The Jewel Janissaries

"The Jewel Janissaries" is episode 20 of SuperQuest Saga. Our heroes have made it to the semi-finals of The Blood Gala Tournament! But their foes going forward are a caliber above the rest!

Static
''Hello there friends, what spectacular fortune to be able to broadcast. Turns out, there’s some vigor left on this forsaken worm-rock after all! I’ve taken on the encapsulating persona of Carter Struttenburg and have entered myself into a gladiatorial style tournament called The Blood Gala. I typically wouldn’t be caught dead or otherwise competing in something so… unwholesomely brutish…and under goblin rule, no less; however, fate has deemed my participation as a necessity. Besides, with my two bodyguards around to handle my lightweight, chances are slim to none that things will get messy for me. They’ve done well so far; and it would be an understatement to say that I’ve merely risen to the occasion. I’m confident our victory is imminent. Heh. You know, I haven’t been so enamored with something since I was a boy. I’ve always had the talent for showmanship but my parents… Well, let’s just say they never quite understood my more artistic impulses. Ah, but here I am; I find myself elated! Chalk it up to the adrenaline if you have to, but in this moment, all who face the wrath of Stranger Things shall kneel! This is Struts, signing off.''

Introduction

 * Will Stark will be the pontificating dungeon master of this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin, level 6.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal the firbolg druid.
 * Brian is playing the warlock Carter Huttenburg, level 6.

Recap
Last we left, the party was celebrating their second victory in the Blood Gala Tournament. They have taken the tournament by storm and just fucked shit up; their formidable opponents could not withstand the party.

Celebrations
Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian awaken on the following morning after a night of drunken celebration at Korak’s favorite bar, Scraven’s Den. The festivities were conducted on Korak’s tab. Carter partied so hard; he did not take his costume off and does not plan to take off his costume, except for cleaning, until the tournament is done. Persephone got very wasted and feels bad; she wakes up in a bed she does not recognize next to a trash can. Sebastian did not drink; he ordered fantasy vodka shots that were really water. Korak got extremely drunk.

During the celebrations the previous night, Carter did his Dancing Lights dance routine, Sebastian was signing baseballs and passing them out. Carter saw this and started autographing roses to hand out. Primina drank wine and looked happier than she had been in a long time. Victoria chided them, “You guys just don’t know how to go freakin anywhere without basically announcing yourselves to the city!” When the party started to argue, she sighed and said, “Good job guys.” and bought them a round. She reminds them that they are on the run. Persephone gave Victoria some advice, “Don’t eat the space worm in the space tequila, please.” Victoria promised to follow that advice.

They’re expected to be back at the arena by 6:00 that evening, so they have most of the day to themselves. If they make it past the fight tonight, they’re going into the finals. People recognize them on the streets. Carter walks with an erect, elegant posture and moves his hips deliberately as he walks, staying in character. Persephone is trying to stay hydrated. Sebastian does recovery stretches and ice baths. Carter finds a Radio Hut and buys a polaroid camera to take selfies with people as Carter Struttenburg.

The evening arrives and the party returns to Chamber 7 in the East Gladiatorial Wing to meet Korak. The moment is nigh, it is ten minutes until the next match. Korak gives them last minute advice; don’t let it get to your heads, don’t think about the moment too much, don’t try to do too much, don’t try to do too little, do it just right. Carter tells him they’ve got it and calls everyone in for a selfie; Korak loves it. Sebastian has headphones on and is listening to some heavy metal music to get pumped up.

They hear the announcer’s voice. “Welcome back! Welcome back, good people of Starworm City to the 175th Annual Blood Gala Tournament! The first match will be underway shortly, so don’t go anywhere folks! This one is gonna be a real show stopper!”

Stranger Things gets reintroduced the same way they have been for all previous matches. Carter gets a mic and blows it up again. The crowd is doubly loud today, Stranger Things has become a fan favorite. Carter sees a kid in the crowd doing the Running Man. Sebastian sees a kid with a baseball. For this match, the arena is flat but at the center of the arena is a giant, archaic sailing ship sinking into the sand.

“And facing them in deadly combat are a pair of the most dastardly mad scientists goblinkind has ever produced! It’s said that by the age of five these two had managed to mindjack their parents with enslavement collars. By age ten they held the lives of their classmates hostage for 10,000,000 Credits by hacking the school security droid system. And by age twelve they broke free from a maximum security prison with nothing but some copper wire, a nine volt battery, and two months worth of their own urine stored in jars. Boomhammer Industries is proud to present… The Boomhammer Brothers!”

Nothing happens. There is a weird moment of silence. “Where… Where are they?” Suddenly, they hear and feel a loud vibration that rocks the stadium. “Did anyone just feel that?” And then suddenly there is an explosion from the wall of the south side of the arena as an enormous, mechanical cyborg ogre bursts through the wall. On its back is a goblin with goggles and a lab coat on. Suddenly, there is a second explosion from the north side of the arena that occurs as the same scene unfolds there. The ogres charge towards each other, and just as they’re about to meet, they turn to face Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian. “I hope they’re planning on paying for that… Fight!” The crowd loves it and loses their minds.

Fight!
Persephone casts Tidal Wave and pushes a wave of water towards the Boomhammer Brothers and their ogres; the ogres fall prone but one brother manages to stay upright. One of the ogre mechs gets up and charges directly into the boat in the middle of the arena, hiding from view. Sebastian moves to the right to get a clear line of sight at the ogre that hasn’t moved and fires two shots; the first misses but the second shot hits. Carter follows behind Sebastian and casts Hex on the same ogre mech, then fires Eldritch Blast. The first shot bounces off its armor and the second is a critical hit. The ogre mech starts twitching, stands up and dashes at Sebastian. The goblin riding the ogre opens fire on Sebastian with a pistol; the shots ineffectively bounce off his armor. While dashing, the ogre does a bash attack on Sebastian, knocking him to the side, and continues barreling forwards to Carter. Carter takes damage as the ogre mech bulldozes past him, and uses his reaction to cast Hellish Rebuke to deal some damage in return.

Persephone uses her staff to rip a hole in reality and cast Conjure Animals, and hisses into the void to summon a giant constrictor snake. She Wild Shapes into the scarab. The ogre mech under the boat charges out and the goblin opens fire on Persephone, hitting her with one shot. The ogre mech bashes Persephone as it passes, striking her and pushing her to the side. She manages to maintain concentration on her spell. The mech continues dashing towards Carter, tries and fails to bash him, before moving on to the prone Sebastian. The ogre mech hits Sebastian before coming to a stop on his other side. Sebastian stands and pulls out his weapon, an aether-club that is shaped like a baseball bat, to swing at the ogre mech in front of him. The first strike misses, but the second hits and he adds Divine Smite damage to the hit, bloodying the ogre mech. Carter grabs the ogre mech in front of him by the face and says “Go sleep” as he casts Shocking Grasp. The ogre mech goes down as the goblin riding it shouts “God dammit!” Carter says, “No, no, no. You’re next honey, you’re next.” The goblin looks at Carter, holds out his hand, and summons a small aether-knife. Carter tells the goblin he is not scared and the goblin attacks twice, stabbing Carter once. The goblin runs around and tries to join his brother on the other ogre mech. Carter takes an opportunity attack with a laser baton and smacks the goblin as he runs away. Persephone’s snake moves in and attempts to constrict the ogre mech, but it does not succeed.

The ogre mech uses its dash move to try to trample Sebastian, but misses. It continues on towards Carter and bashes into him, dealing some damage. The mech turns towards Percy and the goblins fire at her; one shot hits her before the ogre mech tramples over her. Persephone loses concentration on her spell and the snake disappears. Persephone tries to slash the ogre mech with her scarab’s blade arms, but both attacks miss. Sebastian chases after the ogre mech and swipes at it twice with his club; both attacks hit and he takes down the ogre. The goblins jump off and scream. Carter transfers his hex to the goblin that stabbed him and casts Eldritch Blast; he blows one of the goblin’s feet off, crippling and knocking him unconscious. Carter fires a second Eldritch Blast at the remaining goblin, but the attack misses.

Persephone walks up to the remaining goblin and slashes twice, hitting him once. The goblin is still standing; he throws his pistol down and throws his hands up.

Finalists
The crowd goes wild; “It seems that we have our first set of finalists! Give it up for Stranger Things!” Carter runs around the goblins and throws rose petals on them.

The party is victorious and they get ushered back into Chamber 7. Korak is ecstatic; he knew they could do it. Persephone thought her snake would be cooler than it was, but it didn’t do anything. Their next match will be in two hours. Carter goes out to do the running man with the kids in the breezeway. Sebastian and Persephone patch themselves up.

Madame Malidala visits them in the chamber. “You three have been so wonderful! So wonderful!” and she gives them all hugs and kisses. “And wouldn’t you know it, Fanessa’s scoundrels have made it to the finals as well!” Persephone was wondering who the other finalists would be, “I should have known. I should have known it would be those harlots.” Malidala agrees that Fanessa’s is a harlots’ den. The party assures Mali that she is way better than Fanessa. Mali states that she could not have picked a better team, and tells them not to lose.

And then, the moment arrives. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian are teleported onto the arena, introduced in the same way as all the previous fights. The Alabaster Huntress, The Great Basbino, and Struts. This time, the arena is set up as a rocky wasteland filled with difficult terrain.

“And as their opponent contending for the 175th Blood Gala Championship, brought to you by Fanessa’s Phantasmagoric Emporium, three light-warriors from beyond the stars, given gemstones of power to protect the galaxy from darkness. The Titular Triumvirate… The Shining Chevaliers… The Jewel Janissaries!”

Three beams of light descend from the sky, each carrying a female figure to ground level. Each figure steps out of their respective light beam, revealing three female genasi. They are each wearing a cam-fiber body suit with a big armored chest piece housing a shining gem in the center. The one on the right seems to be a lithe water genasi with blue skin and energy lines on her body, wielding a volt spear. The one in the center is a tall, strong earth genasi with reddish-brown skin and purple energy lines, wielding two spike-gauntlets in her hands. The one on the left is a short fire genasi with maroon skin and orange energy lines, she has long fiery hair and wields two fire whips.

Fight!
The fire genasi goes first and she moves towards the party, she holds an action. Persephone casts Conjure Animals and her direwolves, Lady and Summer, appear near the earth and water genasi. Then she Wild Shapes into the scarab. Carter casts his Hex on the fire genasi and shoots her twice with Eldritch Blast, dealing a lot of damage. He yells out “Boo! Boo! You guys suck!” to the other team. The water genasi moves to the side and holds up her hand, creating an icicle shard that she fires at Carter. As the icicle hits Carter, it explodes and hits Persephone and Sebastian as well. Sebastian pulls out his BFG and shoots twice, hitting her once. The earth genasi turns around and tries to punch Lady in the face. Her first attack misses but she hits with the second.

The fire genasi moves back to gang up on Lady with her fire whips; one attack misses but the other hits. One of the direwolves tries to bite the earth genasi, but misses, and the second successfully bites her. Persephone moves as far as she can and preps a poison spine in case anyone gets close. Carter continues to fire Eldritch Blasts at the fire genasi; his first attack hits and almost takes her down, but his second misses. The fire genasi goes down on one knee and holds her chest, she seems to turn to say something to the other girls. They look at each other and nod, then hit the gem on their chests. All three of them start to shine and teleport to each other, creating a blinding light. When the light dissipates, Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian see an enormous, humanoid, giant monstrosity with six arms and six eyes towers over them. The 25-ft. tall creature roars.

In one of its six arms the creature holds a giant spear of ice, in another it holds a giant whip of fire. The creature swings at Lady; the first attack with the stone fists misses, but the ice spear hits and downs Lady. The creature turns to Summer and attacks with the fire whip, but misses. Carter transfers his Hex to this new creature and casts Armor of Agathys on himself. He moves back. Sebastian moves up towards Persephone and takes a couple shots with his gun at the creature; he channels divinity to use Guided Strike to hit the creature and imbues the hit with a Divine Smite. Persephone moves forward and preps a poison spine. Summer is still in the fight and jumps on the creature to bite, dealing a little damage.

The Jewel Giant provokes an opportunity attack from the wolf as she moves towards Persephone; the wolf misses. Persephone’s poison spine goes off, but the creature is immune to poison so the attack has no effect. The Jewel Giant moves in with her multi-attack on Persephone; the ice spear misses, the fire whip hits, and the stone fists hit. Persephone loses concentration on her Conjure Animals spell and Summer disappears. Carter fires his Eldritch Blast from the distance but both shots miss. Sebastian moves in to take a few swings with his ax. “Will these boys do it? Will they win the 100,000? Maybe not!” the announcer calls. Sebastian’s first hit misses but his second attack hits and he imbues it with Divine Smite to deal extra damage. Persephone gets in the Jewel Giant’s face to attack her twice; her first blade slash hits but the second misses. Persephone uses a spell slot to heal some damage.

The Jewel Giant turns its ire upon Sebastian; the ice spear hits while the whip and fists miss. Carter fires his Eldritch Blasts, missing both shots again. Sebastian casts Bless on himself and Persephone. Persephone moves in to slash the Jewel Giant, striking with the first hit and dealing a critical hit with the second. Persephone uses a spell slot to heal more damage.

The Jewel Giant is pissed and all out attacks Persephone. The ice spear, the fire whip, and the stone fists all miss. Carter snaps to cast Eldritch Blast, but both shots miss again. Sebastian moves in with his ax, missing his first attack but hitting with his second. As he’s swinging, he points right at the Jewel Giant before delivering a blow with Divine Smite to deal extra damage. Persephone keeps trying to slash the Jewel Giant, but misses.

The Jewel Giant is still mad at Sebastian and hits with all three attacks. He takes all the three attacks and goes down. The crowd loses their minds. Carter jumps out of the rocks, flourishes his jacket and lets loose a bunch of rose petals. “I’ll save you, Sebastian!” he calls, as he fires two Eldritch Blasts that strike and down the Jewel Giant. The giant form shines and splits into the three Jewel Janissaries as they fall unconscious to the ground.

The crowd loses their mind. Sebastian jumps up and wipes the dirt off the front of his jersey and points at Carter. “Well there we have it, folks! Our Blood Gala Champions… Stranger Things!” Carter hands out roman candles and they light them. Fireworks are set off, the crowd goes wild, and Sweet Victory plays over the radio.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: a half-orc level 6 paladin. Does so much damage all the time.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: a firbolg level 6 druid. Is a space tequila expert now.
 * Carter Huttenburg: a human level 6 warlock. Very into his character.

NPCS

 * Korak Ironhide: a minotaur and former Blood Gala Champion. So proud of his team.
 * Primina: a young woman of mysterious origins. The MacGuffin. Seems to be having a good time.
 * Victoria: a tiefling woman. Captain of The Brunhilde. Just wants to lay low since they're fugitives.
 * Announcer: a goblin man who announces the matches.
 * The Boomhammer Brothers: two goblin brothers competing in the Blood Gala. Maybe an enemy for life?
 * Fanessa: a rival of Malidala. Clearly a harlot.
 * The Jewel Janissaries: a trio of elemental genasi fighters. All we wanna do is see them turn into a giant woman.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian
 * The Blood Gala - Round 3 - by Brian
 * The Blood Gala - Final Round - by Brian
 * The Blood Gala - Big Bad - by Brian

Mechanics

 * Freeland got to keep his Platinum Drama Card from the previous round.
 * Brian used his Drama Card, Caution, at the start of The Jewel Janissaries fight to increase his AC.
 * Special Guest Jake used his Drama Card, Inspiration, to copy the power of Brian's card.
 * Will allowed Freeland to use Divine Smite with a ranged attack one time.

Out of Character

 * Special Guest Jake's direwolves are named Summer and Lady after two of the wolves in Game of Thrones.
 * The Jewel Janissaries are based off of Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet from Steven Universe.

Nat 20's (4 total)

 * Special Guest Jake (Initiative)
 * Will (Initiative as Boomhammer Brother)
 * Special Guest Jake (Initiative roll off)
 * Brian (Eldritch Blast)

Nat 1's (3 total)

 * Will (Dexterity Save as Boomhammer Brother)
 * Special Guest Jake (Constrict Attack as Snake)
 * Will (Fire Whip as Jewel Giant)