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Session 2

Becoming Career Cage Fighters

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After a few more sessions with the prostitutes they've hired, the party got up from their single bed at about 10 AM. Vastille knocked on their door, letting himself in. When asked about their plans going forward, they flipped the question back to Vastille, asking him for some sort of advice. All he had to offer in the way of help, however, was to suggest they ask around Odem on Phatax Beta. Content with this plan, they left the castle, and used their newfound amulet to jump dimensions.

On Phatax Beta, Rolen thought to gather intel at a bar he knew well- at least on Phatax Alpha. They made their way to what Rolen expected to be the sleeping dragon, his favorite bar in the city. Instead, where the bar he knew once stood, was another bar, "the Wide-Awake Dragon." Roberto noted the slight difference, and the three went inside.

The bartender Rolen knew, Treav Reant, stood behind the counter washing a glass. The three approached, and asked for a drink. Thoradin in particular seemed interested in the hardest drink they had. Treav gave Thoradin precisely that, the Coffee Grinder. Coffee mixed with some sort of hard liquor. After a few shots of that, Thoradin was rightly hammered. Roberto partook in the drinking of the Coffee Grinder as well. Rolen was encouraged by Thoradin to have some "choccy" milk instead of alcohol. Feeling courageous, Rolen did order some of the Coffee Grinder, only to put it in his flask to keep for later.

Having all three of them paid for what was probably the most expensive drink in the bar, Treav was happy to offer information to the group. He could tell they were foreign, and had little knowledge of the state of Odem, and indeed, all of Arengard. He cleared his throat, and began his exposition. "Around twenty years ago, Garlant killed King Dassul of Odem and his wife and infant daughter. He brought into his new kingdom a menagerie of monsters, kobolds, ogres, orc… Orchestras." Treav trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to offend Roberto, before beginning again. "Garlant wasn't content with Odem for long, he had his personal assassin move on to Arbies, then Lockseed, then Talan and Luraw. Greatest, Natchware, D'lema. He'd have taken Burhed forests and the elves too if he wanted."

The party asked if their was any opposition to this Garlant fellow. Treav was happy to point the group in the direction of the resistance, being sympathetic to the cause himself. Treav said he knew the resistance effort's last base was in Lockseed, but that was raided by Garlant's assassin, and all the able-bodied resistance fighters were taken. He had no idea where the resistance's base was now.

Content with this information, the group decided to set about making their way to Lockseed. The party hailed down a carriage on its way out of the city, and asked where they bought their horses. The two at the front of the carriage, an elderly gnome couple, were happy to tell them what they needed. Elias also let the group know that they were welcome to ride with them to Lockseed. Illbed, Elias' husband, gruffly agreed as well. The group, happy to not have to go through the trouble of renting steeds, gratefully obliged.

On their way to Lockseed, sitting around a campfire, Roberto attempted to convert the two to the wonders of atheism. Elias wasn't so sure, but Illbed, gruff as ever, was absolutely convinced. It seemed Illbed's new religious beliefs ignited a new spark in the old gnome couples' relationship, and the party could see the carriage shaking throughout the night. The next morning, the five finished their trip to Lockseed, making it to the city gates around evening.

In front of the city gates were two statues, one on either side of the gate. One of Vadon, the god of trade and travel, and one of Ferren, the god of revels. The two were shaking hands, and looking reverent to each other. "I don't understand modern art." Roberto remarked.

Telling the heroes they'd be staying at the Ferren's Revel Inn if they needed them, the gnome couple made their leave. The moment the party entered Lockseed, they could see lights and hear cheering coming from the center of town. Curious, the party made their way over.

The closer the three got to the center of town, the busier and more crowded the streets became. By the time the party made it to the cheering people themselves, pushing and shoving was required to move forward. Breaking past the crowd, the party could see what was being so violently cheered for. The ground fell into a pit, and at the bottom, stood two fighting humans. Both looked ragged and underfed. Seeing a small building to the right of the pit, the group makes its way there. In it, a man is ravenously eating a large bowl of mac and cheese. "Oh, hello," he said as he noticed the group. "What can I do ya for?"

Thoradin, interested in the fights going on, asks the man, "how would we go about getting into one of these fights?"

The macaroni and cheese-eating man laughed for a moment, before choking and coughing on his food. "How would you get into one of these fights? Well, first you'd have to commit a capital offense."

That wasn't enough for Thoradin. He insisted they bend the rules a little, this dwarf was out for blood. Eventually the man obliged. Roberto left the house, and wanting to make a distraction, created a small earthquake through magic. The macaroni man screamed and hit the floor, terrified for his life. While he was down and not paying attention, Rolen took a stealthy piss into the man's pasta. After they left the house, they could hear spitting noises followed by, "what the hell?"

Roberto asked for the best hype man of Lockseed to build excitement for the fight. Big Al, the very man, stepped up to do the job. The party asked if he was up for the job, if he truly was the greatest hype man in all of Lockseed. Big Al laughed before saying, "I'm not called 'Big Al' because I'm physically large." He did have a point, Big Al was a gnome. The party tell Big Al to call them the Big Three, before jumping in the pit to begin the fight.

Three gnolls came out of the gates opposite from where the party jumped down. Big Al began to narrate in an excited in an enthusiastic manner, not neglecting to call the party the "Big Three." Thoradin, in killing one of the gnolls, vaulted the gnoll's head into the stands, where a small boy with a football-shaped head caught it. The boy looked as if nothing so exciting had ever happened in his entire life before. After defeating the three gnolls, the party went to collect their earnings from Big Al.

They went to sleep that night at the Rest's End, where they were recognized by the innkeeper. "My son, caught that gnoll's head!" The party asked to see this son of his, and the man agreed. "Hey, Arnold!" He called, and the boy ran in. The group reminded the boy to stay in school, and to brush his teeth. Despite the huge discount the group was offered by the innkeeper, each of the three give him a gold piece each. He looked even more overjoyed than the boy had seemed earlier.

The next morning, the group decided to go shopping. They had heard all their lives of Lockseed's reputation, that of a thriving place for trade. They went to Lockseed's famous Market Town, and had a look around. The potion shop in Market Town, the group discovered, was owned by none other than Big Al. Al asked the party if they planned on fighting in the arena again that night saying he had earned more money yesterday than in a long time. The group agreed to fight another night. Thoradin sold the potion of hill giant strength he had stolen from Mr. Frog a few days prior. Thoradin bought some new armor from Terry's Armory next door, as well as a shield to keep on his back. Rolen bought a shield for himself, too. Roberto had the idea to buy fishing rods, and Rolen followed suit, buying a rod of his own. When the fish and game shop owner admitted he himself didn't know much about fishing, and it was his brother that was the true expert, Thoradin nearly demanded to know where this brother of his lived. Even after refusing, Thoradin continued to ask, before eventually giving up the inquiry.

The group at that moment remembered why they had come to Lockseed in the first place: to learn more about the resistance effort there. They returned to the Rest's End and asked the innkeeper a few questions. The innkeeper said he himself did not know where the rebel's new headquarters were, but he knew someone that did. He told the group to meet him here at around midnight.

At this time, the sun was starting to set, and the party made their way to the arena in the center of Lockseed. They watched a few fights, placing a few bets, before it was time for the last fight of the night: them. The three jump into the pit as they did yesterday, prepared for combat. An owlbear charged out of the gates opposite them, and Big Al began to commentate. The party made fairly quick work of the owlbear, remaining relatively unscathed. Getting their payment from Big Al, the three go back once more to the Rest's End.

Awaiting them behind the counter was not the innkeeper they knew and had talked with before, instead, it was another man. After some questioning, they confirmed this was indeed the man they were supposed to meet, his name was Thedoba. Thedoba offered to take the party to the new resistance base, and the three agreed. When asked why Thedoba was so against King Garlant, he explained that during the daughter-slaying festival that Garlant had organized, his daughter's name was chosen and she was killed. Since then, Thedoba vowed to see Garlant's end. When Thedoba walked out from behind the counter to take them in his carriage, they could see one of his legs had a strong limp.

The crew rode Thedoba's (whom they take to calling Theo) carriage to the new secret rebel base, which they were told was about a day's ride north from Lockseed. When they arrive, the base was nowhere to be seen. A few rocks littered the grassy plain where they were, but no rebels. Theo brought himself carefully down from the carriage, wincing a bit as if in pain. He made his way dutifully to the one of the rocks, picking it up. As it turned out, that rock was the handle of a hidden trapdoor. The three go down the trapdoor, amazed at its practical invisibility.

The floor of the cave was dusted and swept clean, and the group felt as if they could almost see their reflection. Throughout the cave curtains were hung up to make make-shift rooms. The party was able to see into many of the rooms, in them mothers, children, elderly. Many were resting on small cots in their rooms, some standing and talking quietly. Of the people they saw, it didn't seem like any of them were fit for fighting. "Welcome to the resistance effort." Theo said ruefully.

Suddenly, a boy came running to Theo, looking worried. "Troopers, Thedoba! Coming here!" He yelled, out of breath.

"We were followed." Theo said. He turned to the group with a defiant expression on his face. "Come with me." Theo lead the group back up to the entrance of the base.

The group, coming up with an idea, asked Theo what was north of here. Theo said there was nothing much, barring a river in about ten miles. The party asked if they might be able to take Theo's carriage, and, reluctantly, he agreed. Hopping onto the carriage, the three whipped the horses into action, sending them north. The group was relieved to see the troopers alter their course to start following them.

After two hours or so. The group makes it to the edge of the river. Hopping out of the carriage, the three prepare to make their stand. The troopers, finally catching up with the group, looked terribly annoyed. Thoradin tried to trick the troopers, saying the three were only out to fish. The troopers were unconvinced, and began to attack. The three made quick work of them, killing one and getting the others to yield. One trooper attempted to escape, but was unable to do so, and his horse escaped on top of that. After they begged for their lives, Roberto realized these officers were only people, not the monsters some might say they were. He told them to take it easy on those of the resistance, and they would be allowed to leave. The officers agreed enthusiastically to that deal.

After the troopers had left, the Roberto and Rolen decide to put their newly-bought fishing rods to good use. After three or so hours, the two didn't have much to show for it, besides some servings of salmon. The three return to the rebel's base, prepared to sleep for the rest of the night.

"Are you all okay? Did you take care of the officers? You've been gone so long!"

"Oh, we took care of those guys like five hours ago. We just wanted to go fishing."