AD&D Session 92 - Fight Club
28th of Duscar, 835 PD
With House Mardoon’s offer of covert passage south now hinging on the recovery of their missing pixie agent, the party followed their only lead into Shadycreek Run’s “not-so-secret” fight club. Since the pixie was said to be the grand prize of the evening’s doubles tournament, they chose a direct approach: Whisper and Enikas entered the competition together, with Enikas volunteering himself as the team’s stake if a wager was required. What had begun as a strange tavern errand thus turned into a practical attempt to secure House Mardoon’s favour by extracting their operative from the city’s brutal entertainments.
Before the fighting began, the arena’s resident mage required contestants to disclose what spells they might use so he could shape the protective wards around the ring and keep the audience safe from magical crossfire. Marcus, presenting his interest as professional curiosity, talked his way into observing the work more closely. He then spent the lead-up to the event shadowing the mage through town as ingredients and supplies were gathered, gaining a useful look at how the arena’s magical protections were constructed and, along the way, picking up a scattering of local passwords, code phrases, and bits of underworld shorthand tied to Shadycreek’s traders and hidden dealings.
The session therefore shifted the Mardoon arrangement from negotiation to action. Rather than seeking the pixie through stealth or investigation alone, the party embedded itself inside the structure of the fight club itself: Whisper and Enikas as competitors with a chance to win the prize outright, and Marcus using the preparations around the arena to quietly gather intelligence that might prove useful once the contest—and whatever tricks it concealed—began.