Over the river and through the Underdark, to Rashemen we go.
parts 5-9

intro and characters
parts 1-4

part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine

Part 5. Gloura, Gloura Halliluijah.

When the party climbs the walls up to the tunnel room (or levitates, whatever), they will find a hippie fairy perched on the short dirt wall that surrounds the hole that leads both above and below. The chamber opens up on the surface, miles above the chamber. A tubular tunnel (too small for any humanoid creature to fit throught) leads straight up. At noon a shaft of light pierces the Underdark and shines on the floor, uncovering a enchanted disk that indicates the tunnels respective directions. The map they have has an etching of this map. Moonlight through the same shaft exposes a new and different map, as well as a fourth tunnel, but that's definately an adventure for another day... or, if they find it, possibly a path to some useful magical item.

The fey girl is quite lovely, young with pale, ghost-grey skin and large, dark coal-colored eyes. Her hair is grey--charcoal grey, dark and... dusty-looking. It's styled with a razor, an uneven pixie style. Small, delicate, feathery wings sprout from her shoulder blades and flutter lightly when she is nervous (which would be when she encounters the party, I imagine). She's wearing a crinkled, delicate sarong-style skirt, silvery with little mirrors and bells on it. Her top is cream-colored, worn in spots, with lots of ruffles and flounces. She doesn't wear shoes, but has silver-strung thongs with tiny bells on them. When she moves, it's like a muffled jingle in your head--she doesn't make any actual sound.

She wears lots of jewelry--mostly hand-crafted things, layered one on top of the other. She has dozens of jangly bracelets, some with charms or lovely stones, on each forearm. Her neck is strung with shiny chains as well as leather lanyards. Interesting shells, stones, and trinkets hang from the necklaces. Each item is a traveller or a journey, a place she has seen or seen through other people. She is a wanderer.

Gloura is a strange creature. Definately Fey, definately good. They want to help creatures in need, and are fairly neutral. They are kind, but will avoid those that display cruelty or seem dangerous towards them. She has healing (cure light and moderate) and can have other spells as well.

Gloura stats: p88 Underdark book

Game event summary:

Since Venture already levitated once this day, Lee is the one to float up to the upper chamber and secure the grappling hook. Venture climbs up, closely followed by Dyson and Abdul. Dyson hears the light flutter of wings in the tunnel leading to the wilds, and sees something moving. He moves closer to check it out, and from the darkness steps the Gloura. The introduce themselves, and they ask lots of questions, which she answers in a roundabout fey sort of way. They discover that the Drow and the two women did pass through here yesterday, and the women were badly injured. They headed towards Tektspielplatz--clock town--which is inhabited by a clockmaker and possible red wizard named Nicodaemus. She told them that the Nicodaemus had a portal that lead to the upperside tunnels, that lead back to the surface. In the Red Wizard city. Gloura heals Bashir and Venture, and in thanks for that and the info, Abdul gives her a lock of his silver hair, and Lee gives her a gem. She takes both, but is especially taken by Abdul's hair. During the first night, she crafts a tiny leather pouch so that she can wear the angelic hair on one of her necklaces. They continue to talk with her, finding out a little bit about their surroundings and where they are headed. They have suspicions about Nicodaemus, and Gloura offers to take them to his portal in a way that will not disturb him. They have accepted, and will press on with the fey soon. Roderick is unsettled, as is Venture, and Gloura uses a glamour to calm them.

encounter one and encounter two: some tunnel baddie

One or more random Underdark encounters. Loads of bugs, all-consuming hunger, cloaks, or a bunch of traps, or whatever.

Travel through parts of this is difficult -- there are sections underwater, or so narrow they have to stoop or crawl. It is possible that the Ramparts of Night (a deep chasm) could be in their path. It is not pleasant travel -- it is merely the fastest way to Thay.

Game event summary:

The party chooses to push on towards Taktspielplatz without resting. They travel through the tunnels, stooping and slowing a bit during the tight portions, walking and chatting with Gloura when the going is easy. They have been travelling a couple of ours when Dyson hears a chittering noise and a couple of rust monsters attack. The party, not realizing that they will disentegrate metal weapons, attacks. Dyson is fortunate in that his first attack with the rapiers does not trigger the rust action, but when Venture swings his scythe at the monster, it disentegrates in his hands. Lee's studded leather also is destroyed, and when the battle is over, Gloura takes it to repair at the next rest.

The continue after fighting the rust monsters and stumble through the passages. Several members of the party bash themselves on rocks or wall. Gloura heals them. After a bit, they continue travelling until they hear screaming coming from in front of them. They bolt towards the sound and Venture almost falls headlong into the chasm. He barely stops in time and the party figures a plan for getting across. Lee uses the air spell to fly over and ties off the rope. Gloura stays near the edge to make sure noone falls. First across is Dyson, who makes it easily. Venture has to carry Abdul across, as his armor makes him unable to climb himself. When they are approximately half-way across, dire bats swoop past them and attack. Abdul manages to get off of Venture so Venture can take a swing at the bats. When he tries to strike, he loses his grip on the rope and falls. Lee, spiderclimbing across, manages to catch him. Searing light and Dyson's flaming arrows hit home, and Trover does damage with a bard spell. Abdul realizes he has air walk and casts it successfully. He grabs Venture and takes him to the far side of the chasm. Dyson polishes off the last bat and they all finally make it across.

encounter two:Taktspielplatz and Nicodaemus (and his clocks)

The tunnels eventually widen, and lead to a surface entrance. This one is nicely sloped, not a dead drop -- in some places there are even digout stairs and hand-holds.

They are in the city of Traktspielplatz. Traktspielplatz is a small, old city, with crumbling buildings and faded storefronts. Most of the buildings are wide open, with no visable persons inside. Many are simply filled with knick-knacks and tools and half-built machines and constructs. What used to be an inn is merely abandoned, and a small shop looks to have been converted into a supply room, with bins of parts and bits and various substances. A small cottage is the only building that looks to be better off for the passage of time. It is square and mud-walled, painted a bright peach adobe color with bright, clean windows. Draperies hang in the windows, if it is dim a light shines from inside, and in general it looks warm and welcoming. Nicodaemus lives here.

The streets of the city are slightly overgrown and there are random junked parts lying about in the tall grass. There are clocks on posts and hanging on walls in all sorts of places. When the top of the hour passes, sounds of chimes and cuckoos and gongs and clicks and whirs erupt from nearly every direction, as the hundreds of clocks Nic has constructed lurch to life.

Many of these constructs are simple in nature--they were built to watch the city, and to provide an aging, addled, weary wizard with eyes and ears during the times when he is asleep or occupied with one or another of his experiments. The constructs serve mostly for purposes of spying, but can act defensively to guard Nic or the city if intruders appear.

Nicodaemus is a red wizard. In truth, he's at once among the most harmless red wizards one could ever meet... and one of the most dangerous. He is quite old--older than even Gloura suspects. The portal that he "guards" is one into Thay from the Underdark. Though the Red Wizards do not particularly fear the Drow, neither do they trust them. Someone had to be deployed to watch the portal and keep track of the people who go through there.

Problem was that none among the red wizards wanted to leave Thay. The power was there, the materials were there, the money was there. Out in bumfuck Underdarkville, there wasn't anything useful at all. So they took turns for a while in one-year shifts. Then Nicodaemus went out.

Nicodaemus was old then. He had once been a very powerful and wealthy salesman -- among the first to begin selling magical items. He was particularly skilled at certain types of item creation and generation, particularly constructs and conjured weaponry. It was because of his skill that his misfortune did not destroy him.

An argument with another wizard turned violent, and in the ensuing battle, Nicodaemus sustained a head injury that caused permanent damage. He is not as quick now as he once was, and his memory is quite faulty. He must rest more frequently, his eyes tire easily, his vision is sometimes blurry. His personality changed too: he became meek, antisocial, intensely introspective where he was once outgoing.

He found the peace and solitude of the Drow portal to Thay comforting. The headaches that plagued him in town were less when he could sleep whenever he wished. (Nic is often napping, and it is easy to get a few people through the portal without notice. Basically, he's there to notice if, say, a Drow army came marching through.) The rest of the red wizards liked that he could work faster on his constructs, and do better work, without interference.

The other wizards realized his stint out here solved two problems: firstly, nobody had to go out to the icky Drow portal for a year every couple of centuries. Second, it got Nic and his hot-and-cold persona out of town. Though the red wizards are pretty nefarious, Nic was just unpredictable: as likely to say hi as to punch someone in the teeth in greeting. He could be in a good mood, he could be in a bad mood.

If they end up fighting Nic... this is a big boss fight. This basically prepares them for what they will face in Thay. He is a red wizard, built on a basic red wizard template. It is possible they could avoid a fight by careful conversation selection. There are a few topics of conversation that could cause him to get violent. Also, random rolls to see if they wear out their welcome.

Nic does know lots of things. When he is awake, he pays attention to what's going on, and when he is sleeping his constructs do it for him. If the party gets to question him about the Drow, he will indeed know where they are going. One reason Sevier used the Drow for this mission was that they would be able to pick up a construct from Nic without issue. He would not challenge them due to their overwhelming skill and power.

Game event summary:

They move into town and after looking around at the buildings and constructs a bit, they proceed to Nic's cottage. Properly, they introduce themselves to the constructs at his door and Nic appears. He invites them in and has Gloura procure drinks for everyone. They talk a bit, and Venture nudges Dyson, who asks about finding a scythe to replace the one that rusted away. Nic starts to take Venture out of the room, and Trover tells him in Mulhurandi to not discuss money with the wizard. Nic turns and answers him in Mulhurandi, saying that secrets are unpleasant things. He waves his hand and Trover flies backwards off the bench and crashes into a wall. Lee "apologizes" and then utters a vaguely idle threat towards Nic. Moments later, Lee sinks back to the bench, feeling very weak (-5 to strength for 3h). Venture and Nic walk out of the room to one of the storage houses, with Nic leading him upstairs to a immaculate room filled with magical weapons. They pick out a scythe +2 and electrical damage, then Nic leads him back downstairs and removes the memory of the room with a talisman before leading him back to the cottage and the party. The party discusses funds and payment, and after a bit of this Nic makes an excuse to leave the room so they can add up their resources. When he returns the party has a better idea of what they want, and he takes Lee upstairs to try on armor. He picks a mythrial shirt and Nic performs the same memory-altering trick. Nic also brings down charisma buffs in the form of amulet, belt, and gloves. Trevor chooses the amulet. He is sent up again and brings back several dex-buffing items. Dyson chooses the +2 dex starmetal earrings; Trevor chooses the +2 dec starmetal buckle. There is money left over and Lee asks about intelligence buffing items. Nic brings down several things, including a tattoo gun, with which he says he can apply an +2 intelligence, +1 charisma mystical tattoo. After much hemming and hawing, Lee has a small 3x4 inch symbolic tattoo on his left hip.

Things they're selling to Nicodaemus:
+2 magical sword		 8000
gems				 2100
spellbook			 4000
ring of shooting stars		50000
				-----
				64100

Things they're buying from Nicodaemus:
electrical +2 scythe			17000
amulet of +4 charisma			16000
+2 mythrial shirt		 	 8000
+2 dex earrings	of starmetal	 	 6000
+2 dex belt w/ starmetal buckle		 4000
tattoo +2 intelligence, +1 charisma	10000
					-----
					61000

They take 1000 in change, leaving him 2100 "tip" for good karma.	 

Part 6. Where there's a Red Wizard, there's a way.

They pass through the portal and into an alleyway. As they move away from the portal door, it disappears from view; if they move closer again it reappears [this works only for people who have been through the portal before... others don't see a portal at all.] The alleyway is dim, but leads out onto a fairly busy street. When they walk to the end, they come out into an open-air city market. There are booths and gypsy carts, covered over with beautiful hanks of fabric. Some have food -- huge hunks of meat and game hung above the sellers. Others have jewelry or clothing laid out on cloth, or trail rations or, occasionally weapons -- not very good ones though. They will have time here to bulk up on rations, or backpacks or baubles (no expensive jewelry, just baubles). After they shop for a bit, or in the event that they cause any sort of disturbance or call attention to themselves, they will be approached by a group of the city guards, leading to the first encounter.

encounter one: thayen guards

I'd say this one should be a back-alley encounter, somewhat Aladdin-like. The buildings are made of stone or stucco, with open windows covered by awnings in red and orange and yellow stripes. Some of the buildings are more than one story with terraces or porches overlooking the street. The market area has lots of porches overlooking the square, and in the center of the square there is a fountain that looks remarkably similar to the fountain in the center of Nicodaemus's city; there is a construct archway in the center of it and the portal there leads directly to the guard headquarters in town.

The city guard fight should be difficult -- the party should be evenly matched with the guards, perhaps outnumbered. It should be a 50/50 fair fight, with the guards aiming to stun and disable, not kill. They have orders from Sevier to subdue and capture the party, but not under any circumstances to kill them. If they manage to subdue them, reinforcements should arrive quickly to take them to the coliseum.

If they manage to kill the guards or escape from them, they will have several choices. If they bolt for the portal, hoping it will take them back to Nic, they will instead end up at guard headquarters and be immediately taken. If they manage to run away further into town, they will eventually be reported and turn a corner to find a phalanx of guards just waiting for them. Bottom line - they will eventually be captured.

If they manage to elude the guards, they could do some sleuthing to see where their friends might be. Townspeople will know about the coliseum, and will know that slaves and undesirables fight there for the wizard's amazement... but they would also report these strangers asking questions to the guard. So it's a catch-22. If they make it as far as the coliseum, they will not be able to get too close without arousing suspicion. See the details about the coliseum in the next session for flavor text.

When they have been taken, Roderick will move away from them for a time, to be safe. He will return to them once they are in the coliseum.

Game event summary:

The party is weary and discusses trying to find an inn so they can rest. They decide to proceed into the city carefully and immediately, since they want to be through here as quickly as possible. They proceed to the market. Dyson buys a bowl from a seller and the seller immediately reports him to the guard. He buys some pastries from an old lady and gives her a hefty tip, after which she warns him that he should not be wearing a red shirt in Thay. The party looks down at their ragged, dirty clothing and both Dyson and Lee purchase new shirts and pants. Trevor hangs back from the rest of the party so that he can gather information. They proceed into the nearest inn, where 2 guards are sitting at a 4-top table, and 2 other guards push ahead of them to sit down with their buddies. Trevor takes a seat at the bar while the others approach the innkeeper and ask for a room. The innkeeper asks for a pass, and Dyson claims he left his in his other pants. Noone else can produce a pass, and the guards, noticing the innkeeper's discomfort, push back their chairs and walk towards the four party members at the desk. Dyson spins a second tale, claiming they were attacked and their passes stolen. The guards ask what gate number they came in, and Dyson says "2". The guards say there is no gate 2, and draw their weapons. Combat ensures. Trevor charms the barkeeper into opening the barback door, and checks out the storeroom that has no exit. They defeat the guards, but allow the innkeeper to escape out the front door. Trevor runs into the large bunkroom, finding a window. The party manages to escape out the window, while Trevor conjures a red dragon to occupy at least some of the guards. The dragon flies away and is dispelled, and Lee uses the wand of invisibility to make everyone disappear. Dyson goes out into the square while still under the spell to check things out. He looks into the slave cages for El and Pele -- no dice. Abdul, Lee, and Venture go into the sewer tunnels beneath the city to hide and rest while Trover and Dyson disguise themselves and proceed back to the market to try and pickpocket a vendor to get a pass. Dyson looks for and finds three street urchin children (caleb, 10; brighton, 8; and julie, 6). He enlists the kids to help him steal a vendor's purse, including the city pass they need. He gives caleb the amulet of protection from zombies and sends him back to the members of the party in the sewer after talking to them about the layout of the city. The children are going to help the party find an aboveground base of operations. The children obviously idolize the party members and ask repeatedly if they will take them with them or, at the least, help them escape Thay. The little girl is particularly taken with Venture; the oldest boy idolizes Dyson. Trevor ventures back out to procure the scrying bowl Abdul needs, after prestidigitating the proper pass with his visage on it. He brings the bowl back and gives it to Abdul when he wakes. Abdul scrys for the girls, and sees them bloodied and bruised in a small cell. He can see guards walking past, and Pele naked and battered on the floor. El is the only one awake, and that is only barely. While Abdul is watching, a guard throws in moldy bread and flasks of water, and El turns to pick it up. Her face, once beautiful, is disfigured: both eyes black and swollen, her nose broken, several teeth missing. Pele does not move, but she is still breathing. Abdul stops the scry to send a message to El to which she can respond. They send to her questions about where she is, what spells she still has loaded, what she needs, and also tell her that they are coming to get them. She responds that she is in the 3rd level dungeon under the colosseum, that she has fireball and invisibility still loaded, and that Pele is dying, and to come quickly, bring spellbooks, resurrection, and clothing. The party begins making plans for their assault on the colosseum. Caleb directs them through the sewers and to the colosseum's base, where Lee begins to dig with his spell-ability Burrow. With several lucky dice rolls, they dig through the walls and directly into the 3rd dungeon level, mere feet from where El and Pele are being held. They find them almost immediately, and Lee starts to try and magically pick the lock. As soon as he touches it, an alarm sounds and guards flood the place in large numbers. Combat begins and the session ends b/c the DM that runs combat is asleep. ;)

Part 7. Cage game, set, match.

The coliseum is a very large structure on the outskirts of town. It is also stone and adobe, and has 7 levels. 5 are above-ground, and are basically stadium-style seats. A round dirt track with regular entrances surrounds it, with frequent archways leading out into town and back into the seating. There are narrow stairs on the inside of the coliseum and rows and rows of dirt and stone "benches" where the people can sit to watch the events unfold. The lower "seats" are stone, larger, and more comfortable, and there are also box seats with actual chairs and cushions on the lowest levels. The box seats are not accessible from the other levels, only from the first underground level (which is where Sevier and other wizards or politicos hang out). The first underground level is accessible through 2 long staircases, behind padlocked doors, 180 degrees from each other on opposite ends of the exterior dirt track. The other two underground levels are only accessible from the first level. Those doors are also padlocked and have a heavy bar that can get thrown across them when the prisoners get rowdy. The second underground level is where the prisoners gather to be punished, questioned, or to wait for their bouts. There are small cells with chains on the wall, and some prisoners are kept up here in 'solitary' when they are particularly troublesome. There are also guard pallets in this room, places where the guards hang out during bouts or between shifts in the dungeon. The walls here are dirt, stained with blood and other unidentifiable fluids. There are deep scars in the walls and the floors. Every couple of feet there are chains and shackles deeply imbedded. Some of the rooms are outfitted as simple holding cells, while others are obviously used to "break" recalcitrant prisoners.

The dungeon level is worse. The doors from level 2 to level 3 are heavily barred and padlocked, and are always locked. The stench from this level is palpable, and the walls and floors aren't just stained, but covered entirely in unimaginably foul fluids and stains. Puddles of filth line the hallways and there are large, enmasse holding cells as well as tiny black box rooms for individual prisoners. Chains and shackles line the walls. There is a small room on one side with a heavy door with a window in it, and this is where some of the guards on duty hang out (to get away from the stench, perhaps). Other guards stand at regular posts throughout the dungeon. Many of the cells are filled, with an assortment of prisoners including violent and scary and Drow, generally normal people in very unfortunate circumstances, and lots of poor women and young men who merely look beaten-down and hopeless. And dirty.

The characters have stumbled blindly into a place they don't know the layout of, against an enemy they don't know the size or strength of. They believe at this point that they will be able to hold off the army of guards long enough to duck back into the tunnel and escape or open an dimension door or portal. It is not likely either of these things will happen.

For one, the Red Wizards (RW) were well aware of their arrival in Thay. Nic notified them--or rather his constructs notified them, and they got in touch with Nic--as soon as they had left Takt. The RW simply decided rather than expend the energy hunting them down, let them come. Though they did not expect this to happen so easily (some guard captain or security manager is TOTALLY going to lose his head over this!), they were setting up for their arrival anyway, so extra staff is on hand.

Two, yes...staff. I figure any successful coliseum is run like a business or an army (and Sevier does have an army. Maybe THIS is his army.). There are hundreds of armed and trained guards, as well as a group of 6-8 on-staff red wizards, apprentices to Sevier. When Sevier needs more mojo, he can call on a handful of other RWs, former apprentices who will still come back down to the dungeons for an occasional workout in exchange for free admission to the sports or some other favor. In anticipation of the party, he could have called them in.

Three, Sevier and Delcar themselves. They are bad ass mofos. They could have a friend if necessary.

The party has made it inside the walls of the dungeon, but getting out... isn't as simple. They fight many guards, but more keep coming. The wizards show and with MM and fire drive them back towards the tunnel. Spells don't seem to work. (Magic drain? Dimensional anchor? Take your pick...) so the party can either retreat or fight.

In either case, they should eventually be stripped of their weapons (and clothes?) and dragged to two interior (but adjacent) cells. Lee and Trover in one, Venture, Abdul, and Dyson in the other.

At this point, they will be interviewed -- i.e. broken -- by Sevier. Maybe I watch too much 24, Buffy, and The Shield, (regardless I do NOT want to turn this into a combat scene), but what should happen here is torture. We'll see how to play this. It ups the ante a bit. It can't be serious, injurious. Because he needs them to fight. But he has to foam at the mouth a bit.

They can, though, find out a whole hell of a lot about what's going on by being beat on by a very pissed off slaver. Sevier is BEYOND angry. First the slave-girl runs away and begins making a NAME for herself... but then a rag-tag bunch of faux adventurers disturbs his market, in his city, completely ILLEGALLY? According to the law of the land, they now belong to him. And they may not believe it now, but they will.

He may brag that they have been watching the party since they stepped out of the alleyway. He may sneer at Lee who is 0wnz3d. He may say unkind things about Pele's parentage.

And then he will tell them what is to come. How they will fight each other. He might even say who is to fight who, just to make some people's last nights a little MORE uncomfortable. He says it will be:

He will go over the rules of the arena, like so:

  1. You fight. To the death. If someone does not die at the end, both combatants will be killed.
  2. Winners are put up for the next week (until their bouts) in the individual or double exterior cells, with additional food and water rations.
  3. Losers are put in the large, communal cells, with a tiny ration of food and water. Oh, after they are resurrected. It would be bad business to let half the fighters die every week, but occasionally they do die... unintentionally.
  4. Some weeks, there are fights to the TRUE AND FINAL death. They cost extra.

After Sevier leaves them with their thoughts, they can have a little time to talk amongst themselves.

A few hours pass, and it is night again. The prison guards do not let them sleep more than a few hours at a time. They are given the same mouldy rations they saw being distributed to El and Pele. At some point in the night another prisoner is dragged to their cell block and thrown into the cell with Lee and Trover. The guard comments that Trover should get to know his future murderer. The addition is dusky-skinned (or is it just dirt?) with greasy black hair. His forehead is high and back, so his delicate, tapered ears are obvious. One of them is mangled at the top, the point blunted, giving him a fierce, rugged look. On closer examination, they realize his skin is paler... just dirty as hell. When he wakes (if they rouse him sooner, if not, later, since he'll want to feign unconsciousness to hear what they say), he will introduce himself as Mur'gallo, but say that everyone calls him Ash'Ishaw (Sindarian for One Ear).

He is indeed Dessar, El's half-brother, son of Tialas and another moon elf (grey elf), from Silverymoon. He has seen El come into the coliseum, and wants to know why she is there. His boss, MonkDaddy, wants info on the other one (Pele), and he is perhaps on the fence about what to do with El -- whether to tell MonkDaddy about her or just to keep away and get the info he was sent to for. He's not interested in getting her out. In fact, he would happily send her to her death, if it was convenient for him. This would be as much selfish as anything; he doesn't like her interfering in his life and here she is again, keeping him from what he needs. It could go either way, though his alignment is not-so-good. By MonkDaddy's order, Dessar is in the employ of Sevier as a thief and informant. Elves don't usually associate with the RWs, especially the above-ground kind, so for information-gathering, so he is quite useful. Dessar is charming and has a high charisma. He is not as dumb as he acts.

Things Ash'Ishaw can tell them:

After Ash'Ishaw has arrived, and they have talked, the party will hear a commotion in one of the outer halls. They will see guards rushing to and fro, then hear them returning, laughing, with a squirming Caleb, a crying Brighton, and a staid but wide-eyed Julie tossed over their shoulders like sacks of potatoes. The children are dragged through the room the party is in, recognizing their friends being held, crying out to them. One of the guards notices this and is very pleased, as he has good news to report to his boss about the new party of fighters. He sends for Sevier, who comes in and observes the children, now let lose, as they run to the bars to get closer to their hoped-for saviors. Sevier is very pleased with this development and watches the children's anguish with a smile on his face. He lets it go on a minute or two, and then with a curt word to his guards, has the children pulled free and dragged to a holding cell on the other side of the level. Their screams and cries keep members of the party awake throughout the night.

The transition here is the night passing before dawn comes and they are dragged from their cells upstairs to be prepared for fighting.

Game event summary:

Battle ensues. Lee greases a 10-ft square of ground around and including Dyson. Dyson dispatches A9. Trevor casts haste. Abdul casts recitation (+2/-2). Lee casts invisibility. Dyson gets hold-personed. They kill some guards. Venture picks up Dyson and drags him to the cell door, where Abdul casts remove paralysis on him to remove the hold-person. Abdul calls the party back into the cell. The clasp hands as the guards crowd around the outside of the cell. Abdul casts dimension door and the blink out, only to blink back in... upstairs, just at the edge of the battlefield. The coliseum floor is buzzing with guards and other employees, setting up for the next day, at least 50-75 of them. The party immediately looks for exits, with Lee and Dyson quickly scaling the lowest, closest wall (about 15 ft up). The rest prepare the fight the approaching guards, but before combat can really begin, the door behind them slams open and a handsome but totally pissed RW strides in. A piercing wail issues from behind him, and several characters drop dead, including Lee (who had tried to spider climb the walls) and Abdul (who was trying to airwalk to safety). Those who make their saving throws do not, and hang on to take several good swings at Sevier or, in Dyson's case, climb up and out. This is going well until a fire storm issues from (again) behind the double doors and takes out the party members who did not try to climb out. Sevier, distracted by a bloody-eyed Venture, was unable to complete his teleport spell successfully and bites it. Venture is still standing, but only by the power of his rage state. After one more furious round, he too drops. Dyson has managed to make it over the edge, and into the cheap seats. He finds the tunnel out into the main concourse. He never sees the exits outside, as another RW gets the drop on him, freezes his person, and drops a net on top for the grand finale. The only surviving member of the party, he is rendered unconscious and taken away.

The guards drag the dead members of the party downstairs, to the second level. They also cart Dyson down there, strip him naked, and tie a small loincloth around his waist. A RW comes in and casts detect magic, taking all the magical items he is wearing away. His rapiers and other weapons go with a guard. They shackle him to the wall in one of the cells in the main room. They pile the bodies in a corner, also stripping them naked, and removing the items of value in the same way. The wizard returns, and then simply waits for the clerics to get there, while the guards load the naked corpses into loincloth, shackles, and cell. The clerics arrive do their mojo. The party lives again.

After some time, they come to. The guards offer moldy bread and musty water, and they only allow one prisoner to be free to feed the others. After they eat, they talk amongst themselves before being interrupted by a disturbance among the guard. Moments later, the guards come in laughing and toting the children. The kids cry out for the party members, blowing any hope of cover, and the guards immediately notify Delcar, who is pleased. The children are taken away sobbing. Trover calls out to Julie to sing the song he taught her, and the kids grow more calm and quiet.

They have some time to hang out (ha!) again, but are not allowed to sleep (as if their current position allows that easily). Eventually, Sevier, also newly reborn, strides angrily into the room. He berates them. He informs them that they have broken the law -- broken into his coliseum and into Thay -- and that their lives are forfeit. He rightfully owns Pele--has paid for her, which is legal here. He cuts of much further discussion and simply tells them what they will now do--fight. He gives them the pairings and says he will see them tomorrow.

Time passes again, more talking. Most party members are avoiding the idea of killing one another, talk is of suicide and refusal, not game plan. After a bit, guards drag Ash'Ishew into the room and toss him in. The party is suspicious at first, thinking he is half-Drow, but eventually they realize they need info, and badly. The guards release them from their shackles for 'the night'--the only time when they can sleep. If they touch the bars, they will set off an alarm, and be forcibly put back in the shackles and kept awake. Trevor heals and awakens Ash'Ishew who talks with the party for some time, until a point when they all realize they must sleep while they can. They find out about the coliseum layout, the process of battles, and the general order of the day. Trevor and Dyson both are suspicious that Trevor is not what he seems.

Ash'Ishew tells them that he has been in the dungeons here for some time. He describes being taken from the Mulhurand Thayan embassy into a back room that led to another city (Skuld). He was kidnapped from Skuld for some sort of violation of Thayan etiquette and brought to the coliseum to repay his debt to Thay. He does not know anything about Mulhurand though he claims to have spent time there, which rouses Dyson's suspicions.

He tells them what will happen tomorrow, how it will go, and when they start to talk of escape, he encourages it -- but discourages their original gameplan (to try and break out during the fights). He tells them that after the bouts, the wizards and powerful men go across the street to an inn and pub where they have a formal dinner and do their business with one another. The guards, relieved that another bout day has gone down without some sort of riot, relax a bit too, since half the more powerful prisoners are newly resurrected and feeling a bit peckish.

Part 8.

This is the part where we all fight gladiator-style. Ash'Ishaw/Dessar's deception is played out, but the party is all together again, even if El and Pele are bound and gagged with hoods in their own tiny cells.

They are first taken upstairs, one by one. They are hooded, bound, and gagged, and placed in individual cages, which are loaded onto carts, like the one they saw in town. Priests in the employ of Sevier come in to heal any wounded or disabled fighters, to prepare them for battle. They are served edible rations, to give them strength and allowed some wine or mead or good water. Once they have been healed and supped, they are taken from the top level out throught the gala entranceway to the podium that has been set up. The cages are set out for display, and during the morning hours, guests and nobles can come and observe the fighters, perhaps sizing them up to see if any are worthy of purchase, or to see which gladiators they are going to bet on that day.

Once the viewings are done and the betting has taken place, the commoners are let in from the ring outside into the stadium proper and begin to fill the arena's upper levels. Most bring with them picnics and bottles of wine and mead. Whole families, children and elders all, come to the coliseum for these events. Small children run between the aisles while their mothers call after them. Men gather in clumps to play cards or place friendly (or not-so-friendly, depending on the men) bets on the day's bouts.

The nobles and wizards are announced and take their place in the box seats. There is a ledge, about 6-7 feet off the ground between the dirt floor and the first row of seats/box seats. It is wide enough for guards to stand along it, ringing the show floor. Apprentice RWs are intermittantly scattered among the guards, each equipped with wands with poweful quelling magics like paralyze, calm, or confuse. These are in case things get out of hand, or a fighter tries to do harm to the nobles, wizards, or crowd. (Though in the case of the crowd, they will probably let 'em get a couple shots off -- what's a dead commoner or two in Thay, really?)

The party members watch as the first few bouts of the day take place. Low-level fighters work to bludgeon or stab one another to death. There are dozens of fights before theirs, as they're among the more skilled of the combatants and are later in the afternoon. In one of the early fights, a man is knocked out. When his opponent will not coup de grace him, both men meet the business end of a guard's sword.

Battles occur in this order:

See Gladiator historical essay or other historical essay for more flavor.

The fights happen in the order above. At the conclusion, the live fighter is cheered by the crowd, then shackled and placed back in their cage atop the dias. The loser is dragged off the field and into the back room, where their lifeless body is shackled and thrown into a waiting cage. Priests stand at the ready to recusitate deceased fighters one-by-one as they return. Once they are no longer dead, they are taken to cells on the first level (but not the dias) for display, in case they are purchased at a discount by some noble or other slaver. (Losers make good concubines, pre-broken and a little weaker.)

If the party members refuse to fight, Sevier will use the children as leverage. He will sever fingers if he has to; this man means business.

El will, at this point, have realized that Dessar is present. She will figure this out just before she battles Pele, after all the other party members have taken the field and completed their battles. (Their cages are not adjacent, so they can't see one another until one of them takes the field.) She will have told Pele who he is, but since neither of them know that he was assuming another identity, nor that he's doing so to the party... so they won't know to tell the others just yet.

This will split the party up along different lines. Since they will fight one-after-the-other, they'll be together again. Half inside, in the ready room, half outside on the dias. It will be:

DIAS						READY ROOM
Lee v. Venture WINNER (V)			LOSER (L)
Dyson v. Abdul WINNER (D)			LOSER (A)
Trover v. Ash'Ishaw WINNER (A'I)		LOSER (T)
Pele						El

Once the battles have concluded, the haggling over slave fighters will begin. MonkDaddy is in the audience (in the boxseats, of course) and will be enraged when a more benevolent slave-owner (He purchases beautiful or particularly exotic slaves to fight in his own coliseum, but frequently lets winners go free after they are victorious in a certain number of bouts.) expresses an interest in purchasing Pele and El. Rather than let Pele go to this man who might later set her free, MonkDaddy demands that Sevier return his property to him. Sevier objects, saying that he paid for her flesh already, and has recaptured her, so she is his to do with as he wishes.

They get into a screaming match about this, in the second dungeon level where preparations were being made to transport the sold slaves. Those in the RR are privvy to the end of this conversation; those on the dias get the beginning of it. Sevier refuses to recognize MD's claim to Pele, but offer him El instead. Sevier oozes contempt and superiority at MD, saying in passing that the elf he offers is so like the man he employs, they could be siblings.

MD, not satisfied, follows Sevier out the door when he says he has to go now, oversee the evening meal, give the customary toast, etc.

Dessar, following MonkDaddy's orders (via message, I'm sure), proceeds to break out the party. He picks the lock, and tells the party members he wants to help free their friends. This is a problem, of course, because El isn't going anywhere with Dessar, even if he frees her. This will escalate into THE big boss fight, but in this situation the party will have both MonkDaddy and Dessar on their side, as well as an entire coliseum floor full of weapons and spell components at their disposal. They will also have Dessar, who can pick the locks on the remaining cells and add more prisoners to the mix. In the ensuing melee, the group should be able to escape the coliseum and, hopefully, Thay.

They will probably want to retrieve the children befriended earlier. Sevier will have put them back in a cage at this point, since he will not want to sell what is his best leverage against our group of fighters until we are all dead.

This is also doable and once they have made it out of the coliseum proper, will be able to teleport or flee to safety, kids in tow, party assembled, even if a few folks are now a level behind.

Game event summary:

The party manages to sleep enough hours to load spells, re-gain HP, etc. They wake when the guards and wizards begin to stir about, bringing out weapons and cages for the day's bout. They are on the main level, in the cages that ring the coliseum, and watch the workers go back and forth making preparations. Eventually the guards begin taking prisoners, shackling them and then transferring each to individual cages. They come to the party last and though Venture (for appearances) struggles and Dyson actually struggles, all the members of the group are eventually caged and put on display on the dias.

They are there for the morning hours. The wealthy class (in their fine robes, sipping wine and mead) wander through to ogle the manflesh, sizing up the fighters to help with wagers and to decide if any seem to be worth purchase. Sevier escorts the overly-well-to-do folk, pointing out his new aquisitions, particularly the ethereal Abdul and elves. Trevor manages to fascinate one of the women, though her husband drags her away before she can be seduced further. Dyson attempts to horrify the crowd by flashing his, uh, manhood, but he quickly finds that it merely sparks further interest, so he puts it away again.

Once everyone has had a good eyeful, the guests are guided back through the circular hallways and into the box seats at either end. Sevier and his special guests are in the box closest to the staging area. The general crowd has been let in by then, and once everyone is seated Sevier welcomes them and announces the bouts.

Several bouts take place. Most gladiators dispatch their opponents with little or no urging. One pair -- a beautiful woman with a pike and a man with 2 scythes -- fight a gorgeous battle, but when the woman is disabled, the man hesitates, and cannot manage to deliver the death blow. After a few moments, Sevier stands and, with a wand, slits the man's throat. He crashes to the ground, gurgles, and falls dead. Guards coup de grace the prone woman, and both are dragged away.

An ogre fights a man. Two Drow battle. Etc. Then the party must fight. Each other.

Lee v. Venture
They goof around for a bit, trying to figure out how much they can get away with.

Dyson v. Abdul

Trover v. Ash'Ishaw

El v. Pele

Part 9. We're tied like a knot, that nobody can sever.

This is the part where we... break free of Thay? Do we care about MonkDaddy? What does Pele have to say about all this? How do we get out of town? What do we do with the children?

Game event summary: