The Ruby Phoenix Tournament day 3

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess

Nightal 2

 

 

   The morning of the third day of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament is dismal and rainy. A steady drizzle lasts well into the afternoon, when the rain lets off, though thick gray cloud cover remains. Our heroes are in the stands watching a match when all three towers topple killing one the participants!  The Emissary stops the match and asks several of the teams present to take a look at the remains.  Azten uses his skill in architecture to determine that the stage was rigged to fail during the match.  The Emissary seems very disturbed by this news but is determined to have the games go on.  While the next match is being setup, the PCs are selected for an additional exhibition match because of their increasingly impressive performances thus far in the competition. Kiang Zhen approaches the party and asks them to select one representative to take part in the traditional “boar and tiger” fight, in which two contestants are tethered to wild animals and pitted against one another with the goal of  keeping their respective beasts alive.  To add to the challenge, both competitors are to be shacked to their beasts by a 15 foot chain.  The party chooses Hannibal as their champion, he will face a druid named Nearidei.  The Druid has been part of this challenge for several tournaments.  At the start of the contest, Nearidei uses his air walk to move 15 feet off the ground, and then casts a wall of thorns around his creature.  Not to be out done, Hannibal has an enlarge spell cast on him and with his reach weapon he makes short work of the druid and his animal!  The crowd cheers!  There is definitely something special about this group from Fearun. 

     Immediately after the our group completes the boar and tiger fight, Marthysan approaches them in the downtime between matches. The paladin seems concerned and asks if the PCs have encountered anything strange lately or heard any rumors that may not have reached his ears while he was focused on the tournament and other official business. He confirms the suspicions the PCs may have about sabotage of the three towers, and earnestly accepts any further insights they may have from their own investigations. Hearing himself summoned back to the Emissary’s side, Marthysan quickly cuts the conversation short and asks the PCs to meet the him at 9 p.m. at Yon Loi’s to discuss the situation. 
     During the PCs’ brief conversation with Marthysan, Ruby Phoenix monks carry hundreds of buckets of red-hot coals into the arena and spread them across the floor of the fight stage, noticeably raising the Grand Pavilion’s ambient temperature and filling the air with thin gouts of steam as stray raindrops hit the burning ground and vaporize. The Emissary calls out the Howling Commandos, summoning them to fight in the battle of the embers. They are instructed to remove any footwear and stand ready to fight atop the smoldering coals.  Their opponents - A group of bards calling themselves STYX, get up from their instruments and head into the ring.  During the 3 days of the games, they have made many fans, and have a great of support going into the match.  
      Both parties suffer some heat damage from the hot coals during the match, but ignore it for the most part.  The bards signature move is to cast confusion on the opposing party all the while using their bardic songs to bolster their own group or hinder our heroes.  Rusty is forced to unsummon Solomon as he was under confusion and was about to attack Hannibal.  Both Hannibal and Riddick suffer greatly from the confusion, but on the other side of the coin Seriade, Azten, and Landon for the most part shrug off the confusion and are able to counter the bards battle plan.  Slowly the bards lose control of the battle.  After the deaths of Tommy and James, the leader of the opposition, Dennis, surrenders!  The party advances to the round of 8.
     Later that night the party heads to the noodle house.  Yon Loi’s becomes less festive with each passing night, perhaps because each day sees more contestants eliminated from the contest, or because of the uncharacteristically dismal weather. In any case, the PCs find the noodle house largely vacant when they arrive to meet Marthysan. When 9 p.m. rolls around, the paladin is nowhere to be found, and the door opens to a false alarm as a stumbling-drunk local wanders in for a late meal.  Just moments later, the party is surprised by 3 tattooed assassins jumping down from the 2nd floor!  As the drunk patron looks on, the party engages the enemy.  Landon and Seriade look down to find their spell pouches have been stolen!  After several furious rounds two of the assassins die and the third goes invisible and makes it out the door.  Luckily Riddick is faster and catches him to bring back for some questioning.  At the same time Marthysan shows up outside and Hannibal tries to keep him busy with some questions.  Marthysan explains he was on the other side of the harbor and missed the ferry.  He had to make the trip on foot which is why he is several minutes late.  Inside, Rusty summons some creatures to try and make the assassin talk (and to help devour the dead assassins).  What the party does learn is that the assassins are members of the Golden League, which is a very powerful crime syndicate here in Kara-Tur.  Getting no further information from the assassin, Riddick puts him out his misery.  After questioning Marthysan a bit more (they don't completely trust his reason for being late), they decided to trust him enough to use his suite again to rest over night.

The Ruby Phoenix Tournament day 2

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess

Nightal 1

    Day 2 - dawn comes, and the Emissary’s monks walk from tent to tent with hot tea and bowls of rice porridge sweetened with sticks of sugarcane. New flags fly above the pavilion and the arena is set for the next event. The number of remaining contestants is half the number who began yesterday, but many of those who were eliminated now fill the grandstands, making the crowd seem even more overwhelming. Our party do night fight until later on in the day so they decide to take up the Emissary's test of Archery.  They are given 10 arrows to shoot anyway they would like at 3 targets.  Target 1 is a normal target, target 2 is blurred and target 3 is displaced.  They need to get to 60 points to win the grand prize and decide to shoot solely at target three.  The crowd is excited as the 60 point goal comes down to their remaining arrow.  Riddick shoots, and... Misses due to the displacement!  They crowd groans but then claps for our team as they did a honorable job on the test.

     Exhibition 2: In the early afternoon, our heroes are instructed to go to the bluff known as the Wall of Seven Winds, a 120-foot vertical cliff between New Harbor and the Grand Pavilion where the winds are known to always be particularly strong. As the party approaches, they see the wind whip across the curved, sheer cliff that surrounds the cove, roiling the deep water below into a white-capped froth. Several dozen boats bob on the rough water, their decks crowded with eager spectators focused on the cliff top. The PCs find Marthysan the Righteous standing before a small crowd atop the bluff. Marthysan gives each PC a pair of silk slippers (slippers of spider climbing) and instructs them to put them  on. Their fight is to take place on the side of the Wall of Seven Winds, where they are to face off against Orometsu Yasi, known as the White Warrior, as well as a band of monks to
even the odds. Marthysan explains that if a contestant lands in the water they are automatically disqualified.  There are also two sorcerers on boats below that have been hired to cast feather fall in case a contestant is knocked off the wall.  Orometsu is a stoic woman dressed entirely in white, with polished ivory-toned armor and a helm interwoven with the intricate braids of black hair upon her head; she bows nobly at the PCs before walking over the edge of the cliff, climbing down the wall to a height of 60 feet, and stopping to wait for the PCs to engage her.  A furious fight ensues with the monks trying to trip our party off the wall while our party uses combat manuvers to get in close for some real damage.  The monks suceed early on by tripping Azten who falls for some serious damage at a height of almost 100 feet.  He is surprised when no one casts feather fall on him as he hits the rocks that lie just a few feet under the waves.  Next to go down is one of Orometsu's months courtesy of Seriade's dispel on her slippers!  Orometsu does land some blows but is finally defeated.  Marthysan congratulates the party and then asks the sorcerers why they missed casting feather fall on Azten.  Their reply was they were distracted by a fan of the tournament and missed it when he fell.

    Round 2: immediately after the completion of the PCs’ exhibition round against Orometsu Yasi, the Emissary summons them back to the Grand Pavilion for their official second round match. In the center of the arena stand three towershaped scaffolds constructed of wood and metal. Tangles of rope ladders connect two fighting platforms, one 20 feet above the ground and the other 40 feet above it.  They are allowed one minute to prepare for battle.  They opponent is a beautiful female human oracle named Ganyaveha.

 

Beautiful but deadly

    Ganyaveha rushes around the battle field using her speed from a potion of haste.  She also has a ring of blink which she activates.  The first few rounds finds her getting be best of the party as she sticks Riddick with several shots from her kukri of life stealing critting him and taking off 2 levels!  Landon also gets critted for a negative level.  Eventually targeted dispels from Azten and Seriade as well as solid tactics from Hannibal win the day.  The crowd cheers wildly as our heroes from Faerun live to fight another day.

    As the head back to Yon Loi’s noodle house for some relaxation, they come across a bloodied and bruised local man huddled on the side of the path the door. as the group approaches him, he shies away from them, muttering something about not knowing what he was getting into. Landon and Seriade calm him with a simple assurance that they mean him no harm, at which point he introduces himself as Donguma. He gladly shares his woes with the PCs, detailing his recent run-in with a gang of Golden League enforcers who came to collect a debt from yesterday’s round of competition. When he explained to the thugs that he would have their money once tomorrow’s round was over, they told him he wouldn’t be able to place any more bets and would need to pay them back in blood. After beating him, they took the few pieces of silver he had on him and left him lying in the street. Donguma warns
the PCs not to get involved in betting on the tournament this year, because he and some of his friends think some of the matches have been rigged, and he notes that he is evidence of what a mess a person can get into backing the wrong contestant.  Seriade cast a cure spell on him and most of his bruises go away.  He thanks the party and takes leave of them.

    The noodle house is busting with townsfolk and contestants tonight.  Many tales are spread about strange goings on... word has spread that several contestants have come down with strange maladies from more than just the tainted wine. The PCs overhear reports of several contestants collapsing during their exhibition matches, and even one who lost all muscle control while fighting in the arena on a bed of hot coals. In each case, tournament healers diagnosed the problem as poison, though the specific draughts and methods of delivery seem to vary from case to case. To ward off suspicion and keep business flowing, Yon Loi has hired a local cleric of Qi Zhong, god of healing, magic, and medicine, to inspect all the food in the restaurant before it is served. Finally, PCs learn that an entire team of contestants who were set to compete against the hobgoblin champion Gomwai were found dead this evening along the treacherous, abandoned coast known as the Ridge of Graves. The nagaji warriors, known as the Nagas' Children, were known to utilize debilitating,  ability draining attacks, and were favored to win tomorrow’s bout. Their bodies were identifiable only by magic, as severe acid wounds had distorted their forms beyond recognition. Rumors circulating around the noodle house indicate that the Nagas' Children had boasted of going to take on the dragon Huyanwo, who is believed to lair near the Ridge of Graves. Our heroes take in as much news as they can and decide to make it an early night.  Day 3 awaits tomorrow!