🗓 Session 3 – 🎲🏋️ The King's Games Begin

📅 Date of Session:

5/9/2025

👥 Party Members Present:

• Zane Umbralight – Half-Orc Warlock (Bill)
• Voss Dain – Half-Elf Cleric (Matti)
• Harlekk Wynnchym – Kenku Bard 4 / Warlock 2 (Ray)
• Nelvax – Human Monk (Justin)
• Xaniver – Eladrin Sorcerer (Andrew)

📍 Locations Visited:

• Tournament Grounds
• King’s Pavilion
• Festival grounds decorated with colorful banners and filled with the smell of roasting meats, with crowds moving between event areas.

🎲 Session Summary:

🛠️ Bastion System Discussion

• Bastion turns happen every 7 in-game days, requiring RP and planning.
• Bastions act as player strongholds with 2 standard and 2 special facilities at level 5.
• Activities include harvesting, crafting, defending, and more.
• DM reminded that Bastion actions can be combined with downtime events for narrative impact, such as training with NPCs or hosting public displays.

🧪 Crafting Rules Clarified

• Mundane and magic item crafting is allowed with:
  • Proficiency in Arcana
  • Proper tools
  • Spell prepared (if applicable)
  • Time & gold cost (DMG tables)
  • Raw materials (75% availability in major cities)
• “Side quest” style RP available for rare materials.
• Players joked about crafting impractical items, like “a sword that makes soup,” leading to a brief rules clarification that flavor items still follow crafting requirements.

💀 Shrouding Gate & Evil Dagger

• Shrouding Gate: Once activated (requires sacrifice with a hellish dagger), acts as a 3-charge Gate spell summoning a devil.
• One devil had already fled before the party arrived.
• Second summoned devil was slain by the party.
• Devil summoning is possible again via additional sacrifices.
• Harlekk burned himself on the dagger — described as “metal as hell.”
• Nelvax employs a street urchin for 4cp/day as a Bastion action (despite the feature being disabled).
• The dagger’s hilt was described as warm to the touch even before Harlekk grabbed it, and when he did, faint infernal whispers filled the air.

👑 The King's Games Festival – Context

• Public celebration dating back generations.
• Party is well known; crowd excited to see them.
• Each PC must compete in at least one challenge to qualify for the Champion's Duel.
• Festival announcers hyped the party’s arrival over the crowd, referencing their past exploits and daring deeds in Dunhollow.

🎭 Event 1 – Battle of the Tipsy Toons

• Performance-based: perform → shot of high-proof booze → perform again.
• Emceed by Master Minstrel Fabian.
• Participants: 3 NPC bards + PCs: Zane, Nelvax, Harlekk, Xaniver
• Winner: Harlekk – Prize: Scroll of Magic Tent
• Harlekk’s second song was so slurred it accidentally rhymed with “porcupine time,” which the crowd loved.
• Zane attempted to match Harlekk’s flair but choked mid-verse from the liquor, earning good-natured jeers.

💪 Event 2 – Sams of Anarchy

• Strength trials: Boulder Toss, Chain Pull, Titan’s Table.
• Tribute to strongman Sam Mhorsbound.
• Participants: Nelvax, Voss (Zane asleep, Harlekk & Xaniver opt out)
• Highlights:
  • Voss nails the boulder toss.
  • Nelvax smashes a boulder in frustration.
  • Voss follows rules precisely in chain pull.
• Prize: Scroll of Giant Strength
• The Titan’s Table required lifting and holding a massive beam; Nelvax lasted impressively long before theatrically dropping it.
• A child in the crowd shouted “That’s my hero!” when Voss completed the boulder toss.

☠️ Event 3 – Leap of Death

• Cliff-diving challenge.
• Participants: Harlekk, Zane, Nelvax
• Round 1: Harlekk lands stylishly, Zane belly flops, Nelvax lands decently.
• Round 2: Harlekk hits rocks (20 dmg, healed by clerics), Zane lands far but rough, Nelvax with precision.
• Placements: 1st – Nelvax, 2nd – Zane, 3rd – Harlekk
• Zane’s belly flop was so loud the announcer declared it “a tactical distraction for the other competitors.”
• Nelvax’s final dive earned a standing ovation for perfect form.

🎖️ Current Results & Standing

• Harlekk: 1 win (Tipsy Toons), 3rd in Leap
• Nelvax: 1st in Leap, competed in Sams
• Zane: 2nd in Leap, slept through Sams
• Nelvax earns 2 entries into the final Battle of Champions
• DM confirmed that multiple entries improve odds but do not allow duplicate participation.

💰 Loot:

• +59gp each from Dunhollow haul and festival bag
• Scroll of Magic Tent (Harlekk)
• Scroll of Giant Strength (Voss)
• Gold distribution happened during a lively debate about whether to pool winnings for a group purchase.

🗨️ Quotes:

“Metal as hell.”
“Porcupine time!” – Harlekk mid-performance
“That’s my hero!” – child in the crowd to Voss
“A tactical distraction!” – event announcer after Zane’s belly flop

✅ Things to Do:

1. Compete in the final Battle of Champions.
2. Continue festival participation.
3. Consider visiting merchant stalls for rare items before the Champion’s Duel.

📦 New Items:

• Scroll of Magic Tent – Harlekk
• Scroll of Giant Strength – Voss

🧍 New NPCs:

• Master Minstrel Fabian – Emcee of the Battle of the Tipsy Toons
• Sam Mhorsbound – Namesake of Sams of Anarchy (historic figure)

🗺️ Quest Updates:

• King’s Games

🏳️ New Factions:

[No new factions introduced]