Greetings once more.

An update on the standings in the contest. The ship race has been completed and though all but one city faced some manner of issues with the, unfortunately, glitchy sphere, all persevered and turned in some truly impressive times.

In the end, the city of Mhaldor took top honours, completing the route with a mind boggling time of a day and a half! A full half a day faster than their closest competition which was Ashtan and Eleusis who took second place with a tied time of two days. In fourth place, Targossas prevailed, sailing the route in two and a quarter days on the nose, just edging out Cyrene's efforts.

This leaves the current standings with the city of Mhaldor in the lead with one hundred and eighty three points, Ashtan in second with one hundred and eighty one points, Cyrene and Eleusis tied with one hundred and fifty points, and Hashan and Targossas rounding out the pack with one hundred and thirty five points respectively.

Who will win the contest is anyone's guess at this point! Beginning in the month of Miraman the cities will take their turns in the Gauntlet and see who can defeat it the quickest.

As a quick reminder, each city will have a full month where the Gauntlet is reserved for them. The cities will enter the Gauntlet by touching their Urn, which will only be active during the month they are scheduled to enter. The timer will not begin until the Urn is touched the first time in the scheduled month.

For that first touch, the Urn will not respond unless the toucher is city rank four or greater, or a member of the ruling council of course. After that, any citizen can enter the Gauntlet via touching the Urn. There is no limit on how many citizens can be in the Gauntlet at any given time.

Also, let us not forget that the Game of the Eyes is yet to be played! Unlike the other contests, any city that participates in this game will receive some points so you have little to lose by making a go of it.

My Lady is also in the process of assessing the multitude of entries into the sculpture design contest and the results of that will be announced within the month, I imagine.

It has been another busy few months and the whole keep is quite aflutter with anticipation over what the final months of the festival will bring.

Your humble host,
Lord Adryn



Penned by My hand on the 24th of Daedalan, in the year 694 AF.