Session 8: The champions of goat-ball

General Summary

After a night without any trouble, we all ate some breakfast and got ready to continue. Janey & Valstrax were practicing with their magic. They were shooting their ghostly snakes and weasels to a target to improve their aim. After we were all ready, we broke up camp and continued on our way.
The trip was surprisingly uneventful, especially after that ghostly dwarf mentioned that this was such a dangerous area. We heard some birdlike singing in the distance, but it disappeared soon after.
After half a day of travelling, we arrived at a valley. On the other side of the valley stood a large wall. Giant chaser told us that we were almost at a Goliath town called Veomakanu, his hometown. When we got a little closer, we could see two Goliaths approaching us. They greeted us, and were a little surprised that we came from this side of the wall. Apparently, this side was very dangerous, they were impressed we survived the journey. They told us there are Harpies, Owlbears, creatures that turn people to stone, and a giant blue serpentine creature that are way too fast for their size.
In order to pass through, we would have to pay a toll. The ghostly dwarf did mention grey humanoids and a toll, these were probably the people he meant. The cost would be 205 gold for the entire caravan, but they gave us an alternative to paying. If we were to prove ourselves worthy through winning a game of ‘goat-ball’ we would be allowed to pass without paying the toll. Losing would mean that we would have to pay the toll anyway. Since it seemed we had nothing to lose, we decided to play the game and hoped that we would win.
One of the Goliaths went back to the town to get the opponents while we were led to the playing field. When he returned, he was joined by four other Goliaths. These would be our opponents; Dilla Mountaineye, Torin Keenclimber, Tuvi Wildhunt and the chieftain himself Granuk Tribebearer. While Goliaths are already huge, Granuk is a Goliath among Goliaths.
‘Goat-ball’ is played with two teams of four, our team consisted of Brynn, Janey, Vallstrax and I. The playing field consisted of a grid of tree stumps of differing heights; players can jump form stump to stump to get to better position. If a player would fall of the stumps, they would be out of the game. A ball made out of the skin of a goat is used to throw at the other team, if they get hit without catching it, they are also out of the game.
Both teams took up position on the field and the game begun. Tuvi was the first to be out of the game, being hit by the ball which was thrown by Valstrax. Torin, who ironically is a keen climber, failed to jump to another stump, falling down to the ground. Janey used her magic to make as much of a distraction for the other team as possible, knowing that from her position in the back she wouldn’t be of much help with throwing the ball. I was the third to be out of the game, I also missed my jump and fell. Obviously, this game was not designed for Dwarves. This gave me a good sight on the rest of the game however. Valstrax was given the ball by Brynn and threw it towards Granuk with all his might. To everyone's surprise Granuk was unable to dodge or catch it and was removed from the game. This only left one Goliath on the field, Dilla, who was a skilled marksman. It was three versus one, but the ball was in Dilla’s hands. She took aim for Brynn, but Brynn was able to catch it. With Janey creating a distraction, Brynn faking Dilla out before passing the ball to Valstrax, and Valstrax coming around the other side of Janey to juke her out, they removed Dilla from the field as well, and won the game.
The Goliaths congratulated us with our win, and allowed us to pass without a toll as promised. We did take a short rest to recuperate after the match. While resting Janey asked me to craft her a small metal brazier and gave me the money required.
Praying to my god allowed the metal of the coin to transmute and form into the brazier she required, I handed it over to her when she got back. While I was praying, she had gotten some herbs from the local herbalist.
After the rest, we traveled onward towards Kampbel. We reached the end of the mountain range, and a bit of a meadow opened up. Valstrax spotted a hare in the grass, he took out his longbow and shot it. Much to Janey's annoyance, who wanted to spare the cute little rabbit. Surprisingly, this part of the journey was also very calm. I guess luck is on our side ever since we passed that first wall.
Before dusk, we arrive at Kampbel and we will be spending some days here before crossing over to Slowbel by boat. I sure hope there is a smith in this town. It has been too long since I have felt the heat of the forge.

Rewards Granted

5181 xp totaal