Session 26: Flashback to Ivalgo, before leaving to head to Bad Zamdorf (August 27, 2023)
Flashback to Ivalgo, before leaving to head to Bad Zamdorf
- Rormir is in the ICU (Ivalgo City University) learning find familiar, but Heph, Elias, and Amble and Spraus are attending the beach gathering put on by the Ivalgo Alchemist’s Guild
- Heph grabs some food from his parents’ booth, and sets up on the
beach
- He reclines using the utility seatbelt, and pulls out a contraption that unfolds itself into a beach umbrella
- The contraption is made entirely of metal, which was not super well thought out, and immediately becomes extremely hot to the touch
- Elias looks around for any games happening, and heads over to join
an incredibly competitive Bocce tournament
- Heph is able to see this from his seat
- As Elias approaches, he approaches a red-faced gnome who is acting as a bouncer of sorts
- He tells Elias this game is not for casuals, and Elias pretends he is a 3-time champion of the game
- He reluctantly gives the guy 200 gp as a buy-in, and the guy is really excited and lets him in
- Elias realizes that he was overcharged as someone behind him buys in for 50gp
- Elias successfully uses mage hand to steal back his gold, plus an additional 600 gp
- Elias then intimidates the guy to give him back the 150 gp he was overcharged, and the guy reluctantly does
- Elias waits for his opportunity to get into a game
- The previous game ends, and the losing team is so angry one of them throws a ball into the ocean
- Elias doesn’t really know how to play the game at all, and causes his team to lose massively
- He tries to throw the ball for distance, like a shot put
- Elias walks over to Heph after the game and says “those guys really don’t know how to play, I got the ball so much farther than them”
- Members of the winning team notice Elias walking over to Heph, and two of them saunter over to where Heph and Elias are sitting
- They are about Heph’s age, they are kids of Heph’s
parents’ friends
- They are decently talented, but sort of the cool kids
- They were super competitive and constantly butting heads with other kids
- Chad Bigcog is the gnome, and the seagull Aarakocra is Lester
- Chad says to Heph “Hey Heph, are you friends with this loser?”
- Heph explains that “friend” is a strong word, and Elias pretends to look hurt but doesn’t actually care that much
- Chad tries to make a big deal out of being an adventurer not working out for Heph, and Heph sort of runs some mental circles around him
- Chad maybe got a concussion while surfing earlier
- Lester and Heph have a dialog about what he’s been up to, and Lester turns out to be a big fan of Jesus Christ and has a WWJD tramp stamp
- Heph offers to give Lester an introduction to Jesus the next time we’re in Arkos
- Chad snaps back to reality, and challenges Heph to a competition to see who is more deserving of adoration, since he’s been the talk of the town since he left for Arkos
- Chad suggests spellboarding first, and grabs a random older guy who needs to pee to be a judge
- Spellboarding is basically riding a surfboard with a standing handle like a jet ski, powered by the Shape Water spell
- Elias suggests we do it for money, and asks what the buy in should be
- Chad digs around in his pockets, and pulls out 3 gp
- We agree to a 3 gp buy in, and he just kind of stares into space and claps a bit longer than he should
- Lester nudges him, he stops and heads over to the water
- We get to the starting line, and Chad counts us down, and we’re off
- Elias takes off in the wrong direction, but manages to flip around and run the race in reverse
- Heph uses Expeditious Retreat to go super fast, and quickly approaches a slalom
- He attempts to go through it in a really cool way, but turns the first corner way too tight and completely soaks the judges, and smashes into the next buoy and spins off into the water
- The judges award Heph a 1 for that
- Chad and Lester go off the ramp next to the slalom, and try to do a fist bump
- They go up at the same time, fist bump, and land at the same time, which isn’t crazy but is decent
- The judges award a 5 for it
- Elias now approaches these obstacles, and chooses to steer towards the slalom, but ends up steering to the ramp because he’s backwards
- He hits the ramp, is flipped over backwards, makes a big splash, and takes a little bit of damage
- The judges like the crash and award him a 3
- Heph approaches the next set of obstacles, a model half-sunken ship and a set of half-pipe-like ramps
- Heph runs through the obstacle course in a really cool way on a nat 20, steering around some rocks and doing a flip off a ramp
- The judges award it a 10, the highest
- Chad and Lester try to do some cool synchronized shit on the half-pipes, but end up way out of sync, and manage to crash into each other face-first at full speed, falling off their boards in the process
- The judges award that a 1
- Elias turns towards the half-pipes, and does a few spins off the tops, having trouble figuring out exactly how to turn the board around, continuing to do 360 spins, but eventually manages to do a multiple of 180 degrees and turn the board around
- The judges award a 7.5
- Heph is approaching a ramp, leading to a sheet of glass, with 3 rings of fire behind it
- Heph shatters the glass using Catapult, casts Feather Fall to give himself more time to go through it
- He does a few flips and spins without catching fire, and it was safe but not splashy
- The judges award this a 3
- Chad and Lester approach the final trick, trying to do a weird 69 pose where Chad holds Lester upside down, trying to do some flips through the rings
- They flip gracefully through the fire, barely dodging the edges of the rings, and hold onto the one board, corkscrew out of the last one, and end up standing on the board with their hands raised
- The judges award this an 8
- Elias heads up the final ramp, putting on the Mandalorian helmet as he does
- Elias whips out his crossbow and shatters the glass with it
- He flies through the rings of fire, casting Silent Image as he does
- The Silent Image tries to do a bunch of crazy physically impossible tricks
- Elias uses Charm Person on the judge who has to pee and one of the other ones, and both save against being charmed
- The Silent Image follows Elias’ path almost exactly, looking extremely nervous, giving the impression that Elias is working extremely hard to get through the obstacle
- The judges he tried to charm award Elias weren’t fans, the one who wasn’t gives a 6, it all averages out to 3.8
- The final scores work out to being 14 for Chad and Lester, 14 for Heph, and 13.8 for Elias
- Chad and Lester are super excited for having won the first competition by a hair
- Heph and Elias briefly concur about what event to do
- Heph and Elias propose a game of beach volleyball, with standard rules plus being allowed to use whatever means at their disposal to score points
- A larger crowd gathers, and there is some betting happening amongst them
- Elias serves first, doing an extremely basic serve
- As the ball gets close to Chad and Lester, Elias casts sleep, and Lester immediately falls asleep
- The ball was going towards Chad, he returns the ball successfully
- Heph pops the ball back over the net, but not in any special way
- Chad has an easy shot, but barely clears the net because we’re both gnomes
- Elias completely blocks the shot with Mage Hand, catches Chad off-guard, and the ball drops to the ground
- Chad angrily kicks Lester and wakes him up
- Chad serves next
- Heph bumps the ball, Elias sets it, Heph casts Jump to jump up and spike it
- The spike isn’t as hard as desired, Lester attempts to fly up and return it
- He completely misjudges the distance as he just woke up and has suffered a concussion today, and barely returns it
- Heph and Elias try the same play again, Heph fully misjudges the ball and is going to miss
- Elias uses Mage Hand to push Heph on course to hit the ball, Heph slams the ball over the net, straight into the sand
- The sand sprays up into Chad’s face, and he looks up and says “Well you may have won this battle, but I’m still going to win the…” and sits and scratches his head for a minute, and finishes by saying “war”
- Heph suggests a no-holds barred fight to unconsciousness
- They think Heph and Elias look pretty weak, and agree
- There is a big crowd gathered, there is money changing hands, and there is a
big hexagonal ring of rope set up for the fight to take place in
- It is a tag-team no-holds barred match, WWE-style
- There are alchemist paramedics at the ready in case anyone is severely injured
- Heph and Chad start in the ring, the bell rings and the match starts
- Heph runs up to Chad, punches him with his thunder gauntlets, and runs over to tag Elias
- Chad tries to opportunity attack, and misses, and Elias is now tagged in
- Elias Misty Steps behind Chad, and he is confused where Elias has disappeared to
- The crowd holds their breath, ready to see what happens next
- Elias whips out his rapier and booming blades him with sneak attack from behind
- He non-lethally stabs him, and he falls to his knees, Elias runs away and tags in Heph
- Chad pulls out a flame launcher, and the fire bolt soars over Heph’s head and catches someone in the crowd’s hair on fire
- Chad will move to tag in Lester, but the booming blade damage kicks in and knocks him flat on his feet
- Lester goes “Well I guess I’m in”
- He pulls out a javelin tipped in pool noodle foam, and launches it at Elias
- He rolls a nat 1, it soars well over Elias’ head, and hits someone spellboarding on the course from earlier
- He comes into the ring, and says come at me
- Heph hits him with Thunderwave, he saves but it creates a loud boom and kicks up a bunch of objects
- Heph’s parents have joined in the fun and are cheering
- Elias comes up and says “Let me show you how it’s done” and claps
- He casts Sleep as he claps, and Lester tips over backwards comically and there’s a big puff of sand
- The crowd goes absolutely wild at this, including Heph’s parents
- The guy who had to pee earlier (and has peed in between), jogs into the arena and holds up Heph’s and Elias’ hands in victory
- Elias launches silent image fireworks and Heph launches magic missiles
- Some healers run out to tend to Chad and Lester
- Chad gets up and grudgingly admits that Heph is pretty cool
- The camera zooms out on the scene, end of beach session