Chapter 81: Boring
Rising up out of the ground was a wall of grass that bloomed to the side a small distance away from the current groups. When the wall dropped to reveal the next team, they all seemed fine, but the piles of vomit being quickly dispersed by vines contradicted that initial assessment. The odd thing was though that talking to them was another copy of Thyme.
"Perfect this means we are all here, and I can continue the introductions proper"
""Wait a minute isn't this the tournament of five though"" said Totally Not Related at All in perfect sync.
*Well that isn't creepy at all.* "Can you guys perhaps not be creepy little shits?" asked Kress
""No, we have been cursed. Nothing can be done about this"" spoke Totally Not Related at All.
"Well could you kindly sh-" Kress was interrupted by Gareth slamming Kress' head into the floor "Ignore him"
The two Thymes examined Kress on the ground and shrugged "Technically there should be no combat allowed before I read out the rules but well, I'm going to say this is fine"
As Thyme spoke though it mixed in a strange way, the original, or at least the one that had escorted Kat kept the announcer voice, but the one speaking near the newcomers still had its original slightly feminine voice and clashed it an awkward way, like when two notes are one step from harmonising and it sounds even more out of tune.
"Can you refrain for utilising both bodies to speak at the same time if you are going to be discoursing with us. The sound is quite appalling" Kat turned to see that Nixilei actually had her hands covering her ears and seemed to be in slight pain as she said this. Kat then turned to find Green who at first glance looked fine, but with a second glance and a little demonic energy, Kat could see Green had pooled wind around her ears to prevent sound from entering.
Both Thymes crumbled at that. Literally, they disappeared into motes of dust. A moment of shock past between the crowds before bursting forth from the centre of the groups was Thyme, though this time it had doubled in size and the proportions looked slightly more correct. "Of course my friends. I had forgotten the sensitivity of certain species ears, why if I had known better, I'd never have been so careless"
"Nevermind that, let me introduce the final team in this bout" TNRA tried to interrupt by Thyme quickly kept speaking "The fifth team will not be joining us due to circumstances I'll explain after? Happy?" Thyme paused for a moment to study the faces of everyone present by twisting his whole head around keeping his body still
"So, the final team, they are Boring" said Thyme.
A silence pervaded the area. No one spoke up waiting for Thyme to continue his announcement, perhaps some of their achievements, or relevant information but nothing was forthcoming. Eventually seeing that no one else was going to ask Kat volunteered herself "That's it? Just boring?"
"Yup" said Thyme.
"I suppose I should explain, because it seems Thyme won't" stepping forward the human girl who appeared to be the healer said. Her robes were distinct and seemed to have more in common with Kat's kimono then Nixilei's robes. This girl had a thick sash layered multiple times around her waist with runes so numerous that Kat didn't even need her demonic energy to see the telltale signs of magic running across it. Comparatively the rest of the outfit seemed to be practically barren with a symbol over her heart that depicted two crossed swords and some sort of flower Kat didn't recognise, it looked a bit like a cross between a maple leaf that had been turned into a flower and a rose.
Her hair was cut short and was a bright blonde that actually seemed to be emitting a little light as she moved. Her robe was more of a grey colour and Kat could see thick brown boots poking out of the bottom. "Our team are simply qualified adventurers. As much as it pains me to admit, we got in because nobody else in our town applied and someone nominated us behind our back"
"I suppose if Thyme isn't going to introduce us properly I might as well continue, my name is Skye Moore, I'm the groups assigned healer, I practice faith based healing which has fallen out of favour in recent years, next is Evangeline Day, who like to refer to herself as Eva, and is the parties physical attacker" Skye said pointing to the only other woman in the party. Eva was nearly as tall as Gareth with a greatsword that was even larger than that, clearly designed for two handed use. She wore leather armour with thing strips of plate that covered essential areas without limiting her movement too much. Eva had a scar on her left hand that continued into her sleeve. Her arms and legs were quite thick, comparable to Green's waist in size and even under the armour seemed ready to burst into action at any time.
Eva just grunted in response "Then we have my good friend Kutruph of Grershic, our defender and old family friend of mine" continued Skye pointing out a dragonkin, he had horns that started at around hit temples and curved backwards and up. The horns were black with a slight red tint to it, with a rougher looking style that made them seem like they'd grown in stages over time slowly expanding. Kutruph had red scales covering his hands and didn't wear gauntlets despite wearing platemail everywhere else. His face was free from these scales but Kat thought she could see them poking out of the top of the armour.
"Then we have our um, I don't really have a good descriptor for Dusk, as he likes to be called, at least I think it's a he, the creepy guy just hides behind that mask of his" said Skye somewhat awkwardly. Though dusk, and creepy were fair descriptors of their mage. He wore a black robe that covered his whole body, from head to toe with a frowning opera mask where the head needed to be. Underneath the mask seemed to be black cloth to hide his features further or perhaps a darkness enchantment. Either way it was hard to know anything about his true appearance.
"Well, ignoring him we also have my husband Clive, our scout" said Skye finally introducing the last member. Clive seemed to match with Skye well. He was a little on the short side making him about her height and wore a collection of leather armour across his body. He had a bow on his back that was made of a pale white wood, and had runes aplenty just like his wife's sash. His undershirt seemed to have been patched in quite a few places, from wear or attacks it was hard to say, but it had clearly seen better days. He had a cloak with his hood up but he didn't hide his face like Dusk.
"You know Skye, pretty sure we didn't need an individual introduction. When Thyme gave us the rundown of our competitors he didn't give us names" said Clive.
Skye didn't even have the good graces to be embarrassed "Nonsense dear when introducing yourself you do it properly"
"Your husband is right, introduce yourself but leave the rest of us out" said a gravely voice that sounded slightly distorted coming from Dusks' mask.
"Well aren't you just rude then?" asked Skye
"Now, now, ladies and gentleman" said Thyme "But I don't want you to get too far off topic here. As free as I am I do have some schedule to keep, mostly the one imposed on me, but I digress.
"Things are going to be a little different this leg, for my tournament I thought I'd have a little fun with it" Thyme started to grow upwards and spreading out from his chest planks of wood quickly assembled themselves into a stage. Stretching up to give the illusion of walking over the stage Thyme placed its hands on the wood and let a wheel break its way free. On the wheel were ten dials, with five symbols each repeated twice. The symbols were, two crossed swords, a shield, a bow and arrow, a wand, and the last one was a glowing hand, likely representing each of the classes
"For your entertainment and mine, each event will be decided based on a spin of my lovely wheel here. Whichever triangle the wheel lands on will decide the class competing in the next event.
"Oh and before I forget, the final contestants won't be joining us because they insulted a bear, that was actually a druid that turned out to be the tournament organisers wife's third sister's cousin and so he took offence to that. Now they are out in the forest picking herbs as punishment to give them time to think about what they've done. Sadly I don't actually know what that is, but I bet it was funny"
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