Wham!

Another man groaned as he left the table, holding his hand with a pained grimace on his face. He was a big guy, with a thickly muscled physique, his arms looking like they could punch a hole straight through the wooden door of the tavern if he wanted to, but he was leaving in shame. He couldn't hold a candle to the man sitting at the table, across from his now empty stool.

"HA! Who's next? Anybody else wanna give it a go?" Yasei laughed, challenging anyone else confident enough to take on the massive Koma-Inu. Standing at eight feet tall, even sitting he still towered over his competition in both height and width. With a massively round middle, he was built like a sumo wrestler with a layer of fat that disguised just how strong he really was. That was also hidden beneath a layer of blue and pink fur, especially the thick mane of curly hair around his neck and head, framing his intimidating face with all the features of a lion-dog. Large fangs and tusks, a canine nose, and large yellow eyes with red pupils. Even the bright pink fur couldn't make him less intimidating.

"No one? Aw, come on! I'm still just getting warmed up!" He laughed, before chugging the beer that he'd won as his prize from defeating his most recent challenger in one go.

He'd been arm wrestling all night, betting a mug of beer to the victor each time, and he'd won every single one of them. Still, he wasn't even tipsy yet. He was hoping this would go on all night thanks to all the festival-goers dipping in to get a drink and deciding to take him on while they were there. It was like one of the game booths lining the street. It was fun for everyone! Now he just needed to wait for someone else to want to take the challenge.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Enjoy the Festival!
Participants: Two or more
Location: Sol City
Post Requirements: 4 posts per person, 150 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Mystical Archive Ticket
Description: The festival is booming, and all that is required of you is to have fun! Stroll through Sol City partaking in any kind of festival-like activity. You can attend the joust, or participate in a sword duel. Maybe watch some jugglers or Bardic Virtuoso's perform in the city square. Enjoy some of the rare cuisines found across Charon at local vendors and markets. The choice is up to you, as long as you enjoy the festival!

At last year's summer festival, Astrid made a new friend. Two devious children causing problems for a tired retainer. This year Astrid can only hope for that much. Instead, she's gotten rather caught up in some of the competitions. Jousting, swordfights, drinking, and now arm wrestling.

The big blue and pink lion guy has been kicking everyone's butts! And how couldn't he? He's as big as Buttfellow and probably just as heavy. The difference is definitely in their smarts. The golem wouldn't stand a chance.

Astrid, however, thinks she would. So when Yasei issues the challenge to a defeated gaggle of sore-armed losers, Astrid's hand shoots up. It barely makes it over the heads of others in the crowd.

"I'll take ya on!" she declares. Confused onlookers finally spot the source of the voice and turn to look at the tiny half-dwarf. Naysayers start up immediately. She's just a kid, and she's half the size of the lion man. She won't stand a chance!

Astrid's expression deflates into one of annoyance. "Well then it'll make it all the funnier when I beat him!"

Yasei was surprised to see his latest challenge was some kid when the crowd finally parted enough for him to even see her raising her hand in the air enthusiastically. He raised an eyebrow and smirked. She had to be joking. She was barely half his height and nowhere near his weight. Just one of his arms probably weighed more than her whole body, and this was an arm wrestling match they were talking about!

"Are you sure, Ojou-chan? I don't want to hurt a kid. I'm really strong you know. Just look at all these guys, holding their hands." He said, speaking softly like a parent trying to talk their kid out of doing something they knew wouldn't end well. His past challengers glanced at each other, still holding their hands that were slightly injured by their matches. Bruises could be seen. Yasei was holding back a lot to not hurt them too badly, but he still went a bit overboard when he beat some of them, slamming their hand into the table a lot harder than he meant to. He didn't want to break a little girl's hand.

Yasei couldn't believe it when she actually announced she was going to beat him. He burst out into full blown laughter.

"Ha! You've got a lot of spirit! Okay. I'll take you on, but I won't hold back you know. And you gotta follow the rules. Loser buys the winner a drink. You can handle that, right?" He asked, throwing out one more try to make her reconsider. Maybe she'd have to go ask her parents for the money and then they'd tell her she wasn't allowed to arm wrestle him or something. Of course, even if she did have the money, he was just joking about not holding back.

“Mister, I’ve been adventurin’ fer almost two years. I’ve killed dragons an’ fought gods. I’ve been a part a’ almost every guild in Charon. I ain’t afraid of a little bruisin’,” Astrid proudly proclaims, crossing her arms with a haughty grin on her face. “When folks underestimate me, it just means I’m gonna try all the harder.” With confidence, Astrid waltzes up and offers a hand to shake to Yasei. “The name’s Astrid Stormstone. Nice ta meet ya.” Whispers throughout the crowd echo around, wondering if this runt is actually the renowned little adventurer from Dragon’s Cradle.

Her hand, of course, doesn’t compare one bit to the size of Yasei’s as she offers it up.

“If yer concerned though, I got a couple a’ options. I can use this–” Astrid holds up her prosthetic arm, the magic pulsing through it as she makes a fist. “–’cause I can make it bigger ta fit in yer hand. Or I can drink a potion ta make meself taller. Or ya can take me on just as I am. No magic, just a kid with a hankerin’ fer punchin’ through walls. What d’ya say? Either way, I can’t wait ta be the one ta swipe a beer from ya.” One eye winks closed as her gap-toothed grin spreads wider across her face.

Yasei looked around at all the whispering, people asking if that was really the real Astrid Stormstone. This was a surprise. He'd never heard of her, but apparently she was well known. He looked back to her with a smile and accepted the handshake, his huge mitt completely eclipsing her hand and encasing it in rough paw pads and fur. It was a shame he couldn't get a sense of how firm her handshake was with her hand completely inside his, but he gave her plenty of an idea of his own strength as he gave her hand a slight squeeze.

"Ha! I didn't know you were a celebrity. My name is Yasei. Nice to meet you!" He announced with a chuckle.

Now he was getting excited. He was still not too sure if everything she was saying was true. She was just a kid in his eyes. But, if she was really strong enough to kill dragons and fight gods, then this sounded like it would be fun. His smile faded for just a moment as he saw she had a prosthetic arm and he felt a pang of sadness to see a child had lost a limb somehow. He was reminded for a second of his own child and how upset he would be to see her get hurt like that, but he put his smile back on quickly. She was an adventurer, and sometimes adventurers got hurt. She wasn't his daughter, she was a famous adventurer challenging him to an arm wrestling match!

"Hm, your choice. I'm fine with whatever you've got as long as it's a fair match. I can't wait to tell everyone the famous Astrid Stormstone had to buy me a beer." He chuckled as he placed his elbow on the table and held his hand out for her to take.

“Gotta say, it’s kinda weird,” Astrid admits with a good-natured smile. “It’s nice ta meet ya, too, Mister Yasei.” His hand is gigantic, but still not as big as Grampa Beist’s. Astrid isn’t sure she’d stand a chance in an arm wrestling match against him. Yasei though? Well, she might have a chance.

Once her hand is free, Astrid contemplates how she wants to tackle this. She won’t get a good grip on Yasei’s hand with hers being so small, but if she pulls off the win without potions or prosthetics then it’ll feel more satisfying. “Ya know, I think I’ll just give ya all I got without anythin’ special,” she says, a wide grin plastered across her freckled face. “If I didn’t think I could win, I wouldn’t a’ challenged ya.”

With that, Astrid takes a seat catty corner to Yasei and sets her elbow on the table with her arm raised. She’s strong enough to punch through walls, she’s got to be able to take on a lion man in armed combat. "Show me what ya got!"

---

VreVJ1Ya··

Yasei chuckled as Astrid sat across from him. So, she wasn't going to use anything to try and even the playing field. He felt a bit bad that this might make the match uneven, but he did say he was fine with whatever was fair. He really meant he was fine with whatever felt like it would be fair to his opponent since he already thought he had a pretty big advantage against a kid just with his size.

"Ha! That's the spirit!" He agreed, a huge smile on his face. If facing him like this would bring her the most satisfaction, then it was the only way to do it. He felt similarly in any fight, even if it was just a fun spar or a little arm wrestling match.

He flexed his arm as one final intimidation as he took Astrid's hand in his own again, engulfing it in his giant paw. He still couldn't really take this seriously. Just seeing their hands locked together made him want to chuckle.

Yasei flexed his bicep as one last intimidation attempt, the single muscle dwarfing the size of his opponent's head. He knew it wouldn't work though, even before they had locked hands. He could tell she was serious about challenging him and he liked her spirit. He would be extra careful to hold back enough not to injure her.

Someone from the crowd stepped forward to be their referee, placing his hands on top of both of their wrists before lifting them away suddenly and shouting for them to start.

---

HFoDFNnt··

If Astrid has anything, it’s spirit (a few of them, to be honest). Yasei’s flexing does little to deter her, and as hard as she tries to flex her tiny muscles, it isn’t as impressive as his. Sheesh, his biceps could crush her, couldn’t they? Well, that won’t stop her.

Hand in hand, the civilian ref calls a start, and Astrid pushes with all her might against Yasei. His sheer size compared to hers throws her off more than she expected, and her arm starts to twist to the side, the top of her arm starting to face the table. The crowd has already given up on her by this point. She’s a tiny kid compared to this beast of a man.

Yasei’s 19 beats Astrid’s 17.

No! She said she’d win, and she’s going to win! With no small amount of effort, Astrid digs her elbow in and starts pushing back on Yasei. Her hands may be small, but her hands can build and break. She’s plenty strong and always has been! Gods and monsters mean nothing to the calloused hands of the little maker. And so, she starts to force Yasei’s hand in the other direction.

Astrid’s 20 beats Yasei’s 17.

The crowd falls into stunned silence for a moment while the two warriors struggle against one another’s might. And then Astrid’s strength starts to overcome Yasei’s. Little by little, through gritted teeth and straining muscles, the direction starts to change. The giant paw of the lion man starts to turn over. Gasps from the crowd start to turn to small cheers. More and more Astrid forces Yasei’s hand down. Come on, come on!

Astrid’s 12 beats Yasei’s 9.

WHAM!

With a mighty battle cry, Astrid forces Yasei’s hand down. The crowd erupts into cheers, and Astrid lets herself go limp on the table. While she pants heavily from the exertion, she still grins at the people around her before meeting Yasei’s eyes with her own.

Yasei chuckled to himself as the referee began the match, but his laughter didn't last long as he felt Astrid actually putting up more of a fight than everyone else in the bar combined. How was this kid so strong!?

"HUH!? Ah- AH!" Yasei stammered in surprise as she actually began to push him arm back. He couldn't believe it. He needed to take this seriously, or he was actually going to-

WHAM

Yasei stared at the table in disbelief, the back of his hand flat against it.

"Nani..." He muttered quietly as he was dumbfounded by what just happened. He lost to a child. A little girl that looked younger than his daughter. He lost in a contest of strength against someone a fraction of his size. Just what the heck was going on?

He stared at Astrid until she recovered from panting and lying on the table. As soon as she locked eyes with him, he looked directly at Astrid with a completely serious expression.

"What the heck do you eat?"

Astrid can hardly believe it. She sure was over confident about beating Yasei, but after their match started, her confidence in being able to beat him faltered. And still, with persistence, she managed to actually do it??

Seeing Yasei’s befuddled expression is her true prize. She quite likes seeing people so absolutely baffled after underestimating her. Astrid grins up at him. “I’ll eat just about anythin’ as long as it’s edible,” she says with a laugh. After dragging herself up, Astrid stands on her chair and raises her arms, pumping them wildly while the crowd cheers. A few people offer her rough pats on the back while others start to mock Yasei for losing to a kid, but Astrid is quick to shut them up with a scolding. “Oi, it were an even match! He’s real strong! Bet he could kill a dragon if he wanted too! I ain’t seen any a’ you beatin’ him!”

She then looks back at Yasei, placing her hands on her hips. “So, it seems like ya owe me a proper drink, Mister Yasei! An' before ya worry about me age, I got stoneblood in me veins. It's only natural!”

Well, that answer didn't tell him anything about why this kid was so strong. He was wondering if she was eating some kind of super food or something, but he guessed that wasn't the case. Maybe he was getting old. Or maybe she was older than she looked. He just couldn't wrap his head around being beat by a kid, but this would just be inspiration for him to increase his own strength until no one could catch him off guard like that again!

"Wanna rematch?" Yasei growled at anyone who came up to him to mock him for losing, and with that and Astrid's scolding, none of them kept yapping for long before crawling off into a corner and shutting up.

Yasei flinched when Astrid brought up the drink he owed her. He looked away with a grimace for a moment before smiling innocently, trying to act cute but looking very uncute with his lion-dog face full of fangs and tusks.

"Haha, ah... Yeah..." He chuckled awkwardly before leaning in and whispering. "I don't have any money... I didn't expect anyone to actually beat me..."

He straightened up and shrugged his shoulders with a big smile.

Astrid’s head tilts as a doubtful smile crosses her face, seeing Yasei suddenly becoming awkward and trying to be innocent. When he leans in, Astrid does too and hears him out. Oh, he’s broke? The half-dwarf stifles a snicker, though not one that’s mocking, just amused at the situation. It makes a lot of sense to sucker people out of free drinks and food if you know you can beat them. Astrid wishes she’d thought of it when she was scrounging for food, but then again, no one would have taken her seriously.

Without warning, Astrid drops back to her seat then looks under the table. “Ah, Mister Yasei, I musta beat ya so hard ya dropped yer pocket change!” she says, somewhat muffled under the table as she pretends to collect coins off of the ground. When she sits back up, she sets a handful of solars on the table between them with a playful grin. “Good thin’ I found it. Maybe we can share a couple a’ drink ta celebrate yer first loss.” As broke as Astrid has been in the past, she gets it, and there’s no need to further embarrass a good sport.

"Huh?"

Yasei didn't know what Astrid was talking about at first and was visibly confused, but he caught on quickly.

"Oh, right, my change! Yeah!" He played along, his acting skills leaving a bit to be desired, but no one in the bar was about to argue with either of the two who had already proven they were stronger than anyone else in the bar even if they did catch on that Astrid was just giving Yasei some money.

"A loss isn't much of something to celebrate, but we can celebrate your win." He offered, a slight teasing grumble in his voice as he was a little salty about losing, but he was taking it in stride and not letting it get to him.

Yasei waved to catch a server's attention and ordered as many beers as the pocket change could buy for him and Astrid. He wasn't sure what Stoneblood was, maybe it was what made Astrid so strong, but he wasn't arguing about sharing a drink with someone strong enough to challenge him, even if that someone looked like a child.

With a few rounds of drinks on the table, Yasei clinked his mug against Astrid's before downing it and letting out a satisfied sigh.

"So, how did you get so strong? Is it that Stoneblood you mentioned?" He asked, striking up some conversation while they drank.

“Anythin’ can be celebrated if yer confident enough!” Astrid says with a wink. Once she plops back down in her chair and Yasei orders them beer, it isn’t without a confused and suspicious look from the barmaid, but she decides it’s none of her business and goes to get their order. It takes some muscling through the crowd for her to return to the table with several beers with froth threatening to spill over the rims.

With a grin, Astrid grabs one of the mugs by the handle and pulls it over. “Huh? Oh, stoneblood’s just a way dwarves talk about bein’ dwarven,” she says. “I don’t think that’s why I’m so strong though. Maybe it is. I’ve always been pretty strong fer me size. Adventurin’ an’ smithin’ definitely ain’t hurtin’ ta make me stronger though.” After sniffing the beer, Astrid raises it to her lips and starts downing it as if it were nothing more than juice. When she sets the glass back on the table, she feels a rumbling in her stomach that manifests in the form of a hearty belch.

Astrid erupts into a laugh.

"Ha! Guess that's true!" Yasei agreed with a hearty laugh. He had plenty of confidence to spare. Losing one arm wrestling match wouldn't change that. He could celebrate anything if he had some alcohol. "Fine, to my first loss then." He conceded with a shrug.

"Huh? Dwarven?" He repeated back, raising an eyebrow and looking Astrid up and down. She didn't look like a Dwarf to him. He thought they were a shorter, even for her, and brawnier looking. He'd seen a few while he was in the city, and they didn't look like her at all. They also didn't have horns. "I couldn't tell." He finished lightheartedly, not really caring to pry into it or accuse her of lying. Her being part Dwarf would explain how she could hold her alcohol so well, at least.

Yasei burst into laughter at the same time as Astrid, his sense of humor just as childlike as the literal child's across from him.

"Hold on." He said mischievously as he gave one of his beers a a slight swill to get it a little frothier and then tipped it back into his mouth. Unlike the other which he downed in one gulp, this one he took his time drinking it more slowly. When he finished, he clanked the mug onto the table and gave his chest a couple thumps before letting out his own window-rattling belch.

The flash of competitiveness hit him as he looked down at Astrid with a smirk.

"Beat that." He challenged her, believing there was no way she could possibly burp louder than him.