Some Blood Some Fortune

The studs of the duergar's armor dug into Kuhl's forehead as they slammed into the spikes at the bottom of the pit. Below him the dwarf emitted a gasping shriek that died in a gurgling hiss. For a moment the half-elf just cringed in the twitching embrace of his adversary, smelling leather, sweat, and the growing coppery scent of blood as he waited for the spikes to fully pierce through the magically enlarged duergar and reach him.

But a heartbeat passed, then two, then more and he was still alive. The momentum of their fall, it seemed, had been fully absorbed by the massive form of the dwarf under Kuhl. He took a calming breath, shrugged off the arms encircling him, and moved carefully to his knees, then went still. A shudder ran through the body below him and his hand slipped as the shoulder of the duergar shrank under his grasp, literally losing conjured mass under his fingertips. With the death of the dwarf, his corpse now started to diminish back down to its non-magicked size.

Rapidly.

Kuhl looked up. They'd fallen too far for him to jump for the pit's edge and his spell of mist walking could only deliver him where he could see and he couldn't see out of the pit. But he had to do something quickly because the dwarf body below him was about to become too small to kneel on and likely also be unable to bear his weight and keep him off the spikes when it fully shrank. With a thought-prayer he positioned his hands up in a catching position, summoned the transporting magic, and took a misty step of faith into them. As hoped it brought him up to the pit's lip where his fingers could grab at the top of the wall.

He'd forgotten the sand.

One hand immediately slipped and for a precarious instant he hung one-handed over a drop with sharp spikes at the bottom, then he resecured his grip and pulled himself up, boots kicking and scrabbling on the wall to get him up to where his head and shoulders were out of the pit and he rested on his elbows. The mad tableau he saw made him pause to take it all in.

Nearby, Esvele and the drow Raelyn rose from where they'd been knocked down in the sand by blows from the duergar. One of the dark-elf's eyes had rapidly swelled and was already nearly shut. The red-iris gaze of her good eye widened in surprise as she caught sight of him climbing out. Sky was also scrambling up from where she'd fallen after Kuhl had made the gray dwarf drop her.

In another part of the arena the auburn haired youth with the antlers sprouting from his head dropped to all fours in a way that reminded the half-elf of Mialee. His subsequent transformation to his wolf-form was reminiscent of her as well, the shape forming, engulfing, and encasing his body rather than what happened with a were-creature - where flesh and bone rearranged under stretching skin that also sprouted fur.

The boy was a druid, the half-elf suddenly realized, and now that he had shifted, the saddle on his back fit perfectly. His goblin rider in iridescent green dragon scale mail, apparently healed from his tussle with the wererat Samara, grabbed the pommel of the saddle and mounted, raising his lance with the padded tip high to the cheers of the crowd. Close to the wolf and rider, a bundle of magically conjured vines wilted, allowing Samara to start ripping free of her confinement.

And the strangeness didn't end there, what with players in this crazy game including a genasi in scant crystalline scale armor, a minotaur, a bugbear, an orc, a trio of Waterdhavian youths, a grizzled captain of the Watch, a masked, bare chested drow with a silver dragon tattoo, a woman in red leather and silver with a whip, a tall, lean woman with a swath of black face paint over her eyes, a blue scaled dragonborn with the power of lightning breath, and a dog-bite victim sentenced to play and cringing in a corner. Watching it all from above was the glowing image of a beholder linked to the arena through scrying magic, its eyestalks swiveling as it observed the contest in its entirety.

"Are you seeing this?" Quid's enhanced voice boomed down from above. "First time we've ever seen anyone fall into the pit and climb back out!"

"Kuhl!" Sky said. "You're alive! Come on, we've got a game to win!"

The leather ball painted with eyes floated towards the sun-elf master of ceremonies, manipulated by the glowing telekinetic ring on his finger. He held it for only a moment before he sent it accelerating across the arena to ricochet off the far wall. The tabaxi darted after it and Esvele and Raelyn both did the same.

"Half-elf," the drow called over her shoulder. "We need you! Hurry!"

Kuhl kicked a leg up and finished climbing the rest of the way out of the pit, muttering to himself as he did.

"Thanks for saving me," he said, imitating Sky's voice, then switched to Raelyn's. "You took out the duergar. Well done."

By the time he stood at the pit's edge, events were unfolding rapidly. Fast as Sky was, the wolf-rider pair were faster. They thumped the ball out of reach with their lance tip just as the tabaxi was about to scoop it up, then guided it to Kal'dir's feet in a series of further running prods with the lance. The masked dark-elf stooped and picked it up and the minotaur, bugbear, and this time Nadia, formed around him in anticipation of pursuing another goal. The crowd in the stands roared in anticipation.

Kuhl ran back to defend. He had to skirt the center roper pit on the way and saw inside. The creature down there now ignored him, too busy feasting on the headless corpse of the half-ogre to consider further prey. Disgusted, the half-elf averted his gaze, but his ears couldn't escape the sound of tentacles ripping apart the body or the crunching of bone under, sharp, jagged, stone-like teeth as he ran by.

"Your mist walking," Sophiya said as he approached. "Strong magic. Can you do it again?"

The half-elf started to shake his head, then stopped. He'd always needed to rest to cast that spell again after using it twice. But it felt like this time that wellspring of magic might not yet be completely dry.

"Maybe," he said.

"Get that ball and pass it to one of us!" Raelyn yelled as the half-elf turned and took a position next to the genasi. "We'll get past the three defending."

The drow, noblewoman, and tabaxi spread out, holding up their hands in anticipation of receiving the ball.

"Ash-Mite," Kal'dir called out in response as he jogged with his group. "Guard the cat girl. Nazzick, take the human. Leave the Lolthite open to score if she can if they get the ball from us."

The mocking tone of the masked drow made it clear he did not think Kuhl's team would be getting the ball or, if they did, that his dark-elf counterpart would be able to score. Across the arena, the paladin of Loviatar, cracked her whip in challenge from beneath her own goal where she stood with the blue-scaled dragonborn and the big female orc. Raelyn's one open eye narrowed in anger and she flexed her fingers.

"Get. Me. That. Ball!" she yelled.

Meanwhile the wolf and rider moved to cover Sky and the bugbear did the same to Esvele. Both of the half-elf's teammates moved to evade, particularly the noblewoman as being caught up by the bugbear close to one of the pits could be deadly.

"Unfortunately we can't trick them into running headlong into a burst of thunder," Sophiya whispered. "So, it's going to be a brawling melee instead. We won't get a chance to pass, only knock the ball free. Xia, Claudio, and Arthright - hang back on the outskirts and pick it up and pass it to one of the others."

The three Waterdhavian youths immediately complied, needing no further urging to not engage the oncoming group that included a minotaur, a lean giant of a woman, and a dark-elf.

"Don't be deceived by Kal'dir's size," the genasi said, continuing her instructions. "The enchantment in his gauntlets gives him strength equal to my tattoos."

"Wonderful," Stagett sighed. "Not only am I slower than all of them, but weaker as well."

But he stepped up to his position next to Kuhl and lowered his stance in readiness.

"I'll take the minotaur," the half-elf said. "I have an idea."

The last part was in answer to the raised eyebrow glance Sophiya gave him.

"I suppose that makes Kal'dir mine," she said.

"That would leave me with tall, dark, and scary," the Watch captain groaned. "Helm bless me."

Likely to allow themselves a reaction to evade a wave of thunder magic from the genasi, the opposing trio's approach was wary rather than a barreling rush. Still they came with intent and Kuhl's pulse quickened beyond even its already heightened state as he moved against the minotaur.

He feinted an overhand swing for the bovine snout, then ducked down and punched with his other hand at the left knee. All the dodging and movement took most of the force from his blow, but magic flowed through him with his strike and moonlight pale ghostly vines sprang up from the ground to snake up the minotaur's leg and secure it in place. At the same time the half-elf did a pivoting roll to his right and tried to tackle his target from the side.

Kuhl had hoped the changes in direction and the rooted leg would allow him to topple his bigger and stronger adversary, without the need to combine his strength with Sophiya's. This proved to be wishful thinking. With a tensing of muscles the minotaur countered.

The half-elf might as well have been trying to fell one of the stone walls of the arena. He tried to reverse and pull on a burly wrist instead, but his opponent freed himself with a flick of his arm and a massive hand wrapped around Kuhl's neck and squeezed. Within an instant the half-elf felt faint, like he was suddenly far away from his body, as if he stared down at himself from high above.

But while he might not be as strong as the minotaur he was very strong for a human or elf and trained for such situations. He seized an isolating grip on a single choking finger and pulled. The creature's hold loosened and he twisted free. Blood flowed and full awareness returned in time for the half-elf to see the bull-headed monster draw back a fist for a blow that would surely send him down to the sand.

He dodged.

Knuckles covered by coarse fur grazed along his cheek, but he avoided a solid hit. At the same time a snarling gray blur hit the minotaur behind his rooted knee. The missed swing had already compromised the bull-headed creature's balance. All the half-elf needed to give was a final push. He rammed his shoulder into his opponent's midsection and the minotaur tottered on one cloven hoofed foot, then toppled with a bellow. Samara, still in her hybrid were-rat form, rolled clear as the massive bulk of their opponent crashed onto the sand.

"Not this time!" Sophiya yelled from behind Kuhl.

She and the silver and black masked dark-elf leapt together, the genasi with one hand raised to block while her other hand grappled in an aerial battle with the drow. The dark-elf pushed with his free hand as well and the golden ogre-face designs on his gauntlets glowed in contrast to the blue sparking tattoos twining down Sophiya's limbs. It seemed he didn't have a clear shot to the goal, because he agreed with her statement.

"Not this time," he answered, voice smooth, calm and reasonable, despite the exertion of the jump.

With barely a glance he passed the leather ball to Nadia trailing behind him. She shucked Staget aside and caught it, then jumped up as the others came down, lifting the ball and aiming towards the gaping maw of the beholder sculpture above. Kuhl found himself thinking of the question Nadia had asked him earlier in this crazy game.

"Like blindsiding people?"

Strangely, here he was at an angle where she could not see him and, against all odds, not being choked or beaten into unconsciousness by a minotaur. He charged forward and gave the leaping woman a simple two-handed push with all his strength and sent her tumbling sideways down to the sand. She hit hard, crying out in surprise, and the leather ball jostled free and rolled.

It ended up at the feet of the young shou tea house server. Xia's eyes widened in fear as she looked up and saw the masked drow rushing her way in pursuit of the ball. The girl actually shut her eyes in panic as she kicked the ball away. It sailed straight towards the oncoming Kal'dir who sent it hurtling away with his own inadvertent kick.

"It's a free-for-all down there!" Quid announced.

A pair of drow hands scooped the rolling ball up and Kuhl caught a glimpse of a predatory smile on Raelyn's features and a feral glint entered her one open eye, then she turned and sprinted towards the opponent's goal.

"Go Rae!" Sophiya screamed. "Go!"

With the change in ball possession the roles of the players instantly shifted. The genasi now jostled and shoved to keep the masked drow from pursuing their ball carrier rather than keeping him away from their goal. The half-elf moved to do the same with Nadia, who even now climbed to her feet, but Sophiya shook her head.

"Help Rae!" she said. "Mist walk!"

He didn't even know if he had the ability to do it again right now. And if he could, should he? Or should he keep it in reserve? The game was really only just beginning and he was burning through his magic quickly.

The bugbear guarding Esvele had been the closest to the running drow woman. But his angle of pursuit would drop him straight into the roper's pit, and after a few lumbering steps he seemed to realize he would not catch the dark-elf, slowed, and stopped.

It was a different story, however, with the wolf and his rider. They broke away from guarding Sky and dashed in pursuit, lance lowered and gaining ground. Kuhl readied his traveling spell, but hesitated.

Sky put on her own burst of speed, clearly planning something. She managed to get slightly ahead of the wolf and, with a feet first dive, executed a sliding tackle. The transformed druid tripped over her and the padded lance tip furrowed into the arena sand. All the forward momentum of their rapid pace was suddenly sent backward into the shoulder of the goblin, sending him flying back off his mount. His helmeted head landed first on the ground with a very audible thud.

A sympathetic murmur ran through the crowd in the stands.

"That hurt me just hearing it," Quid observed

At the corner of his vision, Kuhl saw most of the audience now standing to get a better look at the action, sensing things were about to get very exciting. Raelyn continued running, but still had three defenders to get past - the female orc, the paladin of Loviatar, and the blue-scaled dragonborn.

"Go!" Sophiya yelled.

She and the masked drow still jostled for position, but the dark-elf's attempts to get by her seemed half-hearted as he seemed more focused on what happened at his team's goal. Nadia too, who had regained her feet, looked across the arena and the minotaur watched from his knees. Kuhl called on his power and stepped into the silvery mist that formed in front of him.

As planned, he completed his step on the other side of the arena,

"Full of surprises aren't you?" the paladin of Loviatar said when she caught sight of him.

She paused a beat,

"So am I."

Her whip wove a mesmerizing pattern that caught and held the half-elf's attention.

"Hold!" she called out.

At the very same instant, her whip completed its flowing movement with a snap and Kuhl found he could not move.

"I have him," she said. "Finish him quickly. He is dangerous."

"Half-elf?" Raelyn's voice questioned.

He heard her footsteps in the sand slow from a run to a stop, but he could not turn and look at her. Nor could he get ready to defend himself as the female orc approached him, cracking her knuckles and giving him a tusk filled grin as she did.

"He won't be helping you," the woman clad in red leather and silver said. "You're all alone."

She shifted her stance and readied her whip, its end slithering a path through the sand at her feet.

"You made a quick sprint to a dead end," the dragonborn hissed.

This was the closest Kuhl had been to him and the blue scaled reptilian humanoid had silver irises almost lost in the white of his pupils. It was immediately clear why he stayed back on defense. His muscular, armored form was not built for speed, but clearly well-suited for battle. Sparks of electricity danced between the rows of his white, sharp teeth and scars on his prominent snout hinted at his age and experience.

The orc was closing on Kuhl and he redoubled his efforts to break free of whatever spell held him, but he still could not move. Through the heavy breaths from her run across the arena, Raelyn gave a mirthless chuckle.

"I am a daughter of House Auvryndar," she said. "Schooled in strategy and tactics. First lesson - know when and how to use your males."

Kuhl could not see what the drow did, but the paladin of Loviatar raised the hand holding her whip and stepped back. Before she could employ it, however, the leather ball painted with the myriad of eyes smacked into her cowled covered forehead and rebounded. It couldn't have hurt much, but the woman reeled back and cried out in surprise.

"Half-elf," the dark-elf called out. "Move!"

He could move! Raelyn's surprise attack with the ball must have broken some concentration link the red leather clad woman had on her holding spell. Kuhl struck out with a surprise attack of his own. Caught off guard, the orc did not even defend herself. His fist connected with her chin as she neared and she dropped.

The paladin's whip cracked and pain lanced through him, nearly buckling his legs. She hadn't even been aiming at him, but at the running Raelyn who had used Kuhl to shield herself as she circled the goal, looking for an angle.

She apparently found it, because she planted to leap and lifted the ball she carried to throw. Under the beholder sculpture with the gaping maw, the dragonborn drew in a deep breath, sparks of electricity forming.

"Half-elf!" the drow cried.

Pushing past pain, Kuhl surged forward. Within a step the paladin retracted her whip and things became much easier. Another sprinting step, then another, then a jump.

Right into the path of the dragonborn's lightning breath. He absorbed if fully and somehow managed to keep enough focus to call forth his healing magic as well. For an instant two sensations warred within him, jolting, limb twitching agony, and a soothing flow. He fell to the sand, caught in the combination and still writhing.

Time seemed to slow and it felt like he saw events unfold in a series of still pictures. In the first Raelyn aimed, arm cocked back to throw. In the next a whip had wrapped around her ankle and her face was a mask of pain as she was being yanked off balance. The third held a grinning, leaping tabaxi, tail in mid lash and gesturing for the ball to be passed to her. The flood of electricity coursing through Kuhl suddenly stopped and time resumed its normal flow.

"Rae-lyn," Sky was practically singing.

"No!" the paladin of Loviatar screamed.

The ball smacked into the tabaxi's palms and she threw.

"SCORE, Visitors!" Quid's voice rang out from above, strangely he sounded no less excited than when he announced the goal for the home team.

Stranger still, the crowd reacted in the same fashion and cheering erupted. They apparently cared more about who delivered the dramatic moments in the here and now than who won.

"Cat girl!" Raelyn yelled. "Well done!"

She dropped to her knees and a look of relief and joy crossed her face. She must have gotten some sand in her non-swollen eye, because tears welled and she wiped them away with a swipe of her arm before rising again.

"Tabaxi," the tabaxi said, but her tone was light and elated and not admonishing.

She performed a celebratory one-handed cartwheel.

Kuhl climbed to his feet, smelling the burnt leather of his armor, but stumbled as he tried to stand, muscles betraying him. They were stiff and sore from spasming through all the voltage he'd absorbed. A strong grip caught and steadied him, but also held him fast.

"If I rip out his throat," a voice hissed in his ear. "I'll only be finishing what my lightning started."

Raelyn dropped into a fighting stance and Sky popped her claws.

"Give me back my half-elf," the drow said.

"Let him go," the paladin of Loviatar said. "Remember the purpose of these games. We play to entertain the masses. They just watched him sacrifice himself to your breath for his teammates and love him for it."

A chant was forming in the crowd, gathering voices and growing louder.

"Half-elf, Half-elf, Half-elf…"

"Kill him now, and they'll feel betrayed," the red-leather clad woman said. "Kill him during gameplay…"

"And they'll love that too," the dragonborn said. "Fickle bastards."

Kuhl was shoved away, he tripped over his own feet, his muscles still not working, and fell to his hands and knees. Raelyn and Sky moved to haul him upright.

"Heal yourself, paladin," the dark-elf whispered. "You are worthless to us like this."

Kuhl didn't know if he had any magic left to spare. But an unforeseen event interrupted him from even trying.

"THIS GAME IS SUSPENDED!" A voice boomed down.

The audience went silent and on either side of him, the drow and tabaxi went still. It was not the sun-elf's smooth, cultured voice, but a gravelly, inhuman one. All eyes in the arena turned to the glowing image of the Xanathar.

"GUILD MEMBERS - RETURN AND REPEL INTRUDERS FROM THE LAIR!"

The magicked image of the beholder crime boss winked out.

Silence still reigned for a time in the arena after his leaving, then the game ball that Quid had been telekinetically returning to his hand dropped unceremoniously onto the sand. As if that was some sort of signal to the start of a race, individuals started moving. The watching Xanathar lieutenants, including Quid himself, disappeared from the observation towers as they ran to stairwells. The big half-ogre woke his Wyvern and mounted and they took off with an unfurling of leathery wings and an ear splitting screech.

"Can you stand on your own?" Raelyn asked. "This is our chance!"

She did not wait for him to answer and stopped supporting him. Thankfully, Kuhl found he could stand, his muscles loosening and becoming less cramped with time to recover.

The metal gates to the arena floor slid back with a squeal of sand filled tracks and rollers, workers straining to push them back. Players on the opposing team already ran to leave - the female orc, the paladin of Loviatar, the dragonborn and on the far side Nadia, Kal'dir, the minotaur, and the bugbear. Unfortunately guards armed with aimed crossbows took their place.

"Hands up where we can see them or we stick a bolt in you!"

This instruction was shouted, again and again, by different guards, repeatedly as the prisoners were herded together. Raelyn immediately complied and Kuhl followed her lead.

"Not fun to be on the other side of this," Staget murmured as they were all gathered near one of the open gates.

"You'll come forward one at a time," the commander of the guard ordered. "And be shackled. You know the drill. Drow, you are first."

"No wizards this time," Raelyn said, hands up and coming forward as instructed.

She picked her way through the other prisoners rather slowly and carefully, Kuhl thought.

"Quiet!" the guard yelled. "No talking."

"None that I can see," Sophiya agreed.

"I said…" the commander said.

It was all he got out before darkness exploded all around them, a blackness even the half-elf's dark vision could not penetrate. He stood there, hands still raised, mind trying to catch up to what was going on, then the thunderous boom of the genasi's elemental attack deafened him.

*This* was a pain to write! I must have deleted most of it like 30 times (okay, an exaggeration). The part where Kuhl escapes the spike pit was set in my mind and then I was like, "It will then be easy to have some exciting action, so don't worry about it..."

I was wrong! I'd write out action sequences, read through it, and think, "Well this is stupid and boring..." Over and over again. I'm somewhat okay with this version. The end is kind of rushed because I just want to be done with it. I'm well and truly *sick* of it. If any of you can add little nods like "okay, little bit breezy here, more description..." etc. it will *really* help on the eventual rewrite.

Dungeons and Dragons movie... It is good! Go see it if you are inclined. In my opinion, very good writing and very good humor. I took non-DnD people to see it (including my spouse), and they really liked it. But it is suffering at the hands of Mario and, if it doesn't develop some legs, will likely not make back its budget. Which means it will be considered a flop, despite being completely designed to have both fan and broad appeal. So go see it if you are so inclined! And bring a friend!

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot. An 'authorial insert character' has developed. Can you guess who? If you guessed Staget, you are right! I can completely relate to his complaining of being old and weary and forced to do athletic things amongst younger people. :)