The answer to "what brings you here" is: pointing at the chessboard! He fishes out his Comprehend Languages explanatory card.

"I brought that on myself, didn't I." She reads the card; so does Pellorn. "Curious. Eh, at least it won't be much of an imposition to playing. I'd ask how much you've played before, but I suppose the only way to find out will be for you to play a round with me. How tragic."

Solemn nod.

She'll scowl at her chessboard one last time, and reset it back to a fresh state.

"No Skills," she says. "White or black?"

He points at white.

And they can go!

She's pretty good. Plays fast, but doesn't make mistakes. Not as good as Blai, though. As they play, more people trickle in. A lot of them pair up for their own matches, but a few hang around watching and discussing their match without getting in the way. It seems to be the done thing.

He'll go for the quick win and then they can try again with a handicap maybe?

She'll hold out for a while, but her play style folds quickly once he has a solid advantage.

"Good game."

She'll play again with a handicap if he wants! There's not that many people here better than her, but she's played them all a lot already, so this is an interesting change. Though he might want to try this other Drake which everyone mostly agrees is the best here. He'll be finishing up his current match in a few minutes.

Sure, he can wait for the Drake; how's that game looking to finish?

They're even on pieces right now, but someone will mention to Blai that he started with a handicap. His opponent is panicking a bit and getting backed into a corner they're not noticing.

A few more moves later, he promotes a pawn, and then its checkmate in four.

They shake, and the one who won turns to Blai.

"Select Blai Artigas, right? Rissyl."

Nod. "Hello, Rissyl." He can remember the word for hello.

(Someone reminds Rissyl about the unidirectional language.)

He'll start setting up a board.

"Beat Imiss? Let's see how you do. I'll take black."

Rissyl plays much slower, in comparison, and more—intense. He's definitely playing to win. Despite that, he's eager to proactively sacrifice pieces to set up his plays. It works better against weaker players who take the more obvious bait, but he's able to manufacture tough choices for more perceptive opponents as well.

Ooh, a challenge. The thing about losing pieces is that you lose long term options - Blai won't walk into traps, but he's happy to winnow the space of possible opponent moves he has to think ahead through -

It looks like it could go either way a few times, but Blai takes the victory in the end.

"That was good," Rissyl says, sounding pleased. "Most people choke when I throw out something that's not in the book." He can talk about a few of his midgame plays that didn't pan out, and ask what Blai was trying with that bishop near the end there...

Blai can't really talk (though he's going to retain all the local words for the pieces) but he can set up what he remembers of the board state at the time and demonstrate what he thought Rissyl might have done about the bishop thing.

Good thing with chess is that this is more than sufficient!

Another game?

(A small crowd has gathered to watch at this point.)

Of course!

chesschesschesschesschess

Rissyl will keep playing Blai for as long as he'll stay. Blai wins more often than not, but Rissyl takes a few games as well.

After a few rounds he'll ask, "You want to do a game with Skills?"

How much can an expression convey "???"

"Do humans not play..."

No, that makes no sense, even if humans only play dry chess, he shouldn't be confused.

"You know, mental Skills, [Spot Weakness], [Path of Egress], so on? Obviously the moves themselves still need to follow the rules," in case that was the confusion.

Slow headshake.

"Some tactical skills can be used in a chess game—probably for the same reason chess helps you level—so it's possible to, for example, use [Detect Mistake] to check if you're making a misplay."

Does he remember enough words - "I don't can."

"Most people don't, but I didn't want to assume." Actually, he's slightly surprised Blai got this good without picking up a class. "Usually you even it with a handicap, but I'm only a low-level [Leader], so I'm not sure you don't still beat me anyway. I know someone who's actually worse with his Skills, hah! You can choose a handicap if you want."

"No handicap this one." Maybe they play even if the skills aren't amazing.