Take on me

Orestes vs Morten

Oblivious to the cheers of the crowds surrounding him and the other heat, Orestes stands perfectly still and watches his opponent.

Looking for weakness.

Assessing him.

Though fairly tall, Morten is the shortest and lightest of the four competitors. Orestes is wise enough to know though, that this doesn’t make him necessarily the weakest.

Morten’s choice of weapon is odd though...

A spear?

A useful weapon but crude when compared to a sword or an axe.

…

He could throw it perhaps but that would mean him effectively disarming himself.

He’s also using it two handedly.

Is Morten planning on sacrificing his own defense in his attempts to cause more damage with each thrust?

Maintaining his calm, Orestes stands on his side of the ring.

The spear is clearly magical though but what special power does it posses?

Morten stares back, almost certainly thinking similar thoughts.

Orestes then notices him glancing at his two cronies. The massive, armoured ogre and the weedy looking orc-shaman.

The shaman’s smile is worrisome.

Suddenly, the clanking bell sounds to signal the start of both bouts.

A cheer goes up in response to something happening in the other bout but Orestes doesn’t let it disturb his thoughts.

He’s surprised when Morten doesn’t charge but instead waits for Orestes to come to him.

Orestes charges forwards and brings his twin swords down.

Morten parries one but as Orestes’ other sword connects, it doesn’t seem to penetrate as deeply as he’d expected.

Taking advantage of Orestes’ confusion, Morten retaliates with a quick thrust of his spear.

…

As it slices open a superficial wound in his side, Orestes realises what the spears magical power is…

Poison.

They battle on and Orestes realises that the poison will kill him unless he can finish off Morten quickly.

No matter what he does though, his blows keep being repelled somehow.

With a sickening feeling, that’s nothing to do with the poison, Orestes realises that he’s going to lose.

Still, if he’s to die, he’ll die fighting.

Then something happens…

He feels a healing power wash over him, closing some of his wounds and nutralising the poison burning through his veins.

Risking a quick look around, Orestes spies his teammate: Dokan.

The Tiefling paladin subtly indicates Morten’s shaman friend and everything becomes clear.

The reason for Dokan’s interference.

The reason why Morten’s wounds seem so light, despite Orestes' many sword cuts.

Twisting around and forcing Morten away from his cronies, Orestes sees fear in his opponent’s eyes for the first time in this battle.

The orc-shaman has obviously been helping Morten but his spell range must be severely limited.

Knowing this, Orestes tries to engineer the battle away from them but Morten doesn’t allow it. Always moving back towards his healer.

It matters not though, without the poison slowing him down, Orestes starts gradually to overpower his treacherous but weaker foe.

A cheer erupts around the other ring but it doesn’t steal Orestes’ focus.

Remembering his old teacher's advice, Orestes concentrates on his opponent and nothing else.

He sees the patterns in Morten’s movements.

He waits for the opening and then...

Takes it!

Morten stares at him and then down to the sword penetrating his naked stomach.

A contemptuous sneer is all he can manage before losing consciousness.

Orestes stands back, raises his arms and acknowledges the roaring crowd.

He breathes in the adoration.

He soaks up the cheers.
The cheers of his people.

This feeling is good.

…

Ignored by Orestes and the crowd, the orc shaman creeps into the challenge ring to heal his stricken and defeated leader.