Meth/DM: Hehe, you luck dog.. blogspot saved it as a draft. Edited it as per usual..

IN THE LAST EPISODE.....

The group walk into the head office to find Cerian furious. He reprimands rhombur for not having informed the party well enough. He is absolutely seething mad that the coty has been destroyed. He fires Rhombur. Shando, a dutiful wife, decides to leave the school as well to follow her husband. For now, Lady Constance (leader of Amruths - Academic Branch) is in charge of the group. The reason Cerian fires Rhombur is because he believes that Rhombur's actions have much to do with the influence of Old Man Vernius[DM: While his intentions have always been for the good of Corrin, Old Man Vernius' methods are questionable - as are his morals.] He dismissed the group, giving them the rest of the day off.

With the rest of their day off (detroying city = good thing?), they meet up with Jesse and explain the situation. Upon returning to their room, they find Rhombur waiting for them. He explains that this is not the last goodbye and that if the party should ever need help, he will readily be available. So with nothing else to do, the group decide to have some fun at a local tavern.

The next morning, with Richard having a horrific hangover and Crummy finding a little dagger and belt with him, Constance wakes everyone up. She says that they must try to find an old alchemist by the name of Vivaldo, as he might have a solution to Crum's skunkness. "Look for the patriach of the D'Montelpulciano of the city of Arezzo aka, the City Of Colours. She forewarned the group to not get involved in the faction wars.

[DM: just a slight correction] The party stopped by a small town called Verdis. Alechem says to be careful as it's run by a thieves guild. They head to a local inn called: The Lucky Brigand. The party is reminded that they found Crum in another Mutellin town called Vitierbo.

After a 7 day journey, the band of smelly adventurers reaches Arezzo. They see flags of all different colours flying high, somewhere beyond the roof of the inn. All have chariots and horses on them but only one flag (white) flies higher then the other 5 (blue, red, teal, purple, green). Guy walks up and tries to speak intelligently to the guard stationed outside the main gates. The guard not only explains the significance of the coloured flags [DM: meant to represent the different factions of the city formed years ago and solidified after a civil war triggered by invading gobliniods. They work off their enmity on the race track now. The white faction acts as a governmental body, set in place by House Mutelli after the civil war.] he also suggested that the group head to the arena across the city to see the races which start the next day.

The party heads off to catch up with one of their own; Cierra, whose family belongs under the white faction. She introduces them to Carlos Mutelli [DM: also known as the Don] who rules the central government (white faction). There is a big party for distinguished guests and riders as it is customary for this to happen the day before the races begin as a celebration of goodwill and sportsmanship (good or dirty, still dunno). Guy meets Nicodemo, the first rider of the green faction. He is also introduced to Viviera, Nicodemo's sister of 17 (young, but still can). A man walks up to Nicodemo and passes a snide remark but Nicodemo nonchalantly waves it off. This man turns out to be Aronzo, first rider of the blue faction. First impressions are that he generally is an asshole. And surely must be evil as he has a goatee. Crummy[DM: Skunk sized version.] seizes the opportunity and sprays Aronzo's face with stinky skunk juice. He claws at his eyes and stumbles off. After some info-gathering, they find out that the blue and green factions are the major ones. Teal is a sister faction to blue and Red is a sister faction to green. The purple faction is quite new. The races last for 21 days, each day consisting of 2 major races and 4 minor races. There are also seperate tallies for major and minor tallies.

Guy tried to speak to the chubby first rider of the purple faction, Vito, (VIVA LA BAM!) but his bodyguards stop him from getting any closer. The first rider of the red faction goes by the name of Nero. He seems seasoned and looks like a veteran but is a jolly fellow. Crummy thinks he's too happy for a reason. And lastly, the first rider of the teal faction is Diego who did not turn up for the party as he claimed to be having an upset stomach. Cierra spots Vivaldo at the party an introduces him to the group immediately. Suddenly, a shout is heard. The group turn around to find Aronzo's face melting and peeling and his 2 guards who were previously by his side, dead on the floor in front of him. They suspect it was the skunk that did it and now, everyone is searching for Crummy, hahaha!

Ekstrom,[DM muahah.. found out who is he yet?] leader of the green faction appears and when questioned if he did it, appears unperturbed and said that he wouldn't be surprised if it was one of his men. He even dared to say that Aronzo had it coming. Cierra quickly excuses herself politely from the party and hauls the group to her guest house. She scolds Crumston and wags her finger angrily at him.

A knock on the door jolts all of them. Cierra's father appears at the door and says that 2 men wish to see Richard and Guy. Dario, leader of the blue faction speaks up and explains that he wants Guy to ride in place of Aronzo. Guy shits bricks as his riding skill is only 1. Eventually, Crummy gets changed back to a halfling and is his normal (can you call it that?) self again. [DM: Thanks to Vivaldo's potion]

At the arena Richard spots a skymage and sends his a couple of messages but he seems to get no reply from the fellar. Plus, the 2 thugs sent by Dario will not let any of the group out of their sight. Guy is literally strapped to a chariot.. what will happen next?