Circle of Death: Black Talon vs. Mad Ramos

Black Talon used to be a notorious thief and assassin, hired for dangerous and complex missions by the rich and powerful. As it tends to happen, overconfidence got the best of him when he stole an artifact after murdering a powerful wizard. The wizard's colleagues traced him through the artifact -- and worse yet, found and destroyed the man who hired him. When he learned that he was the next target of the vindictive wizards, Black Talon used whatever contacts he still had to become a gladiator. Most of the time, he travels around fighting opponents that he knows he can defeat. He is not in the arena for fame, but for survival. There are rumors that he joined the tournament to gain allies that might help him against the wizards...

No one is sure about Mad Ramos' story as he tells it differently every time: one day he might say he fought in two wars, while on the next he was born a gladiator, or maybe an escaped slave. He's said to come from Mirish because that's when he was first seen fighting in arenas. Barefooted and wearing no armor, his opponents tend to underestimate him until it's too late. [In this match, Black Talon is a rating 9 gladiator while Mad Ramos has a rating of 8, so I played him.]

The two opponents reach the center of the arena and the clash of swords begins. Mad Ramos attempts a stab but Black Talon counter strikes, only to be blocked by Ramos' shield. The two fighters keep exchanging attacks until Black Talon cuts into Mad Ramos' left leg, causing him to jump back defensively. [There was an awesome exchange of seven attacks, moving back and forth before Black Talon got a hit.]

After the intense start of the fight, Mad Ramos pauses to catch his breath, his wounded left leg instinctively placed backwards. Black Talon advances, alternating attacks with his two swords but can't find an opening, so Mad Ramos hits back. The elf attempts a bold maneuver, slashing with both swords but Ramos dodges to the side and cleaves Black Talon's left leg just above the knee, causing him to fall down with the impact. [And then on the third turn I got lucky, winning an attack by 3 and getting 5 successes on the damage roll -- destroying Black Talon's left leg and causing a bleeder wound!]

Black Talon gets up with surprising speed, blood flowing from his left leg in pulsating rhythm. Mad Ramos barely avoids a strike as he turns around and the two fighters start another exchange of blows that continues until Mad Ramos hits the elf with a high slash, opening a cut to his forehead. Keeping the pressure, the crazed warrior bashes the elf with his shield, hurting his right arm.

The elf is noticeably weakened by the loss of blood and most of what he can do is keep his defenses up, and maybe get a lucky hit. However, Mad Ramos won't stop in his berserker rage and attacks again, this time causing a grievous wound to the elf's right arm.

With all the pain from his wounds, and his right arm nearly useless, Black Talon attempts one last strike before the mad warrior can turn around. The two exchange attacks furiously and the crowd is startled at the elf's resilience. Seconds feel like hours as the swords meet but for every clash, life leaves Black Talon's body. It doesn't take long before he collapses on the ground, dead.

Conclusion

Who'd have guessed that the human would defeat the elf? This was a nice fight and I was a little less stingy with the bonus dice this time. The exchanges of attacks during the fight were great to play, with several counter-attacks -- they don't translate so well to this battle report. 

On the next phase of the tournament we'll have Grend vs. Mad Ramos, but the next match will be Drush vs. Sussimog: a battle between the strongest and the best-armored fighters in the Circle of Death.