Tamriel Arena One Shot

This started as a quick ‘filler’ game set in the same world as the Tamriel campaign. A side plot in the Tamriel campaign revolves around the theft, by Rosen, of a valuable book. Rosen casts an invisibility charm on the book and it is never seen again. In the Tamriel campaign, the authorities put up wanted posters, appealing for the safe return of the stolen book.

The arena one shot takes this a step further. The authorities are putting together a crack team of adventurers to locate and return the book, wherever it may be in the land of Tamriel. To select the worthy party, a series of arena fights have been devised.

This picture was drawn by Georgia, who plays Lyle in this campaign and Ikle in the main Tamriel campaign. The characters, from left to right, are Leon, Lyle, Shroomie and Liz.

Campaign Notes

The party comprises Shroomie, a dwarf fighter; Liz, a gnome fighter; Leon (they/it), a human warlock and Lyle (he/they), a stout halfling druid.

2022-12-06

The empire is in turmoil. Recently, a book of great value was stolen from the Imperial Library at the heart of the Imperial City. This heartless act has sent shockwaves through the population and struck at the peoples’ confidence in the govenment to keep them safe. To counter this dire situation, the emperor has ordered a tournament be run, to select a band of brave warriors, from wherever in the empire they may reside, to return the book and bring the thief to justice.

Dozens of adventurers, all vying for a chance to hunt down the thief, meet at the city’s arena. The emperor himself stands on the balcony to introduce the contest to the cheering crowds.

“Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” comes the emperor’s voice, magically amplified by druids spaced equidistant around the circular battlefield. The adventurers, eager to start, are marshalled to their designated anterooms below the tiered stands. Four souls, a group of three and a lone human, do not take off as rapidly. A gnome, carrying a longbow and quiver and wearing a pointed cap; a dwarf, wearing a large, spotted cap and carrying an axe with a handle longer than he is tall on his back; and a stout halfling, carrying a short sword in a sheath by their side and a mischievous grin on their face. The lone human wears baggy clothes and a tall, pointed hat. He has large, octagonal glasses, with a chain looped around his neck. He has no visible weapons or armour, and yet this presence is fearsome; the look in his eyes is of unlimited determination.

“Hey, you! Fancy joining the pals brigade?” comes the invitation from the stout halfling. The human looks them over.

“This is satisfactory,” comes the reply, monotone. The other two members of the ‘Pals Brigade’ appear slightly uneasy at this, but the stout halfling is welcoming of the new member. The party are a strange sight to the crowd; three small figures stepping closely together, followed by one almost twice their height.

Once in the anteroom, the party introduce themselves properly. “I’m Lyle,” says the halfling, cheerfully. “These are Liz,” gesturing to the rather slight gnome, “and Shroomie,” gesturing to the well built dwarf. “And you are?”

“Leon. I am the avatar of Leo, the computer intelligence.”

Liz and Shroomie had already been quieted by Leon’s intense manner, but now even Lyle is struggling for words. Time passes with little conversation between the three stout figures and Leon. His presence is slightly unnerving, especially to Liz and Shroomie, but by no means threatening.

Not a moment too soon, a member of the emperor’s guard enters the anteroom, opening the door without knocking. The three stout people fall silent and turn to face the door. Leon remains silent and barely turns his head to see what is happening.

“By demand of the emperor, your presence is required in the arena,” the guard announces, escorting the party out of the anteroom and standing aside for them to enter the arena. Daylight strikes them; it is a fine day and the crowd are in high spirits. A heavy wooden door closes behind them and the crowd quietens.

On the opposite side of the arena, a similar wooden door is closing. The party are face to face with three ogres, the smallest one twice the height of Leon, who is twice the height again of any of the other three adenturers.

Without consulting the rest of the party to form a plan of attack, Leon surges forward and makes the first move. He casts Eldritch Blast on the first ogre, hitting it full on with a beam of crackling energy. The ogre is winded by the attack and the crowd cheer, more at the spectacular visual effect of the spell than the effect on the ogre.

The rest of the party, aware that the ogres are about to become hostile, act quickly and in unison. Liz looses an arrow from her longbow, striking the ogre’s shoulder, resulting in winces of pain. Shroomie runs forward, loosing an arrow from his bow, striking the ogre’s other side with a critical hit.

The ogre, bewildered by three attacks from different sides, takes a run at Lyle to attack, but misses. Leon casts another bolt of Eldritch Blast at the ogre, more spectacular than the first and dealing more damage to the ogre, who is now heavily injured. Leon grins.

Lyle whistles to the rest of the party. Unbeknownst to Leon, this is a signal that they should protect their ears for what is about to come. A few seconds later, the sound of thunder fills the air, as Lyle casts Thunderclap. It is painful, though not harmful, to the audience who are some distance from the blast, and most of the put their hands over their ears. All three ogres, and Leon, feel the full effect of the sound. Leon’s ears begin to bleed. Liz and Shroomie, prompted by Lyle’s whistling, have already protected their ears, and continue fighting as though nothing has happened.

Two ogres strike out with their clubs. One of them strikes Liz, who is slightly hurt. The other strikes Leon, who, already flailing after the thunderclap, is badly hurt. The pain does not bother him, however; if anything, it has spurred him on. He runs across the arena away from the ogre who has just struck at him, leaps and spins through one hundred and eighty degrees in the air and whilst doing so, casts Eldritch Blast again at the ogre. The force of the blast pushes him further back, and he digs his feet into the sandy arena floor.

Lyle quickly casts Burning Blade on his scimitar. It erupts into flame and helps him to quickly reduce the ogre in front of him to his knees. Liz looses another arrow from her longbow, hitting the ogre in the stomach and taking him down.

Leon is launching bolts of Eldritch Blast towards all the ogres, a manic expression on his face and cackling coming from his mouth as his patron’s magic flows through him and out of his hands. Lyle attempts to cast another spell, directed at an ogre, but misses. Shroomie, managing to remain focussed despite the magic flying around him, strikes another ogre squarely in the chest, causing it to scream in agony. The crowd are wild with excitement.

The two remaining ogres take their turns, striking Liz and Shroomie, though their attacks are poor and their weapons, although they make contact, fail to cause any harm. Leon casts Chill Touch. A magical hand clings to one of the ogres, and pulls it down. It stays down, and one ogre remains in the battle.

Lyle takes their flaming scimitar and slices through the last ogre. It falls to the ground, defeated. The emperor, who was not giving the battle his pull attention before, despite even the loud and spectacular spellcasting, now looks directly at the party with interest. This is not missed by Leon, though he fails to understand the significance; or Lyle, who understands that they have done well.

The party return to the anteroom in order to prepare for whatever comes next. They rest, regaining their health and magical abilities for the next fight. Leon casts Find Familiar as a ritual. His familiar appears; a celestial hare, glowing with silver in the dim anteroom. Her presence startles the rest of the party, as Leon hadn’t said what he was planning to do before sitting in meditation for an hour, but then she calms them of any nerves before the start of the battle.

The emperor’s guard enters the anteroom again to fetch the party for the next battle. They follow him, more confident than last time, until he stands aside and they enter the ring. Before them, in the centre of the ring, is a suspicious toilet. Suspicious, because it is obviously out of place, and appears to have no fighting ability whatsoever. Leon gestures for Louise, his hare familiar, to run over to the toilet to investigate. Suddenly, a snake emerges from the toilet, and slithers slowly towards the party.

“It’s a basilisk! Avert your eyes!” shouts Lyle, who, thinking quickly, casts Sleet Storm to obscure the view of the arena. THe party can now see barely ten feet in front of their faces. The storm has drowned out the noise of the crowwd, but they are quientening as they cannot see what is happening in front of them. The atmosphere is tense. Louise burrows into the sandy arena floor, afraid of what might happen next and believing that below the action is the safest place to be.

Leon casts Shatter, in an attempt to destroy the suspicious porcelain bowl and deal damage to the basilisk at the same time. The spell fails to hit its mark, dealing minor damage to the toilet, the basilisk, and Shroomie, who has rushed forward to attack. Following Leon, Lyle quickly casts Thunder, pushing the toilet, the basilisk, and Shroomie away.

Liz makes an attack on the basilisk with her longbow, but her aim reflects the poor visibility through the storm and she misses. Shroomie, now next to the toilet, attacks it at melee range and deals damage. It tries to attack Shroomie but misses him, instead hitting its bowl against the arena floor. The basilisk turns quickly, using its tail to fling Shroomie at the toilet, nearly breaking his arm as it collides with the cistern.

Lyle transforms into their snake form, making them a match for the basilisk in combat. Leon casts fly on Lyle, allowing them to fly under their own control. Lyle uses their ability to fly across the arena to the basilisk and restrain it by twisting themself around its long tail.

Shroomie has a second attempt at attacking the toilet, this time suceeding in bludgeoning the cistern, taking off a piece of the porcelain lid. The toilet bites Shroomie in retaliation, and his foot becomes stuck in the toilet bowl. Leon, becoming aware of the situation, casts Chill Touch on the toilet, and a magical hand grabs onto the cold porcelain bowl. This is not enough, however, for the toilet to let go of Shroomie.

Lyle, still in their snake form and engaged with the snake, constricts tightly, killing the already weakened snake. Liz looses another arrow at the toilet; it sails past the toilet, but thankfully sails past Shroomie, who has not been able to release himself yet. He takes his axe, and strikes again at the cistern. This time, the toilet lets go of Shroomie’s leg. Shroomie makes a distance between himself and the toilet, allowing Leon’s Eldritch Blast a clear shot at the toilet. The bolt collides with the toilet, shattering it into a thousand tiny porcelain pieces.

Shroomie, turning to look at the damage, makes a comment along the lines of the deanimated toilet being more useful to him in one piece. The rest of the party pretend not to hear; except Leon, who would not have acknowledged the comment in any case.

Lyle dispels their sleet storm, which quickly clears, allowing the audience their first view of the arena and their first confirmation that the four adventurers are again victorious. A cheer starts at the front of the crowd, and as the storm clears fully, it extends to the highest levels of the tiered seating. The party, tired for their efforts, have enough energy left for a small wave, and to walk back to the anteroom. Except Leon, of course, who has energy enough to wave to the audience, but chooses not to.

The party are escorted, for the third and final time, to the arena. The emperor takes his seat, then there is low rumble as, all around the arena, the crowd do the same. There is a high turnout to see the final battle for this group of challengers. They are fighting the four elements of life: Earth, Fire, Water and Air.

Leon takes the first move, attempting, but failing, to cast Shatter. Lyle casts Call Lightning. A storm cloud, then a spectacular display of lightning, appear over the elements. Liz and Shroomie start loosing arrows at the elements.

The elements all move closer to the party. Leon casts Fly on himself, and begins floating sixty feet above the party. Lyle casts Erupting Earth at the oncoming elements, separating and weakening them. As an effect of the spell, the ground becomes difficult terrain for everyone.

The Air attacks Leon, who, floating in midair, is flung back to the ground. Leon retaliates by getting back up and casting Witch Bolt on the Air. A bolt of lightning races from Leon’s palms, then travels back and forth through the Air, weakening it. The crowd cheer at this display of power, and the emperor looks pleased.

Lyle whistles, signalling to the party that he is about to cast Thunderclap. All of the party an many of the spectators put their hands to their ears in advance of the spell being cast. Thunder rings out through the arena, putting the elements into a rage. The noise of the thunder is replaced by the sound of the crowd cheering the party on, as they begin to take the upper hand in the battle.

The Water, moving quickly around the arena, strikes at Liz. It knocks her unconscious by envoloping her completely. Leon’s human side comes out, striking the Water with a bolt of Eldritch Blast to take revenge for Water’s attack on Liz. Shroomie assists, and the water soaks away into the arena floor, lifeless.

Turning around, Leon takes out Fire with another bolt of Eldritch Blast, then finishes with a final bolt of Eldritch Blast, taking out Earth. As the four elements peter away, the crowd can see that the emperor has his new champions. Shroomie and Lyle rush across the arena to Liz and begin healing her. She stands, and together the four members of the party wave to the crowd and bow to the emperor, before they are escorted from the arena by the emperor’s private guard.

After resting, the party is officially formed to search for the book thief.