D&D Vandeventures ❯ The Future Hates You! ❯ 1.0
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Part 2: Escaping the Arena

The characters awaken in a holding cell (or a clone tank if they died) before they are returned to the Arena for another round of combat. This repeats until the characters meet the Strategist, who shows them how to escape.

Map of Deck 2

Security

Controlled by #TeamRatings

Security is clean, well-lit, and orderly. Guards move through the area with purpose, supervised by the Security Chief. She can often be found in the surveillance room, observing the banks of cameras and giving orders, but she isn’t afraid to head into the field. The area has barracks where the guards sleep as well as a set of holding cells for prisoners and a room filled with clone tanks to resurrect anyone killed in the Arena.

There are four exits from Security, all guarded. The Elevator door is locked and will only open for people with #TeamRatings permissions. The hatch to the Cargo Tunnel and the door to the Habitation section are both watched by a pair of Security Guards at all times, and two squads of six Security Guards are stationed in the stairwell to the Arena during broadcasts.

Brig

You awaken to find yourself in a harshly lit prison cell. The bare metal walls are covered in graffiti. There is dried blood on the floor. A handwritten sign reading “VIP Suite” is taped to the bars of the door. It faces a hallway of a style you’ve never seen before.

Across from your cell is a smooth door with no handle, labeled “Clone Room”. As you watch, it retracts into the wall, and a burly guard wearing heavy black armor drags an unconscious person covered in pink goo down the hall, and throws them into another cell. You recognize some of the prisoners in that cell as the people who attacked you in the Arena. They jeer and catcall when they see you looking.

A guard approaches, carrying a tray of unappetizing food. “I see our new contestants are awake. I’m sure you worked up an appetite out there, so I brought your meal.” He sneers as he spits in the food and slides it through a slot in the bars. “Nothing but the best for our VIP guests!” He laughs as he walks away, disappearing around the bend in the hall.

About half the space in Security is taken up by the Brig: four large prison cells used to hold the groups of “contestants” after each night’s broadcast.

Harsh lighting comes from battered but durable fixtures recessed into the ceiling. A set of metal benches are affixed to the walls, as well as a single metal toilet. The graffiti on the walls is mostly rude comments about the Security Chief.

When the characters wake up, grant them the effects of a long rest. Then while they’re in the Brig, have the Security Chief visit them, to offer better treatment if they’ll kill the Champion for her. (See the Security Chief’s profile for more information about this quest.)

Every evening the groups of prisoners are collected in small groups and marched upstairs, where they are shoved unceremoniously back into the holding pens in the Arena, in time for that night’s broadcast.

Secret Hatch

There is a secret hatch under one of the benches. It has been hidden brilliantly, and the characters have no chance of finding it on their own. They will only be able to locate it if they are told of its existence by the Strategist. Once opened, it reveals a tight crawlspace that eventually drops the characters into the Locker Room at the Gym in the Habitation section.

Clone Room

Whenever a character is killed, they awaken in the Clone Room, falling out of a vat of pink goop, choking, and sputtering. They vividly remember dying and are surprised to find their bodies “reset” to how they looked when they arrived on the station. Guards immediately grab the character, who is too weak to resist, by the arms and haul them to the Brig. Over the next 15 minutes, the goop mostly dries and flakes off, and their strength returns, especially if they can get something to eat or drink. Their equipment will all be returned to them, though it may take more or less time depending on where and how they died.

Surveillance Room

This room is filled with banks of monitors displaying views from around the station. Some appear to be from fixed camera locations, while others are from drones in contested territory, or even from body cams of guards on patrol. Any character succeeding on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check will notice there are no camera feeds from Deck 3 or 5.

The Security Chief spends most of her time in this room, coordinating guard patrols and monitoring the status of the station.

Barracks

This long room is filled with row after row of bunk beds. At any given time, about 20 off-duty Security Guards are in this room, sleeping, eating, or watching videos.

Racks of armor and weapons are kept by the door. At any given time, there are 6d6 sets of Security Armor, 4d6 Laser Pistols, and 2d6 Laser Rifles.

The Security Chief

Lawful Evil Elf Fighter

The Security Chief is delighted with how things have turned out. She was never really happy running security for a calm and orderly tourist hub. In the course of keeping the arena “contestants” in line, she’s discovered a taste for sadistic abuse. After all, no one cares if you violate the rights of history’s most notorious criminals. And if a few prisoners die on her watch, it doesn’t matter thanks to the clone vats.

She is always surrounded by a squad of at least as many Security Guards as there are characters (more if she feels threatened). She can’t be reasoned with, manipulated, or bribed. The current situation suits her just fine, and she will do whatever it takes to maintain the status quo.

If the Security Chief is defeated, it has a demoralizing effect on all Security Guards. If this happens, any time a Security Guard is defeated in combat, those remaining must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom check to avoid fleeing, with the DC increasing by 1 for each downed Security Guard in that encounter.

Return to the Arena

After spending the day recovering in security (allowing the characters to take a long rest), they are escorted back to the Arena and placed in the same holding pen as last time.

It should be clear to the characters that they are dramatically outnumbered by the guards, but in case they try to fight, start with a five-person squad of Security Guards, and add an extra squad every round until the characters surrender or are all defeated. Then grant them a short rest and have them wake up in the holding pen in the Arena.

Map of the Arena

Once again, you find yourself in a holding pen in the arena. The view of the planet overhead still feels uncanny. Looking around, the “contestants” in the other holding pens continue to shout threats and taunts, but they appear to have settled back into established rivalries, and their attention is no longer aimed only at you.

The panel overhead crackles to life, showing the now-familiar face of the Director.

“Hello, and welcome to another evening of Historia Kanalo Arena Combat! We had a very exciting time last night, and I’ve had a wonderful day reviewing the discussion boards. I’ve seen you all sharing your favorite clips, the most dramatic blows! Well, let’s not waste any more time, let’s see what our newest contestants can do now that they’ve been introduced. Ladies and gentlemen, LET’S! MAKE! HISTORY!”

As before, an alarm sounds, and the metal bars retract into the ground. But unlike last night, the other “contestants” don’t immediately gang up on you. Instead, they scatter around the arena, moving to claim favorable locations, with a casual ease that tells you how long some of them have been stuck here.

As you look around, you see an enormous female Orc carrying a vicious longsword. She’s with a small crew of other warriors, who are all protecting a small woman in ill-fitting armor, poking at the ground where the metal bars retracted. The Orc notices you, grins, and waves for you to approach.

The Orc is the Champion, who is protecting the Strategist, who is studying odd things in the Arena like welding seams and the depth of the dirt floor, as if she’s looking for weak points.

If the characters don’t approach, have the Champion split off from her group to come closer to say the Strategist wants to speak with them.

If the characters still don’t want to meet her, let them do what they want (though pretty much any other actions would bring them into combat with another squad of contestants).

If the second day ends without a meeting, then the Strategist bribes a guard to be moved into the VIP Brig cell with the characters after the broadcast, where she can make her pitch.

Airlock, Elevator, and Cargo Tunnel Entrances

The Arena has been secured to prevent the contestants from escaping. The hatch to the Airlock has been welded shut. The only evidence that the Elevator and Cargo Tunnel used to open on this deck is two circular depressions in the dirt floor in the middle of the Arena. If the characters were to dig down, they would find those hatches have also been welded shut.

Stairs to Security

The only remaining exit from the Arena is the stairwell down to Security. It has a locked hatch that is heavily guarded at all times by a squad of six Security Guards with Laser Rifles set to stun. In case they run into trouble, another squad of six is stationed at the bottom of the stairs. The other prisoners have learned that approaching the hatch will only result in the guards shooting through a port in the hatch, being knocked unconscious, and waking up in the Brig.

The Champion

Chaotic Good Orc Barbarian

The Champion was a notorious marauder and won the first season of the gladiator show. The first prize that season was being returned to your timeline. She was brought back shortly after for an ill-considered All-Stars episode.

Unfortunately, in her timeline, several years had passed, and she had given up her marauding ways and settled down with a nice human and had a couple of kids. Then they abducted her again. She wants only to return to her timeline but wasn’t sure how to do that until she met the Strategist. Now she has adopted the role of protector, trusting that the Strategist will find a way to get her home.

If attacked, the Champion will fight without hesitation to defend herself and the Strategist, though she will make it clear she wants to talk and will stop fighting if the characters do.

The Strategist

Neutral Human Ranger

The Strategist was a war criminal from more modern times who was expected to be killed quickly in the season she was brought aboard. However, Security didn’t watch her quite carefully enough, and she escaped into the station. She was eventually recaptured but became a fan favorite when she started posting videos documenting what was happening on the station, which the Director happily allowed as the ratings climbed.

She claims to have a plan to stop what’s happening, but she is easily distracted and difficult to communicate with. The Champion believes in the plan, and she and her crew protect the Strategist as she pokes around various parts of the Arena, looking for weaknesses.

She believes (based on some notes she stole from the Mad Scientist) that if they can blow up the station, it will destabilize the portal and “reset” everyone to their proper place in the timestream.

She offers to tell the characters how to escape the Brig and access the rest of the Station if they agree to consider her plan. If the players seem resistant, she will still help as long as the players promise to look for some means of sending all the prisoners home (though she doesn’t believe there is any other way to do so). If the players agree, she tells them about the secret hatch in the Brig and gives them printed maps of each deck of the station with her handwritten notes. (See Appendix D: Handouts.)