The Ring of Power isn’t only found in The Lord of the Rings on movie screens around the world. It turned up in Sweet Home Saturday, but a crafty Portland assassin defeated the evil lord that possessed it and carried it away.
That’s the latest in developments for Amtgard players in the Kingdom of the Silver Rains. Sweet Home, also known as the Underhill Shire, hosted a kingdom-level quest at Sankey Park on Saturday.
Sweet Home has nearly 20 active Amtgard players with nearly 50 persons total who have participated over the course of the last year.
About 50 Amtgardians, as they’re known, from all over the kingdom showed up to quest for the ring.
Typically, such events draw more people, but between rain and work, many were unable to attend Saturday’s quest, according to kingdom Monarch Rusti Walker, know in Amtgard as Aristiri Skiiesdottir. The annual Rosewood event draws some 300.
The Kingdom of Silver Rains includes Oregon and southwestern Washington with holdings in Idaho, Montana, Iowa and Massachusetts.
Sir Angeles, Scott Timmer of Portland, and Sir Red Barchetta, Robert Bemrose of Portland, joined forces to win the quest, a contest between all attending. They will share use of the Ring of Power. Timmer was the quest’s official winner.
The Ring of Power is one of six relics, each with special abilities for players who wield them, within the Kindgom of Silver Rains. It grants its bearer special protection in combat.
During each reign of a king or queen, six months, six quests determine who controls each relic. Quests are held at locations throughout the kingdom.
In the quest, Eric Weeks of Corvallis said, the evil witch king has come to the kingdom and seeks to usurp the throne. He can only be destroyed using the Sword of Justice, but that was owned by a merchant not willing to sell it for less than four gems.
The four gems were on four different “monsters” spread throughout the land. With each monster, players would have to figure out how to win the gem, each one a different color.
A genie required answers to riddles before he would give any of his gems to players.
A lizard queen is trying to stockpile weapons, but a corrosion beast keeps eating them. She asked only for proof the beast was dead in exchange for a gem.
The corrosion beast, which melts armor and weapons, could be convinced to give up a gem in exchange for such metals.
A dark knight held Weddle Bridge, giving a gem to those who could defeat him in single combat.
“He’s a good fighter, so it isn’t going to be easy,” Meeks said.
A gremlin wandered around the grounds causing general problems for players.
Each monster started the quest scattered about the park. They were identifiable by their garb.
Sir Angeles defeated the dark knight and met all of the other challenges to buy the sword and dispatch the witch king, played by Marty O’Connell of Corvallis.
Calvin Draper of Corvallis “wrote one of the best quests,” Weeks, who has two years overseeing quest writers, said. “He wrote a phenomenal quest. He just blew me away with the way he did it. He put time into it. It’s a great quest.”
But the Sweet Home event didn’t have enough people, Weeks said, so that quest was postponed until a later event, like the Rosewood.
Weeks and Draper both regularly attend Sweet Home events.
Amtgard is a medieval recreation and fantasy role playing organization founded in El Paso, Texas, in 1983. It combines historical education, imagination and physical exercise to create a game for any age and for families.
They may earn “orders” as marks of achievement in community service, arts, sciences, holding club offices and physical combat skills.
Amtgard holds many types of events, including classes, workshops, campouts, feasts, bardics (music and storytelling), and art competitions. Perhaps the most visible of Amtgard events are tournaments and battlegames. During those events, members enact battles with weapons and armor they make themselves.
The weapons are padded and thick to keep the game safe.
Each member is encouraged to develop a “persona” or character to play. There is no script. Everything is ad libbed. The persona includes a history, a set of morals, mannerisms, accent, clothing and more. They guide players as they participate in events.
Individuals may create characters from a variety of classes, ranging from warriors and thieves to barbarians and healers.
Sweet Home will host another kingdom-level event in April, when the Kingdom of Silver Rains elects a new monarch.
For more information about Amtgard, persons may contact Bruce Hobbs at 367-