Session 13

General Summary

Dawn on January 22nd. Nex Pervenio were nervous, having never fought in front of an arena full of spectators baying for blood. The first of the first round matches got underway. The gladiators huddled in their dressing room beneath the arena, deafened by the sounds of combat and of thousands of voices from above. It seemed the Scorpions cruised the opening round.   Soon enough it was time. Nex Pervenio versus Mostly Harmless. As their name suggested, they were generally not very good, except for their team leader, Sir Strum. The 10 gladiators marched into the arena and took up pre-prepared positions on wooden platforms. Each of their names was announced in turn, greeted by wild cheers and boos from the crowd - it seemed Argus and Valun were the most popular, after Sir Strum of course. As each were announced, their platform rose up in the air, supported by a wooden pole. The gong was struck and match started. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thud. That was the noise of a hail of Dash's arrows taking Charlie out of the fight before he even knew what had hit him. The others dropped from their platforms and began to clump up. Sir Strum's heavy armour delayed him getting involved by which time his team were already under pressure. Mika and Dash harried from range. Shinobi narrowly avoided a vicious strike thanks to the Deck of Many Things' malign influence. Valun cursed Strum in the name of Asmodeus which was the signal for Shinobi to destroy him. Mostly Harmless were mostly face down in the dirt and Nex Pervenio had hardly broken sweat. The crowd went wild.   Warmed up now, Nex Pervenio were eager for the next round to start. Their opponents were Gutter Rats, a bunch of unwashed ne'er do wells from distant Albion. This time the arena featured large unlit bonfires linked by trenches of oil. No doubt these would burst into flames at an inopportune moment. There were also wooden platforms which constantly rose and fell. Despite the large arena, the fight quickly focussed in a cramped area between a bonfire and an entry gate.   Meanwhile Shinobi, Kendrick and Reynard were scurrying over from more distant entry gates. Cranforth and stig were causing havoc, pushing their opponents all over the place and knocking them prone. To make matters worse, the fires burst into life, scorching anyone stood too close. Dash was badly injured but Valun came to his rescue. After his massive opening salvo, Cranforth had attracted a lot of attention and was limping towards Porter hoping for healing but Mika pounced on him and took him out. The main fight was still tightly packed in the corner despite the heat of the fire. Mika pounced again and took out Stig, momemtum was building. kendrick and Reynard dropped easily and that left only Porter squirming and attempting to flee while healing himself, to boos and laughter from the crowd. But of course 1 vs 5 would never last long. After an early scare thanks to Cranforth, Nex Pervenio were comfortably in the semi-final where they would meet the Bringers of Death, with a sodden, partially flooded arena.   The other semi-final would be the Scorpions (barely taken a scratch so far) versus the Doomhammers (won a nail-biting quarter-final against their fierce rivals the Doomblades by the skin of their teeth, only 1 dwarf left standing at the end).
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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