Monz’tera 16

Back in Fraduir, again. Thrag collected his share, as usual, but told me to wait a few days before starting the training. He mentioned that I’ve truly made a name for myself, so this would be the last time we would train together. After this, we would both be released from our oath.

I take that to mean I’m Name Level now. Which was always a weird designation.

I decided to spend tomorrow at the arena. There’s supposed to be a gladiator battle that’s good entertainment.

Ulled has hared off on some side-quest. He heard about a mist giant who was making trouble; really peeved about someone stealing his fishing pole when he was visiting the hill giants.

It didn’t take a genius for us to figure out we were the someone since we still have that fishing pole. I’m not sure what his plan is, but I think it involves wandering around carrying the fishing pole until he runs into the giant.

It’s a stupid plan, but honestly, it’ll probably work.

----

Monz’tera 17

The arena in Fraduir was almost exactly what Duromar pictured in his head. Stone arches at the top, a vast oval battlefield, and seating for thousands.

There were some surprising touches as well. Food and beer vendors in the stalls behind and underneath the seating, almost exactly like a modern sports arena would have. Garderobes, for used beer; not quite up to modern sports arena standards.

One clever vendor was selling padded seat cushions. Sitting on stone wasn’t terribly comfortable, after all.

Chariot racing was a regular event there, in addition to the gladiatorial battles. However, unlike the Colosseum in Rome, it wasn’t built to be flooded, so mock naval battles were not a possibility.

The day began with a number of parades. Musicians arranged in marching bands, decorated floats, exotic animals, dancing groups… Just add huge balloons and it would have been a Macy’s Day parade. The final group to enter were the gladiators themselves, dressed in polished armor. They were a mix of races, mostly human, but some dwarves, elves, and half-orcs too. Not one single half-ogre, though.

After the parades, the arena was cleared. There was a long setup time then, as natural-looking hills, trees, and bushes were moved in and placed around the arena. The locals must have been used to this since many of them used this time to purchase food.

What followed was a series of hunts. Archers, dressed in bright colors with fletching that matched, hunted a series of beasts. Each round was a larger and more dangerous beast than the last, ending with a trio of owlbears. There was a point-scoring system to decide the winner, and judging from the cheers, a local favorite came out on top.

The arena was cleared, and a number of large rings set out. Lightly armed and armored gladiators took to the rings in pairs, but it looked more like sparring practice than a show.

There was a well-dressed merchant in the next box over who had been friendly earlier, so he decided to ask. “These aren’t the top gladiators, are they?”

There was a chuckle, “Oh, no. These are the novices. Part of the training means getting used to fighting before a crowd.”

“One other question, if you don’t mind. Is gambling on the outcome allowed?”

To this, the merchant had a grim look. “It happens, but it is illegal. The duke found it offensive. At least, after he discovered matches were being manipulated with spellcasting.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

Not long after, the arena was cleared again, and horses were brought in. Chariots drawn by matched pairs of horses. This was a crowd favorite, and it didn’t seem to matter much who won, it was all about the excitement of seeing them race.

The next event was somewhat shocking. A line of a dozen men were lead out, all shackled together. A herald in a booming voice read out from a parchment. “By order of the Duke of Fraduir, these men are accused and convicted of cowardice in the face of the enemy. The sentence is execution!”

A black hooded executioner holding a sword nearly the size of Ulled’s stepped up to the block. Like clockwork, he took every head, then a horde of workers cleaned up the mess.

“Ah, I don’t suppose you know what they did?”

The merchant shook his head, but from behind them, another voice answered. “They were prisoners, who agreed to fight the giants for a pardon.”

The next event was pairs of gladiators, but unlike the novices, these battles looked much more serious in tone. Some of them even played to the audience nearby, which responded with enthusiastic cheers.

“Still not the top gladiators, are they?”

“Not quite, no. Working their way up the ladder rankings, this group.”

After that, an entire squad of fighters was sent in. Short swords, small wooden shields, but no armor. They were criminals as well, but they at least had a fighting chance. At least, that’s what Duromar thought until he saw the brown bears released to fight them. None survived.

There was a slightly longer break after that battle, and Duromar noticed that now the arena was the most full it had been all day. He turned to the merchant and without a word, got a solemn nod in answer.

Twelve combatants entered, each wearing customized and decorated full-plate and carrying a variety of weapons. Curiously, none carried a shield. Instead, each had painted lines of color on the armor, presumably to tell them apart. They circled the arena, each calling for and getting the cheers. After a time, they formed a loose circle in the center of the arena. From the box of the game’s director a voice called out a single word, “Begin!” and they did so.

The only way he would be able to describe it later was as a demolition derby with armored knights instead of cars. There was no pattern, no lines of battles. Just twelve warriors colliding in an orgy of clashing arms and armor.

Honestly, Duromar just wished he could have joined in.

Eventually, there were just two left. While it seemed like a long time to get there, in truth it couldn’t have been two minutes since the fight started. Blows traded back and forth until with a final clash, both warriors went down.

The roar of the crowd was deafening when one of them slowly rolled to his feet a few seconds later. Duromar couldn’t really hear much after that, but he could see the winner was given something. The other eleven were assisted off the field, mostly staggering along. It seemed none had died that day.

By the time he turned to leave, much of the crowd was leaving as well.

----

If I may make a bad pun, that was bloody good entertainment.

----

Monz’tera 21

Training starts tomorrow. Thrag seems more excited by it than I am right now. I’m the first student he’s personally mentored, and he sees it as a great victory that he chose me.

I take that as a compliment.

Ulled came through to say he found the giant and would be training alone for a few weeks, I guess he needs to level up too.

I must be feeling nostalgic. I looked back through my journal to see where I was a year ago. We were on the road from Arz to Fangerie, headed to school for the first time. Seems like I’ve spent a lot of time in school this last year.

----

Freta’kerz 1

Finally finished. It was a bit painful, trying to pound knowledge into my stubborn little brain, but Thrag is finally satisfied that I won’t embarrass him. [-20 honor]

We spent so many weeks working on Botany and Herbalism. Months, really. And then five weeks just focusing on fist-fighting. As much as he approves of the locking gauntlets, he was insistent that I be able to fight when I couldn’t get my hands on a weapon. And a handful of other skills, including one combat maneuver I’m really looking forward to trying in real combat. The character sheet is calling it Press the Attack. He also insisted that I sell the giant-slayer swords I was still hanging onto. After all, despite our work on the hill giant problem, there were still frost and fire giants raiding and having those sit idle in my bag was wasteful.

No argument here. Also, I agreed to find a new longbow, one suited for my strength. Even though such a longbow doesn’t exist. If I found a bow that used my maximum strength to draw, the arrows would shatter when I released the tension. Maybe steel arrows… nah, too much work. In any case, giants like to throw boulders, so having a longer-range weapon would be a good idea. I really wanted to argue against this one, but… I knew Thrag was right.

Speaking of arguments, I lost the argument about armor and Ulled. However, he did end up adding Bracers of Defense, which are what mages use. It should help.

There’s an auction house here in the city for buying and selling magic gear. I checked the listings every week, and managed to find some really good stuff to outfit us. Upgraded my ring of protection, then got lucky and found another one for Ulled. He should be in much better shape this time. That’s because we also found something called a Collar of iron Skin. I tried it out on myself, and found it had a five point bonus to AC. Which means his bracers plus this collar give him one more point than my +5 mithral elven chainmail. I feel cheated somehow.

Also picked up a handy haversack. Ulled’s bag will hold the bulk of the treasure, so I wanted something that had quick access to what we needed. And finally Boots of the North for Ulled, for cold protection. I already had a Ring of Warmth, so I’m set.

I think it’s time to stop delaying and go deal with the frost giants.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Name: Duromar

Race: Half-Ogre

Class: Barbarian

Level: 8

Fame: 65

Sex: Male

Alignment: CN

E.P.(+5%): 294658

Next Level: 500001

Str: 25/49

Dex: 23/31

Con: 21/18

Int: 7/75

Wis: 10/81

Cha: 6/87

Com: 4/50

Hon: 75 / Great (d10)

AC

Hacking

Puncturing & Natural

Crushing

Front

-22

-20

-18

Rear

-8

-6

-4

HP: 193 (½ vs. crushing)

Move: 16”

Reaction: +7

ToP: 96

FF: 15

Fatigue Check: 15

2H Sword of Rapid Whacks +2

Spd

Atk

M

L

H

G

BSL

4 attacks/opp/round

6 opp/round

-2

+10

2d10+17

6d6+17

4d10+17

4d12+17

14

Flaws: HackFrenzy, Jerk, Loud Boor, Obnoxious, Self Absorbed, Socially Awkward, Value Privacy, Armor Prejudice: Elven Chain Mail, Armor Snobbery, Weapon Prejudice: 2H Sword

Scars: Lower Left Side, Lower Right Side, Left Forearm, Upper back

Special: Infravision 30’, +1 to-hit/damage with 2H sword, Dense Skin, Tough Hide, -2 to-hit Dwarves, -4 to-hit Gnomes, Climb Cliffs & Trees 76%, Hide in Nature 55%, Surprise 5/10, Surprised 1/10, Back Protection 40%, Detect Illusion 40%, Detect Magic 60%

STP: WP 2H Sword, WP Quickdraw 2H Sword, WP Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting, WP Dagger, WP Longbow, WP Handaxe, Anatomy (basic) 24%, Angawa Battle Cry 22%, Armor Maintenance, Armor Repair (basic) 23%, Botany 69%, Cricket-in-the-pea-pod 53%, Dirty Fighting 18%, Endurance 23%, Establish Ambush Zone 18%, Eye Gouge 40%, Feign Toughness 20%, Haggle 37%, Herbalism 39%, History (local) 19%, Holistic First Aid 33%, Improved Charge 73%, Juggling 30%, Jugular Swipe 28%, Kidney Bruiser 34%, Leadership 29%, Looting (advanced) 25%, Looting (basic) 61%, Mapless Travel 18%, Mining 28%, Muster Resolve 37%, Outdoor Craft 16%, Pimp Slap 29%, Press the Attack 66%, Pugilism 57%, Resist Persuasion 20%, Rope Use 28%, Shaving/Grooming, Survival (underground) 23%, Taunting (minor) 15%, Tracking 61%, Tumbling 41%, Weapon Maintenance, Weather Sense 22%, Wilderness Running 30%

Equipment: Mithral Elven Chain Mail +5, Rapid Whacks 2H Sword +2 (2), Ring of Protection +6/+1, Ring of Coolness, Ring of Warmth, Longbow +1 (Str 20), Locking Gauntlets (2), Hewitt’s Handy Haversack, Money pouch (84gp, 5sp), Healing Potion (3), Handaxes (6), Daggers (12), Sheaf arrows (100), Elven steel elven chain mail, Extraordinary quality (+1 Hit, +1 Dam, -1 Spd) 2H Sword (2)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Name: Ulled

Race: Half-Ogre

Class: Berserker

Level: 7

Fame: 80

Sex: Male

Alignment: CN

E.P.(+15%): 275543

Next Level: 500001

Str: 20/04 (22/04)

Dex: 17/74

Con: 19/27

Int: 7/79

Wis: 7/24

Cha: 10/01

Com: 2/69

Hon: Great

Front AC: -14

Rear AC: -11

Berserk Front AC: -22

Berserk Rear AC: -19

HP: 132/140 (immune to crushing)

Move: 13”

Reaction: +4

ToP: 74

FF: 9

Fatigue Check: 13

Jack

Spd

Atk

M

L

H

G

BSL

vs. True Giant

-4

+7

4d8+12

4d12+12

8d6+12

8d8+12

12

vs. Giant-kin

-4

+7

2d8+12

2d12+12

4d6+12

4d8+12

12

vs. others

-4

+6

2d8+11

2d12+11

4d6+11

4d8+11

11

Berserk

+0

+1

+2

+1

Flaws: HackFrenzy, HackLust, Armor Snobbery, Clingy

Scars: Left Hip

Special: Infravision 30’, +1 to-hit/damage with longsword, Dense Skin, Tough Hide, -2 to-hit Dwarves, -4 to-hit Gnomes

STP: WP 2H Sword, WP Longsword, WP Handaxe, WP Footman’s Flail, Dirty Fighting 58%, Muster Resolve 25%, Weapon Maintenance, Unyielding

Equipment: Giant-Slayer Huge Longsword +2 ‘Jack’, 2H Sword, Bracers of Defense (AC2), Ring of Protection +6/+1, Ring of Regeneration, Collar of Iron Skin, Boots of the North, Bag of Endless Storage, 38050gp, 21cp