As the artisans worked on painting out the Kith'An game, one of them noticed the excitement of the collared girl and gave a soft smile of sympathy.  Perhaps he knew from past experience what it meant to wear a collar, because he kept looking at it as he talked to her.  "Well, we certainly need someone to test the board," he said, patting one of the finished stars.  A younger worker girl looked over to him, but he gestured for her to continue working.  "Would you like to give it a shot and win something for your mistress before the games?  No charge."<br/><br/>A nubile woman in noble's clothes, with long brown hair covering her ears and working its way down her shoulders, stepped out of the Happy Hog Tavern unsteadily with a wine glass still in hand.  The twinkle in her eye showed that she hadn't bothered to wait until the festival actually began before celebrating, and it was surprising that she managed to keep such finery clean in her current state.  "A minshtrel!" she slurred, spotting Lucian's lute and meandering her way over.  "Sing us a happy song for the joyous times!"<br/><br/>Sparrow, meanwhile, saw a pair of merchants with bloated coin purses working on one of the games.  It was a simple task for rolling a steel ball to strike three pins down at the other end, but they were doing the old cheat of inserting lodestones so that the ball would swerve away from its intended course.  From the way people past, the trick was apparently unknown in this area.