#bergen_county

The next round, Dagmar will be facing Sir Kolfax Direwand ap Balor. Folks Boo him

Sylvi's focusing on him too much to boo him. She's keeping a close eye on the gear his squire is handing him, as best she can from a distance.

(Perception plus Alertness)

She isn't sure she likes the look of that lance tip, but the judges aren't complaining

"Siv," she says sotto voce as she leans in. "Does his lance look sketchy to you?" She nods at the Balor.

Siv frowns, squints

Then nods back "Seems off color. Want me to get a closer look? My own contest isn't for another hour"

"Yeah. Or maybe get a judge to ask for a look."

"More fun my way" She smirks and goes off

"Siv...!" But her stage whisper isn't enough to stop the Fiona. Dammit...she's gonna make a scene.

A few minutes later... "CHEAT CHEAT WE HAVE A CHEAT!"

In Siv's voice?!

Siv holds up the evidence, and the crowd gasps, "knock out chimerical gas encased in the lance, tasteless and odorless! The lance head breaks and Dagmar and her horse would have been, Iocane Vapor!"

Yup

Sylvi's eyes go wide, and she hurries through the onlookers to give Siv backup.

"You thought i couldn't win on my own?" The balor knight slaps his squire

(Perception plus Empathy for Sylvi)

Sylvi can't be sure if the Balor is as ignorant of this as he claims to be

We need a Gwyd over here. She scans the crowd to see if there's any green-and-gold...and hope it's not Leanhaun.

Why, there IS the Count himself... Dagmar too but she's with Star making sure horse shoes haven't come loose

She bites her lip but then takes the plunge through the crowd again, this time towards Hemlock's location.

Hemlock is, of course, telling a joke "And she stepped on the Bawl... get it?"

Sylvi pauses and speaks to whomever is serving as attendant to Hemlock. "I need to speak to the Count. It's urgent."

Mrs Josten looks up, "Oh my, is anyone hurt?"

"No, but we have an accusation of cheating, and a Balor who denies knowing anything about it."

"Balor" She makes a face, then nods and hands Sylvi a tray with Hemlocks favorite drink on it "This will get you close to him"

"Thank you," Sylvi says with a grateful smile. She takes the tray and moves to deliver it. She puts on a pleasant smile as she does so.

"Bring it over here, girl" a lady noble says eying the other drinks on the tray

Feigning not to hear her, Sylvi instead makes a bee-line for Hemlock.

Hemlock looks over "Oh I love these " And plucks it without really seeing it is her

She may need to ahem

Which she does, and follows it with, "Excellency, a word, please."

He turns, then "Sylvi? Zounds, did the teaching job fall through?"

A smile. "Hardly, Excellency. I just needed to get to you quickly. We need to determine if a combatant accused of attempting to poison Dame Dagmar is telling the truth."

She sets the tray on a side table. The lords and ladies can help themselves.

His brow knits and a scowl enters his face, "Pardon me all, someone is trifling with my hosting. Lead on, Sylvi"

"Thank you, Excellency. This way." And lead she does, directly back to the jousting lists.

It goes quickly and smoothly, the balor knight IS lying, did try to use Ioccaine Vapor (Which is taken away... possibly to be stolen by Symon later) and the Balor and Squire are ...detained, and taken out of the contest

Sylvi watches them get hauled off. That was satisfying.

The Count turns to her , "For a rebel commoner, you're very civic minded, Sylvi" A chuckle, "Thank you for that, for all sorts of reasons"

"Excellency, I-... " She stops short, not sure how to react to that description. Instead, she takes a breath, puts on the cheerleader smile, and brightly says, "Just trying to do the right thing, Excellency. Thank you so much for listening."

"You succeded" He assures tilting his head "How's your mother adjusting to rule?"

"Oh, beautifully! She and the balefire are getting along great." She says this more as an assumption than a fact -- she hasn't really been at the Lodge a whole lot lately, except for practice and the occasional dinner.

"Good." he says "I can't show favoritism, but ... My frie... well, the former ruler will be pleased if she finds out it's doing ok"

More seriously, "Trust me, Excellency, none of us would ever want to disappoint her. My mother least of all."

A smile "off you go then, before some snotty lady wants a drink" And off she goes, back to the crowd

As much as she's grateful for his assistance, she's more grateful that he didn't decide to give her the special privilege of sitting with the nobility. She's much happier going back to reclaim her spot in the crowd. I wonder who they'll put up against Dagmar instead? she thinks as she settles in.

A question to soon be answered

(Pause)