Session 92 - Duel!

 

Wed 23rd July 2025

In-game timeline: Alturiak 13 - Alturiak 14

Our "Heroes" are heading for the Umbros arena to meet an unknown foe. Alwaith heads to the challenger's waiting area whilst the others enter the spectator seating area along with the other members of the Feywild who are attending the event.

Unbeknownst to Alwaith, his "friends" are able to try to subtly influence the duel, though obvious use of magic may be frowned upon.

Unbeknownst to the others, Alwaith is offered a choice of potions to be drunk before the fight, and is told that any that he doesn't choose will be re-offered every 4 rounds. He is also told that his opponent is being offered the same set of choices.

After choosing and drinking the ** potion, Alwaith enters the arena, which immediately is overcast by clouds and the lights dim, creating a shadowy and dark combat ground, which would have been a problem for any combatant other than Alwaith, which his improved darkvision provided by his Devil's Sight invocation. The crowd hushes. The opposite door opens briefly and then closes, without anyone entering. Or so they thought…

Faith meanwhile tries to influence the crowd by telling them that Alwaith's opponent was responsible for the despicable attack on them by hags outside, attempting to deceive them into giving their support to Alwaith - he manages this very well and feels that the additional support from the crowd would give both an immediate, and an ongoing effect to Alwaith during the battle.

Suddenly a bolt of energy appears, flying towards Alwaith. The source of this bolt becomes apparent as its originator becomes visible. In a dark cloak, surrounded by a vengeful aura. Meepo!

The bolt hits Alwaith for decent necrotic damage and he is pulled toward Meepo. Luckily for Alwaith, the second bolt misses.

Bolstered by the cheering crowd, Alwaith responds with bolts of his own, hitting the empowered, and vengeful "former" kobold.

Sanada tries to distract Meepo with an off-putting display of acrobatics. Surprisingly, this seems to work, and Meepo is momentarily confused in the fight. His confusion does prevent him from critically hitting with his bolt, but he still does hit, causing more necrotic damage and dragging Alwaith further towards him.

In response, Alwaith hits back with more bolts, hitting once more and increasing the damage with an Eldritch Smite. The damage would be enough to put off any normal opponent, but this one is oozing rage and malevolence directly towards Alwaith.

Solveig risks using a spell, and summons a number of monkeys within the audience, who attempt to put off Meepo with their antics. Unfortunately doesn't work very well, and Meepo remains focussed on his opponent.

Meepo pulls back his cowl and glares at Alwaith, who is now standing relatively close. The glare attempts to burn right through Alwaith with pure vengeance, but Alwaith manages to retain his focus and brushes off the attack. Alwaith responds in kind, once more damaging Meepo significantly.

The battle pauses for the combatants to take a potion. These are chosen by each and the battle once again resumes.

Faith attempts to shame Meepo by claiming his dragon god is ashamed of him. Despite Meepo having abandoned his Gods, the mention of Ashardalon does seem to affect him to some extent, so the attempt does work.

Alwaith summons his flock of ravens to attack Meepo. They cannot reach him immediately, but will manage it next round. Alwaith holds on to a slightly raised platform to avoid being pulled towards Meepo again. The Revenant kobold's attacks miss, affected by the impacts of Alwaith's companions' aid.

Sanada uses her shadow step ability to appear next to some of the members of Meepo's supporters in the crowd and whisper in their ear, emphasising the kobold's cowardice and persuading them to switch sides. Unfortunately this backfires, and their support of the Revenant is actually boosted!

Alwaith's ravens attack Meepo, but he fails to be distracted by them. The warlock falls back to his trusty eldritch blast attack, hitting for significant damage. Meepo, despite being focussed on Alwaith, misses with both of his attacks, sparing the warlock from further damage.

Solveig uses his disguise self to appear as a caricature of Sir Alain, and uses his inspiration to ensure this manages to distract Meepo.

Alwaith strikes first and goes all in using two lots of inspiration that were gifted by his friends, managing to drop his opponent at last! His ravens feast upon the body of Meepo as Alwaith walks over to ensure he will not rise again, using Dragonsboon to burn the corpse.

The crowd go wild, entertained by the fight. Many more are cheering for Alwaith than were doing so at the start of the fight - partly due to the actions of Alwaith's companions during the fight.

Sir Alain is honourable in his defeat and offers to allow Alwaith and his companions to join his Hunt, as well as offering the promised boon. Alwaith declines the invitation, but does request that Alain does not involve himself, or his Hunt, in the immediate return of Malar. Sir Alain acknowledges that the request is a major one, as Malar is his own mentor and deity, but he honours the agreement and agrees to withhold support until and unless Malar successfully returns to the Material Plane.

After congratulating Alwaith, the group exit the arena, along with the rest of the crowd, and start to make their way back to the portal. A short distance away from the Arena, the group is approached by a Faun who, quietly and discretely, tells them that some members of the Fey Council are supporting their cause, and wish to possibly offer their help, as discretely as possible. He presents the group with an ocarina and a small piece of cloth which seems to contain some musical notes before quickly and quietly moving away.

Still high from the win, the group head back to the portal and emerge back in the Material Plane, seemingly only moments after they left. The portal shimmers and disappears, as the group recover from the night's events.

Before they settle down to sleep, Solveig uses his powers to summon some fey creatures - two dryads - and he asks them for more information about the Fey Council. The dryads don't know a lot of detail about the Council, but they do relate what they know, giving some names of members of the Council and some information about their possible allegiances.

Solveig then summons some satyrs and uses the next hour to receive instruction on how to play the ocarina (which will give him advantage on a single attempt at playing the ocarina in the future).

The group then settles down for a well-deserved sleep, prior to setting off in the morning, though there was still some discussion as to where exactly they were heading…