Honorbound: Episode 11

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==Recap==
The party starts in the Stone inn at Goldfort. Martur has a dream, finding himself in a black room. He sees a serpent that is eating its own tale, a mountain sized oak tree, and a shapeless figure made of smoke. The figure says that you have put the past behind you, and now your blood can sing. Martur hears a chorus of a thousand voices singing in a high note. He feels himself strengthened, and then wakes up. Martur gains the ability Blood Power. It is available once per day, and you can boost a targets temporary hit points by their number of Hit Dice times 1d6. The party eats breakfast and gathers a few supplies, and then goes to observe the tournament. A herald announces that the winner of the joust will receive a warhorse, a full suit of plate mail, and 1000 gold pieces. The winner of the melee will receive a magical flail and 500 gold pieces. The winner of the sharpshooting contest is a magical quiver of arrows that replenishes itself, and are more effective than normal arrows. The party checks on the rules of the melee, and find that the competition starts as a team effort, but eventually becomes a one on one fight. As the party gets together, they see a shadow pass over the whole city. Martur asks a child what is going on, and finds that the Sisters are coming to participate in the tournament. It soon becomes apparent that the shadow is made by a Flying Fortress, sitting on a large portion of volcanic rock. The fortress is circular with 4 large spires with rotating rings on top of them. Therin decides to enter the archery competition, Bowen decides to enter the joust, and all three of them decide to enter the melee. Martur enters under the name Stonegrim Fallsalot. Therin tries to get directions to the Jagged Tooth, but finds that it is an abandoned fortress. No one knows how to get there. 
===The Tournament===
The next day the party enters the tournament. The joust is the first event, and several rounds pass. Bowen competes against Sir Frederick the Wise. After 5 rounds, the match ends in a 1–1 tie. In the tie breaker round, Sir Frederick hits Bowen square in the chest and dismounts him, winning the match. Before the melee, Martur takes Therin's breastplate, and Therin buys studded leather armor. The party gathers for the melee, and their opponents are two knights in plate armor and a woman named Varissa in dragon scale armor. The melee yard has a small wall to one side and a pit with sharpened spikes on the other. The melee starts with Therin landing several blows on Varissa, before the knights land large hits on Therin. Martur casts Magic Missile to pummel Varissa, and Bowen casts Bless on the party. Therin lands a blow and retreats, while the knights split against Martur and Bowen. Martur takes a large blow while Bowen smacks Varissa and casts Healing Word on Therin. Varissa hits Bowen, but Therin climbs on the wall and   brings Varissa down. Martur casts Shield to block a blow as Bowen smacks the other knight. Therin brings a knight down while the other knight knocks Martur unconscious. Bowen takes the last knight down, but Martur is disqualified from future rounds. Martur is healed, and stands up to see Balor Hammerfist, the leader of the Goldfort dwarves. He bows to Martur, and tells him it is an honor to meet the hammer wielder. He asks Martur to follow him, which he does. He alludes that the magic hammer is greatly important, and talks about prior leaders of the Hammerfist dwarves that were heroes of old. They were apparently all hammer wielders, and always had two companions. Balor tells him that there have been many hammer wielders, but the cycle of darkness and light ends with Martur. Balor tells him that the Hammerfist dwarves are bound to follow the hammer wielder when the darkness rises. Martur gets the location of Elen'thiel the Sage from Balor, as well as directions to the Jagged Tooth mountains. The only way to get there is to use a Horn of Summoning, which is lost in the mountains. A creature that digs out of the ground killed the group of dwarves seeking the Horn and swallowed the Horn whole. Balor tasks them to kill the creature and recover the Horn. Martur returns to the party and informs them of what has transpired.
The party enters the next round of the melee, with Therin and Bowen fighting a thin elven woman and an armored dwarven warrior. Therin moons the opponents, to the dismay of the nobles watching. Bowen casts Shield of Faith and advances to meet the warrior. Therin lands a blow on the warrior as the elven woman moves behind Bowen and makes many attacks, dealing minimal damage. Bowen lands a blow on the warrior, and then spins to face the elf, as Therin lands his own attack and circles around to the elven woman. The warrior lands a hit on Bowen, and he loses concentration on his spell. Bowen heals himself with Healing Word as he lands a blow on the elven woman. Therin fails to shove the elven woman into the pit. Many blows are exchanged back and forth, and eventually Therin goes unconscious and is disqualified from the tournament. Bowen recasts Shield of Faith, but the dwarven warrior hits him and immediately breaks his concentration. Bowen brings down the elven woman, and exchanges several hits with the dwarven warrior until Bowen finally brings the dwarf down.
Bowen rests and confers with the party. Martur uses his Blood Power to give Bowen 20 temporary hit points for the last round of the melee. Bowen's opponent is a burly Half-Orc in hide armor. The two warriors meet in the middle of the arena and trade powerful blows right from the start of combat. The Half-Orc is reckless in his attacks, and Bowen takes advantage to land several hits. The tide quickly turns, and the Half-Orc breaks through the temporary hit points and starts damaging Bowen. Bowen lands two strong final blows, and brings the Half-Orc down, winning the melee. Nine knights circle Bowen, and declare him the winner to the crowd, bringing many strong cheers. Balor Hammerfist brings the magical flail and a coffer of platinum to Bowen. The flail radiates light, and small red electrical charges arc up and down the metal. Balor's cleric explains that the flail gives a bonus to hit and damage, and you can use three charges per day to deal additional damage. The flail does 2d6 damage for one charge, 3d6 damage for two charges, or 4d6 damage for all three charges, and you can choose between fire or electrical damage. 
The archery competition occurs next, with Therin participating. The first portion of the challenge is for precision, and Therin wins by a small margin. The second portion of the challenge is for accuracy, and Therin loses to Lady Arrenworth, the elven woman he fought in the melee. He is able to score high enough to advance to the last portion of the challenge, which is finding hidden targets and then shooting them. Therin finds three of the five targets, and hits two of them. Lady Arrenworth finds three targets and hits two, resulting in a tie. To break the tie, both participants are blindfolded and tasked to shoot a target in the field. Therin hits a bullseye and wins the competition. Nine knights circle Therin and declare him the winner. Balor Hammerfist brings the magical quiver and a coffer of platinum to Therin. The quiver always refills itself after firing arrows and gives a bonus to hit and damage. This ends the tournament.
===The Assassin===
As they stand their in the crowd, an arrow hits Martur in the neck, and he is poisoned. Bowen sees a dark figure climbing out of a watchtower, and calls out as he begins to chase after him. Therin fires an arrow and drops him in one shot. Bowen casts Spare the Dying to stabilize him. Bowen climbs the watchtower to find a dead guard up top. Martur checks the assassin's wrist, and doesn't find a tattoo. Martur also finds a bag of 50 gold pieces on the assassin. Balor Hammerfist escorts the party to the keep for safety, bringing the unconscious body of the assassin with them. Lady Schala, a robed figure next to Balor, casts Lesser Restoration on Martur, healing his poison. Martur gathers maps and information in his quest to recover the Horn of Summoning. Balor offers several potential allies to accompany the party on their journey. The party interrogates the prisoner, finding that he has no tongue. They are able to decipher that someone hired him to kill Martur, but not their identity. Therin starts breaking the prisoner's fingers, and they are able to get more information. The prisoner informs them he was hired by someone who has a silver arm, in the town of Valus. 
The party meets with Balor and Schala, and they tell them of a prophecy referring to the rise of the New Guard. They go to the top of one of the towers, and meet with an elven prophet. The prophet gets a set of tarot cards, and places in front of Martur a burning tower, and says there is a choice. To the right she places a devil and a magician, and on the left places death and the world. Looking at Bowen, she places justice and then a hanged man leading to a star. She says there is an alternate choice, and says the craziness of love will give you strength unimagined. Looking at Therin, she says the wheel of destiny will offer you two directions, a high priestess of the moon, or a hermit of the sun. The prophet then collapses in exhaustion, and dies. Therin steals the tarot cards, and Bowen ritually casts Detect Magic. He finds nothing magical except for the items the party has on them. Martur takes several books from the prophet's study. The party informs Balor that the prophet has passed.  
After some discussion, the party decides to hunt down the Horn of Summoning. The party rests for the night in the keep, and Martur casts Arcane Lock on their doof.
The next morning, they gather for breakfast among many of the members of the tournament. They talk to a scout to get information on the monster who swallowed the Horn, determining that it burrowed out of the ground and ate 14 dwarves. Therin floats the idea to the party of getting a few allies that the beast will eat before them. Martur gathers the heroes from the tournament to gather in a room, and then casts Detect Thoughts to determine if they are safe to give sensitive information. They ask Balrog the Kind, the dwarven warrior from the melee, to join them. They also ask Varissa the dragon mailed warrior and Lady Arrenworth, the elven archer, to accompany them as well. The party leaves that morning for their journey.
==Experience==
The party gets 600 XP.
Category:Honorbound Episodes