We Who Are About To Die... (Inactive)
Game Master Doomed Hero

The games were over. Darian Kale, headmaster of the Academy of Arch, had retained his champion status. The fight had raged for nearly a half an hour. His opponent, the Inevitable Duelist called End Game had made his way up the ranks quickly, finally challenging the Headmaster to single combat. Why an Inevitable, one of the mechanical guardians of reality itself had done this was anyone's guess, though fans of the Tales of Kale speculated it might have had something to do with the potion of Immortality the headmaster had given to his horse, once upon a time...

The grounds keepers were cleaning blood and bent flywheels of the sands. The Psion architects were dismissing the structures they'd Manifested for the match. The crowd had gone home.

The season was over.

It was into this empty, echoing bowl that the newcomers came. They came from all over the multiverse and their reasons were their own, but they all had one thing in common.

They dreamed of glory in the arena.

"Bandy Spyglass here with Harbinger Entertainment! This is Bloodwatch! Fight fans, today we're in for a treat! For the first time we're being let in behind the scenes to watch how our favorite fighters live and train!"

The gnome hovered over the grounds directing the small crystal orb with his mind, finding the best angles and images to send to his viewers.

"And today is extra lucky! Fresh meat! Today, Sarge is taking on raw recruits. We'll be following them the entire season, watching which ones become stars. Lets meet a few!"

Floating down to the sand the gnome approached a hodgepodge group who had been waiting for the cleanup to finish.

"Hi there! Bandy Spyglass with Bloodwatch! Care to introduce yourselves?"

"Gwrrr'rrr rrrrg!" grunted the Orc, swatting at the crystal orb when it approached too closely.

"That me name."

"Am great Wizzerd."

He continued absently picking food from his teeth, and stared at Bandy as if daring him to disagree.

"Is that right?" the gnome said as the orb twitched away like a hummingbird. "Any signature spells? What kind of arcane showmanship should the crowd expect when they see you in the ring?"

"Gwrrr'rrr not ask great Wizzerd before eat him. Now Gwrrr'rrr great Wizzerd."

The Orc then seemed to lose interest and sat down; it's hard to tell if he's actually napping or just plain boring.

"You heard it here first, folks. We have an Orcish Wizard in the fray this season. What about you there?" the intrepid journalist said to one of the other newcomers. "What's your specialty?"

The dark elf smiles wickedly as the gnome approaches him in the shadier end of the area. He pulls back his hood as that wicked smile parts to speak a clear and cool word in drow dialect, as much to himself as anyone. "Ultrinnan"The smile broadens, it's wickedness fading strangely into warmth, as if warmth was all their ever was. "Ultrinnan, or Victory, is my specialty little one. Perhaps I might trouble you to hear more of yourself and the rest of the..."The drow pauses and his pupil-less eyes seem to dance as best they are able before finishing the question. "Fresh meat, as you say?"

"Oh my, a Drow! Fight fans, this season we have one of the famed dark elves looking to make a name for themselves." Looking into the crystal floating next to him, the excited gnome continued, spaking for a moment as if the Drow was not there. "Showing confidence and allure his people are famous for, this one stands out even in this odd assortment." Turning back, he said "Will you tell us your name, and the methods you plan on employing to get your victory?"

Chess smiled and shook his long hair out from under his hood. "It is amusing that you would mention the making of names for oneself. That is exactly what I am to do. Until then, the planes will know me as Chessna'ra, and also that I will employ any and all methods I see fit to achieve Ultrinnan." The drow bowed low as he spoke, his white smile flashed and arms reached out wide to reveal the tall and slender figure clad in dark leather hidden beneath his cloak.

"How enigmatic!" Bandy said to his orb as he moved deeper into the crowd of would-be champions. "How about you, there? Care to introduce yourself to the folks on the other side of the orb?"

"Haha, what a lively crowd we have here, cant't wait to test my lovely concoctions on them" The gnome said with excitement, eyes darting from one individual to the next, as he tossed and caught a vial with some strange liquid inside repeatedly. His excitement quickly faded, the gnomes eyes became unfocused. He caught the vial and held still. He spoke in a quiet steady voice. "and I can see them all burn"

Bandy pushed a crystal rod near the scarred gnome throwing the vials and said "What was that? Speak into the phonocrystal, please. What do you have there?"

Excitement returned to the gnome face. "Oh this? Nothing but my newest means to bring a little explosive fun to the party." He replied with glee as he once again started to toss the vial in the air.

"And what should we call you and your explosive fun?"

"Zib is fine for now" he said with a smile as a crazed look entered his eyes. His eyes dilated and his voice dropped an octave as he said."Or you can call me Blepib, take your pick, I could care less. As for for the explosive you can call her Sally, shes ready to give SOMEONE A KISS HAHAHAHA!!!"

Bandy blanches and floats backwards away from the crazed gnome with a wide-eyed look towards his orb. "Tell her I'm flattered but not available at the moment."

The Red Door, one of the four sets of massive wooden doors set into the arena walls, opened to the north. An enormous silhouette stood framed for a moment, growing as it strode into the light.

A blue scaled ogre walked onto the sands, shirtless, wearing sandals and leather breeches, his massive muscles rippling under his skin like a jungle cat. Short white horns protruded from his forehead and his eyes had an exotic tilt and were silted like a reptile's. At his waist was a single narrow, curved sword.

On his shoulder was a bundle that he tossed to the ground, spilling a handful of practice weapons in front of him.

Jabbing a thick finger toward a few of the new entrants, the strange ogre barked in a commanding voice, You. You. You, and you. Drop your gear, grab a stick and fight. Now.

Init +3, only Zib acts after me. This is my action if I'm not disrupted horribly before initiative 13.

Spotting Zib, the only easy target, the Orc charges at the only other competitor who hadn't grabbed a weapon yet, winding up for a great swing of the log.

starting rage.

Please put attack and damage tags in ooc text and include them in the stats block. I prefer to keep all the numbers hidden. No charge this round since you moved to pick up a weapon.

Gwrrr, go ahead and give me a reaction post. The drow was levitating above the weapon pile and swung at you when you moved in. Keep in mind you are all unarmored at the moment.

If you want to counter attack you'll need to make a 5' vertical jump or throw things.

Actually, Chess made the attack after he moved away, not wanting to provoke the orc if it could do anything about it

Fair enough. In either case, I bet you have his attention now.

Zib, Gwrrr attacked you. Give us a reaction post

While mulling over which of the practice weapons would suit his needs, Zib failed to realize that a large lumbering oaf of a orc was heading straight toward him. As the he neared, Zib heard the his heavy step, ducking seconds before being struck. You dirty beast, if only i had a bomb!yelled gnome as he quickly took a step back grabbing one the smallest staff in reach reading himself against another attack.

Zib, he didn't hit you. He wasn't able to charge and you weren't flat footed. Gwrrr hit a 12, you have a 13 AC.

Go ahead and edit your last post. If you can't within the hour, just treat it as a grazing blow that barely missed.

An exotic monk in robes comes over to watch the exhibition.

Gwrrr'rrr instantly forgot about the gnome, his ears ringing from the aerial attack.

"GWRRR'RRR!" he screamed, clearly enraged by the surprise attack.

The dark elf whistled as the orc leaped toward him in a wide arc, and delivered a mighty blow-- to the air beneath his feet. Chess whirled the staff about, swaying back and forth slightly, and smiled broadly.

A handful of audience members begin to see their exhaled breath as a hooded woman sits among them, white hair visible under the hood.

sitting down next to Melashara....

Hello folks, once again "Luscious" Cedrica Einkill here, in the Crossroads arena. Part of my tasks is to talk to various people found around the arena. Today, i am sitting next to a Frigid event viewer, and she seems to have put the icy chill of fear into the crowd. Miss, could you relay your views of the combat below?

Joboo sat contently on the jakes; swinging his feet and passing gas profusely. He sang a little song that he learned as a youngun.

Heres I sit broken hearted
come to poop but only farted
hehehe...hahaha...hohoho

His chuckles fell off as he could hear what sounded like applause and the stomp of feet.

Mesa missing fight! Ooh, oi!

He hopped off of the pot and roped his britches back up before running towards the arena stands. With the tell tale train of paper stuck to his foot.

sitting down next to Melashara....

Hello folks, once again "Luscious" Cedrica Einkill here, in the Crossroads arena. Part of my tasks is to talk to various people found around the arena. Today, i am sitting next to a Frigid event viewer, and she seems to have put the icy chill of fear into the crowd. Miss, could you relay your views of the combat below?

Melashara turns and her hood slides down a bit. This close, Cedrica can see that her pale face is cracked and dry, and her hair seems frozen.

The combat below? Predictable. Men love to hit each other with sticks, compete in feats of strength and speed, and generally show who is the "best" among them. They are also fond of boasting of such deeds, as though that makes them true. But when real danger is present, like me, all the bravery and strength withers away. You'll see, when I'm in the arena.

With that, she turns back to the fight.

Valk sits at the edges of the sand, his eyes keenly interested in the practice fight. "Ha... big guy's never gonna reach the flying elf that way. And the short one's gonna fry 'em both while they fight. What do you think Gyik?" He asked of the small black gecko with blue spots sitting upon his shoulder. The gecko seemed to watch the fight as intently as the man, but offered no comment. "Fine. I'll analyze less." He tugged idly at the mask around his neck. He was honored to have been given a ceremonial mask, but it was the smaller, simpler mask of a boy. He silently vowed to himself to pick up a man's mask from one of the many shops in this giant of a city when he got the money and felt worthy.

"I hear lots of chatter!" the blue ogre barked. "Sounds to me like a bunch of people saying "I want someone to hit me with a stick!" You lot, fight!"

Kicking half the pile of practice weapons toward the crowd of onlookers, the big ogre glared while the flying weapons caused people to duck and scramble.

Everyone check Discussion thread

Arena Map

Round 2

"The head trainer, Big Blue has made his way out and wasted no time getting a group of would-be warriors to show their skill, but one of them, the orcish-looking one standing there, seems to have stage fright. I wonder what could be holding him back?"

As Big Blue sent the pile of weapons spinning toward the second group, Bandy floated quickly upward, taking a bird's eye view of the events.

"Is that our very own Cedrika Einkill I see? As our viewers may know, she's been training hard preparing to give us an inside eye to the games. Looks like today we get to see if her hard work has paid off. Lets see what she does."

Samson stood, paralyzed for a moment by the abruptness with which the arena had exploded into violence. This was not what he had expected.

Valk, caught extremely off guard, was almost hit in the head by a short stick. "Gah!" The tall boy said, throwing himself to the side and unseating his lizard. He thought about the stick that flew at him but decided to go for one of the longer ones. Just like a Vielatra back home. He thought, stopping for a second to let his gecko crawl onto his arm and scamper into his shirt and then down to his belt pouch. He threw himself toward the pile of weapons and then grabbed a longer one, coming up in a fighting crouch. "Come on! See why the warriors on my plane call me THE STORM" He said in a voice like thunder as he placed his mask over his face.

Taking advantage of the orc distraction, Zib took a step back and reached in his coat taking a bottle with a strange liquid out. After biting the top off, he quickly downed its contents. Almost instantly his body jerked, veins popping out. His hair almost doubled in length gaining a deep purple tone. His arms and legs lengthened giving a ape like appearance. His his eyes became more bestial, like a tiger watching its prey. Zib smiled wickedly

The huge Orc started to swing the log again, and jumped up to try to slap Chessna'ra out of the air (and out of his shoes). The jump was poorly timed with the swing, however, and Gwrrr'rrr barely made it 2 feet off the ground.

Joboo was shocked to find himself in the ring. He wasnt sure when had to decided to get involved but here he was now. He pointed at the big ogre and yelled.

"Ooh Oi! Getsa the big guy!

He fervently hoped it was enough of a distraction to make it safe for his grab at the club. He cartwheeled towards the weapon and snatched it out of the pile coming up in a defensive posture holding the obviously too large club two handed.

The small woman turns to the boisterous beauty next to her, whispering:

Let's work together and show these boys who's boss. Ok?

Chessna'ra rolled through the air as the orc hit the apex of his jump, readying his strike and judging distances, before he reversed directions in mid-air and brought the staff about with all of his momentum to bear down on the warrior, just as he hit the ground.

Lorth sat idly in the stands, jerkin smoothed and moustache immaculately tarred so as to prevent stray hairs from wandering. A contented look upon his portly face he watched the match as it unfolded.

Severus observed the proceedings with interest, noting the fighting styles of the players.

The Orc's head spun almost completely around with the blow, and he clearly was seeing stars. By any reasonable estimate, he should have been down for the count, but he seems to have found the strength to stay standing, at least briefly. His eyes darted around quickly trying to see if there was anything he could do to make sure he went out in style; even his addled brain knew he was going to fall in the next few seconds, and when he did, it would be a long nap this time.

A man comes out of the shadows in only his pants, his muscles tanned and hardened. He looks at GWRRR'RRR and charges him, as he jumps in the air twists and kicks out with a foot (stunning fist) as if its a weapon honed by years of hard training

As he strikes Theos says to GWRRR'RRR "You are a simple idiot you are like those who helped with my capture and I cannot allow people like them to live they have hurt me and so I shall rid the world from thugs like you, it is my sworn duty to end all thugs lives."