It is still Suon, the third day of the sixth week of Tarsakh. It is three days until the solstice.
The ceremony
We have won the Battle of the Beasts, first place. The crowd cheers us on; we see Valna an Kan and Majorie and Fenross in the stands. Tula sees Calloway, the priestess of Ilmater, standing as one of the healers in the town.
The arena tenders come out to clear the arena of the wolves, and we're led back into the holding arena to wait while the arena is set up for the ceremony.
After a little bit, we're led back into the arena with the leaders of the Rough Bunch and the Starlights as well. Jalar represents the leader of the Staunch Defenders, with dented armor and punctures. Tula steps forward for us.
A flamboyant elf, who had been emceeing, comes out and shows off the victors.
The Rough Bunch are applauded, and presented with a small leather bag of gold.
The Staunch Defenders are presented with a small chest and a hat.
We're presented with a larger chest, and an ornately-crafted pouch. Tula opens it to see three fuzzy white puffballs. She closes the pouch, and hands it over to Salris. He identifies it as a Bag of Tricks, which can be used three times per day. It gets handed to Bugfood.
There's a plug for tomorrow's Might of the Magus competition, and so we leave the arena.
After the battle
Our debt to the government is 3750 gold, and we discuss how much of that to pay off, but we're interrupted by our admiring hordes. Children shaking Ryltar's hand are shocked at how cold it is, but adults recognize that he's been casting elemental ice magic.
Majorie shows up, and Jerry picks her up and carries her on her shoulders.
Salris looks for Boris Highhelm, and sees someone who looks like him. He goes over to say hello, but he's walking away, and the crowd gets in the way and Salris can't get get through. Salris sneaks off to track down Highhelm.
Vurguron absorbs the glory. He and Bugfood get lots of attention, because dragonborn and tieflings are rare in town.
We leave the arena; Jerry and Ryltar deide that the best thing would be to swing by the government offices on the way to the Forest Floor, to pay down the weregild debt.
Salris is crap at tracking Highhelm, but continues in a direction. The rest of the Party runs into him; Ryltar reminds him of his duel tomorrow. Salris says he has business to conduct at the nearest tavern, and goes off.
We go to the government buildings, and receive directions to the accounting office. We go in, and there's a secretary or teller there, a dwarf manning the station. He pulls out the tome and flips through it, asks which account it is under. Bugfood says, "We killed all the guards and got away with it." "Ah yes," says the dwarf, and flips through the ledger.
2750 gold is owed now, by the end of the month of Mirtul.
"Thank you, count," says Bugfood, bows, and walks out of the room.
Salris
His tracking is not going well. He goes to the Golden Ladle instead.
The matron tells him, "I'm sorry, all the rooms are taken."
"That's fine; I'm not looking for a room, I'm looking for a person."
"We don't disclose our occupancy, I'm sorry."
"I was just going to look around the tavern for my friend."
"Our tavern is only for guests."
"Could I pay a fee to enter?"
"How long will you be in the tavern?"
"20 minutes, maybe, if that."
Salris doesn't have 20 gold. "Five minutes."
"Seven gold."
Salris hands over the gold, and he is allowed entrance. He goes in, and sees a nice bar, and several guests who aren't the person he's looking for. He takes the full five minutes, and then leaves, thanking the matron on his way out.
His guess that Highhelm would be at the fanciest tavern in town was wrong. He asks passersby what the fanciest taverns are, and gets directed to the Forest Floor.
The rest of the Party arrive back at the Forest Floor, to see the Magistrate at the bar talking with Fenross, over a nice glass of amber wine. The Magistrate asks us how it went.
"They gave me this," says Bugfood, and throws a fuzzball at the ceiling. A giant wild badger appears at his feet, and it knocks him over. He commands it to be nice, and it sits and preens.
"That could have gone worse," says Ryltar.
The magistrate continues, "Fenross was discussing wine. He mentioned that you had a vineyard."
"He did? Well, it's very far away."
"He also mentioned that he was your former commanding officer, during the war with the Yuan-Ti."
There's chitchat; the Magistrate reveals that he was assigned to the Grey Harbor to guard it against any potential attacks. Jerry replies that she served much farther East. The Magister thanks Jerry for her recommendation of the Forest Floor; Fenross glares the "so you're the reason for this" glare at Jerry and Jerry returns it. Andraste asks how the battle went; Jerry replies "It was a very tiring morning; I think we'd like to rest for the afternoon."
Magister Andraste turns to Tula and asks if she took his advice. She says yes, and nopes out and leaves.
Andraste makes his exit.
Salris arrives, and Bugfood offers to heal him discretely during the competition.
Fenross turns to Jerry and says, "he's been here for an hour. Why did you." Jerry explains that she was trying to send rich patrons to Fenross. "Should I not do that?"
Tula goes upstairs and knocks on Salris' door; he rants about the bad bits of his experience with the Golden Ladle. Tula and Salris agree to burn it to the ground.
Salris practices his Eldritch Blast.
Bugfood and Ryltar discuss the puffballs, but it turns out that he shouldn't intervene in the duels with the use of the Bag of Tricks, and it turns out that only one animal can be active at once.
The Party rests.
It's about 6 p.m. We all stay in and take a long rest.
The Morning of the Might of the Magus
It is Kel, the fourth day of the sixth week of Tarsakh. It is two days until the solstice.
Salris spends 10 minutes talking with the spoon about his plan for the duels. Then he knocks on Ryltar's door and they discuss what might happen if they end up against each other in the spectacle, and Salris' mission against Boris Highhelm.
Bugfood talks to Fenross and offers, for 50 gold, to use the Sky Write spell to advertise for the Forest Floor. He persuades Fenross, and takes 50 gold for the legal causes.
The battle doesn't happen until 4 p.m., so the various folks wander.
Bugfood and Ryltar
He wanders through the markets and festivities. There's a stall selling captive birds: owls, hawks, parrots, parakeets, sparrows, and so on. There's aquariums full of crabs, frogs, lizards. Another with small mammals, dogs, cats, rats, and regular weasels.
"Are you looking for something?" asks the proprietor.
"No, not really. I'm considering buying the rats for a prank, maybe."
Through more conversation than I want to write down, the proprietor is convinced to pay a gold for Bugfood to turn into a rat, and so the party gains a rat.
Bugfood talks to a fortuneteller, saying, "Surely you know that the world is ending. It is your profession." "Many things are uncertain." "Would you like a reading? Love interest? Future?" "No. Wait, what was the other?" "Love interest, how you'll meet them. Your future, how will it go." "Can you tell me how I will die?" There's some discussion, and for 5 gold the fortuneteller is asked to answer whether he'll find what he seeks at Sky Diamond Academy.
a single sword, a single cup, a single coin
the throne, the key, the void.
"You won't find it at Sky Diamond, because it's best left alone."
"Well that won't do. Oh, no." says Bugfood.
"It's a good question, though," says Ryltar. "And we need to go there anyways."
Bugfood tries to fact-check the fortuneteller, to see if they're real. With a 13 insight, he sees that they're in a trance, not really seeing him, and generally what is expected. "If I end the world, I'm sorry," he says, and walks away.
Vurguron, who has been trailing them, asks for his fortune to be read as well.
"You came from a great household. One of warriors, one of mages. You seek — he manipulates a card — you're in need of something. Justification." The fortuneteller looks at the third hand dealt. "Betrayal is in your future, as well as your goal."
"Wow, that's not what I expected. Thank you very much," says Vurguron. Ryltar asks what he expected; he says his real future. There's banter about who's trustworthy or not. Bugfood elects to ignore the fortuneteller.
They wander past weapons and jewelry stalls, but do not stop at any.
It's about 10 a.m.
Salris
Salris is still looking for Boris Highhelm. He asks around, and is told that Highhelm went home, to the place he stays outside the city. He left to go return home, which is outside West Haven. He lives somewhere south of West Haven.
Bugfood, Ryltar and Vurguron
They show up at the arena around noon. There's people slowly showing up.
Bugfood puts a bowl on his head. A crowd gathers around the tiefling.
Ryltar watches from the shadows. Vurguron hypes it up.
Bugfood isn't very good with performances; he turns into a rat and waves at people. They look for him and do not see him. The people start walking away. He turns back into a tiefling, and abandons the scheme.
A couple guards walk by, with Thalia, the Elvish High Mother. She goes to the betting stand. The bookie goes under the stand, and gives her a very heavy sack of gold.
Jerry
Around noon, Majorie comes running in. She hugs Jerry, relieved to see her. "With the festivities going on, I was able to take care of all my work for the rest of the week." "Excellent. Shall we wander?"
They wander the city. Majorie shows Jerry around, leading Jerry to a specific bakery that sells orange cream tarts, and buys a couple. Majorie tells of her city adventures, of what she's been learning. Jerry tells her of what's going on back in the village and vineyard. Majorie says that she's been writing letters with Umara. She asks what Jerry's plans are. Jerry says that she was planning to help this group with their quests. Majorie is surprised, she thought that Jerry was involved with the increase in military activity in the West Haven. It appears the West Haven is getting back on a war footing.
Jerry and Majorie decide to go sit together for the Might of the Magus, in a place with Majorie's friends in the box.
Majorie asks if Jerry brought a dress for the Solstice dance; Jerry ruffles her hair and asks if Majorie has ever seen her wear a dress. Majorie's going to the dance, and thinks that the group should go with as well. And there's a tailor who does pants.
It's about 3 p.m.
Tula
Tula stays at the Forest Floor, meditating. One orb turns green, another blips green, and a third turns brightly green.
Bugfood
Bugfood casts Sky Write with the message: "The Forest Floor / Inn of Champions"
Bugfood finds his way into the stadium by shapeshifting into a rat. He squeaks in as Salris' familiar.
Jerry and Majorie enter, and so does Vurguron, all paying 5 gold.
Might of the Magus
Salris and Ryltar enter the arena, which has lots of temporary bleachers erected inside the arena walls to bring the audience closer to the central stage. The stage is covered with celestial diagrams, and there's a bench nearby. Jalar, captain of the guard, is sitting there. Ryltar expresses surprise to see Jalar, but Jalar professes casting proficiency.
Three other casters arrive:
the caster who was leading the Rough Bunch
a dwarf in leather armor, with braded hair and beard, with a staff
a priest in the robes of Corellon Larethian.
The competition comes in two rounds: three duels, then a three-way duel.
name
odds
jalar
2:1
dwarf druid
3:1
priest
3:1
Rough bunch caster
3:1
Ryltar
4:1
Salris
5:1
You can use a spell only once in a round.
Jalar vs Dwarf
Jalar of the city guard versus Norrock, the dwarf
The two contestants walk onto the stage, and start in the starting circle in the middle of the stage.
Jalar flings out his hand and casts a sleep spell. The dwarf collapses, having failed to counter. The attending clerics wake him up.
The Dwarf casts Poison Spray, which misses Jalar.
Jalar casts a Ray of Frost, hitting the dwarf.
The dwarf druid casts Fairy Fire but Jalar dodges.
With a score of 2-0, Jalar moves to the next round.
Bugfood in the pocket
Bugfood spends 10 minutes squeaking to Salris' spoon, which is in the same pocket. He gains d4 of inspiration.
Cleric vs Rough Bunch
With the might of Corellon Larethian behind him, the cleric defeats the Rough Bunch caster.
Ryltar vs Salris
Salris casts Eldritch Blast and misses.
Ryltar runs out of the starting ring and casts Chilling Hands; Salris takes full damage and Bugfood takes half damage. Bugfood explodes from Salris' pocket, saying, "I made a horrible mistake!" Salris' pocket experiences structural problems.
Bugfood wildshapes back into the same rat form, and runs to Ryltar, squeaking furiously. "Help, help, help!" he squeaks, but no one understands his squeaking. An arena cleric tries to capture Bugfood, but Bugfood escapes the two spells used, and runs up Ryltar's body, and finds a pocket to hide in. The clerics turn to Ryltar, and say, "get that rat out of here!" They run over to Ryltar and try to capture him magically, but fail tremendously. Bugfood runs down Salris' pants, and a cleric traps the rat in his pants leg. "Get out of here or we use force," says the cleric.
Bugfood tries to chew through the pant leg, but fails. Another hand grabs Bugfood through the pants fabric, and casts Inflict Wounds on Bugfood, turning him back into a tiefling. Ryltar immediately starts casting mending on his pants.
Bugfood is surrounded by the clerics. He exclaims, "I don't know what happened! Wizards! Tell me what happened!" Three guards escort him off the pitch.
The crowd quiets down eventually. The score is 1-0 Ryltar.
Salris casts Hold Person, and succeeds in grabbing Ryltar for a minute. Salris points a short piece of iron at Salris.
Salris casts Snilloc's Snowball Swarm, and succeeds. 2-1 Ryltar.
Ryltar casts Mind Spike for damage, and Salris replies with Shatter for no effect. 3-1 Ryltar.
Bugfood languishes in jail. Salris goes to look for him.
Ryltar vs Jalar vs the Cleric
It is now a truel, a three-way duel.
Ryltar asks Jalar if he always makes it to this round; the answer is a confident yes. And the dwarf usually places, says Jalar.
Ryltar strikes first, running forward to cast Freezing Hands on Jalar, but Jalar is not affected.
Jalar casts Hold Person successfully on Ryltar.
The cleric casts Spiritual Weapon on Jalar, but misses. Ryltar is at one loss.
Jalar is 20 feet away from the cleric. He casts Gust at Ryltar but Ryltar is not blown away.
The cleric Commands Jalar to "be still!" Jalar is not stilled.
Ryltar casts Fairy Fire on both of them, and succeeds, for one fail to each of them.
Ryltar and Jalar cast Hold Person on each other; Jalar's Hold Person at third level is reflected on him, and hit by two Hold Persons he is out with three fails. Ryltar's Hold Person continues on to hit the cleric. And the cleric casts Blindness on Jalar, for the fourth spell lost on him.
The cleric casts Guiding Bolt on Ryltar, who casts Darkness in reply. The darkness prevents the cleric's spell from hitting. And then Ryltar casts Ray of Frost, and hits.
Ryltar wins. The crowd goes wild.
Vurguron heads down the stands to find Bugfood at the guard stand.
The prize ceremony.
In third place is Jalar, with 250 gold.
The druid receives a small chest of 500 gold and an intricately crafted broach.
Ryltar receives 1000 gold in a chest and a small wooden box holding a pearl.A Pearl of Power
Bugfood
He's jailed for tampering with the competition. From jail, he Sky Writes "Meet the Knights of the Summer Court at The Forest Floor".
Salris shows up at the jail about the same time, to bail Bugfood out. Bail is 250 gold, which Salris doesn't have. He tries to convince the guard to let Bugfood go, but doesn't succeed. Salris walks out, and encounters Vurguron, and Ryltar carrying the chest of platinum.
Ryltar walks in, and convinces the guard that this was a case of idiocy, not of malice. The ransom is now 200 gold, which Ryltar pays. The guards let Bugfood out of the cell, so Bugfood casts Goodberry and offers the berries to anyone nearby. He doesn't explain why what he did was bad. Ryltar explains.
After the competition
Majorie remarks to Jerry that it seems unfortunate that Bugfood was captured. Jerry leads Majorie toward the jail, and on the way they encounter the rest of the Party. Salris slips off.
Ryltar goes to the jail, and pays 1000 gold towards the debt, bringing it to 1750 gold.
We return to the Forest Floor
In the Forest Floor
It's not particularly crowded; there isn't an obvious crowd of admirers. It's about 6:30 p.m.; we bolted from the arena pretty quickly.
Tula hears the party enter, stands, sighs at the interruption of her meditation, and goes to greet the party. Bugfood tells her that the city is biased against rats, and so the story of the afternoon is told.
Ryltar shows Tula the pearl; she casts Detect Good and Evil and sees nothing in the pearl. She was worried that the city might have offered a cursed pearl to us. Ryltar explains the pearl's function by casting Hold Person on Jerry: it lets him cast spells additional times.
Bugfood loans the Bag of Tricks to Salris for the Spellslinger Spectacle.
The rest of the evening
Salris buys 5 beers, and gets crunked.
The Day of the Spellsinger Spectacle
Salris sneaks out early and goes to the arena, and hangs out in the arena people-watching.
It is Forn, the fifth day of the sixth week of Tarsakh. Tomorrow is the Spring Solstice.
Bugfood asks Fenross if the advertising worked. It seemed so. But today he's not going to advertise, because he'll need the spell slots. He pulls out the feather and wishes that things will go well for him today. Fenross offers free drinks and food for as long as Bugfood skywrites. "but what about my badger?" With a 15 persuasion, Fenross agrees, for just the one pet.
The spectacle would be at the evening, at 6 p.m.
Jerry goes into the marketplace and looks for a polearm that deals bludgeoning damage. She looks around the blacksmiths. She finds a warhammer that's almost what she's looking for; it's a little short though. The half-elf blacksmith is willing to do the wrok. Jerry gains a longhammer, a 1d10 heavy reach two-handed bludgeoning weapon.
Vurguron goes to the market to find a temple, to find holy symbols. The shopkeep finds a head of Bahamut, which Vurguron buys for 2 gold.
Tula is in her room, meditating. Her green orb she sees solid, and the other one flickers between green and yellow. She determines that the orbs represent her god's followers. One is solid green. One flickers. One has a spot of green amongst its yellow. That's three followers. Maybe Vicar is one of the followers. She thinks to go visit Vicar.
Tula visits Vicar.
The guard asks her business, and lets her through. She walks to Vicar's cell. Vicar is dirtier and more mangy than when she last saw him. He's clutching the symbol in his hands. "I've been meditating a lot," she says, "and when I meditate I see these orbs that come around. Do you see that?"
"I've been trying to communicate with our deity," he says.
"The orbs are green," Tula says, "but one is flickering. I'm going to try to meditate. Come with me."
She sits and tries to evoke the force. She sees her orb, which she tries to point out to him. But he says he sees things differently.
She enquires after his visions. He says, in darkness, he heard a roar. Like something was in pain, or a battle cry almost. Then there came the breaking of chains. Tula realizes that this is the first time he's had any connection with a deity. She asks if his symbol has changed at all; it hasn't. "What do you think I should do," she asks him.
Vicar reaches out, and touches her hand. Her hand lights up, like a lightbulb, with the standard colors of light. "Sorry," he says. "That's one of the tricks I found out I can do." It's basically the Light cantrip. "And I healed myself," he says, "but I'm still trying to figure out what I can do."
"I am trying to figure out where I can go to learn more," says Tula. "There's a scholar, they say, towns away, but …."
"Well, most gods just do this. They don't give us a path. They just give us a goal. This feels different. Like we weren't given something to do, just given something. What did they call you?"
"I am the Pathfinder. What did they call you?"
"I am the Horizon-Walker." Tula gets the feeling that this is a title bestowed upon or to someone of a following.
"How long are they going to keep you here?" asks Tula.
"Considering that I gave everything to Corellon Larethian, I have just 10 gold to my name, but they want 50. This is wrong. Can you help me?" He reaches through the bars again and the light on Tula's hand spreads throughout her body. It's a different spell. This is Protection from Good and Evil. "I didn't know I could do that," he says.
"Neat; I can do that too," says Tula, and casts Protection from Good and Evil on him as well. He's seeing green, and Tula sees green. The person casting sees the aura of the person cast upon. They both see each other as green; they pray to the same god.
But while they sit there, holding hands, an aura of shadow falls around them.She gains advantage on stealth checks, for an hour. Vicar evoked a blessing.
"Has the god told you its name," asks Tula cautiously.
"No, but I believe that we would find out together, when we journey."
"Well, best of luck upon you," says Tula, and stands and returns to the Forest Floor. She continues here meditation there.
Bugfood
Bugfood leaves the Forest Floor and goes to the arena, where he finds Salris, and borrows the spoon. he talks to the spoon about the his nervousness and desire for assistance.
The Spell-Slinger Spectacle.
Salris peoplewatches, looking for Thalia.
Ryltar and Jerry and Majorie and Vurguron go to watch; their seats are in the first row next to the casters' bench. Tula stays at the Forest Floor, meditating.
Odds in the individual thing:
name
odds
Bugfood
5:1
Salris
4:1
4:1
4:1
3:1
Sten
2:1
Different odds for the groups, of course.
Salris spots Thalia and talks with her about Bugfood. She walks off, attended by guards and Magistrate Andraste. Salris studies her guards.
The emcee starts the ceremony; it'll be sundown around the time of the group competition. No dragons are allowed. It's basically whatever the spellcaster can do in a single party.
Next to Ryltar sits Ren, who is looking around nervously. He's worried that something will go wrong.
The arena is packed.
A wizard comes out, with fancy robes and poufed sleeves. He stands with his arms out, nods to the band. He spins his arms, prestidigitating lights. This man is a pyrotechnic, playing to "Witch Doctor, ooh ee ooo ah ah…"
Salris walks out with a minor illusion of a dead tree in winter, covered in snow. He bows, casts Armor of Agathys, and Misty Steps to the tree. He dispels Armor of Agathys to spray the icey shared everywhere. He casts lights and Mage Hand to swirl the air with ice; he shapes the tree to move towards spring through flowers and leaves; he uses Disguise Self to switch his outfit from winter to summer. And then he uses Mage Hand to hold candles near the tree. He snaps again, and the tree trends towards summer; he dances around the tree. The green of the leaves fades towards autumn, and the leaves fall. The lights change towards warmer candle colors, and eventually it all fades towards winter.
His performance roll was 11, with advantage and the spoon d4.
Bugfood gets a Minor Illusion for an announcer shouting, "The Enigma that is Bugfood." He casts Fog Cloud, wildshapes to a sheep, and pushes a crate of flowers outside the fog. He sheep-retreats from where the crate is, dispels the fog, casts Dust Devil under the crate, and blasts the flowers into the sky. As the flower buds fall from the sky, he Druidcrafts them into bloom. He takes the shape of a wolf, and picks up a bloom, and runs around the area to give the flower to a maiden. he returns to the center of the arena, and casts Fog before dropping the wolf shape. End.
His performance roll was 17.
The leader of the Rough bunch walks into the arena. His normal robes are worn; he casts Thaumaturgy on himself to make his voice audible. He speaks an epic story, and in the bleachers Ren facepalms. The spellcaster casts a Silent Image that uses himself as a hero, fighting against a purple worm. Wild Magic effects come into play; six Flumphs appear and the caster angrily attacks them. The third roll nothing happens; the fourth roll the caster gets a little taller. The caster stops, breathing heavily, and then returns to his seat. Bugfood pats him on the back.
His performance roll is 14.
In the stands, Ren just is pained. He says to Ryltar that the caster was a student of his, who can't control his gifts. Flumphs is a tame expression of his "gifts".
A woman in light green and blue robes walk out; Ryltar sees that the arena is full of Wild Magic. She walks into the middle of the stage. She fires a line of Ray of Frost down the stage, then two more off to the sides. She lifts up a blue egg and slams it into the ground.
Ren slams Jerry to the side; he casts a shield that just shields everyone at the table, the casters at the bench, and the row of seats he was at, which covers Majorie and the Party.
The egg explodes into a wave of ice that takes out the entire arena, covering everything in lots of ice.
The frozen arena
Ren's forcefield fades, revealing that the group in the stands is surrounded by a clean bubble of ice.
Vurguron and Salris take out their quarterstaves and attack the frozen bubble of ice; pieces crack off to reveal that the entire arena is covered in a bubble of ice, and everyone not inside Ren's bubble is covered in an inch of ice, with icy tendrils stretching back towards the center of the arena. The woman with the ice egg is gone. The VIP stands at the top of the arena are empty.
From the three gates of town come blowing horns.
In her meditation at the Forest Floor, the boom of the egg's explosion shakes Tula. She stands and looks out the window towards the arena.
Next session
It is 7:00 p.m. on Forn, the fifth day of the sixth week of Tarsakh. Tomorrow is the Spring Solstice.
Ren, Majorie, Gerry, Vurguron, Salris, Ryltar, and a number of casters from the competition are together in the ice-covered arena. The Prestidigitation Wizard and the one who's suffering from Wild Magic.