1 April 2007
Players/Characters
Crumpus (Russell) 8th level male Human Fighter
Elzara (Will) 8th level female Elven Monk
Kamal(Ian) 8th level Male Human Hexblade
Zoook (Ewar) 8th level Gnome Bard
Alexis Serria (Andrew) 4th/4th level female Human Cleric/Fighter
Eolias (Richard) 6th/1st/1st level male Elven Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer
Game Events
After defeating the mindflayer Zyrxog and his minions the party returned to the Crooked House to recover and distribute their spoils.
A couple of days later the characters were invited to the sage Eligos' house so he could tell them what he had found out about the items that they had left with him, i.e. the demon horns, the preserved green worm, the diaries of the leaders of the Ebon Triad whom the party had defeated in the mines under Diamond Lake, etc.
Eligos told the group that there are many references to the Age of Worms in ancient books and scrolls, and it seems that the Ebon Triad was merely being used as a cover for the Cult of Kyuss. The increased incidence of these events and the reports of Spawn of Kyuss in the surrounding hills point to something building to a climax fairly soon.
These worm-tainted zombies are the most minor of the Kyuss-marked creatures, and the Apostolic Scrolls (which had been purchased from the mindflayer by Loris Raknian) detail how to create a much more powerful undead known as an Ulgurstasta which is large enough to swallow creatures whole, and regurgitate them as undead. The scrolls also describe a ritual which will boost the powers of the Ulgurstasta immensely and allow them to create more powerful undead. Eligos suggested that the party try to keep an eye on Loris Raknian, the director of the Free City Arena.
One of Eliogos' associates called Celeste had already approached him about finding a team of gladiators for the games, so Eligos promised to send her along to the Crooked House to find the party.
The next night, Crumpus was dismayed to notice that his Periapt of Health had changed from blue to red and was inflicting ability damage to his Str, Con and Dex - borrowing the Holy dagger from Zoook to use it's heal ability he discovered that it, too, was cursed. Instead of healing, it cast Harm on him, and was actually a +2 Unholy Dagger!
A couple of days later, Celeste approached the characters and introduced them to a bard called Ekayim Smallcask, an out-of-town merchant who had acquired a manager's licence for the games and was looking to hire a band of adventurers to fight under his managership. After a brief discussion the party agreed to his terms, and after purchasing several potions to assist they arrived at the arena in time to experience the opening ceremony and feast, and then entered the arena's vast subterranean holding area which would be their home for the duration of the games.
The Games were to be held over a five day period, with six four-way battles on day one, a day off on day 2 and three one-on-one battles on day 3. On day 4, one team (traditionally the reigning champions) would fight an exhibition match against an exotic creture with the remaining 2 teams fighting each other, with the final bout scheduled for day 5.
The party decided to call themselves 'Storm Force', with Crumpus as the nominated leader.
At the ceremony Crumpus was approached by a female Elf, Tirra, whom the party had previously met in Diamond Lake in the company of Auric, the current games champion. She put a proposition from the Thieves Guild to the party - if they made it to the final against the current champions, the Thieves Guild has been able to get very good odds on them - they were willing to pay 3:1 odds if the party could find 2,500 GP of their own to put up as a wager!
After an uneventful night, the party discovered they were in the second group to fight, their opponents being a band of female Elf archers called Arcane Aruga, a human Druid with his Dire Badger companion and a couple of Gnolls, called Badlands Revenge, and a mounted group led by a Janni swashbuckler, called The Sapphire Squad.
The battle started with the gnolls charging the party whilst the Elves peppered the gnolls with arrows, and the horsemen charging the group with ride-by attacks whilst their leader held back and attempted to cast Reduce on the party members who had taken Enlarge potions.
These fine tactics soon degenerated into a free-for-all battle, with the leader of the horsemen forcing Zoook to surrender as they battled in midair, and Elzara forcing the leader of the elves to do likewise.
The leader of Badlands Revenge wildshaped into a crocodile and also raged which caused some consternation amongst the party due to the large amounts of damage being dealt by this frenzied beast.
As the dust settled at the end of the fourth round of combat, the only participants remaining standing were all of the party (with the exceeption of the sidelined Zoook) and a single elven archer, who very promptly surrendered, leaving the party victorious.
Ekayim collected their trophy of a bronze bull plus 1000GP and met the party in their underground room where he distributed their winnings. He also asked the party for their help - he was trying to discover what had happened to his sister who had been an entertainer at the previous year's games, but had not been seen since.
He wanted the party to explore the underground area of the arena, and also Loris Raknian's palace as these were the only areas that he couldn't get into himself. In exchange he was willing to pass over all his winnings from the games. The group readily agreed.
Later that afternoon they started to explore the warren of passages under the arena whilst most of the guards and attendants were busy above ground. Following up on a rumour of a stone plug which had been placed by Raknian himself to keep out marauding ghouls the party investigated an area known as the Titan's House, but found nothing other than a couple of underwater passages which they were unable to explore fully.
Moving to the upper level, the group came across an area where wild animals were caged, and a barracks where they were lucky not to awaken some sleeping guards before deciding to return to their room to wait for the next battle.
The third day dawned and the party found that they had been matched against last year's beaten finalists, a pair of Dwarf barbarians called Pitch Blade. Being very wary of this group, Zoook cast Invisibility Sphere to hide all but Eolias, Kamaal and Alexis, and the group slowly advanced across the bloodied sands.
Their caution proved well founded as the Dwarves leapt into the air under the effects of a Fly potion and charged the visible group of characters. Alexis had started to charge up a spell, using her mace as a focus, but this was the Dwarves' first target and it fell to the arena floor, sundered in two by a flaming bastard sword. Eolias' bow was next, having been determined as the weapon most dangerous to the flying barbarians.
Once again, the carefully prepared plan was immediately discarded as the invisible characters burst from concealment to attack the flying menaces. Crumpus swung wildly at one, but missed and activated yet another cursed item from the mindflayer's horde, a -2 cursed berserking longsword that had masqueraded as a defending longsword until now! This caused Crumpus to attack the nearest person, which just happened to be Alexis!
Elzara leapt at one hovering Dwarf and managed to grapple, but was unable to stop the barbarian from flying up to 40' off the arena floor before shrugging her off to crash into the sandy floor far below.
Picking herself up she went to assist Alexis in fighting of the berserk Crumpus and eventually managed to pin the frothing fighter to the floor.
Meanwhile the other Dwarf was confronting the rest of the party. Zoook cast a Mirror Image on himself, but not before the raging barbarian had manager to sunder his +1 war trumpet!
Kamaal tried to use the scare ability of his Krenshaw familiar, but it was only the use of the Wand of Fear by Zoook that saw off the flying barbarian, who fled the arena and, fortunately for the party, was not able to return before the end of the battle.
With Eolias reduced to throwing daggers, Elzara and Crumpus locked in a grapple and Alexis without her mace, the remaining dwarf attacked Zoook, Kamaal and his krenshaw.
A couple of mirror images were dispelled before Zoook was able to pass his necklace of missiles out to Eolias who managed to toss the entire string around the hovering barbarian before it detonated, severely wounding him.
Kamaal decided to draw out his griffon Figurine of Wondrous Power with the intention of mounting the beast to attack the dwarf in midair, but unfortunately for him this was another cursed item from the mindflayer's store. The summoned griffon was a fiendish one, and proceeded to rip the poor Hexblade apart before anyone was able to help him.
Having managed to pin Crumpus, Elzara knocked him out and removed his bow, throwing it out to Eolias. The grateful Elf snatched it up and used it to good effect, reducing the barbarian to a state where the remainder of the party were able to finish him off, and not a moment too soon - another round and the fear effect on the other barbarian would have ended, allowing him to return to the arena to continue the fight.
The summoned fiendish Griffon was swiftly despatched now that the full attention of the remaining party members could be turned upon it, and the characters were declared the victors of this second round match of the tournament.
Battered and brusied, saddened by the loss of another comrade and also some of their more powerful magic items the party accepted the prize of a silver dwarven gladiator statue and 5000gp before returning to the undercroft of the arena. A Druid brought in by Ekayim was able to cast reincarnate on the Kamaal's body who returned to life within a Troglodyte's body. As Kamaal no longer had enough levels of Hexblade to have the Krenshaw as a companion the druid agreed to return it to a safe place in the wilds outside the city.
Kamaal rejoined the party just as they prepared to investigate the remainder of the tunnels under the arena and also Raknian's palace to try and ascertain the fate of Ekayim's sister
Magical Items Found
- +2 Unholy Dagger
- -2 Cursed Berserking Longsword
- Fiendish Griffon Figurine of Wondrous Power
All cursed items previously identified otherwise.
Summary
- Arcane Aruga - 6,000 XP
- Badlands Revenge - 4,500 XP
- Sapphire Squad - 3,192 XP
- Pitch Blade - 7,200 XP
Total XP - 20,892
Kamal - 2,907 XP, - (Reincarnated)
Eolias - 2,341 XP (part 50% NPC)
Crumpus - 3,482 XP
Zoook - 3,482 XP
Alexis - 3,482 XP
Elzara - 3,482 XP
Current Totals
Kamal - 32,179
Eolias - 32,973
Crumpus 32,179
Zoook, 32,179
Alexis - 32,332
Elzara - 32,179
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