The Games (IG-RO) - Talos, Raiju, Sarconn

“The stadium was packed full, brimming with eager, blood-thirsty fans. Antei’s newly refurbished Coliseum bristled with raw emotion. The Independence Games were underway and the audience wanted to see carnage. They wanted to see death. Most of all, they wanted to see victory.

Three combatants entered the arena from the ground-level entrances from different directions. Before them lay the great expanse of the sandy field of battle; already littered with stains of the defeated and departed. Broken weapons, and various traps and obstacles dotted the terrain. The three took their first steps into the Arena; the crash of heavy gates overtook them as their means of escaped vanished. Clad only in minimal leather armor, they would find ancient weapons scattered about the field. Three entered. Only one would leave.

Standing from his ornate throne in the special suite reserved for the Dark Lord alone, the Lion of Tarthos raised his hands signaling for the crowd to grow quite. With a powerful and steady voice he announced, “Dark Citizens, I welcome you! Let the match commence!”

OOC: Each participant will have three posts, one in each round. A round is concluded when all three participants have posted. You will have assigned posting orders in each round listed below

Talos will post first in Round 1, second in Round 2, and third in Round 3.
Raiju will post second in Round 1, third in Round 2, and first in Round 3.
Sarconn will post third in Round 1, first in Round 2, and second in Round 3.

Each participant has 24hrs to post or they forfeit that round and lose all participation points for this event, though they will still score in Grammar and Contribution categories. Participants may post the moment the person before them fails to post in time. All edits must be made before the next post is up and cannot be made once they are.

The First round begins with Tyre. Good luck.

Independence Coliseum
Antei

Talos gazed around the large Arena in awe, taking in the newest, and surely most expensive, venture of the Dark Council. From the sandy ground, already matted with blood, to the massive amount of seating, the Brotherhood's Coliseum looked quite similar to the one on Geonosis that Talos had seen in holovideos, albeit modernized and...darker.

The Arconan's musings were suddenly cut short however, by the Force-amplified voice of the Dark Lord himself, Muz Ashen.

"Let the match commence!" the Grandmaster shouted, raising his hands in dark benediction.

And like on so many previous occasions, Talos scrambled to follow his overlord's command; his hazel eyes quickly switched from taking in the scenery to the two other Dark Jedi who were sharing the Arena with him. To his left was Sarconn, a Tarentum Knight, while dead ahead was Obelisk Prelate Raiju Kang, the Rollmaster of House Taldryan.

"Ironic" thought Talos as he looked his two opponents up and down. "I have to eliminate an ally and a sworn enemy...ahh, the life of a Dark Jedi"

The Templar grinned as his eyes scanned the Arena for weapons, as each combatant had only been issued the standard Brotherhood gladiator leather armor, and been told to leave any weaponry in their rooms.

"May we bring honor to our Clans, gentlemen!" he said, letting his voice carry to the other two Force-adepts. "Oh, wait..I guess in this case, it's 'let me bring honor to my Clan and let you two bring honor to your Houses"

Talos smiled as he saw both Raiju and Sarconn react to his insult, flashing looks of pure malice at the Arconan, though the Tarenti Knight had the more vocal response:

"Hold your tongue, knave! Lest I cut it out!" the Krath shouted back as he tightened the straps on his leather gauntlets.

To his credit, Raiju settled for an obscene hand gesture as his response, before adding:

"Now, if we are done with the insults, shall we get on with this whole combat? I believe our brethren are screaming for blood...quite literally" the Prelate gestured around the arena, where Dark Jedi of every banner were watching, some placing bets and others cheering on - or insulting - the combatants.

The Erinos nodded in professional respect; true to most Obelisk, Kang knew when to stop talking and get fighting. Talos liked that in a man. It was a true pity that Raiju was a sworn enemy of Clan Arcona...meaning he would have to die.

"Couldn't have said it better...myself!" was Talos' only response, the last word becoming a shout as his eyes fell on a lump in the sand a few meters to his right. Praying that his hunch as to what the lump was was correct, the Firrerreo dove for it, just as Raiju and Sarconn made their own moves, canvassing the sandy ground for a weapon.

The Obelisk Templar came out of his leap in a roll and his hands became like shovels as he dug into the warm sand until, finally, his fingers wrapped around the object. Using his physical strength, Talos ripped the object from the ground and the ancient, but incredibly well preserved, sword glittered in the artificial lighting of the Coliseum.

No sooner had the sword settled in Talos' grip than the Erinos was off, barreling towards Sarconn with Force-enhanced speed. The Tarenti Krath was still scrambling for a weapon of his own as Talos closed on him and the Firrerreo smirked as he saw an easy first kill.

But the sword never finished the downward arc that its wielder started as less than halfway through it, Talos' hand went numb and the sword went spinning from it, landing point-down a couple of feet away. Talos turned quickly to see Raiju Kang, the Taldryanite Rollmaster, advancing towards him and Sarconn, one hand extended while the other gripped an archaic looking blaster weapon.

It took Talos less than a minute to understand what Raiju had done (he had used the Equite's small knowledge of Force lightning to disarm his Arconan subordinate), but in that minute, Sarconn saw his window. His fist came out of nowhere and collided - hard - with Talos' jaw, setting the Firrerreo's head spinning.

Talos rubbed his jaw and winced as he moved it around...he could pratically feel the bruise already forming. But fortunately, he wasn't seriously hurt, something that became quickly evident to his attacker as he turned on the Krath and with a snarl, pushed his hand out and sent Sarconn flying back against one of the Arena's walls.

In almost the same movement, Talos turned back to Raiju, where the Rollmaster had been watching the brief exchange, and summoned his sword back to his hand. It was only then that Talos realized his mistake. While Raiju may have been idle, he was only biding his time.

With his archaic blaster raised, the Rollmaster smiled and squeezed the trigger....

The sound of the weapon’s discharge was deafening, easily drowning the roars of the bloodthirsty crowd. Squeezing the trigger, a violent curse erupted from the Nautolan’s lips as he discovered the lack of an automatic function. Fumbling through unfamiliarity with the weapon before he could discharge several more shots, the Rollmaster witnessed the first bright yellow bolt drift off course and low into the Arconan’s shin - dropping the Firrerreon quickly to the dirt while the remaining bolts were delivered into the ground behind him.

Dust kicked up as the Arconan rolled from threat and reeled from the pain, clutching his shin with one hand, and within moments the Taldryanite’s vision of the target was hazed over by cloud. Wildly blasting several more shots into the smokescreen with only a single cry of pain correlating to the final discharge, the Prelate quickly turned his focus towards his other opponent. Lightly trotting backwards to maintain the distance between the Arconan and Tarenti, Raiju brought up the ugly sights of the relic upon the charging Tarenti.

The pale skinned Knight appeared to have rage in his eyes, ripping a rapier from its position like it had been thrust into the ground. After he had collected himself from ground by the wall, ignoring the jeers from the crowd that lined the railing above him, the Hapan had leapt into action. Spiriting towards the downed Arconan, clearly seeking vengeance, the bright flashes that dangerously smashed into the wall around him turned the man’s attention towards the Nautolan.

Sneering in annoyance at the clumsiness of his weapon, Raiju continued to trot backwards from the approaching Knight as bolt after bolt was snapped off. Slow as the weapon was the fire, the Knight dance between attacks as his body was swayed back and forth by the tugs of an unseen being. [DDG] Suddenly the succession of attack ceased with a dead sounding click from the weapon of the Prelate and quickly the laughter and applause of the crowd echoed above the combatants head.

A quick look of disbelief was shot at the weapon by the Nautolan before he turned back towards the incoming Knight. Leaping from left to right to dodge the mad swipe of the Hapan, Raiju reeled away from lazy attacks of the man as he waited for his opening. With much better agility than the man, Raiju’s antics drew more noise from the crowd like he was performing for them but the reality was the Nautolan was dancing for his life. Finally an aggressive thrust from the Tarenti left the weapon exposed as the Taldryanite tucked his stomach in to avoid it.

Latching his left hand onto the narrow blade, Raiju was quick to smash the butt of his pistol hard into the nose of the Tarenti. However, when the Knight failed to release the weapon caution fell over the Prelate as he worried about the threat to his hand. Rapidly, his left hand could feel the motion of the molecules in the steel slow as their warmth was pulled into his hand. [TCK] As the weapon quickly froze from the Nautolan’s power, the Rollmaster reamed on the blade hard and felt it snap under the pressure as twig would in winter.

Now armed with point and a cooling blaster, the Rollmaster was quick to retreat. A shove with his foot off the chest of the Knight brought the Nautolan back several metres and out of reach of any counter from the Knight. Awkwardly, Raiju spun on the ball of his foot as if looking to boost his next attack through the motion and when the Nautolan turned to face the Hapan again the pointed tip of the rapier appeared to lift from the aquatic creature’s palm before his hand hurled forward directing the blade back at the Tarenti.[TRW] Collapsing with a gasp of surprise and pain, the sound of the Tarenti was drenched in the roar of the crowd as they cheered at the sight.

Blood pulsed from the spot surrounding the blade’s impact and a hand quickly clutched the thigh of the Tarenti was he fell to his knees. However, the cry of pain from the Knight quickly was overcome with the howl of the Templar hobbling back into the fight with his sword raised high.

Kicking dust and sand into the air, Raiju leapt back a step as the Arconan hacked through the cloud. As if each forgot the Tarenti for a moment, the pair moved swiftly across the open arena as the Arconan hopped and skipped with each attack as he tried to maintain speed with the Prelate. Raiju on the other hand found himself on the nape of death against as each slash from the armed Arconan drew quickly and closer. Swinging and thrusting at the fleeing Nautolan, the two finally came together as the Rollmaster lashed out with the butt of his gun again when the Templar guard had opened from a wide opened swing. Several secussions of the attack rang into the Templar's face, but only dropped him to one knee before the Prelate leapt back and pointed the weapon's barrel directly at the Firrerroen's forehead.

Only a muffled buzz seeped from the gun as its trigger was pulled, and once again the laughter of the crowd engulf the string of curses that were uttered from the Prelate's lips. Abandoning the useless junk, the Raiju quickly tossed the item at the crotch of the Templar hoping to buy a few moments. Fleeing to the far part of the arena, the Prelate could be seen looking over his shoulder in panic.

The wide-eyed, panic stricken look was plain to see on the face of the baboonish Nautolan as he sprinted away with empty hands flailing. Whether it was the look on the creature’s face, the high pitch squeal he made as he ran, or the situation in general; the crowd amassed in the coliseum rejoiced in the entertainment. Blood, sweat and now tears of embarrassment had been shed for them; the match continued to raise the intensity of their excitement.

Both cheers and jeers were shouted at the combatants, with sections of the bleachers dividing themselves between their favoured. So when Raiju quickly leapt from the sandy terrain of the arena onto an elevated platform of one of the arena’s obstacles and continued to climb the complex, the crowd was ecstatic at the twist. Followed one by one by the hobbling Templar and the limping Krath, the combatants quickly spread themselves over the wooden complex at varying levels.

Highest was the Prelate who quickly made his way to the top, and had lucked out to find a beautiful two-handed scimitar resting there. Taking procession of the weapon, the Prelate was quick to raise the curved blade into the air and whip it around for the crowd to see, boasting the change to his fortune. Two levels below, the Tarenti Knight heaved his body onto the edge of the platform and slowly drew himself up with his broken rapier while the Templar quickly leapt back and forth between the lowest platforms directly under the Prelate.

The occasional taunt broke the applause of the crowd as each combatant sought the best ground and continued to move around the structure. In the growing suspense as the trio gathered near the center of the complex while still at differing levels, the impatient crowd was quickly rewarded with the sudden release of the highest tier. A howl of surprise and rage bellowed from the lungs of the Prelate as his platform dove towards the ground and then spun back into the complex.

The roar of the crowd barely drowned the large crashes that erupted as each platform was knocked lose and their inhabitants quickly ejected by the trap. Dust swarmed over the wooden compound as it collapsed, and for the space of several heart beats a hush fell over the crowd. Silence remained in the air until the choked throat clearing of the Tarenti first broke through the smokescreen and the suspense quickly drew every member of the audience to the front of their seat as they waited for Adas’ breeze to clear the air.

The blurred figure of the Tarenti quickly came into view to those on the north side of the collapsed wreck, and for many in the opposite section whom could not see. Men and women, Dark Jedi and hired guns, and apprentice and grand master alike were all standing from their seats as each swayed back and forth for a better view. To the east and west of the complex in the arena, nothing came into view expect the pile of rubble before the teetering block of wood upon its top dove off and the hacking body of the Arconan was revealed digging himself out.

Finally, to the south as the last of the cloud of dust settled, the dirt covered body of the Prelate barely came into view as he laid sprawled over the ground face down. Covered in dust, the browned body failed to even twitch from the Nautolan’s rumoured drug use. Yet, neither of the other combatants feared for his death as each quickly spotted the downed Taldryanite from their different positions and each broke into a dead run towards the Nautolan with their weapons raised.

From the view of the coliseum’s audience, each combatant appeared neck and neck as they each spirited towards the downed body of the Nautolan from opposite directions. The suspense grew with each heart beat of the crowd, everyone wondering which would have the honour of killing the eldest combatant. Fists clutched and arms were raised in anticipation, but the speed of the Templar rewarded him with the lead as he approached within metres of the Prelate.

His sword raised high, Talos’ form arced as he swung heavily over his shoulder. Sweat glistened off the humanoid’s forehead as they redirected the lighting cast from above, and his wet messy two coloured hair trailed behind his movement. However, as solid as his form was when he arced his attack; so too was his fall directly onto his face.

Shaken from the ground as it was upset by the Firrerroen as he caught his footing upon it, a heavy black chain emerged. Clipping the Arconan by enough, it flung the unsuspecting combatant forward to land face first mere feet from the Nautolan. Reeling from the embarrassment, and the mouth full of sand that had been packed in, Talos quickly rolled and hunched himself into a kneed position as he turned back to view what he had hit.

Barely visible to even the front row of the crowd, a small string of chain about two meters in length now laid in the open before its end furthest from the Arconan ducked back into the earth. A curious, and likely dangerous, event, it nonetheless had bought the Tarenti the time he needed to catch up with the Arconan and pass him towards the body of the Nautolan. As neither wanted to allow the other the prestige, Talos was quick to his feet again before throwing his body into the Knight and gripping him about the waist as he fell to the ground again.

For a long drawn out moment, the pair grappled back and forth upon the ground before one managed to amuse the crowd. A howl of fury erupted from the young Knight, and swiftly the Templar was heaved fully over the body of the Knight and hard into the ground upon his shoulder. As a cry of pain was released, Sarconn quickly launched himself to his feet back his body lifted into the air over the Templar and an elbow was pointed out to slam into the Templar’s back.

The sound of the two covered the low moan that escaped the lips of the Nautolan that laid feet from them. While it took moments for a sign of movement to accompany the sound, the battering between one another kept the Templar and Knight distracted for the moment while the Nautolan slowly recovered. A shake of his head tossed most of the dust settled on him into the air again, and the large black eyes of the Prelate flashed the rarely seen lids of his species. When it was obvious that his wits were about him again, neither of two wrestling beside him noticed the Prelate prop himself onto his feet and move in search of his lost sword.

While at first the Rollmaster staggered as he regained his feet, he quickly found grips upon himself and moved towards the wreckage past the chain - while keeping it in note. A conclusion never resulted from the brawling pair before one of them noticed the missing body and then started struggling to reclaim their discarded weapons. Before any of them had armed themselves again, Raiju calmly chuckled from beside the black chain.

“I’ve got to see what this does…”The words choked out as a cough followed the Nautolan’s laugh, and while he held his reclaimed scimitar in one hand, the black chain appeared in the other. A grunt of pain surged from the Taldryan’s lips as the chain was pulled, and while it failed to release from the earth it stretched itself a distance before a clung rang from the wall on the far side of the ring.

Creaking as it fell forward, one of the large steel doors leapt into the arena as if it had fallen from its hinges and the heavy slam it made on the arena floor shook each member as they turned towards it. For a few brief moments the collective breath of the crowd, the Arconan, and the Dark JedI Knight were all held while a large toothy smile crept across the Nautolan’s mouth. Shattering the silence, a bellow of annoyance and rage exploded from the doorway and immediately the combatants broke in different directions.