Accept Lia into the party

You and Blythe exchange glances. She nods. “Welcome to the team,” you say. Shoving yourself to your feet, you immediately fall backwards onto your ass. Turns out the mana depletion has finally hit you. Like a truck, in fact. Blythe helps you to your feet and you stand on wobbly knees as you pull the regional map out again. Lia gets up, wincing and grabbing at her gut as she goes. I guess she’s still not totally healed, you think. You show her the map and tell her the plan that you and Blythe came up with, and she suggests taking the southern route around the Sisters.

“Looking at that map,” she says, “there’s nothing in the north until you get to the forest. I’m no adventurer, but I get a bad feeling from all that empty space.”

It’s hard not to agree with her. An empty spot on a map doesn’t necessarily mean there’s nothing there. Still, the southern route would take you past at least three major locations on the map: a small town called Ranil, known for its annual fighting tournament; a settlement built at the base of the Sisters called Blackmine, and Fort Renholt, a military checkpoint at the northwestern border of the Empire. These would be the hurdles for your party to slip past on your way to Aleswin.

As you’re preparing to leave, you notice Lia looking distracted. “What’s wrong?” you ask.

“It’s just…” She looks over to you. Blythe stops what she’s doing to listen as well. “You remember all the stuff you saw in my tent? That’s everything I have. I’ve spent my whole life stealing food scraps just to get by, occasionally finding something precious to hold onto here and there. Or, you know, stealing a ring from a noble who hurt me or something. It’s all there, in that alley, and now I have to leave it.”

_Oh. Of course that would be weighing on her, _you think. Her whole life’s just been turned upside down by all this. What would be the right thing to say in this situation?

To your surprise, Blythe speaks before you can come up with something to say. “Does the priestess know where your alley is?”

Lia looks at her, a certain light starting to glow in her eyes. “She doesn’t. How long do you think we have ‘til they start dowsing for me?”

“I believe we would have at least until the evening before the priest would be missed,” says Blythe.

“Wait a second,” you say, giving your brain time to catch up to where the girls are in the conversation. “Are you suggesting we sneak back into Evris?”

“You and… was it Blythe?” The elf nods in response to Lia’s guess. “You two should stay out of the town. I’m confident I can get in and out without being recognized, as long as they aren’t actually looking for me yet.” Blythe retrieves her trusty brown cloak and hands it to Lia. She takes it with a grin and throws it on. The hood conceals her face well, but her ears push it up at the top rather obviously. You can’t see it as a problem — she’s nowhere near the only catkin in Evris — it’s just kind of cute that way.

With the new plan established, you and Blythe follow Lia back in the direction of town. As you go, you see far fewer monsters in the brush around you than you did yesterday. You’re not sure how much damage that party of adventurers from yesterday did to the monster population of the forest, but you’re sure you saw them being driven off as you fled the village. Maybe monsters just don’t like this area? If that’s the case, why? Is it too close to the town? Or is it something else?

You feel a tug on your thumb, and then the ground gives out under your feet. All three of you lose your footing as the terrain beneath you crumbles away, revealing a deep hole in the ground. You tumble down the hole, landing on your back against something cold and rough. Before you can look around, one, and then two women land on top of you. Blythe is the first one up, and she quickly turns to look up through the hole you all just fell through. The sunlight pushes down through the hole, illuminating what appears to be a floor of stone bricks around you. She places a hand on the wall, but jumps back as dirt and rocks cave in to block up the hole as swiftly as it opened. The three of you are left in total darkness, underground.

Lia is still laying on top of you, but even in the dark you can tell she’s using her cat-like vision to look around. “What can you see?” you ask.

“Not much,” she says. “Looks like someone built a house in a cave or something. I can just barely make out a door over there.” You feel her move on top of you, and you imagine she’s pointing somewhere. Where at, exactly, is impossible for you to see.

“We have a problem,” says Blythe. Bigger than being sucked underground? you think. “I cannot move any of the terrain blocking the hole through which we entered this place. We appear to be sealed in with magic.” Oh. Well, shit.

Suddenly, a low hum fills the air around you as the room lights up. You look first at the catkin still laying over you as if she belongs there, and then you follow her gaze to the wall ahead of her. There, you see a door etched with glowing blue runes. You assume it’s the glow from the door that’s allowing you to see right now. Next, you watch as a man with a long, gray beard, wearing orange and blue robes magically rises out of the floor in front of the door. Blythe grips her rapier, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice, and Lia finally clambers off of you.

“Welcome, brave souls,” says the mystery man as you push to your feet. “You stand before Hesperos, the great and powerful wizard! I have devised a series of seven trials, with which I will seek to measure your greatness. Pass my tests, and you shall be rewarded.”

“We don’t want to take your test,” you say.

The wizard doesn’t even look at you. He just stands there for a few more seconds, and then sinks back into the floor with the same weird magic as before.

“Hey! Get back here!” Lia yells into the floor. She stomps her boots against the stones, but nothing comes of it.

“What should we do, Evan?” asks Blythe, walking over and touching your arm.

“Is there no other way out?” you ask.

“I do not believe so.”