Gladiator V - The Onset

[Theben]

Gladiator Finals- Round 6

The crowd has gotten impatient with the Doctor, wanting him to hurry and finish off Spacius. A number of them are showing ‘thumbs down’ , and leading the way is Skanky, who topped it off by hurling a beer bottle at Doc.

“You threw that? I’m shocked,” remarked the Doctor to Skanky.

“That I’d throw a bottle at you? Why would that be shocking?”

“It wasn’t completely empty.”

(Skanky faints)

The Doctor stood by as Spacius bandaged his arm. Both were wary of the other, though, prepared for any sudden attack by his enemy.

As soon as he was done, however, the Doctor leapt to the attack. Without any defenses, Spacius tried to evade, and very nearly succeeded. But at the instant where he would’ve gotten away, he instead staggered from blood loss, allowing the Doctor to plow straight into him with the full brunt of his shield. Spacius fell down backwards.

With surprising energy Spacius jumped back up and pulled a knife from his belt, his sole remaining weapon. With a yell he charged at the Doctor and swung wildly. To Spacius’s dismay, the Doctor had hunkered down behind his shield again, foiling any assault Spacius could muster.

Spacius lost 8 hit points to drop to 9, while the Doctor still hadn’t lost any, and remained at 71.

Round 7, very probably final?

[Spaced Cowboy]

I conceed, well played doc!

[Kassiopeia]

Hmm.

Theben won't be around, how about I GM the next game? If people feel uncomfortable about a former GM gladiatoring around later on, I'm willing to quit playing as such - you do get to learn a lot about people's strategy and style that way, I'd reckon.

[DrSpike]

Feel free. You wont be excluded from playing later though.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Spaced Cowboy
I conceed, well played doc!

Is this ok Theben? I wanted to see the final write-up.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Hmm.

Theben won't be around, how about I GM the next game? If people feel uncomfortable about a former GM gladiatoring around later on, I'm willing to quit playing as such - you do get to learn a lot about people's strategy and style that way, I'd reckon.

Uh, I've GM'd it twice now. And, I do conceed, if you want, here are my orders.

0-0-50
0-0-50
0-0-0

[Kassiopeia]

Oh, I see. I'll be more than happy to run Gladiator VI then.

[Theben]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Is this ok Theben? I wanted to see the final write-up.

I guess so, since Spaced has conceeded and his chance of victory slim. I can do the write-up, though...

Gladiator V- Final Finals

Bloodied and battered, Spacius peered through his one good eye at the Doctor, wondering how he could defeat him at this late stage. He could barely stand, while the Doctor had suffered only minor wounds. The crowd chanted, "Doc, Doc, Doc..." and he knew that death was only moments away.

Suddenly the Doctor began to spin. Faster, faster... a whirling torrent too fast to follow- and then released his shield, which flew away from Spacius and across the length of the field. He stopped just as suddenly, and held out both of his hands to each side, showing that he was no longer armed.

Spacius was puzzled. Why did he throw away his only weapon? He can't be surrendering, impossible! That bastard must think that he can defeat me bare-handed, that's it! Well, thought Spacius, I still have a knife, and injured as I am, I only need one good shot to finish him. Then we'll see who laughs last!

Spacius smiled grimly, and held up his knife before his face. The Doctor returned the smile, but did not move, continuing to hold his empty hands out to the side. Spacius began a slow walk towards his old foe, increasing to a run, then a full charge. The Doctor but stood his ground, only moving in a small pivot to enter a fighting stance and put his right hand out of view. "Die, you son-of-a-*****!!", Spacius yelled as he closed the gap between the two, aiming his knife to cut neatly through the Doctor's throat.

Spoiler:

The Doctor sprang forward. For an instant Spacius thought he saw a glint of light in the Doctor's hands, and in the next moment felt something plunge through his chest. He stared down in disbelief.

"A... rapier?"

The rapier had pierced Spacius through the heart. He felt his life energy rapidly leaving him as he slumped to the ground, his own attack having missed the mark.

"How... where... did you...?"

"You still haven't paid attention, have you?" answered the Doctor. "I've always said rapier wit. The sword is a physical manifestation of my verbal prowess: I can call it forth at any time."

"But... why throw away... your shield?"

"Oh, I didn't throw it away," replied the Doctor, but now he answered to a dead man. He held aloft the rapier to the thunderous approval of the crowds, chanting his name once more, the Champion of Gladiators.

* * *

The Doctor went to retrieve his shield before ascending to the ceremony where he would accept the trophy. It was embedded in the wall of the arena, next to his entrance.

"Ah. Thank you for keeping your eyes on this for me."

On the ground lay the headless body of a well-armored warrior, fist still grasping a heavy mace in rapidly approaching rigor-mortis.On the shield lay the head, face-down. The doctor yanked the shield out of the wall and the head toppled off and into the dirt.

Two other armored men quickly got out of the Doctor's way as he approached. If he noticed, he didn't show it, but simply walked past and away to reclaim his title.

DA END

[Theben]

Congratulations go of course to the Doctor, who is now the only one to hold two Champion titles.

If you guys are still trying to find recruits when I get back I'll join, but otherwise (obviously) will not be able to.

Some notes for those who're curious:

The grey elf who made some cameos was, like Theben, a favorite D&D character of mine back in the day. She was a cleric/thief who worshipped a god of mischief and chaos, and due to her abilities and items was virtually impossible to find by hearing, sight, smell, or magic. One memorable moment she had cast a spell causing a full-fledged bar brawl, and another spell causing our mage to stand on a chair in the middle of it all and read aloud his poetry (yes, our mage was a poet). She had some small healing abilities, and had there been a double-KO she would've healed both contestants well enough for them to be able to fight again later, which is why she gave a spear to Spacius (to establish her presence in the arena).

Write-up epilogue for Spaced had he won:

(Theben, addressing Spacius Maximus): "Spacius Maximus, you've just won the coveted title of Champion of Gladiators. What are you gonna do now?"

Spacius: "Well, you know, I've given it a lot of thought. And I figured, heck, Doc's dead, Ram's dead, Bob is dead, even all the non-qualifiers are dead, except Skanky, and he's always wasted anyway. So there's nobody to replace me for the title, and you need a Champion, right?

I figured...(lighting up his pipe) that I'd light one up for the team. In other words, ME!!"

*puff puff*

"HA HA HAAH!!"

Theben: *Erk*

THE (shameful ) END.

* * *

[DrSpike]

Cool write-up. Hope you can make the next comp.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Now we need Kass to start a new sign-up thread and be our GM.

Okay, the thread had already been started. What can I say...puff, puff!

[Theben]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Cool write-up. Hope you can make the next comp.

Yeah, somebody's gotta take you down a peg.

[DrSpike]

We will see.