The rest of the day went moderately uneventfully as the group waited for the final event before the last fight to be held. Mid-afternoon, they gathered up in the tents outside the stadium. Several tables had been set up under the tent; the head table held exactly eleven seats, one for each member of both teams and additionally the announcer. The two teams took their seats at the table.

Bait snuck away from the table shortly after being seated and wandered out back, where he found cheese larger than his head. He dug in, devouring everything in sight. His stomach was already full, but cheese was good. Too good. He couldn't just leave this wheel there. No, he needed to eat it all. Every last bite, every morsel, there would be no crumbs, nothing at all. The cheese would live only in his stomach and in his memory. He dug into it with wild enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the contestants sat in their seats. The announcer spoke up above the din of the crowd. "Welcome, everyone. It's time for us to say hello to our teams. To my right, we have the Sons of Marora, an adventuring band from our coastline. They make their money plying the gulf's waters and protecting merchant ships from pirates. Just yesterday, they defeated none other than the Blue Banner Army in combat, earning them a shot at the finals.”

Cheers went out as the announcer continued to go over their team, introducing San Verado, an alchemist, a bard, a sorcerer, and a mountain of a Dwarf. "And to my left, we have most of the Cheese Acolytes; they seem to be missing their goblin."

"You were offering Cheese at this little soiree; I'm quite sure he's been helping himself to it already," Illaria informed them.

"Oh, Bait, that scamp." The announcer said. "On to my left, minus Bait, are the cheese Acolytes, a new band of adventurers in the city of Sha-Laial. So new that they aren't even particularly well known for anything other than their fights thus far in the festival. We know that Illaria and Bait are independent contractors with the Blue Banner army."

"INDEPENDENT COMPACTORS!" Bait shouted as he walked on the stage before doubling over and throwing up.

The Alchemist on the Sons of Marora laughed and wheezed through his face mask before speaking. "So the Goblin has a poor fortitude, noted."

"Checking in with the Academy, we also learned that Alvec, the UNYEILDING, is a graduate of the Academy of Ot-Najan, and Mavec is also a graduate of Jai-Enora The real wild card, the complete unknown on their team, the tempest of steel, and the spirit-speaker are Naya and her wolf Echo. What should the world know about you, Naya? What would you like to tell the crowd?"

"Uh, not a lot really. Echo's a real good boy?"

"You heard it here first; the wolf is a good boy." The announcer said, moving down the line.

"Illaria, now that you and your friend Bait are the last members from the Blue Banner Army standing, do you think you stand a better chance against the Sons of Marora than the team the Blue Banner Army sent to represent them?" Illaria brushed the hair out of her face.

"I spoke with my commanding officer before I knew that the Festival of Blades was going to be going on. He asked me to stay in Sha-Laial. He hoped I'd be available for his team, Bait and I both. So we'll yet to be showing you what the Blue Banner army can do."

"A very well put response. Mavec, is there anything you'd like to tell the crowd?"

"Yeah," he said, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag off from it. "Fuck Warren Alston, he's a thief and a coward, and I'd slam lightning in his face again if it were legal."

"Would you like to explain to the crowd the nature of your feud with him?"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Just the short version. I designed a water purifier for Jai*name*, and he helped finance it. Fucker cheaped out on the parts, and more than half of them failed. Jai *name* Still has toxic water from the mining operations there, all because the cheapskate bought inferior parts and skipped out with the money, leaving me to suffer the backlash. A thief and a coward."

"Well, I'm glad you and your teammates decimated his team of constructs. Justice served, am I right? Bait, are you in any condition to answer any questions?"

"No, need to put more cheese in Bait's stomach," he said before wandering back towards the "kitchen" tent.

"You heard the goblin here. Cheese is more important than anything." He said, pausing for a moment. "And now, for the final member of team Cheese Acolytes Alvec, Alvec the Unyielding, the people want to know, was that according to plan yesterday? What happened? What were you thinking? And HOW did you pull off an upset like that, three vs one?"

Alvec paused for a moment before answering. "This might sound silly, but I couldn't have done it without my team. They wore down everyone with their attacks. All I had to do was outlast their damage while doing the final bit myself."

"So that wasn't the plan?" The announcer asked.

"The plan was simple: cast the best spell for the situation. Fog cloud was meant to buy us a safer approach. It's hard to hit what you can't see. Flaming Disarm was meant to remove one of the gunmen from play. Acceleration gave us better movement and damage output; the rest were damage spells. Had more of the team been up, I'd have continued trying to support them. For a moment, I thought I would have to borrow Bait's gun or Mavec's wand to continue the fight. I might have been just about out of attack spells, and stabbing down the last gunman outside of that well-placed strike would take too long."

"There you have it, folks; we'll move onto the Sons of Marora next." The members of the sons of marora were introduced in order, but Alvec struggled to care much about them. As flashy as San-Verado was, the company he kept was very plain. Perhaps he did that on purpose.

"Psh, I'm just excited to show these snobby wizards that their magic isn't the strongest on the block," the woman across the table said. "Look at them both, so prim and proper and well-read. So what if one of them doesn't mind getting his hands a bit dirty? He's still too elitist for my tastes, and a mere spear took the other one down."

"I actually don't buy into the discrimination against Sorcerers. It may not require study, but it does require practice, and isn't that really the same thing applied differently?" Alvec asked.

"Hey, you been stabbed by the Red Banner army? I assure you they're not easy to dodge." Mavec said

"It was a mere spear, and you suck for getting taken down by it. All you can do is throw lightning around anyway. Nothing clever, nothing powerful, you're just a one-trick pony." she said, spitting onto the ground beside her. She looked a good ten or so years older than Mavec and Alvec, with hair dyed a deep green, and she wore a loose-fitting beige shirt and dark brown pants.

"Oh, I'll show you tomorrow," Mavec said as she stood up and made his exit. "I'll be back later; I've got to commission something right, this, second." He said to Alvec before storming off.

"And I am none other than San Verado, the leader of the Sons of Marora, and it will be my pleasure to cross blades with the Cheese Acolytes even though they seem unable to keep their companions under control. Both Alvec and Illaria have proven to be extremely disciplined in their fighting styles, calculated, and clever. Were it not against the rules, I'd barter for them to leave the rest of their team behind and join me. We could always use more grit on the high seas, and such a dashing swordsman certainly wouldn't hurt either."

"I can't speak for Alvec, but until the seas have been cleared of the scum that is Cutthroat Crowley, I'll be remaining with the Blue Banner army; thank you."

"As for myself, I have several commitments to attend to already, so I'll have to decline as well," said Alvec

"A damn shame, I look forward to cutting you both down tomorrow." San Verado said, standing up and doing a flashy move with his sword.

"Should I play nice?" Alvec asked Illaria.

"No, not even for a second; what do you have in mind?"

"Nothing that wouldn't get us in a lot of trouble." he said, sighing deeply.

"Hold off then; we'll beat him fair and square tomorrow," Illaria said.

"By blade, spell, and shield," Alvec replied.

The three of them spent a little more time at the dinner answering questions from the crowd. Naya threatened to sic Echo on the first man who asked a sexual question of Illaria, and no one dared ask anything crude after that. Alvec couldn't be sure if it made Naya stand out more or if it felt normal coming from an adventurer.