Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #18: The Main Act

In four (?!) missing chapters of our story, the party demonstrated its skills in a set of trials before the Ruby Phoenix herself, emerging as early favorites. They traveled to Goka where the tournament takes place, and have started courting the favor of potential sponsors. Their investigator Pegleg Pete continues from when they fought some drakes at the drake hatchery in front of potential sponsors. –GM

11th of Rova, 4721 AR

Lady Qiu May Shai

With the last of the pesky drakes taken care of, our heroes realized that the whole incident had been orchestrated as a test. Having clearly passed, the Victorious Bastards found who their true supporters were as The General and Lady Qiu May Shai had apparently made a bet, with The General showing his trust in backing the mighty adventurers to the end.

Having finished this pesky little errand, the Victorious Bastards decided the only thing to do was visit the famous opera house of Goka and see what this so-called “master performer” could do. Now, of course, having the legendary Boblon the Defenestrator in their midst, there was no way our heroes would simply sit back and watch the show. Boblon the Defenestrator with his golden voice, and his manager Pegleg Pete with his silver tongue, managed to not only secure a last-second appearance in the show, but to perform as the main act.

“The main act”

With an impressive display of ability, Boblon wowed the whole audience, completely upstaging what was supposed to be the “main act.” With a full show complete with phantom backup singers and pyrotechnics, Boblon showed everyone the reason for the title “defenestrator” for, as a normal singer can shatter a measly glass with their voice, Boblon can send audience members through the windows.

After an outstanding performance, the jealous “Master Razu” thought he could regain the spotlight by sharing the stage for the main act, but setting Boblon the Defenestrator up with a harmony no goblin could physiologically do. This, of course, meant nothing to the legendary musician, and Boblon’s perfect rendition not only left the maestro speechless, but it was so powerful it opened an interdimensional rift that started defenestrating the entire Plane of Air.

Staff and audience members alike were sent flying yet again, and it was up to the Victorious Bastards to save the day. While administrators and mages started worrying about how to close such a strange rift, our heroes wasted no time in doing what they do best: hitting things. Very hard.

Within a few moments they had beaten the magical tear into submission and yet again saved the day. 

-Pegleg Pete (Zander)

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Boblon, goblin bard 14
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 15
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 14
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 15
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 15
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 14

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #13: Mount Haminabu

In missing chapters of our story, the party earned their tenth feather and settled to sleep, but their base was attacked by squadrons of teleporting terra-cotta soldiers. On the morning of the last day, the Ruby Phoenix announces that teams with ten feathers can now meet her at the summit of Mount Haminabu, where her palace awaits. –GM

11th of Erastus, 4721 AR

Lead enforcer, Koto Zekuro

With the dawn of the third day of the preliminary period of the tournament, Pegleg Pete and his Pirate Posse had nothing left to do besides turn in their 10 phoenix feathers and claim their rightful place as finalists advancing to the next round.

They passed several weaker teams full of sore losers who still hadn’t come close to qualifying on their journey to the top of the highest peak, Mount Haminabu where the other qualifiers would officialize their placement.

Near the top, however, the mighty heroes saw a strange sight hiding a golden opportunity. The chief enforcer was looking among the finalists to see who would have a “friendly” match and, more importantly, who was willing to bet on it. Never the type to miss out on free gold, Pegleg Pete quickly jumped on the opportunity and began to haggle his way into the fight without needing to put up the money to front it, but Njezet’s excessive low-balling and attempts to pass off every piece of junk ruined the efforts and forced Charles E. Cheese to risk his powerful expensive wand.

 

Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #9: Outmatched

In a missing chapter of our tale, the party won a challenge from some tournament enforcers, rested, and started Day Two fighting dozens of fighters in “Hana’s Hundreds” and defeating a strange lake-sucking monstrosity. They explore the northeast of Danger Island. –GM

10th of Erastus, 4721 AR

The “Nightmares”

After their harrowing encounter with semi-submerged giant, our heroes tracked down their next quarry, a team of equestrian players who somehow thought of themselves as warriors.

This fight was one of the easiest so far as they almost immediately fell to Charles E. Cheese’s masterful snares. Charging in headfirst, 2 of the 3 horses were instantly transformed into a fine red mist, and the third was about to make a visit to the glue factory. Realizing they were clearly outmatched, they gathered their remaining strength and decided to all rush Pegleg Pete. Njezet decided that instead of assisting his teammate or fighting the enemy, he would take out his anger on the last, now riderless, horse. Seeing Pete on the brink of death, Charles heroically rushed over and tagged in, even though he wasn’t much better off. Charles then finished off the last self proclaimed “warrior” with a well thrown rock, but was disgusted by a really gross bug that had been hiding under it.

Banshee

After dispatching the mounted weaklings, the party ventured onward and found a mysterious tower that even a coma patient could tell was haunted. After exploring the tower, they arrived at the top where a powerful banshee was waiting. It let out a bloodcurdling wail that could rip the flesh off a horse, and charged. Normal attacks simply didn’t cut it, and even Charles’ most powerful magic couldn’t even leave a scratch, so the party decided to tactically withdraw for the time being. It chased the party back down the stairs and out of the tower.

By the time they had left the cursed place, every single one of our heroes was on the brink of death, just barely escaping in time by the skin of their teeth. They decided it was time to upgrade their old gear and get back to fighting other teams.

-Pegleg Pete (Zander)

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Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 13
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 12
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 13
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 13
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 12

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #7: The Glowing Embers

In a missing chapter of our tale, the party defeated a second team on the 1st day of the battle royale, and were soon challenged by a team of tournament staff! The party won that challenge as well and earned some valuable gold. The team’s magical rat continues their tale. –GM

9th of Erastus, 4721 AR

One of The Glowing Embers

Greetings and Salutations! It is I, the rat with the hat, chuck cheddar, spell squeaker, Charles Cheese!

If you all recall, you’ll remember that we’d been toiling away to gather 10 feathers to qualify for the main event, and to be completely honest we were still doing just that. We had been exploring the island for a day or so now and had run into quite a few teams.

I came up with a remarkably dastardly plan earlier. (I think some of Njezet’s influence may be rubbing off on me.) I decided to plant traps at our fighting arenas before the actual event, leaving our foes to encounter a cruel surprise when they took the wrong step. However, I failed to account for a fatal flaw in my plan: our foes might not step where I planted a trap!

This flaw was exploited masterfully by our first foes of the day, The Glowing Embers, a band of spellcasting fighters. Brains and brawn were a scary combination, but it seemed these fellas skipped a few too many days of spellcasting lessons.

As the battle went on, we marveled at the lack of power behind their blows. Pegleg pelted them with arrows, while Nazzi stumbled over and started delivering a smackdown. Meanwhile, I crept into the shadows and lined up some powerful lightning attacks. Eventually all but one of the fools fell, and the last mage yielded after my boney bone delivered an awesome attack to his abdomen. 

After a brief shopping spree and some more exploration, we decided to have one more fight and call it a night. We met up with some monks in search of a battle, but soon learned they followed “The Path of the Cowardly Oaf.” As the bell rang to signal the start of the brawl, they sat right where they were and cowered while waiting for us to come to them. However, if I’d learned one thing from my days at the tavern it was this: you gotta risk the tokens if you wanna grab the giant stuffed monkey with an unstable mage hand spell. The metaphor’s a bit convoluted and overspecific, but you all get the idea right? Anyway, my blood is boiling this point, so I’ve gotta put down this pen and get into the action.

Until we meet again, stay safe and stay furry! (I guess this only applies to those of you who have fur.)

-Charles Entertainment Cheese (Zack)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 11
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 13
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 12
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 12
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 12
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 12

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #6: Dirty Tactics

The party encounters more rival teams on the island, getting ever closer to the ten silver feathers they need to qualify for the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. –GM

9th of Erastus, 4721 AR

We were up against a pair of skilled archers, who started the fight far away from us. In an open field this would be a tough situation, but thankfully we were on a beach with a large shipwreck lying between us and them. While the others were hastily taking cover behind the wreck and preparing counterattacks, I decided to scale the cliff beside the beach. The archers found themselves flanked from both ahead and above, and were soon defeated.

Traveling north, we happened upon a group of enforcers, led by a bald, gray-skinned monk. They were looking to thin the crowd, they told us, which is why they were challenging us to a fight. This time the location was a pit with a sandy floor, surrounded by a stone wall. We had our swords and bows, they only had their fists. I didn’t expect this fight to be very difficult, until I found myself face down on the sand. The bastards had tripped me!

I struggled to my feet, lashed out at the gray monk. I didn’t get very far into the attack before he tried to knock my sword out of my hand. As I fumbled with the grip, the monk struck from behind, clearly trying to trip me again. But this time I was ready, and used the momentum to turn around and thrust my sword into his neck. Nonlethally.

As we dusted ourselves off, the enforcers gave us a silver feather, as well as some gold as an extra reward. “All the other teams tried to cheat,” they told us, “You fought honorably.”

We continued to explore the area, and found what seemed to be an altar of some sort. Charles told us that the proper form of respect was to dance in front of it. We were skeptical at first, but after we finished dancing our traveling speed increased. Apparently this was an altar to the god of swift feet. As we were discussing where to head next an ostrich stole our Phoenix Necklace! Oh no!

-Njezet (Nate)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 11
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 12
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 12
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 12
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 12
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 12

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #5: First Blood

The prequalifying tournament begins in earnest when the sun rises on our heroes’ new temple abode. –GM

9th of Erastus, 4721 AR

“Pegleg” Pete

Our heroes arduously attempted to heal their wounds after the fight with the clay golems, but even after being reduced to mere rubble, the annoying constructs had the last laugh. Their cursed attacks could not be healed by any amount of modern medical practices, and it took the party into the night before they finally managed to patch themselves up.

But danger doesn’t stop with the fall of night, and the party found themselves fighting a magical tree. This arboreous foe was quickly felled, and our heroes were finally able to rest until morning.

However, a new day brings new dangers, and the intrepid adventurers quickly found their first official fight of the tourney: two monks who appeared honorable and kind started the fight. These enemies quickly showed their true colors with such an ill-natured display of fighting that the party was shocked. They first attacked Nazzi, and with a lucky blow to the head knocked him out cold, but rather than focus their attacks on the remaining heroes, they started to beat Nazzi’s unconscious body as it lay there. Outraged by this display of underhanded tactics, the party decided to quickly end this fight, and effortlessly beat the dastardly monks into submission.

“They started to beat Nazzi’s unconscious body as it lay there.”

After a quick trip to the local shop, our heroes journeyed onwards towards a lake at the north end of the island by using one of the many teleportation towers scattered throughout the land. No sooner had they emerged from the other end of the tower than they encountered another team.

This team quickly showed themselves to be even poorer sports than the last team, as it took hours of whining, complaining and dragging of feet before they even agreed to a fight, and they would only do that if every single condition was favorable to them. But this wouldn’t matter; our heroes knew that even with all of the starting conditions in their favor, this new opponent had no chance.

-Pegleg Pete (Zander)

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-Skillix (Simon)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 11
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 12
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 12
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 12
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 12
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 11

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #4: Beachhead

The party continues to search the temple of Irori for more secrets and loot. –GM

8th of Erastus, 4721 AR

Ahmitar

From the pages of the Ysoki Liberation Army Bi-Monthly Informational Manifest:

Operation Ruby Phoenix Gambit is going well. Our initial battles against the temporary foes of the inevitable revolution have gone well! Recently we’ve been working to clear the temple that is to serve as our base of operations on the island, and our recent battles and encounters have gone… interestingly. 

We first faced off against a massive horde of ticks, one of them in particular seeming deeply prejudiced against all ratfolk-kind! The bombs of yours truly brought justice to the insectoid oppressors, burning them by the thousands with the pent-up fury of our people. 

Pow! Pow!

We met, too, a small fey called an anugobu. Ahmitar proved to be a useful collaborator to the eventual cause of ysoki liberation by agreeing to keep watch over the temple when we are out fighting for liberty and justice. Less glorious, however, was the incident where all of us save for Pegleg Pete/Cutthroat Craig Cunningham were struck down by clay golems.

-Skillix, Eastern Vanguard of the Revolution

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-Skillix (Simon)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 11
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 12
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 11
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 12
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 11
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 11

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #3: A Roof Over Our Heads

In a missing chapter of our story, our heroes began competing to be the first eight teams to gather a phoenix necklace and 10 silver feathers on “Danger Island,” starting with clearing their home base, an ancient temple to Irori. The party’s hobgoblin fighter continues their story. –GM

8th of Erastus, 4721 AR

There was nothing in this room that suggested any danger. Just some sticks of incense and metal bowls with rods in them. Maybe this is where the monks used to go to meditate, cool off, relax after a long day of karate. Surely there would be no ghosts in here.

Alas, I was sorely mistaken. As soon as I stepped into the room, a being of smoke and wind formed out of the dust and let out a ghastly scream that was loud enough to shatter our bones. I prepared to fight the spirit as I got back on my feet, but it had already vanished.

The next room was filled with colorful sand. There were several ghosts made of sand that had hidden in other rooms, so we knew there would be a fight. We were not prepared for the vacuum trap, however, which knocked us to the ground and hindered our escape.

The statue, a divine warden of Irori

Once we got out, bruised and beaten from the sand monks, Charles summoned a wall of stone to stop the vacuum. The monks somehow tunneled through the wall and attacked us again, but this time there was no vacuum to help them, and they soon perished.

Our next target was the giant altar at the head of the building. A great stone statue sat on a wooden throne, flanked by two braziers. We lit the braziers and tried to pay our respects, but none of us even knew who we were praying to. The statue came to life, attacking us with tremendous force. It was resistant to regular steel, but luckily I wielded a buckler made of adamantine, which scored small but impactful hits on the thing.

The statue fell, allowing us to take the phoenix necklace it wore. The three silver feathers we had collected magically attached themselves to this necklace. As we headed into the next room, I wondered: if this was friendly territory, what would our enemies be like?

The phoenix necklace

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-Njezet (Nate)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 11
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 12
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 11
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 12
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 11

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Fists of the Ruby Phoenix #1: Disembarking at Danger Island

The annual Ruby Phoenix Tournament brings together the world’s greatest fighters. Landing ashore at Bonmu, or ‘Danger Island,’ is one of the competing teams. The team’s ratfolk wizard begins their tale. –GM

8th of Erastus, 4721 AR

Charles Entertainment Cheese

The tale of our ascent to Ruby Phoenix tournament champions is unconventional, to say the least. But before I get too far ahead of myself a story needs its characters and a tale needs its beginning.

Greetings, one and all, my name is Charles Entertainment Cheese. Once the mascot of a popular tavern which will not be named, I have embarked on adventures in search of a means to remove my costume, which has stuck to my body.

I am joined by a motley ensemble of freaks and bosses. First and foremost are my fellow rats, Skillix and Pegleg Pete. Skillix is an anarchist pyromaniac with a side of racial fanaticism. Pegleg Pete on the other hand is a daring investigator with eyes to rival a hawk, and I have a sneaking suspicion that there’s more to him than meets the eye. Next, there’s Njezet, a deformed hobgoblin poisoner with a cruel streak that runs bone-deep. I would not wanna get on his bad side. Pouring down a drink in the corner over there is Nazzi Saq Xskrit, whose name is as hard to say as he is hard to beat in a brawl. Finally, there’s Big M, an average-sized at best ranger who’s been sleeping the trip away so far. 

Ingdani, the party guide and ‘reporter’ for the people of Goka who are following the prequalifying tournament.

Speaking of the trip, I believe we are about to reach our destination. After escaping prison we thought it wise to seek shelter from the long arm of the law, and lo and behold the Ruby Phoenix happened to have a nice immunity clause for all participants. That is, as long as they haven’t been eliminated. So looks like we have our work cut out for us: beat 31 other teams to qualify for the main event, then win that and walk away free rich men and rats.

First things first, though, our guide is telling us we have to set up a base camp in an area described as “inhospitable, terrible, and repugnant to all forms of civilized life.” so this may be a bit harder than it seems on paper. But hey, I wouldn’t bet against us just yet. So until I next have a chance to jot some notes down I bid you farewell dear reader, and I urge you to spend your silver and gold betting on “[NAME PENDING]”.

(Also on their ship was a very unfriendly rival team called the Winter’s Roar, and sparred with a friendly team called Tino’s Toughest on their first day on the island before reaching their team ‘home base.’ -GM)

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-Charles Entertainment Cheese (Zack)

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Big M, dwarven ranger 10
Charles Entertainment Cheese, ratfolk enchanter 11
Nazzi Saq Xskrit, strix-ganzi monk 11
Njezet, hobgoblin fighter 11
Pegleg Pete, ratfolk-tiefling investigator 11
Skillix, ratfolk alchemist 10

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