Game Log 11

## Oatgirl's Huge Tracts of Land

Ryala scratched her head. "Can you explain that again?"

Mantis sighed but dived back in. "If we can entice the Oat and Apple goddesses to our stead, we'll get the advantage of their blessings."

"And more apples?"

"Yes, and more apples. In Garhound, they hold a festival to pick a champion of the Oat Goddess and that will bring us her favor for a year and possibly long-term. Because of the nature of the ritual, only Mankar can participate because he follows one of the appropriate gods."

"What does that have to do with apples?"

"It doesn't have anything to do with apples! Please, concentrate!" He decided to cut the explanation back to the basics. "We go, he wins, we get oats, we eat the oats."

Ryala nodded. "Okay, that sounds good."

Mankar nodded, "What about the Lunars? That village is under their control, after all."

"Well, the Lunar empire hates Lightbrings in general and Orlanthi in particular but they have an agreement with all the villages under their control that they won't limit the worship of other gods because this would invalidate their entire philosophy. This village, in addition, has a specific waiver for followers of Orlanth just in case."

Aud grumbled something under her breath that none of the rest caught.

Mankar announced to the entire stead in his inimitable fashion. "The Chosen and I are leaving for a short time! Gnelessi speaks with my voice so don't do anything stupid!" He lowered his voice to normal speaking volume. "I leave the stead in your charge, honored priestess."

The old woman muttered, "I was never out of charge."

He raised an eyebrow as if to remind her what had happened the last time the Chosen had left the village. She didn't deign to respond, though.

Speaks-with-liars told them, in his usual roundabout way, that the big lizard wanted to come to view the rituals. To be honest, Mankar tuned out the whole conversation as listening to the dragonewt made his head hurt. In the end, they gave Aud an egg with and Eye carved onto it to act as an 'observer' for the whole event. (They found out later that it was the egg of a particularly ill-omened dragonewt with few good prospects so it was better to just cut short this life and give it a better chance next time... or something like that.)

(2.5 days later)

The trip was uneventful and relatively short... an ominous reminder how close their little stead was to Lunar-controlled territory. Aud seemed particularly nervous about the situation while the others ranged from cautious to enthusiastic.

Garhound's population blossomed during the festival. For every two inhabitants there was a visitor and the mood was, in a word, festive! A large banner on the main road into the town proclaimed the event and welcomed the participants. A smaller proclamation was nailed to the post, however which Astra read and summarized to them. "The Lunars are saying that, despite the violent and terroristic actions of Orlanthi in the past, that they are still barely welcome and won't be pursued by the noble Empire and have full amnesty."

Mankar grinned. "Interesting. Well, there's plenty of time for violence after we win this thing, right?"

Other notables had already gathered and could be seen in the crowds. An entourage from the Sundome temple was quite resplendent in their gilded armor and Dara Hapth 7th legion was prominent... presumably to keep the peace during the days of the competition. While they were scanning the crowd, Mantis returned from the tent where competitors were supposed to register. "Apparently there is a rather hefty entry fee... gifts to the maiden basically."

"How much? Our funds, even when bolstered by those tax collectors, are limited."

"Most are just donating coins but others are giving various treasures. It needs to be worth hundreds or thousands of silvers to be worthwhile."

Having gained a working knowledge of commerce and coinage, they all realized that the amount, while doable, would dent their funds tremendously. Mankar looked at Ryala, or more specifically, her ears. "Coins or the equivalent, eh? I think I can work out something. Give me a few of the smaller gems we have and a gold coin. I'll see what I can do with them."

After he went off Aud grumbled to herself, "For *her* he makes jewelry." Then she went off to make a booth to offer her services as a healer.

In the meantime, Astra went to visit the local Lankhar Mhy temple and raid their library. With equal fervor (but lower morals), Mantis decided to visit the local Eluria temple where he encountered the duke's daughter, Essota. They exchanged 'pointers' on her teachings for much of the morning.

Ryala, bored and hungry, got some food from the booths and some liquor... much what she would have done back in the stead except that she had to pay money here. Still, the food was novel and tasty and as long as she had the coins to spend, she didn't mind using them. Soon enough, her mug was empty and as she was looking around for a vendor to refill her a blonde man with elaborately decorated armor slid up with a bottle in hand. "You look thirsty. Care to share my wine?"

She looked at him and decided to chance it. "Sure, fill me up."

He poured some into her cup and into his own. "Have you heard the good news of We Are Us?" He smiled and pulled his chair closer to hers.

Meanwhile, Mankar finished up the new earrings and was quite pleased with the results. He was prepared to remake them as necessary but they came out quite beautifully on the first try and the different gems provided an interesting contrast between the two sides. He took the contribution over to the enrollment tent where a local priestess took custody of them. He noticed that the woman's eyes lit up a bit when she saw the jewelry and he decided his opinion of the work was shared by her as well.

"Thank you for bring this contribution. Don't forget there's a dinner hosted by the Duke for all participants tonight."

"I'll come, of course. My gratitude for your reminder." He gave a minimal bow and left the tent.

She leaned toward a guard and murmured, "Oh, I like that one. He looks strong and not as pointlessly arrogant as some of these fellows."

"Ah, he's big but my money's still on Carylon. He's been training for this practically all his life. It'll take more than altitude to win some of these contests!"

# -=-=-

The rest of the day passed uneventfully for the heroes and Mankar cleaned up for the upcoming party at Mantis's recommendation. The shaman smirked, "A barbarian you may be but at least not an UNWASHED barbarian!"

"Ha ha, my friend. I'll remember that the next time your fetch buries your face in a pot of hot soup."

"Ahem. I'm sure it's learned the difference now besides... say, what's this?"

A very large man, almost as large as Mankar, sauntered to the tent where the donations were being received. At the last minute since the priestess and her helpers were actually in the process of tearing down the tent. "Can we help you?"

"I'm here for the contest," he said with a smirk. His smile revealed pointed teeth... probably chiseled down in the manner of some nomadic tribes. He tossed a crown onto the pile offerings. It was large thing, heavy with gold and studded with jewels.

Mantis's eyes widened. "That's probably worth more than everything else there combined!"

What Mankar noted was that the man was strong as well as big and his weapons seemed well-used.

The man himself ignored the stares he was getting, or rather, was enjoying them. "I am Jarst Dar, follower of Argan Argar! And I've come to win this little contest!"

Mantis looked surprised. "A troll god! But still within the rules of this event. It looks like things have become more interesting. Well, have fun at the dinner. We rabble weren't invited and I have more interesting things to do."

Mankar noticed the shaman had also bathed and was looking somewhat smug. "You and those Ilurians. You hang with them often enough, it's going to fall off, you know."

"By that time, I'll be too old to care!" He sauntered off with a jaunty wave.

The party was rather lavish though, according to some gossip Mankar overheard, the intelligence contest and final celebration would be even better. The contestants were a mixed bag... most of them didn't stand out at all are were likely to lose quickly. He guessed they were just there for a chance at a longshot win or maybe just for the experience. The standouts were interesting, though. Two yelmalions, one much older than the other, a young lad who seemed a local favorite, an older man that had the air of Orlanth bout him, a stormbull follower and, of course, Jarst Dar.

Osso Stikklebrixx, in typical Stormbull fashion, bellowed, "I'm here to drink or break things!" He finished off the keg of alcohol he was holding, tossed it to one side and looked around meaningfully. The speed at which he was served made Mankar doubt the common view that Stormbull followers were as simple as they seemed.

Mankar, having little interest in drinking simply as a means of recreation, walked over to Jarst. "Hey, you look pretty tough! How about some arm wrestling, eh?"

The man looked up at Mankar... an action he was clearly unused to considering his size. Then he smiled toothily. "Why not?"

The two big men squared off against each other on a convenient table (it seemed to Mankar that such challenges weren't uncommon considering the nature of the festival). To Jarst's embarrassment, Mankar managed to pin his hand after just a few seconds of struggle. An ugly looked crossed his face very briefly before he smiled again. "You got me this time."

Mankar clapped him on the shoulder, an action that would fell a lesser being. "You're pretty strong! Good fight!"

Jarst fished some coins out of his pouch. "Since you won, let me gift you something. Would you prefer a silver lunar or a lead coin?"

"Huh? I've never seen troll money before, so I'll accept that. My thanks!"

Nearby, though not in the 'contestant's circle' others were enjoying complementary food and beverages... including Aud and Ryala. Aud was obviously bitter about something and Ryala was enjoying herself at the expense of the baron. Unsurprisingly, Astra was at the local temple/library, having her own kind of fun.

A lunar official (obvious by her red cape, iron armor, and insignia) strutted over to the women. "My friend tells me that you are interesting in our We Are Us philosophy. You may not have heard but in the Empire, women are by no means subservient to women." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, "Truth be told, it's the opposite if anything. One of the many blessings the Goddess bestows on us. Still, all are welcome and all respected for We Are Us!"

Ryala, well on her way to moderate levels of intoxication asked bluntly, "Who are you?"

"My apologies. I am Rayna. Honorable guard of the governor of Sartar." She looked at Aud, "You have the appearance of someone who has been wronged by a man... am I right?" She leaned on the table, her spiked iron cesti effortlessly making inch deep holes in the wood.

"I don't want to talk about *him* now," she said with a semblance of dignity. "He can give jewelry to whatever tramp he wants to!"

Ryala, who had some idea what was going on by this time, sent a hasty message (via waitress) saying that he need to make Aud some earrings pronto and then she down her current mug of ale. Her eye fell on the cesti of the lunar hero. "Those are SO cool! Can I try them?"

The runelord looked pained for a brief second and then took them off for Ryala to try. "Of course! This is one of the many benefits a loyal follower of Cult of the Moon can receive."

After putting them on, she stomped over to the contestant's area and pounded on the table near Mankar leaving some very deep holes in the furniture. "You! Did you get my message?"

He cocked his head to one side, "Yes but... did you mean right now?"

"No!" She held up a finger before her alcohol-soaked brain realized he probably couldn't see it with the spiked gauntlets cover her hand. "You need to go over there and, and, and kiss Aud and make this all better!" Then she drank Mankar's mug of high proof brandy in a single go.

Mankar brightened, "She's been in a bad mood. This will help?"

"Yesh! Jush do ish!"

He nodded and walked over to Aud, picked her up and gave her a big kiss while she struggled helplessly in his arms. "I hope you feel better!"

"Feel better? Feel better! Let me go you oaf!" She hit him repeatedly until he put her down again.

The Lunar smirked, "You see? They have no respect for you or your womanhood!" She seemed about to throw down a gauntlet before she realized that she had loaned them out. Finally she just pointed her bare hand at him and proclaimed, "I challenge you to a duel of honor if you unwashed heathens understand honor at all! First blood or are you too cowardly to fight?"

Ryala staggered back and shouted, "Hey! Yer not allowed to school him! That Varinga's... Fringa's... MY JOB!" She threw down the woman's own gauntlet... which narrowly missed impaling a nearby reveler. "There! Challenge acshpted!"

She sneered. "Oh, how brave! Not only does he insult women, now he makes them fight for him!"

Mankar shrugged, "It's her choice but who's looking down on women now? Despite your many, many, many years of experience over her bare 15, she's willing to give it a try."

The Lunar turned white at the first 'many' but was red by the third use of the word. "You!"

Ryala had her axe out by now. "We doing this or what? Are you just talk?"

"Fine, but it's to first limb crippled... honor demands no less!"

"Put up or shut up, bitch," Ryala growled.

Mankar said peacefully, "Now now, Ryala. We just respect our *elders*, yes?"

The fight, such as it was, was short and brutal. The runelord nearly destroyed Ryala's beloved axe, broke two of her swords, cleaved her helmet in half and finally destroyed her arm at the elbow. Only the pathetic shreds of her armor kept the limb from falling to the ground immediately as Aud rushed over to reattach it. Mankar murmured, "Please take her away from here. I have something to do."

Rayna sneered, "See how your 'champion' has fallen, fool? Do you dare stand up for yourself?"

"You would think with your *decades* of experience, you would have learned some boundaries. Aren't you ashamed of picking on a woman who just became an adult this year?" He pulled out his own sword, "First blood it is, senior!"

The Lunar growled and leapt to attack! She was Mankar's superior in about every way imaginable: skill, experience, equipment, magic! The one thing he had on his side was his size and reach but instead of attacking first and having his blow be inevitably parried by the woman, he chose to use his advantage to strike at the exact time she committed to her attack. At worst, even if she hit, it would be an exchange of blows and he could leave with honor intact.

To his surprise, though, she chose that moment to cast a spell instead! It was an insidious thing, powered by her might as a Runelord and designed to destroy the will of those she assaulted. The rune magic assailed his will, desperately trying to break him and send him screaming from the dueling ring but he just roared his defiance and struck with all his might!

Unable to dodge or block, the runelord was forced to take the blow that would have decapitated a bull elephant with ease. Her iron armor, reinforced by mystic might and powerful rituals, blocked almost the entirety of the sword stroke but no one missed the streak of red that gushed from her leg and stained his weapon.

Mankar immediately stepped back and aimed his sword at the ground. Before the Lunar could speak, he proclaimed, "I have drawn first blood and defeated you! Honor is satisfied and you can withdraw knowing that justice has prevailed!" The cheers from the crowd (some nervous), indicated that the Lunars weren't as beloved as they might wish.

Unable to retort, Rayna stomped off, barely restraining herself from decapitating anyone who got in her way.

After she left, Mankar winced at the sudden headache he was experiencing. "Gods and Goddesses, what was that spell she cast?" Only a few more mugs of ale managed to quiet the pain somewhat before it went away on its own. Finally, he leveraged himself up from his chair (it was usually a chore as nothing was the proper size for him) and bid farewell to the revelers. He gathered up the pieces of Ryala's ruined equipment thinking he had a lot of work to do.

(day 1 of the contests - Riding!)

Mankar was up early as usual (from long habit rather than a particular preference) and started right to work. He repaired Ryala's axe most carefully, glad that it hadn't been broken completely. A repair was one thing, but if it had been broken, it would have lost the dweomer granted by the gods and that would have been devastating to the woman. That done, he fixed her armor but left the swords for another time.

Using the best of the gems available, he made a fine necklace for Aud, trying to do something different from what he had done for Ryala or the Oat Maiden. It was a beautiful piece and even he was more than pleased with the results and hoped this would help Aud get over her funk.

He got to the grounds in time for the first day's contest: horseriding! The route was complex and tasks varied. They had to run and select their horses, jump a fence, race to a stream, run to a tree to pluck an apple, grab a flag on the ground and race back with their apple gift to the Oat Maiden. To make a long race short, Carylon came in first to the cheers of the locals, very closely followed by Jarst and then Mankar.

Mankar clapped Carylon on the shoulder, "Good race, good race! But this is only the first day!"

"Ah, ah yes. Um, good luck." He rubbed his shoulder, wincing.

The others spent the day much as they had previous days but Mantis was notable in his lack of presence as if he were trying hard not to be noticed.

One thing that struck the others as odd, though, was that Jarst was a noticeably bad mood from his 'loss' of the day and seemed to use an hypnotic charisma to lure a serving girl to 'step out' with him. Given his wealth and looks, most thought that excessive as he likely could have had her without significant effort!

(day 2 of the contests - Jousting!)

Continuing the trend from the previous day, the second day of the festival was a jousting contest. As jousting was more a skill of nobility (a description that could hardly be used to describe most of the contestants) so it was more a test of natural ability and sturdiness. Despite Carylon's obviously more practiced skills, Jarst prevailed in the end, followed by Mankar and only then the local lad.

As Mankar was hoisting a mug with Mantis, he grumbled. "These competitions are making my teeth ache, by Orlanth! I had more fun teasing that Lunar bitch even though she'll probably try to kill me someday."

"Your points aren't looking good, I'm afraid."

Mankar waved off that concern. "The skill levels between the front-runners isn't large. Until now, it's mostly been luck who has prevailed. I'm sure there will a contest or two where I have a clear advantage and can pull ahead." He shrugged. "If not, it wasn't meant to be!"

Just then, they overhead someone at a another table mutter grimly. "They say a waitress never made it work today... and one also gone yesterday. There's something foul afoot, I tell you!"

Mantis's ears perked up, "Hmmmm... that seems odd. Watch my drink, I want to do something." His body slumped slightly as he sent out his spirit sense. After a few minutes, he 'returned' with an ugly expression. "The spirits of air say there's a chaotic taint nearby."

Mankar sat up straighter and he growled. "It seems that our task for today is chosen, then! Hmmm... I'll try to recruit the Stormbull fellow. At the very least, he probably can track this chaos taint to its source."

The Stormbull initiate raised his head and shook, looking very much like an angry bovine himself. "Chaos? Where?!"

"Use your senses, friend, and let us find and destroy it!"

He nodded, then snorted and immediate set out. "There!"

The heroes and he found a copse of trees just outside of town. A half eaten woman was there... the woman that had left with Jarst the night before. He sniffed the air, "That way. The stench grows stronger."

In the meantime, Mantis had recruited the Duke to help seek out the culprit. The guidance of the spirits had brought them to the same location. Ahead was Jarst and the, for now, still living waitress!

Jarst scowled and tossed a quick spell at the Stormbull follower. Confused, the man's charge suddenly veered directly toward the Duke! He threw another spell and both Astra and Aud suddenly ran in fear, overcome by the magic!

With a curse, Mankar netted the huge man (truly by his frame and size alone, you would think him more a small bull than a big man!) to stop him from massacring one of their allies.

Having bough a few seconds of time before the rest reached him, Jarst tilted his head back and gave out a weird cry. Astra managed to overcome the spell controlling her and gasped, "That's a tuskrider call! It's a troll chaos cult of cannibals!"

Ryala, ignoring everything else jumped in front of the man and split him from crown to crotch with a single blow of her axe! Both halves of his head showed surprise as his body slumped to the ground and a spray of blood covered the frightened waitress who lurched out of the corpse's grasp.

Just then, a distant ridge became populated with figures riding huge swine. They inspected the scene, spears clutched in their hands. And then, without a word, turned and rode out of sight.

The Duke dismounted and looked over the bisected Jarst. He poked at the lips on half the head, inspecting the mouth. "Those teeth aren't filed. He's an ogre... I'd bet my favorite sword on it." Finally he spat on the body in disgust and stood up. "Heroes! You have served us well today! For your bravery and accomplishments, I grant the points garnered by this thing to Mankar the Mountain!"

Mankar thanked the Duke and said to Mantis. "See what I mean? A bit of luck and your points more than double!"

Astra looked relieved that everything had worked out. "I'm so glad the Duke was here. Otherwise they might have thought we were just eliminating the competition!"

The Firstborn returned to the village, only to encounter Carylon in their camp. Mankar boomed, "Sorry, but you missed all the excitement!"

The man grimaced, "I heard. And I heard about the distribution of points. At this point, I have little chance of winning, so I have a plea: let me prevail! I have loved Melisandra my whole life and have been working tirelessly to win this festival! You can have the jeweled belt from the first contest! If you will not yield, at least... at least treat her well, I beg you!"

Mankar clapped the man on his shoulder (the same as before). "It goes against my nature to not do my best, but neither are we heartless! I'm not here to break up someone's love... as long as she feels the same way about you, that is. We are attracted to the benefits of having the blessing of the goddess and the generous rewards offered."

Astra frowned, "That shouldn't be a problem. I believe you can designate the \*ahem\* recipient of the Oat Maiden's favors."

"See, then there's no problem! I'll win all this and you can have the girl... after we get what we want." He grinned widely and, added as an aside, "I still want that belt, though!"