Encounter-a-Day

Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, the town of Quainsbrook was besieged by kobolds. They were only saved when Canis, the lord of hounds, sent a pack of fifty wild hounds to help defend them. The villagers of Quainsbrook, to this day, have an amazing rapport with canines of all types, and Quainsbrook hounds are world-renowned as the finest hounds money can buy.

Every spring, Quainsbrook throws a celebration known as The Festival of the Half-Hundred Hounds. It is a three day-long festival filled with song, merriment and feasting, where dogs are the guests of honor. Each night is capped off with a simple competition called The Feat of Strength.

In the Feat of Strength, teams of up to five people take turns playing tug of war with the strongest fifty hounds Quainsbrook has to offer. At first they are pulling against 25 hounds, but every 10 seconds another hound is added until all fifty are pulling, or until the the challengers are defeated.

The only way to actually win the tug of war is to pull a flag, located halfway between the dogs and the challengers, across a line on the ground while all 50 dogs are pulling, and hold it there for one full minute. Nobody’s ever actually won the Feat of Strength, though, for no one has ever lasted long enough to be playing against all fifty dogs.

In the end, the dogs are always crowned the victors of the night, but as a consolation prize the team which pulled against the most dogs before being defeated is given a Quainsbrook hound.