A Night of Knuckles

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 65: A Night of Knuckles, we took some time to size up Joella's posse as we proceeded to the northwest corner of Leopold's Garrison – where some out-of-commission animal pens were sectioned off for our use.  With only our instincts to guide us, we had some difficulty discerning the most favorable matchups – and that uncertainty was enough for us to pay a good bit of coin for some intel from a questionable source.

A crowd began to gather and it became clear that the word had spread – but it was too late to back out, even when we noticed a suspicious individual scoping out the scene from the back of the emerging audience.  Joella made her terms clear: if we won, she'd leave Leopold's tonight and head back to Hacketton – but if we lost, it would be us hitting the road without a good night's sleep.

First in the ring was Graven, who survived an early onslaught of punches to outlast the hefty elf Tundor – and we took an early lead in this best-of-five.  Next was Safira, who saw through just about everything that the lanky Irozon threw her way – cruising to victory and putting a decent sum of money into Orba's pocket, who had fancied betting on her friends over the favored garrison regulars.

Our win streak came to an end when Joella stepped forward to fight – as Erland found that the structured nature of these boxing matches prevented him from utilizing his usual breadth of skills.  With our team up 2-to-1, we turned to Beezaura – who called out Silmuva believing that the Tiefling's scrappiness would be bested by the Halfling's hardiness.

In convincing fashion, we took the match and the series – and a frustrated Joella stormed off to make the arrangements for her departure.  It was a satisfying end to what had been a frustrating inability to help, and we even snuck in an extra round of fisticuffs for Orba – who put on a good show despite ultimately falling to her much larger Half-Orc opponent.

Afterwards we made for Leopold's Lodgings with plans for a nightcap before starting tomorrow anew – but we didn't make it that far before being stopped by the strange onlooker from before.  His declared association with the Gentle Void immediately put Beezaura on edge, but it was Safira he was looking for – and they stepped into a nearby tent for a private chat.

The man was impressed by Safira's performance against her favored opponent, and wanted to let her in on the prisoner "fight nights" that we'd heard about from the Goliath we'd met earlier that day.  The reigning champion (who called himself "The Chimera") was tough enough that the potential payout for his defeat had gotten tantalizingly large – and this Gentle Void agent was willing to cash in the necessary favors to get Safira a shot as a challenger.

The idea of going into the lion's den didn't appeal to most of us, especially when considering the additional cost of our hard-earned favors, but Safira understandably didn't want to go alone – and Graven wanted to get a look at the man who was boasting a nickname that seemed like more than a coincidence.

While the two of them retreated to their bedroom to get focused and plan ahead – Erland, Orba and Beezaura waited up in the dining area for the possible arrival of Leto, who had yet to return from his search for the Mycrawl den and his missing husband.  As the hours ticked by, our apprehension over his whereabouts grew and we headed up to bed with a sinking feeling in our stomachs.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: no natural ones were rolled in this Chapter.