Two Ventuccis and a golden crossbow

The Ventucci Brothers, Dempster, and Tomkin Ventucci have become the first point of contact for the highest quality bows and crossbows in the entire Amphitheatre in a very short time. They are also major and valued sponsors of our project. And this is their story...

Completely atypical for someone who would one day lead one of the great merchant families of the Ape Society, Dempster Ventucci grew up on his father's wheat farm in fairly modest circumstances... at least "modest" for a Ventucci. In his everyday life on the farm, he regularly got in touch with other merchants, military officers and even some royal advisors, who bought his father's goods and told their stories. It was precisely these contacts that laid the foundation for Dempster Ventucci's later ambitious career. They made him decide to leave the farm and go his own way.

As it would later turn out, this path was a very successful one, because in just a few years Dempster Ventucci rose from being the wheat farmer's son to becoming a successful merchant on his own and ultimately even the King of the entire Ventucci family.

Tomkin Ventucci was also a well-known and popular merchant within the Ventucci family. His fondness for golden things and the fact that he became one of the most famous gold retailers in the country in a very short time, earned him the nickname "The Golden Merchant".

Originally, his family traded in all kinds of raw materials and utensils needed to make weapons such as swords, bows or crossbows. Although he undeniably possessed a genuine talent for trading, Tomkin's early years were less focused on trading per se and more driven by the fascination with what was being created with his family's materials. If you were looking for Tomkin, but did not know exactly where he was, you were well advised to first visit the workshops of the local weapon manufacturers. Actually, he was only supposed to deliver ordered goods or sell new goods to the customers, but he usually stayed for hours, observing the craftsmen at their work and asking hundreds of questions. He was particularly fond of bows and crossbows.

Tomkin and Dempster Ventucci first met on one of the many trips Dempster made in the early days of his merchant life. Dempster just wanted to trade some of the wheat his family grew with Tomkin for some utensils he needed to make a Crossbow. A crossbow that would later become known as The Ventucci Rapid Fire Crossbow.

A close bond of friendship quickly developed between the two Ventuccis, that came very close to that of a familiar relationship between two brothers. What united them was not only their friendly nature, their ambition or their two merchant souls, it was their rather unusual curiosity for bows and crossbows and their inventive spirit that formed a deep connection between them. The Ventucci Brothers were born.

And the rest is history. In the years that followed, the Ventucci Brothers conquered the market for bows and crossbows. Their two best sellers were the "Ventucci Rapid Fire Crossbow" developed by Dempster and the "Golden Bow" one of the best basic budget bows out there developed by Tomkin.

One day, it was a mild spring evening, as Dempster and Tomkin Ventucci sat in the living room of Dempster's chateau enjoying a few glasses of whiskey and a good cigar, it was Dempster who, not entirely unintentionally, lit a fire in Tomkin.

"Tomkin... our family has achieved a lot of accomplishments in the last few years. To honour these achievements properly, we both already donated 50,000 $Society. But I think we should take it a step further. That's why I'm going to announce a competition. I want to have a new crossbow constructed in honour of the Ventucci family, that combines everything that defines a masterpiece...speed, power, reliability, and style. It will be used in the arena fights of the Amphitheatre," Dempster said. "It should be a crossbow that has what it takes to seamlessly match our previous works." He took a hearty sip of his whiskey and said, "I'll announce it tomorrow." He set his glass down took an indulgent puff on his cigar and spoke. "I am curious to see who will be up to such a task?" As he spoke these words, he watched Tomkin's reaction through the rising smoke of his cigar.

Tomkin became quiet. His gaze was lowered and suddenly seemed to go into emptiness. "Do we have free choice when it comes to materials?" asked Tomkin still with the same expression in his eyes, but with a slight smile on his lips. Dempster looked him over briefly and began to smile himself. "You want to use gold, don't you?" he asked his brother. At this moment Tomkin lifted his head and looked at Dempster with shining eyes. Dempster knew that gleam in Tomkin's eyes. They told him that his head was already full of ideas and that he was mentally working on the crossbow in his workshop. "Why do I even ask?" Dempster called after his brother with a laugh, as he left the room full of anticipation.

On the way to his gold workshop, Tomkin stopped at his family's property, jumped off his carriage and ran straight into the raw materials warehouse. It was like a plundering. Several times the Golden Merchant ran into the warehouse, loaded up his carriage with all kinds of materials and drove away.

Arriving at his home, he hectically started to carry everything out of the carriage and into his workshop. His secretary was watching in surprise and shouted to Tomkin, "What are you doing, Sir?"

Tomkin simply replied, "Cancel all my appointments for the next week, please. I don't want to be interrupted in my work by visitors or the like. I don't want to be disturbed by anything for at least the next few days!"

Without having given his secretary a proper response, Tomkin disappeared into his workshop and locked the door behind him. Apart from the sounds of work coming from the workshop, nothing was seen or heard of Tomkin Ventucci for the next 9 days and 9 nights.

And so, a total of nearly 2 weeks passed since Dempster and Tomkin last saw each other. Anyone else would probably have been worried, but not Dempster. He was well aware of what was going on. Even though he had already received the first submissions for the contest, he knew that Tomkin was also working on something, that would blow his mind.

But then the time finally came. Dempster Ventucci was having his dinner when he heard a rumble outside his door. With a loud bang, the door to his dining room flew open and Tomkin came rushing in. Dempster almost dropped the banana steak out of his mouth, which he was about to enjoy to the fullest.

"Why do you always have to scare me like that, Tomkin?" he shouted. But being completely out of breath, Tomkin only responded: "It's done! ... It is finished! ... Do you want to see it?"

Without waiting even a second for Dempster's answer, Tomkin pushed Dempster's plate with the banana steak aside and placed something large on the table in front of him, wrapped in a large and fine canvas. Dempster's gaze moved from the object in front of him slowly to Tomkin, "What is this, Tomkin?"

However, Tomkin remained silent, and his wide smile seemed to formally say "Well, open it already!"

When Dempster removed the canvas, he was literally blinded by the gold-plated Crossbow that was revealed. It was a masterpiece; Dempster saw that after only a few seconds of examining the weapon.

The wood of the handle was extremely hard and durable. The guiding rail for the bolt was straight as a die and treated with an extremely smooth, golden glaze. A bolt would slide along it perfectly without much resistance or loss of speed. The material from which the limbs of this crossbow were made, had the perfect combination of hardness and flexibility. And even the string was extremely robust and from a high quality. Dempster noticed when tensioning the string, what enormous force was at work here. He could already imagine the high speed with which a bolt could be fired through this string. The gilded crossbow was additionally decorated with all kinds of magnificent patterns and engravings.

For Dempster the winner was already clear, even without a test run. Another deadly weapon, made by the Ventucci Brothers, which will be available to the fighters in the Amphitheatre.

The Team of the Amphitheatre wants to say thank you to the honourable King Dempster “VenGucci” Ventucci and especially to Tomkin “The Golden Merchant” Ventucci. Not only because your high-quality weapons will raise the battles in the Amphitheatre arena to the next level, but also because of your generous donation of 50,000 $Society.

We are sure that with sponsors and visionaries like you, we can make the Amphitheatre a monumental place that will be a beacon of the space for generations of holders.