Bandaluthia Ti Ying

Huang Chong Ti Ying

(Zha Meng)

My name is Ti Ying. I am a student of the way.

That is of course not my full name. People have plobrems with my name, so I have learned that Ti Ying will do. It was what my big brother called me after all. My big brother was not my real brother. Just as my mother and father were not my real mother and father. They were not even Halflings as I am. I have come to know that my real parents were killed while attempting to rob the house of my father's brother. That is the respected gentleman I have come to know as my father, though he was clearly not my real father.

My mother it seems had carried me with her when they went burgling as I was "But a bundle of rags tied to her body" as my esteemed mother sometimes reminded me. They found me on her body, miraculously unharmed. My mother first took the care of that bundle of rags upon herself. Soon it became evident that I was not like my mother and father. They sought out the help of their temple, but they were advised to seek out a temple of a halfling god, for that was what I was.

My father had heard of the Sensei at the Temple of Yondalla. He heard that there was, within Bandaluthia, indeed at the very temple my father had been advised to find was a monk who was not only a practitioner of the way, but a teacher, a Sensei with a Dojo of his own; and also a Halfling just like their little child. My father used to say it was surely my fate to be taught by the Sensei.

My father arranged for me to be educated by the Sensei. I was at first able to spend some time with my mother and father and time with the Sensei, learning the way. As I grew and learned I was able to spend less time with my mother and father, but they understood. I have since learned that they were associates of the Sensei in some way through the guild. How the Sensei avoided the troubles that eventually took the life of my mother, father and big brother I do not know. But he is both wise and skilled. So I am not surprised.

The Sensei took me aside after morning exercise and gave me the prized Belt of Dallah Thaun. I had of course already gained the belt of Yondalla, or I would never have been allowed to stay and study with the Sensei. But I knew that this meant I was being chosen to leave the Dojo in order to prove myself to the Sensei.

The Sensei told me: Zha Meng, (That is my Dojo name, and what the Sensei calls me.)

• You will be representing all halfling kind with the teachings you have learned.

• Keep yourself and Brother Coelho alive

• Use any and all means at your disposal to do this

• Do not fail me

• If you fail the last, it had best be your last living act

• Enjoy this experience and if you are successful, then you have passed my final test.

• Go Brother in peace, but exact our vengeful wrath upon those who have wronged us.

Now I must do my best to do as the Sensei commands.
I must say I have mixed feelings about this mission. I will have to associate with "The Animals" who are the companions of Brother Coelho. If only half the stories told about them in the temple kitchens are true this is indeed a dangerous undertaking. Rumour has it that no other Halfling has survived with them. I am not sure what truth there is in that. Sure that young chap from the stores went missing, but that's not the same thing at all as sending a student of the Sensei really.

Their house was where the troubles kicked off, but they were not all there when that happened, and Brother Coelho was not involved in that fight. From what I heard, that was just as well. None survived the slaughter that evil wizard unleashed, and only the brave intervention of dozens of city guards finally overpowered him, forcing him to surrender.

I look forward to finding out more about Brother Coelho's "Animals".

I am learning the truth of what happened in the troubles with the New Thieves Guild. I am learning that Brother Coelho is fallible just as we all are. I have learned that I am not the Halfling I was brought up to believe. I have met Ellodee, and I have learned I am as much related to her as I am to my Halfling heritage. My "skill" at making impressions of others was perhaps always less a skill than an inheritance. For I am part changeling. A small part, but a part none the less.

Now we appear to work not just for the guild and Bandaluthia, but there is a conspiracy that runs deeper than many in this world would dream. We appear to have got ourselves deeply enmeshed in that conspiracy, and yet we are surely just pieces in some game played by those at the top.

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