Bait and switch

Shiffit (war-forged) - played by Clint
Zyva (gold-dragon-pixie) - played by Ron
Glauca (old man wizard) - played by Maija
Hesperose (human mariner) - played by Scott
Aramil (elven wizard) - played by Committee
Kita (kenku) - played by Committee

With the barbarian half-orc retired, the fight continues.  Zyva lays down a patch of entangling vines and bushes only to find the barriers in the arena impede the spell to some extent.  The druid spots the pixie in flight and illuminates her with fairy fire causing the once invisible Zyva to glow in a pale violet outline.  The ranger quickly loosens an arrow and the sorcerer sends magic arrows that plunge into Zyva.  She reluctantly flies closer to her enemy and lets loose a cone of fiery breath upon two of them.  The cleric swings a morning star toward the now very close pixie but misses, leaving the weapon impaled into a wall.  The ranger however uses expert marksmanship and fells the tiny fey.  Seeing the pixie is close to death, the enemy cleric lays a hand upon Zyva and helps her heal from the brink of emptiness.

Elsewhere, after Hesperose gets some healing from Shiffit, he hears the cry of Zyva's fall and heads out into the fray yet again.  Hesperose makes it to the edge of the entangled field where he takes an arrow from the ranger to the head and goes down to a knee.  After some self-inspection and finding himself alone on the battlefield, he retires.  

Then the enemy wizard, who has been invisible, reveals herself as she sends a blast of fire at Shiffit but misses.  A line of fire now burns behind the hulking construct.  Shiffit is angered by the damage to the grass and charges the wizard.  Shiffit attempts to grapple the wizard but misses.  The druid appears from the brush and casts an entangling field of her own catching both the Shiffit team wizards.  The enemy wizard and the druid then retreat back into the dense foliage.  Shiffit undauntedly chases the team members.  The wizard casts a blast of magic projectiles into Shiffit but he continues his charge.  Raising his scimitar, the war forged demands the wizard retire, which she does fearing that the weight of the mighty behemoth would easily crush her.

The sorcerer has made her way to the far hill from the rest of the battle and spies the wizards.  Aramil loosens many arrows at the shifty sorcerer but a magic barrier seems to cause the bolts to miss their target.  The sorcerer unleashes bolts of arcana of her own that strike Glauca.  Finding himself rather defenseless, entangled and without a brute meatshield available, Glauca resigns from the game.  However, he is rooted to the ground and cannot leave the field.  The crowd boos the old man.

The sorcerer now turns her attention to Aramil and loosens yet more streaks of magical might.  Aramil is hit hard but refuses to yield.  The sorcerer continues to loosen magic arrows that unerringly strike Aramil bringing him to near death.  With great reluctance and great effort, Aramil holds up a hand in submission.

Kita has been pelting arrows at the druid to little effect until he accidentally breaks the string of his bow.  Shiffit emerges from the brush and makes an intimidating request that the druid submit or face the wrath of nature.  The druid takes note of the balancing of nature, taking place and knows she is on the dipping end of the scales, lays down in retirement.

While this is taking place, the crowd begin to boo the enemy cleric and ranger who have yet to advance from their perch for some time.  The king motions to a couple of guards and they encourage the combatants to engage the enemy with two well placed arrows.  The ranger takes a brutal shot the back of her neck and retires out of anger.  She expertly took out two members of team Shiffit yet the crowd turned against her?  She did not think this was fair and storms out of the competition.  The cleric also seems annoyed and finds her only route into the fray would be a long flanking motion around the far side of the arena.  Zyva's entangling field has really split Team One's cohesiveness.

The sorcerer seeing no enemy in sight slowly makes her way around the arena.  Eventually the enemy cleric and the sorcerer find each other but do not know the whereabouts of their ally wizard or the druid.  Shiffit unleashes yet another field of entanglement (a third in the arena) catching the cleric and the shifty one.  After a couple well places spheres of fire the final two Team One members are forced to acquiesce.

The crowd erupts in cheers and the king's guards bring all of Team Shiffit to the king's box and he introduces them all.  Great sounds of acclaim are made for each name, less so for Glauca, and the king doles out the rewards to the characters.  Each receives a thick gold coin with a leaf on one side and an image of an eye on the other.  They are told to go to the temple of Premulus and give the tributes to the Oracle of Premulus.  Great festivals and parties take place.  Team Shiffit and Team One agree to break bread together and talk about their experiences in the tournament.  One unfortunate member has to sit next to Glauca and gets grappled.

Shiffit asks Hesperose if he can find some way to gain help in repairing his vessel.  Hesperose rolls a natural 20 and the town of Madea rolls out the red carpet. A handsome loan is offered by the bank and a crowd of elves donate their trade in repairing the Celeste.  In no time (a week) the ship is in tip top shape and the team heads toward the port city of Premulus.  The weather is very agreeable and even seems to assist in the quick trip to the city.

They dock the ship and make their way up to the temple which is found at the top of a rocky hill overlooking the city.  As the team ascends the carved stairs, they see pilgrims ritualistically making their way up and guards in white cloaks with golden spears.  They reach the entrance of the temple, display their tribute and are brought into the foyer.  Eventually they are brought further into the great hall where the team is allowed through a door to visit the Oracle, one at a time.  Hesperose enters first.  After a few minutes, he comes back through a door escorted by two guards.  As he walks past the party Shiffit wants to intervene and stop Hesperose.  However, Shiffit notices Hesperose slightly nod and motion not to interfere.  Eventually, each team member enters the well guarded chamber and has a discussion with the Oracle and then they individually make their way back to the boat (except Glauca).

After some confusion and somewhat dismayed by their audience with the Oracle, Shiffit notices an out of place figure making its way to the Celeste.  At first thinking it is Glauca, he quickly determines it is actually the Oracle herself and helps her board the boat.  They ask where Glauca is and she replies, "His future takes him elsewhere, for now."

Enter Clarity, the Oracle of Premulus, played by Maija.