Fiona and Tamwyn stood in the center of the small street, glaring at each other silently. “Probably ought to set up some ground rules first.” Marcus spoke first. “Each person picks a game. Both players have to already be familiar. Just to speed things up.”

“Sounds fair.” the sorceress replied.

“I can agree to those terms.” the valkyrie added. “So, bumpkin, what would you have your first challenge be.”

“You familiar with the Kingsmen of Tafl?”

“I have a passing familiarity with several of its variants.”

“I know a girl who officiates it if you’d like me to call her?” Fiona smirked. “Just to make sure we’re playing the same game.” Marcus hadn’t a clue what they were talking about, and must have looked it because Fiona turned to him. “You’re not familiar? Its an old game. Said one of the first emperors who sat atop four worlds invented it.” She winked at Marcus “Maybe I can teach you if you’re not too tired after I win.”

“That sounds perfect. Do you also have a venue in mind?” Tamwyn said, a minor revealing twitch in her eye at Fiona’s comment, but not responding further.

“There’s a tavern up the way that hosts a variety of game tournaments.” the trio made their way down a few of the plank streets eventually stepping off on to solid ground. It seems the tower that erupted from the lake had some amount of ground around it that it supported, and built against the tower was a tavern.

It was an old building, but well maintained. It was painted a variety of colors and appeared to double as a gambling house. Fiona led them to the counter, a rail thin young man who seemed to fade as soon as you weren’t looking directly at him manned it. “Hey Fi. Early for you isn’t it?” he said jovially.

“Nah Ralz, here to see about setting up a Kingsman show match.”

“Judge and everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Hazels off today though.” Ralz shook his head. “Why do you need her anyway? You know the rules just make sure your friend there knows it. He looks like a smart guy.”

“Its the girl actually. And we’re playing to see who gets to bed the gentleman actually.” Ralz gave her a look, then looked to Marcus, who signaled with a nod.

“Alright that’s hilarious enough that I’m going to get Hazel in here. She’ll be pissed.” grinning like a mad man he pulled out a small clockwork bird, and spoke into it. “Hazel, you’re needed to judge an official match. You were asked for specifically, yes there is a prize on the line.” Giving the key a few twists, the bird slowly stuttered into motion and took off out of his hand, flying straight out the door to the tavern.

“I said winner of best of three. Fiona just picked the first game.” Marcus stopped to take a look around. “You guys got stuff for other games?”

“Most of the usual stuff.” He shrugged “The founder who built this place was a fan of games of chance, or cheating. Said he liked a place to keep his skills sharp.”

“I think I shall take look around, and see if anything calls to me.” Tamwyn said as she departed to wander the place. Fiona and Marcus found a table that hosted the pieces for this game she and Tamwyn were about to play.

A half hour had passed before a perturbed woman stomped into the tavern, and looked around finding Fiona almost instantly, and resumed stomping over to her. “This your doing Fi.”

“Yeah, sorry. I challenged an out lander and well, wanted something at least kind of official.”

“So what’s the wager then?” to which Fiona just waved her hands vertically in Marcus’s direction. The newcomer turned and froze. After the initial shock wore off she shook her head and looked back to Fiona. “Wait, you bet...man is he pretty though.”

“Right?”

“And who is the-”

“Her challenge was to me.” Tamwyn emerged from the crowd and took a seat at the table.

“Wait, you challenged a friggen valkyrie? Are you-” and she snapped back to Marcus “You’re fucking a- wait and you’re gambling on it?” Her voice rising in volume with each question. “And you, valkyrie you’re okay with this?” Ralz had burst into a fit of rolling laughter around the third question and a small crowed had formed, various looks across them.

“Wait, theirs a competition to bed that guy? Where do I”- came from a random woman in the crowed. Another piped in “Hey, Me first!”- with a short woman pushing her way to the front to yell “No, No me first” All the attention seemed to push whatever last nerve Hazel had from the look on her face.

“Ladies!” Marcus roared over the crowd. “That’s not the nature of this competition. Its just a duel, started by the fair Fiona. My doyen, and beloved defends my honor. That’s all. About your business!” while his invocation did something to thin the crowd, some stayed or milled about watching, others getting tables from which to watch.

“Thank you. I guess. So we’re here to play Kingsmen?” the woman who Marcus guessed was Hazel said.

“Correct, although I was interested in asking a few questions. Just to ensure I understand the version you are playing over in this part of Hrot.” Tamwyn replied. She assembled some pieces on the board “This is the starting position?” A ring of brown pieces surrounded a smaller army of white pieces.

“Right”

“And the pieces are still called pikes, flails, and knights?” She continued, point at the three distinct pieces on each side.

“Also right.”

“I suppose I should hardly be surprised given your isolation.” She smiled, shaking her head. “At least you’ve got the flails.” Looking at her opponent “As I am the challenged, I get to pick my side yes?”

“Sure.” the sorceress looked away nonchalantly.

“White of course.” Tamwyn said flatly.

“If you wanted to throw the game we could just give me the win now.”

“I’d not have challenged a valkyrie to a game of war, if I were a casual player of the game.” The Doyenne smiled. “Shall we proceed?” She waved her hand over the board. “I believe it is your move.” Hesitation creeping Fiona’s face, but she reached to move one of the small brown pieces. The two went back and forth at speed for the first dozen turns, but Fiona slowed her own turns considerably.

“I thought at first, you were doing Urzen’s third gambit” her face feigning apology “But it turns out you just didn’t know what you were doing.” Tamwyn moved one of her knights to take one of Fiona’s. The game was already beginning to skew heavily in the valkyries favor.

“Who and the whats it?” Fiona paused, almost placing her hand on a piece, withdrawing it after a small head shake from Tamwyn. Marcus chuckled, but watched the proceeding silently.

“Urzen, was one of the first to master the game. He favored the brown, until it came to light that the game was horribly unbalanced. A competent white player should, theoretically never lose.” Tamwyn waving her hand in a circle as she explained. “So, the games been through a few rules changes. The current version does favor brown a bit, but they added two more pieces.”

Fiona first looked horrified but slowly her face turned to fascination. “You wouldn’t happen to have any books about it lying around.”

“Sadly no. I’ve not had access to any of the archives for some time. I can teach you the rules though.” Her grin while still predatory at the edges was warm, taking a more competitive bent. “We can find some tokens to act as the new pieces though.” A few more turns passed and it was evident who was to win the match. Tamwyn had disassembled Fiona’s initial push, and was slowly working her way around the board. She’d taken half of the challenger’s forces, before even losing a third piece.

“Alright, I know when I’m beat.” Fiona grumbled. The valkyrie frowned slightly but, set about resetting the board. “So, we can talk over that new rules set later” the frown deepened. “But I think we should proceed to the next challenge. No?”

“You can concede now, there’s no shame in it. It would certainly be a good show of humility” The warrior said, looking around

“No, I don’t think so.” Crossing her arms firmly, she met Tamwyn’s gaze defiantly. “Pick the next game.”

“I believe there was a game of dexterity upstairs? Throwing little darts at a board for points?” She shrugged “Should be relatively quick”

“Oh I’m game. Can I get a couple drinks first?” The excitement leaking into Fiona’s voice.

Tamwyn looked a bit concerned, but nodded in response. “If it please you.”

Marcus finally spoke up “I worked with a guy who could only throw darts hammered. Depends on how you practice I guess”

Tamwyn seemed to search her own memories for a time before responding “That might explain my old squires drinking habits.”

“You two didn’t want anything? Right? I mean its early, but you know. Challenges” Fiona smiled, the froth from a pint lingering on her lips, as she placed two cups on the table. “We’ll need to wait like ten minutes any way, the boards upstairs are full.”

Hazel rolled her eyes at Fiona but asked “What shall the game be, since I’m able to officiate any game in this place I might as well stick around.”

“The challenger should decide I think.”

“Lets just do something classic, like seven-o-one?” The warrior shrugged in reply, unconcern clear on her features.

“Alright, you two head up there, I’ll see about getting fair darts and a board reserved. Meet me up there after you’ve finished your drinks.” She said this to Fiona and disappeared into the crowd.

“Don’t suppose you took a good look at the space up there eh Tamwyn?” Fiona prompted.

“Just that it was a game with which I am familiar. Its simple, and I suspect I’ve an advantage. throwing a larger object farther with a high degree of accuracy prepares one for the game I think.” She pantomimed throwing a javelin “So I’ve yet to lose at these darts yet. Having done them in a few bars for money, at Singer’s request.”

“Yeah, she’s quite the shark.” Marcus smiled. “Course the boasting doesn’t hurt.”

Fiona listened while pounding the contents of her second mug, finishing with a sigh of satisfaction. “That a fact? Well, take a good look around when we get up there Marcus.” After a short while, they were led up their by hazel, who had several darts lined up on the table for inspection by the two players.

Marcus wandered, examining the surrounding area as he was asked, before finding a number of plaques, marking champions and teams from previous years. One name came up, over, and over again. Fiona Bolten, was etched on the plaques over and over again. Returning to see Fiona looking fired up, he asked “Bolton?”

“That’s me.” looking back, the visage of complete satisfaction. “You’re friend chose wrong here.”

“We’ll see.” he said, as Tamwyn lazily threw her darts at the board, scoring perfectly. He looked Fiona in the eyes and nodded his head toward the board.

“Yeah, might actually get a challenge for once.” She shrugged without a hint of concern. “I was in a party with a couple of hard drinkers for a while, so I ended up getting” her tone dropping emphatically “a lot of practice.”

The two traded perfect scores for a while. So much that the crowd had begun to thin with boredom. Hazel stepping in at this juncture “Suggest a rules amending here? How about we play to the first one to screw up? Otherwise I feel like we’re going to be here all day”

“Sure.”

“Agreed”

The two competitors replied. This change however, didn’t seem to speed anything up. The hail of perfectly thrown darts continued. Hazel looked particularly bored. “I did not imagine this to be how I was going to spend my day off.” Marcus began to have an inkling of an idea on just how he could speed this affair up.

“Hey, Girls, can we hurry this up.” They stopped and turned.

“What did you have in mind?” Marcus’s only response was a smirk.