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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 244672" data-attributes="member: 1674">Serpent Amphora- pt. 2The track made a circle around the village, leading up into the hills in the south and along the beach of Adurn’s Tear in the north. It was a mile long, and the runners were supposed to run four laps.Apart from Niklas, there were four other runners, three men and one woman. All were young humans from Trela, and their families and friends were cheering for “their” runners, so that Ben, Torn, Jan and Trepat were the only supporters of Niklas.As the sun had just risen over the Kelder mountains in the east and was only starting to burn away the chill of the night, the captain of the militia, Jonegar the half-orc, banged his axe against his shield, thus signalling for the competitors to start running.Niklas had a good start. Giving all he got, he was making good progress, and soon, after the first lap, he didn’t feel the morning’s chill anymore and he was leaving the locals behind. As he went into the second lap, he felt his heart beating in his ears, yet he kept on running, while the other runners were being cheered on by their family and friends.Meanwhile, a black robed priest of Belsameth, the slayer, approached Jan, who was cheering and yelling for his brother: “ Welcome good sir knight. My name is Radraan and I am the local priest. As you can see, I serve the lady of the night, Belsameth.”.“Good morning”, Jan answered, “My name is Jan Palek, and I am a Paladin of the great champion Corean.”.The priest was now smiling broadly, yet somehow, the radiant smile didn’t quite find it’s way, to his eyes: “Ah, fate must be smiling on our village! On the day of the two champions, one of their chosen ones finds it’s way here! But, alas, it looks like two of our own are catching up on your friend!”.And indeed, there the woman and one of the men were now slowly getting closer to Niklas, who was now, in the third lap, feeling the long treck through the mountains in his legs. His heart was hammering in his chest, and in spite of the coolness of the morning, he was now sweating profusely. Still, he was leading the field, and mustering his last strength he entered the last lap, intending to win the race.After Niklas had turned around the corner into his last lap in the hilly part of the track, Radraan turned to Jan again: “Anyway, it is always a pleasure for me to welcome defenders of other divine faiths here in our village. If you like, you can always come and visit the midnight shrine”.Niklas looked over to the small windowless building at which the priest was pointing- the midnight shrine, dedicated to the goddess of murder. Supressing a shudder, he said: “Thank you for the invitation.”.By now, Niklas was running towards the finishing line. On his side, there was the local woman, who looked as exhausted and determined as he was. Then, as there were only a few yards left to run, the woman seemed to summon extra strength from nowhere, and she left Niklas behind, winning the race.Niklas came in second and lay down on the cool grass, panting heavily. Already his friends were around him, congratulating him for his good performance, and after he had recovered, he gratefully received the second prize: A pair of masterwork boots.Now, that the race was finished, there was a hearty breakfast for everyone. Happy to have fresh food after living on trail rations for so long, the heroes stuffed themselves with bread, cheese and smoked sausage, chasing it down with milk.Then, Jan and Torn signed up for the bamboo rod duels which were being held in the town’s square. They were given padded armor and rods and had to face their enemies.With a combination of luck and skill, both managed to defeat their opponents one by one, until only the two of them were left.By now, both had bruises and small wounds from the previous fights. Again, Jonegar gave the signal to start.Both, half-orc and human were now circling each other, waiting for the other to loose his concentration. Many times had they fought side by side, but never had they matched their fighting prowess with each other.The sun had reached it’s Zenith by now, and as Torn had to squint his eyes, Jan attacked him with his rod, hitting his leg. But Torn didn’t let the moment pass and hit his friend on the shoulder with his rod. Now, they were opposing each other, striking and parrying. Then, Jan fell for a feint and was hit on the side of his head.Now, the paladin’s head was ringing and he was hardly able to see straight. Instead of giving up, though, he threw all his might into one last desperate blow, hitting the half orc on the head and knocking him out cold. Yet, he wasn’t able to gloat over his victory, since the exhaustion made him pass out as well, and both, Half Orc and Man hit the dusty ground at the same moment.The crowd that had been cheering and yelling before were now transfixed in an awed silence. Both friends lay side by side in the dust for a moment, until two buckets of water were emptied over their heads, and they slowly regained conciousness, their head hurting as if they had had a night full of wine and ale.Jonegar, the half orc, pulled both of them upwards and raised an arm of each of them into the air: “We have two winners!”. The crowd showed it’s approval by clapping and cheering.Groggily, they both accepted the laurel and merely registered the local mayor telling them that they could pick up their prize at his warehouse.Now, it was time for a large lunch. The villagers and the visitors all sat down on the benches in the meadow in front of the village, and as the meal went on, many villagers congratulated those who had participated in the competitions so far. No one in the village was able to remember a Bamboo rod duel in which there had been a draw.Afterwards, there was an archery competition, in which Ben came in second. Only a local halfling had been better and then all of the heroes enjoyed the horse races and in the evening the bardic competition in which the Corean’s and Chardun’s deeds during the titan’s war were praised.Then, after the sun had set, everyone returned to the meadow. There was wild boar and plenty of beer and wine for everyone, and the night was clear and beautiful and full of song. Even though it had been a long day, nobody wanted to go to rest early that night.Late at night, while the feast was still in full swing, Torn went to some bushes out of sight of the tables to relief himself. As he was just done buttoning himself, an ill-shaven man in tattered clothes stumbled out of the underbrush. He looked exhausted, sick and desperate and grabbed Torn’s shoulder, keeping himself on his feet with his last strength: “Quick, I need a priest!”</blockquote>

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