Chapter 7: Mohkinstsis

Session 44 (cont)
Our heroes set off on their journey to Mohkinstsis, enjoying the first of a few uneventful days of travel. They notice the rotting corpse of an ogre not far from the road.

Session 44 (cont)
Our heroes continue on their journey to Mohkinstsis. They see another large corpse — this time, the headless carcass of a hill giant. That night, as they camp alongside the road, a strange pair wanders along while Alja is keeping watch. When she begins to talk with them, the others rouse and recognize one of them: Seán, the vampire bard Zo and Seth had first met in the Mephistopheles dungeon, who our heroes had then rescued from someone infected with the strange sickness, and who subsequently offered a snake oil cure for the illness, taking the money and running before Red Deer closed off travel in or out of the town. With him is Ebele, a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman who seems to be his companion, and much more on the sane side than he is. Seán explains that they're going to stay with some friends, the Ornons, for Stampede — when the party admits they're headed the same way, he says they can all meet up there.

Session 44 (cont)
The third and final full day of travel. They reach Airdrie, an abandoned town known for exceptionally unpleasant hauntings at night. Rather than try their luck pushing through, they camp north of the town, waiting for daylight.

Session 44 (cont)
The party finally arrives in Mohkinstsis, witnessing its great sandstone walls. Zo sees her first airplane as it took off from the city's famed airport, and they enter Metier, ready to explore the city.

Session 45
Our heroes begin to explore, led by Alja, who's most familiar with Mohkinstsis (at least in recent years). She takes them first to Dutchie's, what seems to be a local grocery store, run by an exceptionally handsome man named Tshering, who's utterly thrilled to see new customers and very unimpressed with Alja's moisturizing routine. The party picks up a handful of goods before proceeding further south, catching the tram — with Alja riding Greg alongside them — and passing through Sunnyside and Inglewood, where they stop to have some of their magical items assessed. While passing through Sunnyside, Seth sees several stark signs on black paper that just say GIBBETH, and tries not to worry too much about that. (She fails.)

In Inglewood, they go to The Green Gremlin and meet Eustace, a fabulously friendly male dwarf who rambles a mile a minute and introduces them to shop owner Mayeso, who agrees to give them estimates on the value of the items they acquired in the hags' lair — and quickly becomes very concerned about the safety, as several of these items are a) extremely valuable, and b) potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. The party sells off some less potent items, picking up a few things while they're there, before setting off again, travelling through the Core until they get near the northern border of Lakeside, where they're told the Ornons live. They begin travelling along the long loop that makes up Lakeside's main road, checking in at the bard college and learning that the Ornons are... pretty much on the opposite side of the lake. After a long walk, they find the place, and knock on the door, introducing themselves to Ref, a haughty high elf man with blond hair and no interest in social skills. Ref accepts that apparently this is a situation he will have to deal with, showing them inside and introducing them to his wife Dak, an elderly dragonborn woman. She offers them a room in their home, and the four of them settle in to two bunk beds in a second-floor bedroom.

Session 46
A comical series of sending messages ensues, with the party quickly learning that Samsok seems to have some concerns about "The Hot Ones." Despite three uses of the spell, they fail to ascertain where Samsok is. However, they do communicate where they are, and as they take a rest, waiting for Seth to recoup some of her energy, Samsok begins to journey south to meet them.

As it turns out, Samsok had been through quite an adventure since last we saw him. Aside from being the cause of the ogre and giant corpses they'd seen on their way, he'd recently been through an unpleasant event in which three very attractive people — a dark-skinned man, a brunette with a nice stomach, and a blonde woman — had apparently tried to steal from him before disappearing into thin air. As Samsok makes his way from the penthouse suite at the Rising Sun, he draws some attention from members of the city guard, due to his general air of "heavily armed and ready to kill someone." However, he finds unexpected salvation in the form of Buhle, a handsome older man with long, greying dreads and a catlike grace who pretends to know Samsok and casually escorts him away from danger. Once it seems Samsok is safe and knows where he was going, Buhle tells Samsok he can find him as often as not in the bar of the Rising Sun, or by asking at Shelf Life Books.

With this new friend made, Samsok makes his way back to the Ornons, where he'd previously gone when reaching Mohkinstsis with Moyrkus some days earlier. He reaches the place at around the same time Seth sends him another message, and the three original party members reunite with him, with Alja meeting this rainbow bugbear for the first time. They take a walk through the gardens, catching up — and at around the point they're discussing various potential illegal activities, hear a familiar voice call down to them from a window. Seán, it seems, has overheard them, and summons them up to his and Ebele's room.

Session 47
Seán and Ebele talk with the group, giving them some advice on how they might want to proceed in some of their goals, such as looking for Vyre and participating in the Arena of Champions. Eventually, the pair bid adieu to our heroes, who head north into the Core to find food, drink, and maybe a handsome elven man with dark hair. Over the course of the evening they find multiple handsome elven men with dark hair, at least one of whom will have a lasting wariness around bugbears as a result of his interaction with Samsok. They crash an art show, where Zohal pisses off one of the artists and Samsok gets picked up by a cougar with violently orange-rimmed glasses named Zlata. They then go to The Rising Sun to see if they can find any leads, with no luck but a lot of cucumber water, before finishing the night at its companion tavern The Setting Sun. Afterwards, Alja, Rorrik, Seth and Zohal return to the Ornons' to rest for the night, while Samsok returns to Zlata to "rest" for the night.

Session 48
The following morning, the Ornons' guests awake to the smell of food somewhere in the house, and follow their noses to find the couple entertaining three guests: a deep gnome bard named Ini, a human ranger named Marika, and a human fighter of some kind named Laxmi. Apparently, Ini is friends with Seán and Ebele, and the three of them had been visiting the vampires before dawn. They are also, it seems, one of the adventuring parties participating in the Arena of Champions battles that weekend. Seth, thoroughly unsettled by the sight of another deep gnome, ends up talking to Ini here and there over the course of breakfast, eventually asking about other gnomes Ini has heard of who left for the surface. Ini tells a story of a gnome who began to travel with the trading caravans before fully leaving his home — Seth knows, but does not tell the others, that the gnome in the story is almost certainly one of her fathers.

Meanwhile, Samsok gets cheerfully kicked out by Zlata, who has business elsewhere, and takes one of her glasses and one of her mugs — full of orange juice and coffee, respectively — back to his hotel to freshen up and get some more cucumber water. As he does, he mulls over a message he received from the cables of the world: "Thursday." (Zlata explained the concept of the days of the week to Samsok the previous night, so he knows this is two days away.)

Eventually, all five of them meet at City Hall, where Samsok immediately insults a handsome, dark-haired elven man named Eladris. Eladris, a member of the city guard, is horrified that Samsok thinks he would be someone named Dave. Does he look like a Dave to you? Really? A D-ayv-e? Despite this grievous insult, Eladris takes down the missing person report for Vyre, and tries to hide what he thinks of the party's chances of finding her, given the fact that she's... never been seen in Mohkinstsis. They then make their way to the Stampede Grounds, where they sign a waiver absolving the Stampede and the City of Mohkinstsis from any and all injuries, death, and trauma incurred as part of their participation in the Arena of Champions, and each of them pay the 100 gp fee to participate.

They go sit by the river and discuss next steps, as well, as Samsok's mysterious message. None of them know why Thursday would hold any significance, but they agree to pay particular attention to their surroundings that day. Later that afternoon, Samsok retrieves his trophy giant skull, and takes it to the Wise Frog Market in Inglewood, taking his friends along to confirm he's not getting scammed by its owner, Klarz. Klarz, a no-nonsense hobgoblin, quotes a price of 250–300 gp for fashioning the skull into a bowl and silvering it, requesting a 200 gp deposit, with the rest to be paid on completion. When his friends confirm Klarz does not seem to be scamming him, Samsok makes the deposit (in expensive jewels), and agrees to return on Saturday morning to pick it up — which will give them time to drink from the punch bowl before they go to their deaths in the Arena of Champions.

Session 48 (cont)
Our heroes perform various errands around town. That afternoon, Alja goes to the Glenbow Museum with the others in tow, and everyone has a lovely time, though the trip does take about three times as long as it ought to, due to Seth's compulsion to read every placard thoroughly.

Session 48 (cont)
Thursday. The group continues to run errands around town. Alja and Zo go to some dive bars downtown, and thanks to Zo pulling Alja back at the last moment from exiting one such dive, they avoid running into Aleida de Gris. Alja gets a brief primer on Aleida and why they'd prefer not to run into her. The meaning of Samsok's message from the cables of the world remains unclear.

Session 48 (cont), Session 49
The Stampede begins, and the gang takes in the Stampede Parade. After, they head to the grounds and start to take in the sights, with Rorrik partaking of various meats on sticks, Alja insisting on multiple ferris wheel rides, and all of them watching a pair of magician's duels, at least one of which gets uncomfortably racist when a half-elf makes several comments about his bugbear opponent while using Vicious Mockery. They learn that one of the participants in the duels is missing, and they're holding auditions for a replacement. People look at Seth, and Seth pretends not to notice. They toy with the idea of a few of them auditioning for the duels — Samsok included.

Session 49 (cont)
The Arena of Champions. The team goes to pick up Samsok's silvered giant skull, and they share a celebratory drink of cucumber water in preparation for battle. They meet Nikki Hillary, their host, who has resting bitchface but is actually quite nice. They also meet their competition: The Sapphire Guard, The Hellraisers, The Bachram Bunch, The Knights of the Armored Pig, and Valiant, Inc. Samsok makes sure to mention his former halfling-eating habits when the group shares their key details for introductions.

In round one, the Bachram Bunch face off against a young black dragon, and prevail, despite a third of their team being knocked unconscious from acid burns in the first round. Caldas, their triton ranger, gets the kill with an arrow that shot out a mass of vines, tangling the creature's wings and bringing it hard down to the ground. Duo and lovers The Hellraisers were up next, taking down a wyvern with ease — Wioleta, the paladin, took the kill. Third were The Sapphire Guard, against a Shield Guardian. They also succeeded, with gnome ranger Lil Bimpi taking the creature down. Fourth were our heroes, facing off against a Woe Strider. Thanks to Samsok drawing most of its attention, the rest of the team was able to take the creature down, with Seth taking the kill.

Session 50
As the newly dubbed Cosmic Crew walk off the arena, feeding Samsok all the healing they can, Valiant, Inc step up next to face off against their first round monster. As it turns out, they're battling the drider that our heroes had met not so long ago in their memorable encounter with the rodeo drow. It is a brutal fight, and Seth, Rorrik, and Zohal all get the opportunity to appreciate how lucky they were not to fight the drider themselves. It's a big day for the small races getting the kills, as halfling barbarian Gilly Tosscobble takes the creature down. Finally, The Knights of the Armored Pig step out to meet their foe, an armanite. In under 15 seconds, they take the creature down, with human barbarian Laxmi taking the kill.

As the first round finishes and intermission begins, our heroes and their fellow competitors have 15 minutes to recuperate and guzzle healing potions. All considered, The Cosmic Crew have taken much less damage than some of the other teams. Lucky for them, since they're the first team to be called for round two.

They battle a howler, and succeed — this time taking no damage at all. Once again, Seth gets the kill. Next are Valiant, Inc., who battle Vermi the Fierce, a young green dragon. By the end of the fight, half the party is unconscious, but human paladin Qixalim gets the killing blow, barely standing. After them comes a particularly uncomfortable experience: The Hellraisers against a hydra. By the end of the fight, both Wioleta and her lover Meztli are not just unconscious but dead, clerics and animal handlers rushing out to subdue and drag off the beast, and resurrection performed in front of the entire audience. Thankfully, the clerics were able to reach the bodies in time for simple revivification, but it's still a relief when the pair get to their feet, alive again. The first team has been eliminated.

Next, the Bachram Bunch return, facing off against a chain devil. The party witnesses the power of a monk's stunning strike for the first time, and "Glorious" Gorioz, the group's leonin barbarian, manages to take the creature down — unlike the other foes, it simply melts away to nothing. Next came the Sapphire Guard, facing off against Gwerthyd, the hag of Meighen Island. She brings a mass of snow and ice pelting down on the arena, taking out the panther companion of Birch Silverclaw, as well as Lil Bimpi's bestial spirit bear. This time, it is Yaikten, the half-elf monk who shoots sunlight from his fingertips, who takes her down.

Last to go, once again, are the Knights of the Armored Pig. They fight a giant skeleton. This time, human ranger Marika gets the killing shot. And, once again, our heroes and their rivals are given 15 minutes to prepare for the final round.

This time, the Knights of the Armored Pig are the first to be brought out, and they face another sizeable contender in the form of an abominable yeti — fiercer than the yeti our heroes had fought previously. Though the fight knocks Ini unconscious and nearly freezes her to death, the team prevails when Marika gets the killing shot again, and as Ini is revived, the evening's first champions are confirmed.

Next, the Sapphire Guard returned for their final fight: a young blue dragon. Still stinging from Minka's death — the panther was revived, but was left backstage for the final fight — the group did not do well, as repeated lightning attacks left all but human rogue Shyama unconscious, and they forfeited on the group's behalf. There was a tense moment after when, though most of the party was quickly revived, it became clear they had not made an adequate deposit to revive everyone. Our heroes, as well as the Knights of the Armored Pig and several other competitors, pooled together their money to cover the resurrection of Lil Bimpi after the event was done.

The Bachram Bunch was next, fighting a bone devil. They become the second team of the night to earn the top tier of prize money, with human monk Thorik taking the killing blow, breaking the bone devil with his bare hands. Like the chain devil, the body simply melts away to nothing. Next comes Valiant, Inc., with another of the evening's most disturbing fights: a brief battle against the Lonely. A literal manifestation of despair found on the Shadowfell, the Lonely hooked Valiant, Inc. with its ranged harpoon arms, one by one, bringing them close and killing three of them, and almost killing Gilly Tosscobble as well. As with the other fights, clerics and animal handlers rushed out to subdue it and revive the fighters — Hunter, Akachi, and Qixalim were all successfully revivified.

Finally, the Cosmic Crew returned for their final battle, against a Death Kiss. And, once again, S̸͖̀e̶͍̔t̸͙̐h̵̭͐ ̵̬̂g̷͙̏ȍ̶̱ţ̵̉ ̴̞͝t̶̯̚h̴͔́ȇ̶̖ ̶̳͠k̷͕͒i̸̊ͅl̸̫̐l̵̘̅, becoming a reluctant legend. As they celebrated their three-way tie — and the 1,333 gp our heroes had each just won — Zo received a message notifying her that she'd been selected to participate in the magician's duels the following day.

After the fight, they made their way to the afterparty at Festival Hall, where various VIPs mixed and mingled with all the competitors who'd come — notably, a few of those who had literally died that day chose to stay back in their hotel rooms instead. Among these VIPs included retired adventurer Deena Kisinger, who seemed interested in the party's talents; reporter Jamie Todd, who came to get a few quotes for a story on the event; and vampire socialite Lucia Sibanda, who wanted to do shots with Samsok and maybe eat him. Seth received a message from Earl letting her know there had been an attack in Coppermine by something called a thoqqua, but that no one she knew had been badly hurt. As the evening wore on, however, a more pressing problem caught both her and Rorrik's attention: a handsome elven man and a beautiful elven woman were talking to Fernando Fernandes. The man had dark hair, a casual air of arrogance, and was idly playing with a copper coin as he spoke to Fernando. A copper coin which, to Rorrik's eyes, looked suspiciously similar to the one Vyre had commissioned back in Red Deer.

Session 51
While a very drunk Samsok failed to notice the growing tension, Alja took the initiative to go over and find a way to meet this suspicious elven man, reasoning that even if he knew anything about Vyre's travelling companions, Alja had never been among that number, and thus shouldn't raise any alarms. Pretending to have known Trennen and then getting her flirt on while Bri glared daggers, Alja was formally introduced by Fernando, and Trennen's identity was confirmed. As the group discussed what to do about this revelation, another problem came to light:

Zo, who had gone to use the washrooms downstairs, had been gone for a very long time.

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