Lobster Eve Fights at the Lusty Minotaur
At the bottom of the ocean there lives a race of lobsters that grow to be as tall as a horse, as wide as a fruit cart, and more delicious than you can possibly imagine. Many who have tasted these delicious creatures can no longer eat the common variety of lobster because it tastes just enough like the giant lobster to remind the diner that what a pale substitute it is. Giant lobsters are completely inaccessible most of the time, but occasionally a pod of them will venture into shallower waters where they can be captured. Such captured crustaceans are always in very high demand.
History
Despite paying well above the going rate for giant lobsters, the Lusty Minotaur can rarely obtain more than a handful of the creatures during each harvest. Even if they had unlimited access to the lobsters, the difficulty of transporting and storing them, not to mention cooking them (a process that is both time and space intensive) would make putting giant lobster on the menu for anyone who'd like some an impossible task. To solve the problem, the Minotaur Clan came up with an innovative solution: The Lobster Eve Fights. Anyone who can afford the entry fee while there are still lobsters left to claim gets a chance to wrestle a giant lobster. If they can flip the creature onto its back before time runs out, it's theirs to eat (on Lobster Day).
Execution
Lobster Eve Night begins with the Lusty Minotaur's proprietor, Stavros , calling out the opening bid. This is usually some ridiculously high price, like 500 Gold Pieces. If nobody is willing to pay the entry fee, the bid is lowered. If multiple people are willing to pay an entry fee, the fee is collected and a secondary auction is held among them to determine each person's place in line. When each person's turn comes up, they are allowed to select their lobster from among those that remain. The lobster and the lobster fighter are then led to the courtyard of the Lusty Minotaur, where the fighter has 2 minutes (measured with an hourglass) to flip the lobster onto its back. If the fighter fails to do so, they get nothing. If the fighter wins, their name is painted onto the lobster's shell and they are ushered to one of the private meeting rooms to discuss preparation and side dishes with Chef Zetin. If there are still lobsters left once everyone has had their chance, the entry fee is lowered and a new batch of combatants bid for their place in line. If the lobsters run out before everyone who paid an entry fee fights, those who didn't get a chance to flip a lobster are refunded their money.
Components and tools
Fighters are not allowed to use weapons, but can wear armor to protect themselves from the lobster's claws.
Before and after fights, each Lobster is kept in a high-sided wagon that is heavily tarred so that it's at least somewhat watertight. The lobster's claws are bound together with heavy rope when they're not fighting.
Participants
In addition to the Minotaur family, who conduct the auction, the Lobster Eve event requires a small army of brave urchins to dump water onto the lobsters as they wait in the wagons, a lobster handler and several strong men to lead the creatures into the courtyard and remove and replace the ropes binding their claws, and a judge to make rulings on questionable flips. Extra Bullguards are also always on hand to keep observers on the balcony and at the windows (which are covered with metal lattices for the event) safe from rogue lobsters or their own stupidity. For the actual preparation of the lobsters, Chef Zetin hires between 10 and 30 extra assistants.
Observance
The Lobster Eve fights happen whenever the Lusty Minotaur has access to giant lobsters. There's no discernible pattern as to when the creatures venture into shallower waters, leading some scholars to speculate that they do so only to avoid especially dangerous predators.
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