The two kinds of people were the honest, excited, trustworthy people seeking to get a good deal or find an amazing treasure that he could display with pride throughout his entire life, Giant fish, beast’s heads, and the most impressive parts of creatures such as tails, arms, or legs. The festival of IceMill also attracted thieves who were looking to swipe as many varieties of goodies and hide them in a patchwork burlap bag. Some thieves guilds have contests at these types of festivals, and some of their recruiting agents are specifically looking for individuals who can not only steal a lot of stuff without getting caught, but also making it out of the village gates without getting searched. The quickest way to do this would be to climb the wall, but that is a bit hard with a heavy bag in one hand, and to climb a twenty foot wall without getting noticed is a challenge in itself.
Guards know of this, and so seeing a man with drenched patched clothes and heaving attracted their attention.
“Oy, Guv’” shouted one of the men “what on earth are you doing? You come into this town during the most prized season of the decade, and you look like a fool, a soaked and wet fool! N’ to top it all off, you nod all calmly to us as you just walk on by. You ‘etter have a good reason for coming in like a fool, or else I’ll ‘ave to clop yuh’! Hur, hur, hur!”
Grobble cleared his throat and began to speak “I am Grobble, son of Oaken who is son of Thyrmir, who is son of---“
“I do not care who yer’ granddaddy’s name is you fool! I just care why you’re in my town looking like you got mugged by fishmen!” Screamed the guard.
“If I told you that that was true, would you believe me?” Grobble smiled a toothy grin.
The fat guard became furious and his face went from red to a deep purple. “NO! I would NOT believe that, unless the Daily Dragon newspaper said men were being attacked by fish people. I can assure you, there are NO SUCH THINGS AS FISH PEOPLE!”
Grobble tried in vain to calm him down “Look, I did not want to miss the festival, so I swam the lake. I am sorry I made you so mad.”
The man settled down almost instantly “Well why did you not say so, mate? Have a glass of whiskey and a towel.”
After his drink and his towel he was warmed up. But there were only a few hours left of the festival and Grobble began to panic. Then a man with a friendly face and a straw hat came up. He was carrying a lute.
“Well hello, my friend!” He said cheerfully “Allow me to be your guide and take you to the best spots in town, so you do not waste any of your precious time. Although I would like a small contribution of five silver pieces, or one of the old ones with the holes in middle!”
Grobble reached into his pocket and pulled out five dull silver coins. The bard bit them all to check if they were fake then shook Grobble’s hand. Grobble’s hand was cold and hard like a stone while the Bards was frail and small for a man.
“Fancy meeting you mate! My name is Talak Thundersnap and my father Grim, was the most famous bard in this part of the country.”
“I am Grobble Tearslaughter, who came from the Dwarven town of GeerRake to see if I could catch a glimpse of the festival. I’ve been running all week just to see it.”
“Well it was a wise decision to come out here. Here, let me show you around.” Spoke the bard and away they went.
They stopped at the very best pie stands, fish markets, magic shows and caravans. By the end Grobble had only a few steel coins left. That was when a jester approached them. He wore a jester’s hat that came to two points that was purple and green with gold bells. The rest of his clothes were red and blue with some black with silver bells. His shoes were green and pointed, and they twisted back toward his heel. His voice cracked as he spoke, and he sounded at least twenty years older than he looked. He tried to sound with the youth and optimism of a young jester, but had a very difficult time doing so. He seemed very out of place among all of these peasants and merchants.
“Well hello there! My name is Gera-ar, and I come from the mountains in the north, hence the –Ar. Ha ha! That makes me sound like pirate! Ay, but I got what you want, mate. You see, I’m old. You can tell from my voice. But I do not look old at all, see? No wrinkles! I have been using magic for the last twenty-two years to keep my youth about me. Now I am retiring. Now I can tell you only want the best of the best, no? Well I tell you what. I will give you this orb for 3 coins of any type. You must accept before I will give it to you. That is the deal. Now for my trick to work you must tell me, do you accept, or do you decline?”
Grobble thought for a moment, pinning the pros against the cons. Finally, after several moments, he spoke. “I accept, and will give you these 3 steel coins.” He handed him the money.
“Steel, huh? Well that is an interesting choice.” The jester spoke. He pushed the steel coins into 3 slots in the orb then cast a quick spell, Mumbled something, and handed Grobble the orb. “Hold the orb and think of a weapon, be as specific or as general as you like, and it will turn into it in your hand. Not only that, but it can also turn into any kind of armor or shield, but it cannot be more than one thing at once!”
Grobble’s hairy chin hung open. “Th-this is amazing!” He sputtered! “I could never afford anything like this, though.”
“Oh it’s free of charge. It is getting late, and the burden of having too many magical items, instruments, tools and weapons has really gotten me down.” The jester coughed a few times. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must lie down.” With that the jester clapped his hands twice and a caravan covered in cloth just like the jester’s appeared in a puff of purple smoke. The jester clambered in, his face expressionless, clapped his hands twice, and was gone, leaving both the bard and Grobble astonished and bewildered.
A couple of minutes later, the bard showed him to the best cheap inn he knew of. It really was good for a cheap inn. It had actual beds! Grobble went inside to talk to the innkeeper. He was fat, and looked extremely tired, just like the guards. He had pudgy, wet hands, and a dirty, uncombed mustache that appeared to have looked like something at one point. He swayed in his chair, and was obviously drunk.
“Whysh Hellosh!” He sputtered. “I’msh the Innshkeep! SOME FESHTIVAL, HUH?! I’ve beensh having loadsh of time fun! Er, I meansh fun timesh. Or do I meansh time funsh? I dunno’. You can havesh yourshelf a room for twos a copper!”
Grobble handed him the money, thanked him, and when the innkeeper finally figured out which of the keys were the right one (There were five, but the innkeeper saw 30.) Grobble went to his room and decided to try out his new orb of power. First he tried a simple thing. Long sword he thought and the orb turned into a basic, steel colored long sword. He tried a few more things, mace, club, flail and all of them came out a basic steel color. He remembered the jester saying he could think of anything specific, too. He thought of a golden sword, the orb changed to a golden sword.
Well, yep until next term, this is Dylan Waters, I mean Blue Lightning, going to play drums.
