[Help] Upcoming 12 hours session and low on ideas

[Obergnom]

Our group finaly managed to find the time for a long, all day weekend session... and I am somewhat low on ideas...

The group consists of 5 characters close to 5th level.

here is what I have planned:

They just killed a dragon. The session will begin with celebrations due to the parties victory in the small village of Shadowdale. During these celebrations, the Lord of Shadowdale announces the the party will take part in the "Game's of the Dales" a big gladiatorial event in the city of Bards Gate. This event takes place in 10 days.

What they do not know, the Lord of Shadowdale sends them to the arena to die. Either during the tournament, or afterwards. (They are beginning to become a threat to him, as he is involved in a sinister cult)

The party will most likely do the journey to Bard's Gate by boat, down the river Ashaba, which will take them 2-3 days. During this journey I plan to have the boat be attacked either by Bullywugs or River Trolls.

In Bard's Gate they still have a couple of days left. They are searching for information on the Dragoncult as well as the Tomb of Abysthor, thus there are a couple of things for them to do.
I would like to run a little side quest involving the Bloodghost Syndicate (found in the current online Dragon Mag).

The Lord of Shadowdale (with the help of the owner of the arena) plans to spill the blood of the champions to finish a terrible ritual, that will create a creature able to find an kill every creature with traces of fey blood in their veins.


Thats what I have got. What I need are exiting scenes. The other teams for the Tournament (sofar I only introduced a pair of dragonborn gladiators), a couple of interesting city encounters etc.

I just have the impression I will run out of ammo during that session, and I do not want that, of course.

 

[Fenes]

A young woman is running from several men who chase her. She's the daughter of a wealthy merchant who wants to elope with her lover, a travelling performer, which she met at the games. The lover himself though just wants to use her to scout out her father's mansion to burglarize it later with his thief friends. He is pursued by bounty hunters from the last country he pulled this trick, which are to bring him back so he can wed the expecting daughter of the mayor he seduced there.

An acrobat is awing the crowd with daring balance acts supported by illusions from a mage. Pickpockets use this to fleece the crowd.

An impressionable and not too bright teenager hounds everyone with exotic looks to try to get them to apprentice him for a career as adventurer. He'll be picked up by some shady mercenary who needs expendable spear fodder to "guard" a scion of a noble family during his trip to his fiancee. The mercenary was paid by a rival family to leave them in the wilderness, where "orc marauders" will kill them all. To that end the mercenary doesn't hire any competent fighter, just greenhorns and similar people, which an experienced adventurer may pick up.

A young maid is accused of having stolen from a stall - the stall owner's assistant had been skimming the earnings, and needed a scapegoat.

A bard looking for more material for ballads is asking the party about their fight with the dragon. He/she is asking a bit too much details (and may even attempt to seduce a party member). In reality, the bard is working for an organisation wanting the get their hands on the dragon's hoard.

A curtisan is trying to drain the party's more impressionable men of much of their new funds. She might try to pull the "attacked by thieves, and saved by the hero, but left penniless" scam.

 

[Rechan]

A woman stands on the edge of a high building, obviously about ready to commit suicide. Everyone is gathered below, waiting for her to splat.

As for the Arena:

This is almost a 6th level encounter, but:

A savage orc riding a giant war beast. The crowd favorite. An Orc Bloodrager (7th level Elite Brute) riding a re-skinned Grell (7th level Elite Soldier).

Gladiatorial battles are often more than just the spectacle of two dudes beating it out; the arena plays a part too. In Gladiator, they had tigers in sloped pits, released when someone got near, chained in place so they were a deadly terrain feature. An ongoing trap effect might be useful too.

Putting that in mind, you could have some magma claws or kuthrik adults chained up in pits, released when someone gets close, or a whirling blade trap always active. Add in something (dwarf hammerer, harpy, howling hag) that can push people around, something that can lock them down (an Ettercap webspinner, Vine Horror), or something that can easily maneuver around the terrain (Shadow Hound, Shadar-Kai Chainfighter).

Remember, the Lord wants the PCs to lose. And the Games might have a 'home team', so it's totally fair if the enemies are tricked out to cancel out certain benefits (moving through specialty terrain), geared towards battling the PCs, or are tailored for the arena.

In fact, you might have one of the arena aspects (monsters in pits, trap built in, famous in house champion) be known via a Streetwise check, so the PCs can go in prepared to tackle the obstacle ahead of time.

 

[Obergnom]

wow, great ideas. This will help me a lot

I like the "Orc on Grell" Idea a lot... and thanks for reminding me to insert cool terrain to the arena... maybe I will add a battle on boats, that would be quite cool, I think