Previously on Reclaiming Orathos

Five of us roll into the Gwyndinas Colosseum looking to fight — and Thalia spots her childhood hero training upstairs: the Serpent, a washed-up gladiator legend with eyes like two dice frozen on ones. We sign up for his week-long training camp, and everyone walks away tougher. Between drills, the threads tighten: Magra learns her mother passed through months ago and slipped off at midnight toward somewhere snowy; Drak befriends a lonely old human, Johnny, and brushes against this city's ugly anti-human history; Lash forges and serrates Drak's Giant Cutlass; and Silithane reactivates his spy network under the tannery-master Dominus — who hands us seven Palisade passes and a job.

Then we hit the sand. Two back-to-back monster fights — a spike-backed killipede (Drak gets charmed and spends five rounds dancing with a hawk) and a poison-clawed, glow-til-invulnerable Grievek. Both go down. Two wins, fresh loot, and a level up.

Next: beyond the wall. Children are vanishing in Ponterford — and Dominus wants answers.

SUMMARY: Energetic 195-word present-tense recap of Session 12 (Serpent's training camp, two arena monster fights, level up, Ponterford hook), saved to Recaps\Session 12 recap.md.