Tlugos snorts slightly. The sorcerer rat kin was disappointing but he would reserve judgement for after the battle if she survived, he could be surprised. Yet he would not count on it.
"Very well."
Is all he rumbles before he takes a deep breath and places his hands together. In rapid motions they shift through unknown gestures as his ki swells and his skin hardens with it's infusion of inner power. Now bearing a gloss akin to polished darkwood he seems little changed to the untrained eye.
"I am a swordsman," Xarann simply remarks, the blade still held in his hands. "I have been trained in the arcane arts, although my talents primarily lie in enhancing my own ability in combat. I don't throw fireballs or anything of the sort, though." While he doesn't do it just yet, before he leaves to enter the arena Xarann utters another few words in Elven as he casts another spell, before he is momentarily veiled in a thin aura of golden light. "Well, iof we must fight, let's get it over with."
"Well, uh, I'll do my best," Rissi mutters nervously.
Just before the allotted time has elapsed, Illiana rises. Quietly, she asks Nocticula to render her skin like her heart—hard and cold as iron. She then lays her hand on the little goblin's shoulder and shadows begin to coalesce around him. Finally, she calls the shadows to obfuscate her own form as they are finally let into the arena.
He did not miss the female favoring the goblin, ether she held pity for the weak or she sought to deny him a boon. Perhaps gain a pawn. Any of these actions was foolish to him, one was driven by sentimentality while the others pettiness. Seemed his mother's people continued to disappoint with their shortsightedness. What did it matter to horde your ability or advance your personal position when all shared the same fate at the price of failure. Typical sorcerer.
He did not expect the gray dwarves to be fair, likely they favored the opposing team. These were experienced fighters or at the very least better chosen then their own forces it would seem. Less a mismatch he would think. As it begins he takes the lead as soon as the gates start to rise with their creaking gears, he needed to close the distance quickly.
Allies it was then, in the loosest possible sense of the term. This was the strangest group Melaina had ever seen, and it wasn’t exactly hard to tell that they weren’t particularly fond of each other either. Granted, she wasn’t particularly fond of them yet either. She knew she was in no position to be making enemies, but Tlugos was beginning to grate on her nerves. Obviously he didn’t respect anything more than brute strength. Unfortunately, they all just had to play with the cards that had been handed to them.
“There’s more to magic than just throwing fire around.” She notes a bit dryly. “However, many of my spells don’t last very long, or will be more useful once the match has actually begun. Then we’ll see.” Extra protection and concealment, or weakening the enemy perhaps… Melaina preferred to keep her options open, as opposed to just blasting her enemies to bits. She does mutter a few words under her breath though, preparing for when the doors finally open.
After exactly ten minutes, though the group has no way of actually telling time, the portcullis rises with a slight grating noise and the path in to the arena is clear. As the group enters the arena, they can see that the stands are entirely empty, save for four duergar sitting in what seems to be a large box for important spectators. Two are guards much like the ones you've seen so far, one is the old dwarf who took your names, and the last is yet another warrior. He's actually a bit taller than all of the other dwarves and wears a massive suit of dark grey full plate with a burnt auburn cape settled over his shoulders. A large holy symbol matching the record keeper's adorns one shoulder plate while the other is emblazoned with a beetle.
And across the arena stands your opponents. There are six of them, matching your group's own size. The most obvious is a massive mutant of a man. One of his arms is colossal and bloated with muscle and sinew, while his other is almost bone thin. His face is covered in pustules and looks painfully swollen, though it doesn't seem to bother him. The second is obviously a drow. He looks to be one of the males who was in the slave pens with you a while ago, though he was in the first group taken, more than an hour ago. He looks around carefully, clutching a book to his chest. The third has the looks of a surface elf, but only vaguely. She's wearing a suit of leather armor and has a light, slightly curved sword in her hands. Fourth is obviously a gnome. Her hair is greyish blue and spiked, sticking wildly up from her head. She carries a walking stick almost painfully tightly in her hands. Fifth is a towering half-orc with brownish grey skin, a quiver and long bow slung over his shoulder and a vicious looking wolf at his heel. Finally is the ghoul from the slave room. Aside from adding a suit of armor, nothing seems to have changed with him.
The massive duergar stands. "This is an exhibition match to test the skills of two groups of newly taken slaves," he declares. "Deaths in the natural course of combat will not be penalized, but intentional execution of a downed opponent will be considered destruction of your masters' property and your entire team will be penalized accordingly. Whichever team has the last man standing will be declared the victors." He raises his fist. "Now! Begin!"
Initiative
Xaraan
Gnome
Rissi
Ghoul
Mongrelman
Urf
Melaina
Tlugos
Half-Elf
Drow
Half-Orc
Illiana
Xarann is up!
Xarann walks calmly onto the field of battle, his weapon already drawn and ready. The half-drow closes his eyes again, weapon held in a loose guard in front of him. "قد بلدي إضراب شفرة صحيح ، و رحلتهم إلى ساحة العظام يكون بمنأى عن المعاناة," Xarann utters, before shifting his sword into a high guard. "I will let them come to me," he says simply, his stance unwavering. "Let them rush into the arms of Death."
The gnome looks around nervously for a moment, then quickly mutters something under her breath and vanishes from sight.
Rissi is up!
"That must be one of those mongrelmen of which I've heard tell..." Rissi mutters as the group strides into the arena. She stays close to Tlugos, drawing her rapier as she goes. "Shame they've captured someone so normally peaceable. Nothing for it, though..."
As she stares at their foes, she draws a strange gold coin from one pocket. Rubbing her thumb over it, she winces as she begins to feel faint...but then a tiny, ghostly hand appears in the air next to her.
The ghoul scowls and charges forward. "It is a pity I cannot feast on all of you," he growls in a low, guttural voice. "For my lord would be most pleased with..." He's promptly cut off as Xarann springs in to action, arcane force propelling him forward to drive his blade deep in to the ghoul's flesh. The ghoul howls as the elf cuts him open and responds with a violent swipe from his claws. However, he over extends and misses completely.
The mongrelman does exactly what you'd expect a man with a giant arm made of meat and muscle to do. He charges the largest person on your team and attempts to bludgeon them to death with a brutal slam. Unfortunately for him, the martial artist is much too fast for him and his fist only manages to smash the ground at Tlugos's feet.
Urf is up!
Urf flinched a little when Illiana touched him, having not expected anything to come his way. "What you do to Urf?!" he demanded, before he realized he was being cloaked in shadow. "Oh, this make Urf not seen, right?" he tried to confirm, before he looked across the way at his opponents. At first, he was rather interested in the mutant-arm guy, thinking he would be a challenge, but then he saw the drow clutching a book; that was a bad thing to do in front of a goblin.
"You stealing souls!" Urf yelled at the nervous-looking Drow, no doubt making him jump in his boots. "Urf know what do!" Pointing his lance at him, there was no doubt that the goblin was laying down a challenge for him. A split-second later, Itchy Butt was charging forward, Urf's lance pointed forward, aiming straight at the Drow. No doubt he would be questioning his life choices for about a second before Urf got to him.
The drow looks at the goblin with a single raised eyebrow as he sidesteps the lance, causing Urf to strike nothing but air.
Melaina is up!
Tlugos appears not to move at all, his step swift and minimal. The simple attacks comes close, to the untrained eye, yet strikes nothing. He looks the mongrel fool in the eye.
"When you meet the oni guards of hell. Tell them the Obsidian Dragon sent you."
For a moment he seems to take on a stance, he side steps to better position the brute for an ally, before his limbs lash out with serpentine grace and fury.
Well, this certainly wasn’t what she’d expected. It was almost better in her mind though. After all, a test like this implied some sort of reward for success, and Melaina would take just about anything she could get given the situation. She has every intention of being amongst the victors in the end, and that simply meant assuring that she was still standing. The woman speaks a few soft words, and her form seems to flicker and blur, until it’s hard to tell where exactly she’s even standing.
A haze surrounds Melaina as her spell takes effect. Tlugos's fists lash out, but the mongrelman bats the first blow aside with little effort. However, the second strike comes in far too fast for him to block. The towering man howls as the monk's fingers drive straight in to his skin, leaving a bloody wound in his shoulder. With a furious roar, he knocks the final blow aside, his bony arm clutching the bleeding puncture.
The half-elf takes a step back and begins to sing in a lilting voice, her words filling the arena. The drow scowls and mutters something under his breath before he takes a step back and snaps his fingers with a harsh word in the same language. A giant hole immediately opens directly beneath Urf and Itchy Butt. The little goblin yelps and manages to direct Itchy Butt to leap back, but now there's a large hole between him and the holder of the hated book.
The half-orc takes a much less complicated way of dealing with the goblin. He whistles and points and his wolf leaps straight at the goblin, snarling viciously. His jaws clamp on to Urf's arm, tearing a chunk of flesh from the goblin. The half-orc simply strings an arrow and fires at the tiefling locked in combat the hulking mongrelman. Unlike the unskilled mongrelman, the arrow is precise and painful, the shaft burying itself in Tlugos's torso without effort.
Illiana is up!
Whip in hand, Illiana whispers a quiet prayer for Nocticula's favor. Then, drawing the rapier and maneuvering herself to a position between Tlugos and Xarann, she swings the whip for the ghoul's legs.
Illiana lashes the ghouls legs, dragging the undead to the ground with a meaty thump. And leaving him remarkably vulnerable to the half-drow standing above him.
Xarann is up!
He curses, sorcerers utterly useless. No sense of tactics or much else. They would be the first or last target, as he was being focused on clearly they were last. Yet they choose to offer no advantage or support. As always he would have to do things himself. Shifting position again to gain a flank he growls as he sends ki coursing through his limbs at such speed that his limbs ignite in spirit fire. As it was his ki he had nothing to fear, the same could not be said for others.
Once more his limbs come from multiple directions and angles seeking to tear out more flesh as well as burn it to ash.
"You will regret challenging me."
The gnome suddenly appears not far from Xarann and raises her hand. Her eyes seem to glow with an eerie purplish light and the half-drow finds himself having trouble focusing his will against the little person. However, he manages to struggle through the compulsion to simply give up and freeze in place.
Rissi is actually the one who's up!
Rissi panics slightly as she sees Urf's predicament and the arrows sink into Tlugos. Oh no! If one of us falls already we'll be toast...
Thumbing her coin again, she sends the tiny, ghostly hand floating next to her streaking across the arena, suddenly limned with white fire. It gropes for the half-orc with the bow, the air hissing around it.
As the hand floats back toward her, Rissi moves to flank the mongrelman with Tlugos, hoping to be a distraction more than anything else. "Hey! Uh...down here!"
The half-orc growls as wounds begin to blossom along his skin. "Great..." he mutters, notching another arrow.
Now Xarann is actually up!
Xarann tightens his grip on his sword as the gnome casts their spell, and then sidesteps quickly as the magic fails to overtake him. Xarann looks at Illiana and then over to the gnome. "I will deal with the abomination; she should be offered surrender if she will take it." With that, the half-drow looks to the ghoul lying prone on the ground before he draws his hand across the blade, making it spark with lightning. In a sudden flurry of movement, Xarann chops his blade downward in two heavy strokes towards the ghoul's chest and neck. "The light of the Dawnflower purges the blight from the world, as it shall with you."
Xarann's two rapid blows utterly annihilate the ghoul, cleaving in to his chest and sending agonizing electricity through his body. The ghoul shudders once, then goes still.
The mongrelman, enraged by Tlugos's attack, immediately attempts to retaliate with a barrage of fists. Only his first blow does much of anything, leaving the monk a bit winded, but not terribly hurt.
Urf is up!
Urf let out a yelp of pain as that wolf managed to get to him through the shroud of darkness surrounding him, tearing some flesh off his arm. To top it off, the book-wielder just separated himself from the goblin and his mount with a deep pit after simply sidestepping his glorious charge; things were not going as planned. The goblin had to think about the best course of action.
Eventually, he figured that it would be best to take care of the wolf, while at the same time attempting to navigate himself around the pit in order to make another charge at the Drow. Prodding Itchy Butt to bite the wolf, he then had him take a 5 foot step to put the wolf in reach of his lance while heading in a direction that would start the process of getting around that large pit. The wolf would probably be a little tough to hit, though, so Urf decided to aim a little more carefully, rather than put all his strength into some wild stabs.
Itchy Butt doesn't manage to hit the angry wolf beast, but Urf's lance strikes true twice, inflicting two painful looking wounds on the wolf's fur.
Melaina is up!
Melaina eyes the battlefield for a brief moment. For as… eccentric as the goblin had seemed, Urf was actually holding up rather well. And Xarann had already eliminated the ghoul from the equation. Actually, it seemed Tlugos was the only one having any difficulties at the moment, a fact which she found rather ironic given his attitude. Regardless, he was useful at the moment. And considering his rather low opinion of magic, it would be a bit satisfying to start proving him wrong.
She steps up behind the much larger man, setting a hand on his back. “You’re welcome.” She says, expecting no real thanks from him later, even if she might be saving him from a few more arrows in the chest.
The grey skinned mage taps Tlugos on the shoulder and instantly there are two of him, both hazy and hard to follow. The mongrelman looks as confused as he can with his swollen face, preventing him from acting for a moment. Tlugos lunges forward and drives his finger tips through the hulking man's skin twice, tearing massive bloody gashes with each strike. The mongrelman stumbles on the first blow and the second tears through his chest and puts him on the ground.
The half-elf looks nervous for a moment, then she swipes her hand, interrupting her song for only and instant as copies of herself appear from nowhere around her. Then her voice picks up again and she continues to sing with a hint of desperation in her voice.
The drow just scowls at her continued performance and begins to chant in a low guttural language. "Bol ugh kal, thrili dushishi ri ank bi ra otulul."
Meanwhile the orc simply takes aim at Tlugos again, though he hesitates for a moment as he attempts to figure out which one is the real warrior and which is merely Melaina's illusion. He curses under his breath as one shot misses entirely and the other simply goes straight through the false warrior. His wolf simply continues to attempt to eat Urf. It is far more successful that it's master, leaping forward and biting harshly in to the goblin yet again.
Illiana is up!
"Your on my list, piglet!"
Tlugos roars at the archer as the brute goes down before him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moving faster then any normal person should, much less someone his size. He closes the distance with his enemy and lashes out with a flaming claw style strike filled with ki.
Without taking his eyes off his opponent or letting his attention waver he speaks at the others.
"The drow is calling something."
He knew more then a few languages, not that many expected him to. Which suited him just fine.
Illiana raises a questioning eyebrow at the thinblood's comment. No one here deserves her mercy... least of all her opponents. Disregarding such foolishness, she glances over to see that the grey skinned girl has aided the tiefling in dispatching that lumbering brute. Excellent.
As her attention returns to their remaining foes, Illiana sees the half-elf cast a mirror image spell but curses under her breath as she fails to decipher the drow male's incantation. She moves closer to the other side of the arena and briefly considers her options. Spellcasters could be dangerous—as she would know—but that half-orc and his wretched bow were also problematic. She is lamenting her ignorance of the other drow's plan when the tiefling speaks up. A summoning spell? Not if Illiana has a say.
The drow loses concentration as he tumbles to the ground, his voice cutting out as he hits the floor hard.
The gnome slowly backs away from Xarann, her hands shining a bit as she attempts another spell on him, her mental influence not yet dissipated. He feels his movements slowing and his hands feel shaky and wrong.
Rissi is up!
Xarann feels his grip become unsteady and his muscles go slack, but he still utters a few words under his breath in Elven and nearly disappears as he shoots forward towards the gnomish woman. His first slash goes horribly wide, as he expected; as he snaps back into focus, leaving a flash of red lightning in his wake, the half-drow spins and slices at the gnome from behind with an overhead cut intended to rend her quite nearly in half. "It is a pity we must fight," he says as he rockets towards her, blade in hand. "But this is my only path to freedom, back to the light of the Dawnflower."
Assuming that the gnome is still standing, he waits for her to turn towards him with his weapon raised. "I beg of you, ask for mercy; it will mean harsh labor, but it will spare your life."
Rissi squeaks in surprise when the giant mongrelman goes down next to her, and then again as she ducks the arrows sent toward her and Tlugos by the half-orc. That's a problem...but then, so are the spellcasters. Seeing that the drow is tripped and the gnome face-to-face with Xarann, though, she decides the half-orc is the most important issue. Or...his wolf.
Grinning, Rissi thumbs her coin, focusing on the wolf. C'mon, boy, you're nothing but an animal, you know deep in your bones that the cold chill of death is coming one day, you know what the ground feels like and you know that one day you'll be under it, and it's not that much of a stretch to believe that we'll put you there... As she thinks at the wolf, Rissi darts forward and closes with the gnome that Xarann is facing.
Rissi moves part way across the arena and uses her power on the wolf. The wolf looks momentarily nervous, whining and shrinking back, but then is shakes itself and growls, ready to keep fighting.
Fortunately, it seems that Xarann doesn't need any help. He dashes forward, his first strike missing the gnome horribly. His second cleaves straight across her chest, leaving a massive slash in her armor and her skin. The gnome cries out in pain, seemingly barely able to stand. "I..." she certainly seems like she wants to take Xarann up on his offer.
Urf is up!
Urf was hardly paying attention to what the others were doing, save for when the priestess tripped the Drow after he had muttered something Urf couldn't understand. All that mattered was that the wolf was still biting him, despite having been stabbed twice already. "Your darkness broken, naked lady!" he called out to the priestess, shaking his arm after having been bitten twice. "Make it better next time!"
Frustrated that he couldn't charge the Drow still, the goblin grit his teeth and knew that he would have to just take care of the wolf. The half-orc that commanded it was still up, though, so if he felled the wolf, he was thinking he may charge after its master, especially since he wasn't looking. That would involve another few seconds of fighting that wolf, though. "This why dogs suck!" he hissed as he prepared Itchy Butt for another assault. "Goblin dogs better!"
"Perhaps the beast is being guided by a strong odor..." Illiana suggests.
The wolf's fur is tough and Itchy Butt can't seem to get a good enough grip to tear at the beast's body. Urf's lance does a bit better, leaving another wound on the wolf's hide, but it still stands.
Melaina is up!
Something close to a smile tugged at Melaina’s lips. That had worked out well. She glances around again, and notes that the goblin was still struggling with that wolf, of all things. But he’d also gotten out of the way, and that made things considerably easier. She moves away from Tlugos to better position herself, then takes aim at the beast. A moment later, a beam streaks from her hand towards the animal
The greyish magic bolt shoots for the wolf, but it goes far to high, going over the wolf's head and splashing harmlessly against the stone wall of the arena. Tlugos immediately takes the opportunity to rush the archer now that his line of sight is clear. The orc barely has time to blink before the monk is on him, his fire coated fist brutally slamming in to the orc's head. The orc staggers back, a choked cry on his lips as the blow knocks him senseless.
The half-elf seems about to attempt to stop Tlugos, but the drow calls out. "Feitha!" The half-elf hesitates as the drow scrambles back away from Illiana . His hands quickly weave a pattern in the air and he shouts something else.
The half-elf looks surprised for a moment, then nods and rushes to help the half-orc. In her haste, she attacks a little too quickly, her blade failing to strike the monk at all.
Illiana is up!
The drow male casts another spell, but this time Illiana recognizes it. A haste spell. The fool probably should have done that sooner, but it still wasn't great for her... allies. "Be mindful of the magical celerity they were just granted," she warns in undercommon.
Seeing the half-elf join the tiefling's melee, she lashes out again with the whip, then moves to flank the half-orc.
"She means they're gonna be faster!" Rissi yelps to Urf and anyone else not familiar with "celerity."
The half-elf is caught around the ankle with Illiana's whip and tumbles to the ground with a thump. The drow can't quite get in to place quickly enough after taking the elf down, but she does manage to get in close enough to aid Tlugos in combat.
The gnome takes one look at the situation and drops her sword, raising her hands in defeat. "Please don't kill me," she says nervously.
Rissi is up!
Rissi glances around, looking surprised, as the half-elf topples near the half-orc and the drow is forced to scramble out of the way of her allies. We're winning...? Huh. What's left to do?
The male drow's chanting draws her attention, though. Oh yes, maybe something about that...or the wolf...hm. Hard to chant if you're running away in terror. Running her fingers over the coin again, she narrows her black eyes in the direction of the drow.
The drow shudders and looks wild eyed as Rissi's power takes effect.
Xarann is up!
The wolf, without more orders from his master, continues to follow his last order and leaps at Urf yet again. This time his teeth miss by a hair, snapping at the dark cloud floating around the goblin.
Xarann takes a moment to kick the gnome's sword away, but otherwise makes no move against her. "Sarenrae's gospels preach that no one is beyond redemption. You have surrendered and I will honor it... as will my compatriots. If not, they too shall be given a chance to surrender, or be slain." With that, Xarann takes off to aid in the coming brawl, moving into position to deal with the half-orc's bestial companion. "Go, deal with the drow," Xarann says to Urf, his eyes locked with the wolf. "I will hold off the beast."