In which Badger...
- Fights in the Ruby Phoenix tournament proper with his team of orc siblings and Ahmitar the young priest from the Temple of Irohi as Badger's Band.
- Beats Winter's Roar to progress from the group stage to the semifinals.
- Faces off and wins against the Fallen Moons in the semifinals to make it to the finals.
- Comes face to face with his former retainer Spindle and his Top Shots in the finals of the tournament.
- Kills the traitorous Spindle by pushing him off a cliff onto a hidden snare trap on the ground, exploding him to bits.
- Beats the rest of the Top Shots, with two of them fighting to the death before Sebastian the glum journeyman surrenders and accepts defeat.
- Wins the Ruby Phoenix tournament and claims the prize of the rare magic item - the Rope of Climb, a magic rope which crawls along and ties itself up at his command.
- Says goodbye to the orc siblings and Ahmitar once the tournament ends, as they go off onto their own journeys.
- Returns back to his accommodation in Threshold for the rest of the week to rest up and prepare for the next leg of his own adventure.
Current Level: Badger 8
In which Badger...
- Bribes off the Fallen Moon team so he doesn't have to fight them.
- Flees from various beasts in the jungles.
- Finds the last silver feather and subsequently holes up in the temple until the last day of the qualifiers.
- Tries to sneak to the mountain where qualifiers will be completed - only to be found by tournament enforcers who determine they need to do more fighting.
- Starts fighting with one tournament head enforcer, half giant Koto Zekora.
- Flees from the fight, escaping the enforcers into a tribal village.
- Flees from the tribal villagers and a giant monitor lizard.
- Arrives at the mountain (before the enforcers catch wind of them) and turns in the phoenix necklace and silver feathers to get admission into the Ruby Palace - and officially qualifies for the tournament finals!
- Runs into the palace as fighting between unqualified teams starts up outside (which is quelled by Tino's Toughest).
- Discovers the 7 other qualifying teams: Winter's Roar, a team of Viking Marauders; Biting Roses, opportunistic martial artists; Arms of Balance, monks here in the tournament as an exam; Light Bringers, the sadistic top tournament team; Spindle's Top Shots, Badger's ex-retainer's team with harsh feelings; Tino's Toughest, an underdog team with a heart of gold; and the Fallen Moons, a lazy team with an eye out for gold.
- Heads to dinner, with the Ruby Phoenix, the tournament judge, presiding over the qualified teams.
- Gives a relatively poor first impression to the Ruby Phoenix, with a scruffy exterior and not many unique abilities and powers to speak of.
- Avoids various challenges and events that take place after dinner throughout the night.
- Faces the top ranked Light Bringers in an exhibition match - very reluctantly having been chosen for not having participated in any other events.
- Pulls off an upset taking out the Light Bringers in the exhibition match despite most of the team going down - and to Badger's dismay placing a large target on their back from rest of the other teams.
- Travels back to Threshold from Danger Island to rest up for 2 months and purchase supplies, the qualifiers for the tournament having ended, with the main tournament taking place in the city proper.
Current Level: Badger 8
In which Badger...
- Flees the assassin vines around the Temple of Irori.
- Burns the vines with flasks of oil bought from the stone market.
- Steals a healing potion from an animal statue in the sparring ground south of the temple.
- Purchases a large number of healing potions before setting out into the jungles of Danger Island.
- Travels around Danger Island looking for silver feathers.
- Runs from mantis den and a mammoth turtle fighting a giant python.
- Gets challenged by the Cloud Jesters, a 2 person samurai and ninja team.
- Beats the Cloud Jesters by cutting the ropes on a rope bridge, dropping them into a chasm in the mountain battle ground and winning their three silver feathers.
- Explores an abandoned prison only to run into a group of Iron Ring operatives, searching for the tapestry that Badger has!
- Beats the Iron Ring operatives, sneaks past some iron golems, and steals both two silver feathers and treasures of a team killed by the Iron Ring in the abandoned prison.
- Gets yet another challenge by the Glowing Embers, a desperate mage illusionist team bidding their last silver feather after two previous defeats.
- Beats the Glowing Embers first slaying and then drowning the mages in a pool in the ruins battle site, taking their one silver feather.
- Sells off the loot acquired from the first day on Danger Island at stone market.
- Returns back to the Temple of Irori to rest for the night, having earned 9 out of 10 required feathers from exploring Danger Island.
Current Level: Badger 8
In which Badger...
- Explores the Temple of Irohi further with his hired orc party and Ahmitar.
- Lures some giant spiders into a spectral monk trap to disable the trap, then loots the area.
- Avoids various other traps to retrieve 2 silver feathers to qualify for the tournament.
- Splits the party, with the orcs running outside while Badger and Ahmitar head deeper into the temple, to escape the catoblepas that lurked in a pool in the temple.
- Fights off some ticks but gets extremely hurt and diseased in the process.
- Forgives and gifts the ghost of the wailing monk leader to trick her into giving them the 3rd silver feather.
- Dons the dead monk leader's clothes to trick a massive statue into giving them the Phoenix Necklace to finish off the qualification requirements of the tournament (as well as some more loot).
- Waits for the catoblepas to leave the temple before rushing to the safe courtyard to rest up and tally loot.
- Meets with Tino's Toughest, who graciously Lay on Hands to heal him up and cure his disease.
- Sells off the loot at the stone market, avoiding any teams that could potentially challenge them to a fight.
- Reunites with the orcs in the courtyard, who let him know of assassin vines surrounding the periphery of the temple.
Current Level: Badger 7
In which Badger...
- Decides to put a hold on the tapestry and join the Ruby Phoenix Tournament being held.
- Fails to recruit a retainer in Threshold even offering numerous perks.
- Hires 3 orc mercenary siblings - Tom the spearman, Bom the swordsman, and Lilom the archer.
- Sails to tropical Danger Island off the coast, where the qualification round for the tournament takes place.
- Runs into his ex-retainer Spindle, who's formed his own team with the Top Shots, with Sebastian a glum journeyman, Lord Barkley a habitual statesman, and Alana a miserly swordswoman - competing for the prize as well! Things just got personal.
- Tours the rest of Danger Island with the tour guide Ingdani, including the nearest fighting arena, the store market (where challenges often occur), and the Temple of Irohi where his team is to stay - once they clear it out.
- Bumps into Tino's Toughest who give him a friendly good luck and pat on the back, not seeing him as much of a threat.
- Avoids some spiders outside the entrance to the Temple of Irohi.
- Explores the entrance to the temple and meets Ahmitar, a priest boy who's been caring for it.
- Befriends Ahmitar, who offers to show them around the temple, fill them in on the dangers, and bless his allies weapons so they can kill the ghosts haunting the temple.
- Clears out the courtyard with his hired orcs by killing some ghosts haunting it.
- Sells off some loot found in the temple courtyard, avoiding other challenging teams and getting some gold in the process, and taking a few minutes to rest before continuing to explore.
Current Level: Badger 7
In which Badger...
- Starts his journey to the city of Threshold via the Shutturga River on the Mudlark, a river boat.
- Travels on the Mudlark passes rolling hills, high peaks, and vast plains over the next 2 days to the city. Various caves, ruins, and other landmarks are seen on the shore.
- Spots some followers at a distance, who flee when the Mudlark gets closer to them.
- Flees the Scange, a group of riverboat pirates that ambush the Mudlark.
- Sees a strange flying carpet going over the plains on the second day of travel, and is informed by the Mudlark captain that it was made by Cardia, a merchant who specializes in magic items.
- Arrives at the city of Threshold, which seems to be hosting a fighting tournament of sorts.
- Spars Tino, a warrior monk, in a friendly practice sparring match and while getting some hits in, is summarily beaten with a pat on the back.
- Buys some plate armor for himself to be more protected, selling off his leather.
- Rests healing up for a month and three weeks in a city room, while learning more about the city and getting acquainted with it.
- Decides to make a visit to the magic item merchant Cardia and see if she can help unravel the strange tapestry and needle/thread he has from Sukisyn.
Current Level: Badger 7
In which Badger...
- Feasts and celebrates with Pytor's clan and discusses next steps.
- Joins Stephan to travel to the elven stronghold of Rifflian to sell of some horses and go from there to Threshold to investigate the tapestry.
- Hides from a passing by goblin warband.
- Meets with the cunning merchant Akihitos, who sells him information on Golthar being spotted in Kelvin, a strange dark woman searching for him hired by the Iron Ring, and that the Duke's daughter ran away with a guard captain.
- Bribes some orc scouts to bypass their lair.
- Attempts to investigate the Vault of the Void One, an abandoned mine but is scared away by an infestation of giant eagles within the strange vault with gearworks, portcullises, and dripping idols of long dead gods.
- Hides from some Iron Ring reavers before getting information that they are looking for him as well from a bribed ferryman.
- Ferries across the Vologa River to the Shutturga River before transferring to a Gnome Ferry.
- Stays at a Gnome Hostel the night before leaving on the Gnome Ferry.
- Sees a strange cloaked figure watching him and Stephan hurriedly leave the Gnome Hostel before he can speak to them.
- Ferries across the Shutturga River to the base of some mountains nearing Rifflian.
- Encounters Loshad the Chevall, who requests him to help deal with an Iron Ring camp in the mountains who have tied up and beaten horses (and also have human and goblin slaves too).
- Gets accosted by the hooded figure from the hostel while speaking with Loshad - the Iron Ring spy Askil and 7 Iron Ring operatives.
- Flees from the Iron Ring as a Hydra emerges from the Shutturga River, the commotion waking it. It's multiple heads roar in fury causing chaos and killing some horses and Iron Ring operatives.
- Arrives at the Iron Ring slave camp per Loshad's directions - only to find Askil the spy survived and the reavers and goblins are prepared.
- Defeats the Iron Ring reavers and slays Askil, freeing the horses and slaves - but at the cost of Stephan's life. Stephan's body is buried in the mountains and respects are paid.
- Travels the rest of the way to Rifflian without incident with a pleased Loshad's guidance.
- Sells off some horses to the elven locals in Rifflian, including a local ferryman elf, and bargains the rest off the cunning merchant Akihitos for some coin.
- Meets a contact of Pyotr in Rifflian and splits the profit with them, to deliver to Susikyn while he heals up from his injuries.
- Pays for a city room and meals and rests for a month and a week in Rifflian healing up, during which time he receives a sorrowful thanks from Pyotr from Susykin for selling off the horses.
- Prepares for the next leg of his journey to get the strange tapestry studied by looking for means to travel to the city of Threshold.
Current Level: Badger 7
