At first light, Valeria leaves the Asiaticus house for the gladiator school, her hand freshly wrapped. Marcus accompanies her, while Aurelia, Nestor, and the twins remain behind.
The school yard is quieter than usual. Marcus selects a narrow strip of packed earth beside the practice wall and marks its edges with his sandal.
Marcus Flavius
Walking only. Forward, back, across the line, and recover to center. No blade is offered, and no one turns this into a bout.
Valeria’s wrapped hand stays close to her body as Marcus checks the distance between the marks. A sealed tablet rests on a bench nearby, its cord and wax unbroken.
Marcus Flavius
The school officials request your attendance after the exercise. We deal with the tablet afterward, not before it distracts you.
Valeria Asiaticus
The hand remains wrapped, and the tablet is still sealed.
Marcus steps aside, leaving the marked strip clear. Morning sounds drift from the school buildings as he waits for Valeria to begin the walking drill.
“"I suppose I owe them the courtesy. This place was like a second home to me, and I am saddened to see how many familiar faces have disappeared."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Oratory, rolled +1)
Valeria Asiaticus
I suppose I owe them the courtesy. This place was like a second home to me, and I am saddened to see how many familiar faces have disappeared.
Marcus glances across the quiet yard. Empty racks and unused benches stand where familiar fighters once gathered, while morning light catches dust in the still air.
Marcus Flavius
They have been sold, retired, transferred, or broken by Rome. The school remembers every absence, even when the rolls do not.
A middle-aged school steward approaches, a lean man with thinning gray hair, a russet tunic, and an ink-stained thumb. He carries the attendance tablet against his chest.
the school steward
Your courtesy is noted, Valeria. Several who trained beside you have gone, but your name remains in good standing. The officials will hear you.
The steward inclines his head toward the sealed tablet on the bench, then steps aside. Marcus waits beside the marked strip, leaving Valeria the clear path toward the school officials.
“She goes to see what they want.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +3)
Valeria crosses the marked strip toward the school offices. The steward leads her through a narrow colonnade into a shaded room where two clerks wait beside the sealed tablet.
the school steward
We ask only for your acknowledgment of the school’s records. Your training history is sound, your recent recovery is witnessed, and no debt or patron’s claim stands against you.
The elder clerk, an elderly human man with a narrow build, weathered skin, and a lined face, a bald man in a plain white tunic with a bronze stylus, breaks the wax before Valeria and lays out the tablet’s copied entries.
The Clerk
The school confirms your standing under the name Valeria Asiaticus, with Myrina recorded solely as your lawful arena name. We require no exclusive service.
the school steward
More importantly, the officials will provide a signed copy of your training record for Decimus and the Colosseum. No private sponsor may alter its terms without witnesses.
The clerk adds the school seal beside the recovery notes and offers Valeria the fresh copy. Her standing is preserved, and the document gives her independent proof before the next public match.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the signed training record
“She reads the document carefully.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -3)
Valeria reads the fresh copy line by line, comparing the school seal, recovery notes, and the separate entries for her birth name and arena name.
The wording confirms her training history, witnessed recovery, absence of debt, and freedom from exclusive service. A cramped marginal note also records that Myrina is not a separate person or debtor.
The Clerk
You read carefully. Good. The copy says precisely what the school will defend: instruction and record, not ownership.
Valeria finds one cost buried beneath the seal: the certified copy requires two asses for registration and filing. The clerk waits while she counts the coins from her purse.
the school steward
The fee is small, but the entry becomes harder to dispute once the archive records it. Decimus will receive a witnessed duplicate.
She pays the two asses. The elder clerk marks the receipt, adds the filing line, and presses the school seal firmly into the wax, completing the document she has examined.
The Clerk
There. Your standing is clear, Valeria Asiaticus. Take this to Decimus, and let any claimant challenge the school’s seal before witnesses.
Quest Complete
Secure the signed training record
+ New Item Acquired
Signed training record