Aporeu chronicles Issue 99: The Colosseum: Enter Sandman

Stories from the adventurers

This week

Three brave adventurers trying on the colosseum.

The Colosseum: Enter Sandman by Barruk

After multiple quests I finally found some real fighters. I fought with heroes that do not mind fighting an enemy the right way, in close combat. Of course that is what you would expect when your quest is to fight in the colosseum.
When I arrived I met the heroes with whom I would form a team. I was pleasantly surprised they were both big and looked strong, of course not as big as I am but they are not Minotaurs so what do you expect. My companions were:

• Data: A strange creature. He could be a human in a very strange wooden and metal armor. But I got the impression that he was not human at all, but more like a Golem or a construct. Either way I was very happy that he was part of the team. Most attacks on him didn’t do any real damage (if he was indeed wearing a magical armor I must find out how he got it, I want one of those). He was also able to help me the few times I got into trouble, of course I would have been fine without the help, but it was appreciated nonetheless.
• Codrin: When I first saw him I knew that I would like him. He is a real primal force. He is a human who is not afraid to give into his primal self. He could shapeshift into strong animals, killing dozens of enemies. Even when he was in his human form he used his claws to kill the opponents. I loved it when he got really angry especially in the first fight, he just shrugged off most hits. In the last fight he did not get so mad anymore. Which I was fine with, that left opponents for me to kill. He is an ideal guy to have next to you in a fight.

When we got in the arena we were met by Ruzak Rumblebringer. He explained the rules, basically there are no rules (just how I like it) and try to entertain the audience. Then we were brought to a platform which would bring us to the arena. We heard the announcer tell the audience that some fan had designed the challenges and that it had a specific theme. When the platform brought us in the arena we saw many sarcophagi, cadavers and small buildings. We prepared for a fight. Suddenly many of the cadavers came to life... Undead... They are normally easy to kill. Especially when Data did something and most of the mummies started running away from him. Codrin turned into a wolf and started eating the few mummies that did not get away. I also got to destroy a couple of mummies. Although they were really tricky to kill. One of them in particular, I almost split him in two but he kept on standing and fighting. Another lost both his arms and he still tried to head-butt me (that was a mistake, and the last thing he ever did). More mummies appeared, also two which were strange, they looked different and they had strange powers. To the untrained eye it might seem like they were able to paralyze me with fear just by looking at me. But that was not true at all. I was standing still so I could think of a strategy to kill them. Yes, that is what I did, thinking, not trembling in fear. I was told great warriors often stop fighting to think of a plan. I wanted to try that. There was even one huge mummy, but Data only had to hit him once and he died, he was a weakling.

When we finally slayed all the mummies we were suddenly attacked by a lot of swarms of small scorpions. These were surprisingly hard to hit, and their sting did hurt. To the untrained eye it might have looked like I was almost killed (twice). But I can assure you that both times it just looked like I passed out and Data had to heal me. I was just resting and lulling the scorpions in a false sense of security. I would have gotten up without the healing potions. Both Data and Codrin really showed that they were great exterminators. They killed many small scorpions. However we all know the saying “When you see many small scorpions the giant scorpion is never far away”. So naturally, a giant scorpion also appeared. Finally a challenge worthy of our great party. Both Data and Codrin fought heroically, opening the scorpion up for me to make a jumping attack with my great axe, cutting the tail of the scorpion off before killing him.
After we killed the scorpion the arena was flooded by many lizard people with burning weapons. I thought they were new challengers and got ready to fight them. However, they just started dancing, they were the halftime entertainment. We got our well-deserved break.
After the break we finally got to the main fight. That being said, we had to fight some annoying little creatures. 2 dust mephits appeared, but they were immediately joined by seven of their friends. Furthermore a huge Sand Elemental also joined the fight. While Codrin focused on the elemental, Data and I decided to get rid of the mephits. Their creatures were not that hard to kill, however every time one got killed it disappeared leaving a cloud of sand and dust. The sand kept on getting in your eyes blinding you. Luckily it also blinded the other mephits. Fighting blinded is a bit more tricky than I thought it would be. Not impossible, if you keep on swinging you will hit something, but more tricky. Data had the good idea of standing a couple of feet away from the mephits when killing them. This helped with the killing of the mephits. After killing some mephits I decided to leave the rest to Data, he seemed like a creature that can handle a couple of small mephits. And Codrin had to handle the Elemental on top of some mephits. When I arrived at the fight of the elemental Codrin had already hurt it a lot. The elemental was also not that fond of my great axe. Shortly thereafter we were able to kill all the mephits and that left us with the elemental. We were all looking worse for wear, but we endured the pain and kept on trying to hurt the elemental. By doing so much damage to the elemental that it decreased in size, leaving it open for Codrin. When the Elemental was small enough Codrin just picked him up and destroyed him with his claws.
Afterwards the crowd got wild, they really enjoyed the great show these three heroes gave them. I have to say I like this straightforward fighting. This time I did not have to figure out who the enemies were. Just fight everything that approaches you. I will join a new colosseum fight as soon as possible. That being said I would not mind not seeing scorpions anytime soon.

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On the next issue:

Once More, With Feeling