Session 10 New Blood
Gomruss explains to Guy his role in the tournament and so the pirate—still slightly hungover—wanders around Crowswood Place in search of training. He discovers the locked door to Hadley’s workshop and picks the lock, unnoticed. Inside, Guy tries his hand at unlocking the drawer beneath a bubbling glass still. The drawer clicks, revealing several iterations of Arti’s technical drawings. Hearing footsteps, Guy quickly replaces the drawings and locks the drawer. He fails to lock the door behind him as Corvus nods to him in passing.
Outside, Bantonio solicits Tuperk for use of a glider so that he might train for the tournament. Spotting Blythe, Bantonio suggests the half-elf use his glider as more challenging target practice. Diving from the tower, Bantonio builds enough speed to touch two targets but misses the last as he has to correct his balance. Blythe is able to hit Bantonio’s glider twice. In the library, while Gomruss further revises riddles, Arti trains for the strength challenge by lifting Subira so she can return some books to the higher shelves.
The party each have advantage on 3 ability checks of their choice during the tournament.
Bounty Hunters Lodge
The rain eases as the party take an hour to walk to the Sun District where they find rival adventuring teams training on the playing field outside the Bounty Hunters Lodge. Gomruss spies the wizard Tabitha and her team, the Feywild Ones; Elaina Thistlewind, the elf rogue who slapped Gomruss the night before; Cylaros, a szarkai ranger; and Cade Beckonhand, dwarf fighter and son of Kurt, the former lighthouse keeper. Spying Cade, Blythe prepares a new disguise. Bantonio also spots his opponent for the gliding challenge, Buddleja, a fairy Cleric with the wings of a monarch butterfly. The party meet Vigor, the statuesque tiefling hosting the tournament, and each pay the entry fee of 20 gold. Vigor explains the rules of the tournament, then asks for the party’s team name.
“Guy Brush and the… Brushlings!”
“I don’t want to be a Brushling.”
Guy’s suggestion is rejected by Blythe.
After some debate, the party sign up as the Six of Steel. While Bantonio helps the other adventurers prepare the playing field, Guy speaks with a referee in hopes of catching a glimpse of their clipboard. He is able to read a description of the three people from whom he must steal a key. He only has time to read a single word of Gomruss’ first riddle, lightning, which he shares with the confused dragonborn.
Meanwhile, Blythe dons her new bright blue wig and monocle and introduces herself to Cade as Meg Nifying-Lass. She claims to be an old friend of Kurt’s and a fellow lighthouse keeper. Despite Cade’s apparent indifference to his father’s death, Blythe is able to identify the dwarf’s innocence. According to Cade, Kurt became distant after the death of his wife (Cade’s mother). The two were once pirates and enjoyed many treasure hunts together.
“He used to give us these puzzles to find treasure around the house. I thought he might do something like that in his will, but he never made one.”
Cade opens up to Blythe.
Cade was confused by the circumstances of his father’s death. Constable Denover reported that the pteranodons pushed Kurt through the lighthouse window, but Cade realises that the lighthouse would have had to be switched off for the light-sensitive monsters to approach. Cade also considers his father might have committed suicide, unable to contain his grief. He does not suspect his introverted cousin, but admits to not knowing Silas very well. Firien notes that Cade did not seem panicked by the lack of will.
Invigorated by a workout building barricades for the final, Bantonio seeks to cool off in the Bounty Hunters Lodge. He receives a copy of the Bounty Hunters Codex, the guild’s strict rules of engagement, from Gerti Garnetgrinder, a deep gnome wizard with red and blue hair. After purchasing a keyring from the gift shop, he spies Gomruss reading a newspaper in the waiting room. An article in the newspaper catches Bantonio’s eye. Gomruss must quickly conceal the romance novel he took from Westpoint Lighthouse before handing over the newspaper. The article warns of tensions rising in the Kingdom of Diamante as the magical forests of Émeraude encroach on their territory. Just as Bantonio tries to quell his rising anxiety, a bell clangs outside to signal the start of the tournament!
Playing Field
Guy is the first to step up alongside his opponents. Among them is the majestic yet cunning Elaina. Each challenger is given a chest to unlock. Fortunately, Guy can spot the key-bearers in the crowd. On the sound of the bell, Guy darts into the crowd! With adept manoeuvring Guy is able to swipe the key from his first target unnoticed. He looks around for Elaina but she has vanished. The second key gives him little trouble. Sensing he’s ahead, Guy opts to steal a decoy key to quash the referees’ suspicions. Patting his pockets at every opportunity to ensure he has not been pick-pocketed, Guy spies the final key-bearer. He opts to bump into his target, but the bright pink firbolg’s layered fur and robes prove too difficult for Guy’s sleight of hand. Instead, Guy darts out of the crowd and hides behind a barricade to pick the final lock. The lock clicks and Guy raises the two flags he finds inside!
“We have a winner! Guy Brush of the Six of Steel steals a decisive victory from the reigning champions and gains two flags for the tournament final!”
Vigor announces Guy’s victory.
Blythe receives a nod of respect from the intimidating Cylaros as she lifts her longbow. On the sound of the bell, Blythe is the first to nock and loose her arrow! She pierces the inside ring of the target at 80 feet, while Cylaros lands a bullseye a fraction of a second later. Cylaros is quick to nock his second arrow, loosing his before Blythe. This time Cylaros hits the inside ring of the target at 160 feet, while Blythe gets a bullseye! With Blythe not far behind, Cylaros rushes to loose his final arrow and misses the target at 320 feet! Taking a deep breath, Blythe looses her final arrow and pierces the outside ring. Once again Vigor announces the victory of the Six of Steel over the reigning champions, the Feywild Ones. Blythe retrieves her arrows along with the two flags she won. Guy catches Cylaros whispering to a disgruntled Elaina.
“I think we’ve underestimated these newcomers.”
Cylaros whispers to Elaina.
Arti steps up to their stack of millstones. Cade has to take a second glance when the warforged towers over him. On the sound of the bell, the challengers begin to roll their millstones. Having quickly found his footing, Cade is the first to mount his 500-pound millstone onto his picket. Arti is not far behind, mounting their millstone with relative ease. The warforged returns to their stack before Cade, rolling the next 1000-pound millstone swiftly to the picket. However, the size of this millstone proves difficult for Arti to grip and Cade gains ground, mounting his first. Arti continues to struggle as Cade rolls his 1500-pound millstone, but the unfortunate dwarf rolls the stone over his toe and trips! In a fit of rage, Arti sinks their claws into their second millstone and mounts it. The warforged catches up to Cade and the pair lift their final stones in unison! Arti’s stone is the first to fall and Vigor announces them as the winner! Arti climbs the stones to retrieve their two flags.
“I’m going to kick your posterior!”
“Not if I kick yours first!”
Gomruss to Tabitha.
Gomruss rubs his lucky coin as he steps up to his tablet. Beside him, Tabitha blows a raspberry. On the sound of the bell, Gomruss hears the first riddle in his mind. “An arc of lightning this wizard must cast, and link to this tablet to avoid coming last.” He and Tabitha realise the answer must be witch bolt. The pair look around for the component they need—a twig from a tree that has been struck by lightning. Gomruss finds a bare tree and snaps a twig from its branches. While Gomruss scribbles the spell in his spell book, Tabitha has to jump up and down to reach the tree’s branches. Gomruss is the first to cast the spell, and the arc of lightning illuminates the first rune on the tablet. The second riddle then enters Gomruss’ mind. A sphere of energy for a wizard so bold, new blood will take heed for this spell must be cold.” Gomruss immediately realises the answer is chromatic orb. Taking a diamond from his own component pouch he casts the cold spell to illuminate the second rune.
“What the fuck!? Where am I supposed to get a diamond?”
Tabitha fumes at Gomruss’ luck.
“A loud ringing noise, painfully intense, will crumble this tablet and reveal its contents.” Gomruss narrows the final answer down to two spells, eventually taking a gamble on shatter. He looks around for the component he needs, chiselling a nearby rock with his claws. Meanwhile Tabitha has found a small diamond in the stream and has successfully cast her chromatic orb. Sensing Tabitha hot on his tail, Gomruss rubs his lucky coin and punches the rock with all his might. He grabs a handful of sediment and looks through it to find a chip of mica! Quickly, he scribbles the spell into his book and shatters the tablet! The blast of magical energy reveals two flags which flutter into Gomruss’ claws. Vigor announces Gomruss as the winner while Tabitha pouts.
Finally, Bantonio climbs the tower and mounts his glider. He shares a tiny handshake with Buddleja before removing his shirt so that he can be more aerodynamic. The fairy momentarily seems fascinated. On the sound of the bell, the challengers dive! Buddleja is first through the starting ring with Bantonio in hot pursuit. The pair loop majestically in the air, wing tip to wing tip, but Bantonio’s comparative weight gives him the lead as they dive once more! After flying through the second ring, it seems as though Buddleja is going to take the lead until the final ring changes direction! Buddleja and Bantonio both clip the ring and they must loop around to try again. Gomruss rubs his lucky coin and a gust of wind allows Bantonio to turn with greater speed. The shirtless romantic crosses the finish ring to thunderous applause!