C2 Session 6

They all wake up on the final day of travel, only hours away from [[Thera]], the hometown of Sir [[Rafwar]]. As the cart moves, they observe the serene landscape with the platinum peaks in the distance. The trees closer to them are of a smaller variety, but towards the direction of [[Ouran]] there are massive trees hundreds of feet in height. [[Koin]] steps out of the cart for a moment in an attempt to cleanse the blood of the bandits from the other night, but is unsuccessful, so [[Henry]] ends up having to clean him up with a cantrip. As they travel, Rafwar educates them on the history of Thera and who they will be delivering the stone to. He says that they will be taking the stone to Grand Sage [[Beeratoli]] of the [[Heirloom Order]] to collect their reward. He talks about the increasingly dire situation of the plague with hospitals filling up insanely quickly. He talks of the two main attractions, the arishtar games and the gladiator pit. The arishtar games will be held in the evening of the current day, and the gladiator pit the next evening. Koin inquires about an organization called the [[Black Suns]], to which Rafwar explains, with some extra history added in.
  The Aarakocra, Yuan ti, and Goblins all inhabit Thera. There are tensions between the aarakocra and yuan ti, so the goblins established themselves as the middle ground, between the lands of the two races. Though there is no official leader, a man named [[Einhor]] fills the role of one, taking care of governmental duties, employing the [[Rezula]] guards, and various other tasks. The black suns are an organization of yuan ti who have made it an expectation not to cross them. The Heirloom Order is an archeological organization of aarakocra made to preserve history, but even the arishtar players are more notable than them. Then there is a goblin noble by the name of Xarim, the richest man in [[Aezraghn]] and possibly the world. He has a house pretty much everywhere in the world, including [[Dragol]]. As he finishes explaining this, they turn onto a path where they can see two large statues of snakes coming out of the hill, covered in moss and arching over the pathway. They continue down the path and round a corner to reveal a large grid of buildings in the near distance, which Rafwar identifies as the prison. They continue on the path and around another corner to reveal many large buildings, each with rings around the peaks of the towers. There are goblins and aarakocra walking the streets, along with creatures of similar human appearance, but with extra features such as tails or claws, which unsettles Henry a bit before he realizes that those are the yuan ti people.
  They head across a bridge and the population of the streets shift. There are now more yuan ti along with less goblins and aarakocra, with a few rezula scattered around. There is an aarakocra flying around delivering items in the windows of various houses. The cart stops in front of a building on the street, and a few men wheel out a smaller cart to transfer the stone onto. They all exit the cart and wheel the stone into the building. After being guided through a few hallways by Rafwar, they enter a larger room to be greeted by an aarakocra man with leather straps and piercing, and a hat similar to Rafwar’s, but with a bit more flair. He introduces himself as Earnhardt, and says that the Grand Sage is busy appraising his latest find, at which point he also makes fun of Rafwar for not being able to retrieve the entirety of the stone. Earnhardt tells the group that if they want some real work, they can meet him at the Rafwar’s family tavern, the Chorus Perch, in the evening. He flies off, leaving Rafwar to turn in the stone for payment. They wheel the stone over and the woman inspects it before going behind her desk and retrieving a few large bags of gold, which each of the three adventurers receive one of as a reward for their help. Rafwar asks if he gained any rank, but the woman tells him that it will take much more than just one mission to rank up. As the adventurers are organizing themselves to leave, they overhear Rafwar trying to take a high rank mission, only to discover that it was just taken by Earnhardt before they came. Rafwar is upset by this and keeps stating that he must get more involved in the order and gain a higher rank so he can be better than Earnhardt. He walks out upset, and leaves the group to do what they wish for the rest of the day.
  They all exit the building to see large crowds of people in the streets, all in costumes or decorating for some kind of festivity. They spot Rafwar sulking down the street and catch up with him to chat about the Heirloom Order and his family. Rafwar tells them that he and his family own and run a tavern, and that his father was the previous highest ranking member in the order. He wants to follow in his father’s footsteps, but before he could even attempt to, Earnhardt took the spot. He says that it is his life goal and his only desire to achieve what his father did and to beat Earnhardt. Rafwar talks about an ancient royal ruby passed down between generations of aarakocra royalty. The ruby is the highest ranked mission in the order worth 10000 gold, and it’s the mission that Earnhardt had just taken. Koin immediately begins hatching a plan to retrieve the ruby before Earnhardt, and Rafwar agrees to it as long as he doesn’t have to get involved with the black suns who are suspected of having the ruby. 
  After settling on a loose plan to steal the ruby, they move onto other topics, such as the arishtar games and the gladiator pit. Rafwar says that nobody has beaten the fourth enemy, the mysterious which the adventurers suspect is the same ooze from the citadel as well as being the main cause of the plague. The organizer of the pit is the highest economic contributor, most likely due to the fact that nobody has beaten the entire thing, hence losing all the money they paid. They ultimately decide that the pit is not a wise decision. Rafwar then explains the arishtar games, noting that quite literally anyone in the city with money bets on the games. He describes the rules and such of the game and lists off each team name and member. He explains how the betting process works and the winning odds, and says that the bets are placed at the arishtar center, right next to the Chorus Perch, so they decide to take the cart over there to place bets with their newly acquired money. Upon arrival, they can see the entire center covered with the various colors of all the teams. The environment is very festive and full of lines of people trying to place their bets. Other smaller groups of people are off to the side making circumstantial bets on which team will get out first or how many other players a certain player might knock out throughout the match. They all stick to the main bets and place 100-150 gold on their teams of choice before getting back into the cart to investigate the hospital and the plague while they wait for the games to begin.
  As they close in on the hospital, they notice the environment begin to grow gray and barren. They arrive at the front of the hospital and walk in the front door to see ten beds on each side of the room, every one of them filled with a sick patient. Each of the patients is tied down to their bed and convulsing with an inexplicable rage trying to escape the confines of their hospital beds. [[Xodon]] approaches one of the doctors and asks what the symptoms of the plague are. The nurse lists off the most common symptoms of the plague and the order that they occur in: stench of sulfur, then slowed cognitive functions, reducing them to usually just a singular phrase or emotion. Finally, their speech goes and the person enters a state of comatose. The doctor mentions that infected people come in sporadically and randomly, sometimes coming by themselves, or sometimes dropped off by guards or family members.
  They continue talking with the doctors, but suddenly a loud screech erupts from one of the beds, prompting almost every doctor in the room to rush to the bed to attend to the patient who is leaking a mysterious liquid, and one of the doctors calls the screeching patient a leaker. Xodon holds a vial under a spot where some of the liquid is leaking from the patient, and collects a small amount for later examination, then they all leave for the Chorus Perch to watch the Arishtar games.
  Approaching the Tavern, yells of the crowds and loud drums begin to erupt. Colored lights flash as aarakocra fly up into the sky and each team emerges one by one. The game begins, and they all take off and begin weaving through the air. A ball is flung into the air, and one team, the Dawn chasers, snatch it up. They’re intercepted by the Raven rots, who dive down and sneakily pass the ball to a teammate, who scores the first point of the game. A volley of passes and quick succession of scoring occurs, until suddenly the Sky wardens star player, Ivan, knocks out multiple players with his large body. Teams continue to slowly be eliminated as the game goes on. There are only five teams left, then the Dawn chasers  are eliminated due to their goalie being taken out. The Sky wardens are outplayed and eliminated. The Reach takers and Raven rots battle it out while the Feather tips are nowhere to be seen. The Raven rots eliminate the Reach takers, and as suddenly as they disappeared, the Feather tips swoop in, grab the ball, and slam dunk it to eliminate the Raven rots and win it all.
  The crowds quickly rush to the Arishtar center to claim their rewards, and the group turns around from watching the game finish to see Earnhardt sitting in the tavern sipping on some ale. Xodon approaches him to speak about the work he was offering them earlier. He says that there are three sapphire gems hidden behind a waterfall, and he leaves in a month to go find them. They are welcome to help, and everyone would get 300 gold each and any other findings along the way. Xodon returns to the group and makes the decision to finally inform them of [[Yinta]]’s plan with the [[Silver Masks]]. After hearing the information, Henry politely informs Earnhardt that they will not be able to accompany him on his expedition, but that they appreciate the offer. As Henry walks away, Xodon carefully sneaks behind Earnhardt and nabs a piece of parchment from his bag that is suspected to be the directions to the Klashrek Ruby. He brings it to Henry, who opens it to reveal a note that says: “Tell Rafwar he’ll be staying at the bottom of the ranks,” signed with a smiley face. They look up to see Earnhardt smile at them before flying away, and they all take that as their cue to get some sleep as well.
  When they awake in the morning, the shuffling of feet and the noise of a bustling crowd is present as they notice a large population of the city funneling into the catacombs for the day of the gladiator pit. They follow the crowd into the arena and Koin signs them all up to fight unbeknownst to Xodon and Henry. The man at the signup area explains the rules of the pit to them, and they take a short rest before entering the pit to the applause of the crowd. The pit-master announces all of their names as the group gazes upon the 5 gates in front of them. The first gate opens, but nothing emerges right away. Koin takes the opportunity to protect him and Henry with some magical armor. Just as he finishes, an owlbear rushes out of the gate at Koin and snaps at him, barely missing. Xodon flanks around and slashes it twice while Henry hits it with an icy ray of frost. Koin slashes it and kicks it, and immediately after, its body surges and the creature dies due to the wounds inflicted from Xodon’s sword.
  The crowd cheers as they ready themselves for the second round. A large white moose charges its way out of the gate towards Xodon, hitting him with its antlers. Xodon narrowly avoids being slammed on the ground, but is instead impaled by the antlers and picked up. Koin hits the moose, attempting to trip it, not hitting it hard enough to make it fall over. Henry throws a ray of frost at it, and the moose perishes from its wounds, the same as the owlbear. They rest for a bit before reentering the pit for the third round. The gate opens, and 3 two-headed dogs sprint towards Henry and attack him. The first attack hits, a few miss, and the last attack hits, leaving Henry doubly poisoned. He strikes back with a powerful chromatic orb, and Koin attempts to finish the one off, but misses both of his attacks. Xodon hits one of the healthier dogs for a sizable amount of damage, and the bloodied dog attacks Koin and misses while the third dog flanks Xodon and hits him twice. Henry applies some magical armor to himself, and Koin attacks and misses again. Xodon lands two quick attacks on one of the dogs, and it growls at him before dying of its wounds. The dog that Henry bloodied also dies, leaving one to defeat. Henry hits it with a ray of frost, koin attacks it twice and bloodies it, and Xodon hits it with two attacks, leaving it with just enough health to die from its wounds within a few seconds, ending the third round. The applause is roaring as Koin cures Henry of his poison and they exit the pit to rest up for the fourth round.
  They all enter the pit and stare down the fourth gate, which slowly opens, making way for [[The ooze]] to finally make its appearance, crawling slowly towards them. Xodon and Henry instantly feel their muscles lock up, as they have been paralyzed. Koin attempts an attack, but misses. The ooze shoots a tendril out, which lands on Henry’s head and knocks him out. Koin instantly rushes over to heal him back to consciousness, while the ooze moves towards Xodon and knocks him out as well. Henry hits it with a fiery chromatic orb, and it mutters Henry’s name for the entire arena to hear. Koin runs to Xodon and heals him as well, giving him the ability to instantly attack the ooze, inflicting wounds on it as well as bloodying it. It rolls back and tries to charm them all, but is unsuccessful. Henry throws another fire orb at it, injuring it further. Unsurprisingly, it dies of its wounds just as the other creatures did, and as they do, it ejects a ruby from its body. The crowd is going insane, as no group of fighters have ever gone this far in the gladiator pit. They all take their break before the fifth and final round. Henry tells the group that after they killed the ooze, he heard a voice in his head that said “see you soon.” Henry appears a bit frazzled and odd, but he says that he feels fine.
  They enter the pit as the final gate opens and they hear a booming voice speak in an unknown language. A troll emerges and sprints towards Koin and hits him. Henry casts a spell to slow the troll down, letting Koin slash it and trip it. Xodon shifts into his beastial form, preparing to attack. The troll gets up and heals a small amount and gets rid of Henry’s slow, going to attack Koin and hitting, but with less force. Henry hits with a weaker fire orb, still undoing its healing. Koin rushes in for a flurry, tripping it and punching it while it is knocked prone. Xodon delivers a powerful strike, wounding it. The troll attempts to get up, but the fire and wounds seemingly kill it as it goes limp. The crowd begins cheering, but suddenly some of the wounds begin closing on its body and it slowly stands up, immediately swinging at Koin and knocking him out, then swinging at Xodon and hitting him. Henry throws another fire orb at it but misses, and Xodon goes in for another killing blow and it drops. It heals itself and gets up once more, hitting Xodon. Henry uses his final chromatic orb to toss at the troll, killing it for good, prompting the crowd to once again begin their cheering and immense applause for the only group to beat the entire gladiator pit.
  They exit the pit and begin walking towards the pit-master, who is preparing their reward. As they reach the table where their gold awaits, six Rezula guards approach them and say they need to search the group. Suddenly, the pit-master turns into a snake-like creature and they cuff it. The guards begin searching all three of them, assumedly for the ruby they got off of the ooze. Henry makes a lousy attempt to conceal the ruby, but fails. They find the ruby and arrest all of them. Koin quickly reaches into his bag, pulling out his small bottle filled with dust of sneezing and choking, chucking it all over the area. Everyone besides Koin and four of the six guards are thrown into a coughing fit, struggling for air. Koin throws down a bag of flour and punctures it, creating a cloud thick enough for him to grab Henry and Xodon and begin slowly dragging them away. Xodon is unblinded and begins carrying Henry and dashing away while the unaffected guards begin chasing after them. Koin stays a distance behind to slow them, narrowly escaping. He rushes to the wall where Xodon is waiting, and they decide to leave Henry and climb over the wall, running into the city. Just as the guards exit the catacombs and see Henry sat up against the wall, he becomes unaffected, grabbing his pole of collapsing and using it to pole vault over the wall and meet up with Koin and Xodon as they sprint deeper into the city.