Recap / CrafD&D: The Champion's Challenge E7: Fighting is the Pits

CrafD&D: The Champion's Challenge Recap Index
Story Arc:
Forrnest | Volkhanom | Lordpact | Elemix | Conjuria | Hemoarloch | Undercove
Episode:
E5: The Barbarian Champion: Atlissa! | E6: The Red Trophy | E7: Fighting is the Pits

Air Date: 4/15/2022

As their last task before heading out of Volkhanom, each of Passione's members take on some opponents in the city's Smashing Grounds. Before that time comes, Osra and Ophelia both experience unusual encounters with otherwordly beings—the former makes a deal with a god, while the latter has a deal thrust upon her by someone who desperately wants her to drink more blood.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: In her Smashing Grounds match against Osra, it turns out that much of Fuffy's battle strategy has little to it beyond a childish, poorly thought-out application of her brute strength. There is absolutely nothing technical about her approach; all that she really tries to do is mindlessly slam Osra with as many hammer swings as she can muster. Most of them harmlessly bounce off of Osra's armor, as Fuffy is in too much of a frenzy to consider weak points. This wild approach ultimately allows Osra to set up her freshly-acquired divine skills to send Fuffy flying out of the ring, instantly securing her victory.
• Crippling Overspecialization: In the Smashing Grounds, Anko Baita's strategy is simple: she hides within her summonable orb of darkness that conceals her from the inside and out, effectively turning herself into an invisible target. Her setup is clearly built with Volkhanom's residents in mind, as most of them are strictly melee fighters who would be forced to engage her inside the orb with a huge disadvantage... But the same strategy is absolutely pants against anyone who can fight from afar. Anko is a melee fighter herself; her strategy only works if she can engage someone within her own limited effective range. A long-distance fighter can simply pressure Anko out of hiding with enough attacks and finish her off from there. This is exactly how Cera wins in their match, which ends even more quickly than the onlookers expect since Anko gets frozen solid by Cera's magic.
• Foreshadowing: When Ophelia mentions how Lord Damniel's deal goes against her faith under the Dawn Queen, Damniel briefly muses over the Queen's beauty and laments how his present condition prevents him from seeing her again. In the moment, his remarks appear to be an attempt to win sympathy from Ophelia while doubly characterizing him as a womanizer. Whether or not he's actually being genuine is confirmed a few episodes later.
• He's Back!: After suffering from an intense emotional breakdown in the last episode in which he questioned his skills as a warrior and his worth as a person, Calum ends up scoring a near-flawless victory against Bruce in their Smashing Grounds match. Just about everything lined up for him perfectly: his curses land, his attacks hit hard, and he is able to overwhelm Bruce with several status effects at once. Once Calum tops everything off with a stylish finisher, he regains much of his confidence, enough that he's of sound mind to console Ash when she starts experiencing self-doubt later in the session.
• Mood Whiplash: The tension of Ophelia's early morning encounter with Lord Damniel is deflated thrice over:
  • The scene begins with Ophelia hearing a voice in her hotel room as she rests. The voice that Crafty uses is an exaggerated French accent, which causes the players—Scarlet especially—to laugh heartily at how ridiculous it sounds, and Crafty tones it down going forward to make it easier for everyone to take the character seriously.
  • After everyone calms down after hearing Crafty's French accent, the tension of the scene returns. The owner of the voice is an invisible man, who slowly dons his signature outfit—which has inexplicably appeared in the room—so that Ophelia has something to look at while they talk. Once he's dressed, Crafty shares a picture of him with the other players; everyone marvels at the design... Scarlet does so a little more than the others, causing everyone to share another laugh before returning to the game.
    [Crafty's picture of Lord Damniel appears on-screen.]
    Scarlet OOC: [intrigued] ... Oookay?
    Hiten OOC: Ohhh, I like this! I like this design a lot!
    Scarlet: [REALLY intrigued] Okay! I-I love the color scheme, I love everything about this; yeah, all right!
    [Scarlet, Hiten, and Crafty burst out laughing.]
    Blaze OOC: And suddenly, all the qualms disappear, and confusion arises!
    Hiten OOC: All the qualms and fear disappear and are replaced—only with horny!
  • Shortly before Damniel leaves, he muses over the Dawn Queen, a goddess that plays a huge role in Ophelia's faith, and how he cannot admire her beauty in person lest he be hurt by her light. He brushes Ophelia's cheek as he disappears into the night, leaving a rose back where he sat and heightening her uncomfortable feelings. Kayden, observing all this, announces a conclusion that briefly shatters the discomfort of the scene:
    Kayden OOC: [to Crafty] You were right; he's an incel.
• Mysterious Stranger: Early in this episode, Ophelia is visited by Lord Damniel. He is a spirit who has something in common with her: both of them became what they are today because of an ancient vampire called the Black Fang. He also happens to be linked to Ophelia's abilities, in that every drop of blood that she drinks ends up reforming a portion of Damniel's body. He thus makes a desperate request that she continue feeding so that he can be cured of his condition; hopefully, he'll regain enough power to help her take down the Black Fang and cure her vampirism in return. Ophelia isn't sure what to make of his intentions; he's not only overly familiar with her, but he's asking her to do something that is against both her principles and her faith. Despite his urgency, Damniel graciously allows her enough time to think over her decision.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ophelia's opponent on the Smashing Grounds is Battleby Von Pugildorf, a muscular man with humongous robotic arms who can't believe that he's been set against a petite young woman. For his casual sexism, Battleby is promptly humiliated as Ophelia quickly gains the upper hand. Her efforts cause his arms to malfunction and eventually stop working altogether. This shatters Battleby's will to fight completely; he put too much faith in his now broken arms to fight with his legs. He thus forfeits, not saying another word to Ophelia as he sadly slinks away from the arena, his arms limply flapping along with him.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: Calum lands a strong, dramatic finishing blow on Bruce that wins him their match. Right afterward, Crafty reveals to Kayden that when he had Calum perform his finisher, Bruce was down to exactly one hit point. Kayden is left feeling awestruck and even more impressed by the positive turnaround that his character experienced.
• Shout-Out: After Fuffy's defeat by Ring Out, Crafty gleefully reveals that the Volkhanom fight pit is called The Smashing Grounds. It's an intentional nod to Super Smash Bros., a game series whose typical win conditions rely on throwing opponents off of its many stages.

---