"Trial of Strength!" is the fourteenth episode of High Rollers.
- Previous episode: "A New Challenger Approaches?"
- Next Episode: "Murderer!"
After the battle of last session, Loben and Elora are sat in a cell with two tieflings. Elora and Loben discuss a plan of escape - Elora will use her Wild Shape to become small enough to escape and hopes to seek help from the city guards. She tells the gnome to act as if he tried to stop her going, then casts Pass Without A Trace and transforms into a rat and scurries off.
Jiǔtóu and Trellimar have been led to a barracks for recruits of the Broken Sky, the room is set up for living and several leather-armoured gvauards surround the group of new recruits. Victoria asks the pair to hand over their weapons, saying they'll get them back after the trials are over. Trell and Jiǔtóu hand over their weapons without a fight, Victoria comments that it's nice to have people who are willing to follow orders and leaves the pair in the room with the guards and the other recruits. Among the group a few stand out: a young half-orc, another gnome, a human woman pacing around, another woman with tattered clothing and broken manacles around her wrists, and a young blonde man talking excitedly about the trials. Trell immediately gets himself into bother when he settles on a bed and is challenged by a young human male whose bed it is. When Trell refuses to budge, the man starts counting down and Jiǔtóu walks up behind him and nerve pinches his neck. The man collapses to a knee in pain and the tiefling only lets go when he lets Trellimar keep the bed, and a good few of the recruits seem to warm to the pair.
Victoria eventually re-enters the room with some more guards, announcing that they'll be split into groups of five. Jiǔtóu and Trell get put with a human called Wald, as well as another human. Once grouped the recruits are hessian bagged to be blindfolded and led out of the room, meanwhile Loben is led out of his cell by a jailor with the other two tieflings saying that the three of them are being "given a chance". All the groups are led downwards through corridors and eventually into places of natural unworked stone, the groups are split up and eventually a metal door is opened and the group is pushed through it. As the door is closed behind them, Wald removes his bag first and discovers that not only has the group been left in a natural cavern alone but that a gnome has been put in their group. Everyone else dehoods and Loben realises he is reunited with Jiǔtóu and Trell, Jiǔtóu and Loben then notice a sphere hovering near the ceiling above them and Loben identifies it as an Arcane Eye. There is a wooden crate and a barrel in the cavern and after a disagreement and Wald missing a punch on the other human, he knocks over the barrel which spill coarse sand over the stone floor. Suddenly Varresh's voice is heard, informing the recruits that they are taking part in the first trial which is a test of strength - only the last 5 standing will be allowed a chance to join the ranks of the Broken Sky. He says that any methods to achieve this may be used and that placed weapons found in the caverns may be used, but also that other things then the recruits wander the stone corridors.
Jiǔtóu searches the barrel, to see if there was anything hidden in the sand. The other human likewise opens the crate next to it, but neither of them find anything although the tiefling takes some sand in case she needs a chance to blind someone and the human breaks off a piece of wood. Seeing two corridors out Loben chooses one when the others can't decide and finds that the stone quickly becomes more worked, but ahead there is another group and he quickly tucks himself into a nearby alcove behind a barrel before they notice him. Wald suggests that the group not split up and Trellimar walks forward but keeping quiet. Jiǔtóu follows behind and also manages to blend into the shadows, but Wald trips as he walks and the three down the corridor immediately look around. It's clear that one of them has already found a weapon, a dagger which they wield in front of themselves as they look round. Trell attempts to open a dialogue, insisting that as part of the trial they are all on the same side with Jiǔtóu saying that working together would help them stand a better chance of survival. She does however prepare herself to defend Trellimar should any of them attempt to attack the drow. Wald ducks into the same alcove as Loben and finds himself a sickle in the barrel. Loben examines a bowl of glowing embers set into the wall, but decides to ready himself to make a move to trip someone in case any of the other group decide to move past the alcove. The other group though remember that Varresh said only 5 could survive and attack, deciding to target Wald and the other human so Trell and Jiǔtóu can potentially join up with them.
The one with the dagger attack Wald but misses twice, Loben attempts the trip but is pulled out of cover instead. Trell digs his hand into the bowl of embers but finds as magical coals his gloves don't seem to protect his hand, and he has to pull it back out due to the heat. Jiǔtóu moves up to the opponent with the knife and throws the sand she collected in his face, blinding him for the moment, and she takes the opportunity to quickly punch as well. Wald also takes the chance while he is blinded and attacks with the sickle, cutting him across the chest and putting the other two opponents on guard as they realise the party is actually pretty good. Loben realising that his Mage Hand doesn't need spell materials, uses it to first scoop then throw a handful of the magical coals at the blinded foe, scalding him slightly with them. The other two enemies now move up, one kicking the barrel Wald found the sickle in out of the way, and the other moving through Jiǔtóu's space who gets in another Unarmed Strike. The blinded one tries again with the dagger but misses Wald, and the other two attempt to punch Trell and Jiǔtóu but either miss or have it bounce harmlessly off armour. Trellimar grabs hold of the man in front of him, taking his foe by surprise, and dunks the man's face into the stone bowl of coals burning him badly. Jiǔtóu again targets the blinded man who seems to be nearly able to see again , unleashing two quick blows that down him. Wald, no longer being threatened by a knife, turns and uses his sickle to further injure the man currently with a face full of coals; and Loben who as a gnome is underneath the man uses his Shocking Grasp to finally knock him out cold. Loben then scurries under the fight to scoop up the dagger that has fallen to the floor. The last man decides to run and Jiǔtóu uses an Unarmed Strike to punch him again, but the other human with the party misses with his wooden club. The last man then vanishes down the corridor, screaming as he goes.
With the battle over the group examine the coals closer and Loben finds them to be of divine magicks, and thinks there might be some boon for keeping your hand in there and enduring the pain. Loben tries using his magic to push coals away but finds them magically reforming and has to pull his hand out, Jiǔtóu also tries but even she with her natural fire-resistance cannot keep her hand in long. Loben passes the dagger over to the other human of the group, preferring his magic spells. They suddenly hear from behind them a violent scream as someone dies and then some heavy metal footsteps, and Wald attempts to hide himself in the barrel but gets stuck. At this point a tall armoured figure with glowing eyes comes around the corner and the other human immediately starts to run, ditching the group. Wald manages to get one foot free but the other gets caught on iron fittings in the barrel, and the group decides to follow the fifth member of the group with Wald dragging the barrel on his foot. The group eventually finds themselves in another part-temple, part-natural cavern with the sound of rushing water coming from an underground river running parallel to where they stand. The sounds of metal footsteps are faint now and Jiǔtóu takes the opportunity to check a small side-room, finding a chest and barrel as well as a suit of armour, a crossbow and a sword. Wald also moves up to see what she's found and then tries to reach for the armour, only to find his arm sinking into some ooze which starts to burn his flesh.
The gelatinous cube then sucks Wald in, and Jiǔtóu smashes a barrel to get a plank of wood from it, revealing another weapon hidden inside. She pokes the plank into the cube towards Wald, and while the acidic nature of the cube is eating away at it there is still a plank to hold onto. Loben moves forward hearing the two reacting to something and eventually sees the cube through the doorway, and while he doesn't really know what it's affected by he casts Scorching Ray in the hopes of either holding it back or making it let Wald go. Three rays burn holes into the side of the jelly monster, but a Wild Magic surge teleports the gnome to the Astral Plane. Trellimar moves forward to where the gnome once was and unleashes his Eldritch Blast, carving another section off the already burned ooze. Wald attempts to use the plank to get free but is unable to move quickly enough through the thick ooze, the acid burning his skin ever more. The cube attempts a strike at Jiǔtóu but misses, but this allows it to consume the plank entirely. Jiǔtóu uses some ki to cast Burning Hands to scorch more of the cube away, but the cube recoils slightly and avoids some of the damage. Loben pops back into this world next to Trell and casts another Scorching Ray to burn away more of the cube, but another Wild Magic surge happens and everyone is suddenly invisible. Trell is briefly confused as to where everyone has gone, but works out that Loben's unpredictable magic probably just made everyone invisible. He Eldritch Blasts another chunk off, breaking his own invisibility in the process; and now the cube is beginning to have trouble maintaining its form, but is still alive. Wald finally manages to pull himself free of the cube and asks Trell where the others went, then tells Trell they should lure the cube to the big armoured thing that was following them. The cube, unable to see anyone but Trellimar, slowly moves towards him and both Wald and Jiǔtóu duck out of its way as it passes them. The cube lashes out at the drow but misses, Jiǔtóu backs up from the cube to avoid getting sucked in herself, and Loben uses a Ray of Frost to freeze and finally shatter the cube entirely. A few seconds after this the remaining members of the group who are still invisible pop back into view, and Jiǔtóu and Loben notice that Wald's skin seems less burned by acid then it once did. Loben points this out to Wald who is evasive about the nature of his healing, then they hear a human scream from up ahead and realise the other human in their group is nowhere to be seen. Jiǔtóu decides to open the chest before they go and unable to tell if there's any traps, passes it to Trell who opens it to find a battleaxe. The drow takes this and the group debates if any of them wish to take the greatclub that came out of the barrel, and eventually Wald trades his sickle for it and Jiǔtóu takes the sickle just to keep it out of the hands of potential enemies.
They reach the other human just in time to see a large rat-like creature dragging him down a hole into a large nest that dominates most of the room, one surrounded by bodies of another group who seems to have been completely slaughtered in here. Deciding it's not worth the risk, the group turns around and heads back to where the corridor branched earlier and hear the sounds of muffled fighting coming from the way they didn't take. They decide to stealthily check it out, finding the large armoured construct in battle with the two tieflings and several other recruits in a large quite well-lit room with a large bridge over a pit in the centre. The other recruits seem to have taken the time to fortify the room with a basic barricade they are using for cover, and have left the two tieflings to fight up front alone as they shoot arrows, not caring if they hit the armour or a tiefling. There are two of the other recruits though fighting against some of the others. Jiǔtóu goes back to the barrel they found the sickle in earlier and grabs hold of some of the linen lining it, but Wald suggests they wait this out until some of the combatants die. Loben replies that he promised the tieflings he'd protect them, and Tell finally asks where Elora is and Loven tells him that she went to fetch help. Wald and Trell seem happy to let this play out, but Loben and Jiǔtóu insist on helping the tieflings at least. Upon hearing that she would trade a tiefling for him, Wald decides to fight too and Trellimar also changes his mind. As they say this, one of the tieflings is knocked down, and Loben in anger casts a Scorching Ray into the back of the construct, using his sorcerer's magic to Twin Spell shoot another one towards the archer in the back of the room. Only one of the attacks connects onto the construct but two connect with the archer, instantly taking her out of the fight. His Wild Magic surges again casting a confsuion spell, but fortunately not only does he shake it off but the rest of the group are just out of range of the spell. Jiǔtóu takes the linen and dashes forward to attempt to tangle the feet of the construct, getting it around the legs and pulling it prone on the bridge-platform. She then calls out to the room in general to stop fighting each other - the construct is the main danger. One of the recruits, a half-orc armed with a light crossbow, seems to agree to this and shoots at the prone construct but the bolt pings off. The construct stands back up and snaps the entanglement, then turns to Jiǔtóu and decides she is a worthy opponent. He catches her badly with the first blow but the tiefling ducks back from the second, and the tiefling still standing takes the opportunity to pull his downed friend out of harm's way and down the stairway on the other side of the room. The gnome from earlier is among the group in the room and darts forward to take cover behind some rubble observing, while the fight happening over the barricade continues.
Trell moves forward and Eldritch Blasts the construct but the blast seems to be directed away by sigils on the armour, and Wald moves behind Jiǔtóu and pulls her back by her tail and uses Cure Wounds on her. He seems to be encouraging the tiefling to keep his healing magic a secret though. Jiǔtóu is confused by this but decides to use Burning Hands against the construct, who absorbs some of the magic through the sigils on its armour, and then moves back behind Trell. Loben decides to move back to avoid any other potential Wild Magic problems, and casts Magic Missile which unfortunately gets abosrbed by the armour. This time the surge conjures illusionary butterflies and petals around Loben. The half-orc continues to try and shoot their crossbow at the construct but still has no luck and the construct moves forward to attack Wald and Trell, having its blows deflected by their weapons or avoided. Trell attempts a close-range Eldritch Blast but it just arcs off the armour again, as the lone tiefling attempts to stabilise his friend. Wald attacks with the greatclub but doesn't hit hard enough to damage, while the recruits fighting over the barricade lose one of their number as he goes down. Jiǔtóu leaps over Trell and lands on the construct, wrapping an arm around the helm and striking at the joins in the armour. She then pulls off the helmet and throws it away, revealing nothing but the same glowing eyes they saw through the helm before. Loben uses Ray of Frost against it but misses, and the half-orc misses too with their last bolt. The construct attempts to grab Jiǔtóu off its back but the tiefling deftly and swiftly avoids its hands, moving up the stairs again to the bridge-platform, with Wald and Trell's weapons bouncing off the armour. Trell makes an Eldritch Blast attack and this time the magic connects, slightly staggering it, and Wald follows it up the stairs to try and club it again but barely misses. He tries to move back but the construct catches him with an attack. The recruit on the losing side of the barricade backs off but is stopped by Wald from leaving the room, and as he prepares to attack Wald the two he was fighting head towards the injured tieflings, with the downed one stabilised and the other preparing to defend himself. Jiǔtóu considers trying to steer the construct towards this but instead settles on continuing her attack, but her attacks just can't dent the plate armour. Loben looses another Ray of Frost but still can't hit. The half-orc throws down his crossbow and pulls out a handaxe as he approaches the construct, which finally gets its group on Jiǔtóu and throws her off the side. Jiǔtóu fortunately manages to get a hand on the ledge before she falls all the way down and the construct turns its attention away from her for the time being, no longer seeing her as a threat with all the other people around it. It then moves back down towards Wald and Trell, putting it too close for the Eldritch Blast so Trell instead uses the battleaxe he picked up.
Frustration fuels him as he buries the axe in and the construct drops to a knee, calling him worthy. Then everyone within 30ft of this feels some strength return to them as they get healed for half of their lifepoints. It then offers a giant axe to Trellimar as a champion, which the drow eagerly accepts to replace the one he has. Trell then moves past the crowd to reach Jiǔtóu and offers his hand to pull her back up to the bridge-platform. The tiefling meanwhile lashes out at his two attackers, punching one and round-house kicking the other which knocks the latter out. Wald uses the greatclub to try and knock his opponent into the chasm, succeeding and removing another enemy. He then goes to assist Trell. The other gnome comes alive now, scampering across the rubble he was hiding behind and going for Loben with a knife after saying it's good to see another gnome. With the help of her allies, Jiǔtóu manages to get back onto the bridge-platform and she moves past the half-orc who lets her get to the other tieflings. Loben lights his hand with electricity and uses Shocking Grasp on the other gnome, and while he doesn't do too much to hurt them he uses the stunned state of the other gnome to move past him safely back into the room. The half-orc walks up to the group and acknowledges that while Jiǔtóu is dangerous, Wald is not and attempts to shove him off the bridge-platform. Wald moves out of the way in time though and the half-orc falls instead, hitting the ground and going silent. The tiefling lays out the one remaining recruit and tries to assess the situation as Jiǔtóu approaches, and Trell decides to try his new axe out on the other gnome and also knocks him out of the fight. The voice of Varresh then booms out saying that they have found the 5 strongest, who will be initiated, while medics will tend to those who have fallen unconscious.
