The great Dinosaur Race Day is finally here!
Having spent time with Crumb, Thavakean feels a good bond and ready to race. To prepare himself he spends the morning walking the brightly painted road memorising the course while the others see what they can find out. Recognising the dangers of the water jets at the Temple of Gond, Orion waits there ready to help. Meanwhile Alyssia stays near the start looking to disrupt Nirsalli - a Deep Gnomes with a Deinonychus named Jungle Princess and Saralon gives Thavakean a good luck Guidance tap as they are about to start.
The beautiful Merchant Prince Kwayothe addresses the crowd and racers explaining the course that will run will start at Goldenthrone crossing the bridge to the Temple of Savras then loop down past the Temple of Gond and round under the Temple of Sune’s bridge then dash across the edge of the Merchant’s Ward towards the Old City gates. The racers then pass through The Grand Souk before finishing in the Colosseum!
Wishing them luck a horn blows and the race starts!
As the riders erupt from the starting line they quickly come towards the bridge connecting Goldenthrone to the Temple of Savras. Thavakean quickly discovers Tiryk (who is Ekene-Afa’s son) riding Ubtao’s Favourite (a large Triceratops) is a less than honourable racer. He attempts to ram Thavakean and Crumb off the bridge but bounces off the Goliaths mighty frame almost falling himself.
With poor Zongo trailing at the back the riders pass by The Temple of Savras and Thavakean successfully rides close enough to catch a blessing from one of the priests. As the riders continue round and down towards The Temple of Gond, Orion keenly figures out what water jets will hit Thavakean and attempts to freeze them. Unfortunately as she tries to manipulate the spell it goes a bit wrong resulting in a shower of icy hail blasting the riders. It's not all bad though as it slows some of the others too.
As they approach the bridge to the Temple of Sune, Thavakean keenly remembers seeing streamers being prepared in the morning so is ready when they come fluttering down along with buckets of glitter. It blinds Ubtaos Favourite slowing him down as everyone loops back to the other side of the city.
As they approach the Old City gates Alyssia spots Jungle Princess is still hot on Thavakean's back so sends her familiar Solus to run interference. Channelling Shocking Grasp the poor Deinonychus is hit by a shocking blast nearly sending the dinosaur wild but the rider holds Jungle Princess steady and continues on. The racers soon find themselves passing through the narrow Grand Souk lanes and Tiryk tries once more to stop Thavakean knocking a stand of canoes onto him! The plan backfires though as Thavakean punches it away knocking Tiryk off Ubtaos Favourite. Tiryk quickly gets back on to join the last leg of the race.
As the riders head to the Colosseum one final challenge awaits as they have to jump a water filled trench. Karma comes back with a vengeance for Ubtaos Favourite as he's the only one to fall into the pit. As Tiryk is spitting our water our final racer Mountain Thunder ridden by a halfling named Halinard plods past the wet favoured to win racer.
As the racers crash past the finish line into the Colosseum the roar of the crowd fills the air. The seats are full with Chultans and all round the arena colourful pennants flutter in the wind.
Sitting in the Royal Box you three of the Merchant Princes sit; Wakanga, Ekene-Afa and Ifan Talro'a. Ifan greets the racers "We have our winner!"
"What a fine racer and a fine steed (of which I of course sell many similar beast so please come by my shops if you’re a budding Racer of Ubtau’s Children)"
Ekene-Afa coughs and the two share an unfriendly look but Ifan moves on, "The winner is Crumb, ridden by.." he consults the man beside him "the giant from the North Thavakean Thunderwatcher Nalakolake!".
With that Thavakean is crowned winner and handed a large sack of gold which he swiftly dumps on Orion (having no use for money himself) but proudly takes the gold medal inscribed with an etching of a racer on a dinosaur.
Wakanga then beckons Thavakean over and invites him and his friends to dinner that evening. The party then heads back to the Thundering Lizard to collect their bets and to await the evening meeting with a Prince.
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