Session 23

## Notable Events

* We meet the other contestants - Cerrival (a mysterious half orc man hailing from Highweld), Absan Smite (halfling son of Rangar), Laurel Rutri (elven music professor from ATAC), Black Beetle (a mysterious armoured figure who only communicates through sign language), and Gillan Stonesaber (a seemingly egotistical dwarven man)
* As the other fights occure, Dimitri takes his little brother back to his fathers stall
* Dimitri eats dinner with his father, they have a conversation about what has happened to Dimitri, as well as what is currently happening to Dimitri's mother.
* It is revealed that The Stain is threatening Dimitri's family, leveraging their safety in return for The Keystone
* Upon this revelation, Dimitri rushes back to the Colosseum
* He approaches Meadow defensively asks to search for something in the Bag of holding. Upon confirming that the keystone was in there, Dimitri attempts to run off
* Meadow, already thinking Dimitri is acting very suspiciously, grapples him with her whip - suspecting he is the stain, she asks for the code phrase
* Dimitri fumbles it for a bit, being extremely frazzled, but manages to remember it
* Confirming it is Dimitri, Meadow gives the keystone to Dimitri, determining that this would be the only thing of value (to him) in the Contrabag of holding, trusting that whatever he needs it for is dire enough to give it up. Dimitri rushes back to his family, Meadow warns him that someone is following him
* Dimitri gives the keystone to his father, and also suggests they stay at the molten pig as it would be safer
* Dimitri goes towards the coliseum to collect the key from Meadow, but he is approached by the Noble who turned him into a dhampir - he talks at dimitri and dimitri attacks him. After the vampire leaves, dimitri is extremely shaken and crumples to the ground

*- "When were you going to tell him? Hm? Or are you too afraid?"*

*- "I don't know what you're talking about"*

*- "You don't need to play dumb with me, little one. You think I don't know? You think I don't know that I made you? That you are mine? You're never going to tell him, your own father..."*

*- "He doesn't deserve that"*

*- "No, he doesn't deserve that, why?"*

*- "Because it wasn't his fault...and...he..."*

*- "It wasn't his fault, what, you think it* *was your faul wasn't it. When you ripped out that bitch's throat. It was your fault, wasn't it - it wasn't my fault"*

*- "But...it WAS my fault...yes"*

*- "It is no one's fault. It is just in our nature. You understand that, don't you?"*

*- "It may be yours but it's not mine"*

*- "You say that now...you will see one day. We are better than all of these folk. These livestock. You understand that, don't you? What, did you care for her? You can fight it all you want. You can run from it, you can hide from what you are, or you can embrace it and you could be strong. Or you can continue to be weak. It does not matter to me. I'm just trying to help you understand your potential; what you can do with yourself.*

*It's only a matter of time you know. Before you kill that old man, that little kid too. You understand that, don't you. We're better than them. We ALWAYS will be. Those friends of yours? One day..."*

* Meanwhile, the tournament rages on - underneath the arena, Nova has a conversation with Cerrival as she finds the magical nature of his tattoos fascinating
* Cerrival is defeated by Absan, The Black Beetle defeats a miner from Dracksrock, Laurel defeats Gillan, and the Imperator defeats a rando
* Some downtime, Nova and Justice strike up a conversation with Laurel about arcane theory (nerds), Justice hatches a prank with Pearl
* The semi-final rounds - Nova defeats Laurel (right in the family jewels), Absan defeats Pearl, The Black Beetle defeats a wooden masked person
* Justice and the Imperator are matched against each other - Justice asks her if she would want to beat up any one in particular, she gives hima list of names, including Lord Portsin
* In the arena, Justice disguises himself as Portsin in a mocking performance to get his absolute shit handed to him - he rallies the crowd with his performance and things possibly devolve to chaos