The squad reported to Captain Asilia after the heist at the Lucky Nimbus, reporting that the device had already been taken by Franca Laurentz. Asilia tells the squad that she will do dome digging, and to take the rest of the night off.
The squad attends the party at Simi's temple. Party at temple is a roaring success. Captain Grospeck and Lyrafel danced well together.
The squad finds that the door is trapped. A Warp Wood spell creates a large enough hole for Valcos to disarm the trap. The trap was to have released an acid cloud.
The walls of this simple one-room apartment are plastered with broadsheets, flyers, and printed posters heralding events occurring across the city during the Radiant Festival, from plays and operas to sporting matches and exhibitions. Each clipping is accompanied by a detailed charcoal sketch on brittle parchment of a building or street corner map marked with handwritten scribbles. Bits of string tacked to the papers lead from one wall to the next in a colorful spiderweb of inscrutable connections. A wooden table sits in the middle of all this, its surface covered with a mess of glass containers and metal tools. The air smells strongly of stale sweat, with a hint of acrid chemicals.
The evidence points to the release of a clockwork poison bomb at the Irorium during a the upcoming Blood City Games.
The largest arena in the known world, the Irorium began as a simple practice ground atop a hill, where worshippers of Irori tested their martial skills against one another. The Irorans long ago gave up management of the Irorium itself, although true worshippers still operate a secret school far beneath the arena, away from the jeers and chants of the crowd above. Exhibitions and contests of skill and strength still take place in the arena, however, and grow larger and more elaborate with every passing year.
Statues of 33 former Irorium champions—each over 150 feet tall—ring the arena’s outer wall, facing out over the city. The 200-foot-tall outer wall towers over the nearby buildings of Absalom’s Foreign Quarter. It encloses a 10-acre central stage, making the Irorium one of the largest and most visually dominant structures in the city. The massive arena has five entrances—a main gate and four side gates—for the public and a sixth gate for workers, gladiators, and other performers.
Captain Asilia arranges for the squad go undercover as contestants to search for Franca and the bomb. Only Lord Ganfen, who runs the games, will know who we really are. Lord Ganfen of House Kethlin is described as a man of small stature, with thinning hair and large ears. As master of blades, he is in charge of arranging the Irorium's daily performances and most daily operations. Despite his position within the Irorium, he does not give the impression of being a warrior, a fact he gladly admits to, and rightfully believes himself better suited to brokering deals and commerce, more as an administrator.
Their first fight in the arena is a fight against Ebarak. The terrifying apex predators known as eberarks torment their prey, spewing oil from their mouths that they can then set alight. Commonly called flint beasts, eberarks drag their overlarge claws (four on each paw) along the ground as they move, creating showers of sparks with every grating step.
The squad engages, and Simi uses her strength and wrestling skill to throw the creatures at each other. Valcos uses a spellstrike charm arrow to put one out of the fight. Pumpelio sings a song of Impending Doom. Simi uses the demon mask artifact to incite fear. Mr Gone punches another into submission.
Ultimately the enemies are all dramatically defeated, and the squad goes into the area beneath the arena to continue the investigation.
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| Ebarak |
