COD 1: Session 25: The Feast

 Pre-scene Notes

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Scene setup/conflict: 

The party attends the feast Emperor Nero set up and learns of some secrets of the Empire.

Altered scene; I’ve got a map/scenario in mind that I’d thought I would do after the fourth coliseum round, but maybe I have to put that in earlier as this altered scene is rolled… So I think the party will get some info from others before the feast, then after. 

Scene:

The party took as much time as they could to recover from the ordeal at the coliseum before the Emperor Nero and the Empress Ceres arrived. Ie short rest, Weird Elf could get a long rest in 4 hours, but I deemed it not enough time as he would have had to stay motionless. It was a bit difficult though with Jasper’s servants and tailors coming in and out of their room to try and get them ready in official togas for the feast.Admist the process of forcing Zar into a toga, two familiar characters barged into the party’s room.

“Well well, here’s our new humble dormitory!" Solomon the Warlock, along with the Inventor with an entourage of mechanical invention carrying their luggage, looked very much ready to move in. “Oh! You three still haven’t moved to your new quarters yet? Let me tell you, I haven’t shown the ace up my sleeve yet. If I’d prepared a bit more I could summon a celestial against you in the colosseum, then we’ll see who’s the one getting sold.”

“Excuse me?" Filli tentatively asked for more clarification.

“Don’t you know? Old Jasper brought over all of our old company’s assets!” Solomon plopped himself on the chaise longue defenceless, even if they had been fighting to the death just mere hours ago. “That’s what happens in this town. Losers get gobbled up. And I have to say our old company wasn’t that big pf an enterprise, and only had a place thanks to us few high quality gladiators. Sometimes having quality doesn’t beat out quantity.”

“Yes, Jasper’s recent expansions are quite ferociously indeed,” the Inventor had already taken out his tinker’s tools and was prodding Fido this way and that, much to the Steel Defender’s apprehension as it fled to hide behind Filli. 

“What’s the deal with Jasper anyway?” Zar asked while Weird Elf just celebrated at the prospects of them getting new and more lavish suites soon for being higher level gladiators. 

“Old Jasper’s been around for a while now, and a bit of a legend actually. He started off as a gladiator and moved on up the ranks.” Solomon, obviously a bit of a gossip, leaned in closer and whispered, “He looked a lot better when he was in shape, and some said the Empress called upon him almost every night to ‘attend’ to her. It’s a common known fact she picks her fancies, considering the age of the Emperor. That’s how Jasper got his starting capital to become a gladiator agent.”

“Everyone makes money their own way.” Zar shrugged but asked, “But doesn’t the Emperor have something to say about this common knowledge? Let alone him supporting the coliseum business so enthusiastically?”

“That old fool spoils her rotten, and there isn’t any heirs or pretenders or rivals to the throne at all,” Solomon said. “Yes the state of the empire is a bit precarious at the moment, but we’ve had a good run of good emperors before him, so can’t complain too much. I’m just a vandal from up north and the Inventor came all the way from the East, so we have no stakes here. Fighting in the arena can be tough, but as long as they keep the booze and women coming!”

Solomon and the Inventor held no ill intentions, and actually traded a lot of funny coliseum stories as the party got ready for the party. Weird Elf took a chance to pull Solomon aside to ask about the weird illusion he had seen.

“I was just wondering, what was that creature in the illusion you’d conjured during the battle?” Yankovic asked, the mystery he had during the fight still bugging him. He knew he had amnesia, but only half remembering a monster he had fought had never happened before.

“An Aboleth? It is a terrible creature from legends my friend, but very real indeed. It’s because the creature is so simply frightful that I conjured him by default - another gladiator shat his pants just a month ago when I’d used him!” Solomon laughed. “The saying was that an Aboleth doesn’t just cause physical damage, but has psionics that messes up  your mind.”

“Where is this creature from?”

“Who knows. Some say it’s from another dimension altogether but when they do appear, we mostly find it having taken control over half a fishing village or most of a hamlet. These things are great at psionics you see, making people do what they say, voices in their heads, that sort of thing.”

“And memories?”

“Yes, memories as well. Makes you forget things and become its servant really.”

Yankovic knew this was not their world, but with the last Cave dive with Soke’s past, maybe at least there were similarities. Or was this just a red herring? Remember what the creature looked like, he pulled out the dried fin looking item Osran had given them. 

“Could this be a piece from an Aboleth?” Yankovic drew out the item Osran had given him to try and get a memory restoring item.

Solomon took the fin and looked it about, “It can be from a salmon for all I know. I’d only seen an Aboleth from pictures after all. Not many people survives a fight with them to tell about it. If an Aboleth doesn’t enslave your village, it enslaves  your ship, or even a kingdom. So the stories say.”

The gladiators all continued talking in their dorm until not long after nightfall, the emperor and his empress graced Jasper’s estate for a celebration of the party’s ‘ascension’ to level four gladiators in record time. Apparently this emperor was not even slightly scared of assassinations, arriving at the estate with minimal guards or servants in a grand carriage. Jasper being the host of course were all smiles and was hurrying about all over the place, ordering servants and waiters and entertainers left right and centre. 

The party, along with most of Jasper’s other gladiators, newly acquired or old ones, attended the feast. Other empire nobles and courtiers were at the feast also, with endless wine and bountiful food served by scantily clad servants. The party were without their adventuring gear, but free to roam the party hall as they pleased. Solomon and the Inventor quickly went to see their other friends in the trade upon entry, leaving the three stars of the celebration a bit stranded. 

“Well, if it isn’t our strong champions of the arena, why so gloom?” The Empress took the party by surprise as she sauntered up behind them without warning. “You’re the star of the show after all.”

Token for the Empress. I honestly could not find the artist for this again, so feel free to contact me if you know.

As she said this, she trailed a finger up Weird Elf’s arm. Zar and Filli pretended to talk and said they were famished, leaving Yankovic to deal with the woman as the pair fled from the Empress with quite the scandalous reputation it seemed. Yankovic however started asking, “Empress! Just the person I’d wanted to talk to. Have you heard of our good lord and saviour the God of War Xanthia?”

“Well you’re a funny one,” the Empress instead of batting Yankovic’s usual lapse of social etiquette for the recruitment of his church, addressed him by saying, “You know, Xanthia is one of our old gods. His followers scattered, temples ruined over recent times. However, with the might of an Empire, old glories can easily be returned.”

Yankovic rolled Insight 17. That lets me cut out a lot of the falsities as it meant he understood the Empress was a plotter, and not simply here for a fling. If I was a DM, I would basically let the PC know the Empress’s intentions through describing how she sounded to leave hints on this.

Yankovic just grinned, casually taking two glasses of wine from a wandering server’s plate, and offered one to the Empress, signalling for her to continue.

“You are new to this Empire, so you may not know, but things had been restless,” the Empress took the glass, encouraged by Yankovic’s acceptance to discuss a transaction. “Not just with the nomads, but within the Empire, and I dare say, inside these walls too. In restless time, we need strong men like you and your companions. I’d purposely asked the coliseum to arrange that cocktail of enemies you fought today, to test out whether you can really handle yourself with magic, long range or melee, and have enough… stamina. Your allies, and especially you, had indeed proved yourselves to be very impressive indeed.”

“And why are you discussing matters like this with me and not the Emperor?” Yankovic pointed at the old man, who was laughing boisterously by the buffet table. “Unless this really is your request for strong men to attend you, but I’d thought  Jasper had filled that role.”

“Oh don’t act coy now Mr Yankovic. Jasper and I had a history but things have transcended a lot more than rolling round bed sheets. But there are indeed things better left for strapping young men like you to tend to,” the Empress leaned in to Yankovic’s year, “Can I hope you would be on my side when the time comes?”

“And when would that be? How do I show which side I’d taken when I can’t even see where the lines are?" Yankovic asked, wanting more information.

“Women don’t like men too eager,” the Empress pulled away with a lingering finger running down Weird Elf’s chest. “Be patient.”

Yankovic watched the woman walk away and turned to find Zar and Filli.

#

While that was transpiring, Filli and Zar were stuffing themselves at the food table, when they were approached by none other than the Emperor himself. 

“Zar Onu! See everyone thinks Yankovic is the stronger one, but you my boy, are a true gladiator. A shame you didn’t get to kill them during your debut!” 

Zar felt a mix of anger, indignation and awkwardness for Filli, who the Empire treated as if he was not there. Heavily armed guards surrounded the banquet hall though and therefore Zar just grunted back a nonchalant, “Yes.”

The Emperor went on, sloshing a goblet of wine about, already looking drunk, impervious to Filli’s deadpan stare, “You’re a warlock ain’t you? Not a pact with a little fey like Solomon, but a real honest patron. Don’t even try lying to me, I’d seen enough warlock gladiators to know! I can feel it even from the box. The evil, the bloodlust, the want! You know, it really reminds me quite a bit of when Jasper was down there on the sands. Brings back a feeling of familiarity…”

At this, Zar demanded, “Do you mean to say Jasper’s patron is similar to mines?”

Considering the party met another Soke from a different multiverse in last Cave dive, it was not beyond comprehension Jasper’s patron was related, or even if it was this multiverse’s version, of Zar’s patron. Also Jasper certainty looked healthy and of sane mind, and Zar was more than interested to know if there was a way to control that voice getting louder in his head every time he fought.

“Yes, Jasper was a Hexblade as well, having made a pact with some sort of sword,” the Emperor muttered, straining to think through his alcohol induced hazed. “Great gladiator, crap merchant. Never seem to be able to hang onto those great gladiators for too long, most of them leaving him before long to join the army or whatever. I certainly don’t want that to happen to you three. You are the best gladiators I’d seen for a while now, and it’d be really crummy if you went and joined the senate to be a pain in my side like the last guy.”

“You won’t happen to have a name for Jasper’s patron do you, your highness?" Yankovic asked, rejoining his allies after his short conversion with the Empress. 

“Ah, the Weird Elf of the coliseum in the flesh,” the Emperor slapped him on the arm. “You know I’d lost plenty of coin betting against you earlier. But please, do enjoy the feast while you can. After all, you’d be in the coliseum again in another three days!"

The party knew better than to block the Emperor when he had wanted to leave just to question him about Jasper’s patron, but it seemed like Nero did remember something after all. The old man turned around before leaving, “Actually, old Jasper is still a warlock as far as I know. His Hexblade must be somewhere. Haven’t seen him show it around for a while, maybe he sleeps with it in his bed!”

Laughing at his own joke, and his surrounding attendants laughing with him, Nero wandered off to mingle and drink with others at the feast.

Yankovic rolled an Insight 20.

“Nero’s up to something,” Yankovic said, telling the other two of his exchange with the Empress. “Zar picked up the gossips from before that not everyone in the Empire is happy with Nero being on the throne. And the married couple definitely isn’t as harmonious as they seem outside, whether he blamed his hobby of loving bloodsport on his wife or his wife made him host these games as a way to smear his name. And Jasper is definitely making a bigger play than being a gladiator merchant, with him installing his past gladiators in influential positions, plus whatever is going on between the Empress and him.”

Although he rolled a 20, I allowed him to basically distinguish everything only from info the party had up to this point. As a DM, I guess helping the party to sort out and highlight existing clues could be a good way to deal with high rolls, but let them come up with hypothesis and their own answers… especially if you had none at the time. Not to mention knowing another PC, Zar, has that character thread open on needing to find the identity on his patron, which is his driving force for making decisions.

“Regardless, I still think Jasper’s warlock patron is something to go on,” Zar said. “Even if his Hexblade is not my identical, it’s still a Hexblade I can question. I mean, we don’t have a better time than now to sneak into his room and see if we can find anything. If his Pact Weapon were lying about his room, maybe it’s a clue to find the identity of mines.”

“From the way Nero told you about the Hexblade, I think it’s a bait…” Yankovic shook his head. “But I know Filli will go along with you if you ask for help, and this may be the true mission in this Cave dive, so what the heck.”

“Come on, it’s this way…” Filli was already pulling open a curtain. And so the party slipped away from the feast by jumping off a balcony from a low window, and headed towards Jasper’s villa.

Scene close-out:

• Chaos factor down to an 6 as nothing much happened this session at all apart from some dispositions. 
• ! Zar thread: change the thread relating to Jasper to finding out the identity of Jasper’s patron, as we want to add a new party thread…
• + party thread: find out intrigue behind the Empress and the Emperor. 

Post-scene Notes

Thanks again for reading. I am moving house so the weekly update schedule may be disrupted.