[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason was ready to get to work around the farm. He had 39 starting actions]

[Tess’s Almanac: 50th day of Fall! 41 days until the Fall Festival. Anyone whose application was accepted, please come to the prairie to the east of Summer Shandy for the trial for Guildmaster. Anyone who would like to watch, feel free!]

A smile flickered upon Jason’s lips, and he rose eagerly. Shivering only a bit, he made his way to the window, where smoke poured upward from his eternal torches. Tess had told him about the tournament, and had begged him to come watch, so he had filled the torches with Juun bug repellant the night before. All he had to do was saddle up Lady and ride off, and he would be set for the day. He sighed deeply, then made his way down the stairs.

More and more, he found himself wanting to just leave the farm behind for the day. The previous harvest, while he had indeed managed to get a crop off of it, had been far from stellar. All told, it hadn’t even been enough grain to replant the field, and he had been forced to buy seed from Paulina for the first time in quite awhile. He wasn’t sure how the current crop was going to do, but all things considered, he didn’t see it doing a lot better. A growing part of him just wanted to give up until the Juun bugs were gone, but… If he did that, how long would it take him until he managed to get the farm back on its feet again? He had seen what a neglected farm looked like, and Juun bugs or no Juun bugs, he wasn’t going to let it fall into such disrepair again.

In any event, that day, he had a tournament to watch. He dressed quickly, then made his way down the stairs and ate a small breakfast. The moment it was done, he dashed out the front door, fed Lady, then rode off for town.

The air was crisp, though not quite as cold as it otherwise might have been. He was about halfway there when he heard hooves on the road behind him, and turned in his saddle as Jeremiah and Delilah came riding up in their carriage.

“Howdy, neighbor!” Jeremiah called out as they approached.

“Howdy!” Jason grinned back. “You’re going to go check out this here tryout, too?”

“That’s the plan.” Jeremiah winked at Jason. “I might even give it a whirl myself.”

“If you value sleeping in your own bed again, you won’t go near whatever deathtrap that girl has set up.” Delilah threatened him. “No offense of course, Jason, but Tess isn’t exactly known for making things safe for the average person.”

Jason chuckled softly. “She does do things intensely, doesn’t she?”

“Now there’s an understatement.” Delilah muttered.

Jason and Jeremiah both chuckled, and they went on together up toward town. When they came to the town square, they found the area largely abandoned, though they could hear the excited chatter from just beyond. They quickly rode up past the Guild Hall to the north, then wrapped back around to the east. As they did so, they went past the abandoned “anti-guild-hall” that had been built up the year before. Tess had neglected to tear down the fortress-like structure, though Jason really couldn’t fathom quite why. He imagined that she had some use for it, or perhaps Constable Hank just didn’t want multiple burned-out shells of old buildings scattered around the village.

In any case, they soon came around to the backside of the village, where a proper gauntlet had been set up across the prairie. Jason whistled softly as he took in the contraption, wondering just what exactly took place in modern-day dungeons. The old, blocky one that he had taken Tess through had been just… Rooms.

Spread across the prairie, though, was an immense obstacle course well over a hundred feet long. A small platform sat at one end, just in front of a large pit of mud that had long strands of barbed wire stung overhead. Coming out of the far side of the mud pit was a narrow balance beam. Small boulders hung from ropes just above the balance beam, no doubt providing extra difficulties to anyone trying to make it through. Past the balance beam was a ladder leading up to a platform about twenty feet off the ground. Spaced out away from this platform were a number of poles, each with an equally small platform mounted on top. They started out fairly close together, but by the last one, there was a nearly ten-foot gap that would have to be crossed. The final pole had a ladder that led down to the ground… Only to immediately transition into a large climbing wall. Of course, the climbing wall only had about three handholds, each spaced further apart than Jason’s entire body. At the top of the climbing wall was a flag, which was presumably the end of the course.

“Welcome, everyone!” Tess called out loudly as the assembled villagers clustered around. “All contestants, please watch carefully! I will go through this course once, to demonstrate how it can be accomplished. I don’t intend there to be any tricks, I just want to gauge your physical fitness.”

Jason and Jeremiah dismounted, then made their way to a place where they could watch everything. Smiles spread across both of their faces, even as Delilah rolled her eyes and muttered something about “menfolk.” Tess quickly walked up to the start of the course, then glanced around the crowd. Her eyes locked with Jason, and she grinned, then turned and plunged into the thick of the mud.

Jason had to admit that he was more than a little impressed. She tore through the mud like a fish, arms and legs pulling her along faster than Jason thought he could have run along the side. Meanwhile, Daniel stepped up next to the boulders, and began to whack them with something resembling a baseball bat. They swung back and forth wildly, and by the time Tess came to the end of the mud pit, they were all swinging with vigor.

Tess leapt up out of the mud and balanced carefully on the beam. She hesitated for a moment, then bolted forward. Her feet slipped a bit on the beam, as they were still covered mud, but she didn’t fall. Instead, she seemed to dance nimbly between the boulders, and came to the end with a flourish. With that, she climbed up to the ladder, paused, and leapt from platform to platform with the grace of a cat. She hardly even seemed to be breaking a sweat when she climbed down the ladder on the far side, and the way that she climbed up the climbing wall made her look more like a spider than a human. When she came to the top, she took hold of the flag and spun around, and the crowd cheered.

“Alright, then!” She called down loudly. “Who’d like to try to follow me?”

“Me!” A voice cried out, and one of the strapping young villagers came marching forward. Tess nodded, and he walked up to the end of the mud pit. Daniel started whacking the boulders back and forth, and the boy dove into the mud with a splatter.

Almost instantly, the true difficulty of the course became obvious. It took the boy almost twice as long to get through the mud as Tess, and where Tess had looked rather like a fish, the contestant looked more like a floundering duck. He slogged up the far side, climbed shakily onto the beam, and paused for a moment while he considered the boulders. After a moment, he nodded and bolted forward… Only to slip from the beam and fall flat on his face before he ever came near the boulders.

The crowd winced, and Tess called down from her perch.

“This isn’t timed! Take as much time as you need. I want to see that you can do it, not how fast you can do it. Speed will come with practice. Being a Guildmaster for the Warriors Guild means not making any mistakes. It doesn’t mean you win races.”

The boy climbed to his feet, his pride seemingly injured more than his body, and he slunk away. A girl went next, a shepherdess that Jason had seen around town during his time there. She made it through the mud pit a good bit slower than even the boy, but as she stood up on the balance beam, she had a far surer footing. Jason had to admit that he was impressed as she made it almost halfway through the field before being sideswiped by one of the enormous rocks, and was thrown down.

After her, the rest of the villager contestants all gave it their best shot. Not a single one made it past the boulders, and Tess encouraged them to try again. They all went back, and while the majority were struck down a second time, three of them managed to make it through. That said, the poles proved the undoing of each and every one of them. Two of them attempted the jumps, only to slip and fall down to the ground twenty feet below (in those cases, their bodies seemed injured more than their pride, though Theresa was on hand to make sure that they recovered quickly). One of them, the same girl as before, took one look at it after climbing to the top, and decided that it wasn’t worth falling flat on her face and breaking a limb. At the end of it, not a single one made it even close to Tess. She stayed up top, looking more than a little bummed, and Jason sighed.

“I’d better go talk to her.” He started walking in her direction, but was cut off by a yell.

“Tess!” Jeremiah called out. “You mind if we common peasants give it a whirl?”

Tess looked down and gave a small shake of her head. In retrospect, Jason wasn’t sure if she meant that no, she didn’t mind, or no, don’t try. Whatever the case, Jeremiah took it as permission, and rushed to the start of the mud pit even as Delilah called out after him.

“Jeremiah! If you put one toe in that contraption, you’re going to regret-”

Jeremiah dove into the mud with a loud squelch, and Jason chuckled. He went completely under, then came up sputtering and gasping for air. Still, though, he forged on, performing a breaststroke through the thick sludge that would have made a professional swimmer proud. When he came to the end, he was dripping like a swamp monster, and stepped shakily up onto the balance beam. Daniel started whacking the boulders to get them moving, and Jeremiah wobbled a bit.

“Wow! This is a lot harder than it looks. How much do you think these things are going to hurt?”

“Not as much as my rolling pin when we get back home!”

Jeremiah smirked, then ran forward. At least, he tried to. His feet slipped on the beam, and he fell headlong into the path of an oncoming boulder. The whack was audible across the entire area, and his body was tossed to the side rather rudely. He rolled across the ground several times, coming up at the feet of Delilah, and groaned.

“Ooh… That hurt a lot more than I was expecting.” He slowly struggled to his feet, wincing a bit and holding his ribs.

“And was it worth it?” Delilah demanded.

“Totally.”

Theresa rushed over to take a look at him, and Jason chuckled and walked over to the base of the climbing wall. Tess soon dropped down next to him, and she sighed deeply.

“Did any of them even remotely show enough promise?” He asked softly.

“Not a one.” She grimaced. “Believe me, I’m not trying to be rude here, I just… This was a very basic course. If they weren’t even able to pass this, they’ll be eaten alive in the dungeons. That’s not an exaggeration, either. All of these things you’d have to be able to do just to get through the Summer Shandy dungeon.”

“In fairness, none of these people here are warriors. I don’t think most of them have ever even been in the dungeon, except maybe on a dare.”

“I know.” Tess responded. “I just wanted to get someone local. That way, I could make sure that everything was in good hands. Don’t get me wrong, I think I can find a warrior who will be good enough, but… It’s far from ideal, you know?”

“Yeah.” Jason flashed her a small smile. “Well, if worst comes to worst, you could guarantee that Jeremiah would give it every ounce of effort he had.”

“That he would.” Tess laughed. “Well, thanks for coming out, Jason. Want to come eat lunch with me before you head back?”

“I’d love to.” Jason nodded. “Lead the way!”

As he walked away from the course, despite feeling elated at spending more time with Tess, he did have to admit to feeling a bit of fear. His farm wasn’t working out well… Tess was struggling to get a replacement for the Warriors Guild… Neither was going to affect the wedding, but both would make things far more difficult if they weren’t figured out quickly.