Ch. 1 - The Festival of Merits

The Elder scrambles quickly and clumsily to bang the pot on his knee again to obscure the correct answer before Calla leaps towards the tables and downs the fifth bottle.

As she swallows the liquid, a warm, pleasant feeling begins to slowly spread out from Calla's stomach all the way to her ears and fingers and toes. The Elder Colbu Kaz smiles and takes the bottle from you, filling it back up with a jug of liquid underneath the table. Before dismissing the magic dome.

When Calla reapparates before the party, they notice that she is, quite literally, glowing. Soft, gentle rays of sunshiny beams of light radiate about 5 feet off of her in every direction. The Elder simply smiles, figuring that whether she guessed correctly was obvious enough. He pulls his bucket back up to his butt and sits down, waiting for the next contestant to approach his riddles.

Whether or not the party was positioned to welcome them to the conversation, the graceful, elegant, and handsome drow butts into the conversation once more. "I must admit, your team's cunning seems to be a cut above that of the rest of the people in this backwater. I'd be very interested in testing my wits against yours during the closing ceremony, see that you earn enough medals to be considered to participate."

Without waiting for a response, the drow exits the group's conversation and marches up to the Elder, and emerges moments later from the magic dome, beautifully shining just like Calla. Without a glance towards your party, they disappear into the throng of people walking the streets, only visible by the tiny beams of light rising above the other heads in the crowd.

Kailani congratulates the winners of this event. She is pleased with the outcome. "I think I agree with you, Faelan. And I'm really curious about those tortoises." The young woman isn't necessarily thrilled and rather suspicious. After having learned so much about nature and balance, she is sceptical when it comes to using animals for sport. Maybe tortoises have another meaning to these people and they aren't expected to shoo around giant reptiles? Kailani knows a lot about turtles and not so much about their landbased relatives. Do they actually need to be herded?

While she is picturing what the next contest might look like, the drow challenges them and briskly walks away after. How rude! Kailani briefly stares at the male with a raised eyebrow, then shakes her head and forgets about the incident. To Calla she calls out: "Let's find something I am good at, oh beacon of light!" She winks at the haregon, grins and catches up with the rest of her nameless team.

"I'm not sure how agile I can be in this garb, but they're tortoises, so it does not sound that hard" Tereze says confidently.

"I didn't realize there was a entrance requirement to the race later. So I suppose we must at least try!"

"I am starting to feel better, that tonic set me aglow inside and out! Let’s herd some shells!"

Calla gives a little quizzical look at Tereze’s armor, "That does look a bit bulky… Hope it’s easier than back home, it’s so hard to get ‘em from tree to tree…"

"Well, we'll need to see the setup first. Maybe agility isn't important." Kailani scratches her head. "Horizonback tortoises are huge, a bit like walking mountains ... so the babies should still be impressive. It is said, that they are smart as well, so maybe we can sweet-talk them into following us." The young woman produces a toothy grin towards Tereze.

She then moves up to Calla. "Glad you're feeling better. So what exactly do you get from tree to tree? Armors or tortoises?"

Ardeth happily bounced along with the rest to the riddles, however as they arrive the nausea overcomes her again and she loses focus, not able to concentrate, until eventually she has to rapidly dart out, returning looking a lot less quesy.

'Damn, you did it without me!? I' ll help next time, promise! I think the last of the pies gone now...

Finally, after some time spent solving riddles and drinking strange potions, the group's bloatedness and lethargy begin to subside. The holy aura of radiant light surrounding Calla fades after a couple minutes of strolling the streets towards the next exciting destination.

The group emerges from the cramped streets into the shoreside park in the center of downtown. Countless festivalgoers are clustered around the paddock full of young horizonback tortoises that are shuffling around inside the enclosure. The fifteen-foot-tall tortoises are being tended by young herders, who are fitting them with makeshift bridles. These individuals are overseen by a tall, orc who makes sure the bridles are attached correctly.

The orc waves at you approaching and says with a smile, "Have y'all come to join in on the horizonback migration? There’s a tortoise for each of you, and a medal to be won if you make it to the end in one piece.

"Last year we had to rebuild three houses after the festival! Heh, we'll be starting in just a few minutes so go on an' git prepared."

The tall orc certainly makes an impression on Kailani, who feels a blush appearing on her cheeks. "So how does one prepare, exactly?" She steps closer and greets the man with a firm handshake. "I'm Kailani Hauaka and I usually only deal with turtles." Then she looks at the animals assessingly. "Do we choose or does the tortoise choose us?"

The orc kindly, appreciatively returns Kailani's handshake with all the strength expected someone who works with their hands all day everyday training and tending to 15-foot tall tortoises, with a little extra in there for being an orc.

He looks deeply into Kailani's eyes and in a dramatic, passionate voice says, "You cannot decide your fate, you must give yourself over to what destiny has planned for you." He puts a hand over his heart, "You must forget the outside world and follow your heart's truest... desires-" he can't finish his sentence as he begins chuckling a hearty laugh.

"Sorry, ha. It was just too cheesy of a line and I took an acting class this spring, I had to take advantage of it. But in all seriousness, if the tortoise don't try to eat you as you approach it, then you better hop on quick. That's the closest to being chosen you'll git."

"Do you have any.. gentler ones?" Tereze asks, a tinge of nervousness in her voice. She didn't like the prospect of getting chomped. That usually happened the other way around.

Tereze looks over the beasts, on the fence whether to sign up or not.

Kailani listens, then laughs kindly at the trainer. "My, my...you sure think you're funny, no? Well which one would you recommend then, Mister tortoise trainer slash actor?" She pulls off a smile that is equal parts flirtatious and mischievious and chooses one of the tortoises to herd. "How 'bout you then? You seem nice enough", she addresses the overgrown reptile and pats it amicably.

As the half-orc mentions just to approach and hope Ardeth give a wink and a grin. 'Don't get eaten, got it. Easy. She goes towards one of the tortoise. Her movements start as the speedy excited ones everyone is useful, but quickly slow as again the bard seems to gain height, and this time bulk as well, the cloak stretching over the noticeably bigger body that stretches a hand out as they slowly approach a tortoise.

'Easy there fella. Now I need you ta let me on ya back. I'll be gentle, promise. ' The voice is gruff and masculine, yet not threatening. calming almost, in a weird way.

Relieved that he does not have to be the fastest, but that it is enough to reach the finish line, Faelan draws new courage.

If possible, he looks at the animals up close. Like the tavern, he muses.

When the fighter comes to one that he likes the most, he stops in front of her and feeds her a little. Although Faelan has absolutely no idea what turtles eat. The Rhosanian quickly checks the fit of his blades so that he doesn't lose any in the competition and is then ready to take part.

He smiles at Tereze, "‘Fraid not. But just approach ‘em from the side of their shell slowly, you should be able to jump out the way ‘fore she can snap ya if she tries."

After half listening to the Tortoise Trainer’s instructions while marveling at the size of the creatures, Calla spots a medium sized tortoise to the side of the group she likes the look of. With a yell and a grin she takes a leap and lands on its back with a heavy whomp.

"Lot bigger than we have at home! Couldn’t get these up into the trees!"

Tereze looks at the tortoises skeptically, but trusting the man, moves towards the quietest one, following his instructions carefully.

"Ah, right. That wasn't so bad" She beams atop her new mount

Smiling at Calla because of her artistic performance, the half drow climbs - rather sure footed - on top of the tortoise himself. Giving Tereze a thumbs up and sharing her optimism for the moment, Faelan shifts his gaze back to the animal and looks especially for hand holds or things to guide the huge beast.

After a while of everyone fumbling with the equipment and trying to figure out how to ride a 15-foot tall tortoise, everyone has finally gotten situated enought to begin. The orcish trainer expertly and practicedly leaps to the top of his tortoise and steers it to the gate of the paddock. All other business in the streets has stopped as one of the biggest attractions for the Festival is about to begin. The fence around the paddock and every street in sight is lined with cheering people as a good 15 or 20 participants prepare for the migration.

The trainer's deep voice booms over the crowd, even the tortoises turn their grazing heads to him as he speaks, "Alright! The annual Newborn Horizonback Tortoise Migration is about to begin! All you gotta do is guide 'em to the rice paddies on the outskirts of town. Do your best to not raze the city on your way outta town!

"Hiya!" he yells as he and his tortoise go striding off down the all-too-crowded streets.

And with his words, all of the tortoises spring into a surprising and probably somewhat unsettling speed loosely following the trainer, but very quickly forget what they are doing and begin constantly trying to veer off in random directions amidst all of the excitement. People cheering and lining the streets do not seem to care to move until a tortoise is nearly upon them, then resume cheering immediately afterwards. Kobold and goblin children laugh and snicker as they zip around beneath the tortoises' feet and in front of their faces. People from every direction hold colorful cloth or fresh food to try to distract the tortoises. It is truly mayhem.

'There we go fella. Let just keep going on like that and we'll both be relaxing and eating in no time.' The gruff yet gentle voice continues speaking to the tortoise as the bard starts to guide it. As it moves the rocking motions cause the hood to fall from their head, revealing that Ardeth , or the one using that name, is no longer a half drow but a full blooded orc, that while looking slightly tough seems to have a gentle looking in his eyes as he guides the creature.

'Hey not the the kid, not the kid. ' There is a briefly moment of panic ass he tries to tug the tortoise to a halt as a child runs under its feat, something the tortoise is not best pleased of as he tries to shake him off for a few moments.

'Hey now, hey. I'm sorry. I know, I know I was rough. Just got ta watch out for little ones. Let's try this again shall we?' He pats the tortoise for the a few moments making sure it calms down, before starting maneuvreing again, being sure to be more gentle in his directions, and heading towards the paddies with no more issues.

Despite the sudden unexpected rush, Tereze sets off with confidence, and things appear to be going well. She smiles at her companions astride her.

However, a few lengths in, her mount starts to have stronger opinions about where they should go - and bucks violently, throwing Tereze into the air!

Tereze slams against the hard shell, brusing her side harshly. She attempts to climb up the beast but it snaps down with a cruel beak, creating a searing gash through her armor.

A second, weaker attempt to stay aloft fails and the beast fully flings her to the ground, and continues off in its own direction.

Tereze shields her face as the large beasts stampede over her
She luckily remains intact, but without a mount, a wheelbarrow full of injuries and a strong feeling she should have listened to her gut and stayed at the sidelines.

She limps off of the track to tend to her wounds.