Rib's Notes #3

This place continues to surprise me. When Teacher Ott came to talk to us after we’d recovered from the attack, I'd assumed that we were going to be punished for our failure and I was ready to accept whatever happened next. I was expecting to feel flames, electricity, or at least a blow from Ott’s staff, but nothing came. If anything, Teacher Ott was baffled at my behaviour. It seems that they do do things differently here, though at least no one had died this time. Not everyone’s as lucky in situations like this.
We continued to assist our classmates and professors with research, but the attack still loomed large in my mind so it was all a bit of a blur. At least we were set to looking over the rest of the complex and investigating the unusual behaviour of vermin around the Magaambya. The colony of Leshies that lives in the gardens were busy on some kind of project, and I’ll admit I was somewhat suspicious about it, though my companions didn’t seem to be as concerned as I was. In the kitchens, the cooks had become trapped by swarms of aggressive vermin; but we were at least able to dispatch those and demonstrate our prowess to regain some respect. There’s definitely something afoot here, and we need to stay alert.
We eventually learned what the Leshies were up to: constructing wooden fighting machines for them to pilot in an upcoming tournament. The Magaambya had sent a group of students to compete in a tournament in Tianxia (damn…I was thinking I’d travelled far…). While they hadn’t won, there was still a celebratory feeling. It looks like you don’t need to be the best to be valued here? We were invited to participate too, but had to split up to compete against each challenge. I went with Meera to face our first opponent: a lumbering construct piloted by a few Leshies. Instinct and Nanna’s guidance took over. The joints would be stiff, the body flammable: weaknesses to exploit. Meera and I managed to run rings around it, my khopesh tripping it up, and fire making short work of its carapace. The Leshies piloting the construct had thought ahead and had an emergency escape hatch; so while a little singed, they were alright. We were off to a strong start, and Meera and I went to take some rest on the bench. Falan and Matuas didn’t fare as well as Meera and I: they faced off against faster, more agile constructs, one of whom was able to get a damn good hit in on Falan. They fought well, but were overwhelmed. We were forced to concede defeat, which was painful, but I’m learning that that isn’t seen as a bad thing here.