The Winter Festival!

It was Festival time! FINALLY! The big event was here and the crowds filtered in to Midway for the celebration. The local orphanage has become something of a noted location and a favorite draw to energize the populace. The winter festival would be no different as the kids were included in the main event. So interesting the Intercontinental Bazaar altered its usual path, if they actually have one, to find their way to Midway on the eve of the festival and set up shop for the duration. This alone would draw considerable attention to the town. Throw in the festival and it was a party. Raifer approached the Bazaar and offered local protection from the employees of S3, which they gladly accepted. All the churches threw open their doors inviting passersby to visit. All the finery was on display and the Norse church was the center of the storm. All the other denominations accepted and acknowledged their central role for the festival but also took the opportunity to spread their word. John Z decided it was also a great time to introduce his new restaurant business to the town setting up a stand near the event to offer samples and sell food. His new style of offerings were such a hit he ran out of food in his first two hours and had to arrange for more so he could satisfy the flood of patrons.

The festivities began at the orphanage with a few preliminary events. An Axe throw and a Drinking contest kicked things off. A few early rounds thinned the ranks down to 4 finalists. Yosh and Duther started out strong with a bullseye on their first throws. Nobuo and Meercon were not as accurate. No one would hit the center in the following rounds and Yosh left the door open for Duther on his final throw but he could not out throw the barbarian and they finished 1, 2 taking home the prizes.

The second event set up a long table for all the drinkers and there were 11 entrants in the final drink off. They tipped them back together trying to outdo each other. Nobuo was the first to go down. The next contestants dropped out in a group as Duther, Erik, Rispin and Sam (a local entrant) fell. The drinks continued and the next axe was another big one taking out Curly, Jack, Gwynn and another local, Dave. That left 2 drinkers, Kenny and Patrick. They threw back a few more but Kenny could not keep up leaving the title to Patrick as they collected their prizes for first and second.

The stage was now set for the main event, The Steeple Chase. The Norse church requested Hal kick off the event with the performance of his new composition, Thunderstruck. His performance was fantastic and well received by the onlookers. The church officials could be seen bobbing and dancing in time with his tune. The stage now prepared, each of the teams began the process of selected kids for their teams and assigning players to the, as yet, unrevealed activities. The team alignments were arranged and the actual events and rules shared.

1. And we’re off : Chop through a tree stump with an axe as quickly as possible.
2. Bullseye : Hit three targets with a thrown hammer.
3. Wash away the pain : Drink three tankards as quickly as possible.
4. Isn’t this refreshing? : The dunk tank, hit the target and drop one of your teammates in to the tank.
5. Call to Ragnarok : Blow the special horn three times.
6. Relay to the finish : An old school relay race where each team member runs a leg passing a baton to the next runner. But wait… you have to run BACKWARDS! First team across the finish line wins!

Team 1 : Nord, Crush, Bahruq
Team 2 : Grogg, Blargg, Ruurik
Team 3 : Vic, Books, Jerry
Team 4 : Rennala, Jade, Lilliana
Team 5 : Cord, Agamemnon, Hal
Team 6 : Parker, Jockbar, Toots

Each team supplemented by two children from the orphanage. A betting kiosk was available and bets were placed on every team. They ranged from a few gold from many of the revelers to 1000 gold from Raifer. The church was happy to take the bets and made it clear a small percentage would be held back for supporting the church.

The horn was blown and the chasers were off. Parker and the orphan Nick took the early lead as their axes ripped in to the logs. Every team set one of the children to this event except for team 6. Parker was first through her log followed closely by Nick from team 1. Next up was the bulls eye. Jockbar started slowly but then followed with three hits in a row to complete the event but he ran to the wrong place and had to double back to the dunk tank. Crush was having trouble with his targets and slowed team 1 as Team 4 and 2 were next through their logs. Rennala and Team 4 were next through the hammer throw followed by Ruurik and Team 2.

Toots on Team 6 was up for drinking and downed her tankards quickly and moved to pass off to their teams first child. Crush finally completed his throws and Blargg quickly finished his drinking. Team 5 was now the last to finish the log axe chop as Jockbar was dropped in to the dunk tank. Books moved Team 3 on hitting the last of his hammer targets. Lilli became the next one dropped in the dunk tank for Team 4 as Cord and Team 5 were the last through the hammer throw. Next in the dunk tank was Team 1 with a one shot from Bahruq sending a very water freaked Crush in to the tank.

Team 6 now extended their lead as their second orphan Ricky let loose with a third blast from the horn and tagged Parker to start running the relay. Teams 3 and 5 were having troubles moving forward, finally becoming the last 2 teams through the dunk tank as Nord pushed Team 1 ahead to the relay. Team 2’s orphan Tamara loosed her third horn blow to get them to the relay too.

Teams 3 and 5 were lagging behind, everyone else was now trying to circle the track. Team 6 held a lead. Team 1’s first leg run by orphan Jesus tried to move a little too fast and was the first to trip, the baton fortunately falling at his feet. Perked passed off to Jockbar and Jade took the baton for team 4. Jade was doing everything she could to catch Jockbar and pushed her speed at every chance. She closed ground and was pulling even. Meanwhile, Team 3 was finally running as orphan Butch took the first leg. Unfortunately he was also the drinking event contestant and needed to visit the restroom…. several times as Agamemnon got Team 5 to the race with a final blast of his horn.

Vic finished off his horn blast as the last team through as Toots was now off on the third leg, Jade right behind handing off to orphan Tina. All the teams were now running. Several runners tried to push to catch up only to trip and fall. Batons were dropped everywhere. Some of the kids could just not hold their bladders and had to run for the bathroom. Team 4 was just about caught up for the lead as they began the anchor leg. Lilli tried to push just a little more to take a lead but fell allowing Team 6 to extend their lead and the all Dwarf Team 2 to catch up. Ricky from Team 6 got a tad excited as he neared the finish line and tripped twice but his lead was large and he eased his way to a win. Teams 2 and 4 were neck and neck for second place with the dwarves edging out for the place. The remainder of the racers slowly finished the relay. Team 6 was awarded the first place prize money and Team 2 second place. But the big winner was Raifer who bet 1000 gold on 10 to 1 team 6.

The main event completed the organizers moved on to the planned sacrificial bonfire. It was huge. It took up a large area where the relays were held. As the fire raged on and the sacrificial snake was tossed in to the pyre an bolt of lightning and a loud clap of thunder stopped time in the area leaving only Cord and Agamemnon unaffected. They were greeted by three old women circled around a cauldron heated and fed by the bonfire. They first spoke to Agamemnon informing him of his current status in the church. His slate was now considered clean by the church. All of his past issues now atoned. He would bear witness to the following. The women turned their attention to Cord and asked him 4 questions. They wanted to know what he had learned, what he was seeking and what would he do with power given to him. But most of all, they asked why he was now a follower, a believer. His answers were noted by the women and he was told they would pass along his answers, their opinion and final judgment of his lord would be communicated to him. And with that, they were gone and time returned to normal around them.

Epilogue….

Agamemnon gifted a special, finely crafted silver holy symbol of Thor to Cord, sharing that he is never alone as long as he has this with him.

Kozmo visited the herbologist at the Bazaar to find some special weed for John Z, who has been minding the store while Kozmo attended other business. He found 2 special strains and bought 2 ounces of each as a gift for John Z.

Crush visited the Bazaar seeking out the weapon crafter. He found a special battle axe with an ornate handle. He bought it and brought it to the orphanage, gifting it to the orphan Nick who was his team member and chopped away in his event with great gusto. His gave the gift, advised him to train to be ready to join him in his tribe and keep the axe ready when he came to find him.

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