Yog'Moi snarls at the sharks and spits biting profanity at them. Sadly for Yog, sharks do not speak Tian. The lack of any clear effect causes the hobgoblin's face to turn a dark crimson red and if things keep going this way, he might just explode real soon.
As the sharks impede your progress, the Lightkeepers turn on the Steps of the Sun! Syu Tak-nwa uses her hexes to cause the other team member's shadows to wrestle with the reins, while Blue Viper hurls alchemical bombs at their chariot! The Steps of the Sun begin to flounder as the Lightkeepers pull ahead, Tino's Toughest trailing just behind them.
I'm hypersensitive to everything now, but that seems to help, as the aquatic predators seem to be moving in slow motion, making it easy to navigate around them.
Hotcha is an excellent swimmer, can hold her breath longer than a dolphin, and has clawed her way out of a creature’s stomach before…
”I will survive and thrive, even when we dive into shark-infested waters!”
The hobgoblin calls upon Hei Feng and throws lightning into the mix. If the sharks won't hear his words, they'll hear the crackling of thunder!
Xin slashes around him with his weapons, yelling like a madman!
As you make progress to navigate the leaping sharks, the Lightkeepers begin attacking Tino’s Toughest to try to keep them at bay. The other teams move on to the next obstacle, but you aren’t too far behind!
"C'mon drakes, ride the lightning! There's glory waiting for us, you only need but take it!!! Here ...", he says as he begins to weave a spell of quickening.
Hotcha says to Xin, “Yog’Moi gave me an idea! I can sing a Catchy Tune to slow the others down. The ‘catch’ is—heh, get it?—we gotta caaaatch up. Within thirty feet, I can make the other drakes and drivers DANCE!”
The drakes surge forward, following Hotcha’s guidance as you approach the second-to-last obstacle!
SEVEN WINDS OF SHELYN
The winds that billow through Shelyn’s Comb are legendary for their strength, persistence, and unpredictability. To pass this part of the course, the racers must thread their chariot through a narrow fissure in the easternmost cliff of the Comb.
Unfortunately, Xin finds it difficult to navigate the winds blowing through the narrow fissure.
The Steps of the Sun struggle as well, but Tino's Toughest suddenly surge forward, overtaking the Lightkeepers as the latter team tries to navigate the final obstacle, Goka's famous massive statues of Shizuru and Tsukiyo at the harbor’s mouth. Hao Jin has enshrouded the statues in a powerful illusion so that they appear like they are moving, making it difficult to tell where the statues actually are.
Tino's Toughest makes it to finish line just seconds before the Lightkeepers, making them the winners of the race! A little while later, you and the Steps of the Sun complete the course as well.
Seeing her team never stood a chance from the rough start, Hotcha cheers joyfully when Tino’s Toughest takes the win! They may be the underdogs in the fights, but no one can take this victory from them.
Hotcha runs up to Tino and the gang. “That was a close race! I was watching you from way in the back! Congratulations!”
"Thanks!" Tino says with a grin. "It was harrowing, for sure, but we all worked together as a team and claimed our victory!"
Tino, Takatorra, Ji-yook, and Yabin all high-five one another and laugh!
With all Tino and his crew have done for them, Yog'Moi can't find it in him to be mad or disappointed at their inability to win this race. He offers them a somewhat deflated smile and leaves it at that. "Ha, you showed them Lightkeepers! Good on you."
As long as Tino and company don't start translating this success in the arena, Yog is fine with it. They should've won the race, after all, but today just wasn't their day. Tomorrow better not be anything like today.
I get off the drake and hand the reins to the poor creatures handler. I smile and nod at Tino and the others, but I'm still shaken from the fireworks and just clap politely with the others as they cheer.
Tonight's definitely going to be another smoking night.
Following the drake race, the action returns to the arena, where the Lightkeepers take out their frustration from losing the race on the Steps of the Sun. The Lightkeepers defeat their opponents, keeping them in the winner's bracket and setting up a clash between the two of you later on in the tournament.
You return to the Ruby Village to get some rest before day four of the tournament. Today, the four teams in the losers' bracket are scheduled to face off: the Biting Roses versus Winter's Roar, and Tino's Toughest versus the Arms of Balance. You have an exhibition match later in the day as well.
Wu Xin cheers for Tino's Toughest, glad to see these kind people win something. At the same time, he begins to plan for the day when the Lightbringers try to cheat against his own team. He stares at them darkly for a time before retiring to the village for more practice.
You watch from the stands as the matches get underway. The Biting Roses handily beat Winter's Roar, eliminating them from the competition. Then, Tino's Toughest barely scrapes by with a win against the Arms of Balance! Only six teams remain in the tournament now!
Once those matches are done, you head into the arena for your exhibition match against the Steps of the Sun. Today's match is called the Challenge of Falling Stars, and it takes place on a cylindrical tower commissioned by Hao Jin! The Challenge of Falling Stars follows the usual tournament rules, with one additional caveat: Any fighter that does not either begin or end their turn touching the cylinder is disqualified.
The diameter of the tower is so large that pushing a creature 5 feet laterally doesn’t knock them off the tower; rather, to forcibly move an opponent off the tower, a character must push them at least 10 feet laterally or at least 5 feet outward from the tower wall. The slow rotation of the tower has no effect on gameplay.
Characters can still fight on either the ground floor of the arena or on the top of the tower, but risk disqualification if they cannot start or end their turn touching the tower.
The map of the tower shows it flattened out like a common map projection of a globe. Therefore, a character who walks “off” the right side of the map immediately “appears” on the left side of the map at the same elevation.
Ground and Top: The bottom of the map represents the ground floor of the arena. The top of the tower is a flat plane and a perfectly viable place to have traditional “top-down” combat (in which case you should use a separate battle map that shows a 45-foot-diameter circle to illustrate the tower’s top ). However, a wickedly spiked overhang makes it difficult to access the top without the use of flight.
Ladders: There are two kinds of ladders around the tower, both of which can be Climbed as usual with a successful DC 10 Athletics check. Most of the ladders are parallel to the tower’s face, connecting the outer edges of 5-foot-wide walkways. Unlike the rest of the tower’s platforms, the depth of these parallel ladders allows two characters to occupy the same space; in this case, one character is climbing the “outer” side of the ladder and the other character is climbing its “inner” side. A few of the ladders are perpendicular to the face of the tower.
Moving Lift: The right side of the map shows the path of a 10-foot-wide moving platform. Unless affected by magic (such as slow or haste; the exact effects of such magic are up to you), the platform moves up and down at a steady clip. The platform starts in the “down” position, then moves to the “up” position at the beginning of the next round, alternating positions each round thereafter.
Passageways: The tower’s center is hollow, but it is inaccessible except via two different tunnel-like passageways (their entrances are marked A and B on the map) which intersect the tower.
Rope Swing and Flagpoles: Acrobatically inclined characters can fling themselves across the battlefield by utilizing the rope swing or flagpoles intermittently placed around the tower. The hanging rope dangles from the undersides of the spiked pit platform on the left side of the map, whereas the flagpoles jut out perpendicularly from the tower’s face near the top and bottom center of the map. In either case, a character can traverse the air between the rope or the flagpoles mid-Stride by succeeding at a DC 20 Acrobatics check.
Spike Traps: Wicked rows of metal spikes line the floor, ceiling, and walls or certain platforms around the tower. A creature forcibly moved into a square with spikes takes 4d8 piercing damage from the spikes, plus additional effects or damage at your discretion.
Trapdoors: Two trapdoors adorn platforms on the left side of the map. The uppermost trapdoor is held in place by a lever mechanism; when the lever is pulled down, the trapdoor releases, opening downward and potentially dropping anyone standing on it into the spike pit below. The other trapdoor is a simple hatch that can be opened or closed with an Interact action.
Walkways: These sturdy platforms jut out from the exterior of the tower and wrap around it, occasionally dipping or rising vertically via ramps, staircases, or ladders. All the walkways are 5 feet deep, meaning that only one character at a time can stand in a given square on the map.
You take your positions around the tower as Tagada Emmi soars overhead, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Across the tower, battle dancers Amihan and Maalya ready their scimitars. The catfolk bard Halspin the Stung draws his bow across his morin khurr, while the samsaran song-striker Joon-Seo clears his throat. "Three Men and a Fairy versus the Steps of the Sun! Ready? FIGHT!!!"
"Okay, first priority is to remain touching the tower. Second priority is knock them off of it. Most of us can fly, but we still need to remain touching the tower."
"I don't want us to split up and take targets of opportunity. We mass attacks on one opponent until that opponent is eliminated and move on, no matter how good the opportunity to do otherwise may seem."
"In keeping with our priorities, if you see an ally away from the tower but they haven't yet been disqualified, do what you have to to move them back to the tower, even if it means forgoing an attack."
Hotcha says, “Xin, I improved my strongest attack—they One-Inch Punch! I call it the One-Millimeter Punch! If I get between the opponent and the wall, I can topple ‘em!
“Ya want me to be invisible? Or should I just attack NOW?”
She asks Yog’Moi, “Can you cast that spell that made the drake speed up? If I’m quick, I can shove and fly away. If one of those big people grabs me, I think I’ll be disqualified. They could just stuff me in a bag or something so I can’t touch the wall!”
Hotcha will ▶️energize her wings and ⏩turn invisible—UNLESS—
Yog'Moi calls upon the magic in his blood to bestow upon Hotcha an unearthly speed and agility. He then utters a word of power to summon a protective shield.
Having been hasted, Hotcha watches Esh stride and she herself makes a ▶️stride.
This seems like it'll be an interesting fight. I hop up onto a nearby platform and pull my cloak around me, becoming invisible.
As you begin to move about the tower, the other team responds in kind. Seeing where Esh was when he turned invisible, the samsaran limns the elf in faerie fire, making him concealed instead of undetected.
Halspin the Stung moves up behind Joon-Seo and conjures a scintillating pattern over Esh and Xin.
Amiha and Maalya move forward, leaping over a small gap between platforms and keeping their shields up as they draw near.
Spells flare into being around me, but I leap up the stairs and out of the way. At the top I push one of the women off the ledge. This is going to be so fun.
Hotcha is about to hurl not one, but fireballs, hoping to soften and stun if the big push doesn’t work.
But seeing that Esh shoves said woman down a flight of stairs, Hotcha zips past and gets between the wall and the other woman. Same plan, but with punches!
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Wu Xin flies up and alights (on the tower!) behind the second lovely lady. He says "One man is standing on the top of a mountain. He has no other mountains to jump to. Another is standing at a crossroads. He cannot advance nor retreat, and he doesn’t know which road to take. Of these two, who comes first and who comes after?" Then in what might be her state of confusion, he reaches forward and pitches her off the edge.
"Either way, you're going first," he says.
Unable to contribute much to the cause, Yog'Moi puts on Hei Feng's spiritual stormwalker boots and begins to scale unseen mountains of air.
As Yog'Moi begins to stride through the air, Esh angrily barrels into Amihan, knocking her off of the tower and to the ground sixty feet below! Xin bamboozles Maalya and shoves her as well, Hotcha flurrying her in mid-fall and knocking her even further away with a one-millimeter punch!
Both battle dancers stagger back to their feet and hop back up onto the tower's lowest ledge, being sure to touch the walls again to avoid disqualification.
Joon-Seo unleashes a powerful song blast, sending pulsing waves of ethereal energy to attack your spirits! He then begins to inspire defense.
Halspin the Stung then leaps across the platforms to get closer before casting his own spell, blasting you with a prismatic spray!
“We can’t play King of the Mountain if they’re playing King of the Ring! Let’s KO the magic men!”
▶️She flies to the nearest caster and hits a lot—
(…and misses a lot.)
Halspin just barely manages to resist Hotcha's stunning fist!
I bull my way through some more spells, dropping down to the lower levels and spewing fire at the two mages who were knocked down earlier.
Yog'Moi froths at the mouth as the music washes over him. "No! I refuse to ... buckle ... to the tunes of what must be an elvish song!!!"
He returns the favor by filling the minds of the two enemy combatants at the bottom of the tower with visions of dread.
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 creature
Saving Throw Will; Duration varies
You plant fear in the target; it must attempt a Will save.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is frightened 1.
Failure The target is frightened 2.
Critical Failure The target is frightened 3 and fleeing for 1 round.
Heightened (3rd) You can target up to five creatures.
Dodging and weaving, Xin is unharmed by the magical assaults. He moves up to support his teammate Hotcha, calmly noting "Pressure point, third rib left, watch for it."
“You got it, Xin! HYAAAAAHHH!!”
Both Amihan and Maalya resist Yog's fear spell, though they are still a bit shaken. Amihan dodges some of Esh's fiery breath, but Maalya is caught flat-footed, crying out in pain as the flames badly scorch her!
Xin moves in to support Hotcha, spurring her to battle! She delivers a critical strike to Halspin, and Xin takes advantage of the opportunity to stab the catfolk as well.
The bard is slowed but manages to avoid falling off the platform. He is bleeding and burning, though!
Amihan and Maalya clamber up the ladder to get to Esh. Only Amihan is able to engage him in melee, but she quick draws her scimitar and slices at the elf! She misses!
Halspin the Stung invokes a spell to open a dimension door, teleporting himself to the other side of the tower and away from Xin and Hotcha! He continues to bleed and burn.
Joon-Seo falls back and then casts another spell, subjecting Xin and Hotcha to a phantasmal calamity!
I am desperately trying not to cackle maniacally as I shove them back. This definitely feels more like a fun brawl, or one of the nonsensical training exercises I did with the Isgeri army.
Hotcha shakes off whatever the magic and ▶️▶️flies after the cat-man!
Yog'Moi conjures forth a spiritual weapon and sends it swinging at Halspin.
Xin has a momentary vision of stepping on a trap that mangles his foot and leg, causing him mental stress.
Hotcha's attack will K.O. Halspin, if it influences Xin's actions.
Xin looks at the height, decides he doesn't want to kill anyone, grabs Halspin and flies him gently to the floor of the arena, away from the tower, then steps back to touch the base of the tower.
The battle dancers stumble back as Esh roughly shoves them. Amihan falls off of the ledge and lands back on the arena floor!
Halspin manages to dodge Yog'Moi's spiritual weapon, but Hotcha's mighty punch sends him flying back into the spike pit! The catfolk groans and falls unconscious, then Xin ferries him to the arena floor to ensure his disqualification.
Amihan gets back to her feet, then angrily rushes at Xin along the tower's base, swinging on him and scoring a hit.
Maalya dances up to Esh, moving in threatening patterns. The dance distracts the elf as she slices at him, landing one hit.
Joon-Seo tries again to debilitate Hotcha with a phantasmal calamity.
