The city of Sha-Laial was still waking up as Hoc, a Paladin in training, ran down Scythefell Street as fast as he could. The main gate of the compound was closed, as it was still early dawn, and the adventurers who lived there had no need to be up in the pre-dawn hours. He quickly ran to the side gate, which was thankfully unlocked, and let himself in. He rushed to the tower and began to bang on the door.
A bleary-eyed woman a few years older than him, with hair the color of a setting sun, met him at the tower’s doors. She was not yet in her typical dress and instead met him in a simple, rough-spun tunic and pants. “Hoc friend, what do you need at this hour? Do I be needing to get my sword and the others?” Illaria asked.
“Yes, wait! No, Kinda?!” he said, practically vibrating with excitement.
“You’ve lost me a bit, Hoc,” she said as she swept her long hair out of her face.
“It’s the Festival of Blades! It’s happening soon!”
“Might we be talking about this Festival of Blades later?” Illaria asked.
“Yeah, we can. Stop by the church when you get a chance, and I’ll be sure to fill you guys in on all the Sha-Laial traditions for it. I know they throw it in other places, but everywhere does it differently, right?”
“Thank you kindly, Hoc; now, if you don’t be minding, I’m going back to bed for a few hours. We’ll see you later today,” she said before she closed the door on the excitable Paladin in training.
Illaria followed through on her plan, returning to bed till the sun solidly shone in the sky. The smell of cooking from the kitchen downstairs awoke her. She came down to find Alvec cooking as he did most mornings. He’d told her it was a lot like practicing Alchemy and that making a meal for everyone helped keep his skills sharp. Illaria hadn’t called bullshit on it, but she certainly didn’t think he was being truthful about why he was cooking, least of all to himself. It might have been a tad embarrassing to admit he enjoyed cooking for the motley group of adventurers. Illaria sat at the table and was soon greeted by a plate of eggs and fresh honey wheat rolls. She dug in, stopping afterward to thank him. She felt particularly blessed; Alvec was a better cook than half the Blue Banner army cooks. Maybe there was a smidge of truth in his comparisons to Alchemy after all.
“What was all that banging earlier?” Mavec asked as he poured himself a big mug of coffee he was oh so fond of.
“Yeah, I thought it was Bait at first, but it didn’t sound like gunshots,” Naya said.
“Oh, that was Hoc; he apparently needed to be telling us that the Festival of Blades is going to be happening here in Sha-Laial,” Illaria replied.
“The Festival of Blades? That sounds fun, what is it?” Naya asked.
“How do you not know these things?” Mavec asked, perplexed as he rubbed his temples.
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“My village didn’t even have a road to it. Next question?” she snapped at him.
“They’re fighting tournaments held throughout the empire. Each city does them a little differently. Teams sponsored by the banners, by nobles, merchants, and independent entities enter into them and fight it out single elimination style,” Illaria informed her.
“They've usually a pretty hefty amount of prize money on the line too. Coffers are running a bit low; could be a good way to get us back solidly in the black,” Mavec said.
“We’re not even in the red,” Alvec chastised while he considered the thought. “Though it would keep us that way for a long while,” he stirred the pot behind him with his tail as he faced the table. “I’d be up for entering; what do you guys think?”
“We’re fairly new adventurers; this could get us a lot of positive attention, especially if we can win it,” said Illaria. “Even if we don’t win, it might get us enough attention to earn us a new job regardless. Though I just now be remembering that Cal Clatterback asked me to stay here, I reckon he wanted to use me either on the Blue Banner team or as a sub should they become too injured during the competition.”
“So, are we going to participate in this?” Naya asked.
“I think we should at least go check it out,” Alvec stated. “If the entry fee isn’t too steep, maybe we can get in there and make a name for ourselves.”
“We should see Hoc first; he wanted to tell us about local customs. I know we had a lot of street food and nautical-related events in Ac-Aziza. There might have been some dunk into the water and some boat racing available to boot,” Illaria noted.
“Bait say we go now; Bait want to shoot things!”
“They’ll be plenty of time for that, I’m sure,” Illaria assured him.
“Too slow lately, need more action. Fight Pirates or something?!” Bait said.
The group finished their breakfast and departed towards the church. It wouldn’t do to keep Hoc waiting too long. The streets of Sha-Laial were certainly busier than normal. The usual faces were all there, but so many new faces were filtering through the city, too. They’d barely taken a handful of steps down the road before they found Ij struggling to carry several bags full of canvas and paint. It was stacked over his eyes, so he could only squint around the side to see if he was about to walk into anyone. Naya darted over and offloaded one of the bags from him rather forcefully.
“Help, I’m being robbed! HELP!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
The crowd on the street looked over, confused. Mavec raised his hands. “Everyone ignore the artist for a moment. He’s both an idiot, and the bag was in the way of him seeing who was helping carry his bags.”
“Oh! Hey neighbors. Sorry about that; this is just my whole livelihood and all. I’d be delighted if you could help me get these to my room. Gotta get prepared, mix up my paints, and be ready to paint a lot of godawful derivative bullshit... but hey, it pays the bills, I guess,” he said with the saddest smile Illaria had ever seen.
“Let's get these to your doorstep at least,” Naya said as she walked to the boarding house across the street. An old man’s laughter met her as she took the steps.
“Lending a helping hand, I see; always glad to see a little good in the world,” Edis said as he waved hello.
“Well, hello to you too, Edis. If I leave these here, you’ll watch over them, right? It would be a shame if Ij couldn’t pay his rent because he lost all of his painting supplies,” Naya said.
“Oh, I’ll make sure they’re safe while he runs in and puts them away. Green Banner Scouts honor,” he said, a wide, brimming smile across his face.
“Thank you.” Before Ij had even taken the steps up to the wrap-around porch, Naya was already bounding toward the church to rejoin the others. She’d never been to any Festival of Blades before and wanted to know the whole scoop from Hoc. It must have been pretty special if he’d come to bang on their door so early in the morning.