Yelena
“A DUEL HAS BEEN DECLARED! BROTHERS AND SISTERS, PLACE YOUR BETS!”
“TEN RATIONS ON MENDAX!”
“I”LL BET ME BROADSWORD ON THE GIRL!”
“TAKE HER DOWN, MENDAX!”
Yelena stumbled through what had become a hastily constructed dueling arena in the fleeting minutes that had passed since she’d challenged Mendax to a duel.
At least, that’s what she thought was happening right now…
She was wavering between her skill screen and the vision of the baying Gnolls all up in arms, excitable as the hyenas they looked like, and in amongst their clamoring she could only slightly hear the small voice of Marius pierce the crowd:
“Did you hear what she called me?” he said to anyone nearby. “She said I was her friend!”
She regretted everything.
She regretted drinking the intoxicating fluids the Gnolls put in front of her. She regretted her standing up for Marius. She regretted her own pride.
But now that she was staring across from the ripped, muscle-bound Gnoll, she wasn’t thinking about those regrets.
She was looking at him, seeing that he was swaying about just as much as she was, and she was remembering a distant lesson Dimedrious had once taught her:
“Look, I know I’m preaching to the choir here, Lena, but I’m gonna tell ya anyway: NEVER fight when your drunk.”
“Why?” she’d asked, hanging off his shoulders with a monkey’s grip. “Don’t you drink all the time, Di?”
“Hmpf, well…my life’s ruined already!” he’d shouted back at her. “There’s still hope for you.”
The memory was broken by the general call from one thin Gnoll who had taken it upon himself to be the mediator of their fight. Only now did she realize that she was on the stage in front of everyone, them throwing their hairy arms into the air like this feast had suddenly turned into some grisly, sweat-filled fight club.
“No steel shall be drawn within these hallowed halls!” he yelped. “This contest shall be one of fists!”
Great, she thought. Hand to hand combat was never my fortae.
“Yelena!” Marius called from the crowd. “His hand-to-hand skill clocks in at two! Extra damage. Can do a grapple attack!”
She turned to see his bobbing head beneath her feet.
“What?!”
“This contest concludes when the opponent’s HP reaches 1 or they yield!” The announcer Gnoll screamed. “Combatants, are you ready?”
She dimly heard the Gnoll growl. “Ready!”
And she might have mumbled something in response. Or Marius might have even said ‘ready!’ for her.
Either way, the next thing she knew the announcer’s howl cut through her brain:
“FIGHT!”
Mendax surged forwards with animal speed, his claws raised and tail whirring behind him.
She put her guard up as he came at her with a blow aimed at her head and, even through her gauntlets, felt the power of his strike.
No shield, she thought. No sword. Just my skills and my wits.
She reeled back out of the way of a right hook that looked like it could have broken one of her ribs before steadying herself and slicing through the air with her open palm.
Searing Strike: Failure.
Huh?
Searing Strike Requirement: Martial Weapon.
Current weapon: NULL
Oh…
She had no time to regret her action. One balled fist slammed into the side of her cheek with enough force to knock her off her feet and onto her back at the end of the stage.
The crowd’s uproar was barely audible to her as she hit the ground. Her right ear was ringing, and as she rose she cupped one hand over it to try and regain her balance.
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But the beast came forward again, relentless in pressing his advantage. He aimed a jab at her face again and she caught it with her other hand, feeling pleased only momentarily as his other hand suddenly slammed into her ribcage, instantly winding her.
“Is this really the…best…an Argent can do?” he spat at her face.
He threw her across the stage as she sank to her knees before him, and her vision began to swim with the sights of all those jeering creatures watching this sad spectacle unfold.
“Yelena!” Marius cried. “Hit the big bastard already!”
What do you think I’m TRYING to do here? She thought, fighting against the sheer frustration building up inside her swelling head.
“Brothers and Sisters!” Mendax called. “Behold our – hic! – superiority over the human Cha’lokk!”
Some of the Gnolls joined their triumphant Brother in his preemptive victory speech, and yet some others looked on him with shame. That’s when she realized: they don’t all believe us to be consumed with the same evil as the Blackbird’s minions. There’s still space in their hearts for something as anathema to the oppressed as forgiveness…
“Yelenaaaaa!” Marius yelped above the din once again. “Fuck honor! Kick his ass, girl!”
She smirked, appraising her own shaking palm:
HP: 21/30
Condition: Tipsy
-3 to REF
Well, I’m not done yet.
She rose up on one knee and faced him down, blinking through the dizziness of her vision.
Because you’re drunk too, Mendax, she thought. So, I don’t need to be quick. I just need to knock you down.
He regarded her with another hiccup! Followed by a scoff.
“What?” he called out to both her and the crowd. “The human hasn’t had enough?”
She smiled.
“I’m no human,” she said.
Battlecry: Activated
“Come and get me, DOG!”
In a chorus of ooooooooh’s from the crowd, Mendax threw himself at her. Compelled, and unfocused. He came at her without even his fists raised in attack, and so it was child’s play for her to step to his left, trip him, and slam her fist into his neck with enough force that he sent spittle flying into the crowd when he fell.
The crowd loved it.
“That’s the way, Yelena!” Marius called out with childlike glee. “Show him us humans don’t take no shit from nobody!”
She rolled her eyes as the furious Gnoll regained his footing. I feel like you’re missing the point of what I just said, but thank you all the same, Marius.
Mendax’s rage was focused on the announcer now, not her: “You said this was a contest of fists only! No skills, no abilities!”
As the announcer considered his plea and was about to make a judgement, it was the voice of Marius who interjected through the unsure murmurs of the crowd.
“A correction, my dear Gnoll!” he said (for some reason pointing at Mendax with force). “The noble announcer said this would be a contest without the use of steel. There was no stipulation that Glance-based or Profession-based skills and abilities were not to be used in battle!”
A murmur of agreement in the crowd mixed with the sounds of the announcer weighing up Marius’ argument with the incredulous look of Mendax – who at this point looked like he was ready to leap from the stage and rip the rogue’s head clean from his shoulders.
And Yelena sniggered under her breath as she heard the approving *ding* of Marius’ favorite ability going off:
Persuasion check (LVL II)
SUCCESS
Maybe it was the booze talking, but she winked at the thief as he shot a cheeky grin her way.
So much for honor…then again, this was all in defense of her friend. And, on a personal level, she had to admit she liked putting this Gnoll in his place.
So she let Marius’ meddling slide as the announcer raised his hand and made his judgement:
“The human is technically right! The rules shall be clarified: all means are acceptable in this duel, including skills and abilities! But no healing!”
“Little bastard!” Mendax roared through yet another hiccup. “When I’m done with her, I’m coming for you.”
He spat blood into the crowd and raised his fists again, this time stalking towards her with absolute control. She kept her own guard up, feeling her cheek begin to swell and bruise, and the two began to circle eachother as the crowd quietened, watching with baited breath.
Wait for any hesitation…she thought. Wait…wait…and…
Suddenly his eye twitched and he gave a little hic! Followed by his right hand dropping to reveal his shoulder joint.
Now!
She stepped sent an ironclad fist right at his joint, and suddenly, without even realizing he’d moved, she felt something like a steel vice clamp down on her wrist.
She blinked and looked up into his grinning face. Her hand wouldn’t move. Her fist wouldn’t even unclench.
Status: GRAPPLED (Gladiator’s Grasp)
Effect: Immobilized
The next thing she knew the Gnoll lifted her off her feet, snarled in her face, and slammed her whole body into the ground. She cried out in pain, feeling with wooden beams of the stage crumble and splinter beneath her.
HP: 12/30
Damn…this creature packs a punch.
When the crowd’s stunned cheers abated, she heard the voice of the tired Mendax above her.
“Yield,” he said.
She shot him a weary but equally stubborn look of defiance right back.
Battlecry: Activated
“Make me.”
When he threw himself at her this time, she simply rolled out of the way of his body and let him impale himself on the slivers of splinters her impact had torn into the stage. As he roared in pain, thrashing about like a sandbound fish, she aimed a stout kick under his armpit that knocked the wind right out of him.
“See that! You see THAT!” Marius was yelling in some Gnolls’ faces. “THAT’s my friend up there!”
He’d been drowning himself in more of the boozy broth left unattended at the crowd’s tables, and by this point was probably barely conscious.
Though she too teetered on the brink of collapse. The exhaustion from the fight was now creeping in behind her eyes. Her legs bucked under the weight of keeping her body aloft.
As Mendax jumped up, shaking wooden splinters from his fur, she looked at his sagging body and realized he was nearing his own limit.
Morphology: Desert Gnoll
Profession: Warrior (LVL 3)
HP: 25/50
Only hallway done…she thought in despair. So this is the raw strength of a warrior. He’s got power behind every strike. The ability to disable his enemies mid-engagement, and a whole chunk more HP than me.
She felt her tired lips yell at him: “Yield!”
And his gruff, sagging maw shouted right back: “Never!”
And although both of them clearly saw this as a match of utmost importance, by this point, some snippy remarks that spoke of impatience were beginning to trickle through the bloodthirsty crowd.
“SOMEONE HIT SOMEONE, BY TY’KELLA!”
“CAN YOU LADIES HURRY IT UP ALREADY?!”
“I’LL BET ONE TRAINING POINT ON THE BLONDE GIRL! ANYONE LOOKING TO TRADE A TRAINING POINT?”
That last one was Marius. She had no idea you could even trade Training Points. Come to think of it, he probably didn’t know that for certain, either.
Mendax assumed his hunched battle stance again, jabbing the air before him in quick succession, readying himself for what he believed would be their final bout.
“Tck,” he spat. “Just what I’ve come to expect from Ch’alokk. One strategy and that’s it. All you have is your dumb little Battlecry. Without it, you can’t even scratch me.”
“Alright,” she told him, loud enough for the onlookers to hear. “I won’t use it. Come and grapple me again.”
He looked at her, eyes narrowed to questioning slits.
“I could kill you,” he told her. “One more body slam and the rest of your HP could be gone. We ain’t got no one that could bring you back. Not even the Elder.”
She heard his words. She heard the crowd gasp. And it all passed over her like some lucid little dream.
“Are you scared, Gnoll?” she asked him with a smirk. This time, in the face of her brashness, even Marius was silent.
“I do not wish to kill in this Hall,” Mendax replied, oddly sober, now.
“Then yield.”
He shot a hesitant look at the crowd, returned to meet her stern eyes, and licked his lips.
“Have it your way, Argent.”