Snakes & Foxes 3: The ****oo's Nest (Game Thread)

I will change my bet to the Dragon Slayer

The odds are not as good. I'll have to change my bet to 60 gold on the Dragonslayer

43 gold on the man with the bow.

I'll increase my bet to 62 gold just in case the bookies embezzle half a gold piece.

Late in the day, the Luonnotar limps back into public. The wound in his shoulder is bandaged, and his arm is in the sling. His body is bruised, and not all of his injuries were inflicted by the late Mercenary - some of the fingers on his hands are wrapped and splinted, broken by his own savage attack. Still, he manages to palm a gold piece from somewhere in his robes and give it to the officials.

"One gold on the Dragonslayer to win. Hesitant as he was to go into battle, perhaps he ought to have more faith in himself."

The Luonnotar starts to laugh, but then winces and lapses into silence.

Ya know what? I'm betting again.

10 gold on the Dragonslayer.

<OOC: Yes bet on the Dragonslayer, perhaps I'll finally get some good returns this way.>

{ OOC: The deadline has passed, but I haven't had time to look at the update until now, and there's quite some stuff to be fixed before I can post it. So please accept my apologies that the update will be somewhat delayed. }

The Bannor diplomat&#8217;s belongings were taken to a secret hideout conveniently located somewhere in the Theater of Dreams. Why it had taken so long to get there was explained by the Balseraph proclivity for throwing impromptu parties. The bandits, wishing to remain inconspicuous, conspicuously hit piñatas and set off firecrackers across the arena until they had finally managed to escape the festivities and enter the bandit stronghold. They were tossed into the communal pile, for eventual sorting...

The Firebow stepped out. He had a longbow about as tall as he was, but he wielded it with one hand easily. His ranger leathers were pretty generic. Actually, his bow was generic too. In fact, there was absolutely nothing about this man that stood out in particular. He was kind of tall, looked like an Amurite, had a quiver of arrows with plenty of arrows inside strapped to his back, and looked nothing like Legolas, although you could see that he was kind of trying with the ponytail that wasn&#8217;t working for him.

Next was the Dragonslayer, who presumably slayed dragons as a job. It was going to be interesting to see how he handled a smaller adversary. He had a huge, eight-foot long, two-handed sword that he twirled for the audience. Clearly he was compensating for something, but the crowd ate it up. Still, he was pretty boring too. The only distinguishing quality he really had was his weapon, just like with the Firebow.

A bell chimed, and reality predictably shifted. The two combatants found themselves outdoors, the Dragonslayer standing on a grassy knoll next to a wall twice his height. He instinctively looked up at the crenellation, knowing just where his opponent would be. Sure enough, the Amurite was standing at the top, bow in hand, ready to begin battle.

The Firebow immediately let loose a volley of arrows, one after the other in a rapid pace. They arced towards his opponent, casting rapid-moving shadows against the ground. The Dragonslayer cursed and leapt out of the way, jumping behind one of the few trees in sight, surprisingly wide enough to cover his massive bulk. Most arrows that struck him bounced harmlessely off his armor, but one luckily found its way through a kink in his armor and lodged itself in his shoulder. Wincing, he pulled out the arrow and held it in his armored fist, shaking it in a silent curse towards his opponent that skulked at the wall top.

The Firebow let loose the next volley of arrows. These arrows were tinged with red, however, and when they hit the tree, they exploded into fireballs. The flames raged around the tree, totally blackening it, and they licked the Dragonslayer&#8217;s armor but he was unscathed, dressed as he was to withstand the fiery breath of a dragon. Realizing he had to engage somehow, the Dragonslayer let out a roar and charged straight towards the wall with the Firebow on top. The longbowman hastily notched another arrow and sent it flying towards his opponent, but the large warrior was running surprisingly fast and the arrow harmlessly hit the ground behind the charging man.

It appeared to the audience that the Dragonslayer would use himself as a ram to tear the entire wall down, but they were collectively surprised when the armored fighter reach the wall and simply continued to run upwards, using his massive momentum to propel himself to the top of the wall with only a few steps along the way. As he cleared the crenellations he slashed horizontally at his opponent. The Firebow leapt into the air, nimbly dodging, notched another arrow and shot point-blank at his opponent.

Ducking while twirling around, the Dragonslayer completed the 360 degree turn he had begun with his first slash. Since everything that comes up must come down, the Firebow unluckily landed in the path of the sword, which, through sheer strength, cut straight into his stomach scoring a deep wound.

The Firebow instinctively leapt back to avoid his opponent, one hand clutching the wound to his midsection, but the Dragonslayer was surprisingly fast, even with his huge sword. The large warrior charged forward, using his sword like a lance. Quickly thinking despite the massive wound, the Firebow dropped his bow, took out an arrow from his quiver with the other hand and held it like a knife, the sharp part pointing downwards, with his grip on the fletching. Nimbly sidestepping the charge, he struck down at the warrior's helm, trying to find an eye slit. He was rewarded with a cry of anguish as the Dragonslayer passed by, but the blood flowing through his fingers was beginning to take its toll.

The Firebow slumped to one knee as the Dragonslayer managed to turn his momentum around. This time there would be no escape. With a final charge and thrust, the Dragonslayer skewered his opponent like a shish kebab. The blade went through the cut he had made before and exited out the Firebow's back. The good news was that he had missed the vital organs, but the bad news was that there was a gigantic hole in his body. The Firebow&#8217;s bloodied hands grabbed his adversary&#8217;s arms. Coughing out blood, he colored their armor red. The Dragonslayer solemnly let go of his sword. The Firebow took one step forward as if to engage his enemy, but then took two steps back (nobody gets too far like that.). His knees were shaking and he was struggling to stand. Suddenly, he slumped to his knees and fell forward. The bell tolled, and reality was restored.



The grumpy Dragonslayer refused to let the officials come near him, fearing they might try to touch the arrow that stuck out of his visor. He stumbled off to seek aid for his wounds, leaving the officials to drag his sword after him. It took three of them to get it moving towards one of the exits.

As both the Dragonslayer, his sword and his victim had all been cleared from the field, the pompous official strode importantly towards the center of the arena, only to be rudely interrupted and toppled by a naked young man running past him with a banderole reading "We love the Paladin". The streaker was over to the other side before security could react, but was subsequently clobbered by the fans of the Eidolon. The official with the parchment shook his head but got up from the ground and reached the center, before reading aloud the latest choices of the Marks.

"I have the pleasure to announce the first recurring combatant, as the Marks have chosen the Shaman to face the Minotaur in an arena of his choice."


Evening fight: Minotaur vs Shaman, Shaman gets arena choice.


It is now day.
All contenstants, vote for combatants for the next morning's fight.
People with day abilities, send me PMs.
Combatants, send your battle ideas to LightFang!

Betting is open for Minotaur vs Shaman. Place your bets in BOLD dark orange.

Courtesan an' Paladin -- can she corrupt th' pure?

(OOC: Will be afk most of the next two days.)

Lets see the Engineer fight the Runekeeper. At least one of these blasphemous designers of advanced "technology" will die.

<OOC: Permission to say some bad words.>

The Minotaur was disappointed with the Firebow, was this all he could do? Perhaps he will be more useful in the realm of the death. He was amused that the Mark had chosen him yet again to fight. It was obvious they saw him as a threat and rightly so. He had no fear of this Shaman, his trusty axe would guide the conjurer to the spirit world.
He still wished for the Courtesan and Engineer to fight.