Arc 4: Orb is Life

Official illustration for Arc 4 Episode 1

Arc 4 is the sports arc, focusing on the sports of orbula. For this arc, Gus combines two things that are not entirely popular among DnD players: sports, and level 1 characters. With it, he wants to prove two hypotheses: first, there is fun to be had in a level 1 adventure, and second, sports and DnD can mix. He does not plan on making anyone like sports after playing or listening to that arc, but at least find a certain respect for the magic that sports can be. While orbula is the beating heart behind the arc, there are other topics, too. The original idea was to have a level 1 adventure with "magical babies", but since they don't want to harm (or even kill) children, and level 1 adventures are the most lethal, Gus decided for teenagers instead.

The arc, like the ones before, takes place in Hyranor. The town of Thymore is mentioned, as well as Damir Mortyss, who now became an orbula coach. Generally, this arc has strong connections to Arc 1. Additionally, it references the Catpaign: The Winster White Claws, the local orbula team, are named after "the cat who slayed a man". The connection to Arc 2 is the sports of orbula itself, which was first mentioned in Arc 2. The connection to Arc 3 is the druid enclave.

It follows four teenagers from the town of Winster, who all in some way are connected to the orbula team of the town, the Winster White Claws. They all hope to be able to finally win the HASMORQL league for the first time in history, and thus qualify for HASMOIST.

For this arc, there is no standard starting equipment, and no patreon items. Instead, Gus let the players choose what kind of items their characters would usually take to an orbula game.

## Arc Characters and Players

Characters and Players in order of introduction in Episode 0:

**DM** (Gus - He/Him)

**Ace** (They/He) (Played by Bri - She/Her) - is a 9 month old (17 years in appearance) Aetherborn. They are a Level 1 Pact of the Undead Warlock who just appeared one day and is really good at orbula. They are the Star Jammer and Captain of the Winster White Claws who has the ghost of Orbula Cruyff in their shoes.

**Russ Tauron** (He/Him) (Played by Sean - He/Him) - is a 17 year old Minotaur, and younger brother of a former orbula star who mysteriously disappeared 10 years prior. He is a Level 1 Paladin and is the 3rd string Rusher for the Winster White Claws. He sadly cannot live up to the legacy of his brother.

**Quinn** (She/Her) (Played by Grace - She/Her) is a 17 year old blue Tiefling, twin sister to Aster. She is a Level 1 Bard who comes from human parents and is head cheerleader to the Winster White Claws. She went along with Aster when he got kicked out because if Aster gets kicked out she is as well. She live in a treehouse that is the nextdoor neighbors the Taurons with Aster.

**Aster** (He/Him ) (Played by Haley - She/Her\*) is a 17 year old blue Tiefling, twin brother to Quinn. He is a Level 1 Monk who's a rowdy teen with some real big feelings inside of him. He will fight anyone for his twin sister, Quinn. He will also fight anyone in general. He was kicked out of the house 3 days ago by his parents Jack and Jill, and no longer has a last name. He "lives" on the streets, but in reality lives in a treehouse that is the nextdoor neighbors the Taurons with Quinn.

The icebreaker question for this arc was: If you were on a sports team, what would the number on your uniform be?

* Gus: likes the number 18, because it is even, not too high, not too low, and right before 20.
* Haley: the number 72 just feels comically large. It was also the year of her first car, and is the age she always tells little children she is.
* Aubri: choosing number 1 is just a powerful statement. It's usually the goalkeeper's number, and she actually was the goalkeeper when she played intramural soccer.
* Sean: when he played football, the jersey company let them choose three digits, and so he chose number 301. He originally is from Maryland, and this is the area code of his phone number.
* Grace: would choose number 22 because of Taylor Swift, and also because it is her current age.

\*Haley has since changed her pronouns to She/Any.

## Arc Plot (Full Arc Spoilers)

### Episode 1

It is the day of the final game of the HASMORQL league, and the whole town is excited. The teens stand up for breakfast, but Russ first has to "earn" it by practising. Aster's best friend, Bixlebong Borple, turns up and suggests pranking the Thymore Flameskulls, the team the White Claws will play against. The group brainstorms about the pranks they could play, and then goes to the stadium to await the Flameskulls and moon them on arrival. When the Flameskulls arrive, the teenagers see that their coach is an actual flaming skull, and Aster tries to fight it, for which he is being hit with a magic effect and kicked by a player. Ace tells Russ that him panicking in difficult situations is the reason he is only the third rusher, and Russ, hurt by those words, leaves the group and goes into the stadium, where he looks at the relief of his deceased brother.

### Episode 2

As Aster takes some time to recover and braids Quinn's hair for her performance, Ace, Russ, and the team are having their warm-up for the game. Then, the game starts. In the first round, the captain of the Flameskulls, Vanilla Glistens, is being knocked unconscious, and the first rusher of the White Claws is also hurt badly, so Russ leaves his usual place on the bench and is allowed to play. Both in the first and the second round, the White Claws manage to get a dunk and score three points. As a reaction to Russ assisting both of the dunks, a fan of the Flameskulls shouts "Your brother is still dead" at him. While Russ barely reacts, Aster, who watches the game, has only waited for an opportunity to start trouble, and wants to defend friend, throws a knife at the person who shouted that. This leads to the Flameskull fans trying to reach Aster and beat him up, so Aster flees the stadium. In the chaos, Coach Mortyss mutters something, and the orb flies out of the stadium and into the direction of the Trembling Timbers. While Quinn follows her brother, Ace and Russ try to follow the orb.

### Episode 3

The episode starts with a flashback to the first game Quinn cheered at, when she was 13 years old. During that game, Aster punched a man in the stands who had said rude things about the team, and when his parents drag him back home and accuse him of only ever thinking about himself, Aster runs away. When the game ends and Quinn comes home, he still hasn't returned, so Quinn gets his jacket and a fruit snack and goes out to find him. The flashback ends, and the scene shifts back to the current time, with Aster running away again, this time chased by an angry mob of Flameskulls fans. Quinn also runs after him and more or less accidentally kills four people with a Thunderwave spell while trying to protect her brother. Finally, Aster manages to vanish in the alleys, and as the mob disperses, Quinn starts searching for him on her own.

In the meantime, Russ and Ace tried to follow the orb and reached the Trembling Timbers, which a few of the Flameskulls players and fans have already went into. They decide against going in there on their own, and instead search for and help Aster and Quinn first. Back in Winster, they find a very upset Quinn, and finally, Aster manages to find back to them, too.

All together again, the team goes to the Trembling Timbers and enters, and Russ starts following his newly awakened divine sense, feeling that there is something evil in the forest awaiting them. As they explore the woods, the dread of evil and the smell of something rotten gets worse and worse, and they pass a few disturbing scenes of undead animals. Finally, they reach a hill and look down upon a pit of some sorts. Around the pit, the Flameskulls fans and players have already gathered, and in the middle of it stands an undead minotaur, holding the orb. It is Russ's dead brother Wrangler.

### Episode 4

The episode starts with the party entering Initiative. Their goal is to both get the orb, and also to defend Wrangler from the attacking Flameskulls, if possible. While Russ tries to deal with his undead brother, Ace, Quinn and Aster for the most time try to keep the Flameskulls fans and players from attacking them and from getting the orb.

First, Russ tries to persuade Wrangler and get through to him in the hopes of there still being his brother inside the zombie. At first, he seems to achieve something, and Wrangler at least doesn't attack them for a bit. Quinn tries to take the orb from him, but fails, and the zombie inside of Wrangler wins again, and he attacks Aster. Russ then tries to get through to him by addressing the orbula player inside his brother, making him pass the orb and play the "Red 17" play, but again, it fails. It seems as though the Wrangler Russ knew is not understanding him anymore, he is just confused and angry. Emotionally distraught, Russ tackles and attacks Wrangler and throws him to the ground. Ace turns around to the remaining Flameskulls and tells them to better run, ending combat.

Russ takes the orb away from the severely hurt Wrangler, tells him "Thanks. We're gonna win this for you." as a good-bye, and then turns around to leave. Ace looks after Wrangler, trying to find out how much of him is still in there, and then mercykills him by passing an Eldritch Blast in form of an orb towards him. Aster and Quinn, who followed Russ, make sure that he doesn't turn around to see it.

As they want to leave the forest again, they suddenly meet a red-skinned tiefling man, Ialius, who seems to be searching for the necromancers responsible for this. He makes a few hints that all of this is connected to "Old Orbula", or a bastardisation thereof, and offers them to take them to the Charcoal Grove enclave. After a bit of thinking, the team decides to trust him and take the offer, since the orb still seems to need fixing, they need a rest, and people would probably still try to kill Aster if they just returned to Winster.

At the end of episode 4, the whole party makes a level up and reaches level 2.

### Episode 5

The party gets to the enclave, where they drink, and then rest for the night. The next morning, Ialius introduces them to an improvised council specifically brought together for this problem. There, they get to know Magnanimous, called Mag, a fairy that already lived when Orbula Cruyff did, too, and who can tell them about Old Orbula. They learn that what is now called Old Orbula was a necromantic ritual that would wake up huge beasts from hibernation. It has not been done in centuries, but now, Damir Mortyss seems to want to try it again. With the help of the artificer Binglebug Borple, an uncle of Bix, they can find out that the orb they found again back in the forest, still spewing out black smoke, has two rituals programmed into it: one is the normal game of Modern Orbula, completed when they win it, and the other is the ritual of Old Orbula, which would wake the beasts. Well-rested and with their new knowledge, the party and Ialius make their way back to Winster, where they arrive in a stadium engulfed in black smoke, and Damir Mortyss cackling. His plan is to complete the ritual, and ride the beasts to the capital to become king.

### Episode 6

The episode begins with everyone rolling Initiative. While Ialius uses a Homebrew spell to create a windsphere that holds back the darkness, and with it undead squirrels and other small forest animals, the party starts fighting the Flameskulls players, the cultists, and Damir Mortyss. At first, they seem to have the upper hand, and quickly kill the Thymore Flameskulls team. Mortyss then, as he sees that his team is dead, casts Fireball, downing Ace and nearly permakilling Russ. From down below the earth, a hole opens up, and a giant hand, both furry and yet also scaled, comes out, a first sign of the creatures sleeping in the deep. Ialius drops the windsphere to be able to heal the party, and after some more fighting, which now also includes a few undead wood creatures and the hand, Quinn gets the killing blow on Mortyss, and Russ can score the missing point to win the game for the Winster White Claws. As the black smoke vanishes, the party sees that the Winster fans, including Russ's parents, are still in the stadium, and celebrate the win.

In an epilogue, the party is working on making the tree house bigger, as Dwalla Keys, owner of the Tyle Tarrasques orbula team, comes to the Tauron's family home. She offers Ace to join the team, but they decline the offer: they would rather spend their short life with their friends instead and travel the world to see as much of it as possible.

## Trivia

* In Arc 1 Episode 0 Haley swore she'd never do a level 1 and Gus said he would, so here it is!
* Grace is the artist for the official Unprepared Casters artworks, and never played Dungeons and Dragons before.
* Aubri is Gus' home game DM, and Sean is also player in that campaign.
* Because the characters are all 17, this is the first Arc where the characters are not hot.
* Arc 4 is the first arc with no Player Characters known to be related to the Lovejoy Family.
* During Episode 2, Gus jokingly rolled death saves for the unconscious Vanilla Glistens. Technically, she failed, but the stadium had medical staff that managed to stabilise her and get her on her feet again, so that she could join the final fight.
* This is the first arc where the party levels up mid arc.
* Episode 4 of this arc is the first episode where only one of the hosts, in this case Haley, was there for the intro and outro, since Gus moved and did not have internet by the time it needed to be recorded. Since the episodes are all recorded in advance, that is not a problem for the actual podcast.