The Natural Disasters #3: Games of the Lotus

General Summary

Hope buys an ale from the man behind the counter in all purple who wears a black lotus flower above his ear and speaks to him for a short time. She then once again notices the figure in all black barring the white mask with a crooked red smile etched into it standing in the corner of the room. Hope attempts to speak to the figure, and the figure remains silent. After a few sentences escape Hope's lips, the masked figure treads over to the counter, whispers something to the man in purple, and he immediately hops over the counter and tells Hope it is necessary for them to leave to allow The Artillerist to do what they want. The man in purple then introduces himself as Dandy and his brother, an orange tabaxi, as The Lion who is running a stand for target practice.
Meanwhile, Ariel and Remington Taylor go to the Bow or Fetch, a not so cleverly named Boyar Fletcher. In the shop they see a man worrying about purchasing a bow and speak to the tradesman. Whilst providing arrows to Ariel, he speaks about the business he has obtained with the Lotus Ring in the town. Remington asks about the reason for this, and the shopkeeper says that they play a game called the Bullseye for some kind of reward.
All whilst this is happening, Bear walks around studying the fairground with his hood up. He sees that all the performers have black lotus flowers on their ears. As he studies three large performers that almost dwarf his height in a firbolg named Flower who works with plants, an orc woman named Hids who shows off her strength in extraordinary ways, and Magic Hands, a goliath who performs daring card trick. However as he tries to keep a low profile, he sees a person in a recognizable hood mirroring his movements. The figure throws back his hood and reveals a mirror image of Bear and says, "You have no need to hide yourself. Everyone should have fun here," eventually leading to Bear walking openly on the fair ground.
Bear begins shooting on the range against a bale of hay and does fairly while after all of the group, minus Kriv and Arnold, arrive to Hope's location. Here, they see a group run to Rosé's tent to join in the Lotus Game. After this, Dandy explains to them that if someone wins a set of games, they win their choice of a token of friendship, a construction of the Artillerist, or a number of coinage, and as such must pay a similar tribute to enter.
They watch as different members of the Lotus are paired against the 5 members in this group where a majority of them lose.
The group then meet with Arnold and Kriv to sleep at an inn in the city. Whilst their that night, Hope learns that something about the token of friendship is magical of some kind. Arnold also expresses his immense distrust for any ring of the Debaucherous, and this distrust continues still.
The following day, the group meets with Rosé, the seeming Domin of the ring. She allows them to enter for all of the items they pilfered from the giant bird they slayed. She informs them that 4/6 of them must win, or they have lost the Lotus Game.
Firstly, Ariel is placed against the orc Hids in a game called The Duelist. In this game they use blunt and dulled weapons to strike into each other and earning points. Ariel out combats Hids due to her weapon failing to strike well enough into him and his strength in combat. Remington is also paired off against The Lion in a game called The Bullseye. The Lion immediately throws knives into the targets, doing fairly well. He turns around, smiling, to see as Remington is aiming the gun at him. Remington then loads something into his gun, before shooting out a puff of smoke at The Lion. His smile immediately turns to a look of sheer terror before running past the targets and getting disqualified. Magic Hands congratulates Remington on his cunning in achieving this victory before the games continue.
Secondly, Kriv conflicts with Flower in a game called the Riddle. They meet with Rosé and she performs whilst drawing cards and speaking: The first card drawn is a paladin “I bring birth to order at the end of chaos” The next is the dictator, “I end totally, creating new chaos” the final is a ghost “Finally after I pass, only wraiths remain of the physical domain. What am I, my darling?” In the end, Kriv can not provide an answer whilst Flower decides to just invoke what he believes to be the simple answer to a majority of riddles: time. This is the true answer, and Kriv loses his game. Hope races against Magic Hands in The Race. In it, Magic Hands casted spells to increase his speed while Hope attempts to knock him over and run faster. However, Dandy heals Hands and he manages to win the race, resulting in 2/6 failures for the adventurers.
Thirdly, Arnold is set to go take on the game known as The Show. As Rosé is announcing Dandy to be his challenger, The Artillerist appears and climbs the stage. He says something to the announcer and she says that the Artillerist will go against Arnold, but the Artillerist then quits, giving a third victory to the adventurers. All this occurs while Bear goes against Chrysa, the person who earlier told him to have fun in a game called The Heist. He is told to steal a silver cane from a man at the main inn before Chrysa can. Bear gathers the party to help and he forcefully grabs the cane from a man outside the inn and returns, learning it is the wrong cane. He returns to the scene to find two versions of the man he stole from earlier, the cane on the ground, and ten militiamen surrounding them. Bear begins a lie to get the cane before one of the men is taken away. Bear then grabs the cane and takes it before a militiamen can stop him and runs to return it and win before being arrested.
After winning the Lotus game, Bear and Hope choose to receive a tattoo as a token of friendship. Bear is thrown in a cell with Chrysa and six inks. Chrysa explains to him how he disguised as the man they were stealing from in order to pull off the heist before being captured. He also explains that this tattoo counts you as a friend to and almost even a member of the black lotus. He also explains that the different inks provide different enhancements to the natural abilities of a person. Bear then receives pairing leg tattoos with dandelion ink in the center in order to increase his speed; while flirting with Chrysa-seemingly successfully attracting his attention. Hope meets with Hands to get the orchid ink placed at the center of her tattoo on her bicep and resulting in increased strength.
Remington, Kriv, and Arnold go to The Artillerist's workshop to receive gear from the inventor. There, Remington takes a rifle, Kriv takes a potion, and Arnold takes a black suit of armor.
Finally, Ariel takes coinage and receives two items that he immediately sells and a golden mask he can not sell here.
The group decide, with a slightly disgruntled Arnold citing protecting the people, to travel with the Lotus Ring southwards, and as they leave, they leave behind seeds that sprout into beautiful flowers to be enjoyed by the world.

Rewards Granted

The mark of the Lotus-Hope & Bear
Warp Rifle-Remington
Potion-Kriv
Items of high monetary value-Ariel

Missions/Quests Completed

Won the Lotus Game.

Character(s) interacted with

Dandy and The Lion, unlikely brothers
Flower, the gentle giant
Hids, the ex-thrall
Rosé, the Domin
The Artillerist
Magic Hands, an unlikely goliath
Chrysa, the doppl(bang)er

Report Date

23 May 2020