Mawr gags on the noxious odor.  What have you been eating!?!

Not wanting to suffer that again, once the air clears, he regrips the blubber and gives a mighty heave.

11:56, Today: Mawr rolled 16 using 1d20.  Poison save(12).
11:58, Today: Mawr rolled 3 using 1d20.  Next try.

Frank broke into a rare fit of croaking laughter as the gigantic walrus let loose with his thunderous fart. While he was not betting, the entertainment was decent and he leaned forward to see if the bear might walk away with the prize.

In reply to Abbi Enn (msg # 42):

Desi jumped. Her hand instinctively touched the little dagger at her hip, but didn't draw. The girl beside her was shorter than she was, and smiling. Desi quirked a smile back.

"Jeez, Abbi, don't sneak like that! I jumped a mile." Desi pointed to the ring. "That bear. He's going to manage it. I'm dead sure. I just don't know what Gibbsy's playing at. Is he bored? Does he owe someone? And is that the only reason they rang the dumb bell?"

The turtle leaned forward but Sheldon leaned the hell back yeah the raccoon had BO issues but who wants to sniff fishy walrus farts? Not him, that's for sure! If only they'd given him a chance to place a bet before this silliness started...

"Anchovies," Kole the Massive replied simply.  And then burped as the (much smaller) mutant polar bear dug in and HEAVED.

There was a hush in the crowd.  Mawr's sinews trembled.  This was, truly, the heaviest weight he'd ever attempted.

But with a shudder, the mutant walrus cleared the arena floor! Mawr lifted him up and was raising him high!

Mawr, please make a Dexterity check.  1d20, wanting low.

In reply to Desi P (msg # 45):

"No way," Abbi said, moving alongside her friend and leaning in to watch as Mawr struggled with the voluminous mountain of odiferous blubber.

"Honestly, I don't know, but I doubt Gibbsy did anything on his own.  And when was the last time you saw Chief Elder Sakai milling about the crowd on a Friday night?  Something's up."

Mawr, please with his results at fulfilling the task to which he set his mind, was now facing the task he dreaded most, returning Kole to the earth without damaging either himself or the mound of blubber.  Not that he worried as much about Kole, but he did want to keep a good standing in the community.


14:55, Today: Mawr rolled 4 using 1d20.  Dex chex.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:59, Tue 13 Oct 2020.

"Oh, well, where would you suggest we start then?" asks Nic, ignoring the spectacle.

Spot sat very still, a toothy grin unwaveringly pointed at the elder.

In reply to Abbi Enn (msg # 48):

Abbi had a point. What was Elder Sakai doing at a...what was this? A walrus-lifting?
Desi lowered her voice in case anyone but Abbi could hear.

"Chief Elder Sakai is always lecturing me. Ever since I was a kid. He's always, "Self-control" this, and "inner-focus" that. But you're right. He sure is chatty."

The raccoon just looks up and stares at the polar bear lifting the walrus.

He backs up slowly, just in case they tip over. He did not want to be roadkill!

Frank joined the smattering of applause that had begun to build up. He would have bet against the bear, but apparently that would have been money lost.

Sheldon backs up into Frank's shell.

"Oops! Sowwy!"

He had seen a great many things in his time and travels on the island, that fart having been one truly for the ages, and that in itself would have been enough to make Freddy's evening..

But the bear did what he would have thought impossible, lifting that massive creature off the ground, a feat he would have bet anything was a wasted effort..

And he would have lost..

and so he joins in the growing applause, impressed beyond words, his tail waving excitedly as well, as he gets very much caught up in the moment..

The arena comes into view just a few seconds as the applause begins. He looks in, confused. All Kaden sees is Mawr and Kole standing....lying....whatever it is that they do....there. Neither looks the worse for wear, although Mawr does look a bit winded, maybe? There was that horrible smell, but no clue as to what was worth seeing or applauding for.

Damnit, he should have kept running. Slowing down is always a mistake. You miss things!

Turning to another villager, he asks, "What did I miss? What?"

Even as he claps, Freddy hears something and turns to follow the sound of the voice, having to smile at how his words are going to sound..

"The bear picked up the walrus..after a fart that almost leveled the village"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:44, Thu 15 Oct 2020.

It wasn't the lift that had Mawr breathing with difficulty, it was that odiferous display of the gastrointestinal process of combining acid with carbohydrates in a fermentation process, producing the byproduct of excess air.  The air always needed to be released, but Kole picked an inopportune moment to release it.  Maybe he would make a great defense for the village.  He could send any enemy running.

Mawr says to Kole, Thank you for remaining still during the lift.  I appreciate it.

He will saunter over to Gibbsy to collect his gold coins.

Having fixated entirely on this depressing and apparently mysterious task that he'd be assigned to by...by...by somebody, Nic is quite surprised to hear a sudden burst of applause. Even Spot has started barking approval.

Looking around, he sees a ring of people in the direction that Mawr had gone off to. Apparently, the polar bear is deeply loved by this village, in a way that poor, invisible Nic will never be.

Nic heaves a heavy sigh, unaware that the prison he lives in is of his own making, and turns back to work.

"Sure," Kole the Massive responded, a bit shakily.  He wasn't used to being lifted.  For a moment, Mawr had teetered and almost dropped him, but thumped him back to the arena floor harmlessly.

The crowd was still milling about even as Gibbsy shelled out the 50 gold into the polar bear's paw.  The event had certainly brightened the mood around here... people had been positively grim before.  But then, not having a good catch was liable to do that.

Sakai frowned and glanced out into the night, the torchlight flickering across his features ominously.

"I have a suspicion," he replied to Nic. "A fear.  After the crowd disperses, come back to the arena.  If you're willing."

As the crowd began to slowly disperse, the entertainment for the evening apparently over... each of the PCs felt a pull.

It wasn't a compulsion.  More like an instinct.  An instinct to stay, as if the arena was someplace they needed to be.

They were free to overcome this urge if they wished.

Mawr took the gold back to where his pack was.  Finally, he had something to put into it.  He put the pack on his back and talked to Nic.  "That was smelly!"  He will follow the rest to the arena area.  He is too curious to not attend.

Having missed the main event, Kaden looked around forlornly, hoping for some kind of diversion more interesting than a short brisk jog back home.

Freddy turns and begins to leave, beginning to head off, not really having anything in mind, but he turns back, not totally sure why, shrugging his shoulders and falling in step with the others, the Arena as good a place as any, the decision feeling right as he makes it..

The elder leaves Nic just as Mawr returns to the pack that Nic had been "guarding" for him.

Misinterpreting his ursine friend, Nic assumes that Mawr is, for some reason, describing the gold he's putting into his pack as smelly.

No, that can't be right. He must have done something smelly to earn the coins. What can you do in ten minutes and earn that much coin?

Shrugging to himself, he suggests to Mawr, "I believe Juffi-wup has some sweeter smelling goods for trade. Also, I got a lead on your fish thing. I'm supposed to come back to the arena at the end of the night."

Nic accompanies Mawr for much of the rest of the night, dutifully saying hello to everyone, but somehow seeming to always pick the worst moment to interject himself into conversations, or greeting someone while their mouths are full.

By the end of the night, he finds himself at the arena (the appointed place) at the appointed time.

Sheldon wandered over to stylus again as everyone was heading out.

"Hi 'gain. Read dis please?"

He pulls out a thin metal chain necklace, ending in two flat metal plates with writing upon them.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Fri 16 Oct 2020.