The Ruby Phoenix Tournament day 1

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess 

The Feast of the Moon

    It seems as if all of New Harbor wakes before dawn. Even as the dull orange sun creeps slowly over the eastern horizon, the fishermen have already crowded into their boats. They move swiftly, like blackened silhouettes dancing against dawn’s watercolor pallet, eerily silent except for the shuffling of ropes and oars, and the caws of their trained cormorants.  Marthysan greets the party when they rise and tells you that time is short and you should get going so you won't be late for the opening exhibition.  You find a steady stream of boats carrying contestants and observers who can afford passage across the bay to the seaside arena, while droves of locals follow the coastal path to the pavilion. The Grand Pavilion and surrounding fairgrounds lie deep within the cove, and feature a massive and elaborate combat arena specifically constructed for the tournament. Scores of colorful tents cram the grounds spreading from the wood almost to the water. A line of spectators stretches from the Grand Pavilion, waiting to enter the arena. Contestants are given priority, and red- and orange-clad monks usher the eclectic collection of warriors and battlemages into the arena to stand before the Emissary.  Loud music blares from the center stage but all quiets down as the Emissary enters. The curtains part, revealing the Emissary flanked by the oni Kiang Zhen and the previous Ruby Phoenix Champion, the half-elf paladin Marthysan the Righteous. Behind the Emissary, like motionless statues, stand no less than a dozen qinggong monks—his mystic disciples and bodyguards. As all watch rapt, the Emissary rises and addresses the crowd. “I am Sifu Xho Nuo—Emissary of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament and guardian of the legacy of Hao Jin, the once immortal sorceress in whose name you are gathered here to battle. To honor the Grandmaster’s legacy, I stand before you to carry out her final will: the thirty-first decennial Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Without further delay, we begin our first round of the contest. May the worthiest  win!” Upon his final words, the crowd erupts into clamorous applause, and the contestants scatter for
their respective seats or positions throughout the pavilion. The party are escorted by a group of silent usher monks and directed to the center of the fight stage to face their first opponents, the most skilled martial artists of the famed Monastery of the Enduring Spirit in Quain!

The Grand Pavilion

   The battle is fierce, but our heroes prevail.  They have passed the first challenge!  Riddick and Hannibal play up to the crowd and seem to get some support.  They certainly could use as many fans as they can get here in the foreign land.  In between the next match the group along with several other teams are invited to show the crowd skill at breaking various items using only their hands, feet and heads.  They don't fare too well, but they do manage to break all of the items.  They are allowed a few hours of rest when they are summoned back to do their daily exhibition match.  The daily exhibition matches are held to entertain the crowd and can be held off site near the pavilion or even in the pavilion if there is room in the schedule.  During the early rounds there won't be many open spots in the pavilion.  The opponents for the exhibition matches are former contestants, those that could not get into the tournament, and even monsters that have been captured in the past year by the church of Abadar!

The group receive word that they have been selected for one such exhibition, to be held in a small fighting ring a short distance from the Grand Pavilion. When they arrive, they find Kiang Zhen waiting for them with a large, closed sack at her feet. As several dozen onlookers watch eagerly from the stands, the oni directs them into the center of the ring before chanting something quietly over the sack and motioning in the PCs’ direction.  At Kiang Zhen’s gesture, a massive headless form marches into the ring carrying two fearsome axes. This undead giant serves the will of whoever possesses its head—the contents of the oni’s sack—and fights the party!  Seriade does a quick religion check and shouts "Its a Shenzuzhou!"  Shrugging, Hannibal and Riddick along with Rusty's Solomon, advance while Azten, Rusty, Landon, and Seriade fling spells from the rear.  After a few intense rounds go by they defeat the monster!  The crowd roars, and departs quickly as a cloud kill spell heads their way thanks to the monster.

A Shenzuzhou

     After the day’s events—32 official matches as well as many exhibition fights and tests of  skill—draw to a close, competitors progressing to the next round are treated to a great feast. Long tables filled with food and wine are set about the pavilion grounds while the crowds are entertained with drumming and dancing. As soon as the sun sets, the Emissary’s monks put on an impressive fireworks display over the cove.  Everyone enjoys the feast, but Riddick chooses to drink water instead of the wine that is offered.  The food and drink are delicious. Riddick and Landon notice Risha Coaltongue and her Zhentarium allies sitting with an intimidating and scar covered hobgoblin, all  drinking from their own wine skins and turning down offers of food or drink from the monks serving the feast.

    In the middle of the night, a very bad stomach virus hits everyone in the party except Riddick.  Several party members spend most of the night on the loo fighting off the effects of what Azten and Landon sense is poisoning, most likely from the wine given that Riddick was the only one not affected.  In the morning the party hears rumors of other participants also suffering the same symptoms as our group.  Someone is tampering with the tournament!

The Ruby Phoenix Tournament day 0

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar30

   

   Our band of adventurers end up in Khalab during the festival of the Ruby Phoenix, which also coincides with the Faerunian holidy of the Feast of the Moon.  They enjoy the parade, and even take part in it.  Rusty summons several exotic creatures which the children love!  They board a boat the the island of Xieland where the tournament is to be held.  On the way over they meet an attractive blond woman by the name if Risha Coaltounge.  She talks up the party with Hannibal seeming interested in where they come from and what weapons they favor.  As the boat pulls into the harbor, Risha says farewell to Hannibal.  As contestants arrive, townsfolk shower them with cherry blossoms and hand out ceramic cups filled with warm, pungent liquor. The crowd forms a reception that
leads to the center of town, where a crowded noodle house, Yon Loi’s, serves as the hub of all activity in New Harbor. The noodle house is a large, open-air structure centered around a courtyard filled with long, shaded tables for commoners. Smaller round tables fill a roofed balcony surrounding the courtyard, from which wealthier patrons and the tournament elite may look over the establishment. The kitchen sits on the ground floor, behind a short partition. The townsfolk help in seating and serving the newly arriving contestants. Each receives a complimentary bowl of salty noodle soup containing fish and vegetables.  Here they meet up with Marthysan the Righteous, the previous tournament champion.  He immediately takes a liking to the group, and they learn his is from the Dalelands back in Faerun.  He offers them a place to say at his suite, it has plenty of room.  While the party is still eating they are challenged by several people to contests of strength and dexterity.  Hannibal and Riddick make for a good show and the townspeople enjoy what they see.  Before the group departs to rest at Marthysan's suite, a fellow competitor, Chung Po, challenges Hannibal to a non-lethal wrestling match.  Hannibal accepts and almost immediately regrets his decision!  He taps out in just 3 rounds, the crowd is amused.  Marthysan explains that getting the crowd on your side is almost a requirement with this tournament.  Having the crowd on your side can inspire you to greatness, if the crowd is against you they can make your combat all the harder. 

   As the previous champion, Marthysan was asked back by the emissary of the tournament to assist in judging contests.  The other assistant is Kiang Zhen, an evil oni, sworn to serve the church of Abadar and the emissary in these games.  The party will be expected to participate in one official contest each day (until they lose and are removed from the games), as well as taking part in exhibition matches on a daily basis.  The exhibition matches are against teams that didn't make the tournament, past tournament teams, or even captured monsters.  They hold these exhibition matches for mainly entertainment purposes.  There will also be several opportunities to enter skill challenges during their time here.  The tournament will last 5 days and feature 64 teams!  Our team gets to bed early in anticipation of a long day tomorrow.

What is the Ruby Phoenix?

  Landon does some quick research while in Khalab...

     The sorceress Hao Jin left an indelible mark upon the land of Kara Tur. Throughout her centuries-long life, Hao Jin—a devout follower of Abadar, god of contracts, wealth, and order—set out to amass her own First Vault, a collection of those items she deemed most perfect or wondrous in all the world. Among the many Abadaran pacts and contracts that dictated Hao Jin’s life was her carefully contracted agreement with the temple of Abadar in Goka regarding the fate of her collection in the event of her eventual death.

    Fearful that her treasures would fall into the wrong hands or simply be lost to history, Hao Jin left strict instructions that were she not to set foot within the temple for 10 years and a day, on the 10 year anniversary of that occasion, an epic competition of martial arts was to be held, overseen
by the city’s Abadaran clergy; the winning team would be allowed to choose a single item as a prize for their victory. Not only would this prevent the collection from immediately being broken up, but it also ensured her life’s work would attain its own legendary immortality through the prestige the contest would bring. During her lifetime, many who knew of her will attempted to end her life prematurely, and many succeeded. But Hao Jin had contingencies in place to such a degree that even her most cunning and careful would be assassins underestimated her ability to return from
the dead. Each time an enemy killed her, she miraculously emerged unscathed days later, her red hair a shade more vibrant than before her death. Her ability to overcome death and the resemblance her hair soon had to an animated, flickering flame earned Hao Jin the nickname Ruby Phoenix, and over the centuries of her life, many believed her to be truly immortal. Yet in 6891 ic (Imperial Calendar; 4391 ar), a recordkeeper at Goka’s Grand Bank of Abadar informed the archbanker that a decade and a day had passed since the Ruby Phoenix last visited the temple. The conditions of her will had been
met. As no one had seen nor heard from the sorceress for several years, she was assumed to have finally met her end, and the preparations were made to conduct the first Ruby Phoenix Tournament 10 years later. That tournament also established the office of the Emissary, an Abadaran official appointed for life to run the proceedings. Each decennial since, the greatest champions from across Kara Tur and Faerun have vied for the victors’ spot, and most contestants have competed honorably and passionately.
    A decade ago, however, the Ruby Phoenix Tournament was the subject of a terrible scandal that resulted in the first disqualification of a contestant in over a century. The shamed competitor was the earth sorceress Wu Dizhen, who was caught callously and repeatedly cheating and had to be ejected from the contest. Among the most egregious of her crimes were employing her identical twin,
Wu Jufeng, as a body double (which allowed her to leave the island for healing and aid), using Wu Jufeng as outside aid during contests, and not sparing foes who forfeited bouts. Wu Dizhen’s crimes were discovered only moments prior to her entry into the final round of the contest, and her disqualification resulted in the automatic victory of her competitor, the paladin of Ilmater, Marthysan the Righteous.

The Ruby Phoenix Tournament

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar 27

    After a few well deserved days of rest our party is summoned to the Harper's guild hall and waiting for them there is Ellanzo!  They have not seen him since mid-Ches, almost 5 10-days ago.  He greets them and thanks them for their efforts.  He also has a very important favor to ask them.  Ellanzo explains to the group about the Famous Ruby Phoenix tournament that is held in far away Kara Tur (the Orient) every 10 years.  It is held on a small island near the city of Khalab on Brightstar Lake.  Khalab is considered to be in Kara Tur, but also shows up on most maps of Faerun on the far eastern edge.  There are several reasons he explains, but he only mentions one right now.  "There are 7 teams from Faerun that have been invited to the games, the 5 major factions and a team from the nations of the Whisper Gnomes and the Terra-Green Elves.  You will represent the Harpers of course, but also we need to you assess the other teams from Faerun as well as the ones from Kara Tur.  Find potential allies in the war against the World Scar.  He hands Hannibal an envelope "Take this and open it once you get to Nethentir in Thay.  Find our contact Grand Master Torch.  He is an independent operator that works for the Harpers on occasion.  He is an expert at "finding things"; he will find fast transportation for you to Khalab.  Traveling with you part of the way (at least until Nethentir) will be the team from the Emerald Enclave led by Willow Stongtree."  The last champion of the tournament 10 years ago is a half elf named Marthysan the Righteous, he is originally from the Dalelands north of Cormyr, seek him out once you get to the games, he could be an ally for us and you.

Our Group's Route

The Five Factions most active in Faerun:

The Harpers - A loose alliance of free peoples across Faerun
The Order of the Gauntlet - Followers of Help, Tyr and Torm
The Emerald Enclave - Rangers, Hunters, Druids and other nature types
The Lord's Alliance - City states from the Sword Coast that have militarized against the World Scar
The Zhentarium - A shadow network of Spies, Assassins, and Rogues.  Zhentil keep leadership

   The party leaves the next day along with the team representing the Emerald Enclave, led by Willow Strongtree.  Willow and Landon hit it off immediately and become fast friends.  They ride across the Sea of Fallen stars on large sea mammals and turtles courtesy of the druids they are with.  The party makes good speed and are dropped off near Emmech.  On the way to Nethentir they are waylaid by 4 Bone Devils and 4 Bearded Devils!  They are hard pressed and Landon pays the ultimate price with his death coming a few rounds into combat.  After the fight Willow offers to cast a reincarnate on Landon out of friendship.  The party debates for a while with Hannibal and Azten out voting Riddick to take Willow up on her offer.  Landon is reincarnated as a Lizardfolk!  The rest of the journey to Nethentir happens without incident.
    After passing though the gates of the city, Willow announces that her group will part ways with our adventurers, good luck on the rest of your trip she shouts with a smile as they head off.  Hannibal opens the letter from Ellanzo.  It states they are to find Grand Master Torch at a brothel and to tell him some code words so he knows they are the ones he was paid to help.  Ellanzo also writes that another reason they are in the tournament is that the winner gets to take one item from a horde of items the Ruby Phoenix collected over her many hundreds of  years life.  One of these items the Harpers believe is a part of a very, very ancient artifact that can help them reverse Lolth's ritual. Hannibal has a drawling of the artifact to help them find it when the time comes.
    It takes a few hours but they find Grand Master Torch in a run down brothel in a seedy part of town.  He tells them he can help but needs them to "borrow" two artifacts from the Museum of Antiquities on display there in a section called "Elberron".  He gives them some cards from a modified Deck of Illusions that will render them invisible for 2 hours.  They sneak in near closing time and head to the Elberron area and duck into the bathroom.  They use the cards and then work on a plan to "borrow" the two items they need.  An unfortunate janitor got in the way of Riddick and was assassinated by him in cold blood.  The party figures out how to steal the items and makes their escape!   They head back to the brothel and Torch.  He takes the items, one he keeps for himself, the other he attaches to a carpet of flying!  They carpet will guide them to Khalab without the need for a map, very nice.
    On the way out of the city they are chased by police riding their own carpets!  A game of cat and mouse ensues with Hannibal using every bit of his ride skill to our maneuver the police and escape over the city walls!  As the group journeys out of Thay and into strange lands they are accosted by a group of Jinn.  Hannibal remembers the Thayian token he exchanged with Odolan back at the tower of Skullshank and the Jinn let them pass without issue.  Several more days go by and the party finally enters Khalab.  They descend and see the city is in the midst of a huge festival, the Festival of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, the very one they will enter and try to win!

Skullshank and the Sinking Spire part 2

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar 23

 

    After taking a short rest our party continues to explore the tower.  They encounter a reading lounge with a hidden door running the length of the wall.  The hidden area is a permanent Magnificent Mansion!  They plan on coming back and making this one of their bases. (If they can keep the tower from sinking into Tar, which may be difficult since none of them are trained in engineering).  Several rooms offer some challenges the hardest so far is a Tar Roper that makes some trouble for our heroes. The room after this is perhaps the most difficult one faced so far.  With the tower on a 15% slope they enter a room that used to be a lab but now all they see is broken glass.  Riddick attempts to move across the room, but is surprised by a Imp in the form of a hyena!  The hyena trips Riddick and Riddick slides under a pile of junk and out of the tower through a hole in the wall!  Joining him two rounds later is Hannibal!  Riddick and Hannibal start to take damage from the extremely hot tar which burns for several rounds after they get out of it.  The rest of the party led by Landon and Azten dispatch the imp as Riddick and Hannibal climb up the tower.  They find a very important jewel in a broken display case, this will aid the Harpers greatly.  Also in the room is a Helm of Brilliance which Hannibal dons proudly.  In the final room they find two injured agents of Thay, Odolan and Virkus, both sent here on the same type of mission as our party.  After some parley in the form of diplomacy from Hannibal, both sides agree to part in peace.  As a symbol of respect and a possible future alliance, Hannibal gives Odolan his Harper's pin and Ololan gives Hannibal his Thayian badge.  The group then makes the long trek back to Saerloon.

Skullshank and the Sinking Spire

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar 23

    Our party has rested and are creating items to aid themselves in the upcoming fight for Faerun.  During this down time they are approached once more by one of the Harper leaders and are asked to investigate the hidden tower of the Wizard Skullshank for any magical artifacts or tomes that might aid the Harpers.  (He happens to have been the brother of Shendankin the Sorcerer).

   What they are told of Skullshank is that he was known to be an expert on summoning evil creatures from the outer planes.  These are the same type of creatures that are streaming out of the World Scar since Lolth's ritual went awry. His hidden tower was rumored to be on the middle of The Vast Swamp, near the border of Sembia and Cormyr, not much more than a few day's ride from Saerloon.

Map of the vicinity the party is at now.

    After several days of investigating the swamp, they come upon a clearing cut from the very forest itself.  The clearing stretches several hundred yards across, dominated by the black twisted spire they have been seeking.  The tower lists to one side, leaning slightly to the east at a 15 degree slant.  Rumors led them to believe that the tower was 5 or 6 stories tall, but only 3 sections can be seen.  They also realize the tower is in the middle of a tar pit 100 years across!  Riddick scouts ahead and spots some type of contraption made of metal on the far side of the clearing so they move to investigate.  They get to the structure but no one has training in engineering so they can't make anything out of this mysterious device.  Before they can set out, they are attacked by two large Deinonychus!  These large reptiles are strong and dangerous, but stupid.  Hannibal and Landon use tactics to their advantage while Azten fires spells and moves away to a safe distance.  After several rounds the beasts are dead and our party works out a plan to get to the tower without going through the tar pit.  They settle on casting fly Hannibal so he can carry over those that can't fly or levitate themselves.  Half the group makes it to the top of the tower while the other half is on its way.  Before they get there a Black Dragon attacks!  He announces that his name is Tarfoot and that he is Skullshank's tower guardian.  The party looks to be in some trouble when the fight breaks out.  Luckily, Azten is there to cast a spell on Tarfoot that reduces his intelligence and other mental skills to that of a mere animal.  The fight is still hard, but not nearly what it could have been.

    The remainder of the party makes it to the tower and they enter from the top.  Riddick is in the lead scouting ahead followed by Hannibal, Landon, Azten, Rusty, and Seriade.  As they go room to room, they encounter an Assassin Vine, a trapped Chaos Beast (which was handled expertly by a wall of fire), and a lab and library filled with strange equipment.  Some decent loot was found along with several maps of magical ley lines (some running through the World Scar), and a few books on devil and demon summoning.  Having explored the top and middle levels, they decide to take a short rest before clearing out the last level.

The Sorcerer Shendankin part 2

     1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar19

   Back in Saerloon, our party rests and tries to figure out where to go next.  Since they are supposed to sound the Horn of Tudines over deep water they decide to head on to the Lone Ait.  They are offered a free ride aboard a deep sea fishing vessel as thanks for helping the city with the ship King Xeros.  After several days they are getting close to the small atoll and at this point the decide to sound the horn.  Something marvelous happens, the largest sea turtle they have ever seen or imagined comes to the surface!  It seems to wait for them to do something.  After a while the party notices there is some kind of odd construction on the top of the turtle and they go and investigate.

Hannibal sounding the Horn of Tudines

   They find a lever at the top of the turtle's shell and use it to open a hatch inside the strange beast!  There are several twisting passages and in one room they run into several dead pirates, perhaps looters that Shendankin caught and imprisoned here?  At the end of the passageway they come across a large jellyfish suspended in mid air with treasure inside it.  Riddick skillfully slices open the "chest" and finds what they are seeking: A key to the prison where the sea princess is being help captive.

Not Riddick getting attacked by the jellyfish.

    Our intrepid band of adventures then heads onto the Lone Ait.  The water surrounding the Lone Ait is oddly still and black. The breakers that lap the islet’s shores are slow, ponderous things that
glisten with an iridescent sheen. A rich, chemical odor, like warm pitch, hangs in the air and they notice several spots of white dotting the black tide. A closer look reveals these to be the dead bodies
of sea birds. With that realization, it becomes clear: the Lone Ait sits in the middle of a great patch of tarry water! A body of primordial asphalt burbles to the surface here to form an eternal oil slick around the islet, trapping birds and discouraging visitors to this barren hunk of rock.  The prison itself stands 40 feet tall and about 200 feet square.  Opening up the door they see that the floor is covered in a mix of sea water and pitch.  Dropping a torch in here could be dangerous!  Riddick leads the party onward followed by Hannibal, Seriade and Landon.  Rusty and Azten decide to stay on the fishing boat to make sure it stays there so they are not stranded.

   As the party progress from room to room they over come several challenges, a cave-in room that is unstable, and the ever present tar that presents a danger.  Each room seems to have odd symbols and they spend some time recording these.  They finally make it to the princess' prison chamber and find her in a water bubble along with two hand maidens.  They free her from the bubble and start to carry them outside.  Something feels wrong... It is!  Its a trap!  The princess and her handmaidens change and they attempt to tear into the helpful adventurer's necks. The party notices a sudden change overtakes their formerly comely features. The princess' face acquires a shark-like aspect. Her eyes turn completely black, her mouth elongates, and rows of razor-sharp teeth replace her smile. Her handmaidens transform into horrific mixtures of a woman and grouper.

    The princess battles the party, she ridicules them for releasing her, telling them the truth about her imprisonment and mocking them for negating all of Shadankin’s efforts to save her. The Imperatrix laughs as she relishes both the PCs’ imminent destruction and the genocide she plans for her former subjects beneath the sea.  What a combat!  They slay the princess and one hand maiden, the other one a spell caster that escapes and is not seen again. 

    While on the return trip, they come across an emissary from the kingdom beneath the sea.  He thanks the PCs for the service they unwittingly rendered to the people of Ru. He reveals the full tale of Queen Cealheewhalool, pausing to produce her crown, now repaired and gleaming, free from the corrosion and filth that discolored it for so long. When the crown returned to Ru, the emissary says the people knew their cursed queen was at peace, free of evil’s taint. Ancient magics tied to the crown led him to the PCs and he’s come to reward them for ending the Imperatrix’s long nightmare.  He gives them each a black pearl with magical properties!  The group finally makes it back to Saerloon for a well earned rest.

The Sorcerer Shendankin part 1

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Uktar16

 

 

   Several days ago, while the party was in Old Rachikan, they picked up an old carving of a sea maiden while looting the cleric of Asmodeus.  That night they all had a dream of a beautiful sea maiden, the one depicted on the carving.  She explained that she was being held prisoner by a power sorcerer named Shendankin. She was being held in a prison called the Lone Ait, and that she is getting weaker and will die if not rescued; she also offers a large sum of pearls and sea gems upon rescue.  Now before the group left to aid Saerloon with the mysterious King Xeros, Landon asked that their lore master looking into the sorcerer and the name Lone Ait.

   A few days after the party returned, the lore master told them several things.  One, the sorcerer Shendankin was known in these parts as a recluse that had a tower some 20 miles up the coast line.  Most people remember him as being quiet, mysterious, and not very friendly.  Two, the Lone Ait is a very small atoll some 3 days out to sea.  It is so small it doesn't even show up on most maps.

   The party decides to investigate the sorcerer's tower, even though that may be the more dangerous option.  Thanks to Hannibal's cadences they make the trip in record time!  They spy the old tower about 50 yards out to sea off the cliff face.  There is a stone ramp connecting the shore and tower, which the group uses to gain entrance.  There is an odd first room with many murals on the walls:

The front hall of the Tower of Shendankin

    The party continues into the tower and have several fights with Sea Morlocks!  The most exciting of the battles takes place in a room where the floor is 40 feet down but to get across to the exit they need to hop to and from on suspended tortoise shells!  They eventually make they way down to the lower level and discover several more murals one depicting a horn inside a very large clam, and what appears to be Shendankin inside some weird suit:

Another mysterious mural

     Later the party discovers some barrels that contain some of these weird suits, and from there down a long passageway is a huge underground sea lake.  In the middle of this lake is the clam from the mural however it is guarded by a 15 foot long hammerhead shark!  Rusty's summons keep the shark at bay for a decent amount of time but it does take some attacks against Riddick.  Landon (wearing one of the suits) is smart enough to hide under the clam while the melee types continue the attack.  At one point the shark takes a good amount of damage and begins to frenzy!  After several touch-and-go rounds our heroes defeat the the monster and retrieve the horn from the clam. They lean it is called the Horn of Tudines, and it has an inscription of: "Sound me over waters deep to raise the treasurers that you seek".  What does this mean?  Surely this tower is not over waters deep...  Is it related to the Lone Ait? Our group ponders this question on the way back to Saerloon to rest and resupply for what appears to be an sea voyage.