First appearance: Playtest 4 (Pre-Launch) — Mudcat Mahomes v Thunk · watch it on YouTube
The Isolated Keep is the Grandmaster’s “little secret,” an arena tucked away from time and space and ringed with bleachers for her Acolytes. It hosted the pre-launch clash between Mudcat Mahomes and Thunk, and it did something remarkable there: it pulled champions out of their own pasts. Its four portals promise boons and bonuses to the lucky, and something worse to everyone else.
Description
The Keep is a circular platform enclosed by walls about fifteen feet high. A ring of bleachers rises around it for the watching crowd. At its centre stands a huge stone table, “a table for giants.” The floor underfoot is slick and wet.
The heart of the Keep is its four portals: one of time, one of fire, one of blood and one of nature. It was introduced as a place “filled with portals that will grant you boons and bonuses, depending how lucky you are,” with a warning attached:
“There’s more than one thing that may bite.”
There is no running from the Keep. A champion who tries to jump out is simply flung back in through the time portal.
History
The Keep first opened its doors in Playtest 4 (Pre-Launch) — Mudcat Mahomes v Thunk, when the Grandmaster brought Mudcat Mahomes and Thunk there to fight. As the arena was introduced, The Arbiter offered some philosophy of his own: “You can lead a horse to a portal, but you can’t make him travel through interdimensional space.” He also let slip that he was writing “a short novel, some memoirs.”
The Keep showed what it could really do partway through the fight. A chill wind swept across the platform, the clocks of the time portal stopped and began to run backwards, and out stepped a past Mudcat Mahomes and a younger Thunk. The Grandmaster explained exactly why she had chosen this arena: “I brought you to the Isolated Keep because I can bring as many versions of you back as I want… Take a look at your past self, young, fresh, vibrant.” The Arbiter was thrilled. “We don’t bow to the constraints of time,” he declared, before celebrating the arrival of a second Mudcat Mahomes, a catfish: “It’s a two-for-one special on fish night!”
The hosts then paused the carnage for a bathroom and popcorn break. The Grandmaster got one free refill and spat her popcorn kernels over the side of the Keep, unbothered: “the goblins will pick that up.”
This was also the match in which Mudcat Mahomes became the only champion ever to shoot the Grandmaster.
Notable Figures
- Grandmaster Elusia Skypiercer: owner of the Keep, which she calls her “little secret.”
- The Arbiter: co-host of the match fought there, and a fan of its disregard for time.
- Mudcat Mahomes: champion who fought there and met his own past self.
- Thunk: champion who fought there and came face to face with a younger Thunk.