12: A Warm Welcome

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## Summary

### The Gang Gets an Intern

The party meets Pim, an excitable young Wood Elf fighter who claims to be a newly minted graduate of the Hyllis Knight School. Seeing Tira, Pim assumes she must be her mentor, a veteran knight under whom she is set to learn for the next year before becoming a fully fledged “Sword of Hyllis”. When the party questions her on where she came from, she can’t recall anything but the graduation ceremony, led by Headmaster Garf. While the party knows “Hyllis” is an old-fashioned way to refer to the Wilds, no one has heard of the school or can remember where the name “Hyllis” comes from.

After the feast, when things wind down, the gang meets their new steeds: Jubilee, Romeo, and Toots, three of Roz and Peat’s cantankerous mules. After a night’s rest in the barn, the party wakes to a breakfast feast prepared by Peat, who has pulled out all the stops and insists that his precious son’s friends take as many leftovers as they can carry.

### The Road South, Again

The party, now two-to-a-mule, coaxes their beasts over the footbridge and back to the road, where they eventually cross back over the Great Bridge of Hyllis, and come upon a Halfling peddler from K’nafay named Regis with a cart full of enchanted wares. Mujie immediately buys the “Glasses of Endless Night”, which turn out to be entirely non-magical sunglasses, and Cat takes interest in a so-called Cloak of Invisibility. Meanwhile, Luca investigates a Key of Mimicry. While the party distracts Regis, Cat identifies his new purchases and learns that they’re mostly useless. Learning they’ve been swindled, Mujie and Bran shake Regis down for their money back as Pim takes notes on how true knights deal with conflict. For their troubles, they take the key, the cloak, and an endless, but hopelessly tangled rope, and Mujie pockets the rest of Regis’s money.

As the party passes the road back to Lhoam, Keller and Mujie share a subdued but loaded goodbye, and the party begins the trek through Malabar Pass. At nightfall, Cat uses his Rope Trick to make a safe shelter for the gang to sleep in, while Bran sleeps under the stars with the mules. The next morning, they set off again, and get a glimpse of the South Sea from Malabar Ridge, which overlooks Ashta and the south coast.

### Rabble Roses

The party boards their mules and heads into the city, where they attract a fair amount of attention. On their way to Tira’s old stomping grounds, they see a poster with the headline “Rabble Roses”, featuring three of Tira’s old “coworkers”. When they make it to the arena, Tira is greeted by Lita, a human sorceress, but the reception isn’t all warm fuzzies: Bianca, a Dwarf barbarian and the Arena’s current #1, takes serious issue with Tira leaving and coming back like it’s nothing, while Nell, a Tiefling fighter, eggs her on.

Before a fight can break out in rec room, Tira’s old mentor and the girls’ instructor appears. Imta reminds them that here, arguments are settled in the ring, and the two groups stage a show match. Tira, Pim, Luca, and Mujie square up against Bianca, Nell, Lita, and Missy, while their respective cohorts support from the sidelines. Tira, Pim, and Bianca duke it out center stage, while Luca’s moonbeam sets the pace for the rest of the fight. Feeling the heat, the rest of the girls quickly gang up on him as Mujie keeps his friends topped up on health. The show match turns when Lita fires off a devastating Witch Bolt at Luca, who subsequently goes down to the two bloodthirsty fighters breathing down his neck, and Mujie finds himself next on the chopping block. But Mujie, remembering the good old days of hearing South Coast Gladiator League highlights on the Ark radio in Samsara, throws himself headlong into his gladiator fantasy and squares up to Missy and Nell.

With some help from the sidelines, Mujie and a risen Luca take care of Nell, Missy, and Lita, who go down in typical gladiator style, and Pim and Tira finish off Bianca, who proves herself a hearty contender. Post-battle, Bianca admits she was wrong to have a go at Tira, and acknowledges her growing strength, and Imta leads everyone to a mess hall.

### The Mysterious Traveler

There, while the rest of the party gets to know the fighters, Imta pulls Tira aside. A woman of few words, she praises Tira’s growth as a fighter, and asks her what prompted her return. Hearing that they need a guide to cross the Kkora Desert to reach her birthplace, the Meranhi Empire, she prompts Tira to talk to Lita, who saw a mysterious foreigner leave the city that morning. Recognizing Mahi’s earring, Luca’s necklace, and Mujie’s rings as divine artifacts, she also reveals that she is Ark-touched, a rarity in the realm. Later, Lita questions Tira about her love life, and rather more helpfully, tells the party that she saw a tall man wearing red armor, and that he left the city towards the east, followed by a traveling companion. The party settles in to take a meal.

## Quotes

### *BUT WHERE ARE YOU* REALLY *FROM:*

> “Uhh… I don’t know…? All I can remember is the graduation ceremony, and Headmaster Garf’s speech, and then we got knighted, and… So that’s why, you must be my mentor!! I’m supposed to serve you for a year, and then I can get knighted for real!”
>
>

> “So what’s our first quest??”
>
>

*—Pim*

### *TALL, DARK, AND FAR AWAY:*

> “I heard tell of a strange foreigner passing through the city yesterday wearing red armor. Lita saw him leaving the city this morning, headed east. Perhaps you’ll find your guide out there.”
>
>

*—Imta*

> “Rumor is, he requested audience with the mayor. But I can’t imagine why...”
>
>

*—Lita*