Colosseum: Fight To The Death {private}

[Rhargn Etn]

Fifth Cycle of Kalendryas
Eighteenth Candlemark in the Darkening of Srennia
The Winter of Era I of the Celestine Mandate
Thirteenth Era Post Fractum, the Second Era of the Reign of Arabella
Paradigm: The Eclipse of the Sun

It had been spoken of that the winner of a battle in the city Colosseum, could earn up to two hundred crowns, even more in special circumstances. Fame and public popularity were also there to gain, whether fights to the death, bare knuckle fights, even fights against foreign monsters, all would spread the name of the one who conquered them.

An assassinistic gust tore away from the docks and through the streets of Nexus Prime, howling at all it met. Not the rich nor the poor were excempt from the million needles that seemed to ride on the beasts back. The grey canvass above seemed painted with the laughter of Gods who played with the Telath folk like they were there pawns in a game of chess. In all, it was a nasty brightening.

Rhargn had spent several brightenings of his in Nexus Prime watching bar brawls, as well as miling around outside the great Colosseum, thriving off the sheer savage emotion that came with the crowds roar. To the ruffian, those who fought in that hell hole would be seen by the nobles who watched the sport, as heroes. Now, the mountain man hadn't descended on the city for an easy life, whoa betide. He'd come to escape the peasant future that his village had held for him, he'd come for glory and riches, and what better way to get both, then to fight in the Colosseum.

The thought of fighting in such a huge ampitheathre brought the very essence out of Rhargn. He was thirty three, 6ft6, 16 stone, a real bear of a man compared to most, except giants, though he knew this raw power was at a sacrifice of speed as he'd found out in several adolesent scuffles. This lack of speed however was compensated by the natural ability of one of his build, to absorb beatings and then batter someone down with just a few hard hits. It was about time Rhargn fought for something that wasn't his by birth right. A future.

'Fine chuffin' job someones done 'ere', the titan marveled as he made his way up the cobblestone road towards the perfect marble ring. As it was, there didn't seem to be a pitched battle of might shown at this candlemark, however Rhargn glanced a few scruffy looking characters shifting off around the side of the Colosseum and decided to follow. Were they here also for fame and fortune?

There sat a bald, bearded fellow, much to the description of Rhargn himself minus the head hair. 'Guess this guy's got something to do with it all.' A deep inhale, and the ruffian marched himself over to the human, who upon closer inspection had apparently lost a limb. "Serale mate. You couldn't tell us how to have a go in 'ere could ya?"

" 'av a go in 'ere? Yeah..." A flick of the head. "... simple. Sign ya' name down 'ere and ya off."

Rhargn quickly scribbled his name down where required, and began bouncing on his toes in anticipation. "Right, so like when do I get in there?" Grendal could see the excitement oozing out of the wide pores of this newcomer, he seemed like he'd put on a decent fight. "Right as this is your first match, we'll need some time to promote it, so say in three brightenings on the twentieth candlemark come back. You'll be fighting on the twenty second."

It was finally starting to all come together, in only three brightenings Rhargn would be fighting in the great Colosseum. What an adrenline rush it would be, though surely they'd put him up against someone, or more hopefully something, that was about equal to a newcomer in the arena, fore they couldn't have had droves of walking carrion heading there, could they? Surely, they needed to keep some crowd pleasing heroes alive.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fifth Cycle of Kalendryas
Twentieth Candlemark in the Darkening of Thera
The Winter of Era I of the Celestine Mandate
Thirteenth Era Post Fractum, the Second Era of the Reign of Arabella
Paradigm: The Eclipse of the Sun

The brightening had arrived with a simple, cool breeze, and work was finished. Pure adrenaline coarsed through the veins of Rhargn, as he began to inhale heavily through his nose. The walk upto the Colosseum had been one of a wide variety of emotions: excitement, nervousness, curiosity, anxiousness, even fear. However, there was no backing away now and as the ruffian marched on, he pictured that some of the bustling crowd heading in his direction would be those there to view his fight.

Upon arriving at Grendal, Rhargn allowed an obscured grin to nestle itself under his thick, mattered beard. There were no real formalities as Grendal quickly ushered the mountain man towards a holding room. As they moved the ruffian began. "How ya' doing' kidder. I'm right looking forward to this." No real reply, bar a few hushed murmurs were sound. Now the duo had just made it to the celland with Rhargn inside, Grendal slipped to the door. "Good luck mate, hope ya' win this fight to the death." The door slammed shut. A fight to the death?! Who'd said anything about a fight to the death?!

The candlemarks slowly welted away as Rhargn paced up and down the room, swinging his mace about a little, anxious about the circumstances. In the hazel eyes of the ruffian, it was total unfair, he hadn't asked for a fight to the death. However, in retrospect, he hadn't not asked for a fight to the death either. Infact, he hadn't asked for any specific type of fight at all, so how was Grendal meant to know. Eitherway, there was no backing out of this now.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! On this fine darkening, we have a fight to the death!!!" Voices screamed out in uproar." "A gruesome fight for tonight! Between the newcomer: a bear of a man, the size of a giant, the strength of a minotaur... the ferocity of a wound up sewer pig! It's RHA...eerm... RHARGN THE BARBARIC!"An eruption sounded. The description was clearly an uneducated guess, but from where the crowd were at, did it really matter?

The gates to Rhargn's room opened, and in flooded torch and moonlight, elegantly entwined in such a majestic way. 'Aaaah great. It's now!" One final deep inhale, and the ruffian flipped his boulder like head backwards, his greasy hair dancing as he did so. Mace whipped out of harness and there was nothing more to do but head out into the arena. Each step was a million emotions. Each step brought more confidence and left behind fear. Pure adrenaline was all that was left in Rhargn's beast of a body.

Approaching the middle of the sand pit, everything seemed unrealisitic. The call of the roaring crowd was but a mere trickle of sound in his thick, cauliflower ears, the lights but a spectrum of colors. However, second by second everything came into focus and Rhargn raised his mace forcefully into the air, then the announcer began.

[Aydyn Blair]

Lace Briarfeld stood anxiously awaiting the raising of the gates on the opposite end of the colosseum. Much like Rhargn, she had only been informed of the fight's stakes as she was sent into her holding cell and she worried at the torn edge of a nail as she listened to the announcer declare the name of her opponent. Rhargn the Barbaric. By all accounts, the announcer was a notorious over-exaggerator who rarely had a chance to see the opponents before hand anyway, and thus Lace's opponent could be anything ranging from a giant to a scrawny elf seeking to prove himself a real man. She had seen fights before, had seen fighters laughed at, pegged with vegetables, when a description had proved false, their expectations ruined.

She twisted her grip around the hilt of the shortsword a friend had given her before the fight. The crowd was roaring just beyond the gate, their chants ripping around her ears and making her heart rush unsteadily. They had approved of him, had decided that he at least mostly fit the description. She rolled her neck, transferred the sword to her free hand and cracked her knuckles with a low grunt. She had come here to fight...not to have herself declared a coward in the face of those who might expect a woman to fail.

The announcer's voice rose over the roar as the shouting began to die again, anticipation driving the crowd to discover who Rhargn's opponent would be. "Facing the barbarian we have a towering portrait of rippling muscle, an individual who would sooner spit a man on a stick than give him a second glance: Leather, Breaker of Men!"

The gate rushed open and Lace grit her teeth, readjusting her grip on the sword, and stepped out into the flickering torch light that illuminated the circular pit of the arena. The crowd stilled a moment as the woman gazed up at them and her rough face tensed into a scowl. But Lace was an intimidating structure of a woman; Nearly seven foot tall, she was broad-shouldered and thick around the waist with large hands looked as if they could squeeze air from a man's throat with little effort. Calling her Leather had not been some sort of wishful thinking on her part: She was known around her nook of Nexus by the name, as Lace seemed too dainty and feminine for the woman that often bullied men into place. She had dressed appropriately for the situation: Her body sheathed in brown leather pants and jerkin, stained and old.

The crowd erupted again, cheering their approval of the match. The announcer, a robust man with a seat over the arena's centered entrance, gestured and shouted, "To the death!"

Lace hunched her shoulders, fixing black eyes on her opponent, and began to size him with the efficient eyes of a woman who had seen many brawls in her time, if not arena battles.

ooc: Maybe not written in the traditional "mod" style, but hopefully satisfactory

[Rhargn Etn]

ooc: Good style of peermodding I think

The roars that spilled forth from the crowd was enough to adrenalize even the most timid of characters into fighting. Pure, cold emotion flooded the pit of the Colosseum as enchanted lights morphed the fools who would fight into heroes for a night. It was perfect, and second by second Rhargn grew in confidence and anticipation.

The announcer called. The description given seemed to make the crowd erupt even louder then they had for the first fighter, but to Rhargn, bamboozlement was all that filled his words. 'Breaker of Men?!' The titan pondered, as he finally made out what was meant by this. 'I can't fight a bloody woman!'

There she was, more man then woman, a figure that a battle hardened veteran would have been proud of. All the same, it was still of figure of the opposite sex, and Rhargn wasn't sure if he'd be able to do the deed, but then it hit him. This was a fight to the death, and she'd signed up to it too, so if the ruffian wasn't prepared to kill her, she'd soon kill him, and then what? Be laughed at by his ancestors? No, this figure before him would be looked upon as if she was a simple street thug, even better, a street thug that would be beating his prostitute mother this istant most probably.

"For what is about to happen, I apologize." Rhargn bellowed, a cloak of guilt already draped around his stocky body, just for the thought of what he'd have to do. Pulling his leather gloves down tightly, the ruffian slowly removed his coat and marched forward. 'If I hesitate i'm done for.' He told himself, picturing the female as male. There was no looking back now.

With the ground between the two closing, Rhargn spied several clogs of dried blood upon the unrecently raked sand, reality was starting to kick in, and as the two finally came within fighting distance, he nodded respectfully, before lauching his coat towards the face of Leather, a death defying battle cry following. He wanted it to be over as soon as possible, for all the more time it ran, the guilt would build up. If she died quickly it would be easier for them both.

With the cloak fluttering towards Leather, Rhargn placed his left leg forward and bent his knees slightly, an instinctive battle stance. His left shoulder and therefore side of his body faced the woman, and with his mace in right hand, he brought it from behind himself and swung towards her midsection. Hopefully, the coat would have blinded or even entangled her enough to be hit with one of the flanges of the mace, which would surely shatter her rib cage if hit. Whatever the outcome of this attack, Rhargn would then backhand from top left to bottom right, before bouncing back a few steps, assessing what to do next.

[Aydyn Blair]

Lace glared across the arena at her opponent, her fingers twisting uneasily around the hilt of the shortsword. She was used to simply intimidating her opponents with her sheer size and bulk and failing that, Lace would often resort to a swift cuff against the side of the face to keep bothersome twits from pressing their luck. But Rhargn was nearly her size and not very thin either...and when any opponent held a weapon, the chances of getting a quick cuff against his head was going to be unlikely...at least at first.

She grunted as he shouted across at her, her mouth widening into a hard grin. Apologizing? He was apologizing to her? A bark of a laugh, its tone slanted towards mocking, erupted from her and she shifted on her feet, crossing one in front of the other as she cautiously watched his approach. He was going to make the move and that was fine with Lace. She'd see how he moved and if he left any prime areas open...a tactic she had learned to employ during street brawls.

As the cloak flung towards her, Lace moved aside, though her thick frame was not capable of quicker, lithe movements and she caught the cloak on the tip of her sword. She cursed, shaking at the blade and stumbling backwards a few paces as she saw his arm swing about, mace coming at her full speed. It missed...barely...and she snarled at him as his mace retreated in the direction it had come before it was finally back in its starting position, his first stroke missing. Although the cloak still hung at the edge of her blade, she took a few quick step forward, swiping the steel and cloth towards his head.

[Rhargn Etn]

The diversionary tactic slung forth by Rhargn had failed apparently, though catching the tip of the blade would cause some sort of drag hopefully. It was clear she had more athletisim to her then met the eye, something which caught the ruffian by suprise, but then again Rhargn had a suprise of his own.

A grunt of disapproval exited a heavy chest as both attacks sailed through thin air, connecting with nothing except disturbed sand. The battle was meant to be over by now, the first attack was meant to end things quickly and easily for both combatants, but no, she clearly didn't want things to go that way.

The sudden shuffle forwards caught Rhargn slightly off guard, and he stumbled back, left arm flailing behind him. However, quickly regaining balance, and with a blade hurtling towards his head, the titan bent to the left, before rolling his body under the attack, so that his head came up at the right, hopefully evading any chance of her hilt coming down onto his head. With her blade out to one side, Rhargn crouched and shot forward, using her swing to his advantage. As the blade moved it would be surely impossible to bring it back on itself. The bear of a man plummeted towards 'Leather' he gripped the base of his mace and the head so that it was horizontal before getting close enough to ram it into her stomach.

The aim was to knock the wind out of her and in effect knock the blade out of her hand due to this. If so, Rhargn would proceed to drop his own weapon and bear hug the female, while slipping his knife from his sheath and plunging it under her ribs.

If this attack failed, Rhargn would either try to flip Leather over his body and then spin on his heel and slammed his mace towards her chest, or continue his charge past her and out of her reach.

[Aydyn Blair]

Tall and bulky as she was, Lace had some agility to her...had to when living in the gutter streets of Nexus and a group of men thought you an easy target. But her agility only went so far. She relied mostly on her upper-body strength--her huge hands with their crushing grip--not the quickness of her feet and her arms often swung around slowly in comparison to those who were smaller and lithe of frame in comparison. Which is to say, with the blade extended, swung away from her in some hope to smite her opponent, she had left a considerable portion of her body open.

The breath in Lace's lungs erupted in a gust from the female's mouth as the mace's staff was forced against her ribcage and she fell down to the ground gasping for breath, the shortsword tumbling from her grip. Rhargn had no need to disarm her himself. As he launched himself at her, no weapon in his hand, Lace reached out to defend herself, her large hands grasping him about the neck, his own hands closing around her arms as he attempted to wrap himself around her

The grin she gave him was largely toothless, a testament to the brawls she had been in, and she put her weight into her arms, twisting to roll him onto his back and pin him down by his throat.

[Rhargn Etn]

Teeth clenched as Rhargn's first attack knocked the wind out of his opponent, followed by the release of his weapon, if it was to be a fair fight, then both would be weaponless. If one thing was to be said for the barbarian, he had morals, but would that be a disadvantage in the pits? Only time would tell.

As the titan plummeted towards Leather, he felt a masculin grip clamp onto his vunerable throat, his face screwing up in discomfort. The face she presented was rather repulsive, which fueled Rhargn into picturing her as a man even more so. However, the next thing he knew, within the blink of an eye, he'd been flipped onto his back with Leather upon him, hands tightening on his throat.

It clicked, no more would the ruffian see her as a weaker being, no more would he play about, it was time to tear the essence from her very body, and with a great roar, he ripped his sheathed dagger from it's holder with his left hand, and forced it towards the center of Leather's back. At the same time, Rhargn shot forward a right jab hoping to connect with the female throat, so that she began to suffocate on a collapsed wind pipe.

[Aydyn Blair]

Lace clenched her finger joints, tightening them around her opponent's throat. She could feel the soft flesh give way to her, unyielding and vulnerable. It sent a rush down her spine and for a moment the cheers that flooded the stadium were reduced to a low buzz as, in her mind, the sand pit was reduced to a vision back alleys of Nexus and Rhargn was only another of the guys that thought her nothing but a woman who shouldn't be flexing her muscles like another man.

She struggled to set her knees on either side of his torso, tightening them around him, trying to pin him against the floor where he couldn't do much but wriggle and flail at her. But Lace had not set eyes on the dagger sheathed as his side, had only had eyes for the mace he had wielded, or maybe she would have better prepared as he reached around for it and jammed it into her left shoulder blade...the center being too much of a reach with Lace on top of him, her body arched and rigid.

Lace's eyes widened, her mouth parting as she merely grunted, the blade shoved in to her shoulder, the tip scraping against bone. She jerked back instinctively, her hands loosening their hold. Rhargn's fist grazed the side of her throat with enough impact to jar her backwards and set her to gasping. Seething, had fallen onto her backside, brown eyes glaring murder at him. She was breathing hard and heavy and her body shuddered as she fought through the pain of the dagger in her shoulder. She struggled to reach for the hilt, but failing to do so, she surged forward, body hunched down low, to wrap her arms around the man's waist, her head to bury itself against her chest, and shove him down to the ground with the full force of her body weight.

[Rhargn Etn]

Each second that her masulin fingers tightened about the ever crushed windpipe, Rhargn feared more for his life. He could slowly feel his breath die away, as for a moment everything went blury. However, as he felt the hard resistence of bone against his blade, he mentally thanked the gods. It appeared someone was on his side, someone who had other plans for him.

The clasp broke and Rhargn gazed at the agonizing face of the woman upon him. It was clear she was in a great deal of pain, though now the ruffian felt no compassion for her. Instead, he fired his fist forward, catching enough of Leathers throat to knock her back. With her off of him, he heavily and thankful harvested the very essence of his existence, swallowing as he did so. There was no time to rub isore skin however, as the injured heathen seemed to throw herself at him in a desperate attack.

Seeing the desperado move, Rhargn attempted to roll to the side, seeing what options he had. If she fell to the ground, he'd immediately mount her downed body, and hammer elbows into the back of her head and neck, before removing the dagger and plunging it through her spinal cord. However, if she was to stay on her feet, the titan would quickly clamber to his and scan the pit, locating how far his weapon was away, as well as hers, and in what sort of condition Leather was in.

[Aydyn Blair]

With each movement and tensing of her arm muscles, Lace could feel the weapon lodged into the flesh of her shoulder. Her body hunched to charge him, her shoulder had contracted around the metal and it felt as if it were freshly tearing at her, ripping pain through her system. But she grit her teeth and focused on the man in front of her, her wild eyes tracing his movements. She saw him bunch up and begin to roll to the side and she staggered to a halt, even bounced back a few steps. Her breath was ragged but for a moment she simply stood there and stared at him, her body tense with the anticipation of an attack.

His weapon was not exactly close, but not all that far...perhaps twenty feet away, close also to the shortsword that Lace had brought into the arena with her. She followed his gaze even as her hand fumbled for the hilt of the dagger protruding from her shoulder. This time her hand closed over it and she jerked it free, her teeth clenching as she grunted with the pain. But she remained standing, though her body shook and she was clearly hurting. Then she lunged at him, the dagger flailing in front of her as she swung it right to left towards his midsection.

ooc: Not so long as I'd like, but...eh!

[Rhargn Etn]

The cold steel embedded in her flesh was meant to have finished her off in one swift attack, though she was still on the loose. It was clear she was feeling the almost unbearable pain a dagger to the back would cause, suprising that her arm had not been completely immobilized from severed nerves. It didn't matter eitherway, what did matter however was that she was charging forwards. Seeing the rush, Rhargn threw himself to the side in order to evade the heathen. Upon coming back to his feet, he scanned the area about him. Would he make the dart for his mace?

The ruffian wasn't the hastiest of characters, that was for sure and she would easily catch up if he made the run. This left a single option: to stand and fight. It was his last resort, something he'd never have done had he another realisitic option and so let thoughts batter his mind. His hazel orbs focused on her as she shiftly withdrew the dagger from her flesh. "Come on whore!" Rhargn mockingly called. With the blade out of her back, she was sure to lose blood fast, which would effectively wear her out and if she got stressed and frustrated it'd surely only speed up the inevitable.

She bolted forward. Seeing the blade whirl towards him Rhargn gritted his teeth and prepared for the impact. However, he wasn't just about to take a puncture, if the blade did strike it would be through all his tactics failing. With her arm outstretched, the titan threw his right hand towards the upper of her knife wielding arm, hoping to grasp it tightly. Simultaniously, he would throw his left hand at Leathers wrist, maybe taking a cut in the process, though this wouldn't be half as severe as a knife to the gut. If he managed to lock on, he'd pull her tight to him and spin his body so that his back faced her, while crouching slightly and attempting to snap her arm in half over his shoulder.

[Aydyn Blair]

Whore... Lace could not begin to count how many times she had heard that, nevermind that she had never been with a man before, muchless many. But such was the way of men and their ability to fathom a woman bigger than tham, stronger than them. They resorted to name calling to make themselves feel a man again. The insult flared through her brain, agitating her senses and burning her arms with a desire to throttle him, crush his throat, and claim her victory. But he had drawn blood first and as yet the only thing she had to show for her efforts was his reddened throat.

Swinging the dagger towards him, she slashed left to right, the angle of her blade cutting from the lower body towards the upper body. His arms came out to stop the motion, but there was a lot of force behind her motion, despite the wound in her opposite shoulder, and the blade cut across the back of his forearm, slicing shirt fabric and the tip of the blade slit open a deep furrow in his flesh. The wound was nothing in comparison to the wound that Lace had taken to her shoulder, but it was enough to send pain through the man's arm as she whipped her arm back into position and glared at him with a wild grin etched across her lips.

"Haya's whore," she snarled at him, throwing his own insult back in his face. Then she shuffled forward again, her massive body angling forward to slice at him again with the dagger, this time the blade arching upwards from the right, trying to slash him in the left arm.

[Rhargn Etn]

ooc: Sorry for short post. Writers block.

Until the over masculin woman had come at Rhargn this time, the battle seemed to have been tipped in the ruffians favor. Now however, the blade was in the other hand, literally. His attempt to disarm and effectively cripple Leather had failed and for his efforts he'd recieved a nasty gash to his arm, which upon creation had burned like all fire. With bloody seeping from the wound, he wondered who was feeling the most agony.

Rhargn had scars much like this would leave all over his body from his time in the village wrestling his dogs, so although extremely irritating it was something he could grit and bare for the moment. One thing he wouldn't be able to bare however, was another wound on the opposite arm and so when Leather pushed her attack, he took a long stride back with his left leg, turning his body to the side to avoid the attack before springing into action. While her attack was outstretched, Rhargn would come round the side of her and punch her wound at full force, before raking his thick fingers into the gash and throwing her to the ground, at which point he'd attempt to bounce away. It appeared he'd have to right as a hit and run artist.

[Aydyn Blair]

The large woman grit her teeth as she slashed at him, her body jerking violently as his fist came around and slammed into her back. She cried out, a sound more guttural than feminine and she stumbled forward a few paces, arms outstretched to break her fall. But she stayed on her feet, contrary to his attempts to otherwise.

Now she found herself closer to the mace that had been discard and she tossed the dagger to the far side of the ring, snatching up the heavy mace with a grunt as pain swept over her. Hard to carry, but she hefted it and spun back around, gripping the staff of the weapon in both hands.

Lace wanted to stretch her upper body and relieve the tension and pain that had filled her, but any movement that connected to the muscle tissue of her left arm only caused her pain. Even her right arm was starting to feel heavy, burdened by the wound in her shoulder. She was slowing down and it showed in the careful steps she was taking. But she wasn't about to give up, let him kill her. She'd fight until she could no longer move. Until she was dead. Or he was.

Stalking towards Rhargn, Lace adjusted her grip on the weapon and swung it towards his hip.

[Rhargn Etn]

The nexus of the attack had failed and his opponent was still on her feet, it couldn't have been much worst, until she noted the mace and took up arms. In exchanging his dagger for his mace, Leather had bought Rhargn valuable time. His hazel eyes scoured the sand pit for her sword, which he would dash for as soon as possible.

It was quite apparent that she was having trouble with the weight of the dwarven steel flanged mace she was carrying, something that could effectively be taken advantage of. As she got within striking distance and swung her single attack, Rhargn jumped backwards as far as he could, before rushing towards wherever the sword was. With the wound and great hunk of metal in her grip, the titan predicted he'd now be the more agile of the two.

Upon grasping the sword, Rhargn would offer the exchange in weapon. He'd make sure he kept a good ten paces or more away from her, before throwing her sword towards her. It was a risky move, but she surely wouldn't be able to carry both weapons and would maybe even be honorable enough to let a fair fight start once more. If not, he had made sure he had room to move.