We entered the dense grove of larches to find a clearing in the middle. There were three relatively short benches for the council members raised on a dais on the far side of the clearing. There were many long benches facing the dais for the audience members and supplicants like us. Beluar occupied the central bench on the dais, with Lord and Lady Aenorin on the bench to his right and Lord and Lady Perrie on the bench to his left.

I really wasn’t surprised. Not that they let on anything at dinner, I just wasn’t surprised because they clearly seemed to have some clout and was par for the course for me in District Eleven. The more I learned, the less I knew about what was going on. I wasn’t going to let my guard down, but this was seeming more like Mayberry than Rivendell.

The only audience members for this session were Sana and Ranaeril. There were no other supplicants for this session of the council, so we took seats right up front. Delirin handled the formalities of our petition on our behalf, requesting residence and assistance for my party. Then it was my turn to go. Based on what Delirin and I discussed, I need to offer something to the council to consider the request and then negotiate the actual cost of the assistance that we were requesting. I opened my satchel and removed several magical devices, some equipment and a few delicacies that I had picked up in the Emerald Sea.

I presented Beluar with an attractive, if I do say so myself, basic version of Galan’s magic compass that I had crafted on the road using materials that I had prepared and brought for that purpose. I didn’t know who else would be on the council, so I had a wide range of items and I parceled them out to the council members the best that I could. Each family got some shadow rabbit gloves, lunar rabbit hats, a few interesting potions made from some of the slimes that I had collected, a couple of my shield discs and an energy armor that I had tuned to harmonize well with the discs.

The gifts were well received. They were so well received that I thought I may have overshot a bit. They actually derailed the meeting for a few minutes as folks checked them out and asked questions about the shields and the energy armor. Eventually, Delirin and I did a little demonstration and everyone was satisfied. Having given some face and softened them up with the gifts, I swooped in for the kill and presented Beluar with my letter of credit. I didn’t plan to need money where I was going, but my team would and the princely sum being guaranteed by my accounts with the brownies was enough to allay any concern regarding the party’s resources.

“Honored members of the council, my party’s own tutorial instructors have turned against them and they need protection, guidance and instruction. I beseech you to take pity on my party and grant our humble application for residence in Eastern Tear. Please also consider our plea for instruction for my party members as they continue on their path. We don’t value these requests likely and will prepare just compensation in any form desired.” I don’t often say “beseech” and this type of activity wasn’t really my forte, so I was hoping that I was close enough and had ticked enough boxes with the gifts to carry the day.

Beluar asked us to adjourn to another area out of earshot as the council held private deliberations. The safety of my friends was important to me, enough that I was genuinely stressed by this whole experience. I was also strongly feeling the call of the Giantspire Mountains, and Eastern Tear was my only hope to keep my friends safe and retain my freedom to explore and adventure on my own. It was a nerve racking time, but the council didn’t make us wait too long. I got a wink from Alloralla when we came back into the council chamber, so I was able to relax a little.

After a long pause, Beluar said, “Supplicant Harris, your petition is granted with the following stipulations:

“First, Lady Queakers is accepted unconditionally.

“Second, you and your remaining party members' petition for residence is accepted provided that you pay for your residence and contribute to the common good.

“Third, residence for your human party members is contingent on your own and you personally must spend a fortnight in Eastern Tear each season to maintain this privilege.

“Fourth, your party members may negotiate with the citizens of Eastern Tear individually for their training. This council won’t act as an agent to arrange training services, but we will provide recommendations.

“These terms are generous and made in light of your own status without our nation by rite of passage. Do you agree to be bound by these terms?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I do,” I answered quickly. “Well then welcome to Eastern Tear. Meeting adjourned,” responded Beluar. Deldes and Delirin’s families stood and gathered to head back to the Aenorin estate. After all, we had plans to make.

***

Jim and Karen stood back to back after Kelly faded back into the shadows. The fire had burned relatively low and the flickering glow it emitted cast shadows everywhere, giving Kelly endless options. Unfortunately, that hadn’t helped them much in the fight thus far. They knew another attack was coming, but not where or where. A dagger flashed toward Karen’s side behind her weapon arm, but Kelly appeared and parried the blade with her own. As Karen turned to face her adversary, she saw no one, but she felt the pain as a dagger slipped into her kidney. She had created an opening in her combined defense with Jim when she opened her stance to engage her attacker.

Jim pushed back, trying to pin the attacker between he and Karen, limiting their foe’s mobility and giving them a chance to turn the tide. Anticipating Jim’s move, Kelly closed in on the narrowing gap with a thrust of her own dagger, but she only hit air. Their elven opponent appeared silhouetted against the fire as she licked her dagger and laughed. “What are you going to do with your healer down? Even if she could heal through that kind of wound, she’ll be useless for the rest of the fight and you couldn’t keep up when it was three on one. I don’t see any way for you to get out of this one alive.”

Karen walked over to the fire and collapsed onto a split log bench. “We get it Deldes. But did you have to hit so hard, I actually got a bruise from that one and it felt like my whole side exploded.”

Deldes laughed again as she responded, “Well sorry princess. I figured a tough cleric like you could take a few hits, especially if the pain was just your training device. Anyway, you three will be making dinner, cutting firewood and tidying up around camp again this evening. I will be hanging out with Sarah. I love this game.”

***

The return from the Slime Fields was a long, quiet trek. No one said a word as they marched back up the road to the Emerald Sea. They were all alive and that was something, but the party would never be the same. They had plunged deeply into slime country searching for the hideout that Harris and the others were using or any sign of their passing through the area. They were confident that their magic and skills would protect them from the slimes. They were wrong.

The best way to kill a slime is to destroy its core with a physical attack. If you aren’t in the Slime Fields to bag slimes for their materials, you can avoid them with a little patience by keeping a low profile. The slimes that made the Slime Fields near the Emerald Sea their home were definitely titans among their species. They could easily absorb a couple of party members simultaneously and were nearly completely impervious to magic. Elen and her team didn’t really fully research or account for the contours of this situation, so when they charged in to search for Harris they did so by slinging magic at anything that got in their way.

Phraan was a capable Warrior and Lando was coming along, but fighting the huge slimes at close range was not a winning tactic. The party had two ranged physical fighters in Elen and Erin, so they should have been able to compensate for the relative lack of utility that Ruven and Lyle offered for this part of the mission, but hitting the cores with an arrow fired at the speed that a shortbow or a longbow could muster was a tall order and the timing was extremely tricky. They never did get the hang of it.

When they were still trying to overwhelm some of the slimes with spells they managed to gather some large crowds of the monsters to them, so they spent most of the first few days fleeing. They ultimately switched tactics and penetrated deeper looking for their quarry without success. The party also managed to wander into troll territory one afternoon and had a pitch battle with a single troll that took over an hour to finally finish off. The circled back to slime territory quickly and made it ahead of the setting sun and the emergence of the lunar and shadow rabbits in the area.

They ended up spending several days just hiking back to the road, avoiding as many slimes as they could in the process. The pace was slower, but they were worn down, low on supplies, filthy and exhausted, so they had little choice. They never did find anything, but after the tantrum that Elen had thrown in their miserable, fireless camp when they had made the decision to turn back to avoid casualties, no one brought up their lack of results. They all knew that the excursion had been a failure. Hopefully Ruven’s lupine assassin Ror was having better luck.

***

I hiked back to the base of Ghostlight Falls the morning after receiving approval for the party to take up residence in Eastern Tear. Delirin and Queakers stayed behind to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the team. The solo hike gave me time to reflect on the compromise of having to spend some time in Eastern Tear each season for the party to maintain its residency there. In the end it seemed a little inconvenient, but a small price to pay.

The team was excited to hear the good news and wanted to leave immediately for Eastern Tear. Apparently, camping with Deldes had been less fun for most of the team than they