Episode 46

The following morning, K and Anthos leave to have an early training session. While Lily makes pancakes in the common room, Marisol is vocal about her dissatisfaction from the previous job’s payment. She seems to be sated after learning that some supplies can be purchased with the group funds, and decides to go shopping. Seipora is left to make the rest of the pancakes by herself as Lily takes Ingred to the arms master so a package can be dealt with.

Everyone eventually gathers back in the common room to talk about the Burning Swords. K insists that Marisol and Ingred don’t have to participate in the god war arena since they weren’t involved with the Burning Swords’ scandal. Ingred lets the group know that she will be joining them despite the fact. After a vague strategizing session, the party is called up to Press’s office. He welcomes them in and after a dramatic wardrobe change from Lily and an “oops I forgot to grab something” from Anthos, they all head to the liceum.

The price to be teleported to Victory City is 500 gold per person, however Press decides to pay for the entire party. The head of the liceum meets with the group before they leave, apologizing to Seipora for their earlier mishap. The party is teleported to Victory City. Outside of the hexagonal room they can hear a huge crowd of people. As they exit, the party is thrust into a brightly lit entryway for Victory Alley. Hundreds of people ignore the cue to enter the dome, instead deciding to push and shove past each other in a chaotic swarm. The building is split in half, with many many doors stacked with grates in between each floor. A massive silver archway awaits them in the distance, reading “VICTORY ALLEY” in bold, red letters. Eye-catching blue plates can be seen with fights playing off of them (like the fantasy equivalent to a projector) although no source can be seen. The crowd below goes wild as the fights proceed on the screens.

There are various races that can be found here; from orcs, to dragonborns, gnomes, you name it! Seipora asks Press if he has participated before. He just smiles and continues to lead them through. An elvish lady suddenly appears and welcomes them, clad in a purple dress with white accents. Press baffles the group as he literally walks through her. K and Ingred poke at the woman. Their hands go through her without resistance. She continues her narration, describing Victory Alley as a place for people looking to be famous through their fighting. Some come to settle their differences, while others fight to the death for glory. Her image flickers out and reappears as the party walks through her to catch up with Press.

The crowd gets denser as they approach the exit of the liceum, which is only a double-wide set of doors. The party finds themselves sandwiched in the crowd. Press, however, nonchalantly flows through the crowd with ease. They are stuck in foot traffic for 30 minutes to an hour, but eventually make it through the doors.

Iridescent Soulfire enters Victory Alley. Redstone is stretched along the floors here like a giant red carpet. Many red banners lay across the walls. The crowd here is much larger, thousands of people wait to enter the arena as contestants or as spectators. Marisol is overwhelmed by the crowds and gets a bit aggressive. She pushes a tall, blue dragonborn man to get out of her way. Press has to intervene before a fight breaks out, and mentions that if they hurt anyone here the party will be fined.

The party can see a giant statue of a man posing with two greatswords, but the crowd is so thick that they cannot see the description on it. They decide to make a formation around Marisol and Ingred to keep the two from being crushed and they make it to the god war arena in the short span of an hour and a half. Marisol looks pale at the end of it.

They are ushered inside by a few gentlemen at the front. The private section is much quieter than the outside, which is a quick relief for the party. They enter the lounge where the Burning Swords are resting in the opposite side of the room. Press goes to meet with the other party’s liaison, Ms. Bell. The Burning Swords glare at the group as they enter, except for the sorceress. Soulfire settles down to talk strategy. Ingred tries to make small talk at some point but is given the middle finger.

A door apparates in the wall after a few minutes, stepping through is the Watcher; a goliath dressed in ornate robes. He wishes them all good luck and a good day before walking to the center of the lobby. He talks about the conditions between Press and Ms. Bell. Members of the Burning Swords meet with Iridescent Soulfire but are separated by an invisible wall. Lily accepts the conditions given by the other group. The Watcher lays out the rules; non-death match, punishable by royal law. No surrender, no aerial fighting, no two matches with the same people. No inciting fights. Soulfire gets the first choice. They have five minutes to send their members to the arena floor.

Before they enter the arena, Lily gives everyone permission to go all-out. The party can hear the crowd going nuts as the current battle in the arena is wrapped up. The announcer declares a winner; the leader of the Black Rose, Twallee, took out The Jester with her war axe, Leviathan. A beefy half-orc woman waves to the crowd as she leaves the dirt field. The Burning Swords are called up first into the arena, revealed with big, bright lights. Press ushers the party up onto a platform. Marisol does not join them, instead staying by Press’s side. As the announcer introduces Soulfire into the arena, fire dramatically shoots up from the stage. Walls close them off in the field while the crowd goes nuts. Four mages change the terrain. The dirt arena is morphed into a grassy field with abandoned ruins. In the center lies a broken fountain. The tournament has 5 rounds; The team that earns best of three will be declared the winners. Rock Hill offers up a chain of returning, Basalt a wand of fireballs.

Soulfire sends K up first for a 1v1 with a bardic inspiration from Seipora. The Burning Swords send up the phoenix sorceress, Siobhan. She attacks first with an ice-spell and a fire-spell. K is quick to jest, and the crowd goes wild as he says that Anthos’s fire burns hotter. He catches her heavily in the shoulder blades with his longsword as she blasts at him point-blank with more ice magic. The battle is tense, and as the round draws to a close K takes one final blow at the sorceress. She falls, however as she is knocked down, phoenix fire spills out from her body and lashes at K in a final act of defiance. K blacks out, and the sorceress wins the round by the skin of her teeth. A white dome encompasses K and brings him back to the platform. The party commends K for his fight, although he appears to be dejected from the results. Ingred starts to patch him up as the Burning Swords send out their next team.

Do’Navan the rogue and Riot the paladin are up next. Lily is given a bardic inspiration as well before she steps up alongside Anthos. The fight begins. Do’Navan hides. Lily shoots off some eldritch blasts at Riot as he approaches Anthos. The rogue catches Lily off guard and shoves a dagger into her armpit. The wound bleeds heavily. The paladin hits Anthos hard, his punches dealing a lot of damage. As Do’Navan goes to flee, he is trapped by both Lily and Anthos. The two tear into him with a combination of swords and smites. Lily slams into his ribcage with her greatsword, and joins his bubbled form after a swift hit from Riot. The paladin and Anthos have a slug fest. Anthos is eventually pinned up against the wall, looking badly battered. After taking one more punch from Riot, he gives a final, brutal hit to the paladin. The bubble pops up around the paladin, and Anthos is left on the Arena floor. Exhausted, but victorious.

The crowd loses their shit. Ingred finishes up with K and switches to give some first aid to both Lily and Anthos. As she does, she talks about going 1v1 to give the others a chance to heal up before the next round. Seipora pitches in and says that it might be a better idea to do the 3v3, seeing as a majority of the Burning Swords are still injured. Ingred agrees, and Soulfire sends Seipora, Ingred, and a freshly treated K out to fight.

The session ends with Do’Navan and Riot approaching the arena floor once more, chugging down healing potions and accompanied by Justin, the battlemaster fighter.