The Winter Lunar Festival continues, but the longer the party stays, the harder it becomes to ignore that something is deeply wrong.
As night falls without warning, the music stops and a makeshift arena is revealed at the heart of the celebration. What begins as harmless festival entertainment quickly turns personal when Sefi signs up to fight under a false name, and Todd follows suit with an alias of his own. With betting encouraged, rules vaguely defined, and magic strictly forbidden, the party places their wagers and prepares to watch, or participate in, the spectacle.
Inside the arena, Sefi dominates the competition with raw strength and calculated technique, while Todd fights his way through the brackets with speed, precision, and just a little chaos. All the while, familiar faces fill the crowd: parents long thought dead, figures from the past smiling and cheering as if nothing ever went wrong. But not everyone sees the same thing. Todd notices faces that blur, glitch, and briefly reveal something watching from beneath the illusion.
As victories pile up and attention turns toward the final rounds, the celebration grows louder, the crowd grows closer, and the deception grows thinner. Whatever this place is, it wants the party fully invested before it makes its next move.
The fights are far from over, and neither is the lie.
DM: Jeffery Jordan
Malcius: Travis Stewart
Sefi: Morgan Gibson
Thormir: Nick Miller
Todd: Bryce Shearer
Podcast art by Ada Hath
Theme song \"Royal Joust\" by Bardcore. Follow them on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music
Additional DM elements by Loresmyth
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