Champions!

After winning their semi-final match in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, the party sat back to see who they’d face in the finals. The other two surviving contestants were the hobgoblin, Gomwai, facing the Scarred Ninja, Seishuku. As soon as the Emissary gave the signal, Gomwai took the fight to Seishuku, and in short order simply beat the snot out of him. As he stood over the fallen ninja, he picked out the party in the crowd and gave them a cold glare before striding out of the arena.

So they would face the Golden League’s chosen champion in the final match. They’d already decided their final team would be spellcaster-heavy, with both Zhustin and Nicki joining Sawyer and Bella. They quickly discussed strategy before they had to be sequestered. Gomwai always fought alone, so they’d be able to gang up on him, and they’d never seen him cast any spells. Sawyer and Bella should be able to bottle him up while Nicki and Zhustin blasted from afar with spells. They traded equipment among themselves and Sandoval cast Heroism  as they were led off to the waiting room.

The remaining party members – Shinjiro, Sandoval, and Marie – were led to seats of honor in the Emissary’s box, seated next to Marthysan. As they waited for the match to begin, Shinjiro leaned over to the others and whispered, “When we win this match, be ready for trouble from the stands. I’m not sure the Golden League is going to take this lying down.” The others nodded, and Sandoval added, “And keep an eye on Marthysan. I’m not sure I trust that guy.” “But he’s a Paladin!” Marie protested, but Sandoval gave her a look that told her just what he thought that was worth.

There was the sound of a gong, and the doors leading onto the arena floor opened. The party’s team emerged onto the sands of the arena, to the cheers of their supporters in the stands (and by now, there were many). Gomwai stalked out of the doors on the opposite side of the arena – accompanied by three burly thugs armed with sansetsukons. From their tattoos and weapon of choice, Sandoval immediately recognized them as Golden League Xun, the same knee-breakers who had attacked them in the noodle shop. “Wait a minute!” he complained to the Emissary, “Is that legal?” The Emissary nodded. “Gomwai registered a team of four at the beginning of the Tournament. He simply has kept his allies in reserve for the final match. An interesting tactic.”

The hobgoblin had plenty of supporters of his own, and they were stamping their feet and chanting “Gomwai! Gomwai! Gomwai!” He and his cronies spread out across their end of the arena as the Emissary rose to his feet. A hush fell over the crowd as he paused dramatically, his hand raised in the air. Then, with a flourish, he let it drop, and the match began.

Sawyer knew that the Xun liked to flank their enemies, and he wanted to make it difficult for them. Zhustin had cast a Haste spell on the team as they emerged from the gate, and so he rushed the northernmost Xun, taking a route that took him up over the stairs of the water structure and left him situated on its bottom steps; anyone wanting to get behind him would have to go around and over the stairs first. He sliced the Xun before him, and the Xun hit him back, but to his surprise, the others all ignored him. Gomwai charged across the arena, moving with inhuman speed, and struck Nicki in the center of the chest with a Stunning Fist. The sorcerer avoided being stunned, but had the wind knocked out of him nonetheless. The other Xun also charged across the arena, clearly Hasted themselves. Both attacked Zhustin with their three-part staves, and one scored a critical hit.

Their strategy was clearly to try to take out the spellcasters first, and to try to make it deadly for them to cast spells. Nicki didn’t want to play that game, so he used Dimension Door to transport himself 30’ above the center of the arena, activating his Boots of Levitation to keep him afloat. Bella stepped up behind one of the Xun attacking Zhustin, and began slicing and dicing with her swords, carving huge chunks out of his backside. Zhustin was surprised to find himself almost surrounded by foes. He took a hasty step back, and let loose with a Fireball, twisted into electricity by his Elemental Spell (he’d copied a page from Nicki’s playbook). He detonated the spell at point-blank range, counting on Bella’s uncanny Evasion to let her avoid damage. She did, but unfortunately, so did Gomwai and one of the Xun. Not good.

Gomwai advanced on Zhustin, striking him with another Stunning Fist. The wizard wasn’t stunned, but he could feel some cracked ribs, and the other Xun made them worse with his sansetsukon. The other Xun turned on Bella, trying to keep her from helping the beleaguered wizard, absorbing blow after blow from her rapier without faltering. Zhustin, surrounded, knew he’d taken about all he could take. With a poof he vanished, using Dimension Door to reappear atop one of the small platforms on the opposite side of the arena.

That was just the opening Nicki had been waiting for. With Zhustin out of the target zone, he unleashed an Enhanced Fireball, transformed into acid, on the crowd around Zhustin’s former position. One of the Xun fell to the ground, skin bubbling from the acid, but once again Gomwai and the other Xun dodged the spell’s effects. The crowd was roaring its approval, both at the flashy pyrotechnics and at Gomwai’s team's ability to shake off their effects and continue fighting.

Gomwai quickly scanned the arena for the missing wizard, and as soon as he spotted him, he let out a roar. With blinding speed he dashed across the arena and clobbered the unfortunate MU with yet another Stunning Fist. Zhustin was knocked unconscious – not dying, but definitely down for the count.

To the north, Sawyer had been trading blows with the Xun facing him. Although the big fighter landed three hits for every one for the Xun, the thug was still on his feet. With a snarl, Sawyer wound up and swung Suishen with all his might. The blade sank deep, and the Xun finally dropped.

Bella delivered another series of dazzling cuts to her opponent, concluding with one blade in his liver and the other in his heart. With a gurgle, he sank to the sand. She turned and saw the hobgoblin standing over the motionless Zhustin, preparing to deliver a coup de grace. “Come pick on somebody your own size!” the 5’2” girl screamed. At the same time, Nicki blasted Gomwai with a trio of acidic Scorching Rays; he’d tired of seeing the hobgoblin dodge his area-of-effect spells.

Knowing Zhustin could wait until he’d finished the others, Gomwai bellowed with fury and charged Bella. He hit her in the chest with yet another Stunning Fist, and she avoided being stunned, but was knocked off balance and missed her counterattack. Sawyer charged into join her, but they found that Gomwai was just as slippery as Bella, and they couldn’t use their teamwork to gain any advantage on the hobgoblin. Nicki blasted him with two more Scorching Rays, but he continued fighting. Infuriated by Bella’s taunting, Gomwai focused his fury on her. Up until now, he’d always been attacking at the end of a charge, but now he unleashed a Flurry of Blows, and for the first time, Bella realized all that he was capable of. A seemingly endless series of kicks and punches came at blinding speed, leaving her reeling.

Half blinded by blood in her eyes, Bella stabbed forward with her rapier, and somehow found a vital organ. As the hobgoblin screamed in pain, Nicki hit him with another pair of Scorching Rays, sending him sprawling into the sand. When he didn’t get up, the roar of the crowd rose to deafening proportions as it became clear that the team from Hongal had won the Ruby Phoenix Tournament!

Marthysan was clapping enthusiastically as the Emissary rose from his seat, preparing to descend to crown the new victors. But then a shrill shrieking pierced through the cheering and applause. A pair of women rose up out of the earth of the arena floor, as if they were emerging from the ocean. They were screaming in Tian, spittle flying from their snarling lips. “This Tournament is a fraud! We are the rightful champions, and all who sought to steal this from us must die!”

“It’s the Sisters Wu!” Marthysan cried, his face turning pale. The party recalled the story he’d told them on the first night they’d met. Ten years ago, the Tournament’s leading team had been led by a powerful elemental wizard named Wu Jufeng. She’d been disqualified at the last minute when it was discovered that her twin sister, Wu Dizhen had been secretly tag-teaming with her during matches. Their disqualification had resulted in Marthysan being awarded the championship, and apparently they were still nursing a grudge.

The sisters were identical, save for a series of nasty scars on the left side of Wu Jufeng’s body and an identical set on the right side of Wu Dizhen (they had been born as conjoined twins, and separated at birth). Wu Jufeng pointed a finger in Bella and Sawyer’s direction, and Bella felt some invisible force push her to the side. She had narrowly avoided being trapped inside the Forcecage that now surrounded Sawyer.

Up in the Emissary’s box, the Sphere of Force that prevented outside interference and protected the spectators from wayward spells, now kept the rest of the party from helping their friends. Sandoval turned to the Tiefling, Kiang Zhen, who was supposed to be the Tournament’s rules enforcer – if there was ever a violation of the rules, this was it. “Are you going to help?” he demanded, but she shrank back, shaking her head. “Pussy,” he muttered under his breath, then grabbed Marie by the arm. He began to sing, then used Dimension Door to transport the two of them into the arena, near where Zhustin lay. Marie cast Channel Divinity, and the healing power was sufficient to restore Zhustin to consciousness. Then Marie sprouted her wings, and flew off towards the trapped Sawyer.

Shinjiro tried to follow Sandoval and Marie, but found his way blocked by the invisible Wall of Force. “Take this bloody thing down!” he shouted, and the Emissary was finally roused from his shock enough to take action. He made some gestures, and suddenly the invisible wall holding Shinjiro back wasn’t there anymore. He charged down the stairs and across the sands to swing at Wu Dizhen, but she nimbly dodged his blow.

Bella fumbled her way around the invisible cage holding Sawyer, then charged across the arena. She couldn’t reach Wu Jufeng, but she pulled her Terra-Cotta Talisman out of her pocket and Summoned a Terra-Cotta Warrior to appear behind her. Unfortunately, the clumsy construct was unable to hit the elementalist. Nicki fired off a volley of Scorching Rays of acid at Wu Dizhen, but she seemed unperturbed.

Zhustin blinked at the commotion all around him, and tried to make sense out of what had happened since he’d lost consciousness. All the enemies who’d been threatening him were lying in pools of bloody sand, but now everyone was going after a pair of screeching harpies. On the far side of the arena, Sawyer was doing his best mime-in-an-invisible-box impression. Not sure what was happening, Zhustin figured Sawyer might need some help getting back in the fight. With another Dimension Door, Zhustin was suddenly inside the cage with him, ready to help.

Unfortunately, he arrived just as Wu Jufeng called down a Sirocco. A blast of scorching wind blew straight down out of the heavens, knocking them prone and burning them with its heat. Zhustin had barely been healed enough to regain consciousness, and now he was out again. Marie was also caught in the blast, and it knocked her out of the sky and drove her face-first into the sand.

Sandoval and Shinjiro had surrounded Wu Dizhen, and Sandoval scored a critical hit with his echoblade, but she suddenly Detonated with a surge of elemental energy. Even as the flames were sweeping over them, she took a step back and unleashed a Fireball on those in and around the cage. Sandoval hit her as she was casting the spell, and then Shinjiro stepped up and pummeled her with a Flurry of Blows. She fell backwards onto the sand, a look of surprise on her lifeless face.

Marie shook the sand out of her eyes, and saw that Zhustin was down yet again. She Teleported into the Forcecage, and cast Breath of Life on the wizard. With his first breath, Zhustin grabbed Sawyer by the arm and took a Dimensional Step back out into the arena. Then he didn’t even try to stand back up, but merely crawled underneath the nearest fighting platform, where he curled into a little ball and tried to look harmless.

Bella was going after Wu Jufeng, but she could tell there was something odd about her appearance. She was flickering strangely, and it reminded Bella of one of the targets she’d shot at during the archery competition, the one that had Displacement cast on it. Hoping it would help, she drew her Nine-Fold Spirit Sword (which had the ghost-touch ability) and charged at the wizardress. Unfortunately, the sword’s ability to hit incorporeal creatures didn’t help against targets that weren’t where you thought they were, and he blow passed harmlessly two feet to the right of Jufeng’s true location. Sawyer, finally released from his invisible prison, didn’t waste any mental cycles strategizing against her magical defenses; he simply charged and swung Suishen as hard as he could, and the ancestral blade cut deep into her already scarred side.

Nicki fired off another round of acidic Scorching Rays, burning her badly. But Wu Jufeng stepped back, and unleashed Chain Lightning that crackled into Sawyer, then leaped to Bella, Shinjiro, and Sandoval. Bella again managed to dodge the bolts, but Sandoval took them full in the face. He tried to cast Slow on her, but the spell had no effect, so he changed his song to Inspire Greatness on Sawyer, while his harmonizing echoblade continued singing Inspire Courage for the rest of the party.

Shinjiro moved up and tried to hit her, but his blow went wide thanks to her Displacement. Marie, still inside the Forcecage, called down a Flame Strike. Jufeng seemed impervious to the fire, but the holy damage injured her. The Terra-Cotta Warrior rumbled up behind her and, to everyone’s surprise (most of all, hers), it hit. Bella, with her summoned ally providing flanking, delivered cut after cut after cut. With a scream of pain and rage, Wu Jufeng collapsed into the sand. The crowd, who had assumed this was all part of the show, was on its feet. Now, at last, they truly were the Ruby Phoenix Champions!

Marthysan accompanied the Emissary into the arena. “I can’t believe it was them,” he said, looking down at the dead twins. “I knew they were angry and shamed by their disqualification, but I never dreamed they’d seek revenge. They must have been the Golden League’s ‘silent partners’ that the Aspis sorcerer told us about. They must have been working with the Golden League, hoping to discredit the Tournament’s reputation, and they must have had me kidnapped so they could exact their vengeance on me personally.”

Whatever their motives, the party was simply glad to have survived their ambush (Sandoval was still muttering about “useless enforcer” and “cowardly paladin”). As a band of musicians played a triumphal fanfare, the Emissary presented each of the party with a single phoenix tailfeather. “It is my distinct honor to pronounce you the champions of the 31^st Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Tomorrow morning, you will be admitted into Hao Jin’s vault, where you may select your prize from among her many treasures!”

The PCs earned 9,371 XP for the night, putting them at 152,769 XP, with 155,000 required for Level 11. You’ll probably reach Level 11 by the end of next session, so start looking at your next level-up. We’ll be at Rich & Joette’s again next Sunday.