==Roll Call==
Childe Raymonde, Githyanki Paladin (Doty)
Bell, Kenku Cleric (CJ)
Blynce, Human-hybrid Fighter (Eric)
Vaal, Eladrin Rogue (Tim)
Bumi, Goblin Sorcerer (Matt)
To the Sanctuary of Albahith, Jigow Township
Greetings to the Masters of the Pilgrims, and hail to The Luxon:
Mission Report from Childe Raymonde (Part 10)
We had prevailed in three of the events during the Festival of Merit!
The next event was the pie-eating contest. An Orc-lady was frying hand-pies and advertising the contest. Some of the contestants had already arrived. Bell stepped up to join the competition, and Bumi joined him. Some of the other contestants were a Human named Irvan, a female Halfling, and a muscular Drow. Bell won! He said "He was feeling a bit peckish." Bell received the Medal of the Meat-Pie.
The next contest was a swimming competition at one of the piers. One of the contestants was the Drow wizard we'd met at the puzzle competition, a water-djinn of some sort. The contest was to swim out to a stump, pull out a rusty spear and make it back.
I volunteered. My companions put a Haste spell on me, and I did well until I wrenched free the spear. An Orc, rudely shoving aside a Goblin to do so, snatched the spear away from me. Suddenly a shark appeared and chomped a Human contestant! The water-djinn grabbed the spear away from the Orc. Another shark appeared and attacked the Goblin, but I managed to spoil its attack. Drawing my dagger, I stabbed both sharks, my attacks energized with divine might.
The Orc took advantage of the confusion to wrench the spear back from the blue-hued water-djinn, whose name I found was Ayo. Ayo pursued the Orc, but failed to grab it away. I swam up to the Orc to take the spear and succeeded! A moment later, Ayo took it back once more and swam away. I tried to retrieve it but failed. Ayo won!
Ayo and Galsariad (the Drow wizard) congratulated me on my attempt. Ayo wanted to introduce our respective adventuring parties to each other at the closing ceremonies.
The next event -- Herding the Horizonbacks -- seemed a popular one, and several of our party signed up. Animal handling was the skill in question here. Vaal, Blync, Bumi, and Bell all did well at first, but three other contestants fell off their tortoises almost immediately. Bumi took some damaged from a tortoise kick and resigned the contest. In the end, Vaal, Blync, and Bell were the only ones to complete the contest.
The last contest of the day -- the Paddy-Whack -- was in the rice paddies. First team (teams of two) to harvest the rice from their section wins. Vaal and I teamed up against a team of two Orcs and a team of two Drow. Bumi's density-changing spell increased my strength, negating my exhaustion from the swimming event earlier. We were off to a good start but quickly slowed down a bit. But, the other teams soon got bogged down and we won! The Medal of the Wetlands had a one-time enchantment to help its wearer traverse difficult terrain.
At the evening ceremonies, two teams were to be chosen to race through the Emerald Grotto, there to retrieve a jewel -- the Emerald Eye. The winning team receives 100gp and is appointed champions of that year's Festival of Merit. Our party was entered in the final contest! The other participants were of course Ayo's party. Ayo invited us all to drinks at the Unbroken Tusk inn. We talked pleasantly and retired for the night.
We realized we still didn't have a name for our adventuring group!