COD 1: Session 29: Battle Royale

 Pre-scene Notes

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Scene setup/conflict: 

Zar was captured by the Empress’s men. Needing as many sacrifice as possible to complete the ritual asap, the Empress threw him back to being a gladiator in the final battle royale, wanting him to cut down as many as possible. 

Altered scene: Interesting… If it was an interrupt scene, I may have Zar meet up w/ Weird Elf or Filli in some way before entering the arena, but alas it’s an altered scene. I sought help by rolling some inspiration words and got Stop Tension… I guess comedic relief is needed.

Scene:

Zar literally slipped on a banana peel as he was shoved through the coliseum tunnels. Spitting out a mouthful of sand, he just managed to dodge out of the way of a whip as the soldiers marched everyone onwards. After he was captured, he had been kept in a jail cell for the past two days or so - he could not count as there were no windows. They actually let him keep his items, but that was more of a bad sign as it had meant he was not considered a threat. Indeed he was not, considering the hundreds of crossbows aimed at him from behind, urging him to walk out into the arena. 

“So Zar, what d’cha think? Why are all these commoners brought to the coliseum? None of them look anything like the gallant gladiators that we are.” Zar signed, as his cell mate was a scrawny bald man that refused to shut up. The runt was the type in prisons that cowered under the protection of others, and Zar as the most up-and-coming gladiator as of late seemed to be it. 

Not bothering to reply, Zar shielded his eyes against a strong gust of wind and the rain that turned the arena into a mud swamp. Smells of rotten flesh and stale blood lingered, as some others beside him vomited. 

The same crowd. The same apathy of lives. The same jarring cheers contrasted with the frail whimpers beside him. It all made his lips curl. No, as the runt had said, these people in the arena were not gladiators. Not even slaves with the chance to fight for their freedoms. These people looked like random villagers, rounded up like sheep, and herded here to be slaughtered by the few wolves amongst them. He was one such bad wolf.

“Ladies and gentlemen! What a show we have for you this afternoon!” The same arena presenter as before boomed over some method of voice amplification. “We have for you a battle royale! No rules, no order, utter primal fighting! One of the contestants today will walk out alive and win the fortunes of a life time, a million gold!”

The crowd cheered louder, but hardly any amongst Zar did inside the arena. A million gold meant nothing if it was not yours, and only one amongst them might get it. Every other lamb was just there as a sacrifice. Zar had to do something.

I asked Zar for a straight Charisma check, it was only an 11. 

Zar whispered to the runt, “Pass this on to as many people as you can here. When the gong strikes, don’t fight. Definitely don’t kill. Every two people just make a bet, any bet, and the loser just fall prone onto the ground. Compare who’s taller. Or who has longer hair. Just tell them not to fight.”

The runt returned a puzzled look but did as he was told. Soon a haze of whispers like a swamp of flies buzzed around in the arena.

“Let the battle royal begin!” The presenter finished his opening piece and the gong struck for the start of battle.

Except, there was none. Many of the people actually followed what Zar had spread. Some indeed just bet who could jump higher. Some played rock paper scissors. Some even tried to pee into the wind to see who went further. The crowd started booing, but at least some were guffawing.

Once again, same coliseum map, with some additional tokens.

“So the peasants don’t want to fight!?” The Empress was infuriated inside the royal box. 

Weird Elf knew the Empress’s ritual needed blood to be shed in the coliseum, and this was the worst outcome. He had seen Zar in the arena, and can only give her a growl for not keeping her promise, considering the guards in the box with them. 

The Emperor only gave Weird Elf a haughty laugh when he had arrived with the Empress, thinking he had chosen a side. The wrong side according to the old man who did not know this might be his life’s last moments. Weird Elf did not know what the Empress planned to do with her summon, but guessed even if he said something to Nero now, the Emperor would not listen thanked to the Empress simply entering the box with him on her arms. 

Back to the present, the Empress commanded, “Shoot an arrow every ten seconds at anyone who doesn’t fight!”

Indeed, a random peasant immediately got an arrow through his heart and fell to the ground. 

A second of silence, then the runt next to Zar  cried, “I don’t want to die!”

Zar was able to slap away the dagger thrust from the runt just in time not to be stabbed in the back. Zar summoned his green broadsword using his patron’s power, but it would not be able to stop the source of the upcoming frenzy even if he killed the runt. 

Just as he was going to riposte though, multiple Sleep spells seemed to have been cast, one of which targetted the runt. Zar was able to shake it off, but many of the surrounding sheep did indeed fall to a magically induced sleep.

Amongst the confusion, someone whispered in the Emperor’s ear and it was his turn to be apoplectic.  “The Resistance? Jovian? Get the guards! Find them and kill them!”

Weird Elf was too disgusted at the sight of the cat with cream smile the Empress had as her guards continued to fire arrows even at the sleeping people in the arena. He at least wanted to frustrate her by getting out of here. Weird Elf took a step forward and ask the Emperor, “My sire, please allow me to assist.” Rolled 18 Persuasion. 

“Whatever! Go! Go! Kill any suspicious person in the coliseum! How dare they!” Emperor Nero waved him away without a second thought.

Having thought he had escaped, Weird Elf quickly ran towards the stands with the other Emperor’s guards, but not before the Empress countered his move. 

“If you take one step out of line, I will command for your friend in the arena to be shot in a rain of arrows.” 

Basically for the following encounter, there’s going to be different rules and various rolls for each character. I’ll explain them as they come but the Empress’s warning is a set up…

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On the other side of the arena, Filli urged Fido to run with the rest of the Resistance after using the Sleep spell scrolls they had taken into the coliseum with them. The Resistance did not know how many lives were still needed before the Empress’s ritual was complete, but it could be any one of of the innocents that were going to die in the arena now that the fight had began. 

“Find the runes!” Jovian commanded. “Our intelligence says the Empress had her wizards draw four runes amongst the stands in this coliseum. They must have something to do with the ritual. Find them and destroy them! We must not allow the Empress to complete her summoning ritual! Oh crap, here comes the guards. Everyone scatter!”

I’m going to try and emulate how movies depict a large scale war by just focusing on the main characters as chaos surrounds them. On top of each character’s individual mechanics, I’ll run in parallel an unknown running clock with Mythic’s question and answer. What one character can do changes the outcome/tide of a battlefront in a war, or for other characters. I’ll explain them as their respective rounds come along. 

From now on, basically for any person who dies, including NPCs, I will roll Mythic to see if the ritual is complete. I will slowly increase the likelihood as more people die, like once every 5 deaths or something. If Mythic answers a Yes, it then triggers the summoning of the Aboleth! If I am running this as a DM, of course the PCs won’t have a clue why I’m rolling so many dice!

I’m also going to take a tip from another DM who suggested for big war-like scenes, the PCs are the main characters, so any enemies a PC encounters basically dies on one landed hit (ie if attack roll higher than target AC). I will use either the Commoner, Guard, or Acolyte monster from the standard DND bestiary as standard NPC stats to simplify. 

“Got it! I’ll head towards the closest one now!” Filli tried his best to navigate through the crowded stands on Fido towards the first rune symbol the Resistance members had showed him.

Filli just happened to have rolled highest initiative so goes first. For Filli’s turns, he has to make his way to the four red symbols roughly at each corners of the map, and spend an action to destroy it. If he destroys all four before Mythic rolls Yes for ritual to be completed, it will trigger one of the many endings I roughly have in my mind. During his journey there however, I will roll a 50/50 on Mythic every time he passes an NPC token (that was previously just a mundane spectator) in the stands to represent whether he runs into a guard. If he does, it turns into a guard and he needs to fight/escape. Opportunity attack rules apply. 

I’ll have to move Filli’s token one space at a time, and as luck would have it, first roll on contact with the closest NPC token and it’s a guard…

Filli and Fido dashed north, but almost ran right into a guard who immediately shouted, “Halt!”

Filli knew he was short on time so tried to escape the guard. “Fido!” 

Fido reacted to Deflect the guard’s attack to their backs as Filli ran along the top of the stands to try and avoid most of the crowd. However, the guard behind him shouted after him, and the next person he came across just happened to be another guard. Disengaging with Fido’s speed, he ignored them to try and make it to the first sigil - only to find it being guarded by a third guard.

Basically what happened this turn was Filli used Bonus Action to dash with Fido as a mount, plotted a route that touched three NPC tokens. All three unfortunately when rolling Mythic turned out to be guards. He used Fido’s reaction to impose disadvantage to the first attack, used an Action to disengage the 2nd guard, and ended his turn with the 3rd guard at the sigil. So pretty unlucky turn so far. I put 3 guard tokens on, marked it blue, and they’ll all act on the same initiative to chase Filli down in the initiative order. 

Zar in the middle of the arena readied his shield, keeping an eye out for anyone else around that was foolish enough to attack. However, seeing others who did not fight being shot with by archers lining the arena, he drew upon his previous acting skills in the fake paladin order to look as if he was attacking others, but actually Dodging any incoming arrows.

For Zar’s turns, I’m going to roll 25d2s at the start of his turns. 25 = number of villager tokens I have in the arena. I count the number of odd number, those advance a step towards him. The even numbers roll a d2 again and odd numbers are fine, while the even numbers just die (ie killed by another villager or arrow). Any villager token in melee with Zar takes an attack immediately following each of Zar’s turns.

For Zar himself, he can obviously just attack a village, which means that turn he won’t get a free hit from an archer. I however had the PC do an improvise action, where he is actually just using his Action to Doge, but I will ask a Performance check to see if he fooled the audience. If not, I negate his Dodge and he gets an arrow shot at him. 

He rolled a 21 Performance… Which makes sense cause that was literally what he did in his background. If I was DM, I would give the PC an Inspiration point.

Despite being flanked from the front and an opportunist trying to ambush him from behind, Zar deftly side-stepped the two fighting for their lives as his combat experience was just that much greater than the innocents. However, he watched as at least eight others died around him, some cut down in frenzied craze while others even landing deathblows simultaneously on each other.  

That’s rolling 8 times on Mythic to see if the Aboleth ritual is complete, 3 of which at heightened likelihood already… And funny enough on the 6th try the Yes was triggered even if I was rolling at No Way likelihood… 

Well, I guess that’s my experience on what happens to a disappointed well-prepared DM and we’ll never know how Weird Elf’s turn was going to go… It was basically going to be he would find+fight the rebellion members similar to Filli, but if he doesn’t, 10x archers shoot at Zar… Next time, I probably should roll a d6 instead of d2 on whether the innocents died.

Just as Weird Elf came out of the stairs from the box, he felt a sinister glow on his pale skin and looked up to see a scarlet portal swirling into existence above the arena. He could see four glowing runes amongst the stands, each channelling what might be a river of blood to enlarge the portal bigger and bigger until a monstrous shadow loomed over the now terrified spectators of the coliseum.

“Yes! My pet! Heed me!”The Empress took a step off the royal box, as if plunging to her death. Before she was even close to the ground below, the abomination that was an Aboleth invaded this realm with a tentacle and wrapped around the Empress. Now fully emerging through the portal, the monster flew through the air, causing death and destruction to the stands and the fleeing spectators. Amongst the growing screams and stench of blood, the Aboleth placed the Empress on its head like a crown.

“Guards! Guards!” The Emperor knew with the cat-with-cream smile on her face that the Empress’s first target was him. Although his close body guards were with him in the box, the Empress’s guards were as well, and amongst both sides’ skirmish, only a few guards were left surrounding the Emperor  to protect him against the abomination that now turned towards the box from the other side of the arena.

“Finally! Years and years! I can finally kill this old fool! I will erase and shape the minds of the whole Empire and all of its citizens will know only happiness under my rule!” The mad Empress pointed at the royal box, “Heed your mistress! Kill him Aboleth!”

I would have avoided this second stage if the four runes were destroyed before the number of deaths were met. However in this second stage, at the start of each PC’s turn, I would let each character roll their best skill of choice. On a >15 or <5, I would give them a suggested path of action apart from just trying to kill the Aboleth (eg like an idea roll in Call of Cthulhu RPG). I would also roll Mythic to see if the Emperor’s army arrives at the arena, deploying an incrementally increasing likelihood like before. The outcome of whether the Emperor, Empress, or the Aboleth stays around will determine the ending of this cave dive.

“All the gladiators! Hear me! Stop the Aboleth! Kill the monster and I’ll grant you any wish you want!” The Emperor was desperate to have any cannon fodder now. 

I’m going to say that was the end of Zar’s turn and the Aboleth rolled higher initiative than Zar, but that just means it’ll come round in the next turn order. So it’s Weird Elf up now, and he rolled a 17 in Perception; so I’m going to let him in on an alternative strategy.

Weird Elf at his position was close to another rune, and observed that a stream of magical that still seemed to be flowing towards the portal despite the ritual having triggered. He was not sure if the others could hear him, but he shouted at the others as he summoned his Spiritual Weapon, “Destroy the runes! It may be the monster’s tether to this realm!” 

Weird Elf made it past the fleeing crowd and used the Portable Ram to demolish the stands along with the runes it was inscribed on. One of the four streams stopped immediately and the portal seemed to have flickered in the sky.

Filli, now having the chance to destroy the rune he had arrived at and the guards chasing him all now being distracted by the abomination in the arena, destroyed it with his lance. Now with half the runes gone, the portal started to show visible signs that something was wrong. Betting on it working, Filli wasted no time, commanding Fido to dash straight for the next rune. The quickest way however was through the arena in a straight line, and therefore he used Feather Fall to land on the arena to avoid the stands that were now in chaos. Basically the spectator tokens are now considered as hard obstacles for moving round.

It’s the Aboleth’s turn now and I just realised it can only move 10ft each turn… Well, it’s starting in the middle of the arena, but the only target worth attacking is Zar… However, instead of attacks, the monster has other action choices…

Zar dodged out of the way as the Aboleth levitated past him and its heavy mass advanced towards its prey. Just as he was thinking about hitting it with an attack, he started hearing voices in his head. An insistent voice that told him to gain power, and the only way to do so was to follow the Aboleth. Before he knew it, he was Enslaved by the Aboleth. 

Basically as the Aboleth can’t reach the Emperor for a few turns, he Charmed Zar to attack for him. Zar failed the Wisdom save… and it’s Zar’s turn next…

With no inhibitions as his mind was under the Aboleth’s control, Zar ran forward towards the royal box. The guards on the box were at the banisters, readying their shields to defend the Emperor from the clearly possessed arena champion. However, Zar was champion in his own right and cast Misty Step, bypassing the row of guards to appear right beside the Emperor. 

“No!” Zar brought down his Pact Weapon without mercy and cleaved the highest ruler of the Empire clean in two to the horror of the guards.

“Hahahaha! Bow! You shall all kneel before me!” The Empress raised up into the sky in manic laughter and tears, her long plan finally succeeding. “My citizens! You shall now all be spared! I have control of the great Aboleth, and you shall never remember any suffering ever again! Forget this bloody day and hail your legitimate ruler for years to come!”

Commanding the Aboleth, it used its powers to emit a psychic wave across the whole coliseum in a blinding light. So bright that our three heroes all had to close their eyes.

Scene close-out:

• Chaos factor actually up to a 6, even though I know next scene it’s them back at Cavesmuth.
• - party thread: Reunite party

Post-scene Notes

I’d never thought it would end this quickly, for both stages of the fight, but that was how the dice rolled. If they were able to destroy the runes and banish the Aboleth, or instead got the idea of killing the Empress with long ranged attacks first, it would’ve triggered other endings I had. 

1. Both Empress and Aboleth alive+Emperor dead: Empress wins as her plan goes ahead, calming control and brainwashing the whole Empire.
2. Empress dead before Emperor, Aboleth no longer being controlled: it destroys the Empire.
3. Either Empress/Emperor dead, and Aboleth banished: good ending where Rebellion brother Jovian takes the throne.

As both the Empress and Aboleth were very much alive and well, this cave dive comes to an end without the heroes having stopped her plans. But then again, Emperor Nero had been an unfit ruler anyway, so was it all bad? Thanks again for reading.