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The situation
Mal-Garrath is an Abyssal city that exists for one thing: its demon lord’s tournament. Hours before the real trials begin, the crowd is already packed into the arena stands and getting restless. The organizers fill the time with undercard bouts, short exhibition fights that nobody expects to matter. Tonight the scheduled fighters have vanished, and the herald has an arena full of people and nobody to put in it. The party looks like they can fight.
They can refuse. If they do, the herald announces them as cowards over the horns, and the crowd boos them every time they appear for the rest of the night. If they accept, they fight two brutes in a round arena, and the crowd has opinions about how they do it. The undercard rules are simple: a bout ends when one side yields or falls. Nobody is allowed to kill anyone. That is saved for the trials.
What you need: this page and something to roll checks with. For stats, use two brutes: ogres for levels 5–6, minotaurs for levels 7–9, trolls for levels 10–11. Add or drop one to fit your party size. This is a bonus scene made for this site, not a chapter from the book.
Read aloud
The gate rises and the noise hits you like a wall. Black sand, torchlight, and ten thousand faces in tiers of stone. A herald in red-lacquered armor shouts your names, gets most of them wrong, and the crowd roars anyway. Across the arena, two huge shapes stomp out of the shadows, grinning. Carved into the sand beneath your feet are sigils that have not started to glow yet.
The crowd
Track Crowd Favor from 0 to 5. It starts at 2. The crowd loves daring and style, and it hates stalling.
| The crowd cheers (+1 Favor) | The crowd groans (−1 Favor) |
|---|---|
| A flourish: a clearly described stunt with a successful check (DC 12–14, any fitting skill). Up to twice per round. | A full round where nobody attacks, advances, or does anything worth watching. |
| Using the arena floor against an enemy for the first time. | Hiding behind cover while allies fight. |
| Pulling a fallen ally out of danger, or a rousing taunt aimed at the stands (Intimidation, Persuasion, or Performance, DC 13). | Insulting the herald. A clever joke can go either way, so it is your call. |
Whenever Favor drops to 0 or 1, the crowd throws something at a random party member: minor damage, or they lose their reaction until the start of their next turn.
The countdown
| Round | What happens at the end of the round |
|---|---|
| 1 | The herald introduces the party with the wrong names. Invite each player to give their character a fighting name. If the table laughs, +1 Favor. |
| 2 | The floor sigils flare. One quarter of the arena turns to burning glass for the rest of the bout. Creatures that start their turn there take modest fire damage, about as much as a basic attack. |
| 3 | The herald announces "ten breaths to a winner!" The bout will be called as a draw at the end of round 5, which costs 1 Favor. |
| 4 | The crowd begins to chant for a finish. If the bout is still going, a stalling round now costs 2 Favor instead of 1. |
Actions that matter
- Play to the stands. Anyone can spend an action to taunt or show off. It does not need to be combat-related.
- Use the burning glass. Shoving, luring, or tripping a brute into the burning quarter is the fastest way to win. The brutes can also make a character regret standing near the edge.
- Finish clean. Brutes yield when reduced to a quarter of their hit points if the party offers them a way out. A yielding brute earns +1 Favor for generosity.
- Drag the downed. Pulling an ally out of the fire is a flourish that does not need a check.
When the bout ends
| Crowd Favor | How the crowd feels | What the party gets |
|---|---|---|
| 4–5 | Favorites | A sponsor sends a sealed purse and a wax token. The token can be spent later for one favor from a minor Abyssal sponsor: an open door, a rumor, or a discount. |
| 2–3 | Tolerated | The herald hands over the standard fee, a small purse, and a bored nod. |
| 0–1 | Booed | The crowd throws more things on the way out. The herald fines the party and introduces them badly for the rest of the evening. |
How to scale it
Easier: skip the burning glass and start Favor at 3. Harder: start Favor at 1, add the pit hound from round 3, and make the herald shout a new crowd demand each round ("Show us a spell!" or "No spells!").
The Grand Carnage
If your table enjoyed playing to a crowd, The Grand Carnage is the full tournament. It is a 92-page levels 10–12 short campaign arc in Mal-Garrath with six named trials, four recurring rival champions, and an original demon lord, Azhakar, running the show. It includes full stat blocks, a printable DM Tournament Tracker, and a Friday-night quick start so you can run just the first session before committing to the rest.