Dementrivia I (Round 8) (Poetry and Deadly Looks)

Welcome to the Dementrivia, the quiz show that is to education what a McDonalds coupon is to a balanced diet.

What is this about? You can read the long description or accept the short explanation:
Each round, I give you one question. You send me an answer that is wrong, but as funny and entertaining as possible. After some time, I will gather your entries and reveal them. Then you may vote for your favorite answer, thus awarding it points.

After seven rounds, Raistlin continues to lead while Eldritch Knight has only recently claimed second place.


Question 8: Greek playwright Aeschylus was one of the most important ancient poets and is commonly regarded as one of the developers of the tragedy. Out of his work of about 70 plays only six have been recovered by current scholars, though. Aeschylus' alleged death was a rather uncommon one as wel, when one physical characteristic of him became lethal. Which characteristic was it and how did it contribute to his death?


Please send your answers as a message until Monday, 2 PM Eastern

Note that this is a game without signups. You can send answers/vote anytime.


Important Note: To add a bit of speed to the game and encourage voting, one rule is changed with the beginning of Round 8: Voting in the polls is now worth 2 points instead of 1. I hope this will reduce the problem of tactical non-voting.


Dementrivia's Season I Standings after 7 Rounds

1. Raistlin1040 (37 Points)
2. Eldritch Knight (20)
3. Deckmaster (18)
4. DLD (16)
5. Lord Herman (14)
6. evnafets (13)
7. Calamity (12)
8. Alarra, Blood (11)
10. Deathcow (10)
11. Castaras, David94, faerwain (9)
14. Atreyu the Masked Llama, Tormsskull, Zar Peter (8)
17. Captain van der Decken, Khantalas (6)
19. Angela, Lord Fullbladder (5)
21. citcon, heretic, Shadow (4)
24. J Muller, Xaspian (3)
26. Indurain, Lucky, Rama Lei (2)
29. Akaziel, Charity, inky13112, Korith, purple cube, AwesomeGirl, Sampi (1)

The Rules

I'd be inclined to think that people should get some number of points simply for submitting an answer as well. Then the one's that didn't get any votes still get a few points for going through the trouble of writing one.

Just to bump this thread :smallbiggrin:

For me it would be better to vote and not to send in my answers, but I like the game.
And it doesn't matter if everyone who send in an answer get 0 points or 100 points for the answer because everyone would get the points.

Not exactly. Someone who skips a round doesn't get the points. And people who send in answers get more points than people who only vote.

I actually know the real answer to this! However, I will still answer with a fake one.

I, too, know the answer... quite unusual indeed. I'd think that if the real answer wasn't the real cause of his death, it'd score a vote or two...

I could use a lot of answers still...


Deadline extended until 6 PM Eastern.

I could use a lot of answers still...


Deadline extended until 6 PM Eastern.

Hm... no ideas for this round. Sorry. I just came up with one! But wether I want to send it in or not...

Sorry for the delay but work is putting a toll on me recently...


Your question was: Greek playwright Aeschylus was one of the most important ancient poets and is commonly regarded as one of the developers of the tragedy. Out of his work of about 70 plays only six have been recovered by current scholars, though. Aeschylus' alleged death was a rather uncommon one as wel, when one physical characteristic of him became lethal. Which characteristic was it and how did it contribute to his death?

True Answer: According to legend, Aeschylus died when he visited Sicily's rocky shoreline. One eagle mistook his bald head for a rock and threw a turtle onto it in an attempt to break open its shell. (More realistic, it was a vulture throwing a heavy bone, but the former version does seem more poetic)


Your answers:

Answer 1:

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His lethal characteristic was his overly long and sharp fingernails. He tried to pick his nose one day and accidentally stabbed himself.

Answer 2:

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His nasal passage was sealed off, unexplainably, from within. Now most people would just breath through their mouth, and he tried...but one day just forgot.

Answer 3:

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His funny bone, which decided to betray the body and let in the invaders

Answer 4:

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Aeschylus' death was an interesting one. After getting drunk with a few other poets, he decided to write an amusing poem about the local king. News about this amusing poem reached the king, who had Aeschylus summarily executed by decaptitation. After his decapitation, the poet had a very interesting physical characteristic: he had no head. Unfortunately, his condition quickly became lethal.

Answer 5:

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Aeschylus was the historical root for a popular mystical figure himself,most commonly placed today in Italy.
But opposite the legend, his nose grew when he heard lies.
Attending the Athen's Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting sealed his fate.

Answer 6:

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His superstrength. You see, Aeschylus was actually the ancient Greek superhero The Iron Gladiator. Because of this, he was constantly being challenged by every Tom, ****, and Harry who had been exposed to radioactive marble or cursed by the gods or managed to obtain Atlantean technology or some other thing. One of these, the Lion of Zion, actually managed to kill him. Of course, the Lion of Zion was killed himself in the resulting explosion.

Answer 7:

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After finishing his last book Aeschylus wanted to rearrange his bookshelf but it tilted and buried him under his own lifework. (Aeschylus were an old school writer who carved his tragedys in stone plates, only 6 of them were unbroken after this accident)

Answer 8:

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It was that he had an usual fetish of drinking water. In fact his death was caused by him drowning in his lounge in the middle of a dry Summer.

Answer 9:

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He was killed as a direct result of his Ego reaching Critical Mass. Were it not for the actions of our own Ego Slayer's ancestor, his mind would have collapsed into an egocentric black hole.

Which is the best answer? You decide. Cast your vote by replying and stating your favorite. Remember that voting itself is worth 2 points for the voter as well.

Number 9 for me!

I vote for #1.

#7 please...

Ooo tough choice.

I'll go with Engine #9, however, once it comes down the railroad line.

#4

That condition can be lethal.

Seeing as I'm unlikey to get any votes for my answer, I'll just have to take the points for voting.

#1 was the only one that brought a smile to my face.

Let's go for the over-the-top one: #6

I vote for number 5

#3, i suppose

#4 all the way.

#8. But could that even be considered a physical characteristic?

A vote for answer #1

A vote for #3

*bump for more votes*

Oops!! I've missed a few rounds...

Answer #5 for me please...

Another bump. -sigh-

Time's Up. Let's have a look at the results:

Answer 1 by Akaziel
3 votes by Calamity, evnafets and Lord Herman

Answer 2 by Alarra

Answer 3 by Castaras
2 votes by Alarra and paddyfool

Answer 4 by Lord Herman
2 votes by Deckmaster and Raistlin1040

Answer 5 by faerwain
2 votes by Angela and Zar Peter

Answer 6 by Deckmaster
1 vote by faerwain

Answer 7 by Zar Peter
1 vote by Eldritch Knight

Answer 8 by Calamity
1 vote by Akaziel

Answer 9 by Eldritch Knight
2 votes by Castaras and Lord Fullbladder



Pretty even split. Only one player leaves without a vote while the winner is not far away from the runner-ups. Seems like this round won't have a great impact on the standings:


Dementrivia's Season I Standings after 8 Rounds

1. Raistlin1040 (39 Points)
2. Eldritch Knight (24)
3. Deckmaster (21)
4. Lord Herman (18)
5. DLD (16)
6. Calamity, evnafets (15)
8. Alarra, Castaras, faerwain (13)
11. Blood, Zar Peter (11)
13. Deathcow (10)
14. Akaziel, David94 (9)
16. Atreyu the Masked Llama, Tormsskull (8)
18. Angela (7)
19. Captain van der Decken, Khantalas (6)
21. Lord Fullbladder (5)
22. citcon, heretic, Shadow (4)
25. J Muller, Xaspian (3)
27. Indurain, Lucky, paddyfool, Rama Lei (2)
31. Charity, inky13112, Korith, purple cube, AwesomeGirl, Sampi (1)

Akaziel joins the ranks around the top while Raistlin loses minimal ground against his contrahents. This round didn't change much indeed, but with a sweeping success, it could look different. Let's see what Round 9 will bring when I put it up later today.