As Shaa walked around the party, the sounds of talking, laughter and general merriment were heard up and down the well adorned beach. The Minotaur was having a good time so far. The weather was pretty nice, everyone seemed to having fun. There was no indication that anyone was looking for trouble so he decides to relax a bit and see if he could find something interesting.

A loud voice in the distance catches his attention. Come one, come all adventures of Charon! Are you brave and bold? More importantly are you…hungry? He was brave, bold and definitely hungry. What in the world was this guy going on about? Curious about the barker, Shaa saunters over to a sign that is posted below the raised platform where the barker was. The sign read as followed. 

BEACH PARTY EATING CONTEST. CAN YOU OUT EAT THE COMPETITION? Participants will eat items priced by the organizers until they can eat no more. The last person standing will receive a trophy and various prizes from our sponsors “Icky Pete’s Food Emporium” If it’s sweet, it’s Icky Pete’s” See the barker for details.

Shaa read the sign several times over to make sure he understood. It was ALL YOU EAT? Shaa had been kicked out of places with similar policies. But this time, it would actually come in handy. He looks up at the barker. The barker himself is a older looking Gnoll with mismatched eyes. He smiled wide but in a creepy way like he was going to try and eat you , not that he was friendly. He looks down at Shaa, twitching a bit. Hello hello friend. You look tasty…I mean hungry. Forgive, my common tongue is tricksy yes? Did you haves a question? Shaa looked at the barker skeptically. 

Yeah. Is this really all you can eat and, if so, where do I sign up? The Gnoll smiles wickedly as if only he was in on some inside joke. Oh yes yes. All you can eat, if you can eat it yes. Some good food stuffs are only for the bravest. Now Shaa was definitely skeptical. The bravest is a weird requirement, like what? The Gnoll shrugs. All will be revealed at contest but fear not. All tasty things and good prizes if you win. You tough yes? Want to win? Entry is free, this is part after all. What you have to lose? My lunch he thought to himself. Gnolls were infamous eaters of all things that moved and some that didn’t so an eating contest by these guys had to be interesting to say the least. Fine, I’m in.

The Gnoll smiles and points to an empty seat on the podium in front of a large table. There are a couple other contenders that had already taken their seats. The first Shaa actually recognized. He was a middle aged goblin by the name Chuck the disgusting. Chuck had made a name for himself in some of the competitive eating circuits by once eating his own finger to win. It was, in fact disgusting but Shaa had to acknowledge the goblins determination. Next to him large female ogre that he didn’t recognize. She looked about typical for an ogre and Shaa wondered what she had done to get invited to the party. Then came Shaa and next to him, one more empty seat. The barker looks over at him. Just one more friend and we ready to go. Who comes next yes?

Blue ran up right after the big Minotaur headed in. They'd had the same question after hearing the Gnoll's speech, but couldn't read the sign. Thankfully, they'd had their question answered for them. It really was all you could eat! The ooze was always hungry, with an endless appetite for just about anything, so this sounded amazing! It hardly sounded like a competition to them at all, just a free buffet! They didn't think twice about the "bravest" part. They were super brave! They'd fought all sort of things! And then, more importantly, they'd eaten those things! This just sounded more and more perfect!

"I'm in!" Blue said excitedly and headed right past the Gnoll without another word. The barker seemed a little taken aback, not expecting a human to enter such a competition, but didn't deny them entry. He just smiled deviously and shrugged, figuring he already knew who the first to drop out would be.

Blue still didn't seem the least bit worried as they got a look at their competition. They were fairly large for a human, standing six feet tall and with a broad, muscular build, but the ogre and Minotaur were both still more than twice the size of the blue-haired man, but this didn't seem to bother them at all. The most curious contestant was the tiny Goblin, with Blue not knowing their reputation. They'd never encountered the competitive eating scene before. It was probably for the best for everyone else though that they hadn't.

"Hi!" Blue quickly greeted as they sat down next to the Minotaur with an eager smile, ready for the competition to begin. The barker came out after a few moments to announce the start of the competition as the final contestant had finally joined. As he walked past, he leaned to each contestant and whispered.

"What are your names, friends? Must announce them, yes? For the crowd." He said with a hyena-like chuckle.

"Wolfe." Blue said simply, and the Gnoll nodded and looked to the Minotaur for his name.

As a friendly looking human stepped up onto the platform an took a seat, the barker seemed satis and started opening some nearby crates. One by one, the shifty Gnoll places a large bowl of pasta in front of each contestant. Shaa looked over the bowl carefully and it looked to be plain old pasta with butter and some sort of seasoning. Nothing weird yet. Shaa shook his head. Why was he just waiting for the other shoe to drop? This was a party. Everyone was having a good time. He needed to get back into a good head space and enjoy himself.

Shaa turns to the human knight. Why was he blue? Shaa shrugged and smiled. What up man? Hope your ready. Might have to earn this one. Hehehe. As the barker came back around, he introduced himself as Kevin and started asking the contestants their names. Shaa found the knights name was “Wolfie”. Then it was his turn. It’s Shaa. The barker gives him a kind of an odd look but Shaa couldn’t tell if it was an actual weird look or just the gangly Gnoll’s regular face. Next was the Ogre who’s name was Farla. I am Farla. You cute little things don’t stand a chance. Finally Chuck introduces himself. When he does, a small mob of goblins cheer wildly from the side. Who knew that he had groupies? The crusty goblin picks something off his arm and waves to the crowd. This guy might just win out of content not volume. Esssh.

The barker stated the rules. Hello and welcome everyone to the eat contest yes? The contest today is sponsored by Icky Pete’s. Icky Pete’s: You eat food and stuff there. Icky Pete’s. 3 locations with new one coming to Moonglade this year. Shaa had only seen Icky Pete’s a couple of times and knew some of the beings that ran them. He didn’t realize it was so far spread out. Now rules. I give you food. You must eat all of food before this hourglass run out. The Gnoll holds out a large hourglass with very little sand in it. It can’t be any more than three minutes. If you eat all food before sand, you go next round. We keeping going till only one left and he.. the ogre coughs loudly or she is the winner and gets prizes. Kevin points to a medium sized crate with a red ribbon on top near the edge of the platform. Shaa looked at the crate, the contestants and then back to the pasta. Seamed simple enough. It should be fine right? Ok …ready….set……

Blue didn't understand what Shaa was talking about, needing to earn this one, and they weren't intimidated by the Farla the Ogress's taunting or Chuck the Goblin's cheering posse. They just shrugged and looked forward to the free food. They didn't have to wait very long for it either as a big bowl of noodles was placed in front of each of the contestants. They were about to just help themself when the Gnoll started talking again, stating the rules. Oh, so there was a time limit to finish eating. Well, no problem! Blue wasn't worried about that at all. They practically inhaled their food anyways, so this was fine by them.

"Ready... set... EAT!" The Gnoll barker called out and all the contestants immediately started slurping up the noodles. Farla didn't even touch the fork that was provided, just tipping the bowl back and pouring it all into her huge mouth. Blue picked up the fork and shoveled most of the noodles into their mouth before doing the same thing as Farla and just pouring the rest in. It was as if the food just disappeared when it entered their mouth. There was no sign of chewing or swallowing. It was a good thing the other contestants were busy with their own meals and the crowd wasn't close enough to notice anything suspicious. Only the Gnoll gave the man a curious look, but wasn't displeased with the turn of events. He was glad to see that maybe this contestant actually was more of a competitor than he'd expected.

Farla finished shortly after Blue, finally finishing chewing and swallowing her oversized mouthful. She looked pleased with herself until she glanced over at Blue who was sitting there happily with an empty bowl. What, did this little guy actually finish before me!? She thought to herself as she glanced at the other contestants. Chuck was still eating, his much smaller Goblin mouth not able to eat nearly as quickly, but he was making quick work of the bowl and should be done well before the timer was up. She glanced at Shaa to see how far he'd gotten with his bowl.

As Kevin says eat, Shaa gets to work on the noodles. He didn’t remember seeing anything in the rules that said he couldn’t use magic so he decides to give himself a helping hand. Shaa focuses the air inside his mouth and creates a tiny wind vortex. He directs the vortex to the noodle bowl and just like a vacuum, he sucks all the noodles right into his mouth. The vacuum works a little too well and end ends up coughing on the last couple noodles. He settles himself and swallows. All of the noodles are gone.

Feeling pretty proud of himself , Shaa takes a moment to check on his competition. The Ogre, not surprisingly, has demolished her noodles with ease. The knight, to his surprise, is equally fast. How in the world did he do that? He would have to pay more attention next time, good on him. The goblin is the lowest but remained strong and finished. Kevin looks around and claps. Round one completed! All contestants move on! The crowd cheers wildly. Shaa waves to some familiar faces he’s sees in the crowd. Was that Cyran over there ? He would have to look for him later if he could find him.

Kevin wastes no time in putting up the next dish. Round one is super easy warm up. Here is round two. The Gnoll turns cloth covered plates in front of each of the contestants. With a quick flash, he pulls the cover of each dish, revealing three fish on each plate. Shaa liked fish so this was ok. It was ok, until the fish started to flop around on the plate. Ummm The Gnoll grabs the hour glass and starts the call Ready…set….EAT.

The fish were still alive? Ughhh leave it to a friggen Gnoll. Shaa breathes deep and torches the fish with a blast of fire, lighting the fish and parts of the table on fire. He tamps out the flames real quick and horks down the charred fish. It wasn’t the best but at least it wasn’t fighting him on the way down. Shaa looks over at the other competitors to see how they were handling it.

---

Wind Talker
Flame Breath

Shaa looked over at the man next to him to see he had long finished his plate of fish.

Blue didn't hesitate at all once they saw the next course. They'd eaten plenty of  live meals before, so the fish still flopping on the plate didn't phase the ooze in the slightest. They grabbed the fish one by one and slurped them up as if they were just more noodles. Once again, there was no sign of them actually swallowing the fish. It was as if they just vanished once they were past the man's lips. Kevin raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. This was just an interesting twist for the competition! Why would he want to ruin the fun?

Farla also hadn't hesitated to start chowing down on the live fish, grabbing them and biting into them, but unlike the ooze, she had to take the time to chew and swallow her food. The sounds of bones crunching could be heard as she finished them off fairly quickly. When she was finished, she looked around at her competition with a smug grin and was surprised to see Blue's plate empty already as they sat there, just waiting for the next plate to be placed in front of them. She was also surprised to see Shaa's fish weren't raw anymore! Why did he get cooked fish? She hadn't noticed him breathing fire, too focused on getting her own fish down.

Chuck was struggling. He wasn't grossed out at the idea of eating raw fish, or even live fish. But, three whole fish was a lot for one Goblin to swallow. Literally. He didn't think he'd have a problem eating all of it. The problem was whether he could eat it fast enough. The hourglass was nearly out of sand when he finally swallowed the last bit of fish and opened his mouth to show there was no fish left in it.

"Round two completed! All contestants move on again!" Kevin announced for the excited crowd and then eyed Chuck. "Barely." He chuckled quietly. Adding the time limit for each meal had been a stroke of genius, in his opinion.

He should feel the burnt crust of the fish scales coating his tongue with a tick ash arhat made him quiver. He shakes the feeling off and tries to refocus on the job at hand. Wondering how the others fared, he looks over at the blue knight. To his shock, the fish had vanished! What in the world? He took a quick look under the table to see if the writhing fish had been stashed somewhere but there was no sign of them anywhere. Just who was this guy? 

Looking at the other, opponents, they had also taken care of their fish. This contest was going to be a little trucker than he had thought. Wondering what was coming next, Shaa noticed that goblins fans were acting a little shifty. Instead of running around and cheering, they were now all huddled around some large leather bag. He couldn’t tell from here what it was but the scene looked wholly peculiar. 

Kevin clapped his hands together. Good good! We has good competition today. A little wriggly fishies not stop you yes? Time for round three. Kevin smiles and places a small covered bowl in front of each of them. Confused that such a small container would be used in an eating contest, Shaa wondered just what the Gnoll was up to.

You all is tough, so tough. Let’s see just how tough yes? Kevin goes down the table and pulls the lids off of each of the bowls. Inside are small black and red peppers. Shaa had eaten a lot of food but he had never seen these things in particular. If you not know, in the bowl are fire scorpion peppers. Several members of the audience gasped while others made noises showing that they were just as confused as Shaa was. These peppers grow in the deep desert. Most creatures not eat them as they like eating a scorpion who was on fire. Name was a bit in the nose but ok. Even one tiny pepper is bad but you must eat whole bowl in time! Ready..set…EAT!

The Minotaur’s competitive nature kicks in. There is no way he is getting out done today. He grabs the entire bowl and downs in in one go. The Ogress looks over at him and chuckles. Bad move hehehe. He had eaten the tiny peppers so fast he had not even had a chance to really taste them. Licking his lips a bit, nothing was happening. Maybe he got duds? Then he noticed that he was sweating, profusely. Why was he sweating to much. Then the sky turned purple. He could feel his eyes start to water and even his very tears were itching. He takes a deep breath and as he does, he feels like his lungs are on fire. Shaa looks over at Kevin who is laughing hysterically in the corner. The ogress is eating them 3 or 4 at a time, stopping each time tie swallow and refocus. The goblins bowl is empty and he doesn’t look bothered at all. His entourage clapping just below the platform. 

He starts to shiver. As his body finishes trembling, he tries to focus on steady breathing and his stomaches did flip flops. He kept saying to himself don’t puke, don’t puke, don’t puke.. Kevin watches as the hourglass winds down. Almost time. Shaa squints at the blue knight through tear soaked eyes to see if he was coping.

Blue didn't know what these things were, but they were about to find out. In a similar approach to Shaa, though without any of the strategic reasoning, they grabbed the peppers and shoved them into their mouth all at once. They didn't think it'd be so bad. They'd eaten scorpions before and they were alright. They didn't think too much about the fire part, but maybe that should have given them just a moment of pause.

As soon as the peppers started dissolving in the ooze's gullet, they really felt the fire part. Their eyes went wide in surprise, but it was too late. They looked as if they'd already finished the peppers without a problem, the peppers disappearing in an instant like everything else they'd eaten so far, but inside the ooze they felt like they were burning.

They grit their teeth and scrunched their eyes closed as they endured it. Kevin smiled, happy to see something was finally having some kind of effect on this contestant that had been so unphased by everything so far. He regretted not having more spicy foods in the lineup.

Soon, the spiciness passed as all the peppers had been fully dissolved into more blue goo, and the heat Blue felt inside them dissipated. They let out a sigh of relief and smiled. That had been unexpected, but they'd made it through. The peppers had been horribly spicy, but Blue had eaten something spicier before that had literally caused their hair and eyes to turn into a glowing orange color and made them radiate heat. Compared to that, the peppers had been much more manageable.

They looked over to see how their competition was doing. It looked like Shaa had also finished eating all their peppers. Whether they were still feeling those peppers, they didn't know, but that wasn't part of the competition. As long as all the peppers were eaten, they moved on to the next course. It was actually the ones who were taking the peppers at a slow pace that might have a problem.

Kevin smiled as they might finally have someone fail to finish in time and be eliminated.

As Shaa looked at the blue knight through itchy blurry eyes, he seemed to be struggling a bit. And then he wasn’t. Who in the world was this guy. Was he under some sort of enchantment that made him immune to pain or was he possessed by a demon out to piss him off? Demon, had to be a friggen demon. Shaa could use magic to turn into a fire elemental, how were some stupid chilis from the dirt blasted wildness giving him fits. Ughhh. Why did his tongue taste like paper? What was happening?

Shaa looked back over and both of the other competitors had finished. And done! Kevin laughed and applauded. Wow! I thought that would have at least eliminated one. Good jobs contestants! The crowd bursts into cheers and applause. Shaa is having a hard time enjoying the adulation as even his ears seemed to be now crawling around his head. Looking over at the goblin, something was happening. He couldn’t tell if it was the chilis messing with him but it looked like the goblin entourage was doing something under the stand. What was it?

Ok, enough of that yes? Kevin rubbed his chin a bit as the crowd quieted down. Now that we see how tough our competitors are, it time now to really see what’s what yes? Kevin grabs some covered plates and passes them down the line. This round is going to be a bit different. This time the competitors will have a choice of what to eat. A very..interesting choice. Kevin pulls the cloths to reveal two pieces of almost identical fruit. At first look, Shaa knew exactly what they were in for and he was not thrilled.

For the uninitiated, the fruit in question was bombast fruit. Bombast fruit was light and flavorful. It was found all around Charon in shops or on the road. A wonderful treat in most circumstances. The problem was that bombast fruit had two characteristics that made handling it nerve racking at best and hazardous at worst. The first characteristic was that, once the top was pulled, the fruit was only fresh for thirty minutes. After that, the common consensus was that it went from wonderful fruit to tasting like the inside of a dead cat. If that wasn’t bad enough, the second characteristic was that one in five fruits…would violently and dramatically explode. 

Next for them, we have the infamous bombast fruit. This time the crowd all gasped and laughed in unison. Each one has an uncorked and corked fruit. They must eat one of these fruits before the time ends. The uncorked fruits have been that way for two hours. The crowd laughs and gags at the announcement. And ready, set …choose!

Blue had never heard of these fruits before, but they looked pretty good. They were just disappointed they'd have to choose one of them to eat instead of being allowed to eat both of them. Well, this one was a bit bigger than the other one since it still had the green bit on top, so they'd just eat that one.

They picked up the fruit and, without even pulling the top off, shoved the whole thing in their mouth. The size of the fruit was just small enough that they could fit it in their mouth without it looking too impossible, but it surely wouldn't fit down their throat. It was a good thing they didn't actually have one.

After they closed their lips around the fruit, they smiled and opened their mouth to show it was just gone. Then, Blue looked surprised for a moment and lightly burped, a bit of smoke coming out of their mouth. Lucky for the other contestants, it was them who ended up with the exploding fruit, but they were able to stomach it.

"Can I have the other one too?" Blue asked, pointing to the other fruit in their bowl.

Kevin just had a face of disbelief as he stared at the weird man who apparently wanted to eat a bad bombast fruit right after eating one that had exploded inside them, judging from the smoke they'd burped up. What the hell is this guy!?

"Uh. Sure?" He replied, completely unsure.

Blue just happily grabbed the other one, now that they had permission, and ate that one just like the first. They didn't think it tasted too bad. Kind of like the bugs they'd eaten once with a slight hint of melon.

Staring at the two fruits on the plate in front of him, the harrowed fighter considers his options. On the one hand, those peppers could have messed up his taste buds so bad he might not even notice if the fruit was rotten or not. On the other hand, his tastebuds could still be intact and then he would be eating the equivalent of hot garbage which wasn’t great. He had eaten one once that was only 45 minutes old and even that was pretty brutal. Like even flies wouldn’t go near it brutal. He could only imagine what 2 hours would taste like. Blegh.

The other option was to eat the possibility explosive one. Vendors of the fruit carried around special reenforced boxes. When someone buys one, they pop the cap and toss it in. If it doesn’t go off in 30 seconds, you are good to go. He had a one in five chance of it not going off at all. Tasty death fruit or hot garbage? Shaa was not becoming a huge fan of Kevin who seemed to be taking a lot of pleasure in their discomfort. What to do. Suddenly, Farla turns to him. 

Are you a coward bull man? She sneers. She grabs the capped fruit and eats it whole. Was she crazy? Ogres were tough but more than one widow came out of a bombast fruit bet. Shaa looked at the goblin who scarfed the rotten fruit down like it was nothing. He had seen goblins eat literal dirt pies before so the goblins choice didn’t surprise him. Screw it. Shaa looks at the ogress and chomps down the capped fruit. The two of them stared at each other and waited, no doubt counting down the time in their heads. The crowd grew eerily quiet as the results of the battle of abject stupidity were about to unfold. As Shaa waited, he could taste the sweet fruit cruise down his gullet, somewhat cooling down the heat from the chilies. Had he chosen correctly after all?

With a quick jolt, Farla stands up from the table, her yellow eyes bulging, her face contorted in pain. She suddenly vomits a mass of blood, fruit bits, chilies, noodles and what may have been a button over the side. The crowd scatters quickly to avoid the vomitous mass heading there way. The big ogre starts to reel, her feet unsteady. Quickly, several men in robes rush the stage and grab her before she falls. He recognizes some of the spells they are using as massive healing spells. Sorry folks for the mess yes. Farla is under good medical care but she is now OUT! The crowd gives a half hearted clap for the fallen ogre. Only three contestants left. What else does we have in store for them?

More bowls were immediately brought out and placed in front of the remaining contestants as the old ones were whisked away, Kevin and the other staff running the contest not seeming very concerned with the Ogress who just spewed her guts out in front of the whole crowd. They didn't even bother having someone clean up the mess. Honestly, they were surprised it took this long for someone to lose their lunch on stage and they expected it not to be the last, so there was no point in cleaning up until the end of the competition anyway in their opinion.

As the bowls were being places, Blue leaned over to Shaa to whisper in his ear. "Woah, what just happened? Is she okay?" They asked, having no idea of just what caused her sudden spectacular elimination. They still didn't even realize the fruit could explode even after having one literally just do so inside them.

The staff finished placing the bowls and the hyena man got straight to it. "Next course is a delicacy of these Isles." The cloths were pulled off of the bowls with a dramatic flair to reveal their contents. "Moon Jelly!"

The bowls were revealed to contain what looked like blobs of white jelly in the middle of a bowl of water. Kevin chuckled as he flipped the timer over. "Eat!"

Blue didn't think anything was strange as they grabbed the glob and lifted it out of the bowl, but then felt a slight pain in their fingers as they noticed little things dangling down from the bottom of the jelly. It wasn't actually a glob of jelly at all, but a live jellyfish! Welp, that didn't make much difference for the ooze who just slurped it down as if it actually was just some jelly. The stingers hurt a little, but the pain faded as Blue sat still for a moment and healed the slight damage they'd received.

---

Meditate

The Minotaur was confused by the knight’s question. Ummm I don’t think that fruit agreed with her. Demon. If this dude tried to eat his head later he would be ready for him. This wasn’t the first time a demon tried to take him out. The last time one tried he baked him into a tart. Friggin demons.

As the new dish was presented, Shaa put on his detective hat. There was a whole lot of nonsense happening here and he was going to figure it out before the contestants themselves started eating each other. Why in the world wasn’t this like a pie eating contest like a normal party? This was his fault for agreeing to a contest organized by a creature who was an unabashed cannibal.

Before they started the timer, he quickly stands and rushes over to the side of the goblin. As he suspected, as the goes over he sees one of the goblins minions trying to sneak a dish of actual gelatin up to Chuck. You little cheating bastard! The goblin drops the bowl and suddenly the entire group is there, armed to the teeth. Mind your own business Minotaur. With that, Chuck pulls a dagger and tries to stab Shaa in the arm. One of his buddies takes a small spear, angles around and lobs it directly at Blue’s face.

"Hey!" Blue called out as they leaned back in their chair to dodge the spear, but they leaned back too far and their chair went tumbling backward. Why were they attacking them!? They didn't even do anything!

The Goblins didn't care who had started the confrontation, but now that they'd been caught, they went overly defensive. Even the host of the event wasn't spared from their attacks. While the spear thrower that had tried to take out Blue ran around to attempt to kick the man while he was flat on his back and one tried to stab Shaa with a dagger, the last groupie pulled out another dagger and ran at Kevin with a shout.

The Gnoll backed up, holding his hands in front of him. He had nothing on him to defend himself except for the sand timer that was still trickling down. He hadn't expected anyone to try to pull something like this in the middle of such a party!

Just as the Goblin was about to stab Kevin in the stomach, he was tackled into the sand by one of the men who had come out to replace the bowls for each course. The others were right behind him as they joined the fight, apparently more than just some staff. They also worked as the little competition's security, it seemed.

Blue grabbed the Goblin's foot and just threw them away. With their muscular build, the man looked pretty strong, but the distance the Goblin flew showed they were even stronger than they appeared. The Goblin screamed as he flew far out from the competition, cartwheeling through the air until he splashed down in the water, a fair distance from the beach.

With the one that was about to attack him handled, Kevin straightened himself out and looked at Chuck angrily.

"Cheating! Disqualified! Out, or you become next course!" He yelled, pointing at the Goblin. Knowing the cannibalistic nature of their host, they actually believed that threat might not be an empty one.

As Chuck slams his dagger down, Shaa quickly moves his arm out of the way causing the dagger to dig deep into the wooden table. As the goblin struggles to retrieve it, Shaa backhands the goblin hard in the face. The crusty goblin staggers back but surprisingly regains his footing and squares to the much larger fighter.

From another hidden space, he pulls yet another dagger, switching it back and forth in his hands. Where in the world are you storing these things?! More and more Shaa was increasingly impressed with the wisened goblin. He would have loved to become his friend if he wasn’t a smelly cheater who was trying to stab him. 

Shaa grabs his bowl with the jellyfish and flings it into the goblins face. The “smelly cheater” screams as the moon jelly starts to sting him with its poisonous tendrils. Looking beneath the goblin, Shaa notices that one of the floorboards of the rickety stage was loose. With a hard stomp on one side, the flooring sinks down on one side and raises beneath the goblin, sending him soaring into the air. Sorry Chuck, put the jelly fish back in the ocean while your over there! Shaa looks at the shambles of the stage and over all surrounds and shrugs. Cheaters, am I right? 

The contest is put on hold for an hour. This gives the Gnoll and stage crew time to clean up, fix the stage, reset the next challenges and hunt down the goblins. In the end, no one tried to hard to catch them as it was just an eating contest and most folks thought the entire situation was very entertaining. By the time they were ready to start again, twice as many party goers had heard about what went down and had shown up to watch the finale.

Kevin, still a little taken back from the assault, had managed to mostly compose himself. Ladies and man persons. We are very sorry for the inconvenience but we are really ready to continue now. The now larger crowd bursts into cheers. Feed them snakes! No! Hot coals! Shaa did not like where these suggestions were going with each new one less appetizing than the next. He turns to the blue knight. Ok it’s down to you and me. But you should know, I’m on to you buddy. I won’t bust you here but I sware to Ginma, if you try to eat me or summon something from a firey pit, I will take you out. Shaa knew that if the blue knight was in fact a demon, he would just ignore the threats and try to stir up nonsense anyway but at least this way, it may give him pause.

Kevin walks over to each contestant and plunks something heavy but covered in front of them. “That was a weird sound”, Shaa said to himself. We have been asked by the party organizers to have this be the last event. Several boos and grumbles came from the carnage seeking crowd. For this round, there is no timer. The first one to finish eating the item in question is the winner. Shaa knew this guy was quick. He might stand a chance if he really pushed himself. He just needed to grab whatever it was and shove it down. Kevin walks over and yanks the covers at the same time. Everyone is confused. On each of the plates is one leather boot. What the? Ready? Set?….Wait, this can’t be right!   Eat!

---

Bulls Strength Tattoo