EPISODE 67: The Trial of Champions III - Get to the Final Round! The Froghemoth, the Reaper Knight, and the Fire Mage

Juliar 16-18, 754 YE

SECRETS OF THE WORM CULT

The Rosegate Company has defeated the followers of Kyuss in the hidden shrine, although the mysterious infernal outsider, Saygraam Ruby-Eye, escaped. Early figures the ancient scroll of Bozal's altar is one of the Apostolic Scrolls mentioned by the sage Allustan, so he takes it. The party then smashes the glass tube and extracts the body of Emmalyn, Ekaym's sister. She is technically alive, but has seemingly been reduced to a human vegetable.

The party leaves the shrine and returns to their quarters in the Coenoby. There, Early reviews the journal of Bozal. He learns the following:

• Saygraam the Faceless aka "Ruby-Eye" is an outsider from the Nine Hells. Little is known about him other than he is some kind of baatezu lawyer. His "mask" is actually a powerful artifact called the "Pledge Stone" which is used to make binding contracts with mortals. It is believed that his extensive bandages hide a body that is composed of the fragments of a million shattered magic items... supposedly. Bozal writes that Saygraam is no Kyuss worshiper and seems indifferent to the whole Age of Worms thing, so only speculation offers any explanation on why Saygraam is involved.
• Raknian's lover, Emmalyn, had been exposed to some element of cosmic horror, and her mind had suffered such intense trauma that she died. Standard resurrection magic had been unable to restore her life. Saygraam made a bargain with Raknian using the Pledge Stone -- if Raknian can acquire an Apostolic Scroll and give it to Bozal, the followers of the Worm That Walks will bring Emmalyn back to life.
• Somehow Raknian did get his hands on an Apostolic Scroll, and Bozal brought Emmalyn back to life with special necromancy. However, Emmalyn's mind was still utterly destroyed, even though her body had come back to life. Raknian was furious, thinking he'd been tricked, but the Pledge Stone had bound all parties to the agreement -- it's just "restore life to Emmalyn" apparently did not include repairing her broken mind. So Raknian made another deal on the Pledge Stone with the barrister of the Nine. Raknian would siphon 150,000 gold per month and 30 prisoners per month to the worm cult, so they can fund their operations and create new undead allies.
• Bozal does not discuss the Apostolic Scroll much in his journal. He writes that it evocatively describes the Age of Worms that is to come should Kyuss break free of his prison. It also describes a complex ritual whereby an a powerful servant of Kyuss called an ulgurstata, would be teleported from the Wormcrawl Fissure to a location specified by the possessor of the scroll.

At the big dinner that night, the companions speak with their manager about Ekaym about their discoveries beneath the arena and the recovery of Emmalyn's body (which is stashed in their sleeping quarters). Ekaym looks forward to reporting information about Raknian's allegiance with the Kyuss cult to the Guilders, as that will help them start turning some neutral factions against the Republican government. He is also overcome with joy that his sister was found alive, but is worried of the difficulty in doing so if Raknian had needed the Kyuss cult's help. So grateful is the bard that he says he will ensure they can keep the full 100,000 gold prize if they win the tournament (instead of splitting it 75/25).

Ekaym gives them some intelligence on the froghemoth, dubbed "Madtooth the Hungry". It is an especially huge, nasty aberration that gets rendered sluggish down by electricity. However, Ekaym's contacts report that management has given the monster an item that will absorb electric energy damage to compensate for that weakness.

IT'S LIKE A FROG MIXED WITH A BEHEMOTH. THEREFORE = FROGHEMOTH.

The next day, after lunch, the Rosegate Company enters the arena. The crowd is going crazy, because they love the giant monster round almost as much as the tournament's grand finale. "MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH! MADTOOTH!" they chant. When Madtooth is finally announced, the crowd gets even CRAZIER.

BUT. Several minutes go by and there is no sign of the monster being brought up to the arena. They see a figure with a glowing red eye balancing at the top of the tallest flagpole, overlooking the arena. Saygraam is observing! They can see Raknian watching from the executive booth with a smirk. The crowd starts getting pissed off, and it seems almost like a riot will result if there isn't a monster battle in the next few minutes!

Finally, after about 10 minutes, a giant box wrapped like a birthday present is hauled by guards and monster caretakers into the arena. They pull on big ropes and the sides of the giant box fall away, unleashing an explosion of confetti and exposing... a ridiculously tiny froghemoth! It lets out a squeak and one of the arena wizards dispels the "shrink froghemoth" spell -- suddenly Madtooth's size expands dramatically until it is a 30-foot long monstrosity worthy of its name. The three big yellow eyes at the end of a protruding fleshy stalk blink frantically in the sunlight.

It is clear that the delay was probably engineered by Raknian to cause their short-duration power-ups to wear off. Sneaky! Only a few effects are lost, with others having longer durations or able to be re-applied.

The gong signals that start of the battle. The froghemoth roars and begin to hop towards the group at the other end of the arena, but it is primarily an aquatic creature so it is pretty slow. Dziga steps into a shadow and disappears, rushing towards the monster head on, while Early and Vatex begin moving to either side and hit the monster from all sides.

Emeris hangs back, conjuring up shadowy duplicates of the monster that materialize briefly, lash at the mental power of the monster, and fade away. Yet the huge brute monster is surprisingly resilient mentally and even several of these mysteries fails to bring down the best.

Dziga's shadow companion swipes at the froghemoth and drains some strength as the rogue-shadowdancer appears from shadows and sneak attacks the beast as it runs past him, veering sharply to the north end towards Vatex. One of froghemoth's tentacles snaps out, crossing the distance in a split second, its force blasting Vatex to the ground in a cloud of sand. The tentacle quickly curls around his torso and brings the struggling elf towards its gargantuan maw.

Vatex struggles to break free but the grip of the trunk-like tentacle is unimaginably great. His Aura of Law seems to keep his ribs from breaking, but there is nothing he can do as the froghemoth gobbles him up in a single bite. His companions the elf's scream fade as he is swallowed...

Emeris invisibly maneuvers into melee, avoiding the flailing tentacles, and thrusts the Shadowgeist Reaver into the monster. Before it retaliates, Dziga appears appears from shadows and leaps onto its back side. His stabbing frenzy devastates the froghemoth, with Gozu Vrow thrusting deep wounds that sizzle with acid, and Asura's deadly effect disrupting the flesh around the stabs. Blood fountains erupt from the creature and Dziga leaps back. Early dual wields Sheol the gunsword with the Tri-Elemental Magnum and uses his Dancing Mongoose maneuver to unleash hell upon the monster. Massive bloody holes erupt across the monster's flank as Early riddles it with a hail of bullets. There is literally a shower of blood in the arena, but the froghemoth is unrelenting, pivoting its massive bulk to start eating more of these tasty high-level snacks. Then it starts to spasm in agony...

...Inside the belly of the froghemoth, stomach acid spews from slimy walls of flesh and muscular contractions threaten to crush Vatex. He can feel the monster violently reacting to the incredible damage being inflicted by his companions. He has but one arm free, and he begins hacking at the stomach wall. Blood and acid splashes his face and he keeps hacking until he opens the abdominal wall and spills out of the open froghemoth along with a river of gore. The monster stumbles back and collapses dead, rivers of blood flowing through the sandy topography of the arena.

The crowd goes wild, and virtually everyone starts chanting, "Rosegate! Rosegate!" Saygraam teleports away. Raknian looks pissed.

PITCHBLADE

After the battle, they learn that tomorrow they will be fighting a team called "Pitchblade". They are three dwarven barbarians, DRUSFAN, DURK, and PHARBOL, with huge swords, ebony skin and crazy tattoos, from the far off land of Urak. But Ekaym reports something strange -- acting on a hunch, he'd checked out the registration files and he says he believes Pitchblade's documents were forged to add two NEW members after their original sponsorship.

It turns out that the two new members of Pitchblade are Republican agents. One of them is called RUBIA, the "Reaper Knight". She is mysterious, and the story is that that she was a "Chosen of Samhain", and her mission is to help accelerate the passage of souls to the Realm of the Dead. She wields a ridiculously big sword called "Death Penalty".

The other guy is HOBBES, known as the "Fire Mage" because he was born with the crazy ability to control fire at will. He had developed this ability such that he now surpassed any average evoker wizard.

Obviously this was Raknian's team. In addition to tampering with the froghemoth fight, he was now setting them up to fight with his inside agents.

So the next day, the Rosegate Company enters the arena for the next round. Pitchblade stands across the arena from them, looking cocky and geared up to fight. Rubia and Hobbes sparkle with various magic effects, and the dwarves all have strong barkskin and extra strength added.

Once again, Saygraam watches from the top of the highest flagpole, and Raknian watches with a sneer from the executive booth.

The gong! Hobbes meets the gaze of Vatex, smiles, and snaps his finger. "Vulcan Shock Ignition!" Vatex erupts in flames! He starts rolling around on the ground to try to put it out. Durk erupts into a rage and uses his flying potion to get to the middle of the arena, where he is met by Early, Dziga, and the shadow companion. They start hacking at each other.

Emeris uses his inherent shade power to teleport to a shadow in close range of the other enemies. He channels power from his ring and blasts the two dwarves, Rubia, and Hobbes with a Maximized Killing Shadows. Emeris curses when he sees everyone survived the attack, and Drusfan and Pharbol burst into rage mode and charge him with a leaping totem pounce attack! One of the dwarves gets lucky, breaking through the steel shadows and cutting his chest. Rubia aim at Emeris as he fights with the barbarians and calls, "Soulclasp Web!" With a wave of her arm, a black tangle of energy fires at the shade. He dodges too late, but fortunately its touch only glaces his shoulder. Nonetheless, it reduces his agility a bit. Hobbes attempts to hit Emeris with a Vulcan Shock Ignition but his natural spell resistance as a shade is too hard to penetrate, even for the powerful fire mage!

Vatex rushes up the side of the arena, putting a Hunter's Mercy spell on his rifle with the magic of the Grim One. He passes the combat in the center of the arena, where Early, Dziga, and the shadow companion are completely overwhelming Durk the barbarian. Early Rabid Bear Strikes hack rip his flesh, the shadow drains his strength, and Dziga's stabs him in the face five or six times and he dies.

Emeris fights off the two barbarians while Hobbes blasts him with beams of white-hot flame. Emeris, fortunately, is too quick, but he will not be able to hold off against these three attackers for too long. He unleashes another Killing Shadows attack that reduces Drusfan to a bloody mess in the sand and leaves Pharbol quite weak. But Hobbes keeps shooting fire blasts...

Early charges Rubia and Cryssaegrym clashes against Death Penalty with a shower of sparks. They exchange blows but then Rubia uses her Doom Strike attack. The apparition of a grim reaper with a scythe appears behind her as she attacks, mirroring the motion of her own attack. This dark power might have put Early down. But the warblade's senses expand through the Vajra and his Wall of Blades technique deflects the attack.

Vatex keeps moving towards the melee and sets his rifle sights on Hobbes. The Hunter's Mercy shot nearly blows the fire mage's arm clean off. The next two shots explode his head like a melon.

Early slashes Sheol across the face of Rubia. The warblade is a better warrior than her, and worse yet Dziga and the elf were closing in as well. She swings her sword, hitting Early and activating her Chronos Typhoon attack. A cone of distorted space-time blasts Early and Dziga. The rogue resists the unusual attack, but Early is overcome. He suddenly ages 50 years. He sees his wrinkly face in the mirror-like reflection on Sheol's blade. His body suddenly aches terribly, and clutching his weapons produces stabbing arthritic pain.

The ferocity of Early's attacks fade a bit as Dziga sneak attacks her. Unfortunately for him, her Reaper Plate seems to be especially resistant to his attempts to target vital organs and she fends him off. Shadow guy saps her strength away.

Emeris conjures up the Shadowgeist Reaver and starts methodically sucking out Pharbol's lifeforce. The brutal experience is so agonizing that Pharbol can do basically nothing to fight back as the spectral weapon passes through his flesh, ultimately breaking his soul down into pure shadowstuff and absorbing it into the shadowcaster.

Vatex throws down the rifle and goes into a dervish dance maneuver, spinning around Rubia's flank and landing two decisive blows in his back, killing her for good... but when her body hits the ground, a minor death emerges! The undead monster starts swinging its life-stealing scythe. Early, although he is basically geriatric now, is still connected to the Vajra, and still pissed off. Cryssaegrym surges with extra power when facing the undead foe. Early completes a Rabid Bear Strike maneuver, and the minor death explodes in a single powerful hit.

Once again, the crowd is in awe, not only of the the Rosegate Company's impressive level of power, but their brutal efficiency as well. "Rosegate! Rosegate! Rosegate!"

TO THE FINAL ROUND

Early gets his youth restored with some costly healing magic.

Tomorrow the Rosegate Company will be fighting Auric's Warband, last year's champions. Auric is some kind of tactical fighter, Tirra is a bomb throwing rogue / master thief, and Khelben is a generalist wizard. They are fighting with their construct minions, the "Stoneworks" -- three stone golems.

The companions openly ridicule Auric and his team in front of as many people as possible. Auric is pissed and vows to embarrass them in the battle tomorrow.

During the night's festivities, it seems more and more people are starting to dig the Rosegate Company, or at least give them begrudging admiration. Some dancer named RENAYLA gets a somewhat drunk, celebrating Early into the sack that night and then tries to convince him that they should get married. It seems she has this dream of running off with a mighty adventurer and living happily ever after. Early lies and says "yeah sure after the tournament..."

The next morning, after Golem Lacrosse and Illusion Fights, the Rosegate Company begins walking up to the arena grounds for the final round of the Trial of Champions...

NEXT TIME: The Final Round! Is Auric's team actually any good? Will Raknian allow the Rosegate Company to win the tournament? Will Saygraam seek revenge?

EPISODE 66: The Trial of Champions II - The Hidden Shrine of the Kyuss

Juliar 16, 754 YE

EKAYM’S SECRET

Since the Rosegate Company is fighting in the MONSTER MASH round tomorrow, they will not be fighting in the tournament at all today. They learn that some people are disappointed that Auric’s Warband will not be fighting in the big monster round, as it is customary for last tournament’s champions to do so. Could there be some behind-the-scene shenanigans (like Raknian influencing last minute rules changes, trying to get the Rosegate Company eliminated)?

At lunch time, their manager Ekaym visits them. He confesses that he has his own motives for working with Dorzan and the other guilders against Raknian. It is not because he is particularly opposed to Republican politics, but rather he holds a special enmity towards Raknian. He says that his sister EMMALYN was a dancer who worked with one of the dancing companies at the previous Trial of Champions. It seems that she fell completely in love with Raknian and expected to marry him... but she disappeared and was never heard from again. Ekaym lacks evidence, but he is sure that Raknian – known as a hardcore womanizer -- must have murdered her despite Emmalyn’s assurances that their love was real and mutual.

Ekaym requests that since they are supposed to dig up sketchy details about Raknian ANYWAY, it would be great if they could see if they can find out any word about Emmalyn as well. He suspects she is dead, but he wants to know for sure. Divination spells have been no help to him.

At the same time, they instruct Ekaym to find out as much as possible about the froghemoth in tomorrow’s monster fight, so they can learn its weaknesses and get an edge.

The companions start investigating. Vatex and Early ask around for dancers who knew Emmalyn four years ago, and find a big fat exotic dancer from Shapeir named BURGA. She is nasty, and she thinks Early is a total hunk. She remembers Emmalyn and says that she was in love with some old war veteran or something... that’s Raknian! The name rings a bell, and Burga says, “Oh yeah, that guy!” She says he is also a hunk who killed some ghouls or something and now rules the city of Elan, and as far as she knows their relationship was “true love.” Burga tries to seduce Early, who repels her advances by making up a story about his dink being cut off during the Zeltennian War.

Meanwhile, Emeris and Dziga use Extreme Stealth and Shade Invisibility powers to infiltrate past the soldier barracks and into the arena understructure, where they are not supposed to be! If they are discovered, their team will probably get disqualified from the tournament so they must be careful. They go undetected, but the only thing of interest that they find is the top of a huge weird weird... dome or something, made of opaque black, rubbery material, directly under the center of the arena. They assume it must be the “container” used to hold the froghemoth.

Vatex and Early ask around about Raknian and the ghouls. After speaking with a couple of soldiers, they learn that when it came time to clear out the understructure and Coenoby for this year’s tournament, a horde of ghouls was discovered that had emerged from a big cave under the arena called “the Giant’s House”. Supposedly Raknian heroically fought off all the ghouls single-handedly and drove them back into their hole. Soldiers then blocked the cave from which they’d emerged with a giant stone plug. Apparently this whole incident has spawned some rumors among Raknian-haters, such as, “Raknian’s friends are ghouls,” “Raknian used ghouls to help take over Dalengard,” “Raknian has friends in undead cults, who specialize in ghouls,” and “Raknian IS a ghoul.” And stuff like that. Other people just think it’s awesome that he killed like 100 ghouls.

Early and Vatex bribe their way through some crooked guards in the understructure and meet up with Emeris and Dziga. It seems there might be “more than meets the eye” with this whole ghoul story, so they decide to head down to the caverns underneath the arena and find the Giant’s House.

Adjacent to the understructure, one level down, there is a little underground village kinda-thing where some arena and Dalengard staff live. Heading past this down a long tunnel brings the companions to the Giant’s House – whatever structures were once here have been destroyed by a cave-in quite some time ago.

GHOUL CREW

They look around and find the stone plug. It’s too heavy and big to move it, so Vatex pulverizes it to bits with MJOLNIR!, the hammer of the so-called “Hammer God” that he’s been lugging around. If the ghouls get out, oh well.

Beyond is a cave that smells like death and decay. Nine ghouls attack! The Rosegate Company slaughters them in seconds. There are a few connecting passages – Dziga sends his shadow companion down a small, downward sloping passage. The shadow reports that there must be a couple hundred ghouls milling about in the cave at the bottom. The companions really don’t care much about the ghouls, so they explore the passage to the west.

They travel down a narrow, winding cavern that follows an underground stream. After an hour or so, they find that the stream empties in a foul-smelling grotto of slimy, shallow water, in which chunks of garbage floats about. Looking around, they find that there is a hole in the cave’s ceiling, from which garbage and waste seems to get dumped. It’s hard to judge their position relative to the city above... Dziga sends his shadow companion up into the hole to scout.

The shadow goes down the hallway and into a room with three wooden coffins. The incorporeal undead peeks its head into the coffins and sees they contain disgustingly foul rotten corpses ridden with numerous plump, green worms. Down the hallway, the shadow sees a ruby-red light shining through the darkness... which then seems to retreat down a passage to the north. The shadow investigates, and finds a room with an old, broken-down machine inside. Its nature is unclear, but there is no sign of the moving red light.

But then the shadow hears wood being smashed – the worm-ridden corpses are waking up! The shadow retreats back down the corridors, then down the garbage hole into the grotto. Dziga relays the information produces by this scouting mission.

SPAWN OF KYUSS

“Green worms? Undead???” Early ponders this for a moment, his mind drifting back to the fragments of his father’s journal... He’d read about how Jakter had fought a cult called the Black Triad, who was somehow aligned with agents of Kyuss, and was creating worm-ridden undead monsters. There must be a connection! The warblade wants to get a worm specimen for himself.

Early tells the others to wait for him, and uses a grappling hook to climb up the shit hole into the complex above. He encounters the undead and confirms that they are indeed the “spawn of Kyuss” mentioned in Jakter’s journal – well-rotted zombies with green worms writhing in and out of their skull orifices. Cryssaegrym pulses with rage and Early attacks. He executes a Wolf Blitz / Raging Mongoose attack with Cryssaegrym and Sheol and hacks the first two into bloody-wormy chunks. The third spits wiggling worms at him from the other side of the room. As a worm lands on his left arm and begins burrowing into his flesh, he cuts down the last Kyuss spawn.


When he turns his attention to the Kyuss worm, he realizes it has already chewed through his flesh and is burrowing through his arm! It’s heading towards his brain, and if it gets there and devours his brain, Early too will become a spawn of Kyuss – the ultimate irony. He tries to cut the worm out but he cannot get it – so he resorts to a desperate measure...

He pulls off his left armor pauldron, grabs Sheol in his right hand, and HACKS OFF HIS OWN LEFT ARM!!

He drinks a healing potion to stop the bleeding. When the worm emerges from the bloody stump of his dismembered limb, he grabs it and jams it into the empty potion vial.

The others are a little surprised when they see Early return with his severed arm. They’ll need strong clerical magic to reattach the limb, so they will have to head back to town... but first Dziga wants to check out the old machine his shadow had come across. Who knows, might be interesting.

Dziga climbs up the garbage hole with the one-armed Early tagging along to see if his engineering knowledge will be helpful. As they head to the machine, the shadow companion scouts ahead to the east. It finds what seems to be an old training room of some kind, but instead of training people, it contains six undead monsters – 3 morhgs, and 3 more Kyuss spawn. They see the shadow fly around the room and begin to chase it back towards the other companions...

The machine is clearly not operational, and Early doesn’t know what the heck it’s supposed to do. Dziga finds he can actually open up a panel and climb inside. He tries to squeeze into a 2-foot wide pipe that goes up from the interior of the machine into the wall, and finds that the tight passage is blocked by... the same opaque, rubbery material that composed the dome-like thing in the arena understructure. Is this just another part of one huge object? If so, the froghemoth must be enormous!

The shadow returns, warning of approaching undead. Dziga vanishes into shadow and Early some of the big machine pipes as three spawn and a morhg enter the chamber.

Vatex, having put a telepathic link on Dziga earlier, is informed of the undead assault and he begins climbing up the rope to the shit hole above. Emeris teleports to the top, gathering shadow power around his hands as two more morhgs scamper down the hallway towards him. There are gaunt, skeletal creatures, and where their viscera would be, there are instead thick green worms with toothy maws.

The morhg charges and its guts-worms lash out at Emeris – upon their touch, he can feel his nervous system begin to shutdown, but he resists the effect with his shadowy nature. He blasts with umbral energy and Vatex hoists himself up the room through the garbage hole, and tumbles past the shade to flank the morhg. His swords snap free of their scabbards and a blistering array of attacks brings down the nasty undead as the third mohrg charges down the hall.

In the machine room, the undead spot Early’s boot poking out from his hiding spot, and his position is revealed. Before the undead attack, Dziga appears from the shadows and sneak attacks them! His assault destroys one spawn, but before he can finish the other, the mohrg’s paralyzing worm strike leaves him helpless. Early attacks, swinging Cryssaegrym with his one arm, hacking to bits the last two spawn of Kyuss and rushing to Dziga’s aid. The helpless rogue can do nothing as the morhg’s raises a clawed hand and attempts to deliver a coup-de-grace! Dziga survives, barely, with blood exploding from his neck. Early hacks apart the morhg then feeds his friend a potion that cures paralysis.

Vatex and Emeris make short work of the final mohrg, hacking it with Wind Duke swords and blasting it with umbral rays. It seems they have achieved victory... until they see a single red light appear in the darkness of the corridor to the east.

RUBY-EYE

There stands some kind of infernal outsider, known as SAYGRAAM THE FACELESS aka RUBY-EYE. His true nature is a mystery even to hardcore scholars of the lower planes. “You should not have come here,” he says in a deep voice. He is a tall humanoid with long, lanky arms, dressed in a heavy brown cloak. His hands and legs are wrapped thickly in bandages, almost like a mummy. Beneath the cowl of his cloak, they see a plain mask of stone bone-colored stone. Ruby-red light shines from the left eye-slit.


Emeris fires a ray of umbral energy at the outsider but Saygraam raises a hand and blocks it with his spell resistance. Vatex fires his rifle, empowered with lawful magic, and hits the outsider with a sound like grinding metal and breaking glass. Saygraam’s red eye flashes and a volley of red energy bolts slam into Vatex, knocking him back a few steps. Emeris conjures up the Shadowgeist Reaver from his right hand and rushes Saygraam. The incorporeal blade passes right through Saygraam and draws some of his strength into Emeris, proving Ruby-Eye is alive and not a mummy.

Weakened ever so slightly, Saygraam backs up, calling his next attack, “Sodom Sword Maelstrom.”

A circle of gleaming force blades rise from the floor around Emeris, flashing and slashing at him in a dizzying flurry. Emeris dodges most of the attack, but takes a few hits. He is ready to taunt Saygraam with something like, “Is that all you’ve got?” when another circle of force blades appears and slashes around him.... then another! Emeris avoids serious injury, but is covered in a hundred minor slashing wounds. He hears Dziga and Early coming down the hallway to his aid, and Vatex closing in from behind.

Emeris wipes blood from his eyes and gathers shadowy power within until he feels like his body will explode. He metamagics his Killing Shadows with Maximize and Empower and unleashes a cone of destruction upon Saygraam. Deep grooves are blasted into the walls and floor and the hallway fills with choking clouds of dust and debris. He squints into the dust and smoke, trying to see the outcome of his attack... did that do it?

He receives an answer when the red-light of Saygraam's glowing eye becomes visible as the cloud of dust thins a bit. Emeris teleports away to the garbage hole room as Saygraam's next attack would be expected to kill him.

Crazy techno fighting music starts to play and everyone gets totally pumped. Vatex closes in. The graceful, speedy elf lunges towards the strange infernal outsider -- he leads with a slash from the Sword of Aqaa, but Saygraam is not chaotic so it doesn't do extra damage. So Vatex triggers his skirmish vest and swings the Storm Sword which connects with a blast of electricity -- then the elf triggers the twin swords' windstorm effect which hits Ruby-Eye with electricity and sonic damage. Each slash yields a burst of choking dust from Saygraam's wounds. The masked outsider smashes him in the face with a bandaged fist that strikes like a sledgehammer.

Dziga and Early rush down the hall. The Impossibility Cube begins bouncing around in Dziga's pack and empowers Dziga with the power of the VOID. There is hardly any room to fight in the narrow hallway. Dziga pulls out Asura and flips and dives over Vatex and past Saygraam. Saygraam's right arm extends suddenly as he does, knocking the wind out of him... but the rogue acrobatically recovers and rolls under the next attack to flank! Saygraam is baffled by the rogue's agility and caught flat-footed! Dziga drives Asura into Saygraam's back and the enigmatic outsider howls in pain -- at the moment of impact, Dziga activates the chaos cube -- "PSYCHIC DISSOLUTION STRIKE!" Chaotic energy swirls through the piercing dagger and into the infernal outsider, assaulting is mind. Saygraam pushes back Vatex then pivots to face Dziga. The ruby-eyed gaze settled on him... "Ruby Eye Ray!"

A flash of red signals the firing of four scorching red rays that arc towards the rogue at point blank range. Dziga's body is blasted by the impact and he crumples to the floor unconscious... Vatex and Early prepare to dish out some revenge but Ruby-Eye uses his quickened spell-like ability to teleports out of there.

The group quickly tends to Dziga's wounds and gets everyone back in top shape. Saygraam is badly wounded -- they must pursue and finish him quickly!

BATTLE AT THE ALTAR OF BOZAL ZAHOL

Past the former training room and through the north door, they again face Saygraam the Faceless. Even though they saw him only a few minutes ago, he has fully healed already.

Dziga materializes from shadows and fires an arrow from Roguefriend. Emeris blasts another umbral ray. Saygraam laughs and shrugs off these attacks, and unleashes another Ruby Eye Ray attack that hits everyone in the group, then he teleports away again. Curse him!

Ahead are a set of double-doors and the group barges through them into an altar room. There, Saygraam stands in the far corner with arm crossed over his chest. In the middle of the room is a tiefling priest named BOZAL ZAHOL. This fiendish looking dude is quite hideous, but most interestingly he bears a very distinctive symbol on his chest. The symbol depicts a laughing skull erupting with worms.

The sign of Kyuss, the Worm that Walks!

On the altar, there is a big old scroll rolled out. An aura of green energy surrounds the scroll, which generates a writhing beam of green energy that strikes the western double doors.

On the opposite side from Saygraam, there is a big glass-tube filled with swirling gas and sparkly pinpricks of energy. Suspended inside is a floating woman -- seemingly alive, but with a blank look in her eyes. Her appearance seems to match the physical description of Ekaym's sister, Emmalyn.

The priest is not happy to see them. “Raknian has betrayed us, Saygraam!”

“That is impossible,” replies the infernal outsider matter-of-factly.

“But he is one of the only people who know we are here! He MUST have sent them!”

“The contract made with the human called 'Loris Raknian' was sealed with the Pledge Stone. He cannot be responsible for attack.”

“Oh that’s right. Then who the hell are these guys?” Bozal seemingly expects Saygraam to know the answer.

The infernal outsider says nothing in response. Nothing in the outsider's voice or body language suggests the least worry though.

Early breaks up the dialogue, stepping forth and holding up Cryssaegrym in his one arm. “Does this look familiar, wormfags?”

Bozal’s eyes widen with shock. “NO! It’s the Sword With the Wolf-Shaped Hilt – the Silver Blade... Cryssaegrym!”

Saygraam's body goes visibly stiff and the gravity of the encounter finally resonates with him. This... crazy one-armed guy is the wielder of the Silver Wolf's katana? And these are his crazy friends? Crazy techno music starts playing again and everyone gets totally pumped.

Dziga's haste boots flare with energy and he slips into shadow and rushes the cleric. Before he can get close Dziga slams into an invisible wall of force protecting the cleric. Emeris can see Bozal getting ready to cast deadly magic, but the rushes into the room, taking control of Bozal's own shadow. The shadow of the cleric animates and bends to embrace the physical body of the tiefling. Its clasp holds him fast -- totally helpless but still protected in his force field.

Back in the corner, Saygraam speaks: "Gomorrah Vile Burst."

Wicked black energy erupts from the ground between Vatex and Early, blasting them. Vatex advances along the east wall, casting a spell to give him the perfect shot of his rifle. Early moves out of the blast also and attempts to Swooping Dragon Strike the cleric -- but he finds that he too is blocked by the force field. Dziga curses and sends the shadow upon the force field -- will incorporeal undead be blocked? The answer is no -- the shadow starts draining away the paralyzed cleric's strength while Bozal struggles to shake off his own shadow with his willpower. The effect is an anti-life shell -- which tells Dziga that he can SHOOT ARROWS even if he cannot stab him face to face.

Bozal's sudden burst of will returns his shadow to its normal position, and he starts to fall back towards Saygraam. The hasted Dziga uses all his strength to stay within the shadows while he fires a volley of arrows at Bozal from 15-feet away. From that ineffable space between light and shadow, Dziga's precision is flawless. Two shots take off Bozal's left arm and right leg, and a third and fourth nail him in the forehead before the torso hits the ground.

Emeris turns to Saygraam and tries to drain his willpower with shadow magic, but is blocked by spell resistance. Vatex fires several rounds from his rifle at Saygraam but the Saygraam blasts the entire team with his next attack, "Gethsemane Dark Wave."

Black energy engulfs them, and Early and Vatex get stunned by the evil supernatural attack because they are not evil themselves. Dziga and Emeris stand this effect, being evil and all, and continue their assault. Dziga tries to fill Saygraam with arrows, but the outsider's vision is just too good and he defies being sneak attacked. Emeris attacks with another supernatural killing shadows attack, which batters Saygraam but the oustsider strikes back, trying to stop Emeris with his paralyzing slams.

Vatex and Early recover. They fire Tri-Elemental Magnum and rifle rounds. Although the attacks do not bring down the tough opponent, he is clearly hard pressed, and seems to realize it.

"No matter, you cannot stop stop the ritual," Saygraam Ruby-Eye says. "And you have not faced the last of my allies... There is still the Visage of Kyuss" And with another blast of red energy bolts, he teleports away.

THE VISAGE OF KYUSS

They waste no time heading into the western door where the scroll energy is flowing. Beyond they find a chamber that is blocked off by... the strange opaque barrier. If Saygraam went that way, they can't follow, so they check out the north door. This takes them thrugh Bozol's room and into a small room with another chamber that is partly curtained off.

The Rosegate Company doesn't like curtains.

But before they can do much about it, a big ooze-like demon called an alkilith, the so-called "Visage of Kyuss", blasts Early with a cone of cold from behind the curtain.



Everyone takes action. Dziga fires arrows at the ooze while activating his Death Strike Bracers. The alkilith roars in pain and immediately summons a hezrou demon for back-up. The big toad-like demon grapples Early while the one-armed warblade tries to attack him. Vatex rushes the demon-ooze with blades spinning, sonic and electric and lawful energy flaring around him. Acidic blood sprays all over the room. Emeris teleports to flank to the other side of the ooze and slashes with the Reaver. The alkilith is dazed and drained of energy and strength. Dziga's shadow companion attacks the ooze and drains it of even more strength.

Early cannot break free. The unbelievable stench of the the hezrou causes him to start choking on his own puke while he gets squeezed to death. Dziga fires arrows at the hezrou but can't hit a weak spot. The hezrou throws the puking Early to the ground and tries to snap off the rogue's head with his bite. Dziga backpedals and draws the shadows around him, firing more arrows. The hezrou goes down and Dziga fires his last shot at the alkilith.

Saygraam teleports into the battle. He hits Dziga with a blast of energy bolts and then unleashes another Ruby Eye Ray attack at Emeris and Vatex, hoping to take some pressure off of the ooze-demon.

Emeris keeps plunging the Shadowgeist Reaver into the alkilith, stunlocking it and draining its power while Vatex enters his Xerani Dervish Dance. The elf spins and weaves in pursuit of Saygraam, who dashes down the hall. The outsider does a hard karate chop into Vatex's side as he closes in, but the elf is not slowed. He becomes a veritable tempest of slashing fury, the corridor being filled with fierce winds and lightning blasts. Crunchy bits particles burst from the wounds instead of blood. Fetid dust billows from the cuts, choking Vatex but he maintains the ferocity of his dancing attack. Saygraam has met his match and falls back towards the door, trying to teleport to safety and retreat for good -- Vatex tries to take his head off with a final desperate attack, but it is not enough. Saygraam activates his teleport and escapes, cursing them and averring that though he is defeated, they have accomplished nothing.

The party then proceeds to gang-beat the ooze-demon, yielding a shower of slimy chunks and acid blood. Emeris finishes it off with the Shadowgeist Reaver -- the fatal strike causes the demon's soul to be absorbed into the spectral blade. VICTORY!!!!

TIME TO LOOT

They don't find a lot of valuable treasure in hidden shrine, but they do recover a few interesting things in Bozal's chamber -- a journal apparently penned by the tiefling cleric and three stoppered bottles containing green worms in stasis.

Before they leave, they need to consider the scroll of Bozal's altar. Will they take it? Can they touch it without having something terrible happen? Is it connected to the ritual mentioned by Saygraam Ruby-Eye? Then there is the question of the woman who might be Emmalyn -- how can they get her out? How does she fit into this connection between Raknian and the worshippers of Kyuss? And will they get back to the arena in time for the monster mash round without getting disqualified? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!

EPISODE 65: The Trial of Champions I - Battle Royale

Maya 8 - Juliar 15, 754 YE

REPUBLICAN SUMMER

During the first month of the new Republican government of Elan, political a lot of dissidents, Guilders, and reporters are arrested for being overtly unfriendly to the new regime. Otherwise, most people who dislike the current political climate "go along to get along." Most pro-Empire people keep a low profile, holding on to the hope that either a) Tairon will send an army to take back the city, or b) the Holy Emperor himself will appear to smite Raknian and his friends.

Aoska, the celestial member of the City Council, is permitted to resign while the other council members must swear allegiance to the new government or be executed for treason. Raknian doesn't want to mess with certain factions in the city and only targets his most provocative and brazen challengers.

The new Constitution of Elan basically takes all citizen rights away ("You have universal eternal rights, unless the government finds it more convenient to deny them"), actually making it worse than the Holy Empire's Vast Codex which despite its flaws accepted that citizens had private property rights. New taxes are implemented, including a 50% tax on adventurers and a 50% tax on Guilders' profits and capital gains.

Organizations such as the Shuul and the Holy Order of Vigoor are put on "terrorist watch lists" and their public activities greatly limited.

Despite promises to "immediately" correct high prices, there really isn't much Raknian's government can do. The Central Banking Council in Tairon is using their wizards to inflate. i.e. fabricating gold, there supply & demand imbalances persist. The Republican price controls and minimum wage laws aggravate huge shortages and unemployment.

But despite how shitty things are overall, many fools and mooches have convinced themselves that Raknian is awesome and will eventually fix everything.

The Rosegate Company -- Dziga, Early, Emeris, and Vatex -- wonders if they are on the Republican's "hit list" due to their cooperation with the prosecution of Helmut Itlstein. So far, though, no sign of retribution...

Financially, the government is not good. When they took over, they discovered that the Commissar had left the treasury virtually empty. This would make it hard to set up all kinds of expensive Republican social programs. In an effort to raise money quickly, the Trial of Champions will held this summer, instead of next year. Tourists and would-be gladiators start filling the city in preparation for the event...

GONNA NEED A MONTAGE

The Rosegate Company reaches a consensus that they too will enter the Trial of Champions as a gladiator team. They begin doing training montages to prepare.

Between training sessions, Vatex investigates the Republicans, trying to find out who Raknian and the Republicans' allies are. He learns that unlike the former Republican leader, Helmut Itlstein, Raknian -- a well-known veteran of the Zeltennian War -- has more than just the Vai as unsavory alliances. Turns out he is supported by the Balacazars, who now basically run the entire City Watch. This gives them a huge advantage over the crime organizations of Aggah-Shan and Kevis Killraven. The Republicans also have connections to the Vai, left over from Helmut's days.

There are also rumors about the so-called "Rebel Four" who is supposedly the Republicans chief benefactor. But no one seems to know what Rebel Four is -- some say it is a shadowy group of wealthy Elanian nationalistists, others say it is an old dwarf wizard, others say it is some kind of dark cult. Others still say "Rebel Four" is/are one or more alien invaders from outer space, like an X-Files sorta thing.

Eventually the group tries to register and discovers that in order to be entered as gladiators in the Trial, they need to get a licensed sponsor, who needs to be on the Trial of Champions Executive Committee. They ask around but it seems most sponsors have sponsored gladiators already.

Concurrently, the companions 'negotiate' with Gareth Porter, the reporter who'd been rescued from the Dark Reliquary, to have him publish a new broadsheet painting the Rosegate Company as "totally awesome" and improve their public image.

Then they receive a message from the capitalist Dorzan. When they meet with him, he talks about the worries the Guilders have with the new government and its heavy taxes and regulation. He says they collectively hope the more business-friendly Holy Empire will take over the city again, or all the Guilders will take their capital elsewhere.

Dorzan says he knows a guy on the Trial Executive Committee who can sponsor them, but he will want a favor in return.

So they meet this guy, a human bard named EKAYM, and his associate CELESTE, an aasimar rogue, at an inn called the Crooked House. Ekaym reveals that he is a member of the secretive trades guild called "The Chisel", and they are trying to attack Raknian's legitimacy and turn popular opinion against them.

He says that in exchange for sponsoring them to get into the Trial, he asks that they investigate throughout the event and try to find anything about Raknian that can help him, including a) find who is loyal and not-so-loyal, b) find evidence that will make people turn against him.

At first Ekaym says he wants to take 50% of the 100K gold prize for the champions... but Emeris uses some bluffing and diplomacy to convince him to take only 30%. That will leave 75,000 gold plus a flashy Champions' Belt for the Rosegate Company to share.

The companions return to their training montage for the next month or so... they will show the city of Elan a tournament they will never forget!

THE FREE DINNER

It is a hot Juliar in Elan as the Trial of Champions approaches. On the 14th, the day before the Trial begins, there is a big event called "the Free Dinner" where all the gladiators, their managers, the executive committee, the press, and special guests all eat a lavish feast and mingle. The Rosegate Company attends this with Ekaym.

There are 25 teams in the tournament this year, including the previous champions, Auric's Warband, consisting of the fighter Auric, the wizard KHELLE, the rogue TIRRA, and three stone golems. Vatex and Early had coincidentally met Auric, the team leader, in Diamond Lake during an unrelated adventure. Vatex and Early publicly denounce Auric as a wimp who was too cowardly to fight the black dragon Ilthane. This earns Auric's ire and he swears to humiliate them in the final round -- if they make it that far.

Emeris looks around for some all-female gladiator groups and maybe arrange some kind of orgy. There are only two such groups, the Pretty Girl Squad, which appears to be three underrage girls who have no business in such a tournament, and Arcane Auriga, which consists of five elven archer babes, exiles from the elven court of Selene. Emeris flexes his charming personality, but discovers Arcane Auriga seem to be all lesbians. Even so, they find Emeris rather likeable and say that if they fight in the battle royale, they should team-up until the end.

Vatex notices Raknian watching them. No doubt the Republican leader recognizes them and knows that they were largely responsible for the death of Helmut Itlstein. Ekaym suggests that Raknian may do something that interferes with their participation in the tournament somehow.

The schedule for the tournament is revealed. The first day will consist of battle royales where groups of 4 or 5 teams have a big free-for-all. Days 2-4 will consist of team vs. team battles and monster vs. team battles. Day 5 will have the best performing team face-off against last year's champs.

INTO THE COENOBY

After the event, the Rosegate Company retires to their quarters beneath the arena in the Coenoby -- a converted part of Ghul's Labyrinth. It's quite comfortable, but full of activity -- it might be hard to sneak around tonight and investigate Raknian.

Before sleep, they are visited by Tirra from Auric's Warband. Vatex's rich local knowledge suggest she is a member of the Longfingers' Thieves Guild. She proposes her "friends" would like to place a special bet that if the Rosegate Company makes it to the finale, they will defeat Auric and his team. The company declines.

Then they are visited again, but RENNIDA the leader of Arcane Auriga. She says that they are in the same battle royale tomorrow, and proposes teaming up against a team called Badlands' Revenge. They agree to do so before starting to hack up each other.

BATTLE ROYALE

The first event takes place at 10:00 am and puts the Rosegate Company in a battle royale with the following:

Arcane Auriga:
> Rennida the elven archer mage.
> Her four archer companions

Badlands Revenge
> Joren, the human druid who wears plate mail forged of dragon scales.
> His animal companion, Scriminiduro, the dire badger
> His four gnoll halberdier mercenaries

Pretty Girl Squad
> Mio, tiny pink-haired girl who carries a stuffed rabbit and looks harmless
> Setsuna, hand-to-hand fighter with lightning-speed
> Kunichiko, golden haired girl who uses magical fragrances

Sapphire Squad
> Korush, a janni swashbuckler
> His team of three mercenaries, who ride war horses and fight with long spears and bows and scimitars.

The battle begins! Setsuna yells out "Speed Drive: Hawkeye!" and moves through the air so quickly she might as well be invisible, then systematically attacks every single combatant in the arena in the space of five seconds. She then reappears with her group. Impossible speed! This attack has left most other combatants dazed, and Mio begins skipping over to the elven archers. She is charged by the only undazed Sapphire Squad merc, whom she dodges easily. Kunichiko uses her magic fragrances to dominate the mind of the merc and add a new ally to their team.

With the elves dazed except for Rennida, the Rosegate Company attacks Badlands' Revenge on their own. Emeris fires two umbral rays that slays one of the gnolls. Joren takes a hit from Dziga's bow then he and his badger rush the advancing Early. The warblade skilfully dodges the druid's spear but takes a cut from the badger's claw. Rennida recovers from being dazed and hits Joren in the back with an acid arrow. Early uses Soaring Dragon Strike to hit the druid, leaving him bloody and stunned. Vatex seizes the opportunity to thrust his swords into the narrow gaps in Joren's dragon armor and kill him. At this point, the surviving gnolls surrender, but the badger keeps fighting. Early uses his Raging Mongoose Wolf Blitz attack against the badger and explodes it in a gruesome display of overkill.

Meanwhile, Mio continues towards the elves who have regained their senses. They fire arrows at her but she is very quick, and it seems her little dress gives her some level of armor. A second mounted merc from Sapphire Squad charges her, but she easily dodges again. Annoyed, she runs after the merc and swings her rabbit. "Mega Punch!!!!!" The rabbit hits the rider and literally blows him to pieces, leaving a big wet splatter of gore on the arena wall. She and the dominated rider continue towards the elves, who continue firing. Rennida powers up and create two mirror images around herself.

Setsuna yells "Speed Drive: Black Bird!" and hits the third rider with a spring attack, using her airwalk power to spring back into the air. The attack leaves the mounted merc blind! He hangs on as his horse runs around the arena periphery for a half a minute before surrendering. Korush, able to fly, rushdes her in the air with his scimitar. She is impossibly fast and he may as well have been trying to stab a flying mosquito with a toothpick. She hits back at Korush when Dziga hits her with an arrow. Emeris fires umbral rays at her but she is too quick, and retreats without taking further hits. Kunichiko whispers "Maiden Temptation!" which paralyzes Rennida as Mio closes in.

The little pink haired girl swings her rabbit and explodes one of the elf women with another Mega Punch. They try to fill the little girl with arrows but she is ridiculously tough and quick.

The gaze of Korush meets Vatex and they silently agree to duel. Early and Emeris go after Kunichiko while Dziga heads towards the main melee between Pretty Girl Squad and Arcane Auriga.

Korush fights gracefully with his scimitar, his defenses capable and his speed impressive. As Vatex spins to the right, Korush's magical sword cuts deeply into his back, and a follow-up slash should have cut him across the neck had Vatex's magical cloak not shifted him at the last moment. Vatex sneers and turns up the pressure, the speed of his dancing swords accelerating to the point where Korush can no longer keep up with his deft parries. Blades flash and various cuts open in Korush's flesh. Two more downward chops take off both the janni's arms. A final blow takes off his head.

Early hacks at Kunchiko and hears her whisper "Temptation Garden", which causes him to reconsider his desire to attack her. Emeris teleports behind the golden-aired pretty girl, trying to strike her down with the Shadowgeist Reaver. She dodges easily. She then retreats while she whispers "Marlboro Cloud" and and big acid fog appears around Early. The fog feels like molasses and in addition to burning his flesh and lungs, it is painfully slow to move through it.

The dominated rider merc attacks some elves with his scimitar. Mio Mega Punches another elf. Setsuna darts in with hit-n-run attacks. Dziga continues firing arrows at Setsuna but she is very tough to hit. Another Speed Drive: Black Bird attack leaves a bunch of elves dazed, but she takes another of Dziga's arrow which wounds her badly. Emeris teleports in that direction to support Dziga and the elves, then unleashes maximized Killing Shadows upon the group.

The blast engulfs all the combatants, and when it clears, Setsuna, the dominated rider, and all the elves are dead. Seeing so many gladiators wiped out with a single attack sends the crowd into a big cheer. Mio is very sad when Setsuna dies and charges Emeris, swinging her rabbit and yelling "Polymorph Rabbit!" The attack hits the shade and staggers him a bit, but worse than that he feels his body begin to change! Probably into a kitten or some other cute critter. He resists it and hits her back with the Reaver. Seeing her near death and in tears, he tells her to surrender, and when it seems she intends to do so, he teleports to cut off Kunichiko. He hears a gunshot and sees Vatex kill Mio with a shot from his rifle.

Early breaks through the acid cloud and then is hit with the Maiden Temptation attack, paralyzing him. Kunichiko Marlboro Clouds Emeris and Vatex as they close in on her from the other side. Dziga tries to shoot her down with arrows and scores a few hits, but she is tougher than her girlish appearance would suggest and she continues to resist. She targets Early with a Crown Marionette attack, bringing the warblade under her control.

The Rosegate Company chases Kunichiko around the arena for a few moments, while the dominated Early chases her companions. She slows them down with her Marlboro Fog and Maiden Temptation attacks, and killing her becomes an extreme annoyance. However, she understands that while she might be able to draw this out for a long time, she cannot win without her allies. She surrenders.

The crowd goes crazy! They chant "Rosegate! Rosegate!", clearly impressed by the Rosegate Company's incredible power. They are awarded a small bag of gold and a bronze trophy of a dwarf warrior for their Day 1 victory.

After the battle, the Rosegate Company learns that they have been randomly selected for the "Monster Mash" event where they fight a giant powerful monster on Day 3. They learn that this year's giant monster is an especially big and powerful froghemoth, a big and rare aberration. Since they will not be fighting on Day 2, they figure that will be a good time to look around the Coenoby and see if they can dig up any dirt on Raknian...