Underdark Olympics?

Aaron J., Phil, Rod, Rob, Carson, Jon, Aaron E. all made it to today's D&D session. Welcome Aaron J. We were going to play upstairs but space looked a bit tight in the kitchen and the basement wasn't quite too cold this afternoon. We played D&D the whole session.

Picking up where we left off last time, within one of the clay pots in the ruins of the titan city market were found the recent remains of a halfling. Curious, High Inquisitor Joseph Prax did a raise dead on the body. As it turned out, Day-O, the halfling rogue, had been smashed by a titan's gargantuan warhammer about a week previously. The little halfling had been attempting to loot the market ruins on a solo expedition, and had the misfortune of getting caught in the act. Having explored the area a bit, the halfling discovered an area of loose gravel in the floor. After investigation, stonecunning, and excavation involving Geena and Gemberlion, a circular hole was revealed. A while later, the party had 150' of rope leading straight down into the unknown. Gemberlion was digging further when the bottom fell out from beneath him and he was falling into such a large underground chamber it seemed he was outside. Luckily, he was able to save himself from a crushing death by using his flying bicycle, which he had been using to cart debris to the surface of the hole.

Before long, the party had decended to the floor of the great chamber. There, a 35' tall carved arc of stone stood, with 10 symbols and glyphs in an old dialect of the giant tongue. As the party investigated the "henge," they found it to be much more greatly detailed than the crude structures of stone they had seen on the surface. They also noticed a path made of large stones, which formed a perfect circle. In the distance a gigantic tent and several flaming braziers could be seen. Soon, footsteps thundered. Day-O recognized the toga-clad titan who had crushed him the previous week. Already atop the stone arc, the rogue pushed buttons at random. Warm air rushed into the area. Suddenly, beyond the portal beckoned a bright cloudy mystery. All of the party but Noctorium went through, and the titan followed. Noctorium stood vigil; you never know when you might need a wizard friend on the other side of something like this, especially if you want to make sure you get back...

On the other side of the portal there was daylight. As their eyes adjusted, the group saw a tremendous stone sports arena, where "Olympic" events were being held, with "entries across time and space." Here, the titan who had seemingly followed them ignored the party completely and simply went about his business. In the place and time where the party arrived, the 10 events were: Javelin throw, 1-mile footrace, Greek-style wrestling, triple-jump, rowing, archery, water polo, maze race, diving, and two equestrian events: dresage and obstacle race. Delegations present included Goblonia (goblins), Kingdom of Orcus (ogres & orcs), Draconia (lizardmen), Titania (titans, the hosts; many magically reduced in size for fairness), Liliput (halflings), Garumoso (trolls), Fiveleaf (elves), Dargnagor (dwarves), Diamos (drow), Nilofanti-Nova (gnomes), and others (mostly unaffiliated and mongrelmen). Most of the judges were titans, however representatives of each of the races were included on the judges panel (Joseph, for example, represented the humans, who were otherwise represented only by the human members of the party).

Most of the rest of the game session consisted of the various competitions. I will relate here what I can remember to the best of my ability, with apologies for anything I'm mistaken about (but let me know and I'll edit this later): 1. In the Javelin Throw, the ogres and trolls dominated, but I think one of the party members got the bronze, either Revan or Taito. There was talk about "the incident," of a few years previously, when the goblin delegation went into the supply shed and began throwing javelins into the stands, killing a young titan girl when she was struck in the throat; security has since been increased. 2. The One Mile Footrace was held "indoors, out of the heat and wind," back through the portal the party had used earlier. Day-O managed to sabotage the track by raising one of the stones in the one-mile path, without getting caught. The titan, running his race at 6' instead of 25' for fairness, tripped on the stone and Taito ended up winning the gold. 3. Greek-Style Wrestling was also won by Taito, but the competition was pretty good. 4. The Triple-Jump was interesting, but I didn't write down who won. I think Revan got a medal. 5. Rowing was dominated by Black-Eyed Bill, Fergus and Taito, all of whom have spent many an hour wielding an oar at sea, arr! Medals for events with each type of boat, with one to six men or women were awarded. Even the gnomes managed a bronze, though they had to remove the footgears and propeller from their craft first to qualify. The Diamos Drow were caught by event judge Joseph Prax trying to use hawk on a rope to go faster, though they were losing anyway. Joseph's proposal to burn the drow as punishment was considered and dismissed, as was the idea of branding them. Incidently, each event is surrounded by an anti-magic shell for its duration, largely due to previous drow attempts at cheating. 6. Archery was won by Geena, a first ever for a female and a first ever for a dwarf. Elves took the silver, I think, and Revan or maybe Balthizor took the bronze. 7. Water Polo was ferocious, with the "Human/unaffiliated" team consisting of Black Eyed Bill, Revan, Fergus, Taito (I think) and a walruslike mongrelman goally. After beating the lizardmen favorites of Draconia, the team were defeated by the Garumoso Scrags (trolls), who had a lot of penalties but could not be stopped. The silver was the first medal ever for humans in this event. 8. The Maze Race, for which the minotaur team were barred after 500 consecutive golds, was in turn designed and administrated by the minotaur delegation, who focused entirely on it. Two identical mazes, one contestant at a time. Some come out alive, and some don't. Others have gone crazy or exited the maze with dehydration and starvation symptoms. Nobody from the party won, though Day-O was able to complete the maze in 28 rounds. (five consecutive DC 32 search checks are required for success). 9. Diving: Day-O got the bronze by virtue of a great tumble check. 10. Equestrian: Dresage and Obstacle Course events were both won by Revan, though the elves had a good showing also.

After each Olympic events, the flag of the delegations of each medal winner were hoisted in turn, while the song of each played. Nightsong Sharpfang (the former Daybill) performed this service for the party members, as heraldry and music are her stock in trade. Taito drunkenly sung his Monster Island anthem from his pedastal whenever he won a medal.

Experience: 2,000 xp. Treasure: Bragging rights. Next session: should be two Sundays from today at noon.