[IC] The Darkness that Binds Us

[Lucius Cypher]

Ralthavar woke up early this morning for the Harvest Festival. This would be his last year to compete for the Harvest Cup, since by his next birthday he planned to leave for Neverwinter. Eating a hearty breakfast Ralthavar gathered his few belongings and headed out of the house. Outside he saw his old friend Taimane. She was already a skilled mercenary while Ralthavar had been living in West Harbor for most of his life. But that would change eventually. Walking up to Taimane Ralthavar gave her a friendly smile and wave.

"Taimane! Nice to see you again. Looks like this is our last year to compete in the Harvest Festival. Ready to take home the prizes this time?"

[Luna]

"Yes and luckily I came back just in time to compete" she said with a smirk on her lips as she looked at her dear friend. "So any plan to beat though damn twins down the street cause I dont want to lose to them again." she said glaring at said twins who were laughing with some other people who were out and about playing with her soft brown hair.

[Lucius Cypher]

Ralthavar cracked his knuckles at the sight of the Mossfeld brothers. "I got a few tricks. Thing is however, the twins have back up: Their older brother. Apparently you weren't the only one who managed to make it back for the festival. The twins are easy enough for even me to deal with, but Wyl is going to be the real pain in the ass."

The Mossfield brothers, Wyl, Ward, and Webb, had a bit of a reputation for being brutes. But their brutish nature also made them strong competitors of the Harvest Brawl. Wyl himself had joined the Neverwinter Army and made a bit of a name for himself. But despite their skills, their arrogance was going to be key to their defeat: They had no sense of teamwork despite being brothers. If Ralth and Tai could focus on one, they could take down the brothers one at a time.

"Sounds like you want to start off with the Harvest Brawl. Fine with me; I want to be the one to kick Wyl's ass first. Just remember the rules: We can only use the clubs given to us, and once the enemy goes down, that's it for them. They can't get up, nor can we finish them off." Ralthavar led Taimane to the area were they'll be fighting. However before they could fight the Mossfield brothers, they'd have to fight the runner ups first: The Lennon Sisters. Scrappy girls, part of the militia, but they got more bark than bite. "Heh, looks like they're our first opponents. Ready Tai?" Raltahvar asked as he and Taimane were given their Brawling Bats.

[Luna]

"Of course I am always ready"Taimane smirked as she swung her bat loving the wind on it. "Hmm this is perfect. Hmm the Lennon sisters, tell me have you gotten even weaker since last year or did you actually try to improve or did you get sloppy with your timing" Taimane said to try and get them red with anger so when they fought the girls would lose quickly. She side glance her partner and snickered at him before turning her head back to them her ears twitching.

[Lucius Cypher]

Ralthvar smirked at Taimane as she taunted the Lennon sisters. "Hey, don't sweat it. Let's go out for drinks when I win, alright?" Laughing heartily the two girls attacked, forgetting about their tactics to simply duel with Ralthavar and Taimane. One of the Lennon sisters tried to swing low at Taimane, to smash her knees. The one Ralthavar was fighting tried to smash him strait on the head, but he deftly moved to the side and tackled her towards her sister.

[Luna]

Tamane smirked and dodged the Lennon sister flipping over her using her head as a stepping stone to land behind her, she swung her club hitting her roughly in the back causing her to fall to the ground, she smirked when she saw her sister be tossed on her. She thought she heard her opponent's back crack a little

"You think they would have learned from their trainning, I guess not" she said with mock saddness

[Lucius Cypher]

One of the Lennon sisters turned to try and stand, but Ralth was already there, pointing his club at her nose. "As much as I'd love to keep up the good fight, I'd suggest you forfeit now. At least so you and your sister can try to take part in the other tournaments." Ralth smirked at the sister who simply stared daggers into him, but tossing her club away was her sign of surrender. A horn blew signalling the end of the fight, with Ralth and Taimane as the winners.

Everyone cleared from the area and got healed, at least if they were hurt. Since neither Ralth nor Taimane even got hit, they needed no healing. "Alright! With the Lennon sisters out of the way our last opponents are the Mossfeilds. Overseer of the brawl says that once we're ready, we just got to head over to the brothers and make it clear to them that we're ready to take them on. Same rules as before of course; clubs only and no coup de graces. You want to fight them now, or maybe grab a bite to eat?" Ralth jerked his head towards various stands and stalls a bit away from the arena. The locals of West Harbor brought their crops and produce to sell, such as corn on a cob, candied apples, alligator tails, and generally anything that could be grilled or fried on a stick. There were also vendors selling various drinks, from the famous Harbor Mead to more mundane cider and juices.

[Luna]

"Hmm it not good to fight on an empty stomach and I haven't ate much since I got back" Taimaine said looking at her friend and partner as she rubbed her slim stomach. She flashed him to a grin and a fang showed its self as she walked towards one of the many food stalls sitting down. "I will take some alligator tailed that is fried and a corn on the cop please" she said to the stall-keeper.

[Lucius Cypher]

The stall keeper nodded his head and started to heat up the coals for Taimaine's corn and alligators. Ralth sat next to his friend and called out to the stall keep. "Grilled mushrooms and a two Harvest Meads." It wasn't long before they had their orders. Taimaine's alligator tail was crispy, not to mention huge. It was almost as long as her forearm! The corn was pretty big too, with warm butter melting right on top of it. Ralthavar had a bowl full of mushrooms that were grilled and covered in various spices, as well as two heavy mugs of Harvest Mead. They were a strong, dark brown alcohols made from honey. He could smell the sweetness from them. "Cheers!"

[Luna]

"Cheers!" she said smiling as she ate her food finishing it all under ten minutes. It was amazing that a girl like her finished all of that food but being a mercenary that traveled everywhere it shouldn't be much of a surprise and she was also a werewolf so that gave her some benfits of finishing her food and never gaining any weigh no matter how much she ate."Hmm that was a great meal" she said with a smile.

[Lucius Cypher]

It was a good thing Ralth didn't order a lot. He barely finished his mushrooms by the time Taimaine scarfed down her food. It wasn't a surprise really, he knew her werewolf origins. If he was a kid he'd actually try to finish his food before she did, but after one too many upset stomachs he learned to slow down. "Yeah! But we should let that food settle for a bit. Wouldn't want any... Accidents to happen in our next fight."

In the distance Ralth and Taimaine could see the Mossfield brothers horsing around at their table. Their brother was regaling tales of his time in the army to a crowd of onlookers, mostly children. Ralthavar may have never left the village, but even he could tell that some of the things he said were lies, like how he repelled a group of Lizardmen at Neverwinter City. Lizardmen lived near the wilds, and there was no way a group of them could have made it to Neverwinter. Highever maybe, but not Neverwinter. "Bah. Look at them. Just because Wyl joined the army, now he thinks he's some great hero." Ralthavar didn't stay to listen. He got up, stretched, and looked around. "We still got the whole day before the Harvest Festival is over. I'd rather not fight so soon after I've eaten. Wanna try for one of the other competitions? I know either of us can use magic to the wizard challenge is out of the question, but maybe we could ace the thief challenge."

[Luna]

"Hmm I would love to try the thief challenge, it is always fun" she said with a grin paying for her food and stood up strength you popping a couple bones as she looked at the Mossfield brothers and rolled her eyes "You think they would take the competition more serious, that will be their downfall. I am more stronger than I was last year" she said as they walked towards the other competition. She stopped when they got close looking around.

"Hmm I feel like something bad is going to happen" she said.

[Lucius Cypher]

"Huh? What are you talk-" As Ralth was about to ask, he slipped on the mud and fell onto the ground. But as he did so he hit his hand against a pile of logs, which shocked him. With electricity. "Yeouch! Seven damned hells! What was that?" Ralthavar rubbed his wrist and looked at the pile of logs. Upon closer exception, they were magical runes written on the logs, and a green feather stuck in them. "Huh. What the heck is this all about?" Ralthavar tried to reach in only to feel static shock him. "Ow! Huh. This must be part of a challenge. Maybe the thief challenge? Here Tai, help me get this feather. I need something like, like a stick or something. Not metal though! I see some sort of magic rune on this that keeps shocking me. I think if we get too close it zaps us. Hopefully it doesn't shock us if we use a stick or something."

[Luna]

She nodded and got a stick that was close by worry in her eyes for her friend "Are you ok though, you seem to get quiet a shock" she said ignoring her own instincts of danger that was quickly upon them and that would prove to be a fatal mistake as she handed him the stick. She shivered and looked around."Ralth my instincts of danger coming are going wild. I think something is about to happen" there was something in her voice that was rare in her voice. It was fear

[Lucius Cypher]

Ralth looked concerned at Taimaine. Effortlessly he was able to snatch the feather out from the trapped logs with the stick, but he didn't really care about it. He stood up and looked at his friend. "Tai, calm down. I... I know West Harbor isn't the safest place on the Sword Coast, but come on! It's the middle of the day, and even bandits wouldn't be so foolish as to attack us now. I mean... Yeah, sure Wyl is full of himself, but he's not the only soldier here you know? The militia is still here, and if there's anything they can't find, I'm sure Daeghun or Tarmas would have discovered something already." Ralth never really had Tai's danger sense, but he did have a rather calming aura. It was certainly helpful when he has to deal with rowdy people or wild animals. "Come on, I'm sure it's just your life as a mercenary that's getting to your head. You see danger around every corner and can't help but feel paranoid for it. But don't worry! I'm here for you, aren't I? And I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, not today."

((There will be something happening later, but not during the day. When the festival is over, than things will get intense. If you'd like we could skip over to then. There will be a lot of fighting, and not against mere bandits...))

[Luna]

she bit her lip and forced herself to nod "O ok if you say so" she said though she felt sick to her stomach saying those wards cause she knew this wasn't her mercenary job that was getting her but it wasn't and she knew it. She forced herself to relax for now and hope that it would soon past or it would cost them to the festival big time.

[Lucius Cypher]

"Yeah!"

Ralthavar and Taimaine spent a bit of time with the Theif's challenge, which was a breeze for Ralth. It consisted of not only finding feathers (Of which they just found one), but also picking pockets as well as opening locks. Most of the participants were kids who hardly knew how to stop giggling when they were sneaking around, but for Ralthavar he won without a problem. The overseer of the Thief Challenge was Tarmas, the village wizard. He didn't really want to take part of the Harvest Festival, but someone else was already taking care of the Wizard Challenge and Tarmas did volunteer to "Do his part" for the festival. As a reward, both Ralthavar and Taimaine received a Wand of Tricks. A simply little magic wand with only one spell, and it seemed more like Tarmas was just trying to get rid of it rather than give it as a serious reward.

After finishing that up, it was getting late. The sun was going down which meant now they'd have to fight the Mossfield's or else they win the Harvest Brawl by default. "Ready to challenge the Mossfields Tai?"

[Luna]

She nodded though she was still holding down her fears. "Yeah maybe it will take my mind off the feelings that I was feeling earlier" she said managing to not stutter out like she so badly wanted to and made her way back to the place they were before when they defeated the Lennon Sisters and already saw the Mossfield already prepared for their battle. She stopped just short of the area and looked around but still saw nothing out of the ordinary and she shook her head making those feelings go into the back of her mind and grabbed her weapon

[Lucius Cypher]

Soon Ralth and Tai were in the area ready to face off against the Mossfield brothers. The three cocky boys looked ready to fight, but Ralth just yawned and flourished his club. "Remember Tai, one at a time." As soon as both sides were in position, the judge started the match with a screech from his trumpet. "Let the Harvest Brawl Championship begin!"

[Luna]

Taimaine smirked and nodded ignoring whatever she was feelings as she began to fight the oldest of three men not giving the man a chance to fight back as the other two went after Raith.