Aporeu chronicles Issue 347: Champions of the Colosseum 16
Stories from the adventurers
This issue
A legend visits the Colosseum, and raises the stakes in a fight to the death! How will the adventurers fare in the arena with their lives on the line?Champions of the Colosseum 16
Greetings champions!We of the colosseum are once again challenging members of the renowned Arnheim Adventurer’s Guild to show their abilities in the arena.
This time, legendary warrior Osvult, also known as the Demonaxe, is gracing our ring with his presence. He has made the bold claim that he can face a whole group of you single-handedly.
Before you can prove him wrong, you will first have to prove yourselves worthy of facing such a legend in the arena. Be sure to give our fans a good show in the process!
Roland McHarmon
Heya there my fellow blood-thirsty combat sports fanatics! This is Roland McHarmon with another edition of the Blood Report; your weekly account and analysis of brutal battles straight from the Colosseum of Arnheim! This time, we’ve got an extra exciting edition for you, seeing as our very own Colosseum was host to a mythical mercenary, the master of massacres, Osvult, the Demonaxe! Rumor has it that this living legend has been appearing on battlefields all across Chronicle for decades, or even centuries, always leaving every enemy exterminated. In an attempt to prove themselves worthy of taking a shot at Osvult, several groups of aspiring champions signed up to battle it out. One of these matches in particular drew a sizable slew of spectators. Representing team blue was a group of the always appealing adventurers. This promising party contained two newcomers; “Quartermaster” Grianne, a blue beauty from beyond the ocean; and Berar von Dinkelheim, of the esteemed Dinkelheim family, proprietors of Dinkel’s Jingles. The other three were faces familiar to the fans; Khanivore “The Devourer”, Joachim “The Butcher of Altdorf”, and Angus “The Rock” McHaggus. The poor saps who drew the short straws, selected to face off against the adventurers as the red team, were an unfamiliar group, and it seems unlikely their names will be remembered after such an abysmal performance. Nevertheless, I will note them here out of pity. Brianna, the fierce protector; Rico, the half-elf cat burglar; Jerren, the analytical arcanist; Levity, the cheerful tiefling minstrel; and their leader, the savage dragonborn Saxan. The arena: A four-quadrant battlefield of various terrain. The goal: To capture and hold three out of the four flags located in the corners of the arena. Ruzak Rumblebringer gave the starting signal, and immediately the adventurers proved their superior mobility. Both Berar and Joachim took to the air with the help of their winged footwear, while Angus jumped up a twenty foot ledge in a single bound, and the bestial Khanivore slithered across the arena like a snake, unperturbed by any obstacles. Within seconds, the adventurers dominated the arena. Desperate to save face, the red team put up a counter effort, but remained always a step behind. In the end, they were only able to stall their overwhelming opposition for a short time before their seemingly inevitable loss.
Having proven themselves the superior conquerors, the almighty adventurers advanced to the next round, where they faced off against a grisly group of giants. These onerous ogres were no match for the adventurers either, who cut a swath through their numbers. Only the leader of the ogres, a hooded hulk with blue skin and arcane abilities, caused any serious damage by conjuring a cone of cold energy to blast the adventurers with. But even that proved only a futile attempt, as the big brutes were finished soon after.
With that, the adventurers had caught the attention of Osvult, who claimed himself capable of facing the victorious fighters single-handedly! To make matters even more exciting, the Demonaxe raised the stakes by challenging the champions to put their lives on the line in a fight to the death!
That evening, you could taste the tension in the air, as the assembled audience anxiously awaited the adventurers’ arrival in the arena. There, they faced the Demonaxe himself in an appropriately hellish landscape, featuring a ruined bridge across a river of lava.
Would the legend live up to the rumors? Or would these able adventurers put an end to the myth? At first, the outcome seemed obvious; though Osvult swung his signature weapon with great might, his opponents unleashed a barrage of blows that no mere mortal could withstand. Bleeding from a dozen wounds, it seemed the end was nigh for this supposed immortal warrior.
However, Osvult’s maniacal grin did not falter for even a moment, and the cause soon became clear. With a terrible twisting and tearing of flesh, the legendary warrior’s human form grew to grotesque size. Where once was Oswald, now stood a towering demonic figure, wielding an enormous axe of twisted black iron.
With the audience aghast, the combat continued. Having exhausted much of their strength in the first moments of the fight, the adventurers now struggled to hold their own against their fiendish foe. Fiery fissures, raining blood, the hazards summoned forth by the demonic Osvult truly transformed the ring into an abyssal arena.
One by one, the adventurers fell, until none were left standing to face the fiend. The crowd held their collective breath, dreading what was to come. Sure, the promise of a fight to the death had sounded exciting at first, but did the fans really sign up to see their favorite fighters mercilessly massacred?
At that moment, ringmaster Ruzak made an executive decision, calling an end to the fight. Though this went against the spirit of the match, I wager few fans opposed the decision. Arena mages rushed to weave their spells of binding, trying desperately to see the adventurers spared. However, the monstrous Osvult was not so easily tamed. Despite the best efforts of arena personnel, the fiend managed one final blow with its massive axe before being restrained. This one last savage strike proved tragically fatal to Berar von Dinkelheim, who had fought so valiantly. Though a newcomer to the arena, the name of Berar von Dinkelheim will not soon be forgotten by the fans.
Roland McHarmon, Colosseum connoisseur.
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