First appearance: S2 Ep1, Fate of the Arbiter (Fate of the Arbiter Part 1) · watch it on YouTube
The sands of the arena are the hot, open floor of the Grandmaster’s arena, ringed by the screaming stands of The Acolytes. It is not a place anyone arrives at by choice. In Fate of the Arbiter it became the setting for a cruel twist from The Arbiter: taking a band of adventurers who had fought side by side and putting them on the sand as opponents. The moment became a landmark in the heroes’ story. One later chapter finds them “months after the Sands of the Arena.”
Description
The ground is sand, and it is hot. When the heroes landed, fire shot up around them and a hot wind blew the sand. Above it all, the Acolytes cheered and screamed.
Accounts of the arrival differ on the sky. The first telling puts it under a sunny sky, while the next episode’s retelling has a hot night wind. Either way, the place is built for spectacle. There is plenty of open air overhead for the Arbiter to launch himself skyward, spread his wings and circle the stands, playing to the crowd.
History
S2 Ep1, Fate of the Arbiter (Fate of the Arbiter Part 1)
The sands first appeared at the very end of S2 Ep1, Fate of the Arbiter (Fate of the Arbiter Part 1). A mist turned into a portal and sucked the party through. They landed on the hot sands of the arena under a sunny sky, with the Acolytes cheering and screaming above them. The Arbiter launched into the sky and addressed his audience:
“Acolytes! You have come for dungeons and dice and deathmatches, and I have returned to satiate your bloodlust.”
S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena (Fate of the Arbiter, Part 2)
The episode that takes its name from the place, S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena (Fate of the Arbiter, Part 2), picked up the same arrival. A portal threw the party onto the sands, the very arena they had seen “the night the Arbiter was taken.” Fire erupted around them, a hot night wind blew sand across the floor, and the Acolytes screamed.
The Arbiter flew up, spread his wings and promised once again to “satiate your bloodlust.” He circled the stands and introduced the evening’s entertainment: “three champions… Former teammates, former compatriots, now forced to fight to the death.”
Afterward
The sands became a marker in the heroes’ timeline. When the story picked up again in the Hall of Fates chapter, Toddleheim, Locket and Flynry were “months after the Sands of the Arena.” By then they had joined the resistance and had “been on countless adventures since.”
Notable Figures
- The Arbiter: the showman in the sky, who presented the heroes as former teammates forced to fight to the death.
- The Acolytes: the screaming crowd in the stands.
- Toddleheim, Locket and Flynry: the heroes who came through the sands and went on to join the resistance.