The two remaining students, strangers to each other but connected by their shared curiosity, decide to come along as well. The six of you make your way towards the teahouse.

Entering the tearoom, you, Sin, Terris, Ameronis, and the two other students, Kemon and Jent RanGen’s GensNames courtesy of the Fantasy Name Gen. ~ Ameronis get in line to grab some food and hot tea, and take a seat at a large table.

Between eating a sandwich and sipping tea, Ameronis tells a story about a time before she met you, where, whilst trying to set up camp for the night, an angry local farmer and his two sons appeared out of nowher, and started accusing her of planning to steal their crops or livestock or something in the dead of night, and were threatening her with their tools. Her attempts to diffuse the situation were shouted down, and it was only after they threatened to beat her, at which point she beat them instead, that they were sent running, intending to call the town guards. She let them go and packed up, disappearing into the night before they returned.

This reminds you of your previous encounter with the bandits who attacked your camp, so you share that tale as well, telling of how you fought them off with your battle axe, and the kettle of boiling water.

Sin rubs his beard thoughtfully. “Resourcefulness, nice. It’s always good to be able to think on your feet and make use of your surroundings. Heh. Reminds me of one crazy night I had involving a pearl necklace, an old helmet, a long-case clock, and a very unfortunate rat …” He chuckles to himself, sighing nostalgically. “Those were the good old days…”

Terris shakes her head, while Ameronis raises an eyebrow. “Wait, what happened?” she asks.

“Oh! You wouldn’t believe it! Just… make sure you don’t have any matches on you if you ever go down Lerpins street. Things… could get ugly.” He grins widely, and Ameronis exhales, closing her eyes, though she too smiles.

“Fair enough. I can only imagine what that was all about”, she says. “Kinda worried though… And what about you, Terris? Any tales to tell?”

Your group eats and drinks and tells stories, with the four residents sharing snippets of their experiences in the bustling city; the two of you are the only ones from outside it, and have had adventures along the way.

Around you, others come and go; students, workers from around the area, and one of the other instructors at one point. Eventually, the lunchtime social begins to wind down, and Sin has to get ready for his own class. Upon asking him what it is, he tells you his students will be working on the climbing frame. After that, Captain Cedric will be running the obstacle course. Both provide excellent options for getting in shape.

Ameronis considers his words for a moment, before pausing.

“Wait, that dangerous-looking contraption is your climbing frame?! And, exactly how many people have died horrible deaths trying to get up there?”

Oh come on, it’s not that bad!” says Sin, “Just a few crumpled legs, shattered spines… We’ve only had to replace dented brickwork 6 times.”

Ameronis face-palms, much to Sin’s delight.

“In all seriousness though”, he says, “it’s not as bad as it looks, and we take safety seriously. A few bumps or scrapes, sure, but we’ve not had any serious injuries. Which is just as well, because I’m sure they’d make us tear it down the second we did.”

“Hmm, well…” says Ameronis, downgrading the danger ranking, “I suppose as death isn’t guaranteed on that thing, it might be worth considering.”

“Do it!” Sin demands. “Increase your skills and your strength. Trust me; you probably wouldn’t think it, but climbing like that gives you a real, full-body workout. Whether you fall off or not, you’ll definitely be sore the next day.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best advertisement for this, Sin…” Terris points out.

“You’ve gotta break a few eggs, and all that!” says Sin. “Better to know what you’re getting into first, so you dive in with the right mind-set from the get go. Only true champions have what it takes!”

“Oh, here we go again with the champions”, Terris mutters, but waves a hand at him dismissively when he attempts to retaliate. “Quiet, you! Aren’t you supposed to be preparing your death-tower now?”

Sin looks at his watch, then quickly throws back the remainder of his tea.

“You’re right. I’d better get back to it. It was nice meeting you all; I hope to see you around!” With a salute, he heads towards the door as you and the others wave him off. Terris, leaning back in her chair, has a big stretch before standing as well.

“Do you have another class now too?” Ameronis asks.

“Mmm, I’ll be doing fencing a little later, but for now, I got some time to kill. Might take a nap, or see if anyone else needs a hand in the meantime.”

Ameronis looks thoughtful as you and the remaining members of your group gather yourselves and start making your way out of the room, gently ushered out by the staff members there who wish to begin tidying. Out in the courtyard once more, you thank Terris for the lesson, and she disappears into one of the other buildings as you say goodbye to Kemon and Jent.

Now full, and with plenty of options, you consider what to do next. The idea of risking your life on Sin’s hell-tower is an intriguing one, but now’s probably not the best time for it. Your casual clothes are fine for archery, but would probably snag or rip whilst climbing, with the same being true for the obstacle course. And you’ve no plans to get soaked with sweat running around on the track. You’d need to bring a suitable outfit for those exercises.

Oh, that’s right; you still need to collect your clean laundry from the washhouse. You’ll worry about trying some of the other activities here another time. They still have classes in the afternoon and evening, with another teahouse social in the night that lasts up until closing time. Until then, might as well take care of business.

You mention that you’re going to go collect your clothes, and ask Ameronis what she plans to do. Is she going to stay and join, or watch the classes? She had considered sticking around to preview Sin’s climbing class, but, remembering that she had agreed to report back to the washerwomen on what she’d found at The Warrior’s Edge, she’d better come with you and fulfil that promise. You offer to fill the washerwomen in on her behalf, but Ameronis doesn’t want to come across as dismissive and pushing off her promise onto someone else. But, you point out that she wants to stay a while and watch, but she waves that off; it’s not that important.

Instead, you offer to compromise; you’ll stay for a while to watch Sin and the others with her, then you can both go to the washerwomen. Yeah, that will work.

The two of you follow the thoroughfare around again, to where Sin is preparing to begin, making sure the thick mats are properly in place. Several attendees are already there, warming up and waiting for him, so they look like they’ll start soon. Taking a seat out of the way, but within view of the scaffold, you watch as Sin greets and speaks to the group, and soon has them start climbing, some on the easier, shorter part, with others tackling the more difficult parts of the structure. Sin prowls below, offering guidance and warnings.

You watch one climber in particular, who, after managing to climb up to and dangle from a ledge about 9 feet high, is attempting to hand shuffle across it, but seems to run out of stamina halfway through, and simply hangs helplessly in the middle. His companions shout at him, encouragement and jokes, but he remains where he is, and seems amused himself, from what you can tell. Ameronis nods knowingly.

“Yes; that is me…”

Despite encouragement from Sin, and a weak attempt at continuing, the climber is forced to give up and drops back down onto the mat, falling back onto his backside in the process. He’s unharmed, and he stands back up and shares a laugh with his friends, whilst looking quite worn out already, just a few minutes in. Sin speaks to those watching and goes to the scaffold himself, elegantly getting up to the ledge, and beginning to shimmy across; he pauses periodically and can be seen making gestures and showing where to place the hands and how to hold oneself, easily managing to hang on with just one hand while the other waves about. Finally, he crosses the ledge and climbs down on the other side, completing his tutorial. The original climber is too tired to continue for now, so another student has a go instead. Meanwhile, on the taller part of the structure, some of the others are making great progress.

It’s interesting to watch. You also notice, off to one side, a man, who you assume is Captain Cedric, setting up obstacles for his course, along with Milo from earlier, and another person who you don’t recognise. The course looked gruelling enough as it was, but as they bring out the parts stored away safely from any rain, it takes on a whole new level of torment.

The two of you watch for a while longer, until Ameronis gently nudges you and says that she’s ready; are you? You nod, and the two of you get up, and Ameronis follows you as you lead her to Rorora Washhouse.