Re: Thread #1a - Swallowtail Tales: The Oracle's Tale
Kerr looked on with concern as Liseth went to stand in line for the Herb Challenge. He hoped she would do well; he couldn’t stand the thought of her being brokenhearted or ashamed by some sort of slipup or inability to answer a question that she thought she should know. He knew Liseth was easily embarrassed, but he had no idea why . . . she was easily the most beautiful, fun, and knowledgeable woman he had ever known.
He couldn’t for the life of him understand why she was so hard on herself. He supposed that this sort of thing was what Father Z was talking about earlier in the week when he told Kerr that women were a mystery. But, although he was certainly no warrior, Kerr wasn’t the type to give up just because something was difficult. If Liseth is a mystery, Kerr promised himself, I’ll be the detective.
Kerr forced himself to stop daydreaming and watch the competition; Liseth had made it to the front of the line. Kerr watched as his friend walked around with Hannah, an older elven woman who had sold herbs in Sandpoint for as long as anyone could remember. Toward the end of the walk, he saw the blonde girl blush bright crimson. Kerr gritted his teeth; he hoped she hadn’t lost her composure because of one mistake.
Kerr watched as Liseth finished up her round with Hannah and walked dejectedly back to him, a mournful look on her face, and listened to her tale of how she had treated Hannah like some sort of delinquent student who needed extra lessons on the toxic qualities of nightshade. As she started to walk past him up to the lunch area, Kerr put his hand on her shoulder.
“Liseth?” He said. “I think that was just, um, something like a qualifying round. Too many people attend the challenge for them all to compete directly, you know? So Hannah walks around with each prospective contestant in order to choose who is in the final tournament. I mean, if you’re someone like Willow Sanderson, there’s no question. But she needs to evaluate most people first. We should probably wait for her to announce the participants?”
Sure enough, just at that moment people began to crowd around Hannah as she stood on the porch of her shop. As Hannah began to read off a list of names, Kerr could feel Liseth gripping his arm.
“WILLOW SANDERSON.”
“BIRGIT MARSH.”
“ELANA SCARNETTI.”
The names went on, and on, and on. But no Liseth. She kept on gripping his arm tighter, and tighter, and tighter. Kerr had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Would the Challenge go forward without Liseth even getting a chance to show what she knew?
“LISETH THORADIN,” Hannah suddenly called. Relief washed over Kerr; he looked down to see Liseth’s beautiful smile glowing as brightly as it ever had.
“Go get ‘em, Lise!” Kerr watched as his friend went up to Hannah and was assigned a competition partner. Soon 16 pairs of herbalists stood in front of Hannah’s shop. The young acolyte knew that he probably wouldn’t understand half of what was answered, much less what was asked, but he figured he could tell what was good or bad just by Liseth’s response.
The competition began. Hannah walked down the line of paired participants, asking each couple a question, dismissing the one who was not first with the correct answer. When she finished her stroll, sixteen contestants remained. Including Liseth! Hannah grouped those remaining into eight pairs, walking down the line again, asking questions.
“Hawthorn!” Liseth almost shouted, and nearly before Hannah had stopped speaking. Hannah smiled, nodded, and dismissed Lise’s opponent. Kerr was starting to get really excited; the line was now down to eight people, who were then grouped in four pairs.
Hannah began her walk again.
“Tea Tree Oil,” Liseth responded to Hannah’s question, and the answer got her through to the next round. Kerr was wearing a huge grin now. He flashed Liseth a thumbs up; she was one of the final four contestants!
Hannah paired Liseth with Birgit Marsh, one of the oldest women participating in the Challenge. Kerr figured this would be it; no one Liseth’s age was going to be able to compete with that kind of experience. He bounced slightly on his toes as Hannah walked up to the pair, asking her question.
“Butterbur!” Lise had gotten the right answer again! She would be in the final pairing with Willow Sanderson! Kerr could hardly believe it. He had known the young blonde was really knowledgeable about herbs, but beating Birgit Marsh to the punch was nothing short of absolutely, unbelievably incredible.
It was clear that Liseth’s success was getting to Willow Sanderson, who had no idea who this young blonde girl was or how she had obtained the knowledge necessary to make it this far in the Challenge. Kerr saw the tension in Willow’s eyes and her determination to be first as Hannah stood on the porch behind the two herbalists and asked her question.
“Tarragon!” Willow shouted in triumph, eliciting gasps from not a few of the onlookers. Hannah just looked at her in astonishment.
“I’m sorry, Willow, but that’s not the correct answer.” Hannah glanced at Liseth. “Liseth, do you know this one?” The blonde girl shook her head mutely. Hannah gave a slight grimace. “The answer is anise.”
“We will now have a tiebreaker question,” Hannah stated. “Whoever gives the first correct answer to this question first will be this year’s Herb Challenge winner. Are we understood?” Both women nodded intently. The crowd of onlookers had grown. Kerr could hardly stand the tension.
“Are you two ready? Good.” Hannah took a deep breath, then asked her question. “Which bulbous, highly volatile tuber is prone to exploding if not harvested correctly?”
OOC: I call it “Milk Thistle Madness.” :) Liseth, you have one shot to beat Willow Sanderson after her nigh-incomprehensible fumble on the final question. You can see my rolls for your opponents in the Dice Roller. She scored a “19” on the tiebreak question. If you score a 20 or higher on your roll you win the tournament. If you score an 18 or lower you lose. If you score a 19 just roll again . . . I don’t want another tiebreak, lol. The answer to the question is “Dead Man’s Head,” by the way, should you need it for your post.
Win or lose, please end your next post up by the cathedral for lunch, if you don’t mind. :) Thanks!
This message was last edited by the player at 09:17, Sat 31 Aug 2013.