Beatriss's Apprentice Bayan

When Bayan was reassigned from her post as a lady-in-waiting to the harem, it was seen as a quiet demotion. She had never mastered the careful obedience expected in court. But the Emperor, noting her strong thighs and restless poise, saw something else. He offered her to Beatriss— an apprentice to be trained as an undercover guard.

Beatriss accepted the task with calm curiosity. She began with combat: footwork, unarmed throws, and the deceptively graceful techniques of Blackbird Style. Bayan was a fast learner—eager, focused, and already proud of her physical strength. Beatriss taught her how to use it without a blade, and how to make her touch as precise as a strike.

Beatriss trained her in martial technique, with an emphasis on unarmed combat. Bayan took quickly to the movements, learning to fight from a seated or reclining position and mastering efficient kicks and throws. Beatriss also introduced her to the subtler forms of control—how to carry herself, how to observe while being observed.

Adapting to the layered expectations of palace life was more challenging. Bayan’s first summons to a party in the Emperor’s chambers was a quiet disaster—not because of scandal, but because she didn’t know how to belong. The other women moved with practiced grace, their gestures part of a ceremony she hadn’t been trained for. Bayan stayed clothed, stiff, uncertain, preoccupied with the dagger concealed under her dress, as she had been prepared to protect, not perform.

She stood apart, unable to participate, unable to act, and unable to leave.

Afterward, in Beatriss's chamber, she turned to her teacher and said, not with shame but with resolve, “I
can’t be the only one who doesn’t fit.”

Beatriss nodded. In the days that followed, she began to train Bayan in Blackbird-style martial arts—a fighting style focused on balance, speed, and precision. “You shouldn’t need a weapon to be dangerous,” she told her. Bayan trained barefoot, learning how to move quietly, strike swiftly, and recover from falls with control and grace.

But Bayan wanted more. She asked Beatriss to teach her how to navigate courtly presence—the language of movement, posture, and stillness. The art of holding attention without speaking. Beatriss agreed, and their lessons became a blend of discipline and subtlety.

By the time Bayan was summoned again, she walked in with quiet confidence. “I am not shy at all,” she told Beatriss when she returned. Ironically, that was the problem. New arrivals were expected to be tentative. 

Beatriss requested an audience with the Emperor.

It was granted—but the meeting took place in the palace dungeon, not the audience hall. The Emperor waited in a stone chamber dimly lit by braziers, no guards visible, no formalities offered. A conversation, teasing and edged, questioning Beatriss about Bayan’s transformation.

Beatriss answered with performance and precision. She turned Bayan’s body toward him—presenting her balance, her poise, the latent power in her thighs. And while the Emperor watched, amused
, Beatriss scanned the shadows.

In one sudden motion, Beatriss stepped away from the light, seized a hidden man by the collar, tripped him with a sweep, and pressed her sword to his throat.

“You have many enemies, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said, cool and controlled.

The Emperor smiled, unshaken. “He’s one of mine,” he said. “Perhaps he misunderstood the dagger under the girl's dress.”

He praised Beatriss for her boldness and made his expectations clear: Bayan would continue training, in all disciplines—but if she were ever summoned again, she would play the part of a shy, silent observer.

They trained in secret, in forgotten courtyards and behind shuttered screens. Blackbird-style martial arts came first: grapples, throws, balance. Bayan learned to move with silence, to disappear into a fold of silk, to strike with her elbow while bowing.

Then came Cynadicean arts—more dangerous in their subtlety. How to breathe to draw attention, how to smile without surrender, how to beguile without being touched. Beatriss taught these reluctantly, always with a warning: “Power can be offered with a look—but never given away.”

By midyear, sword practice began. Bayan trained with both the katana and a short stabbing sword, one made for close quarters and palace walls. She practiced indoors and out, drilling until her knuckles bled, until her legs no longer trembled from the weight of her stance.

Beatriss tested her constantly. Sometimes in the middle of a ceremonial dance rehearsal—sword! Sometimes at night when Bayan thought she was alone—strike! Sometimes with whispered riddles during drills: If your master falls, who do you serve?

By late spring, Bayan could pin Beatriss in a clinch, disarm a guard without drawing blood, and speak three different meanings with a single gesture at court. Her thighs were strong, her arms lean, her back unbent.

The Emperor noticed, or seemed to. He had a new assignment.

One of the Emperor’s newest concubines,

Jiaohu, purchased from the Monastery of the Two-Fold Path, had come forward with a strange tale about a woman she had seen who looked like Beatriss: “The monks had another pale girl,” she whispered to the Khan. “Younger. Prettier. With strong thighs. They’re keeping her hidden—for someone more important than you.”

The Emperor was amused, then annoyed. He sent messengers with gold—thousands of taels—and received only a parade of forgettable girls. None of them Cynadicean.

When Beatriss was summoned, she listened without emotion as the Emperor described the monastery. Jiaohu, bold and smiling, repeated her tale. She even gave Beatriss a password—a phrase that would identify her as a friend to someone named Xing, a prisoner still within the monastery, who could lead them to the girl called Ciuciu.

The Emperor’s offer was clear: Find this girl, and I will release you. You may build your castle in the south.

Beatriss did not agree immediately. She returned to her rooms, sat with Bayan, and said nothing for a long time. Then she stood.

“Get your sword,” she said. “We may have to kill some monks.”

Wolfbang, the frog protector

 During the winter, a new group of treasure hunters visited the moathouse, and finding the upper levels virtually entry, took their time searching the dungeon area, and found a hidden staircase leading to a still lower level. The survivors of that expedition shared news of their adventures back in Hommlet. New rumors of strange, bestial creatures circulated the village. Burne the wizard, and a few others with rare sensibilities, kenned a change in the environment that suggested the treasure hunters had unwittingly re-opened a source of magical energies or knowledge. Burner convinced the elders that it was time for Hommlet to establish an official claim to the moathouse and its contents. He proposed that a force of vermin-hunters, led by several of his own men-at-arms, and supported by Hommlet's militia clear out any remaining giant frogs or other similar odious creatures that laired in the ground level of the moathouse. This would allow a garrison force to secure the entrance until the village decided on a plan to exploit the magic resources below.

Jaroo, Hommlet's chief druid and a member of the council, was muted in his opposition to the plan to eradicate a species from its natural home. He provided sound reasons to delay the extermination plan, and in the meantime called on his fellows to send a young druid who could help him save thee frogs.

The druid college sent Wolfbang, a headstrong and bellicose initiate who arrived in Hommlet with his pet wolf and a donkey laden with spears. Jaroo explained his plan. The frogs days at moathouse were numbered, that was clear. But there was an expansive swamp south of Hommlet that would provide a better home. Wolfbang should hire some assistants and transfer as many frogs as possible from the moathouse to the swamp. 

Wolfbang talked to some of the treasure hunters who had previously visited the moathouse. Gerilynn and Phoebe accepted the job, making terms with Jaroo that involved payment of 10 gold pieces for each successfully re-located frog.

The group started by surveying the swamp, seeking a suitable new home for the frogs. The swamp seemed to extend for miles in the area south and east of Hommlet, becoming progressively swampier in the area near the moat house. They were surprised to find signs of human habitation, a criss-cross of narrow tracks through the trees and mud.


Next, the group approached the moathouse. Gerilynn, based on several previous experiences, explained to the others that frogs, if hungry, would attack anything living that made its presence known. The party came to within 30 yards of the muddy water surrounding the moathouse, and then began throwing stones and clods of dirt to attract the frogs' attention. 

Sure enough the frogs came. Wolfbang accosted the largest of the frogs and made it understand that he was not food. The second largest frog lashed at Phoebe with its long sticky tongue and began to draw it toward its mouth. Phoebe drew her sword and severed the tongue-- that frog retreated to the water. Several smaller specimens lingered on the edge of the water.

The remaining large frog made Wolfbang understand that it was still hungry and that if he was not food, then there should be food somewhere else close by. It looked meaningfully at Gerilynn.

And so Gerilynn started to run. The frog ran after her. Wolfbang, Phoebe, and the wolf followed the large frog while the smaller frogs followed them.

The merry chase led away from the moathouse and toward the swamp. Gerilynn sprinted toward one of the few trees suitable for climbing, and pulled herself into it. Wolfbang, Phoebe, and the wolf ran into the swamp. The smaller frogs began to gain on them in the thick mud, but the advantage was reversed once the party reached one of the tracks they'd located earlier. 

The large frog, finding it couldn't reach Gerilynn with its tongue, joined the smaller frogs in their pursuit of the main party. After waiting to be sure it was safe, Gerilynn climbed down, and returned to Hommlet on the path through the woods.

Running on the trail, Wolfbang and Phoebe discovered they could easily outrun the frogs, but varied their pace enough to lead their pursuers well into the swamp. Only when the shadows were lengthening toward the end of the day, did they run their hardest and complete their escape.

Beatriss and Tetsukishi return to Khanbaliq

After their victory, Beatriss and Tetsukishi left Tempat Larang and settled with their companions for several weeks in a good-sized village nearby. 

They traded a ruby for a pair of huts and hired local servants, enjoying a few weeks of rest. Plans were underway for the journey back to Pasar—chief among their concerns: how to avoid the vampire swamp.

One morning, their servants roused them with news. Imperial soldiers had arrived in the village, asking about them—and it seemed likely someone would talk.

Instead of fleeing, the company sought out the soldiers, who were still asleep when they arrived. The soldiers—only three in number—were stunned by their good fortune and tried to reassert control by summoning Tetsukichi to return to Khanbaliq and answer to the Empire. But the party’s eager reply—“Can we leave today?”—deflated their authority. After some blustering questions about Gwinch, Goyat, and Kawabi, and about needing proof of Goyat’s defeat, the soldiers admitted they had enough to justify a formal report.

The journey back was slow. The party’s maps were poor and their memories were foggy. Everything was green and there was no horizon. 

The return was slow. Their maps were vague, their memories fogged, and the endless greenery offered little sense of direction. But it was peaceful. In one village, the companions earned their keep by helping on a construction project. There, a worker pulled Beatriss aside to relay a secret: she could meet “the others” in a field beyond the swamp. He gave her careful directions and emphasized that she bring her traveling companions. Then, curiously, he challenged Tetsukichi to a no-weapons sparring match. Tetsukichi accepted—and was soundly beaten by the man’s strange techniques. The man ended the fight with a wink toward Beatriss and disappeared.

Thanks to the worker’s instructions, the party avoided the vampire, the leeches, and the deadly plague that had ravaged many soldiers. Weeks later, nearing Pasar, Beatriss suggested a detour toward the field the worker had described.

There, snakes slithered through tall grass—and led them to a hole in the earth. The party descended, encountering ghostly, translucent serpents that floated through the air. Tetsukichi hesitated. “Maybe we don’t want to meet the others,” he said. Beatriss, unsettled, agreed.

In Pasar, the soldiers filed their report. Their commanders questioned the party but seemed content—if cautious—with their story.

There, to their great surprise, Beatriss and Tetsukichi were reunited with their families, who had traveled from the Empire to meet them. It was a joyful and overwhelming reunion. Tetsukichi’s wife, Su-Laing, had demanded an escort to cross the mountains and find her long-absent husband, bringing both her own children and Betriss's.  The Sansar clan had been fored to leave their grazing lands, squeezed between lizardfolk raids and harassment from Imperial soldiers. Kreppu-san and Sukh,two brave warriors, and Shoji, a shaman had assisted them in their journey over the mountains. The journey had taken a toll: Su-Laing’s maidservant had been slain by a guardian statue, and the nurses who had cared for Beatriss’s fox-children perished in the bitter cold.

Amid the relief was growing concern. The road ahead would be long and unpredictable. And now they traveled not just as warriors, but as guardians of their families.

 

After a week of preparation, the now-expanded imperial escort—more than a hundred soldiers strong—departed Pasar with the heroes. They passed through Quitokai, now occupied by imperial forces, and Menkan, where the garrison had grown even stronger.

Weeks later, they reached Khanbaliq.

The Emperor’s ministers were skeptical, but His Imperial Majesty greeted the party with unexpected joy. He announced—without explanation—the precise date of their victory over Goyat. The party confirmed it. The ministers fell silent.

Lavish rewards were bestowed upon Tetsukichi, Golfo, and Beatriss. Tetsukichi and Golfo were told that they would be called upon again, and more honors would come to the Sansar clan. Then the Emperor turned to Beatriss.

He offered her a rare post: Supreme Guardian of the Women’s Palace. It was a sensitive and powerful role, reserved for a woman of unshakable discipline. No man was permitted in the harem, but Beatriss’s leadership and martial prowess, the Emperor noted, surpassed that of most men in his empire. When she hesitated, the Emperor did not withdraw the offer. Instead, he granted her a private apartment within the Imperial City—“so that you may think it over.”

Beatriss bowed and accepted the offer of accommodation but made no promises.

The heroes were dismissed. Tetsukichi and Golfo were given a walled compound in the Green Zone. Beatriss took up residence within the city walls, where she was introduced to Bayan—a bold, sharp-eyed former servant of a princess. The princess had labeled her impudent. Beatriss saw something else: the spirit of Madarua, wild and unshaped. She looked forward to testing her—and training her.

Wolfbang's Journal #3

We went went into a cave in a moathouse because it had magic? I Searched with this elf guy called Dan Darian who was trying to get this magic stones that was total awesome it could teach you epic spells. It Was kinda weird he used alot of water and a lot of other stuff to try to get the stone? To get to the moathouse we had to get pass Berns minion. I ended up killing them. NOW I CAN BRAG ABOUT GETTING KICK O-U-T OUT OF TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!