Terribly Gunky Grills (TF002)

**“Terribly Gunky Grills”** is the second session of the Team 3.5 game.

# Synopsis

## Koto 16

Morning comes for the victorious party members to various levels of acceptance, as Aine is reeling from the decisions she made last night in terms of alcohol.  Wandering downstairs, Courage starts making them a hearty breakfast (or, at least, Lath and Aine) as they contemplate the day before them.  They then split off to go run individual errands:

Aine, barely amongst the land of the living, ate her breakfast with the determination of someone who is going to vomit but is absolutely refusing to do so.  She eventually took her breakfast out to the Shot’s back porch, where Strudel, Toffy, and Toffy’s mate were resting.  Aine curled up on Toffy, snuggling Strudel, and took a much needed nap.

Lemmy, with his Lemmy-like focus on things, began getting a feel for this festival they had entered.  Courage admitted that, despite being married to the Warden, she is kept mostly in the dark same as everybody else.  However, in years past, the Trial of the Wilds was centered around the theme of “triumphing over nature”, and she did know that several creatures from around Loctet were being imported to the Ampitheatre.

Lath left the Shot, wandering around bustling Dimshade as people prepared for the Trial of the Wilds.  His first stop was to the local smithy, Metal Matters, where he asked the borean proprietor about his most recently finished piece.  The smithy stated he was putting the finishing touches on a one handed war hammer, and promised the drakeblood that it would be his as long as he came by and picked it up before the Trial began.  Lath agreed, and set off for his second errand at the local apothecary, Cedra Aromatics.  After a somewhat testy interaction with the merrow chemist, Lath collected the ingredients for an impromptu hangover panacea.

Lath provided this (admittedly pretty disgusting looking) hangover cure to Aine who, after a smidge of trepidation, drank it in one gulp.  Passing her constitution check, Aine shared her appreciation with a hug and a kiss she placed with her finger on his forehead, which he accepted stoically.

There was one last piece for Aine’s recovery, however, and that was a visit to the local bath house, the Radiance Spa.  Aine was rejuvenated by the heat was Lath treated his wooden parts with varnish.  Lath then went out to retrieve his hammer, and the three reconvened to head to the Ampitheatre… but not before being intercepted by Varad.

Varad, now wearing actual armor and carrying a sword, seemed nervous, which only served to enhance certain party members (or rather, their players) trepidation.  However, once it became clear he had parental supervision, Varad was fully accepted back into the ranks, and they entered the Starlight.  Hadarai guided them to the bowels of the Amphitheatre, where they saw several other teams, all looking various degrees of nervous.

The teams were all summoned to the pitch, where Selise gave a speech both to them and the clamoring audience.  During this speech, she introduced the Imperial Princess Frenosta Artus, which led to mixed reactions from the crowd (and some of the teams; Lemmy and Lath noticed one group in particular grow tense at her introduction).  However, there was no time to worry.  The Trial of the Wilds had begun in earnest.

The party prepared for their first round in different ways.  Aine guided Varad through a meditative practice; Lath stimmed and performed coin manipulations with his holy symbol; and Lemmy began practicing finger guns, something he had picked up and seemed keen on.  Lemmy even began summoning mage hands for extra practice.  They were eventually summoned, but not before Lath made a modification to their team name: they were no longer Team 4, but now Team 3.5.

The first round of the Trial of the Wilds brought them face to face with a single lion, imported from the southern continent of Ikeron.  The single big cat was no threat to the combined might of all four warriors, and it fell before Varad could even swing.  Clerics of Sonos, the Primeval Warden, began to carry off the animal, but not before Aine took the time to respectfully remove a considerable portion of it’s mane.

The rest of the teams made their way through their first rounds.  Varad, the nerves mostly worn off at this point, was bummed he couldn’t get a shot in.  Lath had been drawn into Lemmy’s finger gun fascination, and they had started doing it together.  They were then called for their second round.  Lemmy told the rest of the party to follow his lead, as he had an idea.

The second bout placed them against three giant wasps that Lemmy used magic to converse with.  They declared their desire to *return to the hive*, which the party agreed to.  Aine clambered aboard one of them as they flew into the netting that covered the pitch, cutting it open with her gleaming dagger, freeing them.  Varad sat on the ground in utter stupefaction.

Hadarai and Selise had a lengthy discussion, before Selise conceded that, according to a *very* loose interpretation of Exaire’s tenets, they had succeeded over the beast and had passed the second round.

Aine gave Varad a pep talk about not letting setbacks hold him down while the other teams gave the rest of them stink eyes for getting through the second round unfazed.  Lath and Lemmy continued finger gunning.

This second round had several teams get tossed through the meat grinder, which led them into round three.  An allosaurus, an import from the northern lands of Ohdrea, emerged from the elevator in the center of the pitch.  The giant dinosaur proved a greater challenge than the lion, but it fell after Lath barbecued it with holy light.  Varad also managed to hit this one!  As Aine began to harvest a handful of teeth from it’s maw, however, the chains of the elevator creaked as a second allosaurus emerged from the darkness below.  Lemmy, Aine and Varad maneuvered themselves to the front of the cage.  Despite the allosaurus biting a chunk out of Aine, they managed to survive and pass the Trial of the Wilds.  Covered in dinosaur blood, Team 3.5 settled into the stands (scaring off a group of borean teenagers that had been teasing Varad) as the other teams went through their rounds.  Team 7, the group that grew tense at the Princess, slaughtered their quarry with brutal efficiency.

The Trial of the Wilds concluded… and the cookout began!  The meat from the various beasts was then treated and cooked (some lending themselves more to cooking than others).  Team 3.5 milled about, socializing and sampling the various meats.  The rest of the party met Varad’s parents and watched as he talked with his peers.  Aine visited the local tailor, the Black Sheep, and charged the owner, Ibril Dez, with adding the lion mane she had collected to her Solari robes, as well as place the four teeth she had collected into necklaces.  Lath wandered about in the crowds.

Which is why it was Lath who caught sight of the halfling member of Team 7 re enter the Amphitheatre.  Attempting to follow her, Lath sneezed, accidentally awakening his frigid breath for the first time.  Lath managed to defuse the situation and immediately beelined for his team members.  Lemmy and Aine snuck back into the Amphitheatre, where they picked up bits and pieces of conversation with the halfling and someone else they couldn’t see.  The voices said the other competitors might be a problem, and how “their people” had already infiltrated the festival.

Reuniting with Varad and Lath, the four met with Courage, who promised she would bring this to Selise’s attention tomorrow.

# Characters

*Italicized means played by the Dungeon Master*

**Bold means played by one of the players**

* **Aine Solana: nephilim monk of the Solari**
* *Courage Marivaldi: cambion, owner of the Shot of Courage, wife of Selise Marivaldi*
* *Enkelt Lurt: borean owner of Metal Matters*
* *Frenosta Artus: Imperial Princess of the Artus Empire*
* **Glath ahn Latha: drakeblood cleric of Vanth**
* *Ibril Dez: owner of the Black Sheep*
* **Lemmy: automata bard**
* *Muta Sham: merrow owner of Cedra Aromatics*
* *Selise Marivaldi: archon Warden of Starlight*
* *Varad Inulatho: borean teenager*
* *Velle Chale: elderly human owner of the Radiance Spa*

# Game Data

* Date played: 7/15/2020
* Time played: 2:58:00