Date:
Tahsday, 21st of Molivios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Warm, rainy
Player Characters:
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
The GOAT, Imperial Goblin Mercenary Druid (Archon Shiva)
Significant NPCs:
Tresti Iredell, Half-Elven wizard of the Rarities Factor
Temrin, Goblin Royal Artist
Gribble, Lord of the Goblin Forum
Many goblins
Dworm, human guard/merchant
Yoburra, Varumani ambassador
Several ogre guards
Many arena guards
Hal, Varumani bartender
Yerk, human gladiator
Basil, human gladiator
Nisdis, elven gladiator
6 giant beetles
The Arena Lord, Rudishva
Ida and Odile, twin gamblers
Razor Face, gambler
Varumani Lift operators
Virgoolian, goblin chemist
Swiddy, baker
Aebbe Long-Nose, cleric
Philippous, weapons dealer
Thegan White-Mane, Innkeeper, Inn of the Lost
Boots, Barkeeper, Inn of the Lost
Aethgrim, Entertainer, Inn of the Lost
Akla-Chah, hologram psychologist
Basil of Archontos, Right for Riches company employee
Various summoned goats, bats, bears, and an elephant
The Plan:
- Sell food in the Goblin Forum
- Visit the Arena and learn things
What Happened:
After finding the Five Fingers of Destiny poking around above the Beacon, Vael got worried and started looking for a way to prevent them from scrying or teleporting in. He asked Ioannes to help with the research, and Ioannes found a text suggesting lead-lined walls as a solution for both problems. The party split up, with Vael, Vallium, Uvash, and Basil looking for large quantities of lead roofing tiles, while Ioannes would make the weekly food delivery to the Goblin Forum, then head down to the Arena to gather information on the Rudishva Command Bracelet that Temrin's map indicated was there.
Ioannes hired the goblin mercenary GOAT for help, then went down to the Grain Hall and bought a wheelbarrow load of assorted foods. Without a Blink spell to easily get from the Beacon to the surface, they decided to just hike from Gosterwick to the Cliff Face, then walk up the Long Stair to the ruins. GOAT summoned a goat to pull the wheelbarrow, a bat swarm for scouting, and a couple of cave bears for protection.
After trudging though the rain for ten miles then climbing the Long Stair, the duo walked north to the Pyramid of Thoth then went down through the Pyramid to Upper Goblintown. There, Bottleneck greeted Ioannes and said the goats were fine but bears were not allowed in goblin territory.
They went west through the not-so-secret-anymore door to the ruined Temple of Thoth, then through the also ruined Temple of Set, then down the Sighing Stair to the Goblin Forum. There Gribble greeted them, thanked them for bringing more food, and directed them to Dworm the Food Merchant. Dworm repeated that he was a guard, not a merchant, but wrote down the food they brought and gave them a receipt, and paid them for their previously sold food.
Gribble mentioned that the Set animal statue in the center of the Forum was still emitting some kind of weird gas that caused one of his guards to face plant after standing in the wrong place. Ioannes and GOAT offered to take a look. First GOAT cast Shape Earth to seal up the statue's nostrils and make the gas stop coming out. Then he decided to go for a more complete solution, Levitated up to the ceiling, and summoned an Irthuin elephant. The huge animal materialized in mid-air then crashed down onto the statue, causing extensive damage to both the statue and the elephant. GOAT dismissed the wounded elephant as he and Ioannes looked at the wrecked statue. The head had been knocked off the body, and gas was again coming out of a couple of small holes in the neck. Not wanting to spend too much more time here, GOAT sealed off the holes. A Varumani ambassador came out to check on the noise, saw it was just adventurers wrecking more Settite stuff, had a brief conversation with Ioannes, and went back to his room.
They went back up to Upper Goblintown, then down through the Wet Caves to the Goblin Market. Ioannes went over to the Temrin, the Royal Artist, and asked if he knew the way to the Arena. Temrin said it was down the stairs to the west, but he never went to the Arena himself because he didn't like violence. He also noted that Vael's new map was ready. Ioannes thanked Temrin, and he and the GOAT went east. Ioannes asked an ogre guard a few questions about rooms nearby, then they went down the stairs to the arena level.
Ioannes talked to Hal, the bartender at the Arena Corner Bar. Hal said that today was a Spectacle Day and they should get their drinks, place their bets, and take their seats for the show. Ioannes tried to order milk, but Hal didn't have any. Ioannes settled for water and a mushroom cake. Meanwhile, GOAT cast Rider Within on a bat and had it explore the level with its dark vision and echolocation. The bat found some large skeletons and goblin corpses across a small chasm to the west, then found a wall of fire with some kind of flaming nataraja dancer, which eventually threw a fireball at the bat, killing it. He sent out another bat, which explored a chasm until it was surprised and eaten by a giant spider.
After finishing his mushroom cake, Ioannes led GOAT north and west to the arena bleachers. The bleachers were mostly full of goblins. The Arena Lord appeared in his box on the far side of the Arena and announced a Spectacle, three heroic gladiators against six ferocious giant beetles. The Arena Lord was larger and thinner than a human, with two small horns on his head, and was wearing a purple jumpsuit, a white scarf, and a red bracelet. After a while, three gladiators entered the arena sands from the south. They strutted during their introductions, then the door on the north end opened and some arena wranglers pushed 6 giant beetles out onto the sand. The beetles walked around sniffing and looking confused, while the gladiators slowly approached, showing off with spins and kicks and twirled weapons. Then as they got to melee range, one of the gladiators stopped showing off and just brutally killed four of the beetles as fast as possible. Each of the others killed one.
Ioannes talked to one of the goblins in the crowd, who said the gladiator who killed four beetles was Yerk, who was currently the #3 ranked gladiator in the arena, and a crowd favorite because he was "a total psycho." The goblin also said he had bet on Yerk to get the most kills.
Ioannes and GOAT left the bleachers and west north east to where the gamblers were settling their bets. Two of the gamblers were female and looked like twins, so Ioannes tried talking to them. After a few minutes they got tired of answering his questions about the Lord of the Arena, so he talked to another gambler, a man with a scarred face with no nose or ears who compensated with a large beard. Ioannes didn't get much good information from him either.
They headed north and west, then opened an unlocked door. GOAT sent another summoned bat in to scout, and found rows of cages full of various monsters: more giant beetles, hell hounds, mephits, undead, a manticore, a chimera, and some owlbears. They went west farther and found some old statues and a booming voice welcoming them to the Arena and telling them violence was not allowed outside the sands, then repeating (presumably) the same message in two languages they didn't know.
They reached the Varumani Lifts. Ioannes asked the operators about the area nearby. The varumani said the Inn was that way, the Arena was back the way they came, and that the Lifts could take them to the Floating Gardens or all the way across the Chasm. Ioannes chose the Inn. He saw a large door with a sign in Mithric saying "House of Isocorax" and another sign in Archontean saying it was the "Inn of the Lost." There was a passage to the northeast. Going that way, they found a Rudishva-architecture room with four merchant stalls set up: a chemist, a baker, a cleric, and a weapons dealer. There was a passage leading north and a door to the east. Ioannes asked what was to the north, and the chemist answered "death, don't go that way." Ioannes asked what potions he had to sell. He had the usual healing potions and such, plus Virgoolian's Special Brew, which he said would mess you up. Ioannes declined to drink any, but bought one for GOAT. GOAT drank it and was indeed messed up, as he started hallucinating. GOAT decided to take a nap in the wheelbarrow, while Ioannes checked out the Inn.
The Inn door was unlocked. Ioannes was greeted by the proprietor, an old white-haired man named Thegan. Thegan said he had private rooms available, or a bed in a bunkroom, as well as good food and drink. Ioannes went into the dining room, tipped the bard to play a song, and had another small mushroom-based snack. There weren't any other guests in the common room; the barkeeper said it was a Spectacle day so they were probably at the Arena.
Vael finished looking for lead and went through the Teleport Rug to the Beacon looking for Ioannes. Ioannes wasn't there and Basil said he hadn't been there, so Vael teleported back to Gosterwick and went to the Rarities Factor. There he paid Tresti to cast a Message spell to Ioannes, asking him to meet at their room. Ioannes left the Inn, went back to get the GOAT, and they went down some passages until they had some privacy to use a Teleport Rug. GOAT stayed to watch the Rug while Ioannes went back to the Beacon and met Vael. After bringing Vael up to date on the Arena Lord, they went to talk to Akla-Chah. She confirmed that not all Beacon crew members were accounted for, and it was possible some were still alive, though the Beacon crashed a long time ago. Ioannes went through the crew roster until he thought he recognized the Arena Lord as Entertainment Officer Crellik-Var. Ioannes and Vael then went back through the Rug to rejoin GOAT in the Halls.
They followed a passage to the northeast, where they saw some corpses (six human, two varumani) stacked up near a chasm. Suspecting a trap, GOAT sent a summoned bat to explore. It flew over the chasm, down a passage, up another passage, and then was killed by a sword-swinging statue. Still suspecting a trap, Vael asked GOAT to summon an animal to drag the bodies back for looting. GOAT summoned two goats, who started dragging the bodies back. One of the goats spotted a giant worm in the chasm, but dodged its attack and loyally kept dragging bodies back. Vael and Ioannes looted the bodies of their armor (the only thing they had). They decided not to venture toward the chasm today.
Instead, Ioannes led Vael back to the Inn so he could see it for himself and meet Thegan, then they went over to the merchants and Vael talked to all four. They then went through the door to the east, which the merchants said led to a cave-in. They found the cave-in, but Vael thought he heard some whispering in Rudishva there. He tried a Glass Wall spell on the cave-in, but it was too thick to see through. He dug a bit with Shape Earth and tried again, spying the passage continuing to the north, then a Rudishva-architecture room with a statue in it.
Vael asked the others to step through the Rug back to the Beacon, turned invisible with Larel's Cloak, then Blinked past the cave-in. On the other side, he dropped the Rug so the others could join him. They found a room with a statue that turned out to be a kaliyani, with four eyes that were amber gems. The statue wasn't magical, so they took the eyes. There were iris doors north and west, but Vael and Ioannes agreed that they'd pressed their luck enough for today, so they turned around and went back home.
GM's Comments:
We only had two out of five players due to the Easter holiday, so they decided to go on a low-danger information-gathering mission to the Arena. They got a look at the Arena Lord and found the Inn of the Lost, and didn't engage in any fights (unless you include summoned bats getting killed).
Achievements:
- Arden Vul Iconic Location: Inn of the Lost (Ioannes only)
XP:
- Exploration: 19 new locations (for Ioannes and GOAT, fewer for Vael), 1 XP (for all)
- Loot: four suits of armor (one magical) and four gems, 1 XP
- Achievements: 1 XP (Ioannes only)
- Total: 3 XP for Ioannes, 2 XP for Vael
Next Week:
There should be more players next time, so they can explore more boldly. The plan is to bring food to the baboons, then investigate the Ruby Throne and explore more of the Well of Light level. If time permits they will also pick up their Temrin map to the second Tablet of the Beacon, and clear more rooms near the Goblin Forum.
