The Adventures of the Big HELP, Session 23

General Summary

• The HELP, after seeing the strength of Zorvin, decided they were probably better off following him than trying to fight or flee.
• A halfling spoke up to vouch for the HELP. She claimed to have fought against the Cult of Arazid alongside them in Valadris. Larka picked up on this and realized that the halfling was trying to let the HELP know she was actually Zinnia in disguise.
• Hest wanted little to do with Zorvin and demanded he heal the wound he had caused. Zorvin healed her, but Hest still wanted to keep her distance. She tried to stay as far from the group as possible. Zorvin pressed her on this and ended up using Earthen Grasp to force her back in the group with the others. He claimed that Hest needed to stay close in case any of Hespiro's forces were close. Larka couldn't help but look at the disguised Zinnia after he said this.
• Larka asked Zorvin if King Hespiro and his forces had marched this close. Zorvin confirmed they had not. The Church of Gorthag had been forced back by Hespiro's forces but they have a plan should Hespiro march on Cathedra. Larka mentioned she was one of the Ribahrn Territory tribes and hoped to free her lands from Hespiro. Zorvin gave his condolences for what happened to her people.
• Bigwig had taken a shining to Zorvin, particularly because he was picking on Hest. She asked him to talk about himself. Zorvin eagerly agreed. He revealed he was the champion of the Cathedra Arena, undefeated for the past five years. Hest needled out that he had almost lost once, but he refused to elaborate further. Zorvin then showed off his strength by displaying his cleric spells and shattering a bolder with his bare hands. Hest and Larka pointed out that his showboating didn't exactly an example of caution.
• Zorvin guided his recruits to Cathedra. The HELP marveled at the giant arena and the Earth Father's Cathedral spires. In the cathedral, they received an audience with Archbishop Darvus. He commended Zorvin on this crop of recruits and announced that they would fight in the arena to earn their rank. Those that proved strong enough would be allowed to gain boons and blessing from him in Gorthag's name. Darvus, feeling magnanimous, allowed one of the new recruits to fight in the night's tourney with the other champions of the Earth Father's Cathedral. Hest wanted revenge on Zorvin. Bigwig wanted to prove her strength. Larka wanted the Church's strength to fight Hespiro. Petrichor was just along for the ride. When so many wanted to fight in the tourney, Darvus decided to let them all fight for glory.
• Larka asked why people were being recruited to the Earth Faithful and Darvus explained it was to fight King Hespiro, who he referred to only as the tyrant. Fighting is prayer to Gorthag and the church revered it. Darvus claimed that Hespiro's desire to unite Udarich and end the constant fighting was blasphemous. Larka pretended to agree to stay on his good side. She told him about how her tribe had been slaughtered by Hespiro and she would do anything to defeat him and see them restored. Darvus enjoyed the spark of violence in her eye and said the Ribahrn tribes had always been very faithful.
• Darvus dismissed the recruits but noticed Petrichor just as she was leaving. He ordered her to report to his quarters following the tourney this night and to make sure she brought her Staff of the Woodlands. Petrichor agreed, secretly worried he may try to claim the staff. Zorvin listed a few points of interest for the HELP (the Library of Ages, Terra Market, and the Arena) before leaving to train himself. Larka pointed out Zinnia and the party decided to follow her to the market.
• Larka tracked down Zinnia. Some of what Larka had said concerned Zinnia and she had been worrying whether she could trust the HELP. Larka assured her that she was just trying to gain the Archbishop's favor. Zinnia, unsure, decided not to go into detail on her mission in the Earth Father's Cathedral but said she would call on the HELP if needed.
• While this was going on, Bigwig and Hest went shopping for armor. They found a blacksmith with reasonably priced wares. Hest asked about weapons and armor, but the blacksmith didn't have anything he thought was good for wizards like her. Hest corrected him and said she was a sorceror. He did have some old elven armor, rusted and grotty, that he thought was worthless. Hest took it anyway and Identified it, learning that it was actually powerful Elven Chain Mail that she could wear without inhibiting her spellcasting. Larka stepped up to buy some armor, trading in some old armor and loot for slightly better armor. Bigwig wanted to do the same and offered some of the magic gem powder she collected from the mines. The blacksmith, instead of giving her a deal, offered to incorporate it into some armor he already had, giving it fire resistance.
• Hungry, the HELP decided to look for a place to grab some snacks. They found a baker selling various types of bread. He was busy helping a tall, muscular tiefling woman. This woman turned out to be on of the Arena Champions, named Punch. The baker was offering her as much bread as she could eat for free. The HELP stepped up and greeted this exuberant tiefling. Larka was a little unsure of why her name was Punch, at first, but recalled that some tieflings choose a name that fits their personality. She asked if Punch had ever had fruit punch or cotton candy, based on her appearance and name. Punch hadn't heard of either so Larka promised to introduce them to her once her tribe was restored.
• Punch was a little starstruck meeting the HELP, having heard about some of their work and told the baker that they were the ones who should be getting free samples. Petrichor and Bigwig took samples greedily. Hest asked Punch where she was from and why she served the Church of Gorthag. Punch just said she traveled before coming here and knew Cathedra was a place to seek glory in the arena. She claimed no one was stronger than her before quickly correcting that the Earth Father was. The HELP picked up that Punch was more interested in fighting glory than worship. Punch said that only one person could beat her regularly in combat. Hest smugly asked if it was Zorvin. She was happy to find the person who almost beat Zorvin, but everyone else joked that she was reminding Punch that Zorvin was stronger than her.
• Done with shopping, Larka wanted to check out the Library of Ages. Petrichor and Hest wanted to check it out, too, but Bigwig decided she'd rather have a drink. Punch offered to show her around a bar while the others researched.
• At the library, Larka asked about books on mind weapons and tactics. The librarian was a little unsure where to find information on the former but showed her to the section that contained the latter.
• Hest asked for information on Wild Magic, trying to suggest she wanted to understand its dangers. She learned that Wild Magic had been outlawed by religious edict from the gods themselves since time immemorial. Texts suggested that magic was used to bend the world to the caster's will. Wild Magic, in turn, allowed the caster a moment of unlimited power by temporarily tearing a hole in the fabric that weaves magic and reality together. Few people are born with Wild Magic and there is no known link between them to suggest a cause.
• Petrichor wanted to learn about the gods of the world, having grown up fairly isolated in the Black Sand Desert. She had some difficulty focusing and only learned some of the basics. She learned about the six elemental gods that created the world long ago and how they had fought in the Element War long ago before disappearing from the world.
• The librarian was unable to find texts on the mind daggers Larka mentioned and suggested she come back to see the Chief Archivist the following morning. The Library closed for the upcoming tourney.
• At the pub, Bigwig and Punch had an arm wrestling competition. Loser bought the round. After a best two out of three, Bigwig came out victorious twice. She was astounded at how much the tiefling could drink without it affecting her. She also had a hard time telling whether Punch was flirting or an excitable person. Chimes from the cathedral announced that the tourney was about to begin.
• At the Arena, Archbishop Darvus addressed the audience and announced that several of the new recruits would join the tourney. In the first round, Bigwig, Petrichor, and Larka fought strangers and all moved on. Petrichor was the quickest to win, using Erupt Earth and accidentally toppling a pillar onto her opponent after he'd already fallen. Hest fought Zorvin. Her fight was valiant but she was unable to keep a distance from Zorvin to cast spells and was defeated.
• In the second round, Petrichor and Bigwig fought first. Petrichor tried to keep Bigwig at bay with her magic, but Bigwig was fast managed to hop over her earth magic. With a concerning glee, Bigwig stabbed Petrichor through the stomach and up into the ribcage. Clerics immediately rushed to Petrichor's side.
• Larka fought Punch in her second round. Punch raged immediately and Larka tried to keep her distance again. Time after time, Larka struck Punch from afar and managed to only be hit occasionally. She hoped Punch would eventually start to tire but was caught once and took an unfortunate blow. Larka fled but Punch followed, picking up a bolder and hurling it at Larka. Larka narrowly avoided being pinned to the ground by the bolder and limped away. She got off a few more good shots before Punch knocked her out.
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33 Days After the Crash of the Raziel

Report Date

14 Jul 2024