Chapter 6 – The Arena
The adventurers continued into the ruined city of Dire Maul. Despite the crumbling walls, fallen columns and overgrown paths, it was obvious that this had once been a beautiful elven city. The architecture was very much like the current elven capitol of Darnassus. Stone hallways with elegant carpets led visitors into the main courtyard of the city. Of course the walls of the hallway were now overgrown with the vegetation of the harsh forest, and the carpets were worn and faded from generations of exposure to the elements. The Gordok Ogres had made themselves at home in the ruins of this once proud city.
As they ventured further down the hallways they were careful to avoid as many of the ogre sentries as possible, but it was not easy. The ogres tamed packs of wild dogs to patrol the city. Getting by the slow, dumb ogres was hardly a challenge, but outsmarting the keen senses of the dogs was another problem entirely. The party moved slowly, waiting for the packs of patrolling dogs to move to another area before pressing ahead.
Finally they reached the main courtyard of Dire Maul. It was a huge area with three separate hallways to the north, east and west leading to different sections of the city. In the center of the courtyard was a large arena. The arena had once been the site of great duels - a place for proud warriors and champions. Now, like the rest of the city, it was in shambles. The columns which once lined the outside of the arena were mostly gone, and the ones that remained looked as if they would tumble at any moment. The forest plant life worked its way through the thick stone slabs and grew over everything.
"Any idea which hallway we should take?" Rosefire looked at Shiner.
"Not a clue. Our guy could be anywhere in this city. For all we know he's not even here any more. It's very possible he didn't get along with the locals and decided to find a safer place to hide out!"
"If I remember correctly, the north and west hallways lead to a rather large library." Lien replied. "That may be the best place to start looking."
"Sounds good to me. Let's start to the north and see where that takes us." Shiner led the group around the large courtyard toward the northern hallway. As they approached the edges of the arena they distinctly heard the sound of steel clashing against steel. They also heard the unmistakable grunting of orcs. "Hold up!" Shiner warned the group. "There's someone in the arena. I'm going to take a closer look." She disappeared into the shadows and crept closer to the edge of the arena.
Inside she saw a large group of Horde. She counted seven total, mostly orcs but she did see one tauren and one troll. Two orcs were in the center of the arena fighting, and the rest were standing around them in a circle, cheering the fighters on. She snuck closer to get a better look.
The two orcs appeared to be warriors. The first one was definitely more skilled and a better fighter than the other. He was wielding a large two-handed sword, and he swung it over his head with tremendous force. It was all the second orc could do to get his shield up and block the deadly attacks of his opponent. The sword glanced off the shield and struck the defender on the shoulder of his sword arm. Were it not for the plate mail armor the orc was wearing, he surely would have lost his limb.
With each devastating blow from the more powerful orc, the group of onlookers cheered and pointed, taunting the weaker orc mercilessly. Shiner caught herself feeling a bit sorry for the weaker orc. She began to sneak closer to the fight and into position behind the larger of the two warriors. Shiner kept a careful watch on the rest of the group standing around to make sure she wasn't detected. As the two fighters danced around the floor of the arena, Shiner moved in behind the stronger orc. She waited until the orc positioned himself between her and the group of onlookers so she could slip out of the shadows, backstab the orc, and then slip away – hopefully unseen by the rest of the Horde.
When the positioning was perfect and the opportunity was open Shiner drew her daggers back and plunged them deep into the lower back of the stronger orc. As she was trained to do, Shiner found the gaps in the orc's armor and pierced her blades into his spine, temporarily rendering him paralyzed. As quickly as she had struck, she slipped back into the shadows and backed away from the fighters. She was sure she hadn't been seen, but she prepared to run just in case.
The weaker orc paused a moment, taken back by the turn of events. The flurry of attacks from his opponent had ceased, and the stronger orc just stood there in front of him, shoulders slumped and sword at his side. The weaker orc quickly came to his senses and jabbed his blade into the side of the stunned orc. Blood rushed out of the wound like a river, and the larger orc fell to the ground in a pile, defeated.
The rest of the Horde group stood there in disbelief. The cheering had stopped, and their gaze was fixed not on the victorious orc, but on the corpse of the dead orc lying on the stone floor of the arena. Finally one of them looked up at the winner and cocked his head. He grunted a few words that Shiner could not understand, but she could sense the tone of concern in his voice. The body language of the winning orc quickly went from excitement and pride to fear and denial. The orcs and the troll began shouting and yelling, pointing fingers at one another. The tauren kneeled beside the corpse of the loser and appeared to be trying to revive him.
Shiner watched from the shadows as the scene in front of her unfolded. It was obvious that the smaller orc had not been favored to win, and was pretty much considered a practice dummy for the larger orc. Shiner guessed that the stronger orc might even have been the leader of this band of misfits. The rest of the group seemed genuinely concerned about his demise, and didn't seem happy with the new change in leadership. She couldn't help letting out a small chuckle over the commotion she had caused.
The acute senses of the tauren picked up her small laugh immediately. He stood up and motioned for the rest of the group to be quiet. Then he pointed in the direction of the column that Shiner was hiding behind. Quickly, Shiner turned and ran back out of the arena toward the rest of the group. When she reached the group they were sitting around eating and drinking.
"What in the blazes took ye so long?" Loderr barked as he tossed a piece of smoked meat to Ivan. "Any longer an' I was gonna break open a keg o' ale!"
"Quick, get on your feet and grab your weapons!" Shiner yelled, out of breath. "Horde, incoming!"
"Horde?" Rogar said, fumbling for his sword. "How many?"
"Six by my count. One tauren, one troll, the rest orcs. I think the tauren is a shaman. The rest look like warriors. Maybe a rogue. Probably no hunters, I didn't see any pets. None were wearing robes, so I don't think they have any spell casters."
"That's a hell of a lot of information! Did you introduce yourself and get names as well?" Rosefire asked
"Let's just say I had a little time to look over the group." Shiner sighed.
Suddenly Shauna cried out in pain. An arrow had lodged itself into her shoulder and another glanced off her leg. The adventurers looked up to see the troll firing at them. Rosefire ran to Shauna's side and whispered a prayer. She yanked the arrow out of her shoulder and placed her hand over the wound. The bleeding stopped, and Shauna appeared to regain her strength for a moment.
Sildor and Loderr wasted no time returning fire on the troll. Sildor commanded his frostsaber to attack, and the beast ran for the target. Loderr pulled his gun from his back, loaded the weapon with a thorium slug, and fired at the troll. The bullet struck the troll on the forehead, stunning him temporarily. As Sildor's pet leapt for the troll, a jungle raptor appeared out of nowhere and knocked the large cat to the side. The raptor slashed his long, sharp claws at the frostsaber, and left a blood red gash on the pristine white fur of the cat.
"No pets, eh Shiner? What do ye call that scaly lizard? Go git 'em, Ivan!" The bear let out a roar as he charged in to join the fight between the raptor and the frostsaber. Sildor and Loderr continued firing shots at the troll. As the hunters staged their own private fight, the rest of the Horde charged at the adventurers.
The orcs came running out of the arena, weapons drawn, and rushed at the adventurers. Like the troll, they chose Shauna as their first target, and headed straight for her. But this time Rosefire was ready for them. The paladin stepped in front of the charging orcs and called out a prayer. The orc leading the charge stopped abruptly, stunned. Rose drew her sword and took a wide swing at the next orc, striking him in the side. The blow glanced off his armor, but slowed his attack.
Shauna chanted out a spell, and a fireball exploded from her fingertips, striking one of the orcs. The blast from the fireball ignited the his hair and clothing, turning him into a living torch. The orc ran wildly around the battle, fanning the flames.
"For the love of Uther, Shauna! Can't you use an ice spell or something? These orcs smell bad enough, you have to add burning flesh to the stench?" Rose complained as she blocked an attack with her shield. Shauna just laughed.
Shiner and Jaye advanced on another of the orc attackers. It was the weaker orc that Shiner had helped win the duel. Jaye charged for the orc and dealt a stunning blow. The orc slumped over, just as his opponent had done in the fight, and Jaye continued hacking away at him, trying to deal damage through his heavy armor. Shiner slipped into position behind the orc, and almost felt guilty as she buried her daggers deep into his flesh. Only moments before she had saved this orc from certain death, and now she was dealing that death herself.
Rogar scanned the battle for the tauren Shiner mentioned. He hated fighting shaman, but someone had to do it. "Ulf! You see the tauren anywhere?"
"No, I was thinkin' the same thing! I don't see any totems on the ground either." The dwarf was right, Rogar thought. If there were a shaman there would surely be totems.
That's when Rogar saw it. The Hunter's pets were still deadlocked in a battle of teeth and claws. But Ivan wasn't the only bear in the fight. There was another bear, twice Ivan's size, with horns coming out of its head. "Ulf! Over there!" Rogar pointed to the fighting animals. "It's not a shaman, it's a druid!"
"Well I'll be damned!" The Dwarf growled, and pulled his axe from his side. He took his shield from his back and ran into the fray. The druid was preoccupied with his fight with Sildor's frostsaber, and never saw the dwarf's attack. Ulfgar sunk the axe deep into the druid's flank, opening a large, bloody gash. The druid roared in pain and rolled away just in time to avoid Ulfgar's next swing which would have separated his head from his torso.
Pale smoke surrounded the bear, and suddenly he shape-shifted back into a tauren. He waved his hands over his side, and the wound from Ulfgar's axe began to glow green. The gaping wound shrank to just a small cut, and then disappeared. Ulfgar pressed his attack on the druid. The tauren waved his hands at Ulfgar and thick, brown vines came shooting out of the ground, entangling the dwarf. Now with the upper hand, the tauren cast another spell, calling the forces of nature down on Ulfgar. Spellfire pounded the dwarf and he quickly recited a small prayer and cleansed the unnatural magic from his body. Ulfgar felt the vines weakening, and struggled to break free. He managed to free his axe arm, and began chopping himself loose from the trap. Smoke surrounded the tauren again and when it cleared he was once again a bear. The dwarf and the bear charged at each other and clashed in a fury of steel and fur. Ulfgar swung his axe at the bear, but the druid brushed the attacks aside with his enormous paws. He countered by slashing the Dwarf across the face with his razor sharp claws. Were it not for the helm on Ulfgar's head his face would have been torn wide open. Instead, the force of the massive blow from the bear only stunned him. As the dwarf staggered, the bear lunged forward, pouncing on his enemy and pinning him to the ground. He opened his jaws wide and clamped down on the dwarf's throat, piercing his jugular and spraying blood everywhere.
Ulfgar lie there, feeling the weight of the bear on top of him and the life rushing out of his body. Suddenly the weight was lifted, and the wound on his neck stopped throbbing. The bear roared in pain as a burst of fire ignited his fur. Ulfgar looked up to see Lien casting another spell, shooting bursts of magic from her fingertips at the druid. Selth was by his side. "Be still." The Night Elf told him, "You still are not fully healed." Selth recited another prayer and the Ulfgar felt his strength returning.
Lien called out one final spell and engulfed the bear in a pillar of flame. The druid shifted back to his tauren form and tried in vein to cast a healing spell to combat the damage of the fire. But the blast was more than he could take and he fell to the ground dead.
The courtyard fell quiet and the adventurers looked around, panting heavily from the battle. Sleth helped Ulfgar back to his feet. Despite a couple close calls they all managed to survive the attack.
Suddenly a loud roar came from the direction of the arena. The party rushed to the edge of the arena to see what was coming for them next. In the middle of the arena stood one more orc. It was the leader that Shiner had backstabbed. Before charging to battle the druid had obviously resurrected the fallen warrior, who now stood completely healed in the center of the arena. He pointed a finger at the group of adventurers and growled something then pointed at the ground in front of him.
"I'll handle this." Rogar said, pulling the sword from his back.
The paladin walked slowly toward the center of the arena, never breaking eye contact with the orc. In turn, the orc held his gaze on Rogar as the paladin drew closer. The pair cautiously circled the floor of the arena, studying one another for a sign of weakness or an opportunity for attack. Suddenly the orc heaved his sword over his head and brought it crashing down toward the paladin. Rogar leapt to his side and parried the blow just in time to stop it from splitting his skull in two. The initial clash of steel was deafening as it echoed through the courtyard.
The orc pressed his attack and swung again toward Rogar. His blade glanced off the paladin's plate armor, doing minimal damage. Rogar called out a prayer and blasted the orc with a bolt of holy energy. The warrior reeled from the force of blast, and Rogar suddenly was on the offensive. He swung his sword at the orc's head, slamming it against the warrior's helm, stunning him. Rogar lunged again, but the dazed orc managed to avoid a direct hit. Rogar's sword sunk into the orc's leg and the warrior let out a primal scream of pain.
Despite the wound, the orc maintained his balance and resumed his attack. He swung his sword back and forth, forcing Rogar to backpedal. The battle raged on as the fighters exchanged blows that would kill the average man. Neither of them would concede defeat, and despite multiple wounds they both continued to fight. Rogar called out small prayers of healing in between attacks to regain his strength. It was obvious that what the orc lacked in skill he made up for in brute strength and primal rage. The human was no match for the orc's size and power.
"Use your head." Rogar whispered to himself. His chest heaved and his lungs burned. The orc was physically stronger, and was slowly wearing the paladin down. "That's your advantage. Use your head!" The paladin consciously tried to slow his breathing and regain his composure. But the attack of the orc would not let up. Blow after blow, swing after swing, it was all Rogar could do to parry and dodge. Occasionally he could find an opportunity to make a weak lunge or jab at his attacker, but nothing that would slow the orc down.
"He's getting killed out there." Jaye sighed. "Are we just going to stand here and watch?"
"Aye, we are." Ulfgar said. "Rogar accepted the challenge, and the fight is his. Not ours. He wouldn't ask for his honor to be tarnished by the likes o' us."
"You buying into all that paladin honor crap?" Jaye looked at Rosefire.
"Well…" Rosefire hesitated. "I don't, but Rogar does. Just hang back. Besides, I think you guys are underestimating how pissed off that man can get."
"I've got five on the orc!" Loderr threw a handful of coins on the ground.
"I'll take that action." Shiner tossed her coin purse on the ground as well.
"Are you kidding me?" Jaye cried. "I'll make it ten on the orc!"
Rosefire just sighed and shook her head. Then she called Jaye's bet.
The fight continued and things still were not looking good for the paladin. Blood was pouring from a cut on his forehead and he obviously wasn't swinging his sword with the same power as the orc. Rogar threw his heavy two-handed sword aside and reached to his belt for a lighter, one-handed sword. He drew a large shield from his back and began blocking the attacks of the orc. The orc may have been winning, but his frustration was growing at his inability to finish off this puny human. His swings became wilder, as he tried to get past the defenses of the paladin's shield.
Then Rogar saw his chance. The orc made another huge, swing for the paladin and Rogar charged at the orc with his shield in front of him. He slammed the shield into the orc's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Rogar cast the shield aside and jabbed his sword between the seams of the orc's armor, finding soft flesh. Blood sprayed out of the wound as Rogar withdrew his blade from the orc. Rogar quickly turned and slashed at the sword arm of the orc. In one fast motion the paladin severed the orc's hand from his arm and the warrior's weapon dropped to the ground, his fist still clenching the hilt of the sword. The orc roared in pain and anger and instinctively reached for another weapon on his belt with an arm that had no hand. As the orc fumbled for a weapon, Rogar swung at him again, this time at the neck. The paladin's sword struck deep into the orc's neck, but could not cut completely through the tough sinew and bone. Rogar left his blade lodged in the orc's neck and grabbed the two-handed sword he cast aside earlier. Using every bit of strength left in his body, Rogar swung the sword over his head, bringing it crashing down on the orc's skull. The blade dug deep into the top of the orc's head, stopping right between his eyes. Rogar let go of the sword and the orc slumped to the ground, dead. Completely exhausted, the paladin dropped to his knees and collapsed on the arena floor beside his fallen opponent.
Shiner smirked as she picked up her coin purse and the gold pieces that Loderr had thrown on the ground. The dwarf just grumbled. Shiner handed the rest of the gold to Rosefire. "Selth, would you mind tending to Rogar?" Shiner asked.
"It would be an honor." The night elf replied, and he made his way to the center of the arena to heal the paladin.