3rd Annual Arena Battle

= The Tournament = In 1150, after Saving the Children, the adventuring party heard about the 3rd Annual Arena Battle taking place in Cashara later that week. Inquiring at the Arena, they met Bondrell, a tall, tattooed Goliath who runs the Cashara Arena. Bondrell explained that the arena hosts fights every 2 weeks and each year they host a tournament to scout for talent. With the Twin's War over, there's a lot of people who need a way to vent their bloodlust.

The tournament consists of two parts: Individual Combat, and Party Combat.

The individual combat tournament is divided into three different classes: Brutal, Nimble, and Arcane. These winners are invited to join the Arena as regular fighters. There is a 10gp buy in for each competitor. Winning your first round wins you 20gp (your own 10gp contribution, as well as that from your competitor), winning your second rounds wins you an additional 20 (your competitor's earnings), and winning your third round gains you another 40gp (your competitor's earnings from their first two rounds). In the case of many participants, the tournament may even continue to a fourth, or even fifth round. In this case the per-round winnings continue to grow until there is a single winner. Winning the overall tournament in your class also earns you 250gp.

The party combat tournament is explained below.

The tournament takes place over 3 days with one round of individual combat per day as well as one round of party combat. This spacing gives the combatants time to rest and recover before their next match.

The Arena Battle was originally scheduled for the 2nd of First Frost, but was postponed to the 7th of First Frost due to a late-minute, high-profile entrant who had yet to arrive in the city. The event begins at noon.

Individual Combat
Arcane: Total Purse 80gp

Nimble: Total Purse 160gp

Brutal: Total Purse 80gp

Tournament Brackets can be viewed below

Party Combat
A new addition to this year's battle is the Party Battle in which groups of up to four brave combatants may test their luck in the arena against fearsome beasts from across Vylgaard and beyond. For each team, there is a 50gp buy in. Each team faces off against a slew of creatures in three stages of increasing difficulty. Successfully defeating the beasts of Round 1 earns the group 150gp. At this point, the group can choose to keep their winnings and concede, or continue on to Round 2 and take the chance of winning 300gp or losing it all. If the team manages to complete Round 2 then can take their chances again and hope to win 750gp or risk losing it all.

Each party will face different a different set of beasts, but at an equal level of difficulty. For increased variance, each level is set in a different terrain; arctic, coastal, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, underdark, or underwater. The beasts will reflect the terrain type.

= Narrative =

Day One
Upon waking up on the very chilly morning of the 7th of First Frost, the party had some breakfast at the Running Trout Inn before heading off to run some last-minute errands in the city before the beginning of the tournament. Still very drunk from the night before, Osa remained in bed while the others went to the Palace to be paid for clearing out the mine. Although Ander and Gantar tried to persuade Taylore to bargain with the administrator at the gate for more money, Taylore was content with the 1000gp. The group returned to the Inn and woke Osa, giving him Gus' share of the gold. While hanging out in the Inn, they met a middle-aged Dwarven man named Dungarth who said he'd be participating in the tournament as well. After this encounter, the party went out into the center of Cashara to buy some items before the tournament. Ander equipped himself with several bags of caltrops and a whip while Taylore acquired some health potions for the group (again, refusing to haggle down the price) and also some poison for himself. Ander tried to acquire some more potent poison from one of the shopkeepers, however the cost was a bit out of his range.

Eventually the party made their way in the direction of the Arena, noticing the empty streets in the city center starting to fill with more and more people the closer they got to the arena. The grassy area surrounding the Arena itself had been converted into a festive fairground of sorts with streamers of red, gold, and blue covering the market stalls. Vendors peddled their wares and musicians played their instruments in hope of coin. Tents bearing games of chance and skill were placed between wooden stands selling cured meats and ales. Children laughed in the background as their wooden swords clashed together.

At the entrance of the Arena stood Bondrell, the hulking, tattooed Goliath the party had met earlier when registering for the event. Behind him stood a smaller Goliath who the party learned to be Bondrell's young son. Struggling to remember their names, Bondrell eventually registered all the players who also joined in for the Party Combat.