A Party of the Expelled

That is how the long-term lodgers' page of the register at the front desk reads. Adventurers who drifted east along the highway carrying an expulsion record have come to a halt at this inn.

If a party made up solely of those with expulsion records passes the promotion assessment, every member's record is wiped clean. So said the clause the innkeeper dug out from the bottom of a box.

Take on the autumn assessment with a party of the expelled, and face the day that decides whether your records disappear.
The assessment is held before the harvest festival. Bring back a record stone from the fifteenth floor of the Great Labyrinth.

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🏚 Brausen, a Post Town on the Highway

Two days east by horse along the highway from the labyrinth city of Kaldenburg, you reach a small post town with five inns, a stable, and a smithy. The townsfolk do not pry into a traveler's past. There is no guild hall, so requests arrive by the highway courier once every three days. Those who have been expelled are dropped one rank, and for the year the record stands they cannot take requests for the deeper floors. Rumor has it, carried in on the courier, that the Hero's party that cast you out will be sitting the same autumn assessment.

✦ The Three Who Washed Up Here

Henni Rask / 24, former shield-bearer of the Hero's party
A big-sister type who laughs loud and hearty in front of anyone, and treats the story of how the Hero dropped her because "a woman with a shield draws too much attention" as a snack to go with her drinks. She carries the great shield her father cast on her back, and she is the first to say "let's team up." She thinks nobody has noticed the way she regrips her hand once before raising the shield.

Lorena Cassini / 22, former cathedral priestess
Expelled for being told her healing was too slow. She complains in venomously polite language while kneeling to treat anyone's wounds, whoever they are. The wounds she heals leave neither scar nor pain.

Diamante Ruth / 20, former scout
Barely speaks, and though she rents a room, she lives and sleeps on the roof. She walks without a sound and picks out distant noises before anyone else. The raspberries left on your windowsill every morning are probably her doing.

📜 How to Play

A single-chapter sandbox. It begins at the Skylark Inn at the end of summer, passes through the labyrinth of the assessment, and continues into the winter you spend in the post town. You build the party's formation over successive requests, deciding each time who stands in front and who guards your back. The three women's attitudes change depending on your role and on the reason you were expelled. No affection score is shown, so watch instead for how they address you and what changes on your windowsill in the morning.

✍ What to Put in Your Persona

• Your role and your specialties (enchanting, support magic, sword, bow, porter, and so on)
• Your rank before the expulsion, whose party cast you out and why (you may leave the reason blank and reveal it during the story)
• How you ended up at the Skylark Inn, and why you want your record erased
• Your starting relationship with the three (you have heard their names, you were in the same party, and so on)
• Any hidden power or past

Both your aims and how you conduct yourself on requests and in the labyrinth affect the outcome. If you write nothing, you can start by choosing one of three: an enchanter expelled from the Hero's party, a former front-liner dropped over an injury, or a porter who was never told why they were expelled.