Wealday, Sarenith 22 (late night)

We were stopped while dropping down into the sewers last night. My maps suggested manhole not too far from the arena, and despite our efforts to avoid them we were confronted by a pair of wardens as soon as we popped the cover.

I showed them our permission slip, but they were more than a little obstinate.

“So, you’re sewer workers?”

“We’re contracted by the city to investigate some strange happenings connected with the sewers, so we’ve been told to go down into the sewers—”

“Yes, yes. That’s what a sewer worker is.” It’s not, really, but if they want to invent a cover story for us, I wasn’t going to argue with them. “I guess this says you can do it. I’m going to go inform my sergeant, but you can carry on.”

That was not part of the plan. The last thing we needed was someone from the arena getting wind of this, so I tried reasoning with them.

“Some advice for you. We’ve got authorization for our work, and no one wants a sewer problem in the middle of the games. You go bothering people at night about trivia, you’re just going to draw the wrong kind of attention to yourself.”

They looked at each other for a moment. One of them finally said, “Well, it is late. We can tell them in the morning.”

“I think that’s wise.”

Crisis averted.

We dropped into the main sewer line which ran from east to west under the arena, and it did not take long to find a drain from the kitchen, and just past that a natural stream that also flowed in from the south. Faint light was visible from that passage, so Sera and Cress quietly worked their way down, and what they described to us matched the underground gladiator village that I had access to. The stream divided the cavern, and a small bridge joined the two sides.

This was all good to know, of course, but we wanted to do a little more exploring to see what other passages, if any, connected to the arena. The underground village was on the eastern end of it, which meant we now had a rough idea of where we were relative to the above-ground structure.

We followed the sewer line westward for a few more minutes, and found another line draining in from the southeast. We deduced that this ran directly under the center of the arena’s underground complex, and sure enough it led straight to a large, central drain complex. There was another natural stream that flowed into this line, so we followed that.

This stream snaked it’s way southeast, eventually running through a series of natural caverns. And this was where we found our first surprise of the night: a cavern littered with rubble and old bones, and occupied by a colony of a dozen ghasts (I am not sure “colony” is the right word here, but I’m going to run with it, anyway). So it seemed that the stories of Raknian clearing out undead from the caverns below the arena had at least some truth to them.

The ghasts weren’t much of a match for us, as we had a choke point to prevent them from swarming us and plenty of options for dealing with them at range. Sera and I moved up to form a defensive line, while our friends bombarded them with arrows and spells. It was over almost as soon as it began.

The second surprise of the night was that these caverns connected to an extremely old underground village, complete with crumbling, stone houses surrounding an alabaster statue of a giant in what must have been the former town square. And this cavern was apparently connected to the gladiator village, because we heard voices approaching from the northeast. We hid in a couple of the old structures.

“…didn’t see the look she gave her companions,” the first voice said. “But trust me, I did you a favor getting you out of that situation. You have better chances with that mystery monster they’re talking about.”

“What’s that about?” the second voice asked. “One lucky team will face deadly combat with a ‘beast most fearsome?’ I didn’t know about that when I signed up!”

“Such bravery, my friend. We will defeat our foes. But here, look, this is a work of art!”

We listened to this gripping exchange, and once the (slightly inebriated) gladiators left, we made our way back towards the sewer line and up to the surface. We now had two ways to access the gladiator village.

Mission accomplished.

Oathday, Sarenith 23 (late evening)

It’s been a long day so far. I was up before dawn because the game organizers have peculiar notions about what constitutes a reasonable schedule.

This is the first day of events, and matches were scheduled every 2 hours, starting at 8am (see the above complaint about a “reasonable schedule”). Each bout was a free-for-all battle between four of the teams. I cross referenced the lineups with the betting odds, and, surprise, surprise, both Auric’s Warband and Pitch Blade were each “randomly” matched up against three teams with the longest odds.

What really galls me the most is just how brazen it all was. You didn’t have to be a math genius—and gods know I am far from one—to see it.

Ilthane’s Fury was set to go at 10am, battling against Arcane Auriga, Sapphire Squad, and Badlands Revenge. Of these three, Arcane Auriga, the four elven women, were the bigger threat, but not by much. I’d had very brief interactions with the other two teams the previous night, and my impressions were that Badlands Revenge were basically dangerous thugs with bad attitudes, and Sapphire Squad was headed by a pleasant and charming, though somewhat self-absorbed, janni.

I had arranged to meet with Tirra outside the arena around around 7am to receive the equipment I requested, and I delivered that to our team. She had secured some adamantine weaponry in case we ended up facing Auric’s Warband at some point in the future, and potions to provide protection from arrows, among other things. The potions were going to pay off right away.

With that done, I went up to the manager’s seating to watch the matches. The first bout was Pitch Blade, and as predicted, it was ridiculously lopsided. The dwarves were actually pretty cunning, working themselves up into a frenzy and then singling out the weaker competitors one at a time, gradually picking them off as the stronger competitors in the other teams went after one another. Once the numbers had dwindled sufficiently, they tore into the remaining gladiators and beat them senseless.

Our match was longer, and actually something of a crowd favorite, because our competition wasn’t a bunch of pushovers. It looks like everyone ganged up on Badlands Revenge, and once they were knocked out, our team aligned with Arcane Auriga to take out Sapphire Squad. At that point it was a battle of attrition, and our team was just in a better position. The last of the elven women yielded, and we had our first victory.

Draconic Brood came out on top in match three. I was actually sitting next to their manager, a pleasant human man a few years older than me, and congratulated him on their victory. Auric’s Warband was in match four, and as predicted, it was a cakewalk. None of the teams were prepared for the flesh golems, and they all went down fast. Khellek barely had to lift a finger. The last two bouts were also evenly matched, but the teams were far less skilled overall. The Snow Leopards and Final Phoenix came out on top in each. The latter was a bit of an upset, which the crowd really loved.

Cress and Zhog watched the matches, too, from general admission seats up in the stands, and they were waiting for me after the award ceremony. We discussed the matches as we walked back to the warehouse—Cress took some detailed notes—commenting on the winners and what strategies Ilthane’s Fury would need for dealing with each.

When the subject turned to Draconic Brood, Zhog said, “They could, like, be your cousins!”

The two that were related actually do have some features that suggest a draconic heritage, and one of them is a sorcerer. I actually have a cousin that has the same talent, so the idea isn’t totally crazy, but I know our family tree thanks in large part to Aunt Esma, and these two aren’t in it. Still, I do feel a sort of kinship there. I made a mental note to talk to their manager the next time I saw him.

We’re going back down under the arena tonight, this time with the intent of getting inside the main underground structure. My long day is about to get longer.

Fireday, Sarenith 24 (small hours)

We dropped down into the sewers again last night and made our way back to the old ruins. Once there, we changed into serving uniforms and entered the Champion’s Village, then used the servant’s corridor to enter the arena’s underground complex and scout around. Activity there as winding down, and that was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it meant we could explore pretty freely, but on the other, if we did run into one of the irregular guard patrols there’d be no believable excuse for why we were there.

The lowest level was basically a giant ring with spiral stairs ascending to the upper level. If you thought of it like a clock face, the stairs were positioned at each hour. It was an enormous waste of space, as there was literally nothing else down here but the one corridor at the 3 o’clock position leading to the village. Obviously no on consulted me on the architecture.

The upper level is a surrounded by a ring as well, with most of the rooms carved out within its interior. We came up at the 2 o’clock stairwell, and worked our way clockwise, passing by an  interior entrance to a mess hall. At the 6 o’clock position, we found the junction which lead to the kitchen outside the ring, and to a set of prisoner cells inside it.

And I can hear you asking, “Prisoner cells?”

Believe me, I was thinking the same thing. Why in the name of the gods would there be prisoner cells here?

One of them was occupied by a man that looked like he had been drug in off the streets, dumped here, and left to rot (later, we would learn just how accurate this description is). After checking his aura for taint, Sera unlocked the door and I slowly entered his cell with my hands outstretched. He recoiled from me, so I squatted on the ground, and slowly pulled out my holy symbol. This seemed to help, but he was clearly terrified of something. He couldn’t talk, and was likely suffering from some affliction we didn’t recognize, but he was able to make some crude drawings on the dirt floor. He pointed to the cell opposite us, and drew stick figures and a squiggle that was almost certainly a worm. From this, we deduced that there had been a prisoner there, as well, and someone had come to them put a worm on them, and then something horrible happened.

We tried to convey that we would come back for him and gave him something to eat while we continued our exploration. Most of what we saw was unremarkable, though we couldn’t be as thorough as we would have liked since we had to keep dodging patrols. But two things stood out.

First, in the very center of the ring was a circular room with a huge stone dome built into the floor. It was nearly 40 feet in diameter and 20 feet high, and it just did not make any sense.

Second, there was a wine cellar just off the hall with the prisoner cells, and it had an unusual architectural feature, like a large alcove with nothing in it, that suggested a hidden door of some sort. Neither Sera nor Cress could find one, but both lacked confidence in the result. There was a spell that could help, but Viktor didn’t have it prepared, so we had no choice but to come back another night.

On our way out, we took the prisoner with us as there as just no way we were going to leave him to whatever fate befell his neighbor. Obviously, him just disappearing would be immediate cause for alarm. The solution to this was one of the ghast bodies we had stashed in our magical storage bag (please don’t ask). We pulled one of those out, and dumped it in the corner of the cell. There’s zero chance that would fool anyone up close, of course, but someone just casually looking in would see a slumped over figure. As I said, the point here was to buy time.

Of course, getting the prisoner past the guards stationed at the entrance to the Champion’s village was a tougher nut to crack. We were able to convince them to climb into the magical bag—they had to share this space with the other ghast body (again, please don’t ask)—but there was no other alternative and it wouldn’t be for long. With a couple of bottles of wine we swiped from the cellar above, we bribed the guards into letting us poor, overworked servers slack off for a bit back in the caverns. They were happy to oblige.

We got the prisoner out and made our way back to the surface. Because we have impeccable timing, we got stopped while exiting the manhole. I quickly swung into action, pointing out we had permission from the city. To speed things along and emphasize the point, I reached into the bag and started pulling the ghast body out.

Just one look at the head was enough for them. “Yes, yes…fine. Just…just take that away! There aren’t any more of those, right?”

No, sir, there were not.

We’re back at the warehouse. It’s late. Or rather, it’s early. Later this morning, we’ll figure out what to do with our prisoner-turned-eyewitness, and then plan our next moves.

(evening)

We determined that our freed prisoner would need healing magic well beyond our capability. He also needed someplace to stay where he would be safe until called upon by the city to provide his account of events. I suggested the Temple of Sarenrae, as they are more likely to do volunteer work, or at the very least provide assistance without requiring compensation up front. Voire agreed, and we made the trek there early this morning.

He took the lead, and got us a meeting with one of the priests high up in the order. We weren’t ready to lay out everything we were doing, in part because we didn’t have a complete picture of it ourselves, and in part because we didn’t want word getting back to Raknian. That being said, we weren’t going to mislead them, either.

“This is someone we rescued from a bad situation. It appears he’s been tortured, though we don’t know that for sure, and he’s suffering from an affliction we don’t understand. He’s not able to talk, and it seems he needs more help than I can give him.”

“And,” I said, “he’s an eyewitness to whatever happened to him.”

“Right. If this was more than an unfortunate accident, then additional steps need to be taken. But we won’t know that until he’s able to talk.

The priest considered this for a moment, then said, “So his ability to speak may be important to the pursuit of justice.”

“Yes,” Voire said.

“He was able to get across to us that he was kidnapped off the street,” I said.

“It help help a great deal,” Viore added, “if he could communicate with us beyond crude drawings.”

“Yes, yes. If this is a criminal matter, would the city be picking up the costs of this?” the priest asked.

I said, “If it’s a criminal matter, I would be more than happy to bill the city, or those responsible for this. The problem is, we don’t yet have direct proof of a crime. Just our suspicions based on what we could learn from him.”

“I am willing to take it on the word of a paladin of Abadar that, one way or another, the debts will be paid. We will help this unfortunate soul.”

“Thank you,” Viore said.

It didn’t take long. Powerful healing magic is amazing that way.

He was immediately able to relate his story, and it was fairly damning. He saw a “bad man”—from his descriptions of them, we deduced that this man was a tiefling—enter the other man’s cell and place a worm on his face. The man started screaming, and within a few moments he turned into a worm-filled, undead monstrosity that sounded very familiar to Viore and me. Then the tiefling led it out of the cell, and down the hallway.

The clerics found this story very alarming, to say the least, and Voire and I figurted we need toi tell them what we’ve been investigating. The only thing we left out was Raknian’s involvement, since we didn’t have proof and also didn’t want word getting back to him.

“You would think a plague of this nature, going on this long in Korvosa, would not go unnoticed,” one of the priests said.

“We don’t know how long it’s been here in Korvosa,” I said. “This is a thread we’ve been chasing for several weeks. It started in Diamond Lake and led west into the Mushfens before making its way to the city.”

They pledged their support, which is good, and for their part they will keep our witness safe. We offered them some gold to help cover their daily expenses for the time being.

There are no matches scheduled for today. There arena is open for public events and some exhibitions, which is a long way of saying that I had the day off. Still, I needed to check in with the team, if only to find out the reaction to the prisoner’s disappearance last night.

I could see immediately on the way in that the guard had been doubled, and they were going about their business with a renewed enthusiasm. According to our team, rumor is that Loris Raknian was seething with rage, had ordered an interrogation of all the guards, and made sweeping changes to the guard schedule.

There was one more thing.

“We overheard a couple of the guards this evening,” Anton said, speaking quietly. “They were complaining about their duties maintaining the cage of a creature named Madtooth, and the cold that it requires.” I don’t know what a “Madtooth” is, but I can guess. There’s been talk that one of the bouts in the games will be a battle with a beast of some sort, rather than a fight between teams. “One of them said, ‘I’ll be happy when they can return the frost salamander back to the Linnorm Kingdoms’.”

Color me skeptical on this. The odds of two guards talking so loosely, at just the right time and place to be overheard, during a time when the guards were under heavy scrutiny for dereliction of duty, seemed pretty remote. Like, “zero” remote.

“Do you really believe it, or was this ‘accidental’ conversation staged for your benefit?”

“They sounded sincere, and I’m not so sure they knew we were there, but I agree that doesn’t mean much. I’m just telling you what we heard.”

“Right. Thank you for letting me know. Yeah, we have to assume it’s legitimate in case you end up facing this ‘Madtooth’ thing, but we should be prepared for it to be a setup, too.”

With the increased activity around the arena and the village, we decided this wasn’t a good night to return.