CHRONICLE VAULT 20080124, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 21, 595 CY
Still bound to the Coenoby of the Free City Arena, the heroes have completed the first day of gladiator competitions in the Champion's Games - and have learned a startling truth. Their manager, Ekaym Smallcask, has informed his team of an ulterior motive in sponsoring them. His sister, Lahaka, disappeared immediately after last year's games, and the only places Ekaym has not searched is the infrastructure of the arena itself and Loris Raknian's adjoining palace.
Exhausted after their first battle, the heroes were nonetheless eager to search out the infrastructure to see what they could find. The lower level where the Coenoby was seemed to be a series of caverns, and a passage led away into the darkness. With Shanks leading the way the party descended further into the caves. They came upon a larger, rougher version of the Coenoby called the Titan's House, used occasionally by gladiators for more secretive and carnal pursuits. Kaspar found a pool at the far end of the abandoned chamber, and an odd stone plug at the far end underwater. The stone plug was clearly manufactured.
The heroes started to argue about what to do, and Shanks was determined to unplug the plug and find out what lay behind it. Duke remembered hearing stories of the Free City Arena being plagued by ghouls, and that Loris Raknian had the ghoul warrens sealed shut with a large stone plug some years ago. The idea of fighting a city filled with flesh-craving ghouls did not sit well with anyone, and they returned to the Coenoby determined to search the upper level.
Guards were light on the first night, and the party easily slipped upstairs to the main level just below the arena floor. The stoneworked passages were constructed in a circular fashion, with lifts going up to the arena itself in the four cardinal directions of the circle. A series of chambers criss-crossed the middle section, and it was this way that the heroes ventured.
The first passage they followed contained caged animals - dire boars, jaguars, and lions, presumably for showcasing on the next day (where there were no gladiator fights scheduled). It was at this point that Kong realized that this was a bad idea. If they were caught sneaking around, they would likely get thrown out of the games. Duke seconded the idea, and suggested that Shanks and Argo explore the section alone, since they were the most stealthy. The heroes agreed, and Duke loaned Argo his hat of disguise to disguise the halfling in case they were caught. Shanks drank his potion of invisibility and the rest of the party returned to the Coenoby.
Argo and Shanks made their way stealthily through the passages, coming upon the recreation room of the eight stationed guards. Past that room was another hallway, similar to the animal cages, but these were mostly empty. Except for a dirty, bedraggled man, rocking back and forth on his knees. Argo asked what was the matter, and the man could barely string a sentence together, but seemed to be muttering something about the cell across the hall. The halfling ranger asked what happened, and could only get a muttering of "goat man" and a finger pointing at the far cell, where it seemed the "goat man" was still waiting. Shanks checked it out and find it to be a wine storage chamber that smelled strongly of vinegar.
Shanks mentioned the word "worm" to the man on a whim, and it had a dramatic effect. The insane man started screaming at the top of his lungs, clawing at the bars frantically. The two halflings could hear the guards approach and knew question and answer time was over. They darted into the shadows and crept back to the Coenoby, but they had a bit more information to go off now. Something was in that wine cellar, and Shanks was determined to find out what.
The next day, Fireseek 19, was the bi-day where no gladiator combat would take place. Of course, the gladiators were once again limited to the Coenoby. Guards were posted at the entrance, so the Kings of the Road kept to themselves like everyone else. There were a total of six teams left - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, Iron Hill Monkeys, Pitch Blade, The Crazy Eights, and the Teeth of Kord. All teams were silent and brooding.
After the day's events were through, Shanks and Argo snuck up to the upper floor and made their way stealthily towards the cells. They found all of the cells empty now - the insane man was nowhere to be found. They moved on to search the wine cellar, with one of the halflings on guard while the other scoured the room. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but Shanks was convinced there was something there. The two of them returned to the Coenoby.
Fireseek 20 arrived, the third day of the Champion's Games, and matches were posted early. Kings of the Road were scheduled to fight Pitch Blade as the last match of the day. After seeing that Pitch Blade was comprised entirely of two dwarven barbarians, Kong laughed and declared they had all but won their match already. Confidence levels were high by the time they were brought up to the arena floor, to the grand cheering of the crowd.
Opposite them were Pitch Blade - two well-armed, barrel-chested dwarves carrying shields and shouting furiously. The match began with Loris Raknian's pronouncement, and immediately Pitch Blade flew at their opponents. Literally flew - they were flying at top speeds to close the vast distance of the arena floor. Everyone gathered around Duke and the dwarf cast haste, preparing everyone for the fight ahead. Kaspar ducked off to the side and shot an arrow while Kong strode forward purposefully, attacking as he did so.
The dwarves of Pitch Blade were not impressed, and the one cut bloody swaths in his barbarian opponent. The crowd cheered as the other dwarf stepped forward and started to pummel Argo with a flaming bastard sword. The Kings of the Road returned blows but it was obvious their opponents were tougher than they realized. Shanks maneuvered to position himself in a better spot, when the unthinkable happened - mighty Kong, even in the depths of his barbarian rage, dropped to the ground from his wounds. Things were not looking so well and Argo was forced to withdraw to suck down some potions.
But Shanks had an idea, an idea so crazy it had to work. He shouted to get Kaspar's attention and then used his spiked chain to attempt to disarm the dwarf that felled Kong. The first attempt the dwarf parried, but the second whip of the chain wrapped around the sword and knocked it from his raging hands. At that moment, the elf monk ran with the speed of a lightning cheetah, tucked and rolled as he passed the stunned dwarf, and leapt to his feet - holding the dwarf's fallen flaming sword! The crowd gave a rousing cheer as Kaspar held the sword aloft like a giant torch. The other dwarf in Pitch Blade disengaged from Argo and flew after the elf. Tunnel vision set in and all he could see was Kaspar. But the elf monk's blinding speed kept him ahead of his opponent as he led him on a merry chase around the arena.
The disarmed dwarf proceeded to use his shield to bash Shanks, but soon found the clever halfling had used the spiked chain to rid him of his shield as well! Kong was revived by Duke, and the Kings of the Road dispatched the unarmed raging dwarf barbarian with relative ease at that point. The second dwarf charged headfirst at Kaspar and managed to cut the elf deep, but found himself weaponless when Shanks came up and used his disarm attack again. Kong finished off the second dwarf barbarian to the roar of the crowd! "KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" they shouted.
Argo caught the look of surprise and anger on Loris Raknian's face, and made a gesture with his dagger that could have been construed as a threat. But the Champion's Game organizer was cordial when he presented the winnings to Ekaym and the Kings of the Road were led back to the Coenoby. Ekaym visited them shortly thereafter, bringing potions a plenty and congratulations.
The gladiator teams were reduced to three after the third day - Kings of the Road, Auric's Warband, and Iron Hill Monkeys. The next day's matches were also posted when they returned, and the heroes were surprised to find that they were the ones fighting the monster, a creatured called Madtooth the Hungry. One of the guards posting the match list commented on how hard it was to keep Madtooth's cage cold, and how glad they would be once they were able to return the frost salamander to the cold northlands. The heroes took this information and started to prepare for the next day's competition accordingly, prepping fire spells and other heat attacks.
Later in the evening, Shanks and Argo decided to test their luck with the wine cellar again. They snuck upstairs and into the cellar, and Argo was placed on watch while Shanks searched the room. It would be the last time anyone saw the halfling Shanks alive.
While searching the room, Shanks finally found the secret chamber he knew was there. But his erstwhile searching triggered a nefarious magical glyph of warding that gripped at his heart. The halfling was not strong enough to resist and fell, stone dead, to the slay living spell. Argo found Shanks laying face first on the stone slab in front of a secret panel, revealing a staircase going down.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, male halfling fighter and rogue, died on Fireseek 20 to a slay living spell from a trap.
As quietly as he could, Argo dragged the dead body of his companion back down to the Coenoby where they discussed what to do. It was too late for Ekaym to return to the grounds this night, and they would not have much time in the morning to deal with situation. After much discussion (and checking of pocket books, which were not hefty) Duke suggested that they use the druidic ritual of reincarnation to return Shanks back to the world of the living. He might not come back as a halfling, but he would definitely come back. They decided that was the best idea, and waited patiently for the next day.
Ekaym arrived early on Fireseek 21, and was shocked and horrified to find Shanks dead. Duke eased his fears and told their manager to fetch a scroll from the Temple of Obad-Hai. Ekaym did as he was asked and returned with the scroll and requisite materials. In a small ceremony lasting ten minutes, Duke summoned the spirit of Shanks back to the mortal world and into a corporeal vessel. After about a half hour a human woman staggered into the group, proclaiming herself the reincarnated Shanks. The heroes were a little confused, but got over their hesitation quickly as they prepared for the match against Madtooth the Hungry.
They were brought up to the arena floor as normal, where the crowd started chanting "MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH!" A large wheeled cage was brought forth bearing the beast's name, and the handlers fled quickly as the locks were undone. What was revealed was NOT a frost salamander but a creature borne out of nightmares. A beast Argo identified as a froghemoth.
Madtooth was a tentacled beast with a maw of razor sharp teeth and a massive belly that looked like it could swallow several people whole. It leaped forward closer to its prey, mindlessly charging. Argo pulled a bead from his necklace of fireballs, hoping that the beast was vulnerable to fire. To their dismay, they found Madtooth actually grew stronger from the fire. Clearly the information they had learned the previous night had been a setup.
The new Shanks strode forward confidently and whipped the beast with her spiked chain. The froghemoth shouted in rage and the rest of the party breathed a small sigh of relief - at least the beast could be hurt. Their relief turned to horror as they watched Madtooth's tentacles wrap around Shanks, squeeze her ribcage together, and then swallow her in one mighty gulp. Madtooth let out a mighty belch as Shanks was digested and crushed by the beast's powerful stomach acids and muscles.
Dric "Shanks" Dair'Rill, female human fighter and rogue, died (again) on Fireseek 21 in the belly of the froghemoth, Madtooth the Hungry.
The rest of the party approached cautiously, with Kaspar letting loose a few arrows. Kong and Argo charged together, and the two of them cut deep into the beast. Unfortunately, the retaliatory strikes from Madtooth wounded the pair severely, with the raging barbarian taking the brunt of the pain. In the blink of his three eyes, the froghemoth sent Kong sprawling to the ground unconscious and grabbed Argo in a tentacle and swallowed him in one bite.
Duke let loose a lightning bolt spell, noting with some satisfaction that it seemed to slow the beast considerably. The dwarf wizard approached the fallen barbarian in the froghemoth's momentary slowness and stabilized his companion. He then took tentacle whips to the face as Madtooth recovered.
Inside the massive creature, however, Argo was not done for. The acidic juices ate at him and the powerful muscles crushed him, but he was a master of the daggers. With precision and grace that came from knowledge of fighting these types of beasts, the halfling ranger quickly slashed a hole in Madtooth's side, emerging like a triumphant newborn from the gaping hole. The crowd gave a rousing cheer of "ARGO! ARGO! ARGO!" at this that matched Madtooth's raging bellow.
Kaspar risked the slashing tentacles and dropped a potion of healing down Kong's throat, which managed to revive him. Duke was beaten and near unconscious, but the barbarian decided enough was enough. Under the threat of a flashing greatsword, cutting daggers, and flown arrows, the froghemoth Madtooth the Hungry finally fell to the ground with a crash! "KINGS OF THE ROAD!" came the roar of the crowd, and the entire party saw Loris Raknian's look of utter shock and frustration at this turn of events.
The Kings of the Road were congratulated, but they mourned for their fallen friend. Auric's Warband had defeated the Iron Hill Monkeys, so the final match was set. The heroes were exhausted and wounded from their draining battle with Madtooth, but questions stood before them. What lay inside the secret chamber that claimed the life of their companion? And what was in store for them on the final day of the Champion's Games?
Session Updates
All right, good session, good session. I've never actually seen a character die TWICE in one evening. Tragic, truly tragic. We'll see what Jesse brings to the table at the beginning of the next session.
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Investigate Loris Raknian and Apostolic Scrolls
* Find Out What Happened to Ekaym's Sister
XP Recap
* 9th-level Characters 6,000
* 10th-level Character 2,500
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
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