Fantasy The Clueless Wizard (Completed)

[Yokai]

》Play Eggs of Fortune.

Puttering down the street Arden huffed out a low breath as she glanced over the faces in the crowd. It seemed that Alexei wasn't anywhere in sight this time around. Which clearly -- obviously -- meant that she'd have to continue spending his tickets. It was inevitable really. Who could truly be to blame for such a thing?

One of the games that caught her attention was a stall called Eggs of Fortune. It seemed like something she'd enjoy, especially with her minor background in divination. Who knew? Maybe her magical abilities would give her an advantage? It wasn't cheating if she was doing it without malcontent or malicious intent.

 

[ArcticFox]

The eggs of fortune stall had several clay balls displayed on shelves behind the vendor. The balls were empty and the clay had been worked very thin like an egg shell. Similar to the other booths, the line was fairly long, so Arden would only want to stand in it once.

As the most powerful (and only) Wizard in the land, she knew that there was no true magic here. Among all the games she had seen so far, she realised that this one required no skill and was pure luck.

"Everyone's a winner! Pick an egg and gain the blessings of the Four!" The vendor said when she reached the front of the line.

- Pay 10 tickets to pick an egg.
- Don't play the game.

 

[Yokai]

》Pay 10 tickets to pick an egg.

Logically, Arden acknowledged that she could use her divination skills to increase her chances of making a correct guess. But there was a certain charm to luck based games that she greatly enjoyed. Whether she won the blessings of the Four or not -- which she was still unsure about being a thing because while she'd maintain an open-mindness it was difficult to comprehend something as massive as literal Gods -- it was the game that mattered. And that small thrill that a person got when they were about to find out if they guessed correctly.

"That one, please!" Arden chirped brightly, pointing a finger to an egg in the upper left.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Here you go, miss Wizard." The vendor handed her the clay moulded egg, which she was then prompted to crack against the counter to reveal her prize. "Oh, you are lucky indeed!" The vendor grinned when the item inside the clay proved to be a small silver ring with an elegant white crystal. It was a nice piece of jewellery and could be sold for a couple of coins certainly.

The smell of food reached Arden's nostrils and reminded her that she did not eat lunch yet. Away from the egg stall she saw a small stand where the smell was coming from. It was a barbecue of some kind and the proprietor was roasting meat on short wooden skewers.

Most of the food-sellers have gathered together where several tables were propped, since many people liked to choose their own food, yet still eat together. One intelligent entrepreneur had broken this trend and was being rewarded with many hungry customers who were happy to stand and eat their food instead of walking all the way to the food court.

"Wizard Arden!" A voice called from the stand.

The stand owner strangely was Percival, the halfling merchant she met some time ago. It looked like he was no longer angry with her. The line parted and she was able to walk up to the grill without waiting.

"Here, please have a kabob on the house!" Percival said with a smile, handing her the skewer.

He motioned for his assistants to take over, walking out from behind the counter. "May I walk with you?"

Without waiting for an answer, he joined her as she passed down the street.

- Eat the meat.
- Hand it to the beggar on the street.
- Say you don't eat meat.
- Throw the meat away.

 

[Yokai]

》Eat the meat.

How pretty! Arden flashed the vendor a grateful smile as she slipped the silver ring onto her left pointer finger and departed the stall. The smell of food lured her away from the bustle of the festival games and toward the source. It appeared to be some sort of barbecue. The manner of the food wasn't what confused her, however, it was the familiar face behind the stall that caught Arden off-guard.

"Percy?" Arden asked, almost hesitantly. He'd been annoyed at her the last time they'd spoken, and rightfully so as she'd had him placed in custody for possible treason. "Oh? Of course!" Her answering smile was delighted as they turned to continue her walk down the street. She took a curious bite of the mysterious meat skewer. Hopefully he hadn't poisoned it out of spite.

"Was there something you wanted?" She asked, not unkindly. There was no apology to be given as Arden genuinely believed she'd done the right thing for the situation. Putting him into custody had cleared him of treason after all, even if it was a crappy way of going about it.

 

[ArcticFox]

Although she wasn't sure what animal the meat came from, it was still delicious. Percival watched her as she enjoyed her snack.

"My business are doing good despite everything." He said, a bit of accusation in his tone. "I was released by the late Queen due to a lack of evidence and the people of Blackcliffe are not the ones to hold a grudge. My store has been doing well and this meat booth has already made me a tidy profit."

Arden could notice that Percival's long hair was tidy and he seemed pretty energetic. He had the swagger and confidence of a businessman.

"Here's the thing." He said. "I grew up poor, but I've always been a hard worker. I have big dreams. I'm not content to simply do what my parents did before me. I want more.

"I know that war is coming, and with war comes profit. I want to get into the metal business, but right now, I can't buy mining rights. We have the mountains, we have the ore veins, but the late Queen wouldn't approve any new companies. If I could just plead my case to King Tobias, I think they'd agree that a new business opening up one of the old mines would be good for the Kingdom. Could you do that for me? Could you write me a letter to get me an audience with the new King? You do kind of owe me for all the inconvenience from a while back."

- Agree.
- Urge him to seek an audience on his own.
- Refuse.

 

[Yokai]

》Agree: urge him to seek an audience of his own.

"I am sorry, Percy. But I don't regret what happened. It was better you were cleared by the authorities rather than on my own hunch." Arden reasoned gently though she did see the halfling's point. He made a good proposition about investing in the metal business; war was definitely on the horizon now and she distantly recalled the royal siblings' previous conversation about ore. Unfortunately she couldn't remember exactly what they'd been talking about anymore.

"I'll bring it up with the King if you'd like," Arden ventured, slower now as she mulled the idea over with a troubled expression. "Though, you should be aware that King Tobias doesn't like me at all despite my stellar personality. And that by associating with me might actually lower your chances," She warned him dutifully because it was true; she wasn't the King's favourite. Not by a long shot. "I think you should seek out your own audience as he'd be interested in the proposal but... if you really would like me to say something then I will."

 

[ArcticFox]

"Well, I doubt I'll get approval on my own, but I'll try." Percival shrugged. "Thanks, I guess." He said, then waved goodbye and returned to his stall.

Arden was now approaching the other game stalls. She heard a loud roar and a crash and instantly saw a familiar orc standing at the Hammer Smash booth.

- Play Hammer Smash.
- Play Lucky Day.
- Play Ring Toss.
- Throw away the tickets and stop looking at the carnival games.
- Keep the tickets you have and don't play anything.

 

[Yokai]

》Play Hammer Smash.

One guess on whom that roar belonged to. Drawn by the noise the young wizard wandered over to the curious stall in order to watch the game. Honestly, her physical strength was abysmal, even for a human, and she doubted her string-like arms would be breaking any records today. Arden really didn't want to embarrass herself further by trying. Give her something she was good at like... uh... she'd have to come back to that.

"Hmm, of course you'd be here~" Arden teased in terms of an amused greeting. Hammer Smash was the probably Kogan's middle name or at least it seemed like the kind of name he'd call his first born son.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Oh, look, it's the Wizard! All brains and no brawn." Kogan teased. "Too much time studying in the Tower, wouldn't you say? Come on, let's see what you got."

The stall looked like the traditional setup she'd seen in many movies. Kogan handed her a large hammer which she could barely hold. She was supposed to use it to hit a stump with some sort of a primitive mechanism that moved the little wooden ball up and over the board.The board was covered in lines and drawing. The lower pictures showed silly stick figure people and the highest showed muscular men standing in heroic poses.

Arden would have to be tough and lucky to win this game. She had 70 tickets.

- Hand over 50 tickets.
- Hand over 10 tickets.
- Hand over 1 ticket.
- Don't play it.

 

[Yokai]

》Hand over 1 ticket.

"I shall have you know that I'm a delicate flower," Arden retorted primly, though she was already rustling up a single ticket to hand over. Despite her previous objections she figured it'd be funny to see how she compared to others on the strength scale. She had a feeling that the small stick-men and women were around her level. One didn't get to be as slender as Arden was by lifting weights after all. No, no. This bod came from a mild case of malnutrition and a lot of cardio.

"This is going to be embarrassing." She decided before hefting the hammer up over her shoulder. Good God. Even that required far more strength than she should rightfully have. What did they feed the people in Blackcliffe!? It took a moment of effort and struggle on her part for Arden to bring it down upon the tree stump. Mainly she just tried to use the momentum of the hammers weight.

 

[ArcticFox]

"The wizard doesn't feel very confident." The vendor of the stall exclaimed. "Look here look here, everyone! Let's see the big smash!"

The hammer struck the button with a decent amount of force. The ball went up to the middle of the chart before falling back to the ground.

"A good try!" the vendor shouts. "Our Wizard has some muscles under those robes."

"That's not half bad, boss!" Kogan slammed her back in his usual friendly pat.

The next player stepped up as their friends grinned and encouraged him.

Kogan left to follow some different attraction and Arden continued on her way to explore. And then, a little way out of the hammer tent she saw Alexei standing and keeping a watchful eye on the crowd.

- Ask him to accompany you for a drink.
- Give him back his tickets.
- Sneak past him.

 

[Yokai]

》Give him back his tickets.

Would you look at that; Arden didn't completely embarrass herself! Incredible ladies and gentlemen, absolutely mind blowing stuff.

Feeling a little better about herself the newly confident Arden exited the Hammer Smash tent with a slight bounce in her step and a small, delighted smile. One that only brightened at the sight of Alexei loitering on the outskirts of the crowd. Though, she had to wonder whether it was still considered loitering if he was the authority figure in this situation. Nonetheless she tried to sneak up on him.

"Hello, gorgeous!" Came the cheerful greeting as Arden popped out of the crowd. "I believe you dropped these a while back?" She didn't wait for a response before she was retrieving the tickets to hand over to him, still chattering warmly. "Though, I will admit to spending some out of wizard curiosity. Strictly business stuff, y'know? Besides, you've still got 69 tickets left!" Arden would've waggled her eyebrows at the knight but she wasn't sure the joke had the same meaning here.

 

[ArcticFox]

Alexei flinched at first, hand dropping to his weapon, but when he recognised her a smile spread over his face.

"Arden." He nodded in greeting. "Still as cheerful as ever. On another treasure hunt maybe?" Then his gaze dropped to the offered tickets and he quickly shook his head. "Oh no, I don't need them. Keep them. But, you can thank me with a pint."

He then moved toward the drinking tent and motioned for her to follow. As they walked through the streets, Arden became aware of just how popular he was. It seemed like everyone nodded or said hi as they make their way to one of the large white tents.

The tent was filled with guards and most of them were very drunk. Alexei smiled again.

"It's actually a day off for all the guards and knights, but I still like to keep an eye on things. Just in case."

- Buy a pair of pints.
- Buy a pint for him.
- Leave.

 

[Yokai]

》Buy a pair of pints.

"Somebody has to be," Arden shrugged with a smaller smile as they ducked into the drinking tent. It almost looked like the entire guard was there and at Alexei's explanation she hummed in understanding. After the few days they'd struggled through, the people they'd undoubtedly lost, she figured they deserved to get completely smashed and enjoy themselves. If anything it made her more appreciative.

"Here, take Watson," Arden said as she turned to face Alexei again, passing over her beloved staff. "You find us a seat and I'll grab the drinks, okay?" She flashed him a reassuring smile before venturing over to the bar. It took a moment but she fished out the change for two pints from her cloak. Instead of carrying a bag -- like a normal person probably would -- Arden had stitched pockets on the inside of her cloak. It had effectively weighted down that garment and provided some sneaky hidden compartments.

"Two pints of ale, please!" Arden chirped.

 

[ArcticFox]

Alexei found an unoccupied table to sit at, while the guards he passed by stopped him with greetings. The drinks came in containers the size of pitchers. Many of the other patrons in the tent were holding the same size of drink as they have been given, but they were also among the drunkest people in the festival.

Alexei beamed and picked up his drink. "Glad I ran into you, Arden." He said, bumping her pitcher with his own.

- Drink the beer.
- Sip it slowly.
- Don't drink it.

 

[Yokai]

》Sip it slowly.

Arden was beginning to reach the conclusion that the people of Blackcliffe were all raging alcoholics. As in, she'd die from alcohol poisoning before she finished an entire pitcher of ale. Bustling over to the table, while carefully maneuvering around the drunken patrons so that she didn't spill their drinks, Arden placed Alexei's drink before him with a bright smile. It took a moment but she managed to sit down without spilling her own -- a feat that was immediately rendered useless as they bumped pitchers.

"Hmm?" Arden hummed around her first sip, dark eyes glanced up at him from behind the mug. It took a moment to register what the knight had said and her eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Oh! Yeah, it's great to see you too, Lexi. Especially since there was the whole..." She trailed off awkwardly and fluttered her empty hand in the air. "...thing with the castle. I'm, uh, glad you're okay." That definitely could've been said more eloquently and she winced minutely.

 

[ArcticFox]

The cold beer tasted good, but she could see that other guards weren't planning on spending the day sipping.

Music started to play from the corner of the beer tent as a grizzled old bard strummed his lute. The song was a crowd favourite, though she had never heard it before. The lyrics were suggestive - the main refrain required audience participation and everyone was expected to slam their fists on the tables.

Quite unexpectedly, Alexei happily sung along. The tables close to their filled with men and women. Many of them were guards, soldiers, labourers and other gruff figures. The table filled with drinks as everyone started buying one another rounds.

More than a few drinks are brought in front of Arden and Alexei and the people seemed very happy to have them there.

- Sing and drink with everyone else.
- Sing, but don't drink.
- Drink, but don't sing.
- Return to the festival.

 

[Yokai]

》Sing and drink with everyone else.

The atmosphere in the tent was lively and exuberant, not dissimilar from the music being played. Arden grinned broadly at the cheerful bard as he played a raunchy song that she heartily approved of. The lyrics were all but unknown to her though that didn't stop her from joining in when it came to the singing and the slapping of tabletops.

Now, Arden was a lot of things but she what she wasn't was a good singer. In fact, she was remarkably talented at consistently singing off-key for the entire duration of the song. Thankfully the combined voices of the drunken patrons appeared to drown her out. Even if they hadn't though... Arden would've sung along; the alcohol had loosened her tongue and she was having far too much fun.

 

[ArcticFox]

She had several more drinks along with everyone else. It continued to get louder in the drinking tent and someone sloshed a glass of ale across her sleeve. The table bounced up and down under pounding fists and everything started to feel sticky. Alexei was starting to get tipsy too. He sang loudly in a surprisingly pleasant voice, smiling constantly as everyone had a boisterously good time.

When Arden turned toward Alexei she suddenly felt his lips pressed onto her own.

- Return the kiss.
- Pull back.

 

[Yokai]

》Pull back.

Feeling delightfully tipsy -- or, more likely, warmly drunk -- Arden was having a great time singing her heart out. The atmosphere of the tent was beginning to influence her emotions and put her in a good mood. As she turned to Alexei, prepared to tease him about the surprisingly pleasant note of his voice, she was completely taken off-guard by another pair of lips upon her own.

For a second, maybe more, Arden leaned into the kiss as her eyes fluttered closed, lips soft and pliant. Then her lizard brain appeared to catch up with the situation and she quickly pulled back. Lightly tanned cheeks were flushed -- something she could attribute to the alcohol -- but her eyes were wide with shock. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then it opened it again. Unable to find any words as she was effectively left speechless for the first time in months.

Alexei was drunk, she reasoned with herself, that kiss definitely hadn't meant anything. And she really, really needed to go find Mel.

 

[ArcticFox]

The guards and other patrons around them whistled as they kissed and then laughed as Arden pulled back. Alexei was smiling too, his eyes a bit glossy, but he was certainly not the drunkest one in the tent.

"I'm sorry." He said with a smile, though he did not look particularly flustered. "I blame the atmosphere of this Festival."

He did not try it again, simply continuing to sing along with the bard. He would not be walking out of that tent anytime soon. It was time for Arden to move along and check out the rest of the festival.

- Play Lucky Day.
- Play Ring Toss.
- Throw away the tickets and stop looking at the carnival games.
- Keep the tickets you have and don't play anything.

 

[Yokai]

》Play Lucky Day.

Something in Arden relaxed at the apology and she offered a slightly lopsided smile back, relieved that the kiss hadn't meant anything other than him being caught up in the mood. Still, it took a while for her heartbeat to return to normal and for the heat in her cheeks to dissipate. With another song building in momentum Arden took that moment to retrieve Watson and slip from the tent. She gave Alexei's head a little pat on her way past in her own unspoken apology as she left.

"Now, where to next?" Arden murmured to herself, warmed and slightly dizzy from the alcohol. Dark eyes glanced over the stalls for something to catch her attention; Alexei had let her keep the tickets after all. After some thought -- her train of thought was definitely slower -- she settled on the Lucky Day stall and made her way over. Arden's good mood had returned at full force now that her shock was overridden.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Do you feel lucky?" The vendor asked her. "No magic allowed, please. This is a game of chance. A game of luck! Are the gods smiling upon you today? Let's find out."

The lucky day stall was a purple tent covered with numbers where one tried to guess the number that the vendor had written on a piece of slate. You get six tries to guess his number. This looked like a traditional guess-the-number game where the vendor would tell you if your guess was higher or lower. Arden had 69 tickets left.

- Bet 50 tickets.
- Bet 20 tickets.
- Bet 10 tickets.
- Bet one ticket.
- Bet some other amount.
- Leave the tent.

 

[Yokai]

》Bet 50 tickets.

Ducking into the purple stall Arden glanced around curiously at the numbers that adorned the interior of the tent. It was like being inside a giant purple maths book. Well, if maths was just a complete gamble of numbers -- which it was when Arden did it. She flashed the stall owner a grin for his admonishing, the only spell that would help her in this situation was divination and Arden was too tipsy to attempt magic right now.

"Guess we will!" Arden replied, slightly ominously as she fished out her pack of tickets. Now, she wasn't feeling particularly lucky but she did have a lot of tickets left and only one more game. She might as well go big or go home, right? With that thought she took the 50 tickets and handed them over. "My first guess is 715!"