The party continues through the desert. They come upon a large coliseum. They approach and confront the guards about the coliseum’s purpose and are informed that there is currently an event being held here in the Bloodsand Arena. All are welcome to participate. The decision is made that the strongest of them will go inside and the rest will stay outside with the cart to guard the supplies and horses. The rest enter the arena.

Encounter:
4 Gith Piercers
2 Ambush Spiders
2 Gith Hobblers

After defeating the arena foes, they see a dark figure shrouded in a cloak run from the bleachers and up the stairs. They find this suspicious and decide to investigate. In order to catch up to the man, they have to ask about his whereabouts from several witnesses.

Skill Challenge

They finally catch up to the cloaked man in his chambers, and find that he is the Gladiator, another of Galbatorix’s Forsworn. He is accompanied by Birk Suntouched, a dwarf conscript.

Encounter:
Gladiator
Birk Suntouched

When the gladiator falls, Birk is making a run for it through a small passageway. Rick and Alain run him down and try to question him, but he bleeds out before he can say anything.

The victorious heroes exit the temple. They head for the nearby town of Silthrim to rest and stock up on supplies. Many of them also get better weapons or improve their armors. Swag hits up the alchemist for potions and phials of potent potables.

There is a Varden contact point here, which informs the heroes that they’ve heard tell of trouble in the desert. What exactly, they don’t know. They can only tell you that there have been complaints of odd critters attacking the desert peoples and that other odd and malicious things have been happening. They fear that Galbatorix is behind it somehow, and they want you to set off right away to check the situation and eliminate any threats.

Encounter:
2 Gith Savages
3 Gith Hobblers