#40 - Blood and Sand (and Blood)

As told by Magnus of the Island of Seren.

These Arena fights reminded me of the fireside brawls on Seren.

Everybody knows who will fight, there are some loose rules and then a good bashing where killing is the second best outcome. I hadn’t really thought there would be prize money though. I guess city people do everything for money, it’s hard to eat fame.

Anyway, we were all slated to get into the Graywall Arena and fight, our goal was to win the favor of some Brelish ex-general named Darveshek. The way to impress him and earn his favor was to kill a fire-resistant troll. Come to think of it, that would impress most folks anywhere. The Arena was to have some other monsters to make it interesting—well, the fight was called the Giant's Ring. The crowds were jaded and needed a lot to keep them happy. We went through the ritual of getting rid of our extra stuff. The rules said no weapons but there was some system of getting weapons into the ring to keep it bloody. We left our weapons out, but kept them with the medusas for the next fight in the same night, where we could bring our stuff in. We did drink some potions to boost us up a bit for the fight, and Cypher used some artificer trick to summon one of his wands for use in the Arena, to get it past the checkpoint.

We made it into the ring. There was a troll to be sure, big and sorta funny looking, too knotty and red to match up with what I had heard. There were two ogres and a gnoll, which was fine by me. Then a minotaur and a hill giant which looked like fun, assuming I could get a weapon. Luckily, there was a pile of weapons in the center of the arena floor.

The mind flayer who governed the city was also in attendance—a tall figure, man-shaped but absolutely not a man. Head like a giant squid of the Dragonreach. Snaking tentacles. Creepy.

In the first few minutes of the fight, the pile of weapons on the floor started to rise up on a pillar, out of reach—though Rendar started to climb to get them, aided by a potion Cypher had brewed that gave him as fit as a Seren. The troll got into an alcove on the arena wall, and then arena workers on the sides tossed him a greatsword. This could get ugly. But first the troll lops off an ogre’s head. Good one!

Cypher cleverly bopped over to the other alcove and someone hands him a military pick—a gift from the general, we think—which even more cleverly, he handed to me. I flew into a rage and killed the other ogre, stepping right over his corpse to get at the crazy troll.

While all this goes on, Xoma souped himself up somehow and I couldn't actually see him clearly anymore—some wizard's spell of blurring. Doongul found with some experimentation that the chains suspended above the arena floor could teleport the puller to one of the other three chains. Good to know!


Cypher zipped a bolt from his arm-bow into the minotaur’s neck just as the beast receives a battleaxe from the crowd, then the minotaur whirls to join the fight. Rendar had gotten up to the weapons—now 50 feet up—and tossed a shield and morningstar to Doongul. (Good way to keep the dwarf alive!). Rendar kept a throwing axe and longsword for himself.

I wound up and bashed the troll on the shoulder, and it was a perfect swing....and the military pick I'd been given burned with magic fire when I swung it. The result was a troll arm on the floor wriggling about. That could slow that two-handed greatsword down! It would me, too.

The minotaur roared and tried to hit Xoma and misses (the elf was blurry and hard to see). Then the hill giant popped Cypher with a thrown rock, denting him up bad. The gnoll misfired at Rendar who was now armed and trying to climb down the pillar with a longsword tucked through his belt. Something teeny hit me in the back—a sling stone?

Xoma zapped the minotaur with his electric grasp and then zipped away while the minotaur was stunned. Cypher disappeared from sight; good idea considering how that thrown rock smashed him up good. Somehow, a goblin flew out from the crowd in the stands above and smashed bodily into the pillar, bones breaking, only to crumble to the arena floor. I had no idea what that was about, but I later learned that the goblin had slung the stone into me, and I guess that was his punishment.

The troll tore into me with teeth and claws (the arm on the ground actually attacked me, too). I mashed him with the pick again. I was pretty sure I was gaining on his regenerating, but his wounds closed up fast.
The minotaur charged Xoma with head down, intending to gore him, big, fast and scary.  Xoma wiggled his fingers and muttered and the minotaur seemed to smash into an invisible wall, breaking one of his horns. It is hard to kill Xoma.

The giant flung a stone at the gnoll, missing wildly. The gnoll shot at Rendar, but he missed also. Xoma did his thunder spell and the minotaur started to look tattered. Then shocked him again and scooted away. Rendar was halfway down the pillar now.

The troll came after me again (his arm was growing back, fast!) He made contact but I was so fired up and sweaty, his attacks didn't hurt too much. When I made another perfect swing, his other arm came off and started wriggling around in the sand. I was really starting to like this pick thing.

The minotaur charged Xoma again, swinging his ax and missing, busting the thing into the stone floor. I was starting to think Xoma might kill this guy single-handedly. The hill giant had gotten into the alcove and someone from the stands tossed him a big, metal-banded club. This was bad news for us.

The gnoll moved around and shot Rendar, who was up on the pillar still. Xoma stepped up to the minotaur again and gave him another shock. The minotaur seemed done-in and dropped to his knees. Xoma gave him a push and the big guy drops. I couldn't hear the crowd roaring, but they were.

Doongul pivoted and blasted the troll with his magic thunder. Something changed the glow on the found morning star to another color/sheen as Cypher appeared next to Doongul. Rendar hopped down from the pillar and made an off-handed throw at the troll with his found hand ax, it sailed by.

The regenerating troll yelled to the hill giant “KILL this one!” Meaning me, fun. I swung at him and missed and the giant swungs at me and missed. The gnoll shots at Xoma, missed, and Xoma shot back with some poison missile spell. Doongul ripped into the troll with his glowing morning star, leaving a nasty, messy wound with some eroding power. That gash didn't seem to be growing back.

Cypher zipped a bolt at the gnoll, sending him stumbling. Rendar smashed the troll's armor with his sword, spreading frost where it hit. The troll used its nasty mouth to grab one of the teleporting chains, then vanished, reappearing over by Xoma.

I smashed the hill giant in the belly with another sweet swing of the pick, leaving a nasty bleeding wound. He smashed me with his maul and the pain of that hit penetrated my rage. Then an arrow hit me in the back—the gnoll's work. I was starting to weaken.

Xoma stepped quickly away from the troll, dodges his chomp, then turned and blasted him with a spell he had prepped special for him. It hurt, but didn't seem like Xoma’s usual killer stuff. Doongul fired his new spring-foot but he seemed to trip and landed upended in the sand.

Cypher zipped another bolt into the gnoll, and all those shots had to be hurting him by then. Rendar swungs in to flank the hill giant with me and frosts him up good with the sword.

The troll screamed, “I will not be slain by a damned DROW!” and gnashes at Xoma with his fang-filled mouth, missing. That spell of Xoma’s seemed to get going now and the troll’s flesh starts to melt from his bones and then he sort of bursted into flame. I'm not sure if it was Xoma's spell or the troll's own messed-up body, but the explosion of fiery blood scorched Cypher and Xoma both. And yes, he was killed by a damned Drow.  Hah!

I mashed the giant, who screams and smashes me back. I was truly hurting now, and then the gods-damned gnoll shot me again. Xoma pivoted and popped another poison missile into the hyena-headed archer. I felt one of Doongul’s healing spells fixing me up.

Cypher shot the gnoll again, forcing him to move about. Rendar sliced into the hill giant, leaving a vicious frozen gash. The hill giant roars and that was when I slammed the pick into him again. He fell like a big tree and Rendar had to leap away to avoid being klonked with the giant’s unconscious head.

A strong voice in my head said CEASE!

Since the big foes were down, the rage recedes and so I stepped aside to cool off. The gnoll, ragged and bleeding, leaned against the rim of the arena floor, gasping for breath. Rendar gathered his thrown axe and Xoma moved over to join us. Cypher, ignoring the magical voice that I think we all could hear, reached down and does one of those energy grasps on one of the wiggling troll arms. He was suddenly picked up and hurled against the central pillar and pinned there by some unseen force and then dropped to the sandy floor. It seemed to me that when a mind flayer says “cease,” you should cease.

The pillar dropped to our level and kept going down into the ground. Xoma went over to check it out and Cypher joined him. The head-voice asked, Do you fight as a team?

I think “yes." After a minute, the pillar came up again with a bag and a chest. Xoma looked at us and pulled the chest open—full of gold.

We dropped the weapons when instructed. An ogre dragged our reward-chest off to the side. The gnoll took the bag and seemed pleased with it after peering inside. We were lead to some chambers to re-unite with Drix. We rested for a while, bandaged ourselves, and shared notes a bit. Again, the sense of becoming empowered flows over us. We have become stronger.

I think we are getting the hang of this arena stuff….