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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a great story from Gabriel Nightshadow, entitled

“The Arena”

Background music “Viracocha’s Demise” by Eliot Corley at www.opengameart.org

The Arena

Gabriel Nightshadow stood anxiously in the arena holding area of the Bear Tavern Brawl in Owls Head. Participating in this tournament had originally seemed like a good idea, but now that he got his first glimpse of his opponent, Gabriel was plagued with doubt. A fierce looking, but beautiful, red headed warrior clad in augmented plate, Caska DiFumarate seemed mesmerized as she peered through the gate at the match currently in progress. Suddenly, she turned, smiled at Gabriel, and made a throat cutting gesture! Gabriel gulped.

“You two are next!”, shouted the Battle Master, pointing to Gabriel and Caska. “Follow me!”

The crowds roared as they entered and took their positions by the stone pillars. Gabriel looked up into the stands and was heartened to see two of his good friends, Asclepius and a fellow Outlander who called himself Time Lord, cheering him on. Gabriel had enjoyed great success with using fire, lightning, and blade attacks against the elves roaming the forests near Kingsport and the vicious kobolds which had been launching attacks on Lord Ferig’s battle camp, but a human foe was something quite different.

“Combatants ready?”, asked the Battle Master.

Both Gabriel and Caska nodded to the Battle Master.

“Fight!”, yelled the Battle Master.

Gabriel quickly drew his great sword and ran towards his opponent while attempting to cast Fire Arrow. The spell failed as she ran out of range.

Caska cast Death Bolt. Gabriel tried to dive out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough.

Gabriel felt a bit better after casting Healing Ray. He cast Fireball, but Caska managed to avoid the brunt of the attack and was only slightly singed.

Gabriel finally managed to stun her temporarily with Lightning, but as he ran towards her, Caska drained his health with a Death Touch spell. She used Inner Strength to unleash a barrage of attacks with her Vanduul polearm. Gabriel tried to counter with Double Slash and Rend attacks , but soon felt Death’s cold embrace.

After Gabriel regained consciousness, he congratulated his foe.

“You did pretty well out there for an amateur, Gabriel!”, said Caska. “With a bit more training, you could do well in the Arena.”

“Thank you for your words of encouragement, Caska! I will do as you suggest.”, replied Gabriel. “I hope to test my combat skills against yours again next month!”

Caska bowed and said, “As do I.”

After Gabriel left the arena, he paused for a moment to look up into the dark night sky at the shattered moon, Daedalus. I think I have learned all that I can from the combatants here in Owls Head, he thought to himself. Best to seek further training elsewhere, Gabriel mused, as he stepped through the lunar rift…

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Please note: This is a SotA community run project, and any and all content may deviate from the fictional canon of the game.