Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 3 of 8)

Locke holds Lil's hand as he looks towards the first stall, "Well, let's do them in order, then."

Excitedly, Locke and Lilanei walk to the nearest game. They see a large wooden barrel filed with water as a portly Halfling man, dressed like a pirate, sits on top of a platform which hovers over the water.

He thrusts a wooden sword about as he cries, "Yar, me maties! Ye best be keepin' yer no good landlubbin' selves away from me, lest ye incur the wrath of the Ibius Nobodies!"

"I'll have a go at dunking the pirate!" Locke announces with a grin as he steps in front of the stall.

As he does so, he is greeted by another Halfling man who smiles and holds up three balls as he exclaims, "Hit the target and you'll win a prize!"

Locke takes the balls, and immediately, he throws the first one without thinking – the ball flying right over the target. He throws the second ball, and like the first, it flies over the target, however only slightly.

"Aw!" Lil exclaims as she grins and says, "Bet ya don't get this one, either."

Locke says nothing and tries to concentrate before throwing the final ball, which lands a bit too low of the target and misses – to which Lilanei cackles mischievously.

"Okay," Locke grumbles. "So I didn't hit it."

The Halfling exclaims, "Aw, too bad! That's your chance gone. . . How about your girlfriend?"

"Well, if I couldn't hit it—" Locke begins until he sees Lil's eyes narrow slightly as she shoves herself in front of him and reaches out with her hand.

"Balls, please!"

The man complies and hands the eager Lilanei three small balls. Lil concentrates harder than Locke and takes her time setting up her aim, before she throws the first – which like Locke's, flies over the target. Locke says nothing and simply grins slightly, but when Lil tries again, she finds to her surprise, and Locke's, that she hits the bullseye! The mechanism that holds the wooden seat for the pirate is released as the target is bent back and the pirate's seat is taken out from under him before he splashes into the pit of water, backside first as he lets out a hearty "arr!"

Clapping her hands excitedly, Lil cries, "Ha! I showed you!"

"You probably just used some of your hocus pocus," Locke sniffs as Lil sticks her tongue out at him.

Meanwhile, the Halfling man cries, "We have a winner! Now choose your prize, little lady."

The man then motions to his right where there sits a small shelf with various prizes on it. On the shelf, Lilanei notices three different kinds of boots, which she recognizes from her experience of working in a General Store with her mother. The first pair she recognizes as being enchanted boots of infinite stride. The second pair of boots are also enchanted, and for those who are skilled in acrobatics and athletics. Finally, the third pair of boots are enchanted and have wings, which she knows allow the wearer to fly for a very short amount of time.

As she looks over these prizes, Lilanei taps her chin in thought before turning to Locke and saying, "Well, you've already bought me new boots. . . So, you choose!"

"You mean I can have them?" Locke asks.

Lil smiles and says, "Duh!"

"Thank you," Locke says with a soft smile as he kisses her softly, before he points to the winged boots and says, "I like the look of those ones."

Cheerfully, the Halfling man picks up the third pair of boots, which he lightly tosses to Locke as he says, "Enjoy!"

"Will do, thanks," Locke replies as he places the boots in his ruck sack for now and says, "Thank you, Lil."

Lil grins and says, "Are you being polite?"

"Don't get used to it," Locke says with a wink. "Let's carry on."

Quickly, Locke and Lil move to the next stall to the Pirate Dunk – the Tombola. As they approach the booth, a sweet looking Elven woman holds a box filled with many sheets of paper.

As she notices the pair, she smiles and says, "If you draw a good number, then you'll win one of our prizes! You each get three chances!"

Complying, both of our Heroes dunk their hands into the small box and draw out three sheets of paper each.

Locke looks at his numbers and announces, "I have 56, 29 and 96."

Nodding, the Elf then turns to Lil and asks, "How about you, young lady?"

Lilanei then states, "I've got. . . 4, 42, and 25."

With a wide smile, the woman exclaims, "You win!"

With a wide grin, Lil looks to Locke and asks, "I win? Again?"

Locke chuckles and shakes his head as he turns away to look at the other booths. The Elven woman giggles lightly as she reaches under the booth and retrieves a small necklace with a heart-shaped pendant hanging from it, which she hands to Lil.

Softly, she explains, "As an adventurer, I'm sure you come across much danger. This pretty little pendant will save you in a tight spot if you ever need it."

"Oh!" Lil exclaims as she takes the necklace and places it around her neck.

"That looks pretty," Locke notes.

"Why, thank you!" Lil exclaims.

Glancing at Locke, the Elven woman continues to smile as she says, "My, your bag looks heavy!"

"It's okay," Locke casually replies. "I can handle it."

"Nonsense," she utters as she begins to dig under the counter once more; eventually, she retrieves two bags that appear to be merely brown sacks, which she hands to both Lil and Locke as she explains, "We've got plenty of these bags of holding left over from the festival. They'll make your heavy loads feel much, much lighter!"

"Thanks a lot," Locke says as he takes his sack. "That's very kind of you."

Smiling as Lil takes her sack from her, the Elf simply says, "It's no problem at all. Have fun, you two."

With smiles, the pair walk off and down the road, to their next booth.

"Well," Locke begins as they walk off, pointing to a table with nothing but three cups on it as he says, "that one over there looks interesting."

Locke strolls to and stands in front of the table before he asks, "What is this game about?"

The shady looking Halfling who sits behind the table grins as he explains, "I hide the gold, you find the gold. Find the gold, win a prize!"

"Okay," Locke replies, taken slightly a back by the Halfling's strangely spoken response. "I'll have a go."

As Lil watches behind Locke, the Halfling takes a gold piece, which he puts under one of the cups, before standing all the cups upside down as he begins to slide them around in a swift and erratic fashion. After a few moments of spinning the cups around each other and attempted to hide the gold piece's location, the Halfling stops as he looks up at Locke and waits.

Having watched closely, Locke thinks for a moment before pointing and saying, "The one on the right."

The Halfling lifts the rightmost cup as Locke spies a shiny gold piece underneath; looking to Locke slightly suspiciously, the Halfling now says, "Yeah. You find the gold. You win a prize. Pick a prize."

The Halfling then shoves a box towards Locke from under the table which contains familiar blue potions as well as some light purple coloured potions; after he does so, he adds, "Take one for the girl, heh."

"Thanks," Locke says. "But what are these purple ones?"

"Potion of life," he mutters before explaining, "Dead? Bring you back to life, eh. Not dead? Give you a real boost."

"We'll take the Potions of Life then," Locke announces before he takes a bottle each – one for himself and one for Lilanei.

Nodding, the Halfling pulls the box back under the table and motions for the next festival goer to have their turn. As the two walk off, Lilanei places her new potion in her newly acquired bag.

Lil quips, "Not bad. . ."

"My luck's turning," Locke says as he laughs, before adding as he points to a multi-coloured spinning wheel, "Let's try that one!"

As they approach the booth, a human man cries, "Red, yellow, blue, or green! You've got one chance to take a guess before I spin the wheel. And if you guess right, you win a prize."

"Blue!" Locke calls out before Lil exclaims, "Green!"

The man nods before giving the wheel a mighty spin. The wheel clicks as it spins, before the spin becomes slower and slower – until it finally lands on the blue wedge of the circular wheel.

"Alright!" Locke cries, pumping his fist in the air. "What's my prize, my man?"

The man smirks as he reaches underneath the booth and pulls out two items that he slaps down onto the counter. The first is a small shield with enchanted runes carved into it. The second item is a double sword which has a handle at the center and a blade at each end.

"Well, since I lost my sickle," Locke begins, "I'll take this weird looking thing."

The man cries, "Then so be it! The double sword is yours. Enjoy the rest of the festival!"

"Thanks a lot," Locke says as he admires his new weapon. "I can't wait to use it."

Lilanei examines it and says, "A bit dangerous, isn't it?"

"If it wasn't, it'd be useless to me. Besides, Ibius sounds like a place where we can't afford to be merciful," Locke explains.

"I suppose," Lil softly replies before she then glances to the next booth and cries, "Hey, look! Maybe you could win this too!"

Locke looks over and see that the next booth is an archery game; walking over to the booth, he cries, "Well, I do use a crossbow, so I've got just as good of chance as anybody. I'll have a go!"

As they walk over to the booth, they see a small Halfling who clutches a large bow and arrow which lay on the counter; seeing the pair approach his booth, the young boy cries, "If you can hit all the bullseyes, mister, you get a prize!"

Locke takes the bow and looks to see that from left to right, the targets decrease in size, making each target harder to hit than the last. With a smile, Locke takes the first arrow and then takes aim at the target. He releases the arrow, which flies and hits the target directly on the bullseye. He then sidesteps and fires off the next arrow, which again hits the second target directly in its center.

"One more!" Locke cries excitedly before aiming at the smallest target of the three.

Locke pulls the arrow back in the bow and with one closed eye, aims for the bullseye and releases the arrow – which flies through the air and collides with the center of the bullseye!

"I win!" Locke shouts, pumping his in the air one more time.

Lil then cries, "Hey! I suppose you're not bad at everything, then!"

"Well, I'm beating you three stalls to two!" Locke says with a wink.

Lilanei purses her lips and says, "Well. . . I just haven't tried two of them, that's why."

As the two begin to argue, the boy lifts a heavy box onto the counter and cries, "You can choose one of these prizes, mister! Ask me if you don't know what they are."

In the box, Locke sees two sets of goggles, one made of leather, as well as a rugged leather belt, inset with chunks of gray stone.

"I'll take that chic looking belt," Locke announces.

The boy nods and picks up the heavy belt as he says, "My mommy says that belt will make you stronger!"

"Thanks, my boy," Locke replies as he replaces his old belt with the new one and pats the child on the head before turning to Lilanei and noting, "I think I might need it – look at that stall there."

Lil looks over and notices that the next game is an arm wrestling competition; with a frown, she says, "Great. . . Big muscular men with even bigger egos."

"They're not so big," Locke says with a cocky grin as he walks over to the stall. "I'll win this one for you."

As Locke approaches the table, he is slightly taken aback as the champion is a small muscular Halfling who immediately glances at Locke and points to him as he says, "Could this be a challenger? Come on, little man! Impress your girlfriend and beat me – that is, if you can!"

"Who are you calling little man, half pint?" Locke asks as he takes a seat in front of the table. "Let's see what you've got."

Locke places his open palm on the table, his elbow pressed down into the wood as the Halfling places his hand in front of Locke's and the two grip each other's palms – Locke wincing as he feels the intense pressure from the Halfling's vice-like grip. Immediately, the Halfling puts the pressure on Locke's arm, flexing his muscles which bulge as he begins to push Locke's arm down towards the table; however Locke begins to push back and the two seem to freeze, with Locke's hand slightly below his original position.

"Urgh," Locke grunts.

During this time, Lilanei stands behind Locke, her right hand on his shoulder as she cries, "You can do it!"

Hearing Lil, Locke grits his teeth and flexes his own muscles – not even half the size of the Halfling's; to his horror, he sees that his arm instead falls lower towards the table as the Halfling laughs, "Maybe your girlfriend should come with a real man, kid!"

Lilanei purses her lips and cries, "Don't listen to him! You can do it!" She then hesitates slightly before she gives him a quick, soft kiss on the back of the head.

"Ah, that's what I need!" Locke says between grunts as he grins at the Halfling. "Let me. . . show you. . . who. . . your Lord is!"

With that, Locke begins to push back more intensely than before, and to everyone's surprise, Locke's arm begins to lift as the Halfling's begins to drop – the Halfling's arm now becoming fatigued.

"You might be strong," Locke growls. "But. . . you haven't got. . . great stamina, do ya?"

The Halfling, now sweating bullets, begins to seriously tire as Locke, inch by inch, pushes the Halfling's arm down, until finally the back of the Halfling's hand slams into the table – causing Lil to jump up and down excitedly as she cheers.

Locke stands from the table, shaking his arm and rubbing his bicep as he pants and says, "Conquered. . . Conquered by Locke Kallidin."

The Halfling now pants heavily as he looks up at the triumphant Locke, his gaze eventually resting on Locke's gloved hands; the man frowns and cries, "You've got a lot of spunk, little girl. But I'm surprised you could best anybody with those old rags!"

"Well, this girl beat you, rags and all. . . despite what magic you may use to build those big muscles," Locke says with a grin. "Now, what's my prize – little man?"

The Halfling smirks as he reaches under the table slaps two items down on top of the wooden surface, "For you, girl – you can have these gloves. Give your girl a good, proper squeeze with these, if you get my drift."

"Well, I was hoping to win something for my Lilanei," Locke announces, "but I don't think these gloves are her thing."

"Hold your horses, little girl!" The Halfling exclaims as he shoves another item forward. "I was just about to give the girl these."

Lilanei looks on to see this item is a pair of golden bracers; her eyes light up slightly as she says, "Ooo, those are pretty!"

The Halfling then cries, "And dangerous too! If your little girl for a boyfriend ever messes with the wrong bloke, you can use these to defend yourself!"

"This little girl beats whoever he comes into contact with," Locke announces. "Including you, half pint. Good match. I'll see you again."

With a cocky wave, the Halfling bids them farewell and Locke and Lil continue to the last game. Locke's eyes immediately light up as he sees many glasses of ale adorn a table as participants sit behind it. Under the table, a banner reads "Ale Drinking Contest – The Biggest Beer Belly Wins!"

"Look at that!" Locke exclaims. "An ale drinking competition. I bet I can win that one, too!"

Lil shakes her head before smiling slightly and saying, "Well. . . It is a festival. I suppose I'll let you do it."

Locke grins and slyly says, "If I didn't know any better, Lil, I'd say you were beginning to sound like my wife. . ."

Lil blushes as she cries, "Don't be a buffoon! I just don't fancy dragging your drunk backside around the festival, that's all."

"Don't worry. I won't get drunk. . . Mrs. Kallidin."

With that, Locke walks up to the table and informs the host of the contest – a very heavily set Dwarf – that he wishes to participate. The Dwarf allows his participation before the man then approaches a large platform and stands upon it, on which he begins an announcement.

"Ladies and gents! The contest is about to begin! We're now taking bets for the next Ale Drinking Champion. . ."

As the Dwarf informs the small audience which has emerged in front of his platform, Lilanei stands beside the table and glances over the many jugs of ale which sit upon it.

Looking to Locke with cocked eyebrows, Lil says, "I bet you that you'll be drunk by the end of this!"

"You're on!" Locke exclaims. "What's my prize if I win?"

Lil grins and laughs as she says, "Well, since I know it's going to happen for sure, I'll bet you that I'll wear that stupid servant's outfit if you win."

"Well, then I'm gonna win for sure!" Locke proudly announces. "But if you win, which you won't, I'll carry you to whichever inn we next stay in."

"That's it?" Lil asks with a slight look of irritation.

"Well, what do you want?" Locke asks.

Lil glances away and says, "Oh, I don't know. . . I suppose that'll do."

"Okay. If you win," Locke begins, "I'll buy you one thing you really, really want. How's that?"

Lilanei looks back at Locke with bright smile as she cries, "Okay!"

At this point, the crowd around them has begun to hush as the Dwarf cries, "Alright. . . The bets are in, so let's get started! On your marks. Get set. Go!"

The first glasses of ale already present on the table, Locke takes his glass and, blowing a kiss to Lil, he then opens his mouth, thrusts his head back, and tips the glass down his gullet – the ale washing down easily as he slams the glass on the table. He looks to his left and watches as the Halfling woman sitting beside him takes her time but finally downs the glass without fail, while a large Dragonborn chugs half of his glass before dropping it back onto the table, spilling the contents as he passes out on the table in front of him.

As the Dragonborn passes out, the Dwarf exclaims, "Oh! The likely winner has already passed out, after but one glass! It seems somebody started the party a tad too early tonight!"

As the Dwarf announces this, many of the people disappointedly groan at their loss as the final contestant, a Halfling man, finally finishes his ale; however his eyes are beginning to look glazed.

As the table, with three contestants remaining, begin their next round of drinks, Lil cries, "Come on, Locke! Get drunk!"

"Not a chance!" Locke replies. "I'm so looking forward to seeing you stroll around me in your pretty little dress."

Locke drinks his next glass of ale, this one taking a little longer to go down than the first, but Locke eventually finishes it – only to find the Halfling woman finishes at the exact same time. At the bottom of the table, the Halfling man places his glass on the table and waves his hands, letting the Dwarf and the crowd know he's had enough. He tries to stand from the table and simply falls out of his chair onto his back.

As the audience groans again, the Dwarf man laughs again and exclaims, "We've got another drunkard! Now we've got a tight race! The young man against this lovely lady! We've got two prizes, folks, but who's going to take first?"

"I've got my first prize," Locke begins, his speech beginning to sound slurred as he points to Lil. "And she's right over there!"

The audience slightly chuckles as Lilanei blushes and hides her face before the contestants are served their third round. Locke drinks his third glass of ale easier than the second as his inebriation begins to take effect and he ignores the difficulty of downing the ale. The Halfling woman finishes her glass a few minutes behind Locke and now begins to sway back and fourth in her seat with a grimace on her face.

Seeing this, Lil jumps up and down and cries, "Come on, lady! You can beat that wuss!"

"Get that dress ready, Lil," Locke slurs. "You'll be wearing it at the next inn we go to. . . And I want a double bed."

The fourth round is passed to the lady and Locke, and both drink their glasses without fail, the lady finishing her glass first this time as Locke finishes his slightly behind; however both contestants remain in the same state. The fifth round then comes next to a round of applause from the audience as Locke opens his mouth and promptly downs his glass. Locke feels that this could be a mistake as he begins to feel a slight churning in his stomach while the Halfling woman remains steady. In the sixth round, Locke paces himself with his drink, and as he finishes it, Locke feels no more ill effects from his sixth glass of ale, while the Halfling lady now begins to groan slightly and wobble as she puts down her sixth glass.

Both Locke and the lady then begin their seventh glass of ale, and both succeed; however both are now beginning to wobble in their seats as Locke lets out a loud burp. Finally, as the audience grows and watches on in amazement, the eighth round of ale is pushed down the table and to the final two contestants. Locke drinks his ale down with many gulps before he slams the glass down on the counter and emits a great sigh. Meanwhile, the Halfling woman slowly chugs her ale before suddenly stopping half way through the drink. Her eyes slightly widen before the woman collapses suddenly to her side on the ground, the glass of ale landing on the ground as well and splashing on her face. Locke then pounds his fists on the table and stands from his seat.

"The winner!" He cries triumphantly as he points to Lil. "And you, my lady, have a date!"

Before Lil can respond, the large audience which has now accrued cheer Locke on as the Dwarf announces, "A new champion! The young man on the left of the table is the winner! All those who bet on the young man may come and collect their winnings. . . and you boy, come and get your prize!"

The Dwarf then beckons Locke to a large rack which contains many items that Locke notices he has seen throughout many of the booths that night. Out of all of these items, Locke notices a peculiar pair of laced sandals made out of cords which are woven out of wool.

Locke grins and points to the shoes, "I'll take these."

The Dwarf happily complies as he hands Locke the sandals and cries, "Ah, a present for the girlfriend, eh?"

"Yeah," Locke replies. "They'll go well with her. . . new dress."

Chuckling, the Dwarf says, "Well, you both enjoy them, then! And have a good time!"

"I'm going to, my friend," Locke replies with an evil grin as he then takes the shoes, pats the Dwarf on the back, and walks off to Lil with the shoes behind his back; he eventually finds her in front of the contest booth and announces casually, "I'm not drunk."

Frowning in annoyance, Lil mutters, "I noticed. . . So what did you win?"

"Well," Locke begins, "I won something for you."

"Oh?" Lil asks, looking slightly less annoyed.

"Yes!" Locke exclaims as he pulls out the sandals from behind his back. "Like them? I thought they'd go well with your little dress!"

"Oh! That's fey wool! It's—Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"Well, they're kind of frilly," Locke explains. "You'll so cute in them when you wear your dress for me."

Lil flushes as she cries, "Do I have to?"

"A bet's a bet, my Lilanei," Locke chuckles. "You gave me a good incentive to win you these things, so you can at least be grateful and do that for me."

Lil frowns before muttering, "Fine. . ."

Locke's face lights up before he hands Lilanei the shoes, "We'll find an inn and you can do that later on! But right now, let's see if there's anything else we can enjoy here."

As they look around, they realize that in all of their excitement, they hadn't noticed the sun had set and it is now quite late. Despite the late hour, however, people continue to flock through the busy road as our Heroes notice the people have begun to congregate at the long bridge which crosses the river at the center of town.

Lilanei watches these people pass by them as she says, "Hey. . . There's something going on over there. Let's check it out."

Locke and Lilanei follow the crowd to the bridge where they casually weave between the spectators and find a place at the front of the crowd. As they find a good spot, they notice that many robed Halflings now line the bridge as one of these Halflings stands in front of the crowd and cries in a wizened old voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen. . . Thank you for attending our annual Adventurer's Festival. Though the festivities tonight may be ending, as you all know, Reedshire doesn't do anything without a – big bang!" The crowd cheers the small, old Halfling on as he turns to the many people on the bridge and cries, "To Avandra!"

The wizards cry back triumphantly before they all begin to quietly utter a prayer under their breaths. After doing so, each Halfling raises their palms in the air and emit another triumphant cry. In moments, bright colourful bolts of light begin to launch from their palms as some of the other Halflings instead launch bolts of fire. These various bolts shoot into the night sky and cause a beautiful array of colours to spread across the starry night air and in front of the large, white full moon. As they do so, the audience continues to cheer joyfully as they watch the display.

"It's nice, huh?" Locke asks. "It's been good to have day where we didn't have a care in the world. . . Well, after we got here, anyway."

Lil smiles and softly sighs, "Yeah. . . Too bad it won't last very long."

"The night's not over," Locke says, squeezing her shoulders as he places his arm around them. "You've got a deal to fulfill."

Lil purses her lips and mutters, "I know. Let's finishing watching this first."

They both turn and look up into the sky as the Halfling wizards continue to launch beautiful bolts of lights and fire towards the stars. This display, however, does not continue for too much longer as the Halflings lower their arms and emit another triumphant cry to their goddess. The audience cheers once again before they slowly begin to disperse – most likely to their homes.

The old wizard who led the show then turns to the remainder of the audience and cries, "For those of you who are foreign to Reedshire – the Reedshire Inn is officially open to you for free tonight. So come on by!"

"Well, that takes care of the lodging," Locke announces. "Let's go."