During our journey to the next village Ro was more tired and moody than before. I would ask her if it’s that time of the month but I don’t wanna be intrusive. Also we’ve spent multiple months together and this is the worst she’s ever been, so I don’t think it’s that. 

We eventually made it to the next village and met up with the chief and asked what we could do to help out. 

“Hmm… There's nothing we really need help with around here. If you guys just want to take the day off and hang out around the village I’ll still put in a good word for Lady Alaya.” 

“For real?” I replied.

“Yeah, of course.” The chief said.

Thank the gods! I needed a break after all the bullshit we’ve been through. 

“Thank you so much, what’s there to do for fun around here?” I asked the chief. 

“We have games, beautiful sights to see, and the locals are extremely friendly and fun to spend time with!” The chief replied.

“Cool, what kinda games do you got?” I asked.

“Follow me and I’ll show you.”

We started following the chief but Ro was very sluggish and she was dragging behind. 

“Is your friend alright?” The chief asked.

“I’m fine! Leave me the hell alone!” Ro mumbled angrily. 

“Are you sure? We can stop by the doctor real quick.” Said the chief.

“I’m sure!” Ro replied.

I leaned over to the chief and whispered, “Let’s stop by the doctor, just in case.” 

The chief brought us over to the doctor's hut. Ro was so out of it that she didn’t even notice until we were inside and the doctor started speaking to her.

“What the hell? I told you dumbasses I’m fine!” Ro said.

“Just have a seat and I’ll take a look, it should only take a few minutes.” The doctor said.

Ro reluctantly sat down, “Fine, just get it over with.”

The doctor placed his hand on her forehead and said, “Oh my! She’s got a nasty fever.” 

“Is she ok?” I asked. 

“That depends, has she come into contact with any strange plants or animals lately?” The doctor asked. 

“Not recently…” I started to think back to everything we’ve gone through in the jungle, then I remembered. “A little over a week ago, we ran into this weird plant that was like alive or something, and it gave her a small cut on her arm.” I told the doctor. 

“Did the plant have long vines and purplish red flowers?” The doctor asked.

“Yea, it did. Is that bad?” I asked.

“Show me where it cut you.” The doctor told Ro

Ro rolled up her sleeve and showed the doctor her arm. The wound was still open and bleeding and it had these tiny green vines inside that looked like loose stitches. 

“I see, give me one second.” The doctor said.

The doctor went over to the cabinets and grabbed a bunch of different ingredients and ground them up in a mortar and pestle. He then added water to the mixture to liquify it and then he poured it onto the wound. Ro winced a little but when the liquid was washed away, the little green vines underneath her skin were gone. 

“Keep the wound covered and clean it regularly so it doesn’t get infected and you should be fine.” The doctor said. 

“Are you feeling better?” Voyd asked Ro.

“Her fever should go away in about an hour or so. You all are very lucky, if you came any later she might’ve been incurable and she would’ve surely died.” The doctor said. 

“It is a blessing from the God of Time.” The chief said. 

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Our tribe worships the time spirit also known as Sarae. Without time, nature would not progress, flowers would never bloom, and we the people would not exist. It is no coincidence you arrived at our village just in time.” The chief said.

“I think we just got lucky.” Ro replied.

“Nonsense, it’s surely a blessing. We should bring an offering to the town center to show our gratitude.” Said the chief.

“Do we have to?” Ro groaned.

“Just shut up and do it.” I told her.

“Ugh, fine.” Ro sluggishly got out of her seat and we followed the chief towards the center of town.

“Do you have anything you can use as an offering?” He asked. 

“What kinda stuff do you usually offer?” I asked him.

“Mostly food and beverages.” 

“Oh, well we kinda need our spare food for when we’re out on the road. What else do people offer?” I asked.

“Some people leave valuables, like gold or jewelry.”

“Will these work?” I showed the chief the little medallions we got from catching the panty thief.

“Ah yes, those are perfect.” 

We followed the chief to the center of town where the statue of the time spirit stood. The statue of the man was extremely thin, his ribcage was showing and he had almost no body fat with very little muscle. His robes cover about half of his upper body and draped down to below his knees. 

“Just leave the offering by his feet and we’ll say a quick prayer.” The chief said.

“Alright.” I placed all our medallions next to bottles and plates of good looking food. Then the chief told us to kneel down, place our hands together, and bow our heads.

“Dear glorious Sarae, we are unfathomably grateful for your manipulation of time and space that has allowed these nice visitors to arrive at our village at the perfect moment. Your miracles do not go unnoticed and we pray that you will continue to bless the people of Birago for all of time. Asmeen.” 

We raised our heads. “Now that that’s done, shall we go play some games?” The chief said excitedly.

“Hell yeah! What games do y’all got?” I asked. 

“That depends, do you want to compete for sport? Or are you more interested in gambling?” The chief asked us.

“Gambling!” I shouted. 

“Wow, someone’s excited.” The chief replied.

“Eh, I’m not really a fan of gambling. Unless I can rig it.” Ro said. 

“Well that’s fine, anyone who wants to gamble can follow me, and anyone who wants to play sport can head to the field down that way. Just tell the locals I sent you.” The chief told us. 

“Voyd, you should come with me. A kid shouldn’t be gambling anyways.” Ro said. 

“What do you want to do Killer?” I asked him.

“Me want go with master!” He yelled out.

“Suprising…” I replied quietly. 

Killer and I followed the chief while Ro and Voyd went off to the field. The chief led us to this hut with smoke that smelled like tobacco seeping out the windows. We stepped inside and the vibe felt like I was in a southeast Asian gambling house. The chief brought us to the back and we met up with the owner. 

“How’s it goin’ Chief? Life treatin’ ya well?” The owner said.

“I’ve been great, thanks for asking. And you?” 

“I’m always doin’ just fine. What brings ya here?”

“These folks here were passing through and they’re interested in a little gambling.” The chief told him. 

“Alrighty! What’ve ya brought to wager?” The owner asked us. 

“Uhh, what can we wager?” I asked. 

“Gold or anythin’ else ya got that’s valuable.” He replied.

“Me have gold!” Killer reached into his speedo and pulled out a handful of gold nuggets. 

“Umm… how much ball sweat has been on those?” I asked him. 

“A lot!” Killer yelled out.

“Ahaha! That’s no problem, gold is gold!” The owner replied.

“Let’s do a quick practice game between the four of us so you understand the rules.” The chief suggested.

“Alright, how do you play?” I asked. 

The owner pulled out a stone slab with 32 squares carved into it and twelve little trinkets that I think are supposed to be board game pieces. Three were little pebbles, three were pieces of petrified wood, three were tiny berries, and the other three were little pieces of bone. 

“Ok, here are the rules: 

4 players put an equal amount of gold into the pot and are given three pieces. 

The goal is to get all three pieces to the finish line by rolling knucklebone dice. 

At the start of the game, each player rolls the dice and the highest roll gets to go first.

When you roll you can choose to move your own piece forward or an opponent's piece backwards that number of spaces. 

You cannot move an opponent's piece twice in a row, if another player has already moved an opponent’s piece you cannot move that same piece again until it is moved forward but you can choose to move a different piece back during that turn. 

1st place gets 75% of the pot, 2nd place gets their money back.” The chief told us.

“Did you understand all of that Killer?” I asked.

“Mhm!” He nodded his head yes.

“I doubt that, but I guess you’ll learn by playing.”

“Let’s get started then, grab the dice and we’ll see who goes first.” The chief said.

We all took turns rolling the dice, the owner got the highest roll, next highest was the chief’s, then Killer, and I got the lowest roll. If this were a modern casino I’d assume the dice were rigged, but we aren’t even playing for money right now so it’s fine. 

The game started and everyone moved their pieces forward. During the second turn, everyone pushed the same piece forward but I thought I’d try a different strategy and move all three of my pieces at the same time. The game continued and the owner and the chief kept rolling suspiciously high. There’s no way the dice could be rigged though. 

Throughout the early stretch of the game no one even tried to move an opponent’s piece backwards. Eventually, everyone got one of their pieces to the finish line while all three of mine were about a third of the way there. 

A bit later, everyone’s second piece caught up with my three over halfway through the board. I got a little bit of a lucky streak and rolled high my last four turns and it was looking like I might actually win. Before anyone’s second piece could cross the finish line, the owner decided to use his next turn to push one of my pieces back, the chief also used his turn to push a different piece of mine backwards, and then Killer, who was in last place, also used his turn to push my third piece back.

“Killer what the f**k?” I said in absolute confusion. 

“What wrong master?” He asked. 

“You can’t be doing that when we start playing for money! At least one of us has to win!” I yelled. 

“Sorry master…”

“Now now, there shouldn’t be any teaming up in this game. The way the rules are set up, it’s easy to tell when two players are working together and if you try that in a real game you’ll probably get beat up.” The chief said. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I said quietly. 

“When ya go out to the main floor, it’ll probably be best for the two of ya to play at separate tables to avoid conflict.” The owner said. 

“Got it. Thanks for the advice.” I said.

“Don’t mention it.” The owner replied. 

We continued the game. Everyone except for me alternated between pushing their piece forward or pushing back whoever had the lead. I kept pushing mine forward but I couldn’t keep up, throughout the whole game I never once pushed someone else’s piece. The owner finished in first, the chief got second, Killer got two of his pieces to the finish line and I got none. I won’t be trying that strategy again. 

While we were busy at the gambling house, Ro and Voyd were out in the field listening to the locals explain the rules of their game. 

“The rules are simple, 7 players go on defense one of them will toss this wicker ball straight into the air. One player on offense will throw a blunt tipped spear at the ball and try to hit it. If the ball is hit the offensive player must try to run around and touch all four stone plates on the ground while the defense tries to get the ball and tag them. The offensive player can stop on any of the stone plates to stay safe until the next turn. If a player makes it all the way around, they score their team a point. Each player gets two chances to strike the ball and teams switch sides after each player has gotten a turn. And each team will have 3 turns on offense.”

Ro and Voyd joined the same team and they put on offense first. They didn’t mention any rules about not using magic, so when Ro went, she used a touch of her wind abilities to guide the spear through the air and she hit the ball on her first try. Her aim was already good so the wind magic usage was minimal. She made it to first base and stopped. 

Voyd noticed that Ro used a touch of wind magic so she tried to do the same but her aim wasn’t as good and she missed her first throw. On her second throw she decided to go all in on the wind and hoped it wasn’t against the rules. She struck the ball so hard it was sent flying out of the field and deep into the jungle. It was a home run and two points for their team. 

The lizards were astonished and two teams had a quick debate whether or not magic should be allowed. The game was traditionally made to help the villagers practice their spear throwing skills to help them on hunts, and since wind magic can be used during a hunt and there’s no rule against using it, they allowed it. Ro and Voyd’s team were able to score one more point before switching sides.

On defense wind magic can’t be used effectively by Ro. However, Voyd is a half elf, so she can use her wind magic with up to 50% efficiency without a catalyst. While on defense, Voyd used her wind abilities to guide the ball towards her teammates after it was hit. This small boost was enough to stop the other team from scoring and the first inning ended 3-0. 

Ro and Voyd’s team dominated the rest of the game. Their teammates were happy and cheered them on but the other team wasn’t as excited about it. When the game was done, both teams thanked them for playing but they said they’d have to readjust the ruleset before they could let them play again. 

They ended up playing another game with no wind magic allowed. Ro was still a solid thrower but Voyd couldn’t get a single hit on her own. Defense went as it normally would and Voyd had fun trying to tag the opponents. This game was much closer but the opposing team won by two points. 

After the second game, the girls said goodbye to the locals and went back to meet up with Killer and I.

“Hey f**kt*rds, how was the gambling?” Ro asked.

“We lost all our gold…” I replied. 

“Well damn, I’m glad I didn’t give you any on mine.” Ro replied.

“Wait, you have gold?” I asked.

“Of course I do, I took all I could carry after you killed my old gang.” She said.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” I whined.

“Because I thought you weren’t dumb enough to leave the place unlooted.” Ro said.

“Well… can we pleaseeeee borrow a little bit of gold so we can win our money back?” I begged her.

“Hell no! You aren’t losing my money too!” She yelled at me. 

“Voyd, do you have any gold?” I asked.

She shook her head no.

“Damn…”

Luckily, the chief felt bad for us so he gave us some food and other supplies to bring with us in exchange for the gold we lost. He told us it was a show of gratitude because we contributed so much to the village’s economy. After night came and went, we started on towards the next village.