You all have waited long enough – it’s time to reveal the results for the Jewel of the Sarangay contest. As a reminder, the prize is an Arkham Horror: 3rd Edition set, with the deluxe rulebook.

For the Jewel of the Sarangay contest, entrants were asked to select an investigator from the board game and go on an adventure roleplaying as their character. Some questions they were asked were factual while some were intended to be answered creatively. After reviewing everyone’s entries, I was able to narrow down the best entry, an entry which got (basically) everything correct.

But, before we get to who won, let’s review how everyone answered!

 

Who did everyone choose?

The top 3 choices for which investigator to be were as follows:

  1. Rex Murphy – 18.8% – 6 entries
  2. Wendy Adams – 15.6% (tied) – 5 entries
  3. Agnes Baker – 15.6% (tied) – 5 entries

The bottom 3 choices, on the other hand were Michael McGlen, Marie Lambeau, and Daniela Reyes. Out of 32 entries, NO ONE picked these investigators. Why not?? Everyone else was picked at least one time. Oh well, I guess we can’t all be popular.

 

Act 1: Lore.

This section posed two factual questions and one creative question. The first question was to identify where in the world the Sarangay came from. The answer was the Philippines. A LOT of people got this one wrong. I was really surprised by that. If you just Google Sarangay, you can find the answer to this one in five seconds. Oh well! If you got this one wrong, consider your lore test failed.

The second question was to identify what power the bearer of the Jewel of the Sarangay gained. I got a variety of acceptable answers for this one. Anything along the lines of super strength was accepted.

Finally, I asked for a plan for how you would get the jewel away, and oh boy, did we get some answers. One answer said, “I would quietly walk in, take it, and quietly walk out”. Uh, you would for sure die there, bud. Another answer said, “Shrivelling the Hell out of the beast.” A fellow Mystic player? Be still my heart. Finally, somebody said, “I’d drop something on the ground, let him pick it up, and grab the Jewel when he wasn’t looking”. Is this Arkham Horror or a teenage romcom? Reading all the ideas was definitely entertaining, even if uh, a good number of the plans resulted in the investigators getting killed.

Act 2: Influence.

Very simply, I asked the investigator to pick an ally and an item to take with them during their adventure. I got some interesting answers for each question. A bunch of people picked another investigator to be their ally, which I certainly never thought of. Weirdly, somebody took Michael McGlen as their ally even though nobody took him as their investigator. I guess that’s cool. A whopping SIX people picked Peter Sylvestre as their ally. Somebody said they would take Dr. Milan Christopher by enticing him away with insects? Well, that’s definitely a creative idea. One of my favourite replies was one that said, “Train Station” and nothing else. I guess this investigator is taking the entire Train Station along for the ride?

For the second question, a lot of people took Key of Ys, probably thinking of the card game. A Rex player took Painkillers, which still makes me laugh for more reasons than one. My favourite answer was the Calvin player who took Mr. Pawterson. Who doesn’t love a well-thought out Mr. Pawterson reference? Also, somebody took a flamethrower and proceeded to then write “Flamethrower” as the answer to every other question on the form. OK, if this was you, I really appreciated the idea of solving every single problem with a flamethrower, but uh, you didn’t win. I’m sorry.

Act 3: Observation

This was probably the hardest act. I asked the investigators to identify a spirit from Philippine folklore based on some symbols. I didn’t realize this was going to be as hard of a question as it was. First of all, a lot of people didn’t even properly identify the Philippines as the location, which guaranteed they would get this next question wrong. But moreover… all 32 entries got this question wrong. The correct answer was the mangmangkik, which are the spirits of people who died in certain ways (hence the symbols found on the ship) who then inhabit trees and may be released if the tree is cut down. Since everyone got it wrong, I had to find what I deemed the most correct answer of those I received. I decided anyone who said buwaya provided the most correct answer out of those I got, i.e. the winner also said buwaya. Thinking about it, this is fairly wrong, because buwaya very literally is just a crocodile, which is then definitely NOT a spirit being. However, since everyone got it wrong, I decided I had to pick the most reasonable answer I could.

I then asked how the investigator would appease the spirits or shake the attention of the crew. Most of the answers were not particularly interesting, but one person, who said the spirit was a siren, tried to toss Peter Sylvestre at the siren and hope it would fall in love with him. Which, I guess, is certainly a thing you could try?

Act 4: Strength

For this act, I just asked how you would defeat the spirits or the sailors when attacked at night with just you and your ally to defend. One person said, “Flamethrower.” (That guy again.) A Wendy player had the idea to hide in a bunch of trees and hope the sailors left them alone. This is not a bad Wendy strategy, except that then everyone asleep in the camp probably gets murdered. File this one under “maybe not a good idea after all”. Somebody who took Jim Culver as their ally said, “Jim plays music that drives the sailors to run out to sea in madness.” That was a pretty badass answer!

Act 5: Will

For the final act, I asked the investigators how they would take the Jewel at the do-or-die moment! One person said, “Flamethrower.” Another person used Bind Monster to freeze the Sarangay in place and then just walk up and take the Jewel away. A Norman player shriveled the legs of the Sarangay, then had Leo Anderson incinerate the Sarangay with a flamethrower (this is a different flamethrower guy, don’t worry) and then after the Sarangay is a pile of ashes, they take the Jewel. But none of that compares to this answer, which didn’t end up winning, but was too hilarious to not post:

“Wendy holds out the cherished keepsake to the Sarangay, who immediately bonds with the teddy bear. As it’s distracted, Pete slowly moves around to the back of the creature. Wendy gently hands the keepsake over, and the Sarangay accepts and hugs the cherished keepsake as if it found a long lost relative and sits down on the ground. Focussed on the cherished keepsake, the creature doesn’t notice when Pete takes the jewel, slowly backs off and Wendy and Pete run off, leaving the Sarangay together with the cherished keepsake, who lived happily ever after.”

I love it, I love it, I love it.

 

The Winner

As you can see, I get a lot of good answers, but only one answer could win! I don’t know everyone’s names, just the email addresses, so I can only announce the winner by describing what was said. The winner was a Rex submission who took Dr. Milan as the ally and the Strange Solution’s freezing variant as the item. This submission got pretty much every factual question correct and also was very, very entertaining to read. Rex and Milan defeated the attacking sailors by freezing them into oblivion. They used their wits to construct a series of rope traps among the trees, which caused the Sarangay to be tangled up after a chase, allowing Rex to dump the freezing Strange Solution onto the beast. “Well, that is a bloody shame of a good specimen now isn’t it” Milan said after the creature turned to dust like the sailors, which I thought was hilarious. Overall, this entry was accurate, creative, and above all, believable. I could definitely see Rex and Milan having this adventure together and succeeding using this exact plan. So congrats to our winner and thanks to everyone who submitted. I hope you all enjoyed Blackest Friday and I hope to see you all again at a future contest!