COD 1: Session 23: Zar's Backstory

 Pre-scene Notes

-

Scene setup/conflict: 

Zar about to murder his previous allies in the coliseum.

No altered/interrupted scene

Scene:

A reminder of where we’d left off last time. I’d changed Zar’s token from now that his sword is ‘awakened’ (and mechanical, he’s going to use broadsword now) and added an aura for this battle

Zar sneered a Hexblade’s Curse and Weird Elf immediately felt a tightness on his chest. Filli dodge out of the charging half-arc and cast a Faerie Fire on him, not wanting to use an offensive spell. 

“Didn’t you say you won’t lay a hand on Filli?” Yankovic yelled as he dodged an Eldritch Blast thrown his way. He could feel another layer of Hex on him as he charged to meet Zar at the now broken gate. 

With both his ethereal and material warhammer, Zar was struck critical blows, although it did not seem like so at all as he shrugged them off and smashed down with his greatsword, which emitted an evilness that Yankovic had only seen from cursed relics found by the church. If it had struck, Yankovic was done for.

“Stop it Zar!”  Filli rode Fido round again next to Yankovic and sent a Fire Bolt that made Zar take a step back, but Filli was exhausted from the fights before and could only instruct Fido to try and cover Yankovic from any further attacks.

“I’ll make it quick then!” Yankovic growled and attacked again with his warhammers. Zar caught the hammer with his single hand, and as other landed on his back, a surge of green vengeful energy exploded from behind him. Green claws erupted from the warlock in a Hellish Rebuke, fashioned not unlike his mage hand, but the orc-ish claws ripped into Yankovic flesh and bones. The double hexes seeped out a smell green howl as the claws gashed at Weird Elf’s body, multiplying the pain.

The crowd erupted in cheers at the hard hitter, and Zar raised his hands in glory. Zar knew that was what audiences wanted. It did not matter if he missed a million times, but one gory and defeating blow and they would be back on his side.

“Damn it! Get a hold of yourself!” Filli knew if that hit were to have landed on him, he would be down in one blow. Flinging a Fire Bolt at Zar, Filli then commanded Fido to hit with a Force-Empowered Rend. Both attacks connected, and Zar fell.

Filli panted, out of breath and could hardly lift a finger to cast another spell to cure Yankovic, who were struggling against the hexes and the vengeful claws. Much to Filli’s dismay, Zar’s Rentless Endurance meant the half-orc opened his eyes again on the sand. Getting up slowly, his evil greatsword gathering form again in his hands, he stalked over and towered over the small boy.

As his shadow loomed over Filli, and he raised the greatsword over his head, he stopped. As if struggling with something internal within him, with a loud scream of anguish, he brought the greatsword down with mighty force. Filli closed his eyes but could only feel a wind by the side of his face as the strike landed on the sand beside him. Zar fell unconscious along with his last blow.

Zar rolled a Nat1 with his attack roll so I’d thought that was a good way to end it as he only had 1HP left. To be honest, the fight was really short and Zar would only have been a challenge if his hits landed. However, character concept-wise, Zar has finally started to become the low accuracy / high damage character I’d set out on with the level up.

Emperor Nero clapped and cheered with the crowd, asking what Filli and Yankovic wanted being the victors. The crowds were all shouting for them to finish Zar off, but both Filli and Yankovic said their gift would be to spare Zar. At the Emperor’s displeasure, Yankovic quickly added they were a trio that had fought together for a long time, and it would only be together their true strengths could be shown. The crowd had only seen them fight individually, but they would definitely be far more entertained if they fought together. 

The Empress next to Nero whispered something in his ear, and Nero raised his hand to calm the booing crowd again. He said that he could spare Zar’s life for now, but the three of them could barely be seen as new gladiators, being their debut here they were technical just slaves. He therefore decided that in three days, the three of them will face the level three gladiator challenge, and see if they could survive the ordeal of skipping a challenge level. With that, he laughed and put his arms around his empress, calling for his carriage back to the palace. The empress looked back at the trio before being led away by her husband.

#

As Fido and Yankovic carried the fainted Zar out of the arena, a portly man with the most ridiculous moustache greeted the party as if they were his golden hens. His name was Jasper and he was the self-proclaimed best gladiator provider in town. Emperor Nero decreed by law that a coliseum day would be held every three days, and it had seeded numerous businesses in the city. Mostly slaves from wars were used, but the city was running a bit short, so Jasper had an expedition up North this morning. It seemed the party were just nomads captured during that trip and were therefore technically Jasper’s slaves. Just as well because they might not have their weapons or possessions on them otherwise.

However, that was just a technicality as gladiators. As they ascend in the levels of the arena, they would receive much more than their so-called owners. At the top level, gladiators may naturally ask for freedom to the prize, but afterwards still work for people like Jasper as their employer or agent to continue fighting at the coliseum. If one was lucky, they could be granted a post in the army, or even a seat at the senate with the wealth and impressions they had built up during matches. 

As the party was going to face level three challenges in the arena the next time they set foot in it, Jasper by law was obligated to provide them with level three gladiator treatment even if they were technically the lowest form of a slave gladiator. Jasper seemed happy enough to provide a three-day investment, and settled the party in his estates just outside the city. The three shared one apartment room together in one of the villas within the grounds. The rest of the estate was also a gladiator academy, where slaves were kept or active gladiators were trained. As Jasper had explained on the trip here, the party understood gladiators and the coliseum were big business indeed, and he offered countless services within his estates for the gladiators for a price. This ranged from food, drink, luxury items, weapons, or even training from one of the many tutors and other gladiators. 

The equipment loadout has changed for Zar and Filli after the level up, so Jasper’s estate’s setup was really just an opportunity for housekeeping if I was a GM if they had wanted to buy something.

The party of course had no interests to deal with all this as of yet, and fortunately with their pseudo level three status, Jasper commanded one of his other slaves to lead them to their apartment room and told them to have a good night’s rest for possibly the last three days of their lives.

Filli and Yankovic settled themselves in their apartment room, with Yankovic of course tying Zar up with all ten feet of his rope. With a nod, Yankovic performed a Cure Wounds touching Zar’s head. 

The half-orc slowly regained consciousness as the holy energy dissipated, stirring something also in the depths of his mind. Zar’s eyes widened as he took in the unfamiliar room, and his two old companions in front of him. Filli was glad at least Zar seemed to have got a hold of himself, but Zar just bowed his head, not really sure what he should say.

“Well? You said I can have your head if you tried to attack Filli right?” Yankovic barked. “I knew there was something off about you. You’re a warlock, not a paladin! You’ve been possessed!”

Zar could only nod and told his story.

His first memory was a storm at sea that took his human mother. He was able to swim ashore into a forest, and finally rescued by a fake 'paladin's order'. He repaid his life debt by performing as an actor of an Oathbreaker paladin in their mini version of a coliseum, as if re-enacting allegories from the order’s sacred texts. In the process, he had actually learnt the ways of a lawful paladin, very atypical for orcs  (although he was a half-orc) from an old retired Dwaven paladin inside the order. Zar learnt what little he knew of a paladin's way from the old Dwarf after he saved Zar from being too injured after one of Zar’s re-enactments, and practically raised Zar to adulthood. The old Dwarf, being a weak paladin that had suffered a severe injury during his adventuring days, only wanted to earn a peaceful living and retirement with the fake order. The Old Dwarf also taught Zar the flute, which Zar played as the only attendee at his funeral after he passed away, as it was their only form of entertainment as a semi-slave at the fake order. 

Zar only found out the order was fake when he had overheard the 'good paladin' actor one day saying the order was all a scam. Zar challenged the actor and was swiftly defeated, then locked in a cupboard awaiting judgement form the order. Zar was getting stronger and harder for the actor to fight every day, and they had been considering whether it was time to kill their slave.

In that dusty and smelly cupboard was when Zar came across a forgotten old rusty longsword. He had picked it up, trying to pry the lock with it, when a voice spoke to him. The voice promised him the power to escape, and eventually abolish all lies in the world. With the help of the old 'haunted' sword, he escaped his imprisonment through magic, and defeated the 'good paladin' actor. He forced the actor to reveal the fake order's misdeeds to the villagers, who burned their order to the ground to release years of frustrations of being lied to and taken advantage of. What was left of the fake order fled, and from what he knew, the remaining members continued to hunt Zar to this day.  

“That was horrible!” Filli sobbed as he coughed, trying hide it.

“I did say before, if I do lose control… End me now!” Zar yelled, but a green aura started to seep out of his body just as he was going to surrender his life. Whatever was possessing him, Zar was battling the entity with all his might, “I’m holding him back from breaking these ropes or casting any spells! If I’m the host, I die and it dies with me! Do it Yankovic!”

Yankovic approached the tied-up half-orc before Filli could stop him, and just slapped Zar across the face. 

“Alright, alright, calm down. This is why I shouldn’t have teamed up with younglings like you two,” Yankovic sighed. At the surprise and the thoughts of letting himself be killed was interrupted, Zar’s green aura also faded back within. “You know, I had an inkling you were a warlock, but I guess whatever that old Dwarf taught you made me realised enough of you was a paladin. And then when that Stelle Florcra’s fortune telling crystal ball was all about a greatsword instead of that weird rusty longsword, I guess I just was not completely sure. The greatsword must be your patron’s true form, some sort of cursed weapon.”

“Is there a way to lift the curse?” Filli asked.

“Well, Zar had solidly made a pact with it. Though the exact conditions does seem vague?” Zar only shook his head, confirming Yankovic’s guess. “I’d seen many Hexblades borrow powers from weapon patrons fighting for the church. Some are good patrons, and some warlock are even able to bend their patron’s alignment ultimately. Yours on the other hand seem pretty hard to crack. I mean, first thing’s first, it would be much easier if you are able to find out the sword’s identity.”

“You want me to talk to it?” Zar exclaimed.

“You see it in your nightmares, no?” Yankovic smirked. “I’m an elf, weird as I am, I only trance and don’t sleep. I even trance less than normal elves, and I’d be damn stupid not to keep one eye open through the night on you. Don’t worry, I’ll still continue to keep watch, that seems to be my party role it seems.”

“What’re you saying? It can simply possess me at any time and kill you both!”Zar growled.

Yankovic put a hand on his head and cast Guidance, “Strength isn’t just from physical powers. Fight it like you did there. Even if you are contracted, who’s stronger or weaker is still up to you.”

“Yankovic, are you saying you still trust me after all this?” Zar asked.

“Even more so now that I know what this is all about!” Yankovic rolled his eyes. “I’d fought alongside millions of warlocks worst than you  during the church wars. Keep that sword patron of yours under control, and if you can’t, we’ll help.”

“We’ll definitely find a way to get rid of the curse Zar!” Filli nodded in affirmation.

“All I can say…is thank you, both.” 

#

The party spent the next three days preparing for the coliseum fight. Filli worked again on upgrading Fido, and from his experience on facing the gladiator alone, he was able to put in practice an idea for the mobile twin lance build he had envisioned with his Steel Defender. 

Yankovic was over the moon at the number of overconfident gladiators of different levels within the estate, battling from dusk and dawn, praying ever so thankfully to Xanthia for the Valhalla he was landed in, all the while learning the tricks of an arena fighter.

Favour text for Filli and Yankovic’s level up really, but I think it was worth allowing for each PC to ask a question on the setting, and dependent on their chosen ability roll, I’ll use Mythic for some Yes/No answers to see what else about this Cave dive I will get.

Filli had Rustic Hospitality, so I just think that would give advantage on him getting information from commoners, but he only rolled a 13, arguably using Investigation. So knowing some uncommon knowledge as gossip is the best it can result in after asking three questions to Mythic.

Filli was able to ask the servants on this almost barbaric tradition of throwing people into a death pit every three days despite the civilisation seemingly being quite advanced. The servant said the Emperor had not always been a tyrant, and the gossip was that he threw  these shows to gain the Empress’s favour. Some people do love its business and gambling opportunities if not for the bloodsport, but some envied the days of the Emperor’s benevolent  father. 

Yankovic only rolled 10 for Athletics to challenge the gladiators, but he has Knowledge from a Past Life feature that adds +6, and can be used twice. So he knows everything they would. 

Yankovic through his fights was able to make friends with some other gladiators, getting a feeling of comradery that he felt with his battle mates during the church wars. The gladiators said he should be prepared for the level 3 matches that it would not be a single fight, but at least three rounds of fighting. If you were lucky you would get a short break in between bouts, otherwise, you should consider saving your energy as the fight difficulty ranked up. The party should also try betting their gold as well to make some returns, as Jasper did. Yankovic took up their advice and therefore had betted on themselves, convincing Filli and Zar to do the same.

Zar rolled a 15 in persuasion. I didn’t know what to ask so rolled for a random event that said move towards a thread; pursue lies. There weren’t a story thread for this Cave dive yet, so the only one is Zar’s own, so maybe something to do with the sword. This gave me some more ideas... 

Unlike the other two, Zar had more than enough for a dozen lifetimes of fighting for others as entertainment. Zar could be found playing his flute more often, as it helped him with his memories of the Old Dwarf and the paladin ways he was taught, keeping the voices of the sword at bay. He still had nightmares, where every night the sword’s voice got clearer. He attempted to communicate with it, but the ability seemed to be just out of reach. 

In one such awful morning, the clouds were low, he ventured out of the party’s apartment and walked around the grounds of the estate to clear his head. He saw the main building of the estate in front of him, where Jasper stayed and worked, but also shared with other long-time gladiators of his. The impression Jasper gave was that of just an entrepreneur, where his goods happened to be humans. Zar narrowed his eyes, not convinced a slave-trader would be of any good alignment, and asked the slaves what they really knew. 

Much to Zar’s annoyance, even the lowest level gladiators just scraping by said Jasper was fair, and rewarded those that proved their worth handsomely. Jasper was not shy of giving gladiators opportunities either, introducing them to meet senators and the wealthy, which was more than gracious compared to rumours of other gladiator traders.

Zar was going to dig more into Jasper, not really giving up on finding dirt, but that would have to wait until after their level three bout in the arena.

At this point, the party could’ve tried to escape or do anything, but like any campaign, there could be  times when the party will just continue down the road. I guess as a DM, that would be something to be mindful of at this point, and not have prepared then million coliseum fights beforehand if it never turns up again if the party decided to go the outlaw road being hunted by the Empire. I actually want to try a Hexcrawl in some of my next Cave dives, so if the party had attempted an escape, that could be brought forward as a DM.

#

The same smell of blood and sweat attacked Zar’s nose and he kicked the sands at the jeering crowd around the coliseum. The party were back, as were the crowds, and the Emperor and his Empress. 

Simple dirt fight to test the level ups to start

The gates on the other side of the arena opened and two gladiators that they had previously met appeared, but instead of fighting themselves, they were ushering out four Deinonychus. They were strange creatures that not even Yankovic knew, and only by introduction of the arena presenter did the party know the carnivorous lizards would not think twice about filling their bellies with them.

Emperor Nero stood up and with the drop of his hand, the trumpets and drums sounded. The gladiators let loose the reins of their Deinonychus, who with a gleam of intelligence in their eyes started flanking to either sides of the arena instead of going straight at the party.

The gladiators stayed back out of harm’s way, flinging the odd crossbolts but were useless against an assaulting Yankovic. Blessing his allies, he took a clean shot at one of the Deinonychus, hitting it clean between the eyes. Filli with a mush spurred his Steel Defender forwards, his hands glowing blue as Fido’s hands raised with his, but holding the two lances as they charged at the duo of Deinonychus, finally coming into his own knightly combat style to make mounted lance attacks out of ranch of the lizards’ claws. 

The first Deinonychus was downed within a minute of the fight starting, and Zar did not let the attack end there, as he Hexed and Eldritch Blasted the second of the duo, leaving an opening for Yankovic as the Priest of Zeal to land a double hit with this warhammer, one of which scoring a critical and bashing in the lizard’s skull. The crowd erupted in cheers at the party’s strength at what was supposed to be a deadly encounter. The other duo of Deinonychus actually ran back to their handlers at the death of their herd.

The handlers tried to run away from their charges but Filli intercepted them on Fido with ease, slashing through one with his lances. A crossbolt from Yankovic sailed harmless past him, but Zar depleted the handler last stamina only one handler was left standing.

Yankovic however got overzealous and ran at the two remaining Deinonychus, taking them on together. He landed his first blow, but in a quick dodge, one of the Deinonychus managed to bite his arm as the other made him lose concentration of his spell with a high pitch squeal. With one arm held, the other clawed and bit at Yankovic, the tide turning as Weird Elf almost fell to the ground and now very much bloodied, paying for underestimating the vicious lizards. 

Filli and Zar both swooped in to help, the former disposing of the first Deinonychus while the later freeing the second from continuing to attack Yankovic. The only remaining handler gladiator however went into a frenzy as Filli finished off the last dinosaur.

“No! No! No! They’ll kill me if I go back like this! They’ll kill me!" He screamed in madness and chopped Yankovic up in a frenzy of blows until the tall elf went down. Even after he went down, the gladiator did not seem to care and continued hacking. 

Zar hastily put a Lay on Hands to waken Yankovic, who raised up from behind him and slammed his hammer into the gladiator’s face at his mindless assault. It did not stop him though, really showing not every gladiator trader was as lenient as Jasper, and attacked Yankovic again as if the blow dealt no damage. It very much did though and with Zar’s materialised greatsword and Filli’s lances, finally the battle was over. 

“Next!” The arena presentor did not even allow the party a short rest and to the heartless cheers of the crowd, the gates opened again and a new wave of enemies emerged.

Scene close-out:

• Chaos factor up to 7. 
• - Yankovic thread: Found out why Zar lied he was paladin. This had been a thread opened since the very first chapter I think.
• + Zar thread: Find out the identity of his patron
• + Zar thread: Find dirt on Jasper

Post-scene Notes

I expect some people would think Filli’s build is not following rule as written (RAW), but it was more for convenience than anything. It is a bit complicated combining all of Steel Defender features, dual weild and intelligent/controlled mount. Basically, I’d simplified it by determining when Filli is on Fido, he’ll basically use a bonus action in order for his Steel Defender to either do one of its innate actions, or a mount action (eg dash). Fido will retain its reactions, and move as one same initiative turn as Filli, instead of after or has its own initiative turn. I don’t feel this is unbalanced, as otherwise it’s basically nerfing/eliminating the Steel Defender’s inherit features, and I plan to multiclass Filli a good bit down the line as well, that’ll even further complicate things otherwise. Some thinks dual lance alone is not feasible, but I think it’s fine. In RP, as Battle Smiths use INT to fight, I would say Filli’s hands light up and as he moves, it controls the arm of Fido, holding the lance, to move as well. Obviously he would not receive extra mechanical advantages of saying he technically had four hands now, but to be honest, many campaigns did not worry about it apart from somatic component spell requirements

Also, Yankovic is a UA class (Zeal Cleric), and Zar being one of the most powerful multiclasses (Hexadin, though not online nor optimised yet with only 1 paladin level), it may actually be unbalanced if Filli go mono-classing a below average subclass (Battlesmith though I think is pretty strong, but Artificer class in general has a massive range dependent on magic items allowed). 

Saying that, a deadly encounter doesn’t necessary mean one at all for the party right now using Goblin Fight Club. A Deinonychus had 3x attack a turn + features, and there were 4 of them + minions, so I had thought this would be a hard fight at least. I guess it was lucky the party had a big map. 

Anyway, onto the next round to see what more interesting encounter I should build.