The Inquisitor looks at the prisoner and provides him with some water. She still found herself a bit uncertain as to whether or not this tale of the prisoner's was fact or fantasy, but it held her attention for sure and she wanted to know more. "So how did you know that the Brokers had given new powers to the Peridot Champion and not that he had gotten them from his clan or trained to get himself stronger?" she inquires. The prisoner sits down in his cup of water and answers, "The corruption of a dragonkin can be felt apparently. In a crowd, it is difficult to notice and when most of your people are focused on outsiders, it provides an additional layer of concealment, but it was Yunes, a Song Dragonkin who was selected to be the Garnet Champion. She has the gift of empathy, which made her songs and sonic abilities far more powerful than most of her fellow song dragons. She detected it, but we're getting ahead of ourselves."
The prisoner continues with his story, "To be honest, this Tournament began like all of the others with the Presentation of Champions Parade and Banquet. We held parties and the village elders all met with one another. The Champions interacted and trained like normal for the opening few days. The one difference is the tension revolving around the outsiders. On the fourth day as is custom, the actual Tournament began. The Tournament has skills tests, diplomacy tests, power control and management in performing non-violent or destructive tasks. You see the Champion of Dragons is not just the strongest warrior among us, but they must be well versed in use of powers and their control of their powers. They must be able to resolve disputes and help protect our land from natural phenomenon. With that said, the fighting is the most cared about and observed aspect of the Tournament. Again, this year was no different. Well... that's not completely accurate. The Ruby Temple is always full of unaligned spirits or those whose Kotada has died. So if a few go missing, one typically would not notice... unless a popular, unaligned spirit that practically lives for the Tournament is not present and no one can find them anywhere. This particular spirit wasn't the only one, but I actually enjoyed his company during all of the festivities. He was very good at calming the younger Champions down.
Yunes had been paired against Balger, the Peridot Champion. Their duel was the 3rd one of the tournament. During her fight, myself and the Emerald Champion, Pelion, were searching for the spirit. When we couldn't find him, we returned to the arena to find out that much to our surprise, Balger had actually defeated Yunes using powers that most of the villages had never seen him use before. Kavos, who had observed the fight, was also suspicious. He looked after Yunes until the healers arrived and she told him that something was strange about Balger and to be careful in case Kavos was paired against him. Kavos opened a telepathic link, which he would typically avoid given her empathy, but he needed to know what she felt. Yunes shows him and tries to dampen her empathy as much as possible, but Kavos still feels some of what she felt during the battle. While she was with the healers, Kavos meets up with Pelion and myself to bring each other up to speed on the search for the spirit. That quickly turns into a standoff between the three of us with Balger of the Peridot, Vorux the Sapphire Champion, and Roland the Aquamarine Champion. With them is one of the brokers. We didn't realize it at the time, but Kavos' telepathic link with Yunes left some residual "empathic awareness" or something because when the Broker approached, Kavos never took his eyes off of him and had a very uneasy air about him. Vorux decided to place himself into Kavos' crosshairs by taunting him that he shouldn't be so focused on their companion when he was going to knock him out in their fight. Kavos looks at Vorux and his eyes start to radiate with energy. Kavos says nothing, but everyone can feel his annoyance, so Pelion reminds him that Champions are forbidden from fighting outside of the arena. With the smug look on Balger's face, I told him that I would looking forward to fighting him. Pelion took us to go check on Yunes so that we would stay out of trouble.
Later that day, Pelion and Yunes continued the search when Yunes felt a strong empathic surge of pain. Upon feeling this, she quickly guided Pelion to the source. They arrived to interrupt one of the brokers trying to steal the spirit of one of the Ruby Mystics who had been attacked. Pelion stopped him from completing whatever he was doing and attacks him. The fight back and forth while Yunes tends to the Mystic. A Champion fighting outside of the arena attracts attention quickly. Kavos was once again in the arena as was I since I was fighting the champion from one of the minor villages during this time. Pelion gains the upper hand, but the Broker is backed up by the other brokers. Kavos rushed over once he received word. Suddenly, there is an extremely tense standoff between Pelion and Kavos guarding the unconscious mystic and a still recovering Yunes. Before long, all of the major Champions had arrived and battle lines had been drawn. Seeing the downed mystic and three Champions protecting him, the locals and members of the respective entourages were furious and exhibiting the signs of a furious mob.
An aura of tranquility and wisdom falls over the dragonkin as the Great Dragon Sage appears. He looks at both sides then seems to float over to the downed mystic and I swear I saw his eyes change when he looks at the downed mystic. Turning back to the standoff after a few moments, he tells the Brokers that they are banished from the island for this incident and that the Peridot are to have no further contact with the outsiders. The Great Dragon Sage is our supreme voice of authority. He is neutral and stays out of the affairs of the individual villages so his word is law... especially within the Ruby Temple. Our assumption is that whatever the brokers tried to do to the mystic, Balger was worried that the Brokers would do to him. It is the only thing that would make his refusal and challenging of the Great Dragon Sage's decree make any possible sense. Even his elders were shocked, but they too had much to lose if this all failed. Pelion and Kavos both voice their anger and disdain for such a lack of respect, but the Great Dragon Sage raises his hand as he steps forward towards the brokers and the defiant champion and both Kavos and Pelion fall silent. The Sage stands before the broker who was being accused of attacking the mystic and points his hand towards the broker. The sound of shattering glass follows the gesture and several spirits are released from around the broker and flee to the Great Sage. The anger of the gathered dragonkin nearly erupts at this revelation.
Even in this moment when Balger should have sided with his own people, the Peridot Champion continued to back the brokers. Even if things had gone differently, he jeopardized his entire village because of his own greed and stupidity. The Great Dragon Sage looked at the Peridot Elders and decrees that the Peridot Village shall be banned from the Tournament of Dragons for an entire Tyrael generation in the hopes that this poison that has seeped into their hearts and minds shall be purged. His hand glows for a moment and suddenly all of the brokers, the Peridot champion and champion's entourage are expelled from the Ruby Temple via forced teleportation. The Great Dragon Sage returns to the body of the mystic and within a flash both he and the mystic vanish as well. With the standoff now resolved and the Tournament interrupted, everyone is basically free for the remainder of the day.
