Aporeu chronicles Issue 86: The Show Must Go On
Stories from the adventurers
This week
The first Colosseum fight on another world.The Show Must Go On by Codrin Yasen
The guild asks for written stories but I’m too lazy to do this kind of stuff. I don’t like writing, it’s too much of a hassle. I’d prefer lazing around and doing nothing, perhaps eat, look for new flowers or run around in the forest and eat again. I miss the forest, the trees, and the flowers. Speaking of flowers, I want to see Alyr’s garden. But unfortunately recently I have been training with Phann. So much work, I don’t like to train. It is so tiring. But dying is also bothersome and the training helps with preventing that, plus Phann is a good teacher. Speaking of Phann he must have been bored as he set up a similar colosseum fight which I recently participated in up in Jurassea. I was excited when I heard this. A new world! Can you imagine how many new types of flowers, plants, trees and animals I could encounter? I was so excited when I realized this, that I could not sit still. But due to how the fights went I forgot to ask about the flowers. When we gathered around Phann I saw a Halfling called Drestark, a Dragonborn called Rhodax. And a Dwarf Called Nebrotir, luckily this Dwarf was not so keen on animals as the other one. When we arrived at the gate I saw my teacher going through without any care so throwing away caution I too followed him. After exiting we arrived at a campsite in a warm jungle, there were a lot of people wearing heavy armor and carrying oversized weapons. It seems too cumbersome to lug all of that around especially in such a warm place. Seeing that made me quite a bit tired and hungry. Even thinking about it now makes me tired and hungry. I need a snack. Phann called a big flying creature carrying a basket and just stepped on it without giving it any thought. Not thinking too much I again followed him while observing this large flying creature. How magnificent! After bringing us to the city I thanked it and Phann brought us to a place to eat. Small cat-like bipedal creatures were cooking, they were a race called Felyne. They gave us a good show. I never knew that the process of cooking could be turned into a form of art, usually I just eat my meat raw as preparing it is too much work. But the food here was incredible. There was a lot of meat and nobody bothered to stop me. Even thinking about it now I get a bit hungry. Unfortunately, it was time to enter the arena so I took a piece of meat to snack on in between my fights. When we arrived at the arena I noticed that it was protected with runes so as not to hurt the viewers. Smart I guess. The setup was the same as the colosseum fights in Arnheim, three rounds. Oh did I mention doctor Vincent also came with us to tend to our potential wounds? In the first round, we encountered one large scaled beast with some smaller ones. They were called Jaggi, interesting beasts. I had turned into a dire wolf ready to feast on them. Seeing me, a large dire wolf, the Great Jaggi focused on me. How bothersome. Drestark disappeared somewhere and shot his arrows killing a couple of the smaller ones. It must be nice to be far away. Rhodax summoned a spiritual sword aiding me with the large beast. And Nebrotir despite being a bit rough around the edges managed to hold his own against two of the smaller beasts. While I kept the big one busy the others finished off the smaller Jaggi’s and Rhodax managed to deal the last blow on the Great Jaggi with his hammer crushing its spine. Finally. This was becoming a bit tiresome as I got a bit hungry, so I started to feast on the beast a bit. The meat was a bit tough but overall delicious. Moving on to the next round we did not see anything. But this time I turned into a brown bear. I must have been more comfortable with my wolf form as it was a bit unfamiliar to move around as a bear. Then suddenly Nebrotir got attacked by a beast coming out of the ground. It was such a ferocious attack that I thought Nebrotir would fall but he persevered. How dare that beast hurt someone under my care! My eyes turned red and I lost most of my reasoning beyond obliterating the foe which hurt my companion. During the fight, some more of the cat folk appeared, but these were more primal than the previous ones. They kept bothering me with their nets and disappeared. How tiring. Eventually, we had stacked enough damage on the beast which we know to be a Tetsucabra that it started faltering. Drestark managed to slay the beast with one of his arrows. Finally, Rhodax harvested one of its tusks and we went on to the next fight. Moving on to the final fight we heard the announcement by Phann that a Nerscylla would be our final opponent. I began to hear whispers among the people in the crowd. This sounded quite tiresome. I was tired and even more hungry. I remembered packing meat from lunch so I ate it just before this fight. I just hoped that this fight would be over soon, I’m tired. Entering the arena this time we were greeted by a forest-like area. When I saw the trees and vegetation it reminded me of home. Drestark decided to hide near a large tree, Nebrotir glued his eyes to the door ready in wait for what would come through. I again turned into a Brown Bear and Rhodax positioned himself behind me. But the creature was already in the arena as it suddenly dropped down from the tree Drestark was hiding in and attacked Rhodax with a web incapacitating him for a bit. I immediately barreled over in a frenzy while Drestark strategically positioned himself and did his thing. The large spider-like creature suddenly grabbed me and Nebrotir hindering our movement. I couldn't care less as I wasn’t planning on moving. The stupid creature managed to sting me quite a couple of times as at a certain point I could not manage to hold my bear form. As soon as I could, I quickly changed back into my bear form again. I could hear Nebrotir shouting something in what I assume to be his native language, I did catch my teacher's name in it. Weird. Phann yelled something back towards him. Moving on Rhodax at one point managed to breathe out a conflagration of acid and fire at the creature. Finally, I managed to get a hold of the Nerscylla as I ripped apart both his wing-like legs and smashed its skull. In my anger, I also let out a final roar as our fight came towards an end.
I was so angry at myself that I let the fight drag out for so long, that I put my companions in so much danger. Even when Phann came to console me I could not contain my rage. How childish of me. I need to keep my anger in check. But first I will have a snack and then sleep!
May I introduce you to me, Drestark. I will be coming on missions with you and will try my best to be an addition to the team. Just like in the story i’m gonna tell you now. It was early in the morning, after my second breakfast when I got up to the guildhall to join our champions in the colosseum on Jurassea. When I got there I found a long person already waiting for me. Phann, he called himself. Never met the guy and don’t know what to think of him. Seems wealthy, but also very strong. Do wealthy people really get that strong? Or do strong people get that wealthy? I hope to find out sometime. When my companions were all there, we left for the gate. With my companions, I mean the group I was fighting with together in the arena. Those were Codrin, a shapechanger. I heard he likes changing into animals, so maybe he’s a druid or something. They are capable of changing into animals, aren’t they? Don’t think I’ve ever met a druid before. Rhodax, a dark scaled creature. I think it was a Dragonborn, but I’ve been inside for too long apparently, so I’m not sure. And last, but not least, Nebrotir. A strong one, that one. I’ll tell you later about his actions. So through the gate we went, and what an adventure that was. The world was completely different on the other side. Full of trees, and even gigantic flying creatures. Phann told us not to be afraid of them, but I still can’t imagine such a creature to be completely friendly. And what if it would drop the cage it holds suddenly mid flight? The people in it would certainly perish. Oww, I hated that ride, but I made it anyway. We went to an open kitchen inn or something. We could look into the kitchen and the smells coming from there were amazing, I tell you. That by itself made my day the best in a long time. My companions started eating like beasts as soon as they could get their hands on some food, but not me. I kept myself clean to make a good impression. After lunch we were brought to the colosseum by Phann, who directed us to a room in which we were told to wait. It didn’t take long for the doors to open up on us. As soon as we were announced, we entered the arena and Rhodax made a show out of coming in. The arena was completely sandy floors without any possibility to hide. So it was clear I would not be able to hide behind anything. As soon as we were all in, the arena doors at the other side opened and a group of creatures shuffled forward. It was one bigger creature and 3 smaller ones and seeing us, they attacked, but we were ready for them. Codrin changed into a wolf and I tried to hide behind it. It was hard, because of the moving wolf, but I managed to surprise one of the beasts when I shot at it. We all started fighting as best as we could. Nebrotir himself was some kind of beast. He even once swept one of the legs from one of the smaller beasts, immediately hitting the one next to it as well. Me myself, well, I killed two smaller beasts. One in his hindies, one in it’s neck and Rhodax killed the big one. He tried to smash it on its spine, but it was so big, even Rhodax couldn’t reach it completely, but it was slain nonetheless. Immediately after we were directed back to behind the gate for some rest. In the meantime the arena was altered for the second fight. It was full of boulders when we came back in, so I had ways to hide. After introduction, the gate at the other side didn’t open. So we started to fan out and soon the creature rose up from the sand. It was huge and took Nebrotir by surprise. Don’t know exactly what it did, but it was clear it did a lot of pain to Nebrotir. So we started to attack until suddenly another creature popped his head out of the sand and threw a net over Codrin. Taking this creature down took us some more time. It even picked up boulders at multiple moments with which he tried to knock my companions down. But in the end, I did kill it by piercing his neck with another another arrow. So we were directed back to our side of the colosseum and i don’t know what they did to it when we were back there, but as soon as the gate again opened there were trees inside the colosseum. I liked it, because I could hide again, but don’t know how they did it. Again we didn’t see a creature, so I decided to hide behind a tree immediately. You could say it was a wrong choice, because the tree I tried to hide behind was occupied by some kind of spider creature. It didn’t really seem to notice me sitting at the bottom of the tree, because it pulled Rhodax in close with its web. Codrin changed into a brown bear and climbed the tree to attack it, I hid behind another tree and started firing arrows at it and Nebrotir circled it to stand at the back of it and attack it. Codrin seemed to have some trouble hitting it with his jaws, but after a short while he ripped the spider into multiple parts. Luckily we didn’t get swarmed by the smaller pieces. That would have been even more traumatizing than a flight in the carried cage. After another round of applause we left the Colosseum to get back to Arnheim and tell our story, so that was it. Our story I mean. I definitely hope to see more of the world behind the gate.
The Show Must Go On by Drestark
Dear ladies and gentleman,May I introduce you to me, Drestark. I will be coming on missions with you and will try my best to be an addition to the team. Just like in the story i’m gonna tell you now. It was early in the morning, after my second breakfast when I got up to the guildhall to join our champions in the colosseum on Jurassea. When I got there I found a long person already waiting for me. Phann, he called himself. Never met the guy and don’t know what to think of him. Seems wealthy, but also very strong. Do wealthy people really get that strong? Or do strong people get that wealthy? I hope to find out sometime. When my companions were all there, we left for the gate. With my companions, I mean the group I was fighting with together in the arena. Those were Codrin, a shapechanger. I heard he likes changing into animals, so maybe he’s a druid or something. They are capable of changing into animals, aren’t they? Don’t think I’ve ever met a druid before. Rhodax, a dark scaled creature. I think it was a Dragonborn, but I’ve been inside for too long apparently, so I’m not sure. And last, but not least, Nebrotir. A strong one, that one. I’ll tell you later about his actions. So through the gate we went, and what an adventure that was. The world was completely different on the other side. Full of trees, and even gigantic flying creatures. Phann told us not to be afraid of them, but I still can’t imagine such a creature to be completely friendly. And what if it would drop the cage it holds suddenly mid flight? The people in it would certainly perish. Oww, I hated that ride, but I made it anyway. We went to an open kitchen inn or something. We could look into the kitchen and the smells coming from there were amazing, I tell you. That by itself made my day the best in a long time. My companions started eating like beasts as soon as they could get their hands on some food, but not me. I kept myself clean to make a good impression. After lunch we were brought to the colosseum by Phann, who directed us to a room in which we were told to wait. It didn’t take long for the doors to open up on us. As soon as we were announced, we entered the arena and Rhodax made a show out of coming in. The arena was completely sandy floors without any possibility to hide. So it was clear I would not be able to hide behind anything. As soon as we were all in, the arena doors at the other side opened and a group of creatures shuffled forward. It was one bigger creature and 3 smaller ones and seeing us, they attacked, but we were ready for them. Codrin changed into a wolf and I tried to hide behind it. It was hard, because of the moving wolf, but I managed to surprise one of the beasts when I shot at it. We all started fighting as best as we could. Nebrotir himself was some kind of beast. He even once swept one of the legs from one of the smaller beasts, immediately hitting the one next to it as well. Me myself, well, I killed two smaller beasts. One in his hindies, one in it’s neck and Rhodax killed the big one. He tried to smash it on its spine, but it was so big, even Rhodax couldn’t reach it completely, but it was slain nonetheless. Immediately after we were directed back to behind the gate for some rest. In the meantime the arena was altered for the second fight. It was full of boulders when we came back in, so I had ways to hide. After introduction, the gate at the other side didn’t open. So we started to fan out and soon the creature rose up from the sand. It was huge and took Nebrotir by surprise. Don’t know exactly what it did, but it was clear it did a lot of pain to Nebrotir. So we started to attack until suddenly another creature popped his head out of the sand and threw a net over Codrin. Taking this creature down took us some more time. It even picked up boulders at multiple moments with which he tried to knock my companions down. But in the end, I did kill it by piercing his neck with another another arrow. So we were directed back to our side of the colosseum and i don’t know what they did to it when we were back there, but as soon as the gate again opened there were trees inside the colosseum. I liked it, because I could hide again, but don’t know how they did it. Again we didn’t see a creature, so I decided to hide behind a tree immediately. You could say it was a wrong choice, because the tree I tried to hide behind was occupied by some kind of spider creature. It didn’t really seem to notice me sitting at the bottom of the tree, because it pulled Rhodax in close with its web. Codrin changed into a brown bear and climbed the tree to attack it, I hid behind another tree and started firing arrows at it and Nebrotir circled it to stand at the back of it and attack it. Codrin seemed to have some trouble hitting it with his jaws, but after a short while he ripped the spider into multiple parts. Luckily we didn’t get swarmed by the smaller pieces. That would have been even more traumatizing than a flight in the carried cage. After another round of applause we left the Colosseum to get back to Arnheim and tell our story, so that was it. Our story I mean. I definitely hope to see more of the world behind the gate.
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