I must say, this labour was a struggle. The story I submitted was actually my third one and I wasn't completely sure I met the requirements of the challenge. The first story I wrote didn't really meet the requirements. The second one I think would have been able to meet the requirements but it became a boring one, so I wrote up Curiosity killed the cat instead. I took adventurous nature/curiosity as the good thing and then wrote out the burden he carried with that. I gave my character a crucial turning point where he could either dispense of the burden or not. He didn't and he paid the price for that.

@PlatinumSkinkMy story was on the border of being accepted by Terminal and I'm grateful he decided it met the criteria after all. In the end Oscar made the active decision to give in to his curiosity and go to the place called 'witches forest', a place that already exists and a place of which he knew people didn't return from. Forests don't get names like that for no reason and he knows these travels can be dangerous. I probably should have hinted towards how mystical beings could be real to add a level of real danger. If I would have added that, would it then meet the criteria in your eyes?
I must say, while making the plot fit with the labour was a struggle, it was fun to write this one and I'm glad you feel the writing was good.

review time for MDK! In the interest of getting to everyone these are going to look really cursory at a glance -- I'm trying to get straight to the meat and leave everything else off, but assume I have more to say, and if you want to talk more in depth, I can do that (here and/or in PM, both work for me)

So a little more unfolding and little less exposition. That's something I'll keep in mind for future stories. Thanks for the feedback!

And here I am getting to these Twelve Labour reviews at last. Seeing as entries have already been selected for passing the test, I won't be judging based on adhering to the goal of the labour. I may make a passing comment on whether you did or did not, but that's been covered. Mainly I'll just look at structure, content, etc.

Reviews are up!

Reviews be finished. Now my full focus is on RPGC3!

You have no idea how glad I am to read the words 'real talent' in your review. Thank you. But yes, too much exposition. I'll try to avoid that in future stories. I would have loved to show more of Oscar to be honest. I just didn't have the time to make the story much longer then it was and I had to give all the necessary information for the challenge this way. Thinking back I probably could have done it differently, for example the aching joints I mentioned could have been made apparent by making him move and describe an expression of pain or something like that. So yes, it's definitely something I'll keep in mind for other stories. Thanks for the review.

Hello everyone. Just chiming in to make a few announcements.

Firstly, as you may have noticed, the sidebar is working.

Secondly, all Trophies for the First and Second Labours have been retroactively awarded to all the contest winners. As a brief primer on the trophy system (which is still undergoing development):

-Everyone now has a list of trophies in the user profiles. The list tells you when the trophy was awarded, what trophy group the trophy was a part of, and how many of each trophy was given out.

-People who wish to remain anonymous can hide trophies in their profiles. If anybody is looking at the trophy groups, your username will be hidden.

-Some trophies come with special unique effects. The main trophies for both Labours, when activated, grant the user the unique, custom forum title associated with each contest - So Nemean Assassin and Lernaean Exile respectively. You can activate and deactivate these trophies in your user profile.

-Each trophy is part of a trophy set associated with an event or category. Each trophy set has an active forum list describing the set as a whole, and each individual trophy in the list also has a description either telling you how it was earned or else containing a pithy little blurb.

Trophies for the RPGC contests will also be handed out soon.

Last but not least, the Winners of the Second Labour have finally had their stories added to The Twelve Labours Victory Archives. My apologies for not adding them earlier, but as some of you may have noticed, Necromancy is a widely reviled and banned esoteric practice in many parts of the forum.

Thanks Terminal, you're awesome!

Okay, so maybe I just don't know enough of the English vocabulary to understand the assignments after reading through it once or the choice of words is deliberately challenging. Just like the previous challenge it will take a bit for me to grasp what is needed to meet the requirements. Don't get me wrong, I love the use of words. It's just I don't often have to look up words to understand what is being said. This challenge will need a day or so to sink in, but I'm looking forward in tackling the assignment.

Okay, so maybe I just don't know enough of the English vocabulary to understand the assignments after reading through it once or the choice of words is deliberately challenging. Just like the previous challenge it will take a bit for me to grasp what is needed to meet the requirements. Don't get me wrong, I love the use of words. It's just I don't often have to look up words to understand what is being said. This challenge will need a day or so to sink in, but I'm looking forward in tackling the assignment.

I'm a native English speaker and even to me the wording seems intentionally difficult (and probably unnecessarily so). Honestly, I think the only confusing part of the challenge is "rainbow" text. I personally need some clarification on what qualifies for an "ambivalent" character. Is it a character who is just indifferent over something or having conflicting feelings over something?

<Snipped quote by WiseDragonGirl>

I'm a native English speaker and even to me the wording seems intentionally difficult (and probably unnecessarily so). Honestly, I think the only confusing part of the challenge is "rainbow" text. I personally need some clarification on what qualifies for an "ambivalent" character. Is it a character who is just indifferent over something or having conflicting feelings over something?

This was my take on it... By ambivalent, I'm guessing our character is simply an average joe. Not someone of pure evil or goodness. Someone who has good qualities but also has traces of greed and other flaws. This kind of person as the main character would make attaining his or her goal even more difficult, since their own personality may be conflicting with it... Something along those lines, I suppose?

If I'm wrong here though, feel free to clarify so I don't screw up LOL

Hmmmm.

Given a sliiiiiight tweak, I have a good story for this. Not sure if I can write it with all the other ideas in my head, but this time I think I'll try.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalright, then. I've got the problem that either all of my characters can do this challenge or none of them can. I mean, there is almost none among my characters I cannot point at and say either "That's a good person" or "That's a bad person". Either case, there is none of my "good person"s that doesn't have flaws or temptations, and there is none of my "bad person"s is without underlying morals and those they'd wish to protect. ... Except a few.

However, if this is, as the clarification describes, "a story for the common person", then I do believe that I have an idea. A thoroughly ridiculous one. Haha.

I think I already know what story to go for.

Question, I guess this is just generally but it can also apply to this one. What if our story straddles multiple topics? Could we resubmit the story if a prompt comes up that might be more 'on the nose'? Like, say a person wrote about an ambivalent favorite character wanting to die, fulfilling the first and third labors, could a person submit their story for both?

@aurorastorm The first labor is already over. All completed labors are no longer accepting entries. Not to my knowledge, anyway. And "wanting to die" wouldn't be a fulfillment of the first labor. It had to have been an unpleasant, or undesirable, death.
@terminal Clarification needed regarding acceptance of entries.

@RomanAria I know, and I know that the example I stated wouldn't exactly have fit with the first prompt, I was just trying to give some kind of example, thank you though.

Now that I think of it, not sure if the story is good for the contest, since said character sort of has a huge moral compass and he's not a common man.

@aurorastorm The first labor is already over. All completed labors are no longer accepting entries. Not to my knowledge, anyway. And "wanting to die" wouldn't be a fulfillment of the first labor. It had to have been an unpleasant, or undesirable, death.
@terminal Clarification needed regarding acceptance of entries.

I have thought about trying to find a way to allow for past Labours to be completed in the here and now. Several times, and with a few other parties just to try and get a broader perspective.

The fact of the matter is, while it would be most convenient for contestants if they could fulfill Labours at any given time, it robs the task somewhat of their inherent pressure and difficulty. Especially if people are able to tell what the Labour will be in advance. Part of the difficulty derived from The Twelve Labours is not merely the nature of the challenges, but the time limit and the element of the unknown involved with each challenge.

Sadly this means previous challenges cannot be revisited. If I decide to host secondary challenges that start from the first again, I will devise new tasks inherent to each just to keep things interesting.

@Terminal, I'm still not quite sure if I quite grasp the first part of the prompt, particularly the "ambivalent" part. I understand the two extremes (basically outcast and the moral compass), but would the following be an accurate picture of what the main character should be?

Main Character really desires something. However, something about themselves (habits, personality, life choices, etc.) hinder the Main Character from reaching that desire. The Main Character is torn over this desire: he really desires the goal, but he cannot let go of the hindrance. The story should be about the Main Character attempting to "let go" of that hindrance. If he succeeds, he will gain the desire. If he cannot let go, the desire will slip away.