Glory seekers across the realm!

The final stretch is here and along with it comes your chance to be crowned the champion of the biggest, most explosive duel of the year - the Grand Duel! In this extravagant double-elimination tournament, the stakes are increased with mighty prizes up for grabs, with the Grand Champion receiving a unique artifact tailored to the class that they succeed in, and several prizes for both runner-ups and random participants who take the plunge!

But of course, I know you want to know the details, so without further ado, the prizes for placement this year!

1st place prizes:
- The Rapier of the Master Duelist!
- A custom-made artifact that will boost the class you win the Grand Duel as!
* The artifact will be retained until the next Grand Duel.
- A very enthusiastic fan of your achievements that will linger in Esterport!
* For as long as you are the Grand Champion.
- A unique fame line and title, customised to show off your exploits in the Grand Duel!
- A gold star that you can TOUCH! Very shiny!
- A grand stocking
- 500 credits

2nd place prizes:
- An occasional free drink at the Shining Trident!
* The bonus will be retained until the next Grand Duel
- A silver star that you can TOUCH! Sparkly!
- A grand stocking
- 300 credits

3rd place prizes:
- A bronze star that you can TOUCH! Nice!
- A grand stocking
- 200 credits

Not everyone can reach the heights of the placement podium, so for those who do not, there will be THREE raffles for anyone who joins the Grand Duel and competes in its duels! No requirements are necessary beyond giving it your best!

You can potentially win:
- Prize one: Any one artifact valued at 800 credits or less, your choice!
- Prize two: A piece of morphic metal (x2)
- Prize three: Artifact vials, pipes, bandages, and/or rags (x5)

Even if you don't qualify for any of the above, just being there and participating will net you some very cool goodies! We'll have a special, unique minipet unobtainable through any other means this year, and there will also be the usual class figurine up for grabs! Plus a few other things...

Participating will get you:
- A unique Grand Duel-themed minipet!
- A figurine of the Siderealist class!
- The Duel participation credit milestone!
* Doesn't count towards your daily limit.

And like before, for those of you who love a bet, I will open up a bookie just before the Duel begins and pool in 100,000 gold. You can bet on who you think the winner will be of the Grand Duel for 5,000 gold and have a chance at taking home a juicy bag of gold. The command AB GAMING BOOKMAKER has details on this if you want to be prepared beforehand.

The exact date for the Grand Duel can be found in EVENTS INFO 976, as decided by a poll we ran on our Discord. Use CONFIG TIMEZONE to see when it starts in your local time.

Note: The Siderealist class will be a banned choice for the Grand Duel, as it'll be relatively new and I want to keep things competitive.

See you there!

Penned by my hand on Falsday, the 23rd of Chakros, in the year 8 AC.