Hit the Gobber

Organiser: Rembrandt Ghorden is the main organiser, he is aided by several of his close friends and fellow stall owners on the Quad.

Description: Two years ago Rembrandt was just another merchant selling  his wares on the Quad and making a decent living from it. Until one day Gattsolomarakon, a Gobber tinker set up shop directly across from him.

Gatts has a knack for making music boxes, unfortunately said boxes aren't as musical as they are annoying. On a faithful day Rembrandt could take no more, he had a pounding headache from a night in the pub, his cart had broken a wheel and on top of that he just found out the vegetables he was selling had worms in them. Gatts setting off three of his boxes at once was the drop, Rembrandt hurled a crop of lettuce at the little Gobber with all his might.

Luckily for Gatts and unluckily for the shop owner next to him, Rembrandt's rotten lettuce didn't hit home but instead knocked over a support beam of the stall next to Gatts causing the stall to collapse.

The owner of the stall was furious at Rembrandt, who was in turn furious at Gatts who was in turn totally unaware of the entire happenings, being completely absorbed by one of his wonderful contraptions.

As Rembrandt was being escorted off the Quad by the city guard his only defence against the crowds of onlookers who mocked his throwing abilities was "It ain't easy hitting them Gobbers, you try it and see."
For some reason this caught on and in the following weeks men across Caspia challenged each other over cups (and often whole pitchers) of ale to "hit the Gobber". Many an unsuspecting Gobber fell victim to this new "sport" which seemed to grow in popularity by the day.

Finally city officials put a stop to it after numerous complaints by human merchants that saw their hired Gobbers employees come in with broken or dislodged bones.

Now Rembrandt organises a new Hit the Gobber each year. Things have changed for the better though, as now woollen balls with a wooden centre are used which can cause severe bruising but hardly ever break anything anymore. The Gobbers used are also compensated handsomely, paid for by the 5 silver entry fee for contestants. Hit the Gobber is still outlawed however so the entire event is very hush-hush, although officials are bribed to look the other way somewhat to ensure that none of the contestants get arrested. Something that doesn't always work.

Now the event is held near the Quad but always in some alley or secluded square. A small section is marked with ropes on the ground and a line is drawn from where contestants can try their luck. Between the lines some volunteer Gobber dashes, jumps, rolls, hops, does whatever he cannot to get hit by the ball. For whomever hits the Gobber there's a cash price of 9 silver, if the Gobber manages not to get hit in a 15 minute span, he gets a shiny gold coin bonus, this is to encourage him to do his best.

Optional adventure hooks:

• Gobbers are disappearing to take part in this event, and Rembrandt desperately needs a new Gobber (from the adventurers' party) to replace the one he hired and willing to pay handsomely for these services.
• Less obvious: Gobbers and other non-humans are trying to put a stop to this inhumane treatment of non-humans, and are plotting against Rembrandt. The adventurers are asked to help them out.

Agenda: Somewhere in the early noon Rembrandt and his associates show up and set up the terrain, at this point they usually already have a Gobber but may need more during the day as he gets hurt or gets tired.

Soon after they are done setting up, they start to discretely advertise their show, addressing passer-bys of what is going on in the alley.

As the evening sets in, Rembrandt and his crew usually break things up and head to the nearest pub to spend their hard earned cash.

There are also at least 5 guard posted to warn for incoming city guards or officials, the location is chosen so that an easy escape is always possible.

Social crowd: Mostly the working populace, you'll not find a nobleman at Rembrandt's stall but perhaps the son of a well known family ends up there and tries to prove his abilities to his friends by participating.

By: Kenshi

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