• Graded • Step Right Up!

[Nightshade Eld]

I wasn't until the second trial of the event that a certain half breed heard about what was going on. Curious and always ready for a challenge Night decided to investigate after being tipped off by a coworker regarding the difficulty of the game. Of course this meant she had no knowledge of what had happened the day prior save for the same details she'd overheard. Knowing nothing of the attempts made before her she could only take a guess as to what might net her the prize. Deep blue eyes analyzed the scene before her. Swaths of people sat watching the attempts while dozens threw around their nels in an attempt to win. The woman would have considered it foolish if she didn't take a moment to consider the prize. It seemed rather useful, perhaps it was worth a shot. Especially if it was only a couple golden nels. Compared to her growing stockpile, a game or two wasn't going to do too much damage. From what she saw it seemed simple enough, but looks could easily be deceiving. Stormy orbs danced across the set up, trying to guess at what might go wrong or right for her. It seemed like she would be able to fly over and just grab it. She was worried it might not be that simple. After all, there had to be a reason no one else had tried it yet. Then again how many other people in the city had a functioning pair of wings? Even if she didn't get it, wouldn't it be worth a try?

The half breed stepped up, placing the required nels into the man's hand. She looked around at the carpet, looking for anything immediately around it that might tip over. If she wasn't careful she might tip just about anything in the surrounding area, her wings were rather large and sometimes she forgot the strength she held in them. She spread out the glorious feathered appendages, careful to keep them closer to her body than normal as to not potentially knock anything over. With all the caution she could summon she beat her wings once, twice, and so on until she was gently bobbing in the air. It took extra effort to keep herself aloft in one place while trying to cause as little a gust as possible, but it was nothing the storm rider hadn't dealt with before. If there were only two things in the entire world that Nightshade was good at, it was flying and fighting.

Gently and slowly the half breed glided towards the pedestal and reached not a hand downwards, but a clawed foot. The foot itself was identical to that of a bird of prey, with long toes and claws that could easily wrap around small animals or in this case a small glass ball. With all the strength she had in her foot she would reach around the ball and try to yank it off the pedestal. If it proved to be stuck then it would be easy enough to try and pry it off with one of her swords. From there she could simply hand it off to the man hosting the game and perhaps win herself a prize. Perhaps. From what she'd seen so far this wasn't the most honest of games. As such she was already prepared for her inevitable defeat at the hands of "Oh did I forget to mention". Even so, she'd still try again. This was a actually a little fun.

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

F'mos heard the now popular cry of Parren enough times during his errand, however he was not curious enough to check it out. Those taken in with the entertaining contest were enough for him to learn of it and, the more noteworthy attempts they witnessed in the previous trial. It seemed the ringleader had no shame in taking advantage of the looseness of his rules which the Aukari decided, meant there was no winning the contest unless Parran allowed it.

However that was not good enough to go against Lizzie's desire to be a part of the fun and F'mos was forcefully dragged to the courtyard full of people, eager participants and spectators alike after his errand was completed. They were just in time to see another sent away, accompanied by the chorus of "oh, did I forget to say?..." with no prize. The Aukari asked his ward one last time if "you're sure about this? No one's going to win..." before some other person which overheard him spoke of an Avriel who got really close after he made use of a technicality with the carpet the previous trial.

Which meant at the very least while Parran bent his rules as he needed to, he cannot deny a win according to the rules. There was still a chance to win the contest or maybe, that was what Parran wanted everyone else to believe...

But with no harm in trying for the prize, F'mos handed his ward the 10 gold she needed for her chance. The only thing he told her before they parted was "good luck, and don't cry if you fail." The girl herself was unsure of a method to win and looked to her guardian for guidance but being unsure himself, F'mos could only suggest "throw some rocks at it, or something. It's not a contest if I know how to win." It was something he said off the cuff and did not believe Lizzie would actually follow through but she did and it was embarrassing to him by association.

The Aukari tried his best to hide his expression as he did not expect Lizzie to immediately gather some rocks to throw at the ball; even from the spectator's seat he could see it was high enough to block any projectile from going straight at it, cup or not. It was the strangest thing after the Aukari noticed the ball never budged even though a few of the rocks hit it and that was when he realised the reason Parran never needed to do anything other than to follow the rules he set.

TRICKERY!

His eyes did not meet Lizzie's as she returned, the method she used so crude that he did not believe he could control himself from educating her as her guardian. However it was a good experience he learned from, that he had to be careful about the things he told those who relied on him as they may very well obey without thinking, which could bring worse results than just the embarrassment he felt from Lizzie's performance. While he had not intended it, he ended up in the middle of the courtyard and 10 gold pieces poorer. The eyes of the girl brightened up although the Aukari's attempt was not for her, even if he would turn out the bigger joke. F'mos took a few steps back, as far as the prepared stage would allow him until he touched on the barrier which separated participant and spectators.

Then as hard as he could, he made a run for the ball.

With his running start, he threw himself into the air before he reached the edge of the carpet and remained in flight for a few thrills; it was obvious his efforts were not enough even before he made the attempt and his descent started midway, which ended in a violent crash into the pedestal because he could not stop himself. It hurt all over but it was all part of his plan when he took the opportunity to examine the ball, cup and pedestal while he took his time to recover and then the carpet itself after he stumbled loud agony and pulled a handful of fibres for himself.

Making use of Lizzie to support himself in his retreat from the courtyard, F'mos voiced his desire to return home and ignored the fuss from the girl. The attempt had become a lot more troublesome than he expected and he could only hope it would not be wasted because he was going to make sure he would find out the fraudster's tricks and, beat them.

[Noth]

Admittedly, the hybrid very much considered abandoning the contest entirely after his last attempt, but upon seeing how maligned the crowd seemed with the trickery of Parren, he determined that he would try once more for the prize. After all, he still had an innate desire to discovery the inner workings of the artifact, and he was under the impression that if he could secure the archaic device, Marrow would be able to analyze it and either recreate it or determine its exact effects. For all they knew, it could be the key to winning any of their future struggles.

Despite his desire, however, he possessed little in the way of proper funding, which meant that he would be limited to only one or two more attempts at the device. He simply could not risk every nel upon such an endeavor, especially when the bauble being offered may simply be nothing more than a trinket. Parren was a swine and a weasel, which meant that anything he spoke was subject to being deceitful.

The twilight hybrid skulked through the shadows, shifting through the tunnels beneath his home like creeping beast. Eventually, he stepped up a set of stairs, and appeared within the alleyways of Etzos proper. The dreadful stigma against his race caused him to once more cover himself in a loose cloak and to don his bronze helmet so as to conceal himself. Gradually, the enigmatic bird found his way to the contest, joining the crowd’s number once more as he observed a series of additional attempts at the orb. It seemed as though no one had properly taken the orb, because the same one that he had seen yesterday was still visible upon the pillar.

He paid the required price of golden nels to the weasel, squeezing his hand somewhat fiercely as he passed over the coins. It was the subtlest evidence of warning, the quiet reminder that should he somehow interfere as he had last time, the hybrid was stronger than he, and fully capable of rending him to pieces. It was not a vocalized threat, but rather an animalistic one, one born of primal intuition, of primordial sensation.

At first, it seemed as though Noth would simply repeat his last trick, but he chose instead to yank harshly upon the rug as soon as he had rolled up enough of it. He was careful not to press down upon it, but rather to exert only a directional tug upon it. Technically, Parren had said only that they could not allow any weight to fall upon the rug.

Hopefully, the rug would cause the entire ensemble of orb and pillar to collapse. As soon as that was accomplished, the hybrid would spin about to face Parren, interjecting before he had the opportunity to make up some foolish new rule as he had last time,

“The weight of the pillar is the same, whether it lies on its side, or stands directly upwards.”

Crimson eyes would join the hissed remark, daring the cheating Parren to countermand his claim. Noth absolutely understood the reason that Parren was doing what he was doing, especially since once the secret to the game had been discovered, his source of income would be gone, but such logical reasoning was lost when one was the victim to such a brilliant scheme. Instead, taking the place of understanding came anger. It was one thing to simply lose a contest, but to be bested by someone acting outside of their own rules was incredibly frustrating. Actually, it was so frustrating that Noth wasn’t entirely certain that the crowd would altogether stop him from ripping Parren to pieces. Perhaps the guards, but they didn’t seem to have made their presence known.

The ball was attached to the pillar, which meant that it would not simply roll away, or in fact even touch the carpet properly. On the other hand, the pillar would lie upon its side, in prime position for the next step of his scheme.

Noth would slip a bronze nel to a nearby observer, and in return borrow a long pole capable of reaching all the way across the carpet. He would take hardy grip of the pole, and begin to jab at the overturned pillar, pressing the end of the pole against it so as to force it to roll upon its fallen side. He would continue until the entire contraption had rolled off of the carpet, and then promptly proceed around the rug to collect his prize, returning the pole to the man.

[Maltruism]

MAL:

The carnival atmosphere was back. Many that had borne a grudge against Parren for his treatment of the hybrid the trial before were mollified by his one-sided account of being target by the hybrid's own grudge against him for having bested him in a similar contest in tavern to the south. Of course, his reminder of the free ale and snacks he was providing probably did more to win back the crowd's favor than his excuses.

He went on in ringmaster fashion about how "...this contest HAS to have surprise obstacles to be fair to ME. Naturally, I can not afford give away these items for a mere ten gold nel. It takes a man of surpassing cleverness, a woman of creative insight to win here. Not some brute thinking he can just bull his way to a prize the way he robs someone of their seat in the bar when they go to use the privy! And did I not warn you all at the outset that I would be interpreting these rules liberally?"

The spectator section was already agreeing as he went on, "Still, I can understand it may have looked unfair. But here's the deal." now he half-crouched to stance denoting intrigue and stealth, his voice quieting to a conspiratorial tone, "What it takes is to envision your attempt, envision each step; then envision how you would RUIN it." his voice and stance once again soared to circus heights. "Once you've figured how to undo your own plan, how I'LL undo your plan, you stand a much better chance of staying one up on me!"

He paced now in an authoritative mode, his presence in complete control, "There is a trick to this. A simple trick. It requires no magic. But even one that is affected by magic can do it without disqualification, provided that their magic is not the means that provides success. So bear that it mind when you consider the nature of some of the approaches certain contestants have tried, and will try." His eyes strayed to Mal's location. "But...truly I have seen fair play in many such instances."

"SO...to mark a new trial, I introduce a second prize. A glove!" He allowed a look of puzzlement to cross his face, "What's that, you say? A glove? a mere glove?...NO, my friends, this is no mere glove. This glove has the ability to absorb a spell cast at you, allowing you to store it and cast it yourself later at a time...and target...of your own choosing! Now clearly this is no benefit to any of you mages in the crowd. But the rest of you may feel all the safer for having this little trinket on when some Seeker comes to call!"

Clearly the man had done his homework. The seekers had been disgraced and villified in Etzos the last couple of seasons, and been very nearly been completely hounded from the city. It was far less common knowledge that the Coven of Ellasin had, for the most part, taken their place. But, as if by prearranged timing, the Black Guard showed up to take their places, enjoying an uncharacteristic applause by the crowd, in acknowledgment of having rid the city of the previous faction of magic-users.

Parren made one last comment, "Of course, the first prize is still available to be chosen." before drawing the crowd's attention to a the newly gathering line of contestants. "So...Who shall be first? Step right up!"

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FINN:

Parren actually smiled when the youngster came up for his second try. But as soon as he crouched down with the dagger, and commented on how long his attempt would take, Parren put two-and-two together quickly and rushed to stop him. "WHOA, WHOA, STOP THAT!" he cried, grabbing Finn's arms firmly.

"Son, I can't have you destroying the carpet like that!" There was a definite drop in the enthusiasm of the crowd, as they once again saw an enforcement of a rule that had not been suggested in the least up until now. Parren was not intimidated by this, as he rose to defend his action.

"No, no, now hold on a bit there folks. This should not even HAVE to be stated in the rules. It would not be fair to the rest of the contestants to have any element in this contest completely altered in such a fashion. A flap of one side of this cut may cause an otherwise fair attempt to be disqualified for breaching a rule that shouldn't otherwise have to be worried about. No, no. I am not going to be dissuaded in this"

The audience could not really deny the legitimacy of his point, but still it rankled them to see the same endearing child caught on an unspoken rule two trials in a row. Parren genuinely liked the kid too, as he scowled at the situation. "I'll tell you what, kid...wait, first...what's your name?" being given this bit of info, Parren continued, "Here, Finn, come over here and tell me quietly what you were going to try."

There was almost complete silence as the boy whispered his intent regarding the carpet and the glass ball. Parren listened, nodding occasionally, then slowly stood with a sympathetic frown on his face. He began with a disappointed shake of his head, "Well...I'm afraid..." suddenly turning loudly towards the crowd, raising the boy's arm in triumph and shouting, "WE HAVE A WINNER!"

It took a couple of bits for Parren to quiet the crowd now, and he knew he had regained their complete favor with the awarding of a great prize to this clever and entertaining child. Still, he needed to reiterate that anything that caused harm to the carpet was cause for disqualification. It was upon Finn to choose his prize, and he was almost disbelieving as the contest master placed one of the magic gloves in his hand, "Okay, it's a bit large for you, but don't worry, it will work." Now he turned back to the cheering audience, "So who is next?"

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DORAN:

"Let's see if we have a second winner this trial!" Parren encouraged. He did not say two-in-a-row, though, since several failed attempts had occurred after Finn's successful bid. Parren kept up a quiet but consistent narrative of Doran's attempt, lauding him for his creativity, yet ultimately groaning with the failure along with the rest.

"Perhaps if the pedestal had been secured to the ground, you'd have enjoyed success, Sir Doran." he consoled. "Not to worry though, I'm confident a man of your values will find a way. There are several trials left to find the secret. However..." he now turned to address the crowd, "...this give me the opportunity to state a rule without it being in a manner that smacks of deviousness on my part." The smile he offered in conjunction with this statement did little to suggest this so-called lack of deviousness.

"I realize my rule that you retrieve the glass ball does not clarify that you ONLY retrieve the glass ball. I expect the pedestal to remain undisturbed where it sits right now." There was a groan from the crowd, who undoubtedly decided that no approach could ever succeed. But Parren reminded them that a ten-arc old child had guessed correctly.

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NIGHTSHADE ELD:

It was possible that the avriel woman had originally intended to lift both ball and pedestal from the carpet, and now had to amend her strategy. But it did not matter. Neither approach would have succeeded. The crowd was already demonstrating a tone of disappointment in their accompaniment, as Parren's grin displayed his surety of a rule to disqualify her.

He quickly folded a piece of paper into what he called a "paper jacadon" and tossed it out over the carpet, where the downdraft from Night's hovering wings slammed it to the carpet's surface. He turned a smug expression to the audience, "I think we can honestly say that the impact of the descending air current this lovely lady is flattening that paper with constitutes "weight" on the carpet."

He decided to depart from the usual phraseology, "Perhaps...I...neglected to mention..." he said with a roll of his hands to invite participation. He suppressed a chuckle as he continued, the crowd joining in unsympathetically, "...that air itself is considered to be weight if it is generated by the contestant's actions, and has noticeable impact on this spot."

Mockery was subtle but undeniable as he offered, "...but you are certainly free to try to reach from a height where your downdraft will have no effect." he turned his grin back to the line of contestants, "...Nnnnnnnnnnext?"

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NAUTA F'MOS GEEY:

Parren made no comment as the little girl with the aukari threw rocks at the glass ball. He did not add any taunts to her futile strikes, which neither broke the glass nor toppled that array. He was about to console her, and perhaps make a remark to her apparent guardian that he should have known that knocking the thing over would only disqualify her on the basis of adding weight to the carpet, when the adult suddenly reared back and charged the carpet in a leap that was as legitimately impressive as it was pointless.

Both Parren and the crowd winced with an audible "oooh" as the aukari came crashing to the ground right at the pedestal. Parren turned and gave a confused look to his audience, with a roll of the eyes and shake of the head to indicate the level of mental instability he felt had just been displayed. "Sir?" he addressed the aukari, who was still lying by the pedestal.

"I guess you must be new to our contest." he said with practice. This was, of course, one of the reasons he got so much gold. Newcomers that had not seen the failed attempts by those before them were doomed to repeat them. He explained to the aukari that both his own body, and the pedestal/Glass ball array would be additional weight and cause disqualification.

He sighed theatrically, "If you are about to complain that the pedestal is now anchored to the ground, I can only say that I have already been criticized for NOT having it anchored to the ground on some previous attempts. So, since I will apparently be criticized in either event, I'm taking this fluctuating attitude as justification to switch this condition randomly. But I AM sorry if you have injured yourself. Feel free to return tomorrow for another chance, assuming the doctor gives you leave."

His expression became mocking in tiny increments as he spoke, reaching a full snicker as he finished. "So...who is next?"

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NOTH:

Parren's expression darkened noticeably at Noth's approach, "Well I guess I should consider this grand sportsmanship that you would return to contend with such a well-known cheater as myself. That, or a grand fool." He sneered both words with emphasis to suggest the first to be unfair, and the second to be obvious. He grimaced at the force of his adversary's grip as he took the nel from him.

He watched in some annoyed confusion as the single-winged contestant tugged the carpet, toppling the stacked items. As the avriel turned on him, the contest master scoffed in the face of his observation. "What of it? Did I say that there should be some mystic alteration of its weight because of your expert tugging of a carpet?" again his tone was a blade of sarcasm.

He gestured to the carpet, "Why don't you take a closer look at the center of the carpet? Do you see it? The hole? Within which the pedestal sits? The stack does not sit ON the carpet! Therefore it adds no weight UNTIL knocked over." he scowled at the necessity of recalling his cheap shot from the trial before. "What would you have me say? That I kicked the carpet hard enough to knock the thing over anyway?"

He turned now to the crowd, throwing his hands up as if surrendering, "GUILTY AS CHARGED!" he roared sarcastically. He spun back to look Noth in the face, "Get over it, pal. You won last time. But I win this time." There are times that an act of generosity is really an insult in disguise. So it was now, "I'll tell you what, you can keep your gold. I don't need it." he said blandly as he tossed the ten gold nels on the ground at Noth's feet.

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TRIAL 3............

[Nightshade Eld]

And now the cute little game meant war. After watching so many people fail, among them people that she knew, the half-breed was well and ready to put in a good and honest effort. Good and honest effort translating to breaks of obsessing because she couldn't see how under the sun it could be simple. From what she had observed the ball was attached to the pedestal to a certain degree. Meaning that moving it hopefully wouldn't dislodge the ball. As far as she could tell though, the pedestal itself was not attached to the ground. Last time he had mocked her, saying she could try from a greater height that wouldn't generate a down draft. Little did he probably realize the half Avriel would do just that. She had spent the entire rest of the day after that tracking down a book in the library on how to tie knots as well as remembering what wisdoms Icarus had imparted on her. In the end, she had come into the possession of knowledge on how to create a lasso of sorts that would tighten as soon as she was able to hook it around something.

The half-breed came back the next day with a look of determination, 10 golden nels, and 100 feet of rope with a lasso tied at the end. Of course, she wasn't enough of an idiot to throw it when she stood up to the carpet. Nightshade, for the time being, had the aim of a blind bear. Instead, she flew up, and up, and up until she was far enough that the rope dangled in the area of the pedestal. Surely 100 feet was enough that even the strength of her wings wasn't going to cause a down draft. Carefully she would get the rope around the neck of the pedestal and yank to tighten it. With the added help of some tree sap she had found that morning, it would stick to the pedestal and make it easier. If all went as she hoped it would then the ball, which was still screwed onto the pedestal as the man had implied, wouldn't fall off and she could easily fly it over to where the carpet was not and retrieve the ball. Of course, she would rethink that plan before she actually put it into action. Instead, she would yank the pedestal up into the air with her and trying to retrieve the ball that way, since knowing the liberty of the rules taking the pedestal outside the wall might get her disqualified. She would make sure the rope was tied around the center of her body so even if the strength of her arms managed to drop the pedestal, the strength of her wings would keep both it and she aloft.

If that didn't work, which she wasn't entirely sure it would, she had one last plan that she could try the next trial...

[Doran]

On the third trial the Mortalborn knew exactly what he needed to do. As he had concluded before, the riddle could not be solved through conventional means. If he wanted to succeed and find out once and for all if there really were magic items to be won or if was all a huge scam, and Mr. Parren would disappear with the money, then he needed to think like the mortal, consider everything that he had seen and heard so far and bend the rules as much as he could without actually breaking them.

For that reason he arrived in the courtyard without any tools such as magnets, poles and tongs this time. He had not brought any potions (or his falcon) either, and the only weapon that he carried was a slender blade in a sheath at his belt. He had no intention of drawing it - unless somebody provoked him.

One thing had changed compared to the trial before though. He was wearing a pair of leather gloves this time. During the past two trials so many questionable things had happened in the courtyard, and so many alchemical creations of questionable quality and origin had been used that he considered touching any part of this place with his bare hands downright suicidal.

He met Mr. Parren’s eyes for a moment, and then he abruptly pulled his gaze away and crouched down in front of the carpet. Unlike Finn he would not have to attempt to damage the carpet in order to get his hands on a prize. No, his solution was much more simple and elegant.

[Maltruism]

NIGHTSHADE ELD:

The moment Mr. Parren saw the rope, he had a good inkling of what this avriel favorite was about to try. He was genuinely intrigued by this approach. He knew it would be dicey, but it was possible she could pull it off. He chuckled at the appropriate nature of his silent phraseology, for 'pulling it off' was surely just what the winged woman was about to try.

When he realized she was not trying to use some sort of slip-knot, he grew even more curious. Then, when it became obvious that she was using some kind of adhesive, he considered that it could constitute some rule violation. But a quick recap of his own on-the-spot judgments denied him anything clear. She would not be adding weight, she was high enough to avoid that point. If the glue was unable to be removed, he could possibly catch her on that; but even then he'd have to wait until her attempt was complete.

But the fact was, he liked this approach, and even had a partial hope she'd do it. He shook that sentiment off quickly, altering it to hope for near success, but the kind of failure that gave her hope to make some slight adjustment to achieve success. With that attitude, he might be able to get her back time and again.

She had no trouble drawing the rope up to separate the ball from the pedestal. Parren was oddly gratified to see that she had the wit to remember that she could not bring the pedestal to him along with the ball. This would be the hard part; lowering the pedestal back to land exactly in the center of the hole in the carpet.

The crowd started up cheers and directives to bring it an inch this way, or that way, or to tell her how much further down. For a moment, Parren considered telling the crowd that they were not allowed to help her; but again realized he'd had no impetus to declare such a rule before, and had certainly allowed cheering during everyone else' attempts.

For that matter, he reasoned that a couple hundred drunken spectators, all trying to out shout each other so the avriel could hear them, was far more likely to be a distraction than a help.

Amazingly, the woman did it, landing the pedestal back in the middle of the little hole in the carpet. Cheers rang out in anticipation of another declaration of a winner, but the adhesive would not let go now. Cheers turned to groans as Night's attempts to shake loose the rope finally resulted in the pedestal tipping on its side when it did give.

Parren of course, groaned just as loudly, and with as much seeming sympathy as the crowd, but had his disqualification all prepared. The woman landed shaking her head, already acknowledging the loss of another 10 gold. Parren's smile was genuine as he told her, "I thought you had me there." His voice then raised to his showman volume as he bid her, "Better luck next time."

Cheers once again resounded as the crowd shared his sentiment. He now looked back to the line of contestants. "Well? What are you waiting for? let's have the next contestant!"

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DORAN:

Mr. Parren was somewhat taken aback by the look Doran gave him as he approached the front of the line. But he shrugged it off. Most of the contestants came to him with hopeful, friendly looks. And though they mostly left crushed and defeated, they rarely had the looks that accused him of being some sort of cheat.

The truth was, he did not consider himself to be cheating anyone, with the possible exception of Noth. But that a history behind it that he felt justified him. And it would not be fair to say that Doran gave him some sort of withering glare. Still there was little of an excited contestant, hoping to see his idea achieve success, and more of a 'You don't fool me. I've got you this time' look.

In his defense, Parren had warned everyone at the start of every day that he would be interpreting rules liberally, as well as appealing to fair play in that he should not be expected to consider every possible contingency, and had to mak spot decisions from time to time. This was how he saw it anyway.

So he suffered Doran's narrowed-eyed look with a smile. He waved him magnanimously to make his try. He even showed the man the "courtesy" of not announcing him this time. Recognition was swift nonetheless, and Parren hid his amusement, being pretty sure that the "Hero of Oscillus" was growing annoyed with the relentless adulation he received in this Immortal-independent city. 'Enjoy it while it lasts, hero.' he sneered inwardly, 'Because they'll turn on you in a heartbeat, the moment they find a flaw.'

His inner grin turned to outward alarm though, as he saw the man kneel down at the edge of the carpet. "Whoa, sir. Let me hold you just a moment, if you please. I think you have the right idea and I don't want you revealing any more than you have."

After a brief consultation with his contestant, he stepped back and made a grand flourish, targeting Doran and shouting exuberantly, "WE HAVE A WINNER! AND A WELL-DESERVING ONE AT THAT! LET'S GIVE A HERO'S APPLAUSE FOR THE HERO OF OSCILLUS! SIR DORAN! THE ONE WHO WOULD NOT BE DECEIVED!"

He had hardly gotten past "WIN_" when the spectator section erupted in a frenzy of congratulations and well-wishes. Every conceivable phrase expressing how a more worthy winner could not be found was shouted and screamed a dozen time over. Parren let it run for several bits before waving them down to silence so the great man could receive his choice of the two prizes.

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TRIAL 4............

[Nauta F'mos Geey]

Four trials may have been long, but not too late to get into the action. The vendors have already enjoyed a significant boost in their profits from setting themselves up close to the contest and the Aukari thought, why only be them? The Blacks who were not as profit driven were hard to convince until F'mos made use of something they actually cared for. Money was still the main concern and where "we'll make a lot" failed, "the money will help make more food for the rest of the season. Maybe next!" succeeded. Food of better quality the Kettle could buy instead of relying on whatever came into its tent.

"It'll only be a while. A few trials. Let more people know about Kettle too." Even if he was the one to suggest it, the Aukari did not care about it however. He was more interested in the contest and, if he could convince the Blacks to let him take charge of the temporary stall, he would not only have the chance to make use of the Kettle's equipment including the large ass ladder he brought with the pot, spices and meat along with some other things for the stall like the rope; but also the chance to observe the attempts of all the other contestants.

Things did not go quite as planned as there was nothing for him to see, yet. The crowd which had yet to build up also meant no customers for him. It was earlier than he intended to but as the chance had already come, he decided to make his attempt before there could be any interruptions to him. First, he had the ladder set straight up to put himself at the same level as the railing. Then with as much time as he needed, F'mos tied himself to the railing tightly with the rope used for the stall's set up. He could only hope he remembered the number of steps he counted after his previous attempt, the distance between railing and pedestal, or he might be in for a disastrous result.

F'mos slowly crawled along the railing towards his goal until he held the rope to get him within arm's reach. The strain was exhausting and he wiped the sweat from his brow with his other hand; no point in failing from another of Parren's interpretation of the rules, like his sweat weighing down the carpet. From the top, he had a different view of the puzzle which was... interesting. It would be another depth to the puzzle he could try to make use of if he failed again.

With his hand was on the ball, the Aukari started to unscrew it. Unfortunately the sweat which was still on his hand had the ball slide off his hands as it flew towards the carpet. His own reaction to save the fragile object worked against him as the awkward angle he had put himself in sprained his back and in pain, he crashed violently into the pedestal and carpet as he did in his first attempt. Even with Parren allowing the Aukari to pull himself together there was no recovering from it.

The embarrassment made it hard for him to focus on his work but as the one to make the suggestion, F'mos had no choice but to persevere. Word of his attempt got out that even those not present to witness had to laugh when they saw the Aukari. This persisted all even until lunch when Lizzie came for her own attempt and after she heard of it, she could say nothing but only walk away. F'mos could not really blame her for it though it was still hurtful after all he has done for her.

Lizzie had always been excited for another go despite having no idea how to proceed. In the end, it was the suggestion of her guardian that she use Flapjack to fetch the glass ball for her. The idea for it came after he heard of Nightshade's own attempt; something smaller compared to the big Avriel who made enough of an updraft to affect the carpet should succeed! As F'mos could not expose his bat stone in front of all those witnesses, the bird was perfect. It was also considerably obedient to the girl now in Etzos, as she had been the one responsible of taking care of it.

He watched as Lizzie made use of the gestures the bird was trained by his father to follow, knowing the commands she used were useless and would only confuse everyone else. It went high into the air before it finally went for the ball and the Aukari could only hope his bird would not get hurt because of Lizzie's showboating. Something he would have to talk to her about after although it was obvious she was enjoying the attention she was getting out of it.

[Maltruism]

NAUTA:

Mr. Parren watched as the aukari crawled out across the ladder. He had no doubt this attempt would fail. It was possible that he'd need no aid from certain spectators to see this try go off-track. As it was, only the merest nudge was required to destabilize the grip the man had on the ball. He even winced at the painful effort the aukari made to salvage his ten gold nels' worth of effort.

But in the end, his attempt crashed just as famously as the man himself did. One particular spectator slipped his foot back out from under one of the long side rails. He had been prepared to kick the entire end of the ladder onto the carpet, per his agreement with Parren. After all, there had as yet been no rule statement regarding spectator interaction with objects beyond the scope of the carpet. But it had not been necessary to undo the attempt.

Had anyone noticed, he'd have been glad to liven up the audience with yet another 'What? Did I neglect to mention...?' schtick. But his trick had gone unnoticed, so this particular safeguard was as yet undiscovered.

When the girl approached with her bird, Parren laughed along with everyone else. Not a mocking laugh, mind you, just one of endearing amusement at the cute child and her pet. He knew the talons of this bird were unlikely to get sufficient "wrap" around the smooth glass ball. This was not like digging into a fish in a stream.

But he did not at first notice the "wrap" that was already around the bird's feet. Unaware of the aukari's previous examinations, and the cross-referencing of his accumulated alchemical knowledge, Mr. Parren had not considered that an adhesive might be placed upon the strip now wrapped around the talons that soon settled upon the ball.

It would be fair to say that the bird did not care for the sudden addition of this weight when it made to obey the "return" command by its young master. It would however, be fair to say that luck was with Lizzie that her pet cleared the carpet before dislodging the troublesome weight from its feet.

A collective breath was held by the audience as the ball tumbled through the air. A similar gasp hissed through the plaza as Lizzie came so very close to stepping on the edge of the carpet as she clapped both hands around the glass orb. Finally a collective roar of delight nearly deafened everyone present as the girl turned in triumph to present the ball to Mr. Parren.

There was just an instant of sudden doubt as the showman examined the slight smudge of sticky material still clinging to the ball. For a moment he had that feigned sympathetic look that preceded all denials up until now. But one of the guards took the words from every mouth as he growled, "You have got to be fucking kidding me..."

Parren turned a grin back to the crowd. Though it may have been forced, it was backed up by his surrender to the mood of the crowd. "WE HAVE A WINNER!" he roared, to the approval of the crowd. The outspoken guard still eyed him with some doubt, but clapped and cheered along with everyone else.

Not to be entirely defeated however, Parren had one trick still up his sleeve. He introduced a new prize. Nothing so inanimate as a headband or glove, he brought out a swirling smoky glass bottle about the same diameter as the contest target, stating that it contained a spirit, an "Anak of Force". A fun-filled, mischievous sprite that could be called upon to give things a push when they were needed.

The aspect of getting a "new pet" naturally appealed immediately to the child, and Nauta was prevented from interfering by the previously stated rule that other contestants could not impact someone else' attempt without foregoing their own. And as he had already done his for the trial, he was barred from interfering now.

Parren himself was glad to be rid of the troublesome spirit. It had not served him with much loyalty, tending to trip and shove him as often as anyone else, and had never delivered a saving push to clear him from some emptied privy pot overhead. But the girl was happy, the crowd was happy, and the guard was happy; so he was happy.

"AND WHO SHALL BE NEXT?" he cried exuberantly.

____________________________________________________

TRIAL 5............

[Nightshade Eld]

By the fifth trial, there was a certain degree of "done" to Nightshade and her actions. On the trials she wasn't trying she made the effort to at least come and watch for a couple moments. Slowly trial by trial more people either won or gave up. It seemed many others had either won their prize or also finally hit that "done". In her case, she intended to win today at the very least. She had walked into this little competition with a certain degree of excitement and creativity, she had in her heart of hearts hoped she could solve the puzzle in a way that man wasn't expecting. However, the right answer to this little equation had been one of the first things to pop into her mind. Any sense of wanting towards creativity had quickly and effectively been beaten out of her as she watched failure after failure of creative ways lose to something so simple. It was stupid. But, Faldrun would freeze before she wasted her money so she had to at least return with the simple answer and get her damn prize.

She approached with nothing more than 10 nels and a resigned look on her face, her gait quick as if she just wanted to get it over with. She sighed heavily, her body language was equal parts discouraged and angry. Of course, in the end, it would come down to a single answer that she already knew. With a second and even more disappointed sigh, she kneeled down on the ground next to the carpet and began the hard task of the obvious answer. It was a wonder why more people hadn't attempted doing as such, it was honestly the easiest answer seeing as how it was the first thing that came to mind. In the end curiosity and a sense of adventure had won out over her common sense, her 20 nels were never the wiser.