Humble steps back and blasts him:
The warrior nearly dodges the lance of spiritual energy. However, it is not enough, and the pain leaves the samurai panting.
Rudely Interrupted! Round 4-5. Bold may act.
Mage (red) (-144 hp; <50%) (+some temp hp)
Warrior (yellow) (-236 hp; <90%) (d10 persistent fire) (reaction available)
Humble (136/148 hp)
Kioko (75/202 hp)
Kyrie (137/218 hp) (Fortitude DC 33 vs. 17 negative) (persistent electric 7, Flat DC 15 at end of turn)
Rakka (55/160 hp)
Kyrie knows the bite of negative energy better than most from her time in Lastwall, dissipating the attack with ease.
She continues bashing at the caster, heedless of the electricity charging her armor.
Kyrie's prodigious fortitude foils the wizard's magic. She presses her attack. The mage dodges out of the way of Kyrie's shield, only to be caught by the return.
The mage leaves the gate and moves towards Kioko, her hands crackling with electricity as she chants. Kioko parries the charged strike only to find that her sword conducts . The energy runs down her blade makes her feathers stand on end while her muscles spasm.
The samurai adjusts places his other hand on his blade and steps into an advantageous position. The thrust is so swift and sure that Kioko does not feel but a thump against her back and then a crushing fatigue as she falls to the ground.
Rudely Interrupted! Round 5-6. Bold may act.
Mage (red) (-171 hp; <50%)
Kioko (0/202 hp) (dying 2, prone)
Warrior (yellow) (-238 hp; <90%) (d10 persistent fire) (reaction available)
Humble (136/148 hp)
Kyrie (130/218 hp) (persistent electric 7, Flat DC 15 at end of turn)
Rakka (55/160 hp)
+
Humble heals Kioko with alacrity. His halo flashes.
Then he raises his shield.
"Kioko!" Rakka shouts as his old friend falls. [b]"You'll pay for that, bastard!" He quickly fires another arrow at the warrior, wreathed in a spectral claw that slashes at the man as it arrives.
Humble glows with celestial power as he restores Kioko's vitality.
Rakka takes his revenge and fires an arrow through the samurai's cuirass. The spectral claws the travel in the arrow's wake tear a bloody hole to punctuate the overkill. Tino and his companions dispatch the aggressors they had intercepted.
As the samurai's blood spills, the ashes that were once Hao Jin begin to swirl. A blazing phoenix rises out of the ashes and transforms into the red haired sage. She points a finger at the remaining sorceress. A burning ray strikes the woman with the crescent moon tabard, setting her on fire and quickly consuming her.
Hao Jin walks over to you and removes a crystal sphere from within her sleeves. "Thank you for dealing with those sore losers," she says and offers the globe to Humble. "Your service deserves to be rewarded."
She walks over to the charred remains of the wizard and removes three silver feathers from the corpse. The phoenix sage turns and approaches Tino. "And here is your reward. They will not be using them." Tino and his friends stare back and forth at each other, Hao Jin, and you all for several long awkward moments. Then the team lets out a cheer as this will allow them to progress as finalists. She performs the same ritual and transforms the ruby phoenix necklace the silver feathers of Tino's Toughest into a magical fighting fan.
"Now, before anyone else decides they would like my riches without earning them, those of you with fans head inside. Make yourselves comfortable while the other teams arrive. Dinner will be served one hour after sunset. And, please, no fighting within my palace."
Kioko tries to clean herself up as well as she can before going inside. She makes sure to congratulate Tino's team for getting their final feathers.
"Humble, this crystal ball seems like something you would enjoy using."
Humble nods, taking the well-earned reward with aplomb.
He heads inside, making giving his body rest but not allowing himself be be too comfortable. One must avoid the temptation to indulge.
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Kyrie bows in as close an approximation of the local custom as she can, wanting to show the maximum respect for their host. Her performance and behavior here reflects back on the knights, so she must make sure she is completely beyond reproach. She waits until their host has left before relaxing and speaking.
”I wonder why a crystal ball of all things. I wonder if perhaps it is a message or a hint? Towards what I do not know.”
The palace demesne covers several acres of the plateau atop the mountain. Past the wooden gate, you are greeted by a dozen servants in white, red, and gold uniforms. A pair of more ornately dressed servants approach and bow. "Congratulations on earning your position as a finalist in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament," they say. "Since you have arrived so early, there are still several hours until this evening's dinner with the esteemed Ruby Phoenix, herself. The palace staff has skilled physicians, craftsmen, masseurs, priests, grooms, and any other service you could possibly need to help you relax after your grueling battles on Bonmu. First, however, let us escort you to your rooms so that you can unburden yourselves. And, if you wish, bathe. Do know that violence is strictly forbidden between the qualifying teams while within the palace."
You are escorted to spacious, private guest room that includes several beds, a screened outdoor bathing area, and a scenic view of Bonmu from the peak of Mount Habinabu. A firm but not unpleasant breeze blows across the outer patio and carries the salt tang of the ocean.
"Feel free to mingle with the other qualifiers as they arrive," the servants say before withdrawing form your quarters. One of them remains in the courtyard outside the door to attend to your needs should you have any.
Humble requests an austere cot instead of a bed. The bath water must be lukewarm. He requests the tailors bleach the stains from his pristine white clothes and he does not tip. He locks the breeze behind the window; cavorting curtains just won’t do.
He makes his way downstairs to mingle with fellow contestants.
Kioko is grateful for the opportunity for a bath after the tough fight, and she emerges smelling like jasmine and citrus, with her feathers nicely arranged. She leaves her katana behind given the instructions, but she assumes that keeping the feather fan from Hao Jin on her wouldn't be offensive. She also straps her wakizashi discreetly under her clothing.
She looks like she is dreading having to mingle.
There are still several hours before sunset and dinner after you have taken advantage of the amenities within the Ruby Phoenix's manor. Tino and his companions arrived with you, and you are able to learn the name of the two teams that arrived before you: the Arms of Balance and Winter's Roar. While you bathed and tended to your other needs, another team arrived: the Steps of the Sun.
The Arms of Balance are comprised of warriors from Vudra. You learn that there is a male human, a female human, a female vishkanya, and a male vanara on the team. The Steps of the Sun originate from northern Minata and are led by two sisters. Their battle companions are a male amurrun and a male samsaran. Winter's Roar hails from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. A half-orc male leads a team of a male halfling, a female Ulfen, and a male hobgoblin.
Humble approaches arms of balance, intrigued by the name more than anything else.
Kioko decides to speak with the Steps of the Sun. She quietly walks over and likely surprises one of the sisters when she introduces herself all of a sudden.
Rakka stares worriedly out the window, trying to figure out what is giving him such a sense of foreboding. After a few moments, he closes the window and turns back to his room. A short while later, after a quick nap and a bath, he emerges to join the others downstairs. His clothes are clean, and he carries a staff instead of a bow. Seeing Tino et al, he walks over with a cheer to greet his new friends.
Kyrie sees that everyone has taken a different team to socialize with, so she sees no reason to break the trend and heads for Winter’s Roar. Besides, she knows little of the Land of the Linnorm Kings and would be happy to learn more.
Humble
Humble finds two woman--a Vudran woman and the other whose serpent-like irises give away her vishkanyan heritage--wearing the colors of the Arms of Balance as the two finish speaking to a manor servant. "Greetings, fellow warrior," the Vudran woman says, masking any surprise she might have at finding the white-garbed aasimar standing behind her. "Have you discovered your elemental potential?"
As the vishkanyan woman looks Humble up and down, the aasimar feels his heart begin to race and his face warms, tempting him to discard his stoic vows. There is something more to it than the intrinsic allure of the vishkanya, and recognizing the danger, Humble regains control of his thoughts.
Kioko
Kioko hears the sound of a string instrument after she leaves the quarters and decides to force herself to mingle. As she follows the sound, she hears two voices--an alto and a baritone--singing a joyful folk song in a language she does not recognize.
Turning the corner, she finds a tan and white spotted amurrun playing a morin khuur while a blue-skinned Samsaran man sings. The intriguing thing is that both voices seem to be coming from the Samsaran. The two Tian-Sing woman who share a resemblance are dancing a country dance. "Oh!" one of the sisters says as the two whirl to a stop. The samsaran stops singing and smiles at Kioko. The amurrun is the last to stop playing, though that is because his eyes were closed.
"Hello there!" say one of the sisters. The two Tian-Sing look to be barely old enough to be called adults, but they are here in the Ruby Palace as qualifiers for the Ruby Tournament.
"Welcome," says the Samsaran. "Do you have a song in your heart?"
Rakka
"Rakka!" Takkatorra shouts as he sees the magus approaching. Tino turns and grins. "Can you believe that we made it?"
Tino laughs and says, "The bold and decisive are rewarded. It looks like we may have a chance to face Rakka and his friends in the actual tournament."
Kyrie
Kyrie stumbles upon some of Winter's Roar by the blacksmith. A blond haired woman is waiting for her elaborate shield to be repaired while a bored looking half-orc man idles nearby with a massive great axe resting on his shoulder. The blade of the axe crackles with evermoving frost.
The woman grunts when she sees Kyrie approaching and gives a nod of respect to the shield-bearing knight. The half-orc says, "Hey."
"Hello," replies Kioko. "I suppose everyone does."
Kioko joins in the dancing, lifting up her feet, stretching her wings, and craning her neck in time with the music. The dance is unusual among non-tengu, but beautiful in its own way.
Humble smiles and sips his lukewarm water.
We Kalistrades have a parable. Once there was a clever Tauhoti…
Humble tells of a cunning ground squirrel who brokered three secret deals in exchange for a boon from various denizens of the forest.
The clever squirrel convinced the deer not to eat the nettles, and in exchange, the wolves would not trouble them.
She persuaded the wolves not to eat the deer, in return for never being stung by thorns.
The nettles agreed to shed the spines that so vexed the wolves if only the deer would not consume their vines.
Each party held the power to fulfill someone else’s desire, but only the clever tauhoti was wise enough to carefully research her audience and precisely predict those desires.
Had the Tauhoti instead been foolish and lazy, she might have tried to coerce them through trickery or force. In such a case, the deer would someday see the truth and vandalize her most prized tree with his horns; the nettles would dig into her beautiful fur and tangle it; the wolves would eat her alive.
He smiles.
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Kioko
"Yes!" the sisters cheer. The amurrun quickly starts a tune that matches Kioko's tempo and the samsaran adds his own percussion line with his hands. The two sisters begin their own dance that parallels the tengu's movements as best as their forms allow them.
After a minute or so of dancing, they all pause in their revelry as if by some subconscious consensus. "Very good! Very good!" one of the Tian-Sing women says. "I'm Maalya."
"And I'm Amihan," the other sister says with a laugh. "It's a shame we can't poach you to our team. This is Halspin." She indicates the amurrun.
"Halspin the Stung," he corrects with a sharp pluck of one of the strings on his instrument.
"And I am Joon-Seo," the samsaran says. "What do we call you?"
Humble
The vishkanya blinks for several moments before saying with more than a little vexation, "Perhaps his element is chaos, Ranya, because that made no sense."
"No. No," says the Vudran woman. "But what I want to know is what lesson the koi hiding under the shade along the reedy river bank learned."
"It looks like we may have a chance to face Rakka and his friends in the actual tournament."
"Hah! No good deed goes unpunished, eh?" Rakka responds with a grin. "I'm glad you all made it! Tell me about your qualifying. What was the weirdest thing you saw?"
"I am Kioko, and indeed, I am committed to my friends in Summary Judgment. It is a pleasure to celebrate with you, though. How has the tournament been for you so far?"
Rakka
"Tell them about the bird," Ji-Yook says drolly.
Takatora laughs. "Oh, that was annoying."
"Some kind of giant stork snuck up on us and snatched away our silver necklace with the few feathers we had earned," Tino say with an amused expression that one who has survived a ridiculous danger has when remembering it after the fact. "We had to chase it half way across the island before we scared it enough for it to drop our necklace. We'd have been disqualified on that first day if Ji-Yook hadn't been able to track it."
"It was easy," the kitsune dismisses the compliment.
Kioko
"Very satisfying," Amihan says while her sister nods.
Kioko learns that the sisters are both on a coming-of-age quest to find a piece of another culture and return home with it to share with their people. In the most dramatic way possible, Halspin the Stung relays the grim tale of his ill-fated encounter with the massive beast known as Ebeshra the Winged Razor, which left him badly maimed but still barely alive. He was found and inspired to rehabilitate by the two sisters and now seeks to prove that he is still a capable hunter. The samsaran, Joon-Seo, believes that one of his past lives fought in a Ruby Tournament long ago and seeks to better understand that past life by participating again.
"Ha, that sounds like it's a lot more fun to imagine than it was to be a part of" Rakka says with a chuckle. He pauses for a moment, thinking, then asks "Did you have any trouble with statues last night?"
While you mingle, another qualifying team is announced: the Lightkeepers. For now, however, they are spending time within their guest rooms and do not emerge for some time.
Rakka
Takatorra clacks his beak in rapid succession as an expression of irritation when Rakka mentions the statues.
"Yes," Tino says. "Our guide hypothesized that someone must have tripped an ancient, magical defense system on the island. They were quite relentless!"
Yabin nods. "It was especially daunting since I had spent most of my magic during the day. Maybe I should have been more economical."
Kyrie
Kyrie stumbles upon some of Winter's Roar by the blacksmith. A blond haired woman is waiting for her elaborate shield to be repaired while a bored looking half-orc man idles nearby with a massive great axe resting on his shoulder. The blade of the axe crackles with evermoving frost.
The woman grunts when she sees Kyrie approaching and gives a nod of respect to the shield-bearing knight. The half-orc says, "Hey."
Kyrie salutes in a manner befitting a Knight of Lastwall. ”I am Kyrie, known as Breakspear. I am here with Summary Judgment. Who made that shield? It’s quite gorgeous.” She produces her own shield for comparison. ”I went with a convex circular design for mine because its a sturdy shape that is less likely to get warped when the edge is used for striking. And keeping it convex and smooth makes blades slide off. What is your preference?” Kyrie has a great many opinions and thoughts on shields and so very few people to talk to them about, so she is quite eager. ”Oh, and you might not want to hammer out the dings in your shield like that. It will weaken the metal if you do it too often. I can show you my technique, if you like.”
Kyrie
"Breakspear. That's a good name," the woman says. "I'm Huldrin Skolsdottir. Urnak is our leader."
The half-orc grunts and nods.
"The one who made my shield is in the halls of the ancestors, and this shield is the last remaining trace of his work." The Ruby Phoenix smith repairing the shield gives Kyrie an annoyed glance when she disparages his talent. "I use a technique that provides protection and hampers my foes at the same time. Those who strike at me are like as not to be impaled by Kilivag's tusks." As if to underscore the point, the smith quenches the replacement steel tusk he was shaping into a tough of water. The rising steam hide his scowling glance.
Humble
The smell of sulfur precedes the arrival of a vanara monk. "What's this? Jivati is quieter than usual," he says. He then stands by quietly to listen to the philosophical koans being exchanged.
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While you continue to mingle and take care of miscellany, two more teams are admitted to the Ruby Palace. The Speakers to the Winds are a team from Nantambu, each from the reknowned Magaambya. The team of magically inclined students is led by Mafika Ayuwari, a lore-speaker of the Tempest-Sun Mages. The last team is the Biting Roses, a team from the foreign continent of Arcadia. The rumors about the members are too strange to be believed. One of them is a sentient tree and the other a sentient giant praying mantis, or so you hear.
Kioko bids a friendly goodbye to the Steps of the Sun and goes to meet the Biting Roses. As a guardian of the Forest of Spirits, she can't resist the opportunity to meet a sentient tree.
Kioko encounters the Biting Roses as they begin to meander out of their quarters. The group truly is a strange one. There is a human woman with long, dark hair accompanied by what looks like a human (or at least humanoid) with a preying mantis' head and arms in place of their own. A matching eldritch sigil glows on both the woman's and the preying mantis' foreheads. "Oh. Greetings," the woman says in heavily accented Tian. "We are the Biting Roses. What team do you belong to?"
Along with the strange pair is a half-elf man what at first looks like a very short treant, but Kioko recognizes as an ancient Azlanti construct called a wyrwood. The autonomous constructs are quite ancient and powered by aeon stones at their hearts.
"I am part of Summary Judgment. You have come quite a long way! How has the tournament been for you?"
Humble shrugs at the mention of the koi. That was not part of the story. He imagines it shaped like a protean, floating below just the surface and waiting to unravel meaning. Chaos to be eliminated.
He leaves the people trying to use using enchantment magic on unwilling individuals and heads over to Lore-speaker Mafika's group.
Kioko
"I am Yarrika," the woman introduces herself to Kioko. "This is my grandfather spirit," she adds, indicating the mantis-headed being. "It has been interesting here on Danger Island. Very different spirits than Arcadia. We were assaulted by clay constructs in the middle of the night last night. I wonder who upset the ancient spirits?"
The half-elf nods in silent agreement.
"Lantondo," the wyrwood says. "Would you like like me to read the harrow for you?"
Humble
Humble finds the Magaambyan team resting together under a cherry tree. Their leader, Lore-speaker Mafika, is a lean, muscular man dressed in a green tunic elaborately embroidered with gold thread. His students include a dark-skinned elf, a halfling, a gnome, and two gnolls. The halfling wears a wooden leopard mask. Other than Mafika and the gnolls, who introduces themselves as Boundless Humming Bird and Phuthi, the students carry bows of various sizes.
"You are an aasimar, are you not?" the halfling notes.
"Certainly. I have never had the harrow read for me. We faced the same constructs last night. I though they would never stop coming."
Humble is intrigued. What is a Lore-Speaker?
Kyrie
"Breakspear. That's a good name," the woman says. "I'm Huldrin Skolsdottir. Urnak is our leader."
The half-orc grunts and nods.
"The one who made my shield is in the halls of the ancestors, and this shield is the last remaining trace of his work." The Ruby Phoenix smith repairing the shield gives Kyrie an annoyed glance when she disparages his talent. "I use a technique that provides protection and hampers my foes at the same time. Those who strike at me are like as not to be impaled by Kilivag's tusks." As if to underscore the point, the smith quenches the replacement steel tusk he was shaping into a tough of water. The rising steam hide his scowling glance.
Kyrie’s face falls as she sees the smith’s reaction. She had not meant it as a disparaging remark, but as a genuine attempt at passing on knowledge he might not know. ”I apologize if I offended. That was not my intention. I value the sharing of experience and knowledge amongst honorable warriors is all. How might I offer recompense for this unintentional slight?”
"Stoke the fire," the smith instructs in answer to Kyrie's question.
As the evening nears, you are all summoned to a vast courtyard with eight stone tables set for dinner, several side tables loaded with food, and a table at the head of them all. Each table bears a flag representing the qualifying team and an appropriate number of place settings: white porcelain plates, bowls, and cups with gold plated--not because Hao Jin is stingy but because gold makes a poor tool--utensils.
As soon as the teams are seated, dozens of servants begin weaving between the tables to serve you drinks. The Ruby Phoenix arrives at the head table without fanfare. She is accompanied by woman in an expensive white and blue silk gown and wearing an elaborate silver and sapphire hair piece and earrings.
"Welcome to all who have qualified over these three days on the Isle of Bonmu, Danger Island!" Hao Jin says with a magically amplified voice so that it carries across the court yard. "You have earned your place in the tournament and earned this respite. Eat and drink your fill and enjoy!" She then sits down after her guest and begins to chat while servants bring them food and drink.
Interesting. Rakka thinks, though he doesn't say anything aloud. Let's see where this is going.
Humble does not sit till after the empress, and whispers to his friends. He dos his best to recall ourt etiquette.
As the dinner commences, the chatter in the courtyard grows louder as the other teams relax at their tables. The food is exemplary, and the servers courteously bring Humble whatever he requests in adherence with his dietary regimen. Eventually, Hao Jin and the noblewoman rise from their seats. The two speak and then the noblewoman leaves the table and descends into the courtyard while Hao Jin sits back at her seat and resumes her meal.
The woman makes her way from table to table. You can see that her presence makes an impression on the competitors. Every time she stops at a table, after a brief conversation, the teams begin to speak heatedly and or gesticulate wildly.
"Greetings to you, Summary Judgement," she says as she approaches your table. "I am Lady Yan Fei. I am so very interested in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Tell me how this assembly--" She gestures in your direction with a circular motion. "--came to work together."
Each character may make 1 check.
More than one character may attempt each skill, but each skill can only succeed once.Athletics: A character can attempt an Athletics check to recount a match from the past days with enough dramatic flair to impress the empress.
Deception (hardest): A character can attempt a Deception check to embellish a story.
Diplomacy (harder): A character can attempt a Diplomacy check to Make an Impression with Yan Fei.
Goka Lore (easier): A character can attempt a Goka Lore check impresses the empress with their knowledge of Gokan politics.
Nature (easier): A character can attempt a Nature check to detail some of Bonmu’s flora to impress the empress.
Occultism (hardest): A character can trace the empress’s lineage and current position along the path of Sangpotshi with an Occultism check.
Performance (harder): The characters can impress the empress with beautiful piece of Gokan music, which requires a Performance check.
Society: A characters can attempt a Society check to impress the empress with their knowledge of local Tian mannerisms and dinner etiquette.
Humble is perfectly polite to the emperor, careful to weave the story of coming together with a sensitivity to the delicate undercurrents of the local zeitgeist.
"Bonmu has such remarkable plants. It's so different from the Spirit Forest."
"I'm sure it has good forests for hunting in its own right, though."
Humble focuses his charm upon the empress, leveraging his diplomatic skills. As he speaks, it may be the empress notices his white robes look plain, but are finely well made down to the smallest stitching. Everyone knows the devil is in the detail — and the fabric — when it comes to high fashion.
"I see that you are familiar with the intricate patterns of my city," she says to Humble with a small smile, "and that you have surmised who I am. Very well presented."
She chats with Kioko and Rakka about the foliage and flowers seen on the island and her own private botanical garden in Goka.
"We've fought some very difficult battles in this tournament, including an endless onslaught of statues, but we have prevailed."
”Allow me to describe the great feats that we have accomplished, including flying and jumping across distant high platforms in battle and fighting at the side of powerful Iroran constructs of great dignity and power.”
"Thank you for indulging me," the empress says. "Summary Judgement is one upon which the empire should keep an eye." With that, she makes her parting and moves on to another team.
While the feast goes on and upon visiting with the final team, the empress returns to the table with Hao Jin. You continue on with your exquisitely prepared meals and refreshing drinks until you have had your fill. Once dinner has concluded, Hao Jin rises from her seat and speaks with a magically amplified voice so that all can hear her comfortably, "I hope that you all enjoyed your meals. The night is not yet over! We will now move on to the entertainment."
The empress rises from her seat and then the two talk over to a marble platform upon which two large thrones loom. The two women take their seats as the serving staff clears away the remains of dinner. Once the staff and flatware are safely out of the courtyard, Hao Jin claps her hands.
The courtyard transforms into a fighting arena. "The first exhibition will be a match against the Butterfly Blades!" she declares as three warriors wearing yellow robes with scarlet accents enter the arena. "Do I have a team of volunteers to face them?"
They are skilled at using their special twin swords for both lethal and non-lethal strikes.
They have Sneak Attack 1d6.