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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1290280" data-attributes="member: 2292">The beginning of the Stonefast festival draws near and one evening as the group is gathered on the balcony overlooking the city they can see long parades of dwarves moving through the city streets far below.  “I wonder what’s going on down there,” Geoffrey says, glancing over the balcony.  Seated nearby, scribbling notes on Yip’s training regimen, Amarin pauses and looks down.“The high priests of the three main temples have to enter the sacred caves,” he explains.  He arches an eyebrow as he tries to remember a tit-bit of information.  “They aren’t allowed to take weapons or food, and they have to stay there for the duration of Stonefast.  I think the parades are the escorts leading them to the sacred caves.” “So they’re kicking all the powerful clerics out of the city?  And that’s the start of their celebration?” Halgo asks.  He glances at Geoffrey and offers a wry grin. “I can understand their reasoning.”“What exactly happens at this festival?” Geoffrey asks.  “I know it involves eating, and contests of some kind, but not much else.”“Let me check my notes,” Amarin says.  His fingers dance through the pages of his notebook, searching through various scribbled notes and annotations.  “Here it is.  Well, primarily there’s a lot of feasting – dwarves invite others to their house and lavish food and gifts on them in an attempt to out-do one another.  It’s likely that none of us will have to cook a meal for the duration of the festival.  Oh, and a rat-hunt – people who catch numbered rats released through the city earn prizes.   As for the contests, well, there are rather a lot of them.  IT seems they turn nearly everything into some kind of competition while the festival is on – weapon crafting, eisteddfods, martial skill, a chess competition and a foot race.”“Do any of them offer prize money?” Amarin frowns and looks through the notes.“Most, actually.  The sporting events offer the greatest rewards though.”“Sporting events?” Geoffrey asks, suddenly very interested.  “Like what? Anything we could enter?”“There’s a melee competition,” Amarin says, looking over the assembled weapons being cleaned on the balcony.  “I think the prize is a thousand gold.”“Warrior race, you haven’t got a chance,” Halgo reminds Geoffrey.“I know, but it might be worth a try,” Geoffrey says.  “We might impress some of the locals enough that we can find work after the festival.  What else is there?”“There’s another competition based on…it largely translates as tunnel fighting. Rather like the weapons list, but they send everyone into a tunnel maze and the last man standing is the winner.  Focuses on stealth and underground lore in addition to fighting skill.”“Yip could do that,” Yip says, his eyes lighting up.“What else, what else,” Amarin mutters.  “ah, here.  Goblin-squash.  It’s a team sport – four people push a giant boulder through some caves, with a fifth man giving them directions.  The goal is to squash more goblins than the opposing team.”“Uuuum.  I think we’ll sign up for that as well,” Geoffrey says.  “Yip scouts, the rest of us can push.  What do you think?”“You just want to squash goblins,” Halgo says.“It sounds interesting,” Geoffrey says.“Did you pull wings of flies when you were young?”“Don’t you bring my childhood into this,” Geoffrey says.  “There’s also a competition called Bhal’Meral,” Amarin says.  “Basically a ball-sport played in a cave formation, where magic is used to aid competitors in gaining the ball and scoring goals.  It’s sponsored primarily by the wizards guilds in the city.”“Not us,” Geoffrey says blandly.“They use magic to move the ball around?” Halgo asks.“As near as I can tell, its a little more physical than that,” Amarin says.  “There appears to be physical contact between the players called “tackling,” and they allow weapons and maiming of opponents.  The only real rules on magic is that you’re not aloud to magically alter the goal posts, and there are limits on casting spells on other players depending on the position you play.  Some can cast spells on the other team, some can cast them on your own team, and some can cast spells on the goals.  Everyone can cast spells on themselves, though, and on the ball and open areas of the field.”“So, any type of magic is free to be used?” Geoffrey asks.“There are no limits mentioned in my notes.”“What if someone gets killed?” Geoffrey asks.“The area is magically treated,” Amarin says, frowning at his notes.  “Somehow it renders the magic non-deadly as long it’s cast without the intent to harm.”“We’ll give it a go,” Halgo says.“We will?”“It’s a cultural interchange,” Halgo says reasonably.  “We should do it for the empire.”“All of these have prizes?” Geoffrey asks.  “Gold?”“Some have arcane items,” Amarin says.“Do you know where we sign up?”</blockquote>

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