Morning came all too quickly. Illaria was the first one, other than Sorali, in the kitchen. She noticed several cups of coffee had been set out on the table, and more was brewing. “You planning to fill every mug we have?” Illaria asked as their maid set out even more mugs on the counter.

“Alvec asked me to have as much ready as I could. Mavec goes through the stuff quickly, too, so I thought this was a good idea.” She took one mug for herself and took a deep sip from i. “It may be a tad excessive, but whatever the boys need to pep them up for the fight. Alvec also had me brew up some tea, but he insisted I let it cool and that you all enjoyed it as close to fight as you could. Supposed to help with focus. It was a pain to find it, so I hope it's helpful.” Sorali said.

Naya and Bait descended the stairs at nearly the same time. Bait went straight to the table and began to polish his gun. It was perhaps the only thing Bait ever endeavored to keep clean. Something about dirt and grime increasing the chance of a misfire. She didn’t care much for the idea of firearms and mostly ignored how they worked. Naya inspected her blades and nodded.

“We’re all set, you ready Illaria?”

“We’re going to wipe the smug looks off their faces,” Illaria confirmed.

“Damn, straight we are!” Mavec said as he entered the door from the first floor carrying a spear with a fine golden filigree tip. A quick glance at it revealed gold lettering along the shaft, which read: A mere spear. “Now, where is the coffee?” He asked, looking over at Sorali.

“Help yourself, Master Mavec, we have plenty of it.”

“Oh, thank Sarosa.” He exclaimed reverntly before grabbing three mugs of it and sitting at the table. “I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to get this beauty. I can’t wait to skewer that damn sorcerer.”

“Bait think you love her. Dat how Bedbugs mate.”

“What the hell are you on about now, Bait?” Mavec asked.

“Bed, bugs. They reproduce by stabbing,” Bait informed him.

Mavec shook his head. “I don’t want any more info on it; do not elaborate. I also don’t want to know where or how you found that out. Just not a word more about it.”

“That okay. Bait kinda busy.” He said, as he continued absentmindely polishing his musket. “We gotta win, earn money, make man Illaria annoyed with sad.”

“Thank you, Bait; I be appreciating your support. It will be nice to see the pompous ass knocked down a peg.” She glanced upstairs. “Do you be reasoning we go wake Alvec up? He will want to get some breakfast before the fight and, no doubt, some coffee. I think I heard him come in really late last night.”

“Didn’t he say he needed to enchant a cloak?” Naya asked.

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“I think that was his plan after he gave his away to Sarbie. Guy puts too much responsibility on himself,” Mavec said, nodding.

“And we respect him for it,” Illaria said.

“Let's let him sleep a little bit longer. If he isn’t down here in a half hour or so, we’ll go wake him up.” Naya stated. It wasn’t much more than another twenty or so minutes before Alvec very gingerly took the stairs down to the main floor.

“Oh, thank Tozhen, coffee,” he said before grabbing two mugs for himself. He downed it with abandon and then proceeded to sip on the second one as he waited for the caffeine to kick in. “Illaria, do we have a game plan for today's fight?” Alvec asked.

“I’m dueling San Verado; the rest of you focus on taking them down,” she insisted. “I think you should try your luck against the Alchemist. The rest of us should focus on taking out their sorcerer. She’s the one casting the illusions. Without them, they’ll be down a good chunk of their strategy.”

“Sounds like a plan. My resistance makes me a good match-up for him,” Alvec said, nodding before taking a long drag of the coffee before him. It was far too bitter and acidic for his taste, but it would have to do for today. With the plan generally decided upon, the group headed through the streets together. There was a buzz about the town as they went. It looked like everyone was excited to see the results of the fight. Illaria smirked as Alvec stopped to greet everyone who wanted to talk with him. His surprise win against the Red Banner Army had certainly granted him more than a little bit of celebrity status in the city of Sha-Laial. The boy was unused to this sort of attention, though, and was visibly a bit flustered by it, a thin smile paired with awkwardly shifting his weight from foot to foot as he talked made it clear to her. Suppose she'd go to his rescue.

“Come on, Alvec the Unyielding,” Illaria said as she looped an arm over his shoulder. “We can’t be saying hello to everyone, even if it be the decent thing to do. We’ve got a tournament to go win.” She gently rescued him from the social prison that was pleasant small talk. The group arrived at the stadium and entered the section where they would wait to be called in.

Alvec handed everyone a vial filled with a soft green liquid. “Bottoms up,” he said before pulling the cork and drinking the substance. “It's just tea,” he reassured everyone after he placed the vial back in his pack.

The rest of the group followed his lead and drank their vial. It wasn’t half bad, but Illaria still couldn’t understand the appeal of this hot leaf water. She’d gladly take something stronger any day, but Alvec had been clear that this blend was supposed to sharpen their senses rather than dull them.

The announcer's voice came loud through the tents like usual, carried by that strange magic. “And here we have it, the final fight. Our first team, The Sons of Marora, is joining us here in Sha-Laial all the way from our Empire's craggy coast. Renowned for keeping merchant ships safe from the pirate scourge for a reasonable price. Led by none other than San Verado, a swashbuckler of some renown and with impeccable fashion sense. Give them a round of applause.” The crowd thundered and shouted in approval.

“And then we have the Cheese Acolytes, a new adventuring group within Sha-Laial. A group we’ve known very little about, who have consistently shown us one surprise after another. Just a few days ago, their shield wizard, Alvec the Unyielding, earned his nickname for defeating the Red Banner Army’s team after the rest of his associatews were felled in combat. They’ve quickly become crowd favorites here, so give it up for the Cheese Acolytes, Sha-Laial's new darling team.” The applause and shouting was even louder much to Illaria’s surprise.

Illaria smiled; it was time to give them another show worthy of this sort of adoration.

“Huh, they really like us, I guess,” Mavec said. “Wish it was a little bit more focused on me, but hell, you can’t win them all, I guess.”

“Let the finale begin!” The announcer shouted