[Pathfinder] Kingmaker Redux, part 30: Winners and Losers

After we had celebrated Chahana's win at the Aiming at the Target challenge, she invited Arravis de Vray to join her for lunch and then set off on their own. Reislin returned to our pavilion to continue preparing for the boasting contest on the following day, and Zander and Ramakka went off together to enjoy all of the entertainments the tourney had to offer. I spent some time roaming about hoping to find someone who had a mount other than a horse, in the hope of gaining some insight into how to train Goldwing for riding. But sadly riding animals other than horses are uncommon in Pitax. I did hear that someone would be offering rides on a unicorn later on, but unicorns are too much like horses.

At dusk there was a footrace scheduled, which would involve running all around the festival grounds and avoiding or overcoming some obstacles. Runners obstructing one another was to be allowed. Maria, Zander, and I decided to enter. It was a hard run and I was quite out of breath by the end - and had to avoid being pushed aside by Maria - but I managed to outrun her and all of the other participants, including Zander. Although he didn't win, Zander finished the race as though he hadn't been running at all. He wasn't out of breath or perspiring at all. Perhaps I should take up running as a way to increase my stamina.

The next day we saw on the board at the royal pavilion that the entertainments on offer would include axe-throwing, dinosaur rides, and a 'knight's trials' in which participants could don heavy armor and negotiate an obstacle course. But the big competition of the day was the boasting contest that Reislin had entered. 

We made a visit to where the dinosaur rides were being held, but we found that the dinosaur, which came from the menagerie, was about the size of a pony and was only being used to give rides to children. 

All of us gathered in the coliseum to support her as she waited in the staging pavilion with the other contestants. I don't believe she slept at all, so diligently was she working to prepare her five-minute performance.

The competitors drew lots to decide what order they would appear, and Reislin drew the last spot of the six participants. Several of the others were clearly skilled in performance like my family. The first person to perform was Annameade Belevarah, the representative of Pitax. After her came Memon Esponde of Daggermark, Mialolessa of Tymon, who was an elven woman; Ceala Ravenbrow of Mivon, who had accompanied us on our way to Pitax; and fifth was a dwarf named Ankus Depengode who came from Gralton. Mialolessa and Ankus both lost the audience somewhat at the end of their boasts. 

Then Reislin took the stage. As magic was not prohibited, she fortified her performance with her spells. She first sent a ball of flame hurtling into the sky overhead to awe the spectators. Then she grew to twice her normal size, and filled the coliseum with images to illustrate the story she told of the adventures we had enjoyed together since first arriving in the Stolen Lands. She showed us fighting the Stag Lord, encountering the mysterious flying fey lord, meeting Falchos and Tiressia, battling the grimstalker and the Green Lady in the abandoned elven tower, combating the trolls, and finally defeating the demon with Maraleaf. As the contest was meant to showcase boasting, Reislin made us all appear far more handsome and heroic than we are in reality, which made my ears go warm when I saw it. But it impressed the audience and they cheered and applauded enthusiastically.

When the judges rendered their decision, they announced that Reislin had won the contest. It had been a very close decision, but she had defeated the local favorite Annameade by one point.

After we had congratulated Reislin for her success, we all decided to go and participate in the axe-throwing and knight's trial events so that we could simply enjoy ourselves and Reislin could relax. The vendors who were offering the opportunity to throw axes were dressed in furs as people from the north. They gave us all instruction on how best to make succesful throws. Zander was especially good at this, hitting the target post solidly with each throw. Chahana and I performed reasonably well, but Maria is so comfortable with her sword that she found it difficult to wield another weapon. After my initial modest success with a smaller axe I was allowed to try with a larger one. We each had three chances, and after using my first two throws to get accustommed to the weight of the larger axe, my third throw was a satisfactory one. Chahana also tried throwing with a larger axe, though not as large as the one I used, and she did very well.

After this Reislin wanted to investigate the unicorn ride. None of us had ever seen a living unicorn, only the slain one we had found. This ride was taking place near a wooded area, where the people offering the experience had marked out a path by attaching ribbons and bells to the trees. As we arrived they were bringing a young girl back at the end of her ride. The animal she rode was extraordinarily beautiful and glowed very faintly. It wore no bridle or saddle, only a pad. When the child was lifted down from the creature's back, she spoke to it for a moment and it touched her on each shoulder with the slender horn extending from its brow. 

Reislin seemed amused by all of this. She cast her message spell, and when the people attending the unicorn began to tell Chahana about how the unicorn was lord of the forest and had come out to seek people of virtue, Reislin remarked to us via the spell that if we believed that story she would like to sell us some swampland. I didn't quite understand what she meant at that moment. Chahana decided to take a ride, which was quite easy for her as she is very skilled at riding her horse Nadu. After she returned and we left that area, Reislin told us it wasn't a genuine unicorn but a very handsome horse enhanced by magic, and the people with the horse were using other magic to make it appear that the false unicorn could speak. I was unhappy that these people would lie to children, but my friends all appeared to feel that it was a harmless subterfuge.

We next went to try our skill at the knight's trial. Maria chose not to participate when she saw that the armor they would give us was rather battered and ill-fitting. She wasn't willing to wear any armor other than her own. Reislin agreed to make an attempt herself in the interest of learning what wearing armor is like. She even suggested a wager: the winner could choose where we would take our midday meal.

The armor they gave us included jousting helms, which made vision a bit of a challenge. The first trial was to climb over a low barrier, which I had difficulty with at first due to my restricted sight. Reislin could not get over it at all and fell. Then they presented us with wooden practice swords and a target to strike, and I lost track of the target and hit one of the poor men instead, much to my shame. Riding a barrel proved to be much less difficult for me, and the final trial of walking over a false floor where we had to step on only the sections that were painted blue proved less difficult once I had got used to looking out through the helm's narrow slit. Reislin struggled with everything, even falling off the stool they set her on when it was time to remove the armor. But she took it all in good humor.

We had learned that the following day there was to be a "Feast of Kings" held in the royal pavilion, and we approached Master Arpaia to arrange for our attendance. Afterward as we were walking through the festival grounds some of my companions heard someone shouting for people to "Make way for the king of Neotellus," though at that moment I had paused to listen to a musician playing the flute and I failed to hear this. Chahana was also distracted and missed the exchange that followed. Maria and Reislin told us of it later. 

A jester appeared towing a pig on a rope. This pig wore a makeshift crown and a tabard that Maria felt was clearly inteded to imitate our banner but in a rude and insulting manner. The pig was meant to be the "king." Maria became quite irate with this and attempted to punish the jester by branding him with our sigil, her magic failed and Zander tried to stop her. Reislin spoke with the jester and attempted to distract the crowd that gathered so they would pay less attention to the jester's insults, which seemed to succeed as many people lost interest and wandered away. Zander and Chahana both felt the jester should have been ignored, but Maria could not let it go, and Reislin finished by removing the tabard from the pig. Reislin was concerned because she had seen no other jesters making similar insulting remarks about the other nations whose representatives were present. I prefer to think that perhaps the attempt to insult us was only because we were doing so well in the tournament.

In the evening we attended the feast and had good food and pleasant conversation, though as a minor nation we were made to sit at the farthest end of the pavilion. Zander chose not to join us. He has a strong dislike for any event that members of nobility will be present for.

On the sixth day of the festival it seemed as though the grounds had shrunk because we had crossed them so many times and come to be so familiar with how they were arranged. Events seemed to begin later on that day as well, perhaps because everyone was growing tired. There was a great deal of drinking going on. Reislin made another boat to float down the stream. Zander considered joining the joust with Chahana, but in the end decided against it as he is not trained in the use of metal armor and has taken an oath not to wear it.

Soon enough the appointed time for the joust arrived. We settled in the coliseum once more to cheer on Chahana. There were many competitors, but most were too drunk to stay on their horses and were swiftly eliminated. This left Chahana and five competitors who appeared to be capable of challenging her. She faced one the Wardens of Pitax first and unhorsed him. Then Sir Colston of Gralton was defeated by Damonjot of Tymon, and Khristel of Mivon eliminated Chantel of Daggermark. Chahana unhorsed Sir Colston first, followed by Damonjot removing Khristel from the contest. Chahana then faced Damonjot, and sadly he was able to unhorse her. With Damonjot the last contender, he faced Villamor Koth, the Pitax champion of the previous year's joust, and Damonjot won. 

Though Chahana did not win the joust, her good showing and her win at the archery contest combined to create a tie between the number of wins for Neotellus and those achieved by the representatives of Tymon. A last round of jousting was held to determine the winner of the tournament, and Chahana took the win for us by unseating Damonjot. The Ministers of Pitax came out to give us our trophy: the cyclops statue. It is not a very attractive statue, but we will display it with pride.

Next: part 31, It's Becoming a Nation