Expedition 30: Port Brawl, or Uh, It Looked Like a Monster

### Summary

Several of our adventurers enter the annual Stormbreak Tournament, and fight their way up the ranks until Jamie and Basil face off, ending with Jamie killing Basil as he turns into a monstruous Gibbering Mouther.

### Detailed Writeup

The day’s adventure begins with excitement on the day of Stormbreak. It isn’t the largest holiday of the year, but the most eventful. All consensual fighting is allowed. Fist fights, arm wrestling, and beer drinking are common. It culminates in a clearing at the edge of town with a huge bout (tournament!). Calliope gets a different set of armor to prove that she is not cheating. Lahont buys a small vial of something. Jamie practices with his claymore. Arha tries to convince Feng to come and fails. Jamie succeeds at convincing Verrsia. It is clear weather on this day.

Just as the light is about to start fading, we make our way to the tournament circles. Many mugs of beer are drawn. Organizers are drawing circles of various radii and laying out buckets of various sizes. Fighters gather up, including Torr with light leather armor and fur lined pants. Fern, Father Menau, Mother Dalxar, Triumph, and Annabelle. Triumph approaches Jamie. He has a reasonable nice shirt on. Calliope arrives with Lahont waiting to get her armor on. Jamie looks for Verrsia. Arha helps the set up. Lahont sizes up the fighters. One of the fighters is a female tortle with a quarterstaff and component pouch. Many human fighters. There is an orcish woman (6’8”) with a great axe holding court with some sailors. Some of the fighters seem soldiery: humans from the north. Basil is there with a dark black cloak. Jamie also recognizes a younger looking human warrior wielding a longsword and triangle shield. He has been asking about Jamie. A bunch of people are mismatched with odd sized weapons and armor, basically here for the story.

Krex Kingfisher calls for people to come around. He welcomes us all. Jamie then sees Verrsia arrive with chainmail and a battleaxe. Krex continues, imploring people to take part in the beer. The fights will begin when Raal disappears over the horizon. He explains the rules: Don’t try to kill each other. Father Menau is here for injuries. Getting caught using outside resources is against the rules. May the best warrior win! He heads off with a cheer from the crowd.

Jamie and Verrsia speak. Verrsia decided to sign up because Jamie was going to balls and talking trade so she decided to try to take part in his interests as well. Calliope and Lahont have a plan. Basil is chowing down on free bread. Jamie and Calliope have a discussion about Basil. Verrsia doesn’t know about the plan so Lahont interjects that they cannot talk about it. Verrsia hopes they are cheating to defeat Basil.

Jamie and Arha note that figures are approaching still, one of them is wearing a dark cloak of fine material with the hood up: Delphi. Arha listens into the orc. The orc is giving the sailors a rousing speech about how they are going to win in this tournament. Marya is the name of the orc. She wears something like a half-plate. 100 pounds of leather stapled together. She’s actually 6’10”. She is about 32/33.

Lahont scans the non-combatants. Elmraya of the Broken Doubloon is there. Menau is setting up the medical tent. Dalxar is hyping up and smiling. She is SO riled. He sees Delphi, Annabelle talking to people, Triumph standing back against a tree, and a couple groups of sailors, townsfolk. Madira Wainsbottom and her son Thomas are there. Lahont goes and talks to Delphi. Her eyes are on Basil and a little on Calliope. Lahont lets her know that he is able to help if something comes up.

~~[Krex (old lizardfolk man) then starts the tournament. First is something to thin the ranks. The buckets now number 150. Every person who wants to compete must grab a bucket and fill it with sea water. First 80 to come back get to compete. Arha and Verrsia fall behind. Calliope speeds ahead. Jamie is in the middle. Then Calliope falls to the middle, Jamie starts getting ahead, Arha stays steady, Verrsia keeps falling back. They reach the water and run back. Arha and Calliope are able to get ahead. Jamie stays steady. Verrsia does not make it. The groups gather back together. Marya and her rowdiest make it. Some of the soldier types (Vehessians) failed, though enough made it. One of them stayed back to watch things. Lahont goes to speak with him and tries to sell him a crossbow. He lets Lahont know that only Seraphino could afford it. The two are friendly though even though the soldier says no to the crossbow. Clarity talks to Triumph who has been avoiding the crowd. He is at ease talking to her. He is anxious about getting yelled at. Clarity tries to calm him down, which works a bit.]~~

BUCKET RACE Combat rules: No killing play to unconsciousness later Cheating is against the rules Getting caught cheating is against the rules

The competition begins with the great bucket race to thin out the ranks for combat. Calliope, emboldened with magic, took off quickly, Jamie kept up with the pack, Arha was very nice to others and helped them with their buckets, but kept pace with Versia near the rear. Torr…Torr turned into a horse, and Basil flew. On the return, all but Versia make the cut.

~~There is a short break as the last buckets are counted. Arha speaks to Ferdinand: human man in late 20s with a goatee, a spear, and leather boots. The next phase involves a series of 16 5 way wrestling matches. Getting knocked out or getting pushed out. Ferdinand, Torr, two of Marya’s Rowdies, and a townie go in. Ferdinand and Torr come out. Arha, Calliope, Marya, one of her rowdies, and a dwarven townie. Arha and Calliope win. Jamie watches that young man that was asking about him barely winning out. The head of soldiers makes great progress but several of his soldiers are knocked out. The seventh bout with Jamie has a tortle woman, a soldier, a human man in his 40s with wrapped knuckles, and Basil. Basil and Jamie win. Afterwards, Jamie notices Basil regenerating.~~

Jamie and Clarity talk about cheating Basil. Lahont speaks to Verrsia and tries to sell the crossbow, which he does for 17 silver. Calliope speaks to Delphi. Lahont plays three card monte but loses despite using Sleight of Hand. Clarity goes to talk to Yugmala. They discuss tactics. Yugmela is bad at wrestling. Clarity commiserates. Yugmela is there to show herself off to the magical practitioners of town. She is particularly hopeful to meet Tolyr, and Archmage. She knows Detect Poison and Disease despite being a wizard. She worries she might be too late.

#### Part 2

WRESTLING MATCH Round 1! ding ding 5-way wrestling matches! The fight goes until there are only 2 left in the ring.

Ring 1: Torr, Ferdinand, some rowdies, and a townie; Torr is…still a horse. Ferdinand jumps on his back, and after the others fight it out, they are the only two left.

Ring 2: Calliope, Arha, Marya, Marya’s soldiers, Random short dwarf Maryia rushes forward to try and blast Arha out of the ring in one go, having failed to push her out, she follows through with an axe blow, which sinks into Arha’s shoulder. Arha tries to respond in kind, but is unable to shift the large Orc. Calliope charged into the middle of the ring, preparing to shove anyone who approaches her. Marya’s soldier races in, but was unable to hit the gnome. The dwarf warily circles the melee. Marya strikes out at Arha, bloodying her, but Arha responds in kind with a pair of blows, bloodying Marya in return. Calliope rushes to Arha’s aid as the grunt’s attack pings harmlessly off of her armor. Calliope sends in a pair of haymakers, felling the massive orcish woman, knocking her unconscious. The grunt, extremely frightened, drops his mace, The dwarf enters the center of the circle, asking for a “fair fight” with no weapons. Arha begins to wrestle the dwarf, pinning her arms, dragging her towards the edge. She stops her from escaping with a roll, and eventually shoves the dwarf out.

In the interim bouts: Some Northerner Jamie knew won his match, the head soldier won, his soldiers didn’t.

Ring 7: Jamie, Basil, Yugmela, one Northern soldier, some old human boxer Jamie picks up Basil and chucks him out. But too bad, Basil is flying and a rules lawyer. Fisticuffs guy pushes Yugmela out of the ring like a curling stone and prepares himself for a fight. Basil is yep, still flying Jamie insults Basil, after which he casts some magic to make himself bigger. Fisticuffs guy punches a swordsman and gets hit with a sword. Jamie charges forward with a shout. He strikes twice, taking chunks out of Basil’s flesh. Fisticuffs guy tries to hurl the soldier out of the ring, it doesn’t work. Basil casts booming blade, and misses; however, his wounds appear to be healing. The soldier fails to down fisticuffs guy. Jamie continues his onslaught, taking more chunks out of the racist gnome. Jamie action surges, but Basil conjures a wall of force, barely staying on his feet. Fisticuffs guy tries valiantly to remove the soldier from the ring, fails, tries again, fails again. Basil looks afraid of Jamie, reaches into his pouch, glares at Jamie, and then casts scorching ray on the commoners, knocking them out; their bodies afflicted by cold energy rather than fire.

That’s all for round 1!

~~The next round is 32 contestants in a 5 round single elimination. Arha beats a soldier. Seraphino beats a towny. Ferdinand beats another random. Calliope beats Torr after a protracted battle. Ferdinand is defeated. Basil fights one of Marya’s thugs, tearing through him with a rapier, taking a long time. Jamie fights that younger fighter that recognized him, and they talk before the fight. He is from Ramada by way of Baltir. He wants to be Jamie’s squire. His name is Silvert. Jamie agrees and Silvert immediately yields. After the first round, Lahont talks to Calliope about Basil, wondering why she spoke with him. Lahont then riles her up for the next round. Silvert talks to Jamie after the bout, about what a squire does. Silvert is from the abbey of Silvert. Clarity talks to him about Baltir. Silvert seems to recognize Clarity. He acts incredibly awkward. ~~

SINGLE ELIMINATION Round 2! ding ding

Single elimination combat bracket! Fight to unconsciousness or yield.

Arha x Soldier: The two circle for a time, and begin to get closer, and closer. Until Arha steps back, launching two javelins at the soldier, forcing him to yield, bloodied and on one knee after a single salvo.

Serefino beats a townie, and Ferdinand beats a random.

Torr x Calliope: After noticing Torr’s handshake gambit before the fight, Calliope is shoulder thrown onto the ground. As Calliope charges at Torr, he slams his pike down in a rage, finding a weak spot in the gnome’s armor. Calliope jumps in to punch, landing two jabs on the dwarf’s jaw. After this, Torr transforms into a bear with a massive scar. He claws and bites at Calliope, dealing no damage. Calliope begins trying to land body blows on the Bear Torr, connecting with one. Bear Torr attempts to bowl Calliope over, succeeding, but is unable to shove her into the ground. Shaken by the attack, Calliope is unable to strike from her grappled position. Bear Torr drives Calliope into the ground, but she launches an onslaught of blows into the underbelly of the bear, weathering the bites from above. Finally, she lands the blow that forces Torr back into human form, after which he yields.

More soldiers and townies loose, including Ferdinand. Basil fights a sailor, skewering him with a rapier, wearing down his defenses, and winning the bout.

Jamie x Younger fighter who asked questions about him (Silvert): Jamie is all machismo leading up to the fight, but the kid just really wants to be his squire, says he’ll throw the fight for the position. Jamie says yes, the kid yields.

Thus ended round 2

#### Part 3

FISTICUFFS Round 3! ding ding

Unarmed combat, fisticuffs!

Calliope x Arha: After a slow start, Calliope throws a gauntlet-less fist into Arha’s legs, connecting. Arha is unable to strike back. The war of attrition begins, well, until Calliope punches Arha right in her greaves. Arha reaches down and grabs onto Calliope, who misses Arha again. Arha slams Calliope into the ground, and begins attacking in earnest, still failing to hit. Calliope lands a blow, but so does Arha. The two trade blows until Arha, realizing the situation she is in, tries to choke Calliope out on the ground, Calliope squirms free, but Arha persists, landing the choke as Calliope struggles, eventually falling limp.

Jamie x thug: Jamie breaks the thug’s face, who lands one blow in response. Jamie grabs him by the scruff and knees him in the face to knock him out.

Basil won by staying up way longer than he should have.

And that’s all of that

~~The next round is unarmed combat. Fisticuffs. Arha and Calliope go against each other in a very long duel until Arha chokes Calliope out. Delphi and Basil and Lahont go to check on Calliope. Clarity tries and fails to trip Basil. Lahont makes sure that he is between the two of them. Basil insults Delphi. Basil tries to stab Delphi. Lahont tries to poison him but fails. Basil tries to stab but Delphi uses spellcutter’s counter, yanking Basil’s rapier away and throwing it. Basil then goes to cast a spell, but every one is there so he just gets his sword and leaves. Jamie is fighting the last of Marya’s thugs. He wins handily. Basil fights a soldier and wins through regeneration.~~

TEAMS Round 4! ding ding

Final 8! Basil, Jamie, Arha, Seriphina, soldiers, thug, Mother Dalxar(???) Teams!

Fight 1: Jamie/Basil x Soldier/Thug: Basil insults Jamie, then casts a firebolt. A thug charges Basil in retaliation, landing two. Jamie engages the soldier, claymore time, he hits both enemies. Basil proceeds to cast burning hands on the thug and Jamie. The thug concedes.

Fight 2: Soldier/Arha x Seriphina/Dalxar: After a quick pep talk, Arha and the soldier begin their assault on their enemies. Arha throws her javelins and backs up. The soldier stands his ground against a thunder wave, and hits back at Dalxar. Serephina dismisses the soldier with a sword at his man’s neck. Arha’s javelins streak towards the confident soldier as Dalxar charges at Arha; however, she misses, and promptly yields. Serephina charges in, slicing across Arha’s chest felling her.

Oooooo, this is getting serious

Round 4! ding ding

~~The next round has 8 remaining competitors: Basil, Jamie, Arha, Seraphino, 2 soldiers, 1 Marya thug, and Mother Dalxar. It is a team round. Jamie/Basil vs Soldier/Thug and Arha/Soldier vs Seraphino/Mother Dalxar. Jamie/Basil win very quickly. Arha and the Soldier do some damage but lose in the end.~~

1V1s Final 4!! Basil, Serephino, Dalxar, Jamie

Dalxar x Serepheno: Dalxar wants to hammer him but isn’t very able to. Thunderwave maximized eventually knocks him out.

Jamie x Basil (Heavyweight battle of the century): As Basil’s eyes go black, Jamie tackles the gnome and pins him to the ground. Basil mutters some eldritch words and Jamie releases him, standing up with a look of fear in his eyes. Basil begins to pace and gloat.Not even Delphi’s dispel magic marble can stop the spell. After he calls Jamie a dragon f-er for the umpteenth time, Clarity and Calliope have had enough. Calliope yells “This is boring!” and hucks some bread. Somehow that’s ok. Attempting to capitalize on the distraction, Clarity casts hold person. The crowd notices, but Basil is petrified. Jamie capitalizes and slams into Basil, bloodying his rictus frame. Jamie peers into the slash in Basil’s throat, and sees an eye peering back at him. Basil is unable to shrug off the effects of the spell, but the tournament organizers drag Clarity off, ending it anyways. Jamie strikes again, pummeling Basil with heavy blows. Basil sends out a wave of black energy that draws the water out of Jamie, injuring him badly. Jamie stabs through his chest, but Basil still stands. Jamie regains some vitality, in time to weather another wave of magic, but Basil lands a blow charged with thunder energy. With one final stroke, Jamie swings his blade and fells the gnome, who drops to the ground. With a shuddering gasp; however, he rises again, and Jamie swings. Basil reaches out, and casts blight again, but Jamie is not deterred as he impales the smaller figure into the ground as Calliope screams.

#### Part 4

Basil erupts into a gibbering mass of mouths, eyes, and terror. Jamie is paralyzed by its horrid form, and Calliope’s eyes unfocus. Lahont kicks over some barrels and tables to hide behind, lodging a bolt in it. Clarity escapes from the organizers as Arha latches the creature to the ground with white magic. Mother Dalxar summons a spiritual weapon and strikes, damaging the thing. The maw swallows Jamie as Calliope continues punching. Clarity and Versia charge in as Lahont fires another bolt at the thing. Delphi hurls a dagger as Dalxar hits it again. As Arha flings more javelins, Calliope dives into the creature after Jamie. The monster rears up, but finding no one to hit, settles in, preparing an attack. Lahont fires another bolt, diving behind a different bench as Delphi cries out “Don’t kill it, they could get stuck in there.” Everyone looks unsure as they hold their actions. The thing strikes at Arha as Lahont uses the daggers to fill the thing up with air like a balloon. Jamie, bedraggled, forces past the wind to fall prone in front of the creature. Clarity and Arha stand, transfixed by its magic, as Versia launches another bolt at the thing. Mother Dalxar heals Jamie, striking out at the pile of gibbering flesh. Calliope tries to drag herself out of the creature, but is unable, as the thing chomps down on Mother Dalxar, but cannot eat her. Lahont sprints around, dragging Calliope out of the maw, ending the stream of wind. Jamie strikes out at Calliope, confused by the gibbering thing. Delphi charges over, taking up Basil’s discarded rapier, driving it into the core of the thing, turning it to rubble.

~~The final round has Jamie, Basil, Mother Dalxar, and Seraphino. Calliope wakes up next to Delphi. Calliope takes a healing potion from her. Arha and Calliope commiserate. Jamie pumps himself up for his next fight. Clarity goes and meets Father Menau. He claims to be above petty squabbles. She asks about his past. He came here after the old master had died and someone needed to fill his vocation. Clarity ends up pretty uninterested and politely listens to him. Dalxar fights Seraphino and wins, after using several spell slots. Delphi speaks with Jamie saying that what needs to happen does not need to happen today. She sneaks something into his palm and kisses him on the forehead. Verrsia doesn’t seem to notice. Delphi notes that we have not seen Basil use his biggest spells. Jamie keeps the small marble Delphi gave him. ~~

~~Basil insults him heavily then his eyes glow black. Jamie grapples and pins Basil. Basil casts a spell on Jamie, he feels himself go limp as he no longer controls his actions. Basil asks Jamie to yield but Delphi uses the stone to dispel magic, but fails. Basil grins and paces around Jamie, taunting him as he walks around him. Calliope yells, “Oy you asleep or something? Wake the fuck up!” then grabs a loaf of bread and throws it at Jamie. As this happens, using the distraction, Clarity casts Hold Person. Calliope takes a negative renown roll but succeeds a renown check so people let it go. The group notices Clarity and yells about it. Basil freezes just as Jamie breaks out of the spell. Jamie then goes and hits Basil hard. Something pours out of Basil’s wound. Jamie sees that it is an eye. Basil continues to be paralyzed. Mother Dalxar and two burly folks move toward Clarity. They grab her and tell her to stop. She stops, and Basil starts moving again. Jamie stabs at him again, critting again but missing once. Basil surges with dark energy and Jamie is blighted. Jamie swings again, hitting once, then second winding. Basil then tries to blind him and hits him with a booming blade. Jamie swings again, hitting once. This brings Basil down. Jamie says, “"This is what ye get for what ye said, ye fuckin' racist."~~

~~Calliope rushes to the body. Basil gets back up, glaring at Jamie. He says, “No. I’m not done yet.” Calliope tries to stop him, but he refuses. Jamie swings again, but misses. Basil blights again. Calliope sees teeth and eyes swirling in the core of Basil’s body. Jamie attacks again, bringing Basil down again. The crowd is in an uproar. Basil’s body starts unfolding, Jamie becomes magically confused and swings in his confusion hitting Calliope. Suddenly there is a gibbering mouther there. A fight breaks out.~~

~~Calliope blames Jamie, swinging at the mouther and Jamie, missing both. The mouther is doing scary stuff. Lahont shoots. Jamie is still confused and does nothing. Those dragging Clarity away seem to start thinking that Clarity caused this. They flee her. Arha moves up and restrains the Mouther with spectral vines. Mother Dalxar casts spiritual weapon. Calliope hits the mouther twice. It then swallows an unconscious Jamie. Delphi hits it with a thrown dagger. Clarity casts buffs as she heads back to the fray from where she’d been dragged. Lahont hits the mouther. Verrsia gets ready to use her crossbow. Arha hits with javelins. Verrsia charges forward. Dalxar heals Arha and hits the mouther with a spiritual weapon. Calliope jumps into one of its mouths. She lands next to Jamie. The mouther cannot move. Lahont hits it. Jamie hangs onto life for now. Delphi exclaims that if we kill it, Jamie and Calliope will be stuck forever. Clarity heals Arha. Arha moves up and dodges. Verrsia misses with her crossbow. Dalxar gets stuck from the gunk. Calliope casts a 2nd level cure wounds on Jamie. The mouther confuses Arha and Clarity. Lahont uses his dagger to make it so the mouther cannot close its mouth as easily, letting the portal stay open longer. Jamie runs through the portal, Calliope using her last flash of genius to get him through. Clarity moves up to the mouther. Arha does nothing. Verrsia fires and does some damage. Dalxar cures Jamie and hits the mouther. Calliope runs at the portal and succeeds at pushing against the wind, climbing out of the mouther though not fully. The mouther hits Jamie and Dalxar. Dalxar barely holds on. Jamie gets confused. Lahont sees Calliope getting out and tries to pull her out, succeeding. Jamie hits Calliope in confusion. Delphi charges forward, picking up Basil’s discarded rapier and critically hits it, killing the mouther.~~

Calliope knocks Jamie out and kicks him in the ribs. Clarity heals him as Calliope leaves. Dalxar questions everything. Arha gives an unhelpful response. Jamie cries. Calliope says, “That was my brother.” and walks away. Verrsia hugs Jamie. Clarity hugs Arha. Triumph and Lahont sit on top of a hill together.