The night passed uneventfully, and the following day came swiftly. The crew gathered up on the first floor, where Sorali had already prepared a meal for them. “Look, I’m not complaining, Sorali, but we didn’t hire you as a cook. If you keep doing this, we might just have to increase your pay,” Mavec said.
“Easily worth another few gold!” Naya said as she took another bite out of the hashbrowns.
“It's the first day of the tournament; I’m going to take the day off to watch if you don’t mind?” she said as she finished washing the dishes. “I’d like to be cheering for my new employers.”
“More like seeing how skilled we are, that is,” Illaria said, shooting her a wide smile.
“The town already knows that you’ve killed a handful of devils. No one's questioning if you can fight,” Sorali said.
“Fair enough,” Illaria replied before she stood up and stretched her arms over her head. “We best be getting a move on. We want to make a good first impression. Assuming we’re all in good fighting shape, we will want to stay and watch the other fights. Get a sense of the other teams. There might be some we have to adapt new strategies to.”
“I can see us struggling against mostly ranged teams,” Mavec said, musing more out loud than to anyone specific. “All we’ve got to counter them with is Bait. Who is very deadly, but we're at a large disadvantage in a scenario where he gets focus fired down.”
“I’ve got obscuring mist; we face a team with guns or bows; we drop that, and most of us can get in close before it fades,” Alvec noted.
“It would fuck with our back line a bit, meaning Bait, but it would certainly help the rest of us,” Mavec replied.
“Does the pamphlet tell us when we could be facing the academy team?” Illaria asked.
“Assuming we both make it through round one, we won’t be waiting too long. Just till tomorrow.” Mavec smiled wide.
“Well, sounds as if you’ll be having your revenge very soon indeed. We just have to get through the Boar Eaters; how tough could a band of goblins be?” Illaria asked.
“Bait Goblin, Bait deadly.”
“Yes, Bait, you’re very deadly. You also be wielding the superior weapon,” Illaria said.
“Dat true. They use dumb stab-stab.”
After a few more minutes of discussing strategies, the group headed for the festival grounds. On their way, they found Ij’s painting stand but didn’t have time to stop and say hi. The group was, thankfully, the opening fight today. After facing the Boar Eaters, they’d get an excellent chance to check out the rest of the competition. The stadium was already quite full. The team reported to the tent, where they checked in. A city official, a half-elf with long blonde hair, ushered them into the waiting pen. Alvec quickly ran through his roster of spells. Arcane armor was a must; his protective aura lasted long enough that if he activated it just before entering the arena, it should last the whole time. His strategy was simple. Accelerate his team and provide distractions. Glancing around, he saw that Mavec and Naya had done the same. Her swords glowed faintly green hue in the dimly lit staging area.
The announcer's voice rang out through the stadium. “Our first fight of the Festival of Blades is between the Boar Eater tribe of goblins and the Cheese Acolytes, a new adventuring band who have recently taken up residence in Sha-Laial. Without further ado, let the fight commence!”
The gate swung open, and the two teams took to the field, soft grass beneath their feet. The opposing team was all mounted on large goblin dogs. They were much larger than Bahzugs. It made sense; if Echo was allowed, why, too, wouldn’t the opposing team be allowed to have their own mounts?
Bait started the fight by kneeling and firing a few rounds. Each one connected and usually would have punched small holes through the goblins. Instead, there was a flash of blue light where the bullets connected, and they fell useless to the ground. The goblin they had struck still recoiled in pain and looked particularly unsteady. Alvec wished he had the time to watch this fight, not just participate. The magic at play here was fascinating.
Illaria, Naya, and Echo all moved in towards the goblins. Naya, who moved slower than the wolf and the Aasimar, couldn’t reach the enemies. Echo, however, did and snapped his jaws toward the first one he encountered. He found nothing but air as the goblin dog leaped backward. Illaria was luckier; her blade caught the rider's leg. A flash or red light occurred where her blade would have connected, and the goblin screamed in pain. As much as the physical damage seemed to be prevented, the impacts were still very clearly felt. Alvec moved forward, positioning himself in such a way as to catch all of his allies. He cast his haste spell, targeting everyone but Mavec and Piquora.
The goblins Echo and Illaria were fighting shifted out of weapon reach, and each threw a spear at them. Both glanced off from them, falling to the ground. Echo howled, and Illaria gritted her teeth as she felt the same pain as if she had actually been stabbed. So this was why these fights didn’t last forever. Boogie charged at Bait, tossing a spear at him. It connected with his neck and bounced off. The other two focused their spears at Echo. Both found purchase on him, landing what might have been fatal wounds on his neck had this been an actual combat. Mavec and Piquora dashed into position, lining up two of the goblins and sending a bolt of lightning across the field. The magic passed through the two targets as it usually would, but neither bore the signs of the usual charring and scorching that typically marked the victims of a lightning bolt. It was almost like it was ghostly as it passed through them. The bolt splintered against an invisible wall when it reached the stands, a flare of light where the two spells crashed into each other.
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Naya charged forward, swinging with one blade at the enemy. She connected, making a good slice into the goblin dog. Within moments, however, the dog and rider dashed out of reach and once more hurled spears. It caught her in the leg, momentarily driving her to one knee. “Ugh, Wizards, either of you got anything to make them stand still! If they keep moving like this, I can’t get off a clean chain of strikes!”
“Hang tight, Naya; it be looking like they only have so many throwing spears each. Soon, they’ll have to switch to melee combat, and when they do, we have the advantage.” Illaria herself moved up again to take another strike at the nearest goblin and its mount. The speed boost from haste made her feel exceptionally light as if she could have flittered anywhere over the battlefield in a blink of an eye. She swept onto the same one Naya was attacking and landed a solid thrust through the goblin's abdomen.
The fight was evenly matched. Each side landed blows easily, but neither had yet to fell a target. Bait took aim at Boogie, leader of the Boar Eaters, and pulled the trigger. A small pop alarmed him as the bullet failed to clear the chamber. He quickly removed the jam and cursed with as many goblin curses as he knew. There wasn’t time to fix it properly, not while the fight raged. He’d have to take a risk and try to shoot them again.
“Sorry, Naya, I’ve got another clear shot! I'm taking it,” Mavec shouted as he again had Piquora lance another line of lightning down onto two of the goblins. The first one tumbled to the ground, and the rider and dog sprawled unconscious on the grass.
Out of throwing spears, one of the goblin riders charged Echo and lanced him in the face. The wolf struggled to remain standing but eventually collapsed onto the ground. Alvec hated the thought, but helping Naya wasn’t the best use of his time. He’d need to cast his spell now or never. Several duplicates of Alvec appeared around him. The magic was even more unpredictable than usual. Still, he was happy that he had conjured up the maximum number of duplicates. He moved forward, helping threaten one of the goblins. They moved again and did so quickly enough that none could score a hit.
The goblin made a small circle and charged with their spear at Alvec. The spear pierced clean through the neck of one of the duplicates. A loud bang emanated from the clone as a burst of fire climbed over the spear and collided with its wielder. It knocked him clear from his mount and unconscious. Naya and Illaria must have done more damage to it than they had thought. It was so hard to tell without the usual visual cues. Two of them down, odds were beginning to look a bit better.
Boogie rushed in at Bait again, spearing him as he rode by. Bait, in turn, aimed at the back of Boogie's head and pulled the trigger. An alarming sound roiled through the chamber, and his musket blew up in his face. Bait dropped the gun and gripped the side of his face he used to aim with.
“See, Spear superior weapon, spear no break!” Boogie shouted to the crowd, rallying them a bit.
Without his gun, Bait was essentially out of the fight. Bait losing his weapon was the worst thing to happen to the team. Even if they wanted to, it was difficult for Alvec or Mavec to do the kind of damage Bait could. Providing support was much more effective, but it only mattered so long as someone could capitalize on the opportunities they made.
Alvec found himself laughing as he saw another dumb opportunity. It was a gamble, alright, a really dumb one, but they needed to score some damage quickly so that Naya and Illaria could perhaps turn the tide now that the goblins had switched to mostly melee combat.
Spellcasting was tricky; it involved complex motions, it left you surprisingly vulnerable, and a good hit could easily cause you to lose concentration on your spell and have it fizzle. That was undoubtedly part of why Jud from the blue banner had suggested that shield wizards weren’t viable. If luck was on his side, he could exploit that. He broke off from the others, rushing between two of the goblins. He began moving his hand, weaving the spell. Two spears thrust at him, and two loud cracks went off as two more of his clones exploded into fire and lunged at the goblin warriors. Both were fast enough to recoil from the bulk of the flame, but he could see the arcane wards light up, reflecting that he’d at least made contact with them. He finished his spell, and a red-hot arc of flame bounced almost like lightning into the first goblin before bounding off at the second. Neither hit had been as clean as he had wanted them to be, but he could tell he’d had an impact, about three times the impact he would have had if he’d been cautious.
Mavec had one last use of lightning bolt left. The only problem was that Alvec was in the middle of a perfect shot.
“Alvec, you okay if I shoot you?” Mavec shouted over the din of the battle.
“Do it!” Alvec shouted back as he mentally braced himself to move.
Mavec gritted his teeth and let the bolt fly. Alvec wouldn’t have told him to unless he was sure he could take it. The bolt slammed through the line of them. All three partially cleared the bolt, but it still looked like a net positive. Mavec joined Alvec in laughing as the Tiefling stood there wholly unharmed. Arcane glyphs floated around him. He’d have to remember that next time; he wouldn’t bother asking so long as he hadn’t already taken an elemental hit.
The goblins broke off and charged at Illaria and Naya. Illaria swept her blade in, knocking the spear tip away from herself, and at that moment, she slashed once, spun on her heels, and brought the sword down over the goblin's back. He fell limp from the saddle and crashed to the ground. The one that charged Naya landed a blow on her. She staggered momentarily before falling to both knees, driving her swords into the ground to brace herself. Neither she nor the goblin who had struck her looked like they had any fight left in them.
Thankfully for her, the magic she cast didn’t call for large sweeping hand signals. “Oh spirits of the sky, hear my call. Strike true.” She whispered. The air around her seemed to shimmer, and moments later, a bolt of yellow lightning slammed down on the goblin. They crumpled onto the ground. Naya joined them moments later.
Bait growled at Boogie and charged at him. He leaped at Boogie and bit at him like any true goblin deprived of his favorite weapon would. His teeth connected, but he only found the furs of some creature and not Boogie's flesh. The two tussled briefly before Illaria dashed up and landed a solid strike on Boogie. The goblin leader fought back the best he could, kicking Bait off from him and trying to finish him with his spear. Bait rolled just to the side, the spear tip missing him by a few centimeters. Mavec stayed back and conserved his spells while Alvec rushed forward and jolted the leader of the Boar Eaters again.
Illaria slashed at them, ending the fight with one last clean stroke, and with that, the Boar Eater clan's ambitions in the Festival of Blades were dashed. The crowd roared their support. “And there we have it, folks, the Cheese acolytes are victorious over the Boar Eaters. Gives a round of applause for this intense match. Applause thundered through the stadium, and Edis and Sorali could be heard cheering for the group. Clerics took to the field provided by the church of Kushang and began bringing the unconscious Goblins and fellow members of the cheese Acolytes back to the waking world. Once Naya and Echo were back up, the group filtered to the stadium and found seats with the rest of Scythefell Street. The residents who could spend the whole day here were already seated with Edis and Nora. The entire group received a warm welcome from their neighbors as they joined in. The fights for the remainder of the day were interesting for sure.