Friendly Fire

*Hired by*: Clove

*Mission Request*: Sabotage specific teams competing in the Celadon Golden Lotus Trials

*Rewards/Loot*: (Pending)

*Discovered Places*: The Proving Grounds (fight club)

*Caravan Allies*: Gromlo (antiquarian), Caliban (cook), "Bob" (alarm gnome)

*Monsters Encountered*: N/A

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## Summary

With their new hard-earned gold, the party went on another shopping spree at The Lapis Ambry. While there, Beebo clung to a woman's leg claiming she was "Bigbo" (the nickname he used for Alas-Šur). Despite the group's insistence, he refused to let go of her. The pale blonde-haired woman introduced herself as Aleria. She was able to get Beebo to get off her leg once she agreed to hold his leash. Aster offered a favor to Aleria if she was willing to join the Dziyiri Nakkar Consortium in Celadon for the Golden Lotus Trials. Aleria seemed confused on if she was going to be paid and if this was a one-time deal contract but ultimately agreed to join them. The group found Alas-Šur has somewhat broken off from the Dziyiri Nakkar Consortium to set up a Uqhesh-based shop for Beldin. The strangest thing was that Beebo had no recollection of every calling Alas-Šur "Bigbo" despite everyone else seeming to remember. Once the mystery of Alas-Šur disappearance was sorted out, Raxis used his connection with The Brotherhood of the Left Hand to find Julep and Ardor (*see Episode 10*). He was told they were often seen at The Proving Grounds, a bar and fighting pit. He was also informed of a place where people did psionic augmentation experiments called The Infusery.

The party made their way to The Proving Grounds and found Julep and Ardor made their own adventuring company called The Blooming Palm. Coincidentally they had joined up with Inez & Otis Cortala (*see Episode 2*). The Dziyiri Nakkar Consortium asked to cash in their favor the with the four adventurers for help in their task regarding the trials in Celadon. The Blooming Palms agreed after negotiating aid in travel to reach Celadon in time. As a Cleric of the Lotus, Otis was able to share his knowledge about the Golden Lotus Trials. The parties agreed to meet in a week so they could all warp to The Veiled Tower (the first Cloud Tower warp point they unlocked). In the meantime, Aster was curious about the fighting pit and suggested some of the party sign up to fight in a double battler (with magic) the next evening. The teams were Aster & Beebo vs. Aleria & Arco. Everyone agreed and paid the 25gp entry fee (Aster paid Beebo's fee) the next night. Aster bet 70gp on her and Beebo to win, Raxis bet 1,000gp on Aroc & Aleria, and Eira just watched from the bar.

Aster got in the first hits on Aleria, but then Arco temporarily incapacitated Beebo, using the halfling's slower speed to his advantage. After a rousing fight with a number critical hits and an extremely cheesy announcer, Arco went down by Beebo's sword and Aleria moved to surrender before Aster could knock her unconscious. Aleria was unhappy that Arco talked a big game at the beginning of the match; however, Aster was very impressed with Aleria's fighting skills. She told her as much, saying Aleria passed the impromptu test to join the group. Aleria was understandably confused as she thought she was already part of the group, but accepted the compliment from the awkward bird person. At the end of the night, Aster and Beebo won 686gp, which she split evenly with him since he spent most of his gold the previous day at The Lapis Ambry. She also gave Arco and Aleria the equivalent of her initial bet to show no hard feelings, and they both accepted the 35gp.