Heret's Story

[[sage]]

You arrive at Bethla Arena, with Quetza. It's a grand site indeed. A large palace, with several stadiums surrounding it. You can see all sorts of people around. Some training, some wandering, some chatting. The surrounding land is beautiful too. Lots of green, a river, lakes, etc.

A robed man walks up to you, wearing a pendant with a sword, showing that he is an Arena Official.

"Welcome. I assume you are here to compete in a qualifying match, in order to compete in this season. I will need your name and the name of your second."

Quetza: Quetza.
You respond with your name.

"Good. Keep this envelope. It has your number and your 3 opponents numbers. Don't open until instructed. " He hands you a white envelope. "It's estimated we have almost 1000 gladiators trying this season in this area. Report over there for further instruction." He says, pointing.

You report where he points to, Quetza walking beside you.

"Isn't this exciting Heret? I've always loved these games. Thanks for picking me as your second."

Before you can respond, a young woman walks to the front of the crowd and starts hushing it.

"Welcome all gladiators. I am Arialla Riyas. I am the head official of this arena, and I am here to explain the rules of the game, of scoring, the season and everything you will need to know before you can begin your qualifying match.

First of all, the season starts with Area qualifying matches. You will fight with a fellow gladitor. You have three matches to qualify the season, and 2 victories, or a score of 200 or higher in one match will automatically qualify. So if you're two matches down, fight to please, not to win. In these games, going down in style can give you Victory by points even if you don't actually win.

After you qualify, there will be a time period where you must try and place among the top 10% of this arena by the month deadline, they will go on to regionals, then district, then finally the nationals. Regionals lasts 1 month to place within the 10%, District lasts two weeks. The Nationals is a massive tournament. The top 10 will be allowed to compete in the World Tournament to determine who is the Arena Champion.

There are two forms of Victory in this. Point and KO. KO's count, but a high point score is infintely more valuable. Points come from crowd reaction and the judges.

Do not piss off the crowd. The judges tend to be harsh on scores. Although the 5 judges score from 1-100 each, their scores range around 20 on the average. Only one Gladiator in history has ever scored over perfectly, and maybe another half a dozen over 490. Crowd Score is also very valuable, primarily because there is no maximum.

The other reason scoring is important, is because our facilities are more generous and willing to sell to those who earn more points. You may trade in points (overall score is still kept track of though) for money or to get training.

There are some rules that need to be covered.

Showmanship is a must. These games are to put on a show for the crowd. Exaggerate, make speeches while fighting, be dramatic. The crowd will love you if you are a showman, even if you aren't the best fighter.

Draws. A draw occurs if one player wins by KO and the other wins by points. It will count as a draw and 1 win in the category won.

The seconds don't fight. Thus, it is illegal to attack them, and will cause immediate forfeit from the match. You also may not attack your opponent while he is talking to them. The judges typically lower your score if you use your second more than once. They feel it was bad item management on your turn or some such.

If you wish to end the fight prematurely, you may surrender by placing your weapon down, bowing your head and waving to the opponent, the designated sign of surrender in these games. It doesn't usually go over with the crowd though, they prefer gladiators to fight it out to the end, but its your decision if you do or not.

Betting on other fights, and your own is allowed. You may set any outside stakes on a fight you wish.

That's about it. I'll let you get to your first qualifying match. The envelopes you received earlier, open them. The numbers chosen are based on estimations of your qualities as a fighter based on any previous experience you have. Lower numbers may not signify bad skill, just rather that you haven't fought publically before.

You are listed as number 637. You're opponents are 866, 248 and 501. 866 is first.

After several minutes of searching, you find your opponent. It's a young man around your age. He has a flail in hand, and a sling at his side. His second is a girl of around 15..

"Greetings" he says. "I am Ray, this is my younger sister Sara."

Quetza says "I'm Quetza, heret's second."

He nods. "Let's head to the stadium. We're apparently in Stadium 5.

The four of you walk there. A large crowd is assembled. You can see the panel of judges on the far wall. One of them stands up.

"Welcome numbers 637, Heret, and 866 Ray. Your fighting will be in a desert, with a small gorge, you will choose your starting places, on north or south side, or in the gorge. Gorge can be climbed in a few turns, and is possible to survive a fall. Do you have any questions about anything. If no, just say choose a starting position and say ready.

Ray says "I'm ready.

You ready?

[Lord Umbra]

I'll start on the south side.

(Ready)

[[sage]]

Heret: H: 500 |M: 200
Ray: H: 550 |M: 150

Ray chooses to start on the same side, about 20 paces south of you.

Your turn.

[Lord Umbra]

I'll charge forward and attack with my throwing axe, and then get my halberd out. If he tries to use any ranged attacks I'll attempt to dodge, melee attacks I'll parry.

[[sage]]

drawing a weapon counts as an action, you'll need to get rid of one action there.

[Lord Umbra]

Whoops, forgot that I needed to draw the axes to attack with 'em.

If Ray moves towards Heret...
No stance. Heret will charge up and use Concentrated Cleave. Should Ray use a ranged attack, she'll try to dodge. A melee attack will be parried.

Else...
Defensive stance A. I'll attack with my throwing axe, and back away.

[[sage]]

You have your throwing axe out, correct?

[Lord Umbra]

I thought that since the halberd is my primary weapon, it would assumed to be out at the start...