Congrats Carling.

yay to bad i only got proph and factions..but ill hunt u down!

EDIT: being the smart person i am.. wut do u mean every second saturday? like every other saturday?

It is every other Saturday.

Its ppl like you that keep me playing ty very much for this i might solve riddles just for fun to.

Also is the time going to be the same every Saturday or will you switch it up?

@SleepyD:

The time will remain the same. Nobody complained (except for Ala, but we worked it out), so I see no reason to change.

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<HAL DOUGLAS VOICE>
This week, another mystery enters the world of Guild Wars... A mystery that will shake the very foundations of plant fiber farming.
</VOICE>

Welcome back travellers, the second game is shaping up. There will be a few improvements - I hope you'll like them.

- The prize will be 20 Gifts of the Traveller. Please, donate a few Gifts if you like this game and have some to spare, so that I can sustain this generous amount in later games!

- Vilag Jaro's online status will become a status indicator for the game. With this, you don't have to visit this forum or PM me in-game to check whether the game has started or finished yet. You still have to read the haiku here, but that's only one visit.

• Do not disturb - The game has not started yet.
• Online - The game is on!
• Away - We have a winner, the game is finished.

Two more days, and the hunt will begin anew.

6 hours, 20 minutes left.

15 minutes to go.

The second haiku is as follows:

Slate weave pierced by light
Metal pierced by thousand stings
Peace's heart pierced by greed