You know, there is a saying, always go for the healer first. Micky internalised that statement as he looked upon the cute mage chick with a spear sticking out of her. It was the only thing keeping her up. Her eyes had rolled back and she had long since stopped healing or screaming. It was actually over in an instant, to the shock of the adventurers. One moment she was prepped and ready like the rest of them, the next things started moving and wariness drops for a millisecond. Things are going exactly as they should, exactly as expected, why should you be wary of things? Then the world goes to shit. She found out what that meant, though Micky would say they, but they hadn’t, not really. But they were about too…

The one that had an opportunistic strike from the get go drew their sword. They were one of the ones with the nasty nets with hooks and weights. They hid behind one of their fellows for just a moment so that they could make the throw without being noticed. It all seemed so coincidental. But it was really a dirty opportunistic trick. Micky loved every moment of it.

The two groups closed and the adventurers were now on the back foot, having lost the momentum to the opportunistic death. They took up defensive positions while still charging forward. It was stupid, Micky now knew why nobody was looking forward to this fight. It was going to be over all too soon.

He was wrong of course, the adventurers were not pushovers or strangers to death. It was detrimental to have lost the healer/mage at the beginning but it was actually not the worst outcome. The rearguards returned fire with their own ranged weapons. All their gear was returned to them for this fight. They merely delayed the inevitable. That being the swarming of the two frontliners. The frontliners were talked to the ground tossed off of their [Steady Feet] or whatever footing technique they had. It was something Micky needed to train but never got around too.

Now that the frontline was grounded the backline was open to attack again. But they weren’t surprised this time and started kiting them. They seemed apologetic to their frontline but they threw their attacks at them anyway. Screaming out their apologies as both the frontline and the gladiators dodged the spears and arrows coming their way. But it worked as a distraction that the adventurers frontline used to disentangle themselves. Or tried, one of them was successful while the other was still pinned and now being stabbed.

They had gotten the nets one him at some point and were just working him to death. High END wasn’t always a good thing, it made dying so much worse. The other was regrouping with his teammates however. They could only watch their friend [Dead] slowly. But all was not lost. They had regrouped themselves and were now able to take these monster fuckers down. And their friend wasn’t going quietly either, wounding two of them in the legs and a third in the arm.

They slowly moved in position, keeping each other placed properly and adjusting themselves to keep a tight formation. They marched forward on the enemy as they packed and prodded their way. The gladiators moved back and one of them hissed. Micky hadn’t realized that there was a cat beastkin in the mix until just now. He figured it was just some spotted leathers, but no, she was in the nude herself. Or as in the nude as those mangy things could get.

The gladiators were on the back foot now. They were not used to fortified formations it seemed. They struck out randomly. One of them tried to bring around the other net, having yet to retrieve the first one. It was quickly swatted away, and became a point of contention between the sides. The gladiators didn’t want to turn this into a tugging match so they left it tossed aside.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Now both medium gladiators had their spears back in hand. Micky noted that they had forgone the traditional trident. It was just getting to the good part. The opportunistic kills were already out of the way. Now it was time for the two groups to wear each other down. They juked and fainted with each other as the gladiators spread out. Just as wary of each other as they were of their new ‘friends’ and playmates. This turned their numbers advantage into and advantage for the adventurers as it became 3 vs 1 vs 1 vs 1 vs 1 vs 1. That was until two of the gladiators attacked one of their own. At first the adventurers were taken aback. But they capitalized on it and charged from the wall.

It was a mistake. They were hit in the side by a gladiator. However the heavy didn’t come out unscathed. It was the opposite really. As he came out of the exchange with a sword wound in his chest. The gladiator retreated away from combat to hopefully recover, but he would settle for not being cut down by friend or foe. This left an opening as the gladiators recovered from the impromptu coop.

But the adventurers were not about to allow that. They charged at the already outnumbered foe. The rest of the gladiators returned to recover, and close in around them. The two that were originally engaged, disengaged so as to not be caught up in the fight, schadenfreude clear in their actions. Only the adventurers charged down the other gladiators that were closing in. This left the first gladiator to charge down the two that had wronged him. Now it was they that were the target of schadenfreude.

But it was the wounded heavy and his medium companion that were really in trouble. The opportune betrayal was well within the rules, if not encouraged. The organizers loved the drama. However, it left them with a wounded heavy and a medium without his preferred net to shield himself. They quickly retreated, or at least the medium abandoned the heavy that limped away. Too bad that he was the adventurers target all along.

Now a rabid adventurer dived on him, an ironic turn on earlier. The medium was grounded and his comrades were poking him and proding. Very shortly the medium was [Dead] and the heavy was not far behind. He was aware of the situation and the growing clusterfuck but there wasn’t anything he could do. His teammates were more worried about airing out past grievances than actually winning the fight.

Now he had two adventurers in formation, or a grounded adventurer that he could try to finish off quickly before they arrived. If this was a battle Micky knew what he would do, but twas not. So Micky watched with wrapped attention as the gladiator dived onto the downed adventurer. He stabbed and clawed at the woman as he himself [Dead] and bleed out.

It was now just the last three gladiators and the adventurers. Or at least, 2 vs 2 vs 1. It seemed that the pair that had attacked were both male and the single gladiator that was being ganged up on, but not disadvantaged was a female. Micky wondered how this situation had come about, it was sure to be quite the drama for them to forgo the life and [Dead] battles and seek out vengeances first.

As all parties disengaged and stared each other down, it was anyone's game. The fans were far too riled up to allow it not to end properly now. It seemed even this disinterested fanbase was interested in the climax.

It was actually the single combatant, another heavy, that was the first to make a move. They charged at the adventurers putting them on the defensive. The pair charged after her intent on capitalizing on their combat. Only for the single gladiator to charge past the adventurers. They were far too close now, in each other’s range. They could try to disengage, but that would leave them open to some opportunistic swipes, and even more open to the now unencumbered combatant.

With a wry feel to the swings they engaged. It was actually one sided. The adventurers took advantage of them while both sides were occasionally haraged by the solo combatant. The gladiators were soon grounded and [Dead].

Thud, Thud, hit two arrows. The light combatants at the wings of the arena finished off and downed the adventurers. They fired off more arrows to cripple them and prevent them from getting back up. It was an anticlimactic sour end to what had otherwise been an interesting match. Apparently that was what you get for a ‘junior’ training match. As it turned out only the cat was [Dead] on the gladiators side, and the rest will recover. As the fellow spectators stated “Missy will be missed, she was a great hunter!”