We made our way to camp with Parker Garcia. Chatted with him a bit to size him up. Seems nice, a real personable fellow. I freed him from his chains after I knew he wasn’t a bad person. Nice for things like this to be cut and dry. He tells us a little bit about himself. Has dealings with some of the same ponces that Dorian wants to involve himself with. They have money and money is exactly what I need right now. He wants us to head somewhere - a border fort. Haven’t seen one before. Not sure if Carson’s seen one before. I’m already late with him. Makes me nervous, but maybe he’ll like the money. Every Tong I’ve seen only cares about money.

Bird Girl didn’t seem to agree. She told me that she’s suspicious of him. Used a net story to tell me about it. She even used a feather story to tell me about it! My head’s been getting more and more cloudy and it might be messing out with my judgement of character. That’s not a good thing. Parker Garcia might be a bad person.

I sleep and don’t dream.

Morning comes and there’s another person at the pit swirling a spoon. Smells real nice. Who is this person? He looks at me and everyone else and I know that it’s Parker Garcia. Magic! Must be something from the Mystics - a wild thing. Anyone from The University would just throw around fireballs as a show of what they do. I see that Rinn and Giacomo are thinking real hard about what they’re seeing. Giacomo has that look in his eyes that I saw only once. He’s different than I remembered - hard to put a word to my sense about him. Power? No. That’s not the right word. I’ll pin it down soon enough.

So there’s a fortress of warriors in these woods. I’m a bit curious to see what it’s like. Wonder how much it’s like the Heap? Loved that place - was never old enough to toss around in the ring, but there were so many great battles. The shows of strength, the sweat and blood, the roars of the crowd - intoxicating! Been a while since I’ve had a worthy match - wonder if Nak’Chaal is doing well with her troupe?

We approach the fortress. Wizard flags around. Stupid wizards. Black Bell banners too. I check the others to see if they’re alarmed. They are but it isn’t as if they are a threat. The fortress itself is large and imposing - like the drydocks back in Volos. Not like home. The air is crisp like at sea, but we’re so far out that I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I notice Ake and Bird Girl making different preparations than usual - maybe it means winter.

We enter the main grounds and there’s a lot of activity. Looks like a fighter’s pit. Warriors and adventurers and their small handlers talk and laugh like they have not a care in the world. Can I be that person? Something stings at the back of my hand - a little tic. I ignore it and see what’s happening.

Little gnome comes in front of me as I admire the setting. He handles the money and sets up the fights. I ask him how I can get a part of the action? Might as well unwind while I’m here. He points at some stones and tells me to lift them. So I lift them. It’s hard to lift them all but I do it anyway. Bird Girl helps a bit by putting them on top of each other. I like the way the stones cast shadows that get taller and taller, even as midday nears. That is pretty nice.

After the fifth one, it starts to hurt. I scream a bit to stay focused. The pain starts to tingle and I start to feel a lot of different things. My focus breaks and I feel like after I’m done fighting. But I’m not done yet. It’s hurts so much but I want to show that I’m able to fight. So I lift more. The crowd seems to like it and cheers really loud. The gnome has a look in his eyes that I haven’t seen. It’s like when you see a really cute puppy or someone that you fall in love with kind of rolled up together. The last stone is really small - like the size of my head. Bird Girl flies up to the top and I think she puts it on. I brace myself and I stay up. It probably looks a bit silly from afar, this stack of stones like a mast from the middle. I put it down after a bit and the pain washes over me like a cool breeze. It feels so refreshing to feel something like this again. I’m swept up with the crowd and get ferried into the Blue Dragon. Giacomo is swept up too and he has some explaining to do.

We go in and drink. Then I ask Giacomo why he’s following me and how he’s still alive! I yell at him because it feels right. He gives me an uncomfortable feeling - like Lucien or Carson. It’s the sort of feeling where I wouldn’t be satisfied by punching him in the face. After the feat in the grounds, I need to avoid those sorts of situations. He tells his side of the story on the Chickadee. He has some hidden power - something really useful for him but invisible to me. He isn’t here to kill me. That’s nice. I’m not here to kill him either which he finds nice too. I get a drink for him and we catch up. There’s a lot to tell him - I’m a different person than I was before.

We head out after a while to meet up with the group. I hope their days were as good as mine! A little boy rushes up to us and tells Kirin about supper with the ruler of the keep, who is a dragon! I wonder if it’s like the dragons that I saw? It sounds like they fought their way to the top and nobody bothered to provide a challenge. Not that it’d be an easy thing to do. But it might be fun.