Several of the beastkin start to look uneasy while looking behind me, and I turn around to find Adam approaching, escorted by two bearkin and two otterkin. Huh. I wasn't expecting them to send for someone to bring Adam to the party. Perhaps the fact that the last time a whisperwater gill was caught here, it was by a demihuman dragon and they got good luck caused them to be a little more comfortable with his presence? They may suspect that denying him entry when his traveling companion caught that rare fish – and such a large one – may turn the luck from good to bad.
The party "started" at some point, though it was more that there were enough people here that it stopped being prep and started being a party. Kids are running around playing, adults are talking, food is cooking, and beastkin are looking very uncomfortable with having to maintain civility with their rivals.
As always, Adam is dressed in just his pants and boots, and currently has his pack strapped onto his back. Interestingly, the four villagers didn't bring back just Adam. Walking with them is another person, this one a pretty sexy dude.
The newcomer is about 5'9" in height with a slender, lightly-toned body and faint traces of six-pack abs. He's dressed in a pair of light grey shorts with dark grey hems and a dark grey waistband, his boots light grey with dark grey laces. A dark grey belt is fixed around his waist, two pouches, two knives, two tins, and six potion vials fixed onto or set into it. Unlike Adam, he doesn't have a pack at all, making me wonder where he came from.
Much like most everyone here, he isn't human – he's a beastkin as well, but not from either of these villages. The sexy guy that came with Adam and the four escorts/guards has the tail and ears of a snow leopard, his eyes green and his hair white with black rosettes.
Looking at both of them, I realize that they both have injuries – the snow leopardkin with bruises on his torso and arms, and Adam with a couple of bruises and some burns, and both have some light cuts on them. A slight glisten on the injuries indicates that healing salve has been applied to them.
"You have no right being that powerful," Adam is telling the snow leopardkin as they approach.
"Jealous that someone only a couple of Total Levels higher whupped your ass?"
"You didn't whup my ass," Adam says. "It was a draw."
"Oh, I'm sorry? Weren't you asleep at the end of the fight?"
"As if! That barely touched me. Why is your magic so strong, anyway? You're a martial artist, not a wizard."
"I focus on magical effects, duh. I might have only 18 Strength, but the flames of my magic have 41 Magic behind them, which can leave a nasty mark when I strike. As you learned. No need to hit hard, just make sure the attack connects and let the magic take hold."
"That's a stupid way of fighting."
"You're stupid."
"Hey!" I snap at them. "No bickering is allowed here."
"Oh! It's the human I can smell on your stuff!" The snow leopardkin exclaims when he sees me. "Hi! I'm Caleb! What's your favorite type of guy?"
"Who's this?" I ask Adam.
"Mercenary," Adam answers. "He was apparently hired by a town that didn't like me to bring back my head. Found and attacked me while I was sunbathing. These guys," he indicates the otterkin and bearkin that were escorting him here. "Showed up during the fight and broke it up. They said something about a party?"
"Yeah…" I say. "How much did they tell you?"
"That you caught a twelve-foot-long whisperwater gill," Adam's gaze turns to one of the tables set up for the feast, which has the fish getting prepared for cooking. "And that's a massive whisperwater gill."
"Whoa," Caleb says. "That is… damn. Even my dad didn't catch one that big. They said you caught it with your bare hands? And that you can breathe underwater? I knew these two villages were off in the head, but damn."
"Hey!" One of the bearkin with them exclaims. "Who are you calling off in the head?"
"People from the villages that are constantly warring over who's stronger, the better swimmer, and the better fishermen," Caleb answers. "Is it true you guys can't even fish near each other without getting into an argument?"
Something tells me that it's not just Caleb who thinks the villagers are off in the head.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" The kids I was playing with draw my attention back to them, having gotten impatient over me stopping.
"Sorry, guys," I reach down and pick up one of the otterkin boys here, this one five years old. "Bird time again!"
I raise him up into the air, and he spreads his arms out to the sides with his legs straight back, feet together. Once he's in position, I run around swooping him through the air as he giggles. The other kids run around as I chase after them with him, and Colby and Yai and some of the other younger adults join in, picking up kids to run around with as well.
Adam watches everything from close to the river as Caleb mingles with the adults and eats some of the fish that's being served raw. It's easy to tell that the demihuman dragon doesn't feel comfortable here, and the uneasy looks the adults are giving him doesn't help.
He's taken off his weapons and set them beside his pack, which is a few feet away from him. That's probably an in effort to make him come off as less threatening to the locals. His boots are by the pack as well, though that has me thinking it might be because everyone else here is.
"Whew," I set down my kid as the chase comes to an end. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah!" He answers. "But you didn't throw me in the river! Daddy always throws me in the river after!"
I look over to see the other young adults tossing their kids into the river rather than setting them down. As they say – when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I pick up the kid, charge toward the river, and take a jump before throwing him. He squeals in delight as he tumbles through the air, a massive wave caused when he lands as I land still on the shore. The kid resurfaces laughing before joining the other kids in a light wrestling match.
"Hey, kids!" I call out. "Come here real quick!"
The kids all rejoin me as the other young adults who were playing with them approach out of curiosity. The youngest of the kids is the five-year-old I picked up, while the oldest looks to be about seven. There are three girls and five boys in total among the group of kids playing, so I think this should work. One bearkin girl and two otterkin girls, three bearkin boys, and two otterkin boys. Yeah, this should work just fine.
"Okay," I lower my voice. "So there's something super important I need you all to do."
All at once, the kids start asking me what it is. I let them do that for a few seconds before I quiet them down with a gesture.
"It's a super secret thing," I keep my voice low. "So you have to be as quiet as possible. Can you guys do that for me?"
The kids all nod, quietly giggling while making shushing sounds.
"See my friend over there?" I point at Adam. "The demihuman dragon? See how he looks really sad?"
The kids all look over at Adam, then back to me as they nod and say he does.
"Your super secret mission," I say. "Is to sneak up on him and push him into the river."
Some of the other young adults snort and cover their mouths when I say that. A couple of them look uncomfortable, but the kids are all taking the secret mission in stride.
"Ready, kids?" I ask, and they all nod and whisper that they are. "Alright! Remember, be as quiet as possible as you sneak up on him. If he sees you, you gotta charge him. Make sure that he gets in the river, alright? Now go!"
The kids all 'sneak' up on Adam, but he notices them coming from yards away and look over, frowning slightly. As soon as he sees them, the five-year-old otterkin boy yells 'charge' and they all charge at Adam.
"Wai-wh-hey!" Adam tries to protest and ask what's going on, but the charging kids don't let him and he just keeps fumbling for words. "Gah! Jamie! Wh-ah-kids-!"
I can't help but laugh at his bewildered expression and exclamations as the kids try to push Adam into the river. As he's not the kid of person who would attack a kid for no reason, he's mostly trying to keep them from climbing up on him. That's resulting in him back up a few times, before two of the bearkin boys get the idea to go behind his legs and trip him as he backs up.
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"Whoa!" Adam exclaims as he falls backwards, right into the river.
"Yeah!" The kids exclaim before jumping into the water.
"Oh, what the hell," one of the young bearkin women here mutters, then charges toward the river and jumps in to join the kids.
Some of the other young adults rush to the river as well and I join them in the water. We all splash each other and wrestle around, and Adam tries to figure out what to do for a few minutes before giving in and just letting the kids have their fun. At one point, some of us end up with kids on our shoulders, the kids 'fighting' each other to see if they can knock the other off. If a kid falls off of their mount, then a different young adult picks them up. After a few rounds of this, one of the kids asks Adam to pick him up, and watching Adam be awkward is rather amusing.
I can tell a lot of the parents have come over to watch their kids out of caution over the demihuman dragon, but they don't try to put a stop to it once they realize that he's just another guy.
"You set that up, didn't you?" Adam asks once everyone from this group leaves the river and we make our way over to the food areas to get something to eat.
He's got the five-year-old otterkin boy on his shoulders, shouting, "Faster! Food awaits! The tummy calls!"
"One hundred percent," I respond while trying not to laugh at the kid's antics. "It did get people more relaxed with you, though."
"That's not the only reason you did it," Adam gives a pointed look to some of the other groups of people talking.
He doesn't elaborate, probably because he doesn't want to directly say what it was. I'd managed to get kids from both villages to play with each other without arguing, and that got some of the young adults to join in. Some of the older kids watched or started playing together on their own, though they were mostly just competing with each other.
Once I had the kids from both villages playing together, I put them into a situation that would get their parents to unify regardless of village: I got the kids playing with someone both sides were uncomfortable with. Neither village likes demihuman dragons because of the rumors about them and the conflicts between the two lands.
By having one goof around with the kids, the parents came over to watch and make sure he didn't eat or kill them. That gave them something to talk about without too much bickering. Before that point, the otterkin and bearkin were still mostly separated into groups from their own villages. Now some of them are mingling more properly with the other village.
Judging by the looks the elders of the villages give me, they figured out what I was doing as well.
The otterkin boy is passed off to his mother once we reach the food, and everyone breaks off into various groups, leaving Adam and me alone. Colby and Yai come over to chat a little and Caleb joins us after that. The snow leopardkin and Adam don't get along very well, however, so I send him off.
"Unless you can behave yourself," I add. "Otherwise, go. This is a party to have fun and I won't tolerate any hostilities."
Caleb grumbles under his breath but leaves and I shake my head, then return to talking with some others. The villagers are more willing to talk with Adam while he's with me, so Adam sticks with me as I walk around the village. With the ice broken between the kids and their older siblings and the young adults, the kids run around playing with each other on their own now as well.
"I need to go for a walk for a bit," Adam tells me.
"Everything okay?" I ask.
"I'm just a bit tense from all of the stares," Adam tells me. "It's pretty obvious that everyone is uncomfortable with my presence here and it's making me uncomfortable. So I want to go for a walk by myself to shake it off."
He has seemed tense the entire time he's been here.
"Alright," I say. "I'll be around."
Adam nods and leaves, and I continue to mingle with others. Some of them are in awe at my abilities, others ask me what I think the catching of such a large whisperwater gill will bring to the villages.
This really was an easy situation to handle. The younger kids had never been allowed to interact with the others, so they only knew what their parents and the older kids claimed. All I had to do was get them to start playing with each other and they forgot all about what their parents said. To the kids, they were just other boys and girls to play with.
After that, some of the teens and young adults came over to watch, but then got begged by the younger kids to join in. Not wanting to upset the kids who were so clearly having fun, they joined in and started playing with us as well. Nobody wanted crying kids during what was supposed to be a happy party meant to celebrate the catching of something that represents good luck when caught.
Then I got Adam involved because the adults' fear that he'd eat their kids would cause the adults to come over. Finding something they had in common, they were able to start discussing things. Yes, there was still some bickering, but it wasn't as bad as before.
My guess is that the villages just never got to look outside their own box before, that nothing ever led them to. Those who did were probably shunned because it went against the way they were nurtured. Now, I've let them see that the other side isn't as bad as they thought.
Though once I leave here, they might go back to their rivalries. That's why I told the elders I had a way to settle the score between the villages. Getting the two onto civil talking terms was absolutely necessary for it, though.
I let everyone talk for awhile before I gather the village elders and chiefs together. Caleb joins us as well, and Adam returns just as I'm about to begin. Some of the other adults are here as well out of curiosity about what this is, though thankfully, I don't have to shout to the entirety of both villages. There's only about fifty people gathered in front of the table I'm standing on for the discussion.
This time, I came prepared with a talking object: a torch that I'm currently holding in my right hand. The sun has set by this point, making a torch ideal for the talking object as it is something that helps draw attention to the one holding it.
"Alright," I say. "This torch right here is the talking torch. I can talk without it and those I address directly can respond without it. For anything else, you raise your hand and wait for your turn with the talking torch. Anyone who breaks this rule gets banished from the discussion. This is to ensure it goes smoothly and minimizes arguments. Okay?"
Everyone agrees to those terms.
"Good," I say. "Now, as I'm sure all of you can agree that the other village is inferior to you, right?"
Everyone agrees about that, which causes arguments to start.
"Hey!" I yell, and everyone quiets down. "Do we need to cancel the solution to who is superior instead of letting it get settled? Because that's what's going to happen if y'all don't keep your mouths shut when it ain't your turn to talk!"
There are sheepish looks all around. This place really needs an arbitrator to get them to get over this silly war and I'm certain most people who could do it either nope out of here the moment they find out what's going on or just plain avoid the area entirely.
"Thank you!" I huff. "Alright! Now, on to the solution. Now, the bearkin claim that they're the better fishermen and swimmers and that they're stronger. The otterkin claim that they're the better fishermen and swimmers and that they have better luck when it comes to fishing. Something I noticed is that no one contests the third one for each. In other words, y'all can agree that the bearkin are superior when it comes to might and the otterkin are superior when it comes to catching more fish and rarer fish.
"We're going to focus on that first," I say. "Because both villages fish for their primary food source and I heard that y'all have an issue with arguing when in fishing boats over who gets to fish where when it comes to net fishing. Solution: the otterkin pick the spots and cast the nets, then the bearkin pull the nets in. Both sides get half. Use a scale to weigh it. Boom. You both get fish and no longer have to argue over territory. The bearkin don't have to worry about bad luck with picking a spot and the otterkin don't have to worry about having to pull in the nets too early because they don't have the muscle."
While they can increase their Strength through their Classes, Colby and Yai told me that most don't gain much because they don't have very many people with combat-based Classes and it's not common to get a high Level in labor-based Classes. That means that most of their fishermen only have the average Strength of their species, maybe a little bit more.
Not everyone can take time out of their day to go fishing, so net fishing isn't too uncommon for some in order to bring in fish they can share with those who can't catch them. This solution might need some tweaking the villagers can handle those tweaks on their own but I'm sure that once things are actually being done.
"Now that that's sorted out," I say. "Let's move on to the claims of fishing and swimming ability. On the sixteenth day of every month, the two villages will hold a swimming competition. It will have three judges from each side and the competition will feature the five strongest swimmers and the five most nimble swimmers. The first group will compete to see who is the strongest swimmer while the second group will compete to see who is the most nimble. It's an individual contest, so each otterkin and bearkin is competing against every other otterkin and bearkin.
"The one who scores first gets ten points," I continue. "Second-place gets nine, third-place gets eight, all the way down to one point for tenth-place. The village which earns the most points wins that challenge for the month. They get bragging rights over strength or nimbleness until the next challenge. The village with the most points for both gets bragging rights over swimming ability entirely until the next challenge. I'm sure you guys are able to figure out the more specfic requirements for the contests. Does that sound like a fair way to prove your village is superior?"
Thankfully, everyone agrees that it does. I really will leave them to figuring out what the challenges themselves are as I'm not a swimmer despite knowing how to swim. How the hell would I be able to determine what's a good test of swimming strength or nimbleness?
"Good," I say. "Now on to the next part: fishing ability. Same scoring scheme as with the swimming challenge, with bragging rights to the winning village. Five fishermen from each village. The challenge will occur on the first of each month, but the two villages will discuss the optimal time frame for it. I'm sure you can manage that.
"How it will work," I say. "Is that, for a set amount of time, the competitors will fish to the best of their ability. After the competition is over, the amount of fish each competitor caught is counted and they get ranked based on how many fish they caught. After that, all of the fish caught by each team is put together, then weighed against the other village's catch. The village with the most meat wins that competition. Bragging rights for a month, and you can all have a feast after to enjoy the fish that was caught. I mean, you guys proved today that you can have a feast together so I'm sure that works, right? Do these competitions sound fair to you guys?"
There's agreements all around. Considering the nature of their arguments and disagreements, bragging rights should be all that's needed to solve things. If I'm right, then the swimming competition will result in a tie when comparing the two versions together, so both sides will get one sort of bragging right by likely begrudgingly agree that the other is on equal terms with them. As for the fishing competition, well… I'm sure they'll at least have fun with it. The otterkin will no doubt win the quantity version while the bearkin will probably win the weight one. So both will win bragging rights there.
If the gods have any say in this, I'm sure the two villages will start to overcome their rivalries and acknowledge each other's strengths. The flipside is that the two villages just go back to the way they were, but I'll be gone from here and so don't really care. That honestly seems like the more likely event.
Truthfully, the only reason I'm even making an effort with this is because of the potential for a run in the Dungeon. The town north of here is a three-day trip and they may not let us into their Dungeon. Getting to rest here a few days would also benefit me in terms of recovering from the two-week journey I've already been on.
So me trying to help these two villages is purely for selfish reasons.
"Okay," I say. "Then it's time to discuss the more fine details. Who wants the talking torch?"