COD 1: Session 24: Winnings

 Pre-scene Notes

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Scene setup/conflict: 

Another bout at the coliseum without a rest

Altered scene: Rolled again on Mythic with a Yes, so gave the party a bit of respite with the arena presenter giving them info on the monster unwttingly and a chance to get a few cure spells in.

Scene:

What came out of the gate was the most normal looking man, apart from his overalls and a pair of dirty goggles. However, not long after, a giant golem came out from the darkness of the tunnel behind him. As if that was not enough, three mechanical looking snakes crept out from the strange man’s pockets.

“The Inventor ! A common guest of the coliseum is back!” The arena presenter introduced the new gladiator while Zar took the chance to give another Lay on Hands to wake up Yankovic, and the later casting multiple Cure Wounds to return himself to fighting form. “The Inventor creates death machines that are immune to physical attacks and even magic has little effect! How will the new challengers fair against him and his machinations? Place your bets now at window five through ten!” 

I’d left the bodies on the arena from the last fight, who knows if there’ll be a use…

Zar despite his endurance never thought they would have to face a second battle without even a short rest, and that was after holding back form Yankovic’s tip from the gladiators this would be a multi-fight challenge. Lucky the presenter had given the game away, it was clear the best course of action was to hit them with magical weapons. If this was a few days back, Zar would have been stumped. However, no matter how apprehensive he was at using the cursed hexblade’s power - it was just that. He could not and did not avoid it. He took the power.

The only thing was, he was luckier now, ever since joining this group. His only power was not just the sword, but his allies. 

“Filli!”Zar shouted as he rushed forward, transferring his Hex over to one of the Iron Cobras. His Eldritch Blast distracted the snake while Filli rode up behind him and the half-gnome’s magic-infused lances found their target. 

Their enemies this time were much more difficult however, and Zar alone against three snakes meant one of them broke through his defence. He could feel searing pain as a strange poison went into his system, but he pointed and directed a Hellish Rebuke at the offending snake, who nimbly slithered out of the way as if sensing the magic before it was released.

“You think I can only swing a hammer? I’m not a priest of Xanthia for nothing!” Yankovic Channelled his Divinity and pointed at the compact group and with a Consuming Fervour, “Shatter!”

Although the constructs of the Inventor had magical resistance, not only did Yankovic’s zealous affinity maximise the spell’s damage, but the effect of the spell was for a sudden large ringing noise to erupt from the centre of the constructs. The high frequency vibration shatter the internal cogs of the mechanical monstrosities, especially the Stone Defender behind the snakes as smoke started to leak out of its joints. 

The Defender tumbled round the snakes and attempted to slam into Zar, but as Filli and Fido were right behind him, Fido by reaction dashed round to obstruct the Defender’s slam, and Zar deftly avoided the disadvantaged giant. However, his trouble was that he was surrounded with snakes. 

“Yankovic!” Zar shouted this time at the weird elf, who came forward as well considering they were too close now to the enemies for a blast spell. Instead of attacking, Yankovic casted a blessing on Zar. Filli also casted Faerie Fire and although only one of the snakes were caught, Zar finally was able to cleave the first of the snakes in one wild swing of his greatsword. 

Being not familiar with the weapon however, Zar had suffered one too many snake bites from the Iron Cobras and the poison downed him. 

“Not so fast!” Both Filli and Yankovic attacked the two snakes that were going to bite at Zar’s fallen body, but Filli’s lance and Yankovic’s magical Toll dispatched the two. The last Iron Cobra was going to sink its gleaming fangs of green and silver to finish the half orc, but Zar’s Relentless Endurance kicked in and with a sideway swipe of his greatsword disposed of the last of the Iron Cobras. 

Zar stood with the cheers of the crowd, feeling his blood restored from the boon of his Hexblade’s curse now that the targeted snake was slain. However, he knew it was Filli and Yankovic behind him who kept him standing to be able to face off against the Stone Defender. 

Saying that, Zar was still the unluckiest half orc in all the lands, and the Defender finally landed his slam and Zar was down for the count, his blessings and curses all leaving him in the dust. The coliseum crowd burst out laughing in merriment. 

The Inventor, who the party had basically forgot at this point, walked over to his mangled creatures and gave it a few kicks. The party was busy healing Zar back up to notice the mumbling Inventor as he walked back the way he came into the depths of the coliseum, thinking of improvements to his next batch of creations to entertain the bloodthirsty arena crowd, taking his golem with him.

I’d rolled Mythic to see if he would offer the party something in exchange to take one of them away to study, but it was a no. I’d also rolled again to see if he would want to borrow Filli’s infused lances for research. It was also a no. So I guess unfortunately nothing happens. The Inventor really had been what I’d inserted in in case the party found this fight too hard and needed a soft way out, which would’ve been to attack the Inventor, so when he dies, as do his constructs. Never had to be used though, so I guess it evens out. 

“And you think this is all? Of course not silly foreign travellers!” The arena presenter piped up again and to the party’s horror, “Let us all welcome Champion Solomon!” 

Never did the party expect to have three intensive fights without a single bit of rest of more than five minutes between them. They had to wake Zar, rearm themselves again, lacking in both physical and magical strength, and throw everything they had at their next opponent.

Very much to their surprise, and a small bit of respite, it was the gate on the other side of the arena that opened. Despite the name however, the experienced gladiator they were facing had no armour, shield, or sword. The portly dwarf looked to be a spellcaster.

I’d thought it was only logical to have a magic user after those fights, to test out the true mileage my PCs had. I’d thought a CR5 was too much, and looking through CR4, a Warlock of the Archfey caught my eye, so here it is.

“It is I! Solomon the Warlock of the Archfey Semptemius!” The portly man laughed boisterously. His arrogance though did not upset the crowd, quite the opposite, he seemed to be a popular regular. He was even receiving flowers from a spectator female when he offhandedly threw an Eldritch Blast at the party in a sneak attack. 

The spell hit Zar straight in the chest and he was almost downed again as the Warlock laughed and started strolling towards the party casually. “Let me end these peasants and show them what an arena champion really is!"

Zar’s orcish blood had been lit however with Yankovic’s zeal, both of them charging towards the warlock crossbolt and Eldritch Blast flying. With his last magical strength, Yankovic materialised his ethereal hammer for the fight. The warlock was able to dodge most of the onslaught but Zar’s blast grazed him. At that, Solomon just growled and chanted a spell. In a Misty Escape, after the mist dispersed, the warlock turned invisible and was nowhere to be seen on the other side of the arena. 

Filli rolled 16 in INT so I’m going to say he quick thinks a solution. Unfortunately, I had the warlock teleports North and rolling a d2, Filli went South.

Filli realising the warlock probably cast a branch of the Misty Step spell and made himself invisible, saved his last magical strength from casting Faerie Fire, as he knew the warlock probably moved position from where  Zar was. Instead, he commanded Fido to reach outwards with both the lances to his side and dashed south on a wild guess, but they hit nothing. However, Filli did shout and warn the others.

It was a useless warning however as the warlock had teleported North of Zar and Yankovic, and released a Fear spell that hit both of them. 

Yankovic started seeing visions of death and destruction, and himself losing faith in Xanthia as he lost limb after limb amongst battles. Yankovic merely laughed and waved his hands at the horrific images. “I am a follower of Xanthia, and to die with honour in battle is the greatest wish of any of his disciples! And to think you would present such foolish imagery to me. I will never lose faith in Xanthia and the Red Princess!”

I.e. He passed his saving throw.

Zar on the other hand started seeing the days he had back in the fake paladin order. He started seeing his life without having met the old dwarf, or the giver of his necklace, or even meeting the cursed sword. He turned older, weaker, and eventually were the play thing of the order, brutally maiming him to their fancies day after day. 

As the gladiator background, he started out with a trinkle for a momento from a fan. I can build upon it later if needed.

“This will never happen if you follow me. Use my power to conquer everyone and everything. This warlock is nothing compared to you!” The cursed sword’s voice actually woke Zar’s up from the illusions and he growled, eyes glowing green. He charged at the warlock but before he could start, the warlock already backed away with a yelp. Zar also passed his saving throw, albeit lower.

“Why did it not work?” The cowardly warlock whimpered as both Zar’s and Yankovic’s long range attack hit him again. He was so busy facing the two tall fighters, he missed the fast Filli charging in and the party’s attacks landed to deal heavy damage on the warlock.

The warlock again tried to incite Fear into the party, now all three of them are within range of his spell before running away. Both Yankovic and Zar were not fooled, especially as it was the second time, but Filli on Fido went motionless, his dual lances falling onto the sand beneath them.

Filli could see it all. His parents dying by his hand because he had wanted to save a wounded puppy. Then the puppy turned into a werewolf and massacred everyone in his home hamlet. He then tried to save a wounded deer, only to have it grow and trample Zar and Yankovic to death. He was scorned at by Voldan, who said he would never be a knight. He would spend the rest of his days in the sewers. Images flashed through his eyes and he could only run away from the warlock creating these machinations for the rest of the fight as he dashed with Fido to the other side of the coliseum with his lances discarded. 

Yankovic and Zar both knew the best tactic was to chase after and dispose of the warlock. The warlock however miraculously managed to flee and dodge their attacks through his arena experience. Finding the gap to cast Mage Armour on himself and with Yankovic was upon him, casted Misty Step to escape melee combat. The two gave chase and in multiple exchanges of blows, the warlock tried another trick in his bag again and casted Sleep. Zar did fall to slumber, but the Weird Elf was clearly unaffected, taking the opportunity to finally use his Spiritual Weapon that had caught up to deal a crushing blow to the warlock.

“You think you can defeat me?”He desperately screamed. “You’ve fought two bouts already! You won’t outlast me!” Yankovic woke up Zar and this began a chase around the arena, with Solomon casting Misty Stepping to the other side. The warlock yelled triumphally as one of his Eldritch Blasts caught Zar. Suffering finally from heavy wounds sustained from the previously battles, Zar went down.

Having disabled both Filli and Zar, it was down to a one on one with the Priest of Zeal. The warlock continued to keep his distance but Yankovic, being from the Church of the Red Princess, knew the warlock would be magically exhausted soon from the Misty Steps he had used, and dashed to keep up instead of attacking.

“Kneel before me!” The warlock finally used the greatest spell in his arsenal and seemed to have conjured the most aberrant creature he could think of. “Say goodbye to your memories!”

In actual fact, this is just a casting of 2nd level spell Phantasmal Force. Fortunately, Yankovic rolled higher than the spell save, but got a 12 in history check after to see what the image is. This allowed him to use Knowledge from a Past Life to add to 16, drawing out some RP. I think this art is from official DND?

Weird Elf seemed to see the shape of an Aboleth in his path. It was a cruel but highly intelligent creature that the church had to fight once. Supposedly it came from another plane, and was a memory stealing monster, sharing a type of racial memory amongst its kins. It had been almost impossible to fight… 

At this point, Weird Elf did indeed stopped in his tracks. 

He had never fought an Aboleth under the Church of the Red Princess. He knew as much about the monster that an Aboleth was far too strong for him to take on. Then, where did these battle images come from? How did he know of Aboleths?

His spell and rouse having failed, the warlock was on the run again. However, seeing through his illusion, Yankovic shook his confusion out of his head for now. As a Dorma of Xanthia, he did not get distracted in battle due to personal matters, no matter how grave. He pulled out his light crossbow, took aim, and finally scored a critical hit at the back of the warlock. 

The whole coliseum cheered and got up from the stands. The new rising stars, the foreigners that just appeared less than a week ago, had completed the level three gladiator challenge almost with ease. Sure, the last fight had been touch and go, but they showed such martial and magical powers against different foes from hoards and elites, from far away to melee. Jasper screamed for joy and even rushed into the arena to give Weird Elf a hug. 

“You were brilliant! Brilliant!” As the only one standing, Weird Elf was definitely the front man of the popular group now.  Filli was still trying to recover from the illusionary attack, but was aware enough to cast Cure Wounds on Zar, as the arena had forgotten the perilous nature that was the basis of this warped form of entertainment. 

The next moment, the whole coliseum fell silent. This was of course because its ruler, Emperor Nero, raised his hand from his balcony.

“Debut strangers from the far lands! You have not lied. You have been pitted against mighty beasts, arcane constructs, and an eldritch champion in succession. Together you are strong against both might and magic!” Nero had to stop the cheers for a moment before continuing. “However this is just the beginning of your life at the coliseum! See yourselves as spared from your past transgressions or slavery, and fight on! You three shall face the fourth level of the arena in three days! Fight and bleed and entertain us on this patch of sand! Fight for your glory! Tonight! We feast!”

The party returned with their battered bodies down the tunnel, not really that hyped on the idea of a feast at all, but Jasper gave all of them a bone crushing hug much to Zar’s protest. He gave them a whole three times back from their gambling ventures, since the odds had been very much against them. Jasper insisted the party must attend the feast tonight. The party very much wanted to refuse, with Zar stating they were not his slaves now, but Jasper hinted it would be a massive missed opportunity that many died for. The emperor, and especially the empress, Ceres, had insisted them to be there. 

Understanding they were in a foreign empire the party reluctantly agreed. Although they thought the mission of this Cave dive was likely just becoming arena champions, it would not hurt knowing more about this world’s political system and the owner of the arena. They might even have an easier time at it if they played their cards right.

Scene close-out:

• Chaos factor back down to 7 as the party handled the fights well and is even out of slavery now. 

Post-scene Notes

No thread changes again, so despite the combats, the story didn’t go forward… As a writer, really have to watch out for that as it means the combats didn’t really have to be there. I guess I didn’t make a big point of this as they had started as Jasper’s slaves, as arguably they’re fighting cause they had to win back their freedom. I didn’t even log it as a thread as it was not that strong or used as a plot point. I had really started this Cave dive just wanting some battles. Saying that, after a few session, I feel like I have enough to build upon for something bigger to weave in with this world’s view.