Toilsday, Sarenith 21 (afternoon)

We met the team that Tirra’s guild assembled. There were five of them in all: Alexanda, Anton, Aurel, Milosh, and Shandu. I sparred with each of them one-on-one and for the most part they were on par with our skill level. We followed that up with some practice as a group so I could watch their tactics, and what stood out is how well they coordinated their actions to assist one another. While they’re lacking strong magical support, their mobility and effective teamwork are a definite plus.

Tirra came through with some information about the construction of the arena that will be helpful in, as she put it, “whatever other purposes you may have in mind that I don’t need to know about.” Of interest is that the arena itself is built over a series of natural caverns, and the builders worked these to create some of the underground infrastructure. Supposedly, Raknian personally went down there to clear out a population of wights before beginning construction to ensure it was all safe.

Tirra’s guild says that these caverns intersect with the sewer system. So it looks like we’re not quite done with the sewers, after all. And I am sure there will be absolutely no wights down there, because obviously Raknian has already taken care of that.

Once inside, we’d need to be able to pass without being heavily scrutinized. One of the better ideas we had for that was obtaining serving uniforms, and with some help from the guild we were able to locate the tailor shop where they are being made. Since I couldn’t participate in a plan that involved outright theft, we tried the audacious strategy of just buying some and that went surprisingly well. The place was swamped and the manager on duty had little time or patience for us, or, well, anyone. This worked to our advantage.

“Show me your work order,” he demanded. When we couldn’t present one, he got angry and said, “No work order, no credit. Cash only! No exceptions!” Which, was just fine with us. It’s kind of nice for things to just randomly go your way every once and a while.

I’ve found a gown for tomorrow night’s dinner, one that is not too formal or flashy, and a bit durable since it is an outdoor event, along with some jewelry to accentuate it. I’m going with simple, tasteful, and moderately revealing (I am not generously endowed, but I do have a bustline and I’m going to show it). I’ve also picked up some simpler dresses that are comfortable and befitting a team manager. We’ll have designated seating during the events, and I’ll be doing a lot of sitting there so I need something that looks nice, won’t show dust and dirt easily, and will be easy to spend the better part of the day in.

I have not bought this many clothes at one time, ever. In fact, even the least expensive dress cost more than I have ever spent on all my clothing, combined.

I could get used to this?

Wealday, 22 Sarenith (night)

OK, I don’t have a lot of time as we are making our first attempt at infiltrating the area tonight.

The dinner was boisterous affair that started with food, and ended with scoping the competition and influencing the bookmakers. Here’s what we learned.

First, Auric’s team, named Auric’s Warband, is more than just Auric and Khellek: they had four flesh golems with them, standing ominously and stoically—I guess that’s really the only look for a golem—behind them as they ate. They were seated at Raknian’s table, obviously a privilege of being the previous year’s champions. (Note: The golems feel like an unfair advantage, but there is nothing in the rules prohibiting constructs.)

The other teams had designated seating so we could get a good look at one another, and as their manager, I was seated with them instead of with the rest of my friends. There were 24 teams in all, and I learned quite a bit just by watching how they carried themselves. Some were clearly more fit and more calculating than the others, and from the occasional chat between managers and the bookies, you quickly got a sense for who the real competition was.

I was also quite pleased to see that some of my team was doing the same: sizing up the competition and discussing among themselves who was who. As they have been in Korvosa longer than I have, they likely knew some of these teams already. It is nice to work with professionals.

Most of the managers and sponsors ate quickly so they could spend time talking to the bookies. Technically this would be Ekyam’s job, but he was spending most of his time just staring at Raknian. And I don’t mean subtly staring at him. The guy was staring daggers into Raknian’s head. So I walked over to him and tried to interrupt it.

“Ekyam. Do you want me to talk to somebody?”

He started in response. “Oh! Uh. Yes! The…uh…” He pointed over to the bookies. “Talk to each one of them about our group, and try and play them up so they’ll do better in the ratings.”

“Okay.”

Abadar does not condone gambling, of course, but betting on the games is legal, and it’s a part of package here, so in this case duty mandated that I take part. Again, this was supposed to be Ekaym’s job, but he wasn’t having it, so it fell to me. As we were latecomers with a relatively unknown team, we were facing long-shot odds and this would not work in our favor, as the less likely you are perceived as a serious contender, the more a cloud just kind of hangs over you. And, Ekaym’s reputation was on the line, as well. If you want to be taken seriously as a license holder, it starts with the betting markets.

It was also, as I said earlier, a good way to get a feel for the competition.

I used all of my, ahem, assets in those discussions, focusing on Ilthane’s Fury’s nimbleness, teamwork, and coordination as their biggest asset. This was actually well received, and I was able to describe specific examples of how they functioned cohesively thanks to our sparring sessions the previous day (but I was careful to not provide too many details when other teams were listening). This goes a lot farther than just simple bluster and braggery, which is what several sponsors and managers were selling. In just a few minutes, we went from wildcards to solid contenders with literally even odds.

I came back over to Ekaym, who was still drilling holes into Raknian with their gaze. I sat down next to him.

“If you keep staring at him like that,” I said quietly, “he’s going to get suspicious.”

He started again and turned away, but didn’t say anything.

“If I’ve noticed it,” I said, “somebody else is going—”

He cut me off. “How did things go with the bookmakers?”

“I’ve got us talked up pretty well, so we’re doing fine.” I didn’t want to let him off the hook, though, so I cautioned, “If you’re hiding something, we need to know about it. If there’s an angle here, let us know what it is.”

“This is not the time or the place.”

“That’s fine,” I said, getting up. “We’ll talk later.”

I didn’t actually want to go into whatever his issue was right then and there, I just wanted him to stop calling attention to himself. And this time he got the message.

Next, I dropped in on the team so we could compare notes. “Which of the teams are the threat here?”

Their answer aligned with my own guesses. “Auric’s Warband are the ones we’re most concerned about,” Anton said. “They are the favorites to win. The other group is Pitch Blade.” This was a pair of rough-and-tumble dwarves, that pretty much everyone had heard at some point because they were loud and rude. “I need to learn more about them. Maybe see if we can catch them sparring at practice.”

Their manager was a man named Okoral, who just also happened to be Raknian’s right-hand man. So that was just great.

Regardless, I decided to pay them a visit. I wasn’t above using a little magic for what might be a challenging conversation, though I gave it some time before I walked over there so there wasn’t an obvious connection.

“So,” I said, with as much charm as I could muster, “I hear you guys are one of the teams to beat.”

Okoral gave me a curt nod while sizing me up. The dwarves, who had been drinking heavily, were a bit more forward.

“That’s right!” one of them boomed. “And we’ll take you down if we’re facing you, make no mistake about that! We are winning this year!”

Considering how they’d been responding to everyone else all evening, this actually qualified as polite.

“I like to hear that kind of confidence!” I said to them, smiling.

Okoral was a bit more muted. After looking at me a little too long—though I suppose this was kind of the point of what I was wearing—he simply said, “Best of luck to you. These should be interesting games.”

I actually learned a lot from just this short exchange, combined with their general behavior through the evening. These were “grab the bull by the horns” powerhouses, the kind of folk that rile themselves up into a fury and have at it. I was already forming some strategies in my head for dealing with them.

The other two teams to watch were Draconic Brood, which we know very little about other than two of it’s members look related and one of them had a sorcerer vibe, and Arcane Auriga, a team of four elven, archer women. The latter, unsurprisingly, got Zhog’s attention, as that description is basically three for three: elven, archer, and women.

At the end of the evening, after the teams had been sequestered down in the champion’s village below the arena, I got a message to Tirra to about or team’s equipment needs, then I met up with Ekaym away from the arena grounds, and hopefully away from prying ears.

“What’s the undercurrent here?” I asked.

“It all has to do with my sister, Lahaka. She came to Korvosa two years ago, not long after that year’s Champion’s Games. I’ve been looking for her for months now, but I’ve hit a dead end. She caught Loris Raknian’s eye, and I believe that they became lovers. What I do know is that she vanished the day after last year’s Champion’s Games ended.

“I hoped that by entering some gladiators in the competition, I’d have a chance to explore the arena and talk with Raknian, and maybe find out what happened to her. But so far, I’ve found nothing.”

“We’ve got reason to believe Rankian is up to something very bad,” I said, “And I don’t mean just politics or business. We’re trying to learn exactly what he’s doing, and get proof of it. So, I think we can help each other, here.”

“The two places I haven’t been able to get to are his palace and inside the arena. You now have access to the latter, so we have accomplished that much, at least.”

We’re heading down into the sewers shortly to have our first look around.