Slain by Elf

With Plan B out of the way, the party signs up to become a gladiator team in the arena, without yours truly for the good of the team. After a couple of days preparation, which pretty much consisted of trying to acquire tremorsense and staying away from the toxic booze in the only inn in the ghoul-infested slum, our first fight was scheduled.

The team, Dexter's Midnight Dancers, so named because of the hope to use some form of interpretive dance to befuddle the opponents as a tactic, turned up to the arena early and got behind the scenes. I stayed in the crowd section, mostly because even I'm not stupid enough to insist on joining them after the DM asks me earnestly if I really want to try to do so, considering the head of security took a dislike to me after I tricked a guard in to letting me in to the arena out of hours. Although, to be honest, the DM had to ask me quite sternly three times before I was put off the idea.

There was quite a buzz about Dexter's Midnight Dancers, as we were a new team and, although we'd gained a small reputation in the slums since coming here, still considered to be not exactly fit to be gladiator material. The impression isn't helped a great deal by Ann-see's bunny ears and turquoise-dyed hair, although the turquoise colour itself is our team colour. Even so, her small, 16-year old frame disguises a competent combatant, and one that is surprisingly experienced for her age. This didn't stop the crowd from making her firm favourite to be knocked out first in the betting stakes. I took the option to gamble a little, being out of the fight myself, and put 20 quatloos on the newcomers. I supposed this to be a safe bet to make, because either my friends would win and I'd make some easy money or I'd probably have to find a new line of work after the fight.

Ann-see heard the crowd's eagerness to see her drop first, and caught the odds on this happening, and was determined to prove them wrong. It looked good as the fight started, as her quick reflexes were more than able to determine the early course of the fight. She stayed back, ready for one of the bigger fighters to move forwards and provide her with some protection before she dashed to the centre of the arena and let loose her strong arm, flinging a dagger at one of the opponent gladiators.

Unfortunately, by getting close enough to make the attack dangerous enough, Ann-see opened up her flank to another opponent, who got a firm blow in as she sent the dagger flying through the air, only to be deflected off the armour of her target. Whilst the other members of Dexter's Midnight Dancers were struggling to keep up with the more agile gladiators, the opponents moved forwards and ganged up on the seemingly frail bunny-eared girl. Sadly, the crowd's expectations were met, through no fault of Ann-see, as two solid strikes, one of them critically hitting a vital organ, are enough to make anyone seem frail, and Ann-see dropped to the arena floor amidst roaring cheers from the crowd.

Ann-see was brought around after the fight, and was told of how the team won in the end, and how Dexter's cousin, Jeff, decapitated one of the other team 'by accident'. I'm not one to criticise, as I didn't even enter the arena. I made a nice chunk of change on our team winning though, so victory booze and bandages were on me.

This entry was posted on 16th August 2007 at 10.32 pm and is filed under Iron Heroes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.