Shadow of the Crimson Sun II

[Frivolous]

Alton quietly admits, "I'd forgotten you've escaped the arena a few times. I guess because a lot has happened since you told me."


He listens carefully, then goes to Bor the Loud and says, "According to a more experienced gladiator I know, the waterways that bring in water for the bathroom are not well guarded."

"There are a couple of monsters, and the gate is locked, but not magically locked."

Alton fights the temptation to just have Brugg, Tomok, and even Astar gang up on Bor and subdue the crazy half-orc to prevent him from throwing away his life in this foolish escape attempt. That method stinks of Law, and worse, it makes him feel ashamed, considering that Bor spared him, healed him, and allowed him to ransom back his most important gear.

He then says, "Bor... Your owner might be aware you intend to escape, you know. Unless you took steps to prevent mind reading."

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "The waterway? Swim out? You make it sound easy. It can't be so easy or everyone would escape.

I don't have much mind magic. My ''owner'' does not seem like a smart or well read man, I doubt he knows much of anything."

Aluendale Maendellyn "It's not easy at all. There is a section a couple hundred feet long that is all underwater. It's hard to hold ones breath so long. And if something like an octopus grabs you for even one minute, you can run out of air quick."

[Frivolous]

Alton seems to be distracted as he listens to Aluendale, then he says apologetically to Bor, "Not as easy as I originally said, sorry."

"The water passage is pretty long. Hundreds of feet, all underwater. Most would drown long before then. And that's not even counting the guardian monsters you might meet there."

"At one time, it was guarded by something called an octopus. No clue what guards it now."

It occurs to Alton that he can cast Water Breathing now. Until this moment, it had mostly slipped his mind, since he had no intention of submersion.

He asks Bor, "How long can you hold your breath?"

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "I've never had a cause to go underwater. My chest is quite big, so I should be able to hold my breath for a while. Too bad I can't polymorph. But monsters are no problem.

Humm, you think the waterway is a better way to go then out of the arena watching area?

[Frivolous]

Alton winced. "Going out through the arena watching area, as you put it, is practically suicide. You might as well just kill yourself and pay someone in advance to resurrect your corpse."

He smiles sardonically. "I know someone who can give you water breathing for a few hours."

Then he waits for Bor's response.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "Breathe water like a fish does? I have heard of such magic, but it's not my song. That would work good. Who do you know who can cast the spell? What would you think they would want for casting the spell on me? Gold?"

[Frivolous]

Alton licks his lips, wondering what to ask for. Then he looks down at his Gauntlets of Many Weapons and feels shame again.

He looks up and says flippantly, "Nah, he doesn't want gold. He wants you to succeed, even if he doesn't think you can."

He raises an eyebrow significantly. "So when do you want to do this? Tomorrow? The day after?"

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "At least a day. I will need all my music and magic ready, and I must rest to do so. Though the less time I'm here, the better."

[Frivolous]

Alton nods and stares pensively at Bor the Loud.

He wonders if he might possibly be blamed for helping Bor escape, then dismisses the thought as unworthy. Besides, he knows of no way magic can be traced to a particular person, and besides, the arena is full of magic.

He also wonders if Bor could possibly intend to bring along all the gear he has, including his drums, plus all the gear he took as spoils from Alton. Some of them are fairly heavy.

He says, "Well, since you're going underwater... What do you want for these items?" He points at:

the scale mail
the heavy wooden shield
the Helm of Fear
the magical club +1 with acid 1d6
an armband of antivenom (the one with 10 charges)

He also asks, "What will you do if they catch you and you survive but they bring you back here?"

Alton waits for Bor's replies.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud Drops the scale mail and the heavy wooden shield on the ground. "Just dead weight."

Bor the Loud "Why so sure they will catch me. You do not understand. You were born here, yes? Born a slave? Your whole life? You don't know what it is to live free. You can't understand.

I will not be caught again."

[Frivolous]

Alton picks up the scale mail and the heavy shield and nods in agreement. "Yeah, I find it hard to understand."

He figures, since Bor the Loud did not offer a price for the club, helmet, and armband, that he won't part with them. Alton begins to scheme ways to get suitable replacements.

"I thought of escape once. But my god shows me a better way, a sanctified way. Tempus is god of battle, and it is my duty and destiny to win my freedom by fighting in the arena while howling his name. In this, I do the god's will and work."

He shrugs. "I was hoping to take you along for the ride. Either way, I wish you Tymora's own luck tomorrow."


Alton makes the usual arrangements with his allies to guard and/or sleep through the night. Before dawn, he wakes up and prays for spells.

Immediately after he finishes preparing spells, he casts Healthful Rest upon himself, Astar Stormsword, Brugg, Tomok Ghastsplitter, and Bor the Loud.

Once Bor wakes up, Alton asks him, "When do you want to do it?"

Spoiler: Actions

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Spells for the day:

0th: Detect Magic x3, Guidance, Purify Food and Drink.
1st: Command, Healthful Rest, Liberating Command, Magic Weapon*, Shield of Faith.
2nd: Aid, Bull's Strength* x2, Delay Poison.
3rd: Magic Vestment*, Meld into Stone, Water Breathing.

Cast Healthful Rest on self, allies, and Bor the Loud.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "I do understand doing a gods work. I am not called the loud by chance. Each persons path must be their own. "

Night passes quietly enough...only a couple sounds of fighting and a couple screams of pain, off in the distance.

Bor sleeps nearby and also gets up before dawn to sit and meditate quietly. Once done he comes over...


Bor the Loud "I am well rested. My music and magic are at full strength. I am ready to leave now. I have spent all the time I ever wish to be as a slave. I will be free!

so, now is fine with me. "

[Frivolous]

While Bor watches, Alton casts Water Breathing on him and on himself, too, splitting the spell's duration between them. He figures Bor already knows he is a caster.

"For the next 5 hours, you can breathe water. More than long enough to get through the waterway.

"You can test it, if you like. Fill a bucket of water, stick your head in, and inhale."

"You'll also heal a bit more quickly when you rest over the next 24 hours."

He hesitates, then says, "If you like, I'll also cast Bull's Strength on you. It'll only last a few minutes, but you'll be stronger."

Spoiler: Actions

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Split 10 hours of Water Breathing between Alton and Bor the Loud.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "I can feel the water breathing magic. Though. I"m plenty strong already, and I know the magic might of the strength of the bull.

I'm ready to leave."

Bor stands ready, with a slight smile on his face.

[Frivolous]

Alton says, "Gimme a minute, please, then I'll accompany you."

He puts on the scale mail armor. He casts Magic Vestment on his heavy wooden shield. He also casts Delay Poison on himself.

Picking up the now magicked shield, he says, "Okay, let's go."

He accompanies Bor to the baths.

Spoiler: Actions

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Put on scale mail. Cast Magic Vestment on heavy shield and carry that. Cast Delay Poison on self.

Follow Bor.

[Darth Ultron]

The baths are full of plenty of people washing themselves, mostly in small groups. The bath pools are large squares set into the floor with stone stairs leading down into them. The water flows in slowly through a opening in the far wall in a large ten foot wide, ten foot deep stone trench, and then flows into smaller trenches into each bath. And each bath has a small drain that has the water flow into a similar trench on the close wall and out of the room. Each opening is covered by a locked metal gate. The water is only semi clear, but there does not look to be anything in it.

Bor walks over to look in the tench.

[Frivolous]

Alton rolls his eyes and hisses to Bor, "Uh, maybe you should have waited until tonight, when there wouldn't be so many people."

He wants to laugh. Even a slave gladiator in Thay can get the giggles sometimes.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "I don't care. They are all fools and sheep for just sitting here when they could escape. In fact, if some follow it could make a good distraction. Though I'm sure most will just sit here and bathe themselves and be slaves, right?"

[Frivolous]

Alton opens his mouth to say that maybe, just maybe, Bor could try to escape stealthily to maximize his chances, but then stops before he even starts. It's clear Bor the Loud has no interest in stealth.

"Yeah, they'll probably just sit there and assume you're going to drown yourself."

Then he says, "Maybe you should loudly declare, which is to say, lie that you can't live with being a slave and you're gonna drown yourself."

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud "I do not care about speeches. "

Bor walks over and jumps in the water of the trench. A few people look over, but don't seem to care so much.

Bor walks along the bottom of the ten foot deep trench, out of sight of most others, and goes over to the gate. And he tries to bend and break the gate open.

Spoiler: roll

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(1d20+5)[19]

Bor bends the metal around the lock and pulls it out of the metal slot to open the gate.

[Frivolous]

Alton sighs. "Well, that's that," he mutters. "Beshaba kiss your enemies, Bor the Loud."

He goes outside the baths and waits for about 10 minutes to see if any guards are called. He also checks to see if blood or other fluids contaminate the bath water.

[Darth Ultron]

Bor the Loud goes through the now open gate and half walks, half swims down the tunnel and out of sight. At least a dozen or so people are close enough to see what happened, but none do much more then look.

After a couple minutes some red blood does flow in from the tunnel.....

[Frivolous]

Upon seeing the blood contaminate the water, Alton grimaces. Bor the Loud had beaten him, so he figured Bor would have no trouble fighting his way through.

Alton drops into the water and inhales. Still holding onto his shield and using it and his scale mail armor to weight him down so he can just walk through the water, Alton passes through the gap Bor left in the bars and looks to see what happened.

[Darth Ultron]

The tunnel beyond the gate goes straight for a couple of dozen feet, full of floating blood and other things....until ahead you can see some sort of creature. The creature is huge and fills whole tunnel from top to bottom and side to side. It has a large round body with red, rubbery skin and eight long tentacles that sprout out from the body. It has two large black eyes and a large mouth with big, sharp teeth. The creature is wounded, lots of bruises and smashed parts of it's body...some that are leaking blood. But it's still alive and alert.


There is no sign of Bor.....

[Frivolous]

Alton gawks at the enormous tentacled monstrosity, then slips back around the corner, hopefully before it can see him.

He shudders in horror and disgust at how ugly and alien it was, then mutters, his voice echoing oddly in the water, "Aluendale. Aluendale, I need to talk to you."

"Is that an octopus? It's so ugly. How do I fight it? What are its capabilities and weaknesses? You must know, as you've fought one before when you were alive."

He waits for his spirit guide to answer, if she does.

Spoiler: OOC

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How close is the octopus to the corner and Alton's current position?

I ask because if it is within 60 feet, then Alton could conceivably use Detect Magic to scan for Bor's presence, or at least the presence of his magic items.

[Darth Ultron]

The monster is about 40 feet away from the corner.

Aluendale Maendellyn walks over, not being effected by being under water at all. "That is an octopus, though I'm sure it's s fiendish one too. They like to drop down on foes and use their tentacles to push them in to it's mouth. Of course the tunnels narrow enough they can't really do it. As for a weakness, they have very weak skin and no armor They are fast, but again the tunnel limits that."

[Frivolous]

Alton cringes. "Fiendish octopus? I've been bathing in the same water as a fiendish octopus?"

Then he gets over his squeamishness and quietly asks, "Do you think there's any chance at all that both Bor and the octopus survived?"

Alton casts Detect Magic, then sticks his head around the corner and focuses his divination on the watery tunnel beyond.

Spoiler: Actions

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Cast Detect Magic, stick head around corner and scan the tunnel to look for signs of magic.

[Darth Ultron]

Aluendale Maendellyn "I doubt it. It fills the whole tunnel. How could he get past it? He would have to go through it. And his magic or music and club are not as effective underwater as on land. "

Spoiler: Detect

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The tunnel, walls, ceiling and floor all glow with moderate abjuration magic.

The water all around glows with faint transmutation magic.

The octopus creature does not glow.

[Frivolous]

Alton hisses softly in dismay when he hears Aluendale proclaim that Bor the Loud is very likely dead. "Crap, crap, crap." Then he sighs and says somberly, "Oh well. He died in battle and bravely."

He mutters, "I don't have the right spells for this fight. Summoned aquatic monsters and the musteval guardinal are what's called for."

He thinks some more, then asks Aluendale, "Do you believe the arena keepers or someone in authority will care that the water is contaminated with blood and fluids and come to investigate?"

"If they do care, will they leave the live octopus alone because it's too dangerous to mess with and just allow it to recover, or will they investigate closely and maybe find Bor's corpse and the magic items he had?"

[Darth Ultron]

Aluendale Maendellyn "The creature will have a keeper. Someone who cares for it and keeps track of it and such. Chances are they will only get the alert if the creature dies. It's doubtful they keep constant watch on it, they might check on it every couple days. Though that means it could be at any time.

Bor the Not So Smart, is likely in the creatures belly....for now. "