This is part of an ongoing campaign. You can find the other sessions over on the sidebar.
This session was run on October 3, 2022.
17 Sweetrain 4433
This session began with the Uggmar versus Vargr wrestling match for the finale of the wrestling tournament. Before the start of the match, Uggmar and Vargr discussed their plan. They planned to have lots of interference from the other wrestlers, have one of them slip Uggmar a blade, and then have Stranger goop the blade with his hoop ability.
The match began with Uggmar entering the ring, insulting the crowd, and spitting on babies. Vargr entered the ring without fanfare and began stalking Uggmar during his theatrics. Uggmar suddenly turned and sucker punched Vargr, knocking him to the ground. Rather than press his advantage, Uggmar resumed playing to the crowd.
Vargr got to his feet and put Uggmar in The Claw, lifting him off the ground. Uggmar hit him with a double axe handle and stomped on his instep. Vargr began hopping around the ring, clutching his foot. Uggmar charged him and took him down again.
At this point, Crow’s Nest waddled into the ring and started hitting Vargr with his crutch. Vargr knocked the crutch aside as Uggmar tried to bull rush him. The half-orc missed the barbarian and hit Crow’s Nest instead, pushing him over a bench. The crowd erupted in laughter.
The rest of the roster ran in and started piling on top of Vargr and each other. Juniper slipped beneath the tent and came back in with a lance, which she slyly gave to Uggmar. Vargr managed to slip out of the pile of wrestlers in the center of the ring as Stranger cast create water on the whole mess.
Uggmar climbed on top of the pile and started an obvious windup to hit Vargr with the lance, making eye contact with Stranger. Stranger waved him off, the lance was wood and his ability only worked on metal! Uggmar dropped the lance and drew a dagger from beneath his tunic. Stranger gooped the dagger and Uggmar looked at his hand in shock.
While the half-orc was distracted, Vargr grabbed him and threw him on top of Tulip. He then jumped on top, and Stranger made the three count to give Vargr the win. The crowd was entertained if a bit confused but left happy.
The final even of the jousting semifinals was Grant versus Axtris. On the first pass, both scored a hit. On the second pass Grant broke his lance against Axtris’s shield and the lizardman scored a hit. On the third pass, Grant missed and Axtris scored a hit. This left Grant the winner on points 4-3. Following his victory, Grant once again called for volunteers to take up his quest for the Light of Piety, the spear once wielded by Sir Gralx, Lion of Mitra. A few young squires took him up on the quest, but no one of note volunteered to take the oath this time.
To close out the day’s events, the Blue Team, headed by Sylvianna, was announced as the winner of the melee.
Duycken approached Sylvianna after she had a chance to get cleaned up following the melee and told her that he suspected that Lady Elizabeth was connected to Lord Ander’s fire, the attack on Arne Skel, and the duel. He explained that he noticed that Lady Elizabeth was wearing the Montu house ring and that she blessed him when she gave him a flower.
The connection between the Montu ring and the misfortune befalling the other recipients of the flowers was enough to raise the cleric’s concern. She agreed to cast detect evil on the mysterious lady and she and Duycken made their way over to the lists were the younger lords and ladies had gathered to socialize. Sylvianna cast the spell and confirmed to Duycken that Lady Elizabeth was evil. On a hunch, she cast detect undead and learned that the lady was also undead.
Duycken and Sylvianna decided that they needed to do something about Lady Elizabeth before she could hurt someone else. They approached the Wolverine and convinced her to take them to her mother to seek assistance. Lady Rixia agreed to allow them to retrieve their weapons and deal with the undead lady immediately.
Duycken gathered the rest of the party and their armaments and went with Sylvianna and Athelnar to confront Lady Elizabeth by the lists. They opened with Sylvianna turning undead, in response to which Elizabeth seemed to turn translucent. Rather than attack the specter of the lady directly, Gwythian snatched the Montu ring off her hand and Lady Elizabeth disappeared.
Suspicious that the bard may have been possessed, Vargr cast detect evil on Gwythian. His ring of mind shielding blocked the attempt to learn his current alignment, but Duycken was aware of the power of the ring and demanded that he remove it. Vargr grabbed him but the bard screamed for help and managed to break the hold. Sylvianna and Athelnar managed to knock him unconscious before he could get away. They carefully removed the Montu ring from Gwythian’s hand and the ring of mind shielding and found that he did not detect as evil. Sylvianna cured him. Gwythian could remember being possessed and knew that he had been overcome by a strong desire to seek revenge against those that had killed Lady Elizabeth’s mother or against their offspring.
That evening, Stranger approached the manor house and stole the shield bearing the Sulner coat or arms that was mounted on the porch rail. He hid it under a bush amongst the tents.
18 Sweetrain 4433
The sun rose on the final day of the tournament. With the morning arrived a young man on horseback in Montu livery. He informed Duycken that the Lady Montu died the night before around dinner. With her death, the Montu household ceased to exist and, since she had died without issue, the lands her family had been granted reverted to Lord Berk.
The first event of the day was the poetry contest. Hedwyn Issac told a whimsical tale, interspersed with flute breaks, about a nymph who lures a young man to a feast in the forest and falls in love with him. The young man dies of old age before the end of the feast. Score: 17
The Painted Mask performed a dreary song about a bard who falls in love with a lady, but her father has him tortured and driven away. When he finished, he removed his mask to reveal a once handsome face with lumps of scar tissue where his nose and ears once were. Lady Sten screamed and called for her men to escort her back to the manor house. The Painted Mask left before receiving his score.
Gwennifer Wren recited a bawdy poem about a couple who drink, screw, and fight. One night that got too drunk and killed each other during rough sex. Score: 7
Share Lloyd, the winner of the last poetry contest, told the story of a heroic squire rising to knight, then baron, all through his battle prowess. He then lost everything in a foolish, drunken bet. Score: 23
Finally, Gwythian told a tale of a group summoning a demon. One member boldly turns from it and is destroyed with her chance at motherhood taken from her. Her spirit haunts the rest of the group, looking for vengeance. Score: 15
Gwythian is awarded 750 GP for his 3rd place finish.
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