We got a letter from Jasper today, informin' us of the state of affairs in Diamond Lake. It sounds bad, but the boys seem to be holdin' out alright. He needs money, which we will get to him as soon as we've sorted out our current predicament.
We got a letter from Loris Raknian! In the letter he implies that he is not the one responsible for the cult activities here in the stadium and he wants to meet us in one of the side passages late tonight. Uh huh.
The Unhumans were wiped out to the "man." At least they were able to kill one Werewolf.
After the first match, we heard a scream and found a warden with his throat torn out. We also found a worm vat. We cordoned off the "alley" it was in and dealt with it so no one was hurt. Auric was suddenly interested in what we had to say and afterward had a bad proposal for us, which we refused.
Our match with Pitchblade was quite the spectacle. The introductions were so long they caused some of our spells to expire. Pitchblade seemed to have been informed of this, because they didn't start drinkin' their potions until halfway through.
When the fight started, the Dire Tigers took off after us without so much as a "go get 'im boys!" from the Dwarves. One of them tore into Storn like he had stolen somethin' from it while another gave Alabron a scratch or two. Tyree managed to dodge all the third tiger's attacks since he seems to be impossible to ever catch off-guard. Tryee tumbled behind Storn's tiger creatin' a flank and then, in that bizarre fightin' style where he's in the defensive but swingin' for all he's worth at the same time, he slashed the tiger. Mel blasted all the Dwarves with a Fireball, but the leader and the machine were unscathed. The machine moved towards us and deployed. The other Dwarves all flew into the air and headed our way. Eqwaine summoned up a Spiritual Weapon but missed her target. Rumble flanked Storn's Dire Tiger and drove three feet of rapier into it! Alabron used part "A" of our attack plan against Pitchblade and shot a Dire Tiger with a Ray of Stupidity causing it to collapse in a coma in an instant! The crowd roared because it must have looked like he killed it with a single spell. I used part "B" of our brilliant plan and created a Wall of Force directly in front of the machine. Storn landed two crushing blows on the Dire Tiger but then slipped in the sand and caught a huge paw across the face.
The Dire Tiger continued to rip and tear at Storn despite his heavy armor. The other tiger swatted Storm once and then landed a couple of hits on Rumple for good measure. Tyree, still workin' on the original Dire Tiger, sliced off one of its rear legs and then drove his sword through its spine to end its sufferin'. Mel blasted the lead Dwarf with an Orb of Electricity. The leader and another Dwarf charged through the air and slashed at Mel with their swords. Luckily, Egwaine had has Resist Fire on all of us, so the flaming swords were not quite as effective. Another Dwarf dove down on Rumple and nearly cut off his head! Egwaine had to save his life with a Close Wounds spell. The machine un-deployed and started moving to the east. The driver may have been able to see the invisible Wall of Force, but the crowd couldn't and they started booin' and jeerin' the driver. Egwaine dropped a Mass Cure Light Wounds which helped many of us as Alabron disabled the last Dire Tiger with another Ray of Stupidity. The crowd went nuts. I cast an Arcane Turmoil spell on the leader, strippin' him of most (if not all) of his enchantments. He floated to the ground and Storn hacked at his legs as he landed. Storn's next three attacks completely missed the leader. Turns out he was wearing a Cloak of Displacement and Storn was simply swingin' in the wrong spot!
Tyree flanked with Rumple and hit one of the Dwarves. Rumple used the distraction to stab the same Dwarf with a tellin' blow. Mel, takin' his lead from me, Dispelled the enchantments on one of the other Dwarf fightin' him and flew away, but he was hit just before he could escape. The flanked Dwarf managed to slash Tyree back while another Dwarf hammered Storn and knocked him to the ground! The machine plodded on to the ever increasin' jeers of the crowd and the last Dwarf moved to deal with Alabron, but missed. Egwaine hit everyone but Mel with another Mass Cure Light Wounds and Alabron hit his new Dwarven friend once. Noticin' that it was tough for my friends to strike the leader, I blasted him with an Empowered Fel Drain Magic Missile. The missiles struck, as always, unerringly and leeched a bit of his life force away. Storn, from the ground, used his Ring of Spell Storing to cast Shield.
Tyree continued to move to keep his Dwarf flanked with Rumple. Rumple continued to use this to his advantage, landing yet another devestatin' hit on the Dwarf. Tyree, unfortunately, missed. The Dwarf responded with a slash at Rumple's face while the leader knocked Storn unconscious (again), stepped to the side and hit Alabron as well. Another Dwarf flanked for the leader and struck Alabron as well and the machine continued rollin', now on the boards coverin' the moat that had become part of the battlefield. Egwaine's Spiritual Weapon continued to miss its targets as she stepped in (still invisible) to heal Storn. Mel hit one of the Dwarves with a trio of Scorchin' Rays, one of which burned a hole in the fella's armor! Alabrong slashed into the leader twice and then sidestepped to flank for a still prone Storn. I tore at the leader with another Magic Missile spell and laughed as my missiles burned straight through his Brooch of Shieldin'. Alabron's flank allowed Storn to slash at the leader's legs, nearly chopping one off at the knee!
Tyree landed a pair of blows on the (somehow) still standin' Dwarf. Rumple tumbled into a flank and stabbed the Dwarf in the back of the neck, finally killin' this very tough foe. Mel used another Scorchin' Ray to drop another Dwarf and then hit the leader with a ray as well. The leader had apparently had enough of my Magic Missiles. he came over and swung at me, barely managin' to graze me. His second strike was much better, but I simply absorbed it with a spell sheild and then laughed as I dodged his thrid attack. The crowd seemed to love that. That's when Egwaine's Spiritual Weapon floated over and drove straight down through the top of his head, killin' him instantly! The machine had finally cleared my Wall of Force. I readied myself to throw up another wall if they guy tried to shoot and gave him a chance to surrender. meanwhile, Alabron actually scaled my Wall of Force and stood on top of it!
Tyree jumped up on the machine and the Dwarf panic-fired into the Wall of Force, nearly catchin' Tyree's leg in the trailin' rope before jumpin' off the machine. Alabron performed an amazin' run across the length of the Wall of Force and then leaped down to cut the strike the Dwarf from above. The crowd went crazy, because all they could see was Alabron runnin' through mid-air the whole time. That's when Tyree jumped into the seat of the machine and shot the Dwarf with it! Even though he didn't hook him, the crowd actually screamed loader. They screamed louder still when Mel used Benign Transposition to switch Tyree and Rumple who then shot the Dwarf again! At last the Dwarf surrender and the battle was over.
Everyone in the crowd was cheerin' and chantin' "Three Hills! Three Hills!" except for Raknian, who was nowhere to be seen, and his bodyguard, who was livid with anger and shakin' his fist at us in frustration.
Before we returned to the Cynobe, our manager caught my eye. I used a Message spell to have a private conversation with him. That's when we learned that someone had broken into Elegos' estate and killed him and his servant!
Whoever is responsible for what's goin' on here in Waterdeep, be it Raknian or not, it seems they are gettin' ready to make their move.
