Hide and Seek

## Victor

Kretin

**Hide and Seek** was an event held in the Hedge Maze during Dragonhollow's Second Era.

Kretin won the competition.

# Description

The goal was to find Acey who was hiding in the Hedge Maze and acquire from her a token, then escape from the maze. Participants could be killed.

# Event

On 2E:89, Acey asked Dragonhollow residents to join her in Swampwater for a fun and friendly game of hide-and-seek.

MaccaMan was reluctant to do so, because he was afraid of losing his ability to teleport back to the Serkrs base at Redwood Ridge if he were to die. However, he was assured that he would be safe and so he joined his fellow Hollowers near Swampwater Hall.

Participants first gathered for a group photo. Then Acey announced that the event would take place in the Hedge Maze and told them to meet her there. Because many of the participants were unsure of how to get to the hidden location, Tox and Matto showed them the treacherous and winding route up the trunk of a tree in the Grove. They gathered just outside the portal to the Hedge Maze, which was disabled.

There they found a single chest containing slips of paper inscribed with numbers, which Acey distributed to each participant. Then she called the numbers in order, allowing the corresponding person to enter the Hedge Maze and begin trying to find her. As the first to have his number called, Macca got a head start on everyone else.

Despite being the last to have his number called, Tox found Acey first and she handed him the prize, a x100 token. Assuming he'd won, he spoke the magic words that would take him home to Nutville. They had no effect. Seconds later, the Archpriestess Azureila charged at him wearing full armor and killed him, taking the token.

The maze quickly turned into a bloodbath, as like Tox, very few people were even carrying weapons. Azureila fought her way towards the maze's exit, killing MaccaMan, OctavianBC, and Pi.

However, ever suspicious of Eris and her duplicitous ways, Kretin had brought his own armor and weapons for just such an eventuality. He killed Matto and his wife OcularFracture on his way to hunting down the token-bearer Azureila. Both Tox and Pi openly cheered for him to avenge their deaths.

Not far from the maze exit, Kretin intercepted the Archpriestess and killed her, taking the prize off of her corpse and calmly reaching the exit. Eris then declared him the victor of Hide and Seek. As was his way, he casually tossed the x100 token and Azureila's lost loot on the ground in Swampwater and announced to everyone that there was "free shit at spawn."

Afterward, both Macca and Tox were somewhat critical of the way the event had been carried out. Macca was irritated that he'd lost his teleport back home. Tox pointed out that the whole thing looked like a setup by Eris for her own gleeful entertainment, since only her Archpriestess seemed prepared for what to expect. The rest had been under the impression that it was a fun game of hide-and-seek, not a capture-the-flag slaughter. Tox said that had he known, he would have not only brought weapons and armor, but skipped the actual search for Acey and simply hunted the other competitors to thin out the competition and reduce the chances of losing, or perhaps even team up with Macca and split the reward.

Eris simply reminded them that death is always lurking in Dragonhollow. Both men vowed to more vigilant in the future.