Session 33 - Betrayal in the Arena

24th of Uktar, 1371 DR
My time at the Eltorchul Academy was well spent. I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. I only wish I'd had more time to practice before the games. I can't help but feel new ways to manipulate force energy would be useful.

25th of Uktar, 1371 DR
The openin' ceremonies and feast for the Champion's Belt Games was tonight. Quite a shindig actually. Lots a food. Lots a booze. Lots of competitors that seem way too serious about this whole thing!

We mostly were able to stay out of trouble during the feast. Tyree did his best to pick up on some Uthgardt women (which, of course, means he ended up lookin' like a fool). We managed to keep from gettin' entangled with prostitutes and people sellin' "illegal" goods. I also managed to save one of the servin' girls from some savage Orcs (with Alabron's help) - magically switched the poor girl with Al who immediately did his best impression of poor fighter. All-in-all, I think we managed to look quite incompetent. My bumblin' introduction got us rated all the way down to a two at one point!

Other strange things that happened...we ran into Carenthal. He wasn't on a team, so I'm not sure what he was doin' there, but there he was. Came over to make some lame excuse about why he vanished without a word or even a note and then promptly left us to go talk to the team of female Elven archers. I used to like Carenthal. Now I think he's a bit of an ass-hat.

That crazed street prophet even made an appearance. That guy need to get a new speech! I swear, I can just about recite his "prophecy" from memory by now. I suppose I won't have to worry about it too much, though. When he broke away from the guards who grabbed him, he was killed with a knife to his back. A knife! A guard's sword, I would have expected, but a knife! Certainly looks like he was murdered and not killed trying to escape custody.

Which brings me to Loris Raknian and his sinister-looking "captain." They were givin' us the stink-eye all night! It seems quite apparent that Loris knows we were involved with the downfall of the Doppelgangers and death of the Illithid who sold him the apostolic scrolls. The question is, does he know that we know about him and his connection to all the evil that's goin' on?

My personal theory is that these games are just a front (this year) for some sinister ritual Raknian's goin' to perform to summon/create an Ulgurstasa. If that thing were to appear right here in the stadium with a sold out crowd, there's no tellin' how many Undead monstrosities it could create before it is destroyed!

Bottom line is we need to be on our guard. It seems likely Raknian will try to have us killed either durin' the games themselves or during down time in the Coenoby. Most of us have opted to eat or drink nothin' unless it has been prepared by us from start to finish. Mostly that means relyin' on Egwaine's ability to create food and water. I have also started doin' what I can to keep everyone together. If one of were led off into some dark part of the stadium's underbelly, there's no tellin' what might happen.

26th of Uktar, 1371 DR
We found out we were part of a four-way battle. Us, the Elven archer women, the Sapphire Squad, and the Badlands Revenge. We quickly made alliances with the Elves and Duke based on the idea that the Badlanders were only here to kill people, so they should be dealt with first before we fought amongst ourselves to win this round.

All of our sandbaggin' our ratin' really paid off. I don't think anyone was expectin' what came up that lift. By the time we hit the stadium floor we must have looked bright than last night's fireworks display to anyone detectin' magic. Good thing too, because it looks like Raknian must have made some alliances of his own.

As soon as the battle started, the Elves opened up on our newest recruit. His own protective spells (Mirror Image and Protection From Arrows) saved him, and after a quick heal from Egwaine, he was back in the fight. The Sapphire Duke and his Janni started positioning for a cavalry charge against us. The Badlands Revenge split into two groups. One group comin' at us and the others rushin' the Elves.

It was easy to see that the Elves represented the biggest threat. If allowed to fire at us from across the stadium, they would be able to pick us off one at a time with witherin' barrages of arrows. Menelvagor soften them up with a Fireball and I started tearin' apart their arrogant leader with Magic Missiles of various sorts. In the end, however, it was our smart planning, mobility, and adaptability that won the day.

We had come into the battle with Egwaine invisible and with every protective spell we could muster in place. Almost all of us had some sort of flying magic active. We combined that with a Haste spell from Menelvagor to give ourselves incredible speed. Then Egwaine used Dimension Door to put an Enlarged Alabron and an invisible Rumple right behind the Elven leader. Seconds later, the entire Elven team had surrendered.

Next, we dealt with the Sapphire Duke and his men. Our main concern about him was the Vorpal Scimitar he was wieldin'. He literally had the ability to cut us to pieces if the magic of that dread sword came into play. We neutralized him by only allowin' him individual attacks. When he used Ethereal Jaunt to close with us, we took the opportunity to wipe out his men. When the Duke finally did appear, we focused enough fire on him to force him to surrender or be killed.

The badlands Revenge turned out to be easier to deal with than expected. Early on, Alabron had killed their giant wolverine with a single blow. When their leader turned into a Giant Crocodile we were a bit concerned, but after the Sapphire Squad was out of the fight, our focus shifted to the croc and he was down in seconds. The rest of the Bandlanders were easy to mob up because with our ability to remain out of reach, they really had no chance.

So, we basically took down three teams by ourselves. Guess our ratin' is about to go up!

Round 1 goes to the Three Hills Adventurin' Company, betrayal and all. I hope Raknian has trouble sleepin' tonight.