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Toff Ornelos.
The name was written in long, slithering characters on the back of the envelope. 'Academae' it said. 'Headmaster'. Inside the envelope, an unexpected invitation, to attend the Breaching Festival. Traditionally held on the last Sunday of the month of Desnus. Tomorrow!
With apologies for the lateness! the invitation says. Kindly invited to attend. it says. Partake in the festival, it also says, compensated for your time, even if decide not to participate it says.
The breaching festival. Each year a dozen or so hopeful contestants try to enter the famed Hall of Wards. Nobody has emerged victorious for over a century-and-a-half, and a great many contestants have gone missing after breaching the school's defences.
The award money increases every year, and with the payout unclaimed, the current total must be around 153000 gp.
That invitation, who could turn it down? Arriving at the Acadamae in Korvosa, it turns out five retired Pathfinder have each received similar invitations, as they are escorted to the headmaster’s offices in Ornelos Hall.
“Welcome, and thank you for answering my invitation. Headmaster Toff Ornelos says As I’m sure you well know, the Breaching Festival is a longstanding Acadamae tradition, with prizes both material and magical. You might also know that entry in the contest is traditionally reserved for only the best and bravest of our students and a select few representatives of other Korvosan institutions. This year, though, we’re changing tradition and expanding the invitations further than ever—we want the most powerful, qualified individuals to compete, in other words. It has been a century and a half since the last—the only—winner of the Breaching Festival won the prize! One of you surely must bring glory to yourself and the Acadamae by enduring the traps and tricks in the Hall of Wards. I’m even willing to bend the rules to allow a team of allied competitors like yourselves to cooperate as a single unit—whatever it takes to get a winner tomorrow.”
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An obese gnome wearing red and orange silk blazing robe sniffs the air hoping to find a sweet pastry nearby. His over-sized black mustache wiggles and brown beady eyes twinkle with excitement. A single phoenix tail feather is proudly displayed on a green top hat.
"Greetings fellow Pathfinders. My name is Pad the Pyro. The moniker is self explanatory, so if you have any aversion to smoke, burns or flame tell me before we begin. I have been on a long sabbatical since my tournament victory on Xielan Island. How I would love to add another trophy to my collection of magical trinkets with your assistance!"
He tips his hat and bows in the direction of Toff Ornelos. His pale complexion is only noticed by his pudgy face as the rest of his body is completely protected from the sun.
"Attending such a prestigious affair is a great honor. I cannot wait to sample the entire cuisine!"
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A fair-skinned, bespectacled gnomish woman sits in a tall chair, listening intently to Headmaster Toff's greetings. Though she wears exquisite robes of silk and other fine materials, her left arm is left bare to show off the tattoo that is obviously a stylized version of a velociraptor. Behind her stands the living embodiment of that fearsome dinosaur, clad in well-made hide armor and wearing a talisman around her neck.
"I am named Nalshene, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am eager to learn more about the contest itself, as I am familiar with it only in the most abstract sense... I do know that because there has not been a winner in some time, the reward is... substantial. Is there anything useful that you could tell us about previous contestants, especially those that succeeded long ago?"
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The spunky gnome lets out a whistle as she reads the invitation and considers the gold at stake. A fortune! Sure, none have completed it in over a century and a half, but hey! Try everything once, I always say.
The female gnome, sporting a slightly revealing red and pink outfit to match her outrageous pink hair and lipstick, enters the room just after Pad and Nalshene. "Oh my!" she says, opening looking the two up and down. "I haven't had any my own size in quite some time! And it's not the size of the boat as they say..."
She catches herself mid-thought and says apologetically, "Oh, I'm sorry! How rude of me! My name is Glaurung, although my intimates call me Glau and I do hope that you will both be such good friends of mine as we get to know each other. I'm a friend of the Paracountesses, as they say."
Glaurung saunters up to the Headmaster and says, "Hey, sugar." She lightly places a hand on the man's leg, what might be an innocent gesture for someone of her stature except that by this point having known Glau all of five minutes you already know that it is anything but innocent. "As long as you're bending the rules, what can you tell us about what to expect in this test, eh?"
She squeezes his thigh to make the point.
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A man of apparent Tian and Kellid ancestry pads forward. He wears plain brown robes and carries a temple sword across his back. He bows and says, quietly "I am called Shinkeer, though you can call me Shin. It is an honor to make you acquaintance, and to be able to work with such accompished agents."
Is there anything useful that you could tell us about previous contestants, especially those that succeeded long ago?
Back in 4551, a man named Dyson Fordyce—who is the only winner to date— managed to step into the Hall of Wards and just as quickly step back out, winning on a technicality. Since then, the Breaching Festival has required entry into the Hall of Wards by one door and exit from one on the opposite side of the building.
Hey, sugar.
The name is Ornelos. the headmaster says in a neutral voice, not feeling confident enough to scorn the gnome.
As long as you're bending the rules, what can you tell us about what to expect in this test, eh?
The rules are simple. First, there can be but one winner—although you are welcome to work together to help one of your team win and then split the money. The prize money is high enough to share, I'd reckon.
Second, while contestants are free to work together if they wish, they are not allowed to directly interfere with other contestants.
Third, the contestant who first emerges from the front doors of the Hall of Wards is the winner.
Finally, all contestants must sign forms that release the Acadamae of any liability for any misfortune suffered as a result of the contest.
It certainly sounds like a worthy challenge! What sort of prize is there, exactly?
Toff looks surprised. You mean, you don't know? As your colleague mentioned, the prize money is... substantial. Every year the prize money increases, by a thousand crowns. It's been 153 years since the last victor, so I'll leave it up to your intelligence to calculate the current size of what is at stake. Of course, that's only the monetary gain: just imagine what doors will open up to you after being able to claim to have beaten this challenge. The things money cannot buy...
Once the party is finished in the headmaster's office, a lanky human wizard greets the adventurers in the hallway on the other end of the office door. Greetings, he says, my name is Jandar Lilswin. I've been assigned as your guide of the Acadamae grounds for this breaching festival.
Sure enough, he proceeds to move down the hall, pointing things out and spewing information. You see, these halls were built eons ago by the great wizard Volshyenek Ornelos. The whole Acadamae started as a single building, but it has since grown to a true city of knowledge...
His torrent of information is soon interrupted by a scream coming from the ground floor.
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"So much for introductions. Oh well, we can discover more about each other in the trials. I scream too when the kitchen runs out of dessert."
Pad casts Mage Armor and Fly (40', 13 min) upon himself and follows his new interesting companions.
Amsheagar -> Huge tiger form
Glaurung -> Regular size, leathery wings
Pad -> Flying
Shinkeer -> Just sprinting
Jebediah ->Velociraptor form
Nalshene -> Riding a dino
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The commotion is coming from one of the classrooms. Naturally, the number of students in the Acadamae is rather low - it is an elite place after all - so the class room is really not that big. Forty feet by fifty feet, not big at all. Pretty small.
'Pretty small' would be an inaccurate description for the enormous, metallic, spider-like clicking monstrosity that takes up much of the room. As the adventurers move in, the spider just bats away the one student present in the room, sending her and a spent scroll flying through the air. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, there's not a lot of room to fly in these classrooms, so her digression into aeronautics is quickly ended by a brick wall, and turned into an excursion into unconsciousness and bleeding to death.
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Pad
Amsheagar
Nalshene
Shinkeer
Glaurung
Jebediah
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Huge robot spider monstrosity
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That thing is a retriever, a construct built from the the raw, protoplasmic flesh of the Abyss. It's a big one for its kind too.
Nalshene jump onto a desk, throwing a sphere of fire at the huge spider, while the dinosaur charges the multi-legged construct. ()
Glaurung move up to the front, and breathes fire all over the clicking monstrosity, scorching it badly.
Amsheagar the tiger bites and claws at the spider, and manages to rip through a leg. He tries to grab a hold of the creature, but the eight-legged monster just shifts its balance and avoids the cat.
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Pad
Amsheagar
Nalshene
Shinkeer
Glaurung
Jebediah
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Huge robot spider monstrosity (55) <--Still need to add damage from dino
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The dino wastes no time tearing into the large spider: with talon and claw, it rips into the black exoskeleton, ripping shreds straight off.
It's a construct, but otherwise has no DR or hardness. It's got a number of dangerous eye rays that it can fire off: fire, cold, even petrification are among the effects.
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Pad
Amsheagar
Nalshene
Shinkeer
Glaurung
Jebediah
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Huge robot spider monstrosity (76)
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Pad flys (5' above ground) to the southwest corner of the room and casts Fire Snake. A path of fire from Pad's fingers streaks toward the spider while dancing around his allies.
Where the dinosaur did considerable damage, Jedediah simply tears the beast apart limb from limb. Legs fly all over the place, when a final gore destroy the evil body of the creature. When Jedediah is done, Pad stands ready to cast a spell, but sees that it is no longer needed.
There's a student, bleeding out on the floor...
Ow.. the student says did you.. the big... huge... did you kill that?
She looks the dead construct, then says I never thought that something that big would come out. How foolish of me. The scroll she points at the spent scroll that ended up next to her it was too powerful. You've saved me, how can I ever repay you?
An angry voice sounds from the entry of the classroom you'd better worry about repaying me, and count your blessings that these fine gentlemen were here to assist you! Toff Ornelos shouts almost beyond himself with rage The scroll! The damage! What were you thinking! I'll see to it that the thought doesn't cross your mind again! You will repay me, three time over, for the loss of this powerful scroll and the damage you have caused.
Toff then turns to the adventurers Thank you for defeating this my monster, and please accept my sincerest apologies for the behaviour of this student. It's highly unusual for my student to attempt such foolish stunts, but somehow these always seem to spike up every year, around the breaching festival.
No injuries? You have confirmed my conviction that you will do well in the breaching festival, that much is sure. Have a rest now, your chaperone will guide you to your quarters.
The party is led to their quarters by Jandar, who explains There are many more invites, but it seems that everybody but four have backed out. They've cited nerves, or political pressure. A few admitted to outright cowardice. Four contestants, besides you, of course. Do you want to be introduced?
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There's four contestants besides the party. Fatmire, a male halfling, from Korvosa. Illia Ean, a human woman, also from Korvosa. Knur of the gilded claw, a shortdwarf, former gas worker from Riddleport, who recently moved to Korvosa. The final contestant is Maganrad, a male Ulfen wizard, and a student teacher at the school - a clear crowd favourite.
Maganrad wears a tunic and breeches, with a pair of leather bracers over his forearms, quite different from the wizard's robes most members of the Acadamae are wearing. Hmm. he says you and your group seem interesting competition, but I'm not sure I would want to waste my energy on what you're suggesting at this point.
He does seems quite open to talk, though.
Hah! The others? I have not done much research on them, as I would rather win the tournaments by merit of my own talents. I know the woman, Illia Ean, is this year's entry from the Cerulean society. I've seen her getting strange looks from Fatmire, as if they had a business relationship gone sour, I don't know.
The dwarf... he seems to be in it for the money. He's an unlikely sort of feller, if you ask me.
The Cerulean society is Korvosa's thieves guild.