Editing The Third Eye (section)

====The King's Games====
The King's Games were the annual celebration of Hargram's founding. As usual, they began with a royal tour throughout the city, followed by a full day of festivities and contests. The adventurers, still exulting in their victory at the Old Grinder, gleefully took part. Ilara won a strength and endurance contest known as the Merfolk Lumberjack, even beating one contestant who the crowd booed as a cheater on account of being an actual merfolk. The mood was dampened a bit late in the day when, during a cliff-diving competition, a halfling crashed into the rocks and died, but the tragedy was soon forgotten as the day concluded with the Battle of the Champions, a combat tournament in which each contestant wagered a magic item to their opponent. The grand prize ws a private audience with the king, but since the king himself competed and was skilled enough to emerge victorious nearly every year, it had become a popular joke among the populace about a "royal audience of one."

Ilara and Leon both elected to take part in the contest. Apart from the king, the other competitors were the paladin Gratus Ultio of the Knights of the Crown, the dwarven blacksmith Kagrian Ironsinew (who was using the tournament as an opportunity to show of his wares), a traveling monk named Vragi, a half-dragon sorcerer named Cay Tali Valberg, and a mysterious figure known as the Raven Knight. Isabelle caught Cay Tali cheating by surreptitiously accepting magical aid from the spectators, disqualifying her, while Kagrian was defeated by the king. Meanwhile, Ilara defeated Vragi and won his quarterstaff, and Leon defeated Gratus and won his sword.

The next fight, between the king and the Raven Knight, proved a surprisingly even match, with both fighters wielding their magical arms with great skill and neither yielding any ground. Finally, the Raven Knight stabbed the king in the leg, causing him to fall. With his opponent's blade at his throat, the king raised his hands in surrender. Praising his opponent's skills, he urged her to remove her helmet and receive the cheers of the crowd. Releasing a catch on her armor, a pair of black feathered wings unfurled from beneath her cape as she removed her helmet to reveal the face of Queen Elyssa, the king's late wife. She denounced him as a kinslayer and a traitor, declaring that she would claim his punishment and they would meet again in Hell. Then she plunged her sword through his heart before vanishing in a vortex of fire. Though the clerics and paladins rushed to his aid, there was nothing they could do. King Waldrann Azennar was dead.