Open Chronicles A fresh hell

[Borr]

The sun entered. A warm guests as ever creeping along the cold stone and stained straw of his cell.
The bars on his window, little more than a square hole, were the same as on his door and the round portal on the ceiling that gave unfiltered access to whatever he was doing from the platform above.
Lazily Borr opened his eyes to the silver of heated air.
Up he sat like a weight lifted by a loaded pivot.
Languid and slow.
The light caught the side of his face and his eye squinted in refusal of its gift.
Outside the other fighters were making their way to the mess where food was served.
Some where talking, some where hiding and all of them were waiting to see who would be given the leg.
All the pits of Cerak had their own ways of doing it. Here it was to be given the leg. When a fighter got the leg of a turkey or other game bird it meant they were going to fight that day and if they performed well, they got the other leg afterwards.
When Borr left his cell he walked slowly. There was something different about today, the air smelled heavy. Orcs had good senses of smell, acute and sensitive.
New fighters. A lot of them.
He took his place in line behind one of the new fighters.
"You smell."
He said in his gruff voice.

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC

The sun entered. A warm gust as ever creeping along the cold stone and stained straw of his cell.
He wasn’t robbing the description of someone else, mind you, neither attempting to break four walls.
Yet, as much could be said about the previous person, or the one after him, amid this prison of hell.
Then again, it was only hell to a percentage of them. To another, this was heaven. This orc stood tall.

Strong. As far as could be afforded to Geskar. Bars on his window like the others. Same as his door.
He was not the only occupant of his cell, however. He shared it with some dark elf lying on the floor.
“Up ya get, ya little piss-shit vermin!” Shouted a guard. “What’s wrong with him!?” Guard asked Geskar.
“Too much water,” orc answered. “Ain't heard of dying of un-thirst.” Geskar smirked. “Drowned in it, sir.”

Guard laughed at that, ignoring the toilet, or makeshift bucket of shared piss and shit.
Wasn’t the most brilliant death, but the elf had it coming to him. “OUT! NOW! YOU GIT!”
Thus the Blue Orc was summoned. He didn’t so much as shrug or budge in that instant.
“I said come!” The orc shrugged. “You take me for a whore or a conjurer of cheap tricks?”

“Want me to fetch the whip?” The guard beckoned.
“I’m a good citizen.” Idiot. A prisoner to be reckoned.
So that guard allowed Geskar to step out of that cell.
Into the line of leg-beggars. Heard words. “You smell.”

Geskar had smelled something else. Piss from yet another person.
Some prisoner/gladiator/whatever in front of him pissed himself.
This did cause Geskar to step backwards in turn, toward another.
Maybe he stepped on an orc’s toes. Who knows? It didn’t matter.

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Get off me you blue-balled bonehead!"
Borr shoved the taller Orc back away from him.
It was too early to properly fight but he wasn't about to get knocked out of line and loose his spot for breakfast.
"Watch where you step!"
He was too hungry for this.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

"Watch where you step!"

First Geskar had stepped backward upon not wanting to get his feet wet. Then he was pushed forward on account of the loudmouth behind him. That meant he almost stepped in the puddle of Uncle Peehead in front of him.

"Watch where you step!" That man said as the blue orc was pushed into his back.

"Are you kidding me?" Geskar gestured to the floor. "You even aware of this leak between your feet, freak?"

"Huh?" He looked down at the liquid on the ground. "Oh dang NOT AGAIN"

Blue-balled bonehead? Geskar remembered the other guy behind him. He was too hungry for this shit to be honest. "Listen here, greenskin. You can eat my fist for breakfast."
"Could you bleedin' orcs please move forward so we can eat!?" Came a voice further back.

Saved by the bell. "Well I can't argue with gettin' fed." So Geskar moved on ahead, stepping over the puddle that was promptly being mopped up by Uncle Peehead.

Finally, after whatever the hell that was, the blue-balled bonehead advanced to the counter and slid his tray onward. "No more pork?" Annoyed, he gazed at an empty pot that was promptly replaced. "HA!" He was about ready to eat the server too. "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"

Borr

 

[Borr]

Borr chuckled.
He had no idea why that was so funny but it was.
"Heh, you make jokes too? I didn't know blue's had a sense of humour."
He bit back with a smile.
Far be it from him to take any insult. Not without giving something back. Still it broke up the monotony.
It wasn't as if there was much else to look forward too aside practise. Borr figured he'd try the net today. It was a difficult thing to master but it also pleased the crowd. It was more dramatic than swords and daggers. Which is what he'd need to get noticed.
As food got passed out he waited to see who got the leg today.
He could smell it. Someone was gonna fight.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Meat was indeed on the menu but far be it from a blue or a green orc to call this meat proper pork. It was Geskar’s first time in this Cerak pit, his first day through the gate as a slave of this establishment into the mess hall or onto the mess field or wherever the hell they were but it didn’t matter.

As a slave, nobody needed him. As a gladiator, someone needed him to win for spectators, so that meant they needed him better fed than the rest of them slaves. To an extent, anyway. Yet, pulled pork on his plate? That'll be the day. “What is this minced shit!?” He sniffed. “This stuff smells like fuckin' goblin guts!”

“Shut up!” Called a guard. Geskar shrugged and moved along. His tray was finished with a bowl of grey-brown ‘soup’, hard bread and a goblet of water. And no fucking ale or wine. RIGHT. “Is it cuz I’m blue?” He looked between his green contemporary and some humie, turned back to the server. “It’s cuz I’m blue, AIN’T IT!?”

The server, some other slave, gulped and looked away. That made Geskar stare hard into his face. “Now you gimme extra meat you chicken shit—” Something hit his plate that made the blue orc blink. Others also did. It wasn’t chicken. But it was meat. Leg of turkey. Eeheehee… Geskar grinned.

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Lucky you."
Borr grinned himself but not gladly. It was wry and mean.
"You wanted meat, you're gonna earn it now."
His own tray held only his portion. This pleased him. If the blue got got stuck in the pits he was no good anyway.
"Where's your cellmate? The elf. He joining us?"
Another wry grin. The commotion in the cells last night was probably heard in each adjoining cell. He asked as they moved to find seating at the short tables.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Geskar looked down at the turkey leg like it was the best thing in the city this side of Shitville. He caught the look of the green orc and shot him one back as if to challenge with sword. If looks could kill. “Gladly.” He was just as much smiling, baring his teeth, ripping off a bit of turkey skin and happily chewing.

At the mention of the elf, Geskar had almost forgotten. Lifting his shoulders, the pair of orcs found a table with two seats and a man sitting in one. “That’s my seat.”

The man looked hesitant to leave before looking between both orcs. Evidently he didn’t want any trouble this morning. Him and the blue orc traded places. Tray on the tabletop, Geskar lifted his goblet, plucked a flea from the water, took a sip. That scent of lean meat made him thirsty.

“My cellmate, the elf, is too sick.” He drank a spoonful of soup, grimaced, dipped bread into it. “Stuck on the toilet. Pissing and shitting all evening and this morning. Nasty business.” The minced meat was no less tasty.

“You want this…don’t you?” Geskar patted the turkey leg on his tray, gazing into Mr. Green’s face. “But I bet you’re too fuckin’ chicken to earn it. Pun intended. Not me. See, I savor the opportunity to bloody the ring with anybody’s body! Pretty funny when they shit themselves like that dead elf! Heehee!"

Borr

 

[Borr]

Borr snorted back.
"Nope, That's for you blue and it's not chicken. Nobody takes anyone else's leg here, good way to get a beat down."
He bit his bread and chewed then looked outside. Clouds, dark ones.
He thought about fighting with a net in the rain. Where his feet might need to be, how he should hold his head to keep the wet from his eyes.
"Bosses won't like that he's dead, your elf."
A spoon of soup entered his mouth.
"We all cost money and we can't earn it dead. Unless there's enough meat on us to save the kitchens."
He took another bite of bread and threw a shit eating grin at the other orc.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

The blue orc was new, it was true, and by the sounds of his counterpart the green orc wasn’t so new. Still, of course it wasn’t fuckin’ chicken. It was turkey. But both were birds and there’s your pun and then some. Geskar bit his leg and chewed then looked outside. He thought about the dead elf in his cell.

“Son, the bosses can whip me bloody if it pleases them.” His grin didn’t eat shit. “That elf was, eh, depressed. Drowned himself anyhow.” He shrugged. “Besides, I’ve got the leg. If they want me punished, my opponent is welcome to brutalize me in a fight. If they can manage it.”

Dry, wet, it didn’t matter to Geskar. He would fight and bite with both arms tied if the occasion called for it. For now he just enjoyed his turkey leg.

“You’re a regular in this outfit then.” More an observation than a question as he licked turkey grease from his lips. “How long ya been here, green?” And are you as mean as the shit between your teeth? But his contemporary could read those words in the blue orc’s wild eyes as he got busy eating.

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Two moons, and a bit."
Borr replied without looking up. He was scraping the soup up from the bottom of his bowl.
"Seen a lot come and go. Some quick, some slow."
He put the bowl down and lifted his water cup.
"What about you? Who were you before you were a slave, blue?"
Draining the cup he slammed it on the tabletop and gestured for more from the serving boy who also took his bowl.

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

Two moons and a bit. Ha. Green was just a bit as green as blue, then, when it came to it, but best not blink over color confusion. Whatever the case, it was an answer that Geskar accepted with little argument, if ever ready to debate.

“Some quick, some slow, eh?” Was that an attack? A challenge against his person? To see if this gladiator with the turkey leg would turn chicken and die quick or slow? Either way.

“I was who I always am,” He snapped bone from bone, plugged turkey between his teeth, chewed while speaking. “A warrior. Raised and trained, with or without a fucking fighting pit— WAIT”

The server boy yelped. “Ale. If you have it. If not then some more bloody water, you little shit.” He offered an empty cup. Promptly returned to the topic.

“You?” Blue asked green. “Before two moons and a bit, that is.”

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Pirate."
Borr said as the boy with shaking hands poured into Geskar's cup.
"Yeah we took a few ships before the Empire took us. Captives sold to the pits. Guess they had a full waiting list on executions."
He sat back and scratched his chin.
Orcs came in all shapes and sizes with no small variety of pigment and markings, it was part of the genetic melting pot you got when you could mate successfully with almost anything as a species.
In Borr's case it meant his stubble grew in thick but slow which itched something fierce. He watched the boy scurry away when he was done to serve more water and clear more tables.
"You got a name blue? In case your first fight is your last?"
He was beginning to like his counterpart.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

“Pirate, huh?” Pirate scum, some may say, but in Geskar’s world everyone and their mother and father, boy or girl, was scum no matter what their occupation, so fuck it. And fuck the melting pot that made this minced meat that tasted like kitten.

Took a few ships, he did. Geskar dipped his bread in soup. Bet his crew pissed themselves when the Empire fell on them. Granted, that was only one reason why the blue orc sat there with his big grin.

“Blue to you,” he answered. A full waiting list of executions. Yet green sat there like it was just any other day. He hadn’t developed a condition where he spontaneously pissed himself out of fright like that one other guy. Blue would give green that much.

“If you want to. Otherwise my name is Geskar.” He tore off another chunk of turkey, baring his teeth amid his blue countenance. “Geskar Blightbrood.” He didn’t expect that name to mean anything to his contemporary.

“And it won’t be my last but it will be somebody’s.” He laughed. “Maybe after my first one the other will be between blue and green! Though I bet we’d make a good team instead. Show these FUCKING PUSSIES orcs aren’t to be messed with.” Echo met with silence. “What’s your name, green face?”

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Borr."
Said Borr simply.
He was looking off to the side, distracted by the rain.
"Maybe we will fight together. Teams are common enough. There's those two,"
Borr pointed towards a pair of hairless elf's that looked covered head to bare foot in swirling blue tattoos.
"But most likely you're gonna be fighting one of them."
He tilted his head to behind himself where a table of human warriors sat.
One was a broad man in a spiked helmet. One was tall and thin as a rake with a hook hand and the other was squat but squirrely looking fellow who's eyes held true violence.
"Those three, they're human but don't let it fool you, they're the real deal and the Boss likes to see what fresh faces can do against them. So my money would be on you facing one of them."
If he had any money that is.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

Borr… Geskar chewed on that name as if his chicken-turkey-whozitwotzit was steak. A name born for a warrior. And no mistake.

Toward a pair of elves in blue tattoos. Pussies. Any orc, blue or green, would crush them in a heartbeat.

Borr pointed forth at human warriors. Geskar observed further. Spiked helmet. Hook hand. Eyes of violence.

“Arm. Leg.” Geskar expressed, not much interested if his companion knew what he was talking about to begin with as he bit into his turkey leg. “Human meat is sweet if soft.” He coughed, washed his morsel down with water.

“Fight one of those three chickenshits in the ring, is it?” Twist my nips. He licked his lips, tossed his turkey bone into the distance, hoping it landed in the general direction of one of those Humans’ heads. “I’ll see your money and raise you some better fucking meat than this piss.”

That minced shit was lifted and tossed over his shoulder as Geskar prepared himself for whatever he would be served from gladiator or owner. In the end, fuck them all, with this blue orc’s bellend and balls.

Borr

 

[Borr]

The turkey bone flew in a high arch before landing square on the nose of the tallest human, who was bald with the hooked hand. The man stood up and looked about. His eyes landing on Geskar.
With his hooked hand he pointed at the blue orc and silently promised a very painful demise by next miming a slit throat.

"Shit."
Borr said. He was watching with interest, some others were watching while talking amongst themselves.
"I think you've made a friend. That's Trask. Mean one, deaf and mute. The others are Zeek and Yammo. Zeek is the brains, least he likes to think he is and Yammo, well Yammo is just insane. Saw him eating his bedding once. You can sure pick em Blue."
Trask was still standing in silent half-challenge. Brawling was forbidden, punished by floggings.
Borr wondered if Geskar would rise to it.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC (Recurring)

Well it looked like his minced meat didn’t hit anybody at least but his turkey bone certainly did. Heh. It was all Blue could do to grin at his opponent. What kind of an idiot mimics a slit throat? Fucking amateur.

“Sure as shit with an elf buried in it. Only a dumbass eats his bloody bedding.” The floor was hit with a stream of Geskar’s spit as he kept his eyes on that guy with a hook hand. Trask. He would remember that. “Deaf and mute, huh? And a missing hand? Fuck.” The blue orc laughed.

“What happened, man?” Loud enough to be heard by his audience, never mind Yeek and Zammo. He lifted his plate. “You fall in the same meat grinder that gave me this minced shit? Oh wait you can’t hear or answer back. HA!”

Rise to the challenge? Geskar sits. Oh he loved a blood rush but he was in no rush at this moment. Better to beckon the chickenshits to him.

“Whaddya think, Green?” But Blue didn’t wait for an answer. “Think the Three Dumbos can understand this?” With that, he blew his middle finger upward from his fist like a balloon.

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Alright Blue, keep it for the crowd."
Geskar was amusing, Borr couldn't deny it as he looked around to spot the irate expressions on the others faces.
"Yep. That's just about pissed off half the top earners."
He gave a short and grim laugh.
All across the mess nearly every face looked at them.
The lad returned with more water but Borr shoo'd him away. No point in the lad being a target.

"You there, Geskar. Get up."
One of the guard escorts in his shining brass helmet called from the doorway.
"Looks like you're up Blue. I wouldn't keep the boss waiting too long."

Geskar Blightbrood ightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Pissed off the top earners, is it? Well call the blue orc a wagon cab and a whore to go with it if these were the ‘top earners’ on the floor. This entire lot was hardly worth Geskar’s fists, never mind his spit.

“Speaking of piss, this water tastes like—”
A guard just then piped up in shiny brass.
“Hi.” Was Geskar’s answer as he stared back.
He downed his pisswater and looked lively.

He rose. “Now I’m up.” Just so. Blue offered his turkey bone to green, grinned something mean, then turned to his favorite companions in the room, the Three Amigos.

“Try not to jerk each other off while I’m gone.” He grimaced, indicating a missing limb on his person. “That hook…uhhh…it wouldn’t look too good by the time—”

“MOVE!” The guard commanded Geskar.

“Aight.” So Geskar merrily obliged and approached the doorway. “Where are you taking my blue ass? Thanasis?”

Trust a gladiator like him to have heard more than one story about the known world. Some of his enemies were explorers before they met their end with a slit throat or something so dramatic. It is what it is.

Borr

 

[Borr]

"Shut up."
The guard told Geskar as the entered the hallway connecting the mess to the rest of the complex.
The hallway sloped upwards leading to ground level and a small cramped box room of wood which the guard unlocked with a wooden key.
"Weapons are in the Ring big guy. You go out, survive, make the Masters happy and you're back for supper. You able to handle that?"
The guard had the kind of lax attitude that spoke of doing this many times.

@Gesker Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC

So, shut up and so much for Thanasis. Place sounded like a dragon’s armpit or backside anyway so what the hey. Into the hallway and no short walk from the exit of the mess to the rest of the complex but there’s your conversation, bet.

“You get any elven women comin’ in?” Geskar was sure to beckon the guard.
“Had this black-haired hybrid chick. Kestien or some shit. She had four arms.”
“Wow.” Geskar wowed. “How I vow to marry the woman who can put me down.”
“Ya might yet,” guard gestured to the entrance ahead. “Now go make me proud.”

A door presented forth, forward toward the warrior, a gladiator who was ready for it.
“Open the pit,” the orc demanded, O so blue of skin, lest ye forget it. “Let’s do this…”
He had his fists, and there were weapons within the ring, if he could believe Dipshit.
“Done sniffing your armpits, ya dimwit shitprick, so open sesame, send me the fuck in.”

Borr

 

[Borr]

The guard at the door sighed and pushed open the door.
Light, bright and blinding flooded in and before Geskar left for the arena he could hear the guards speak amongst themselves.
"Four arms? Don't encourage them."

The arena had weapons, though perhaps not what Geskar had expected.
In the centre of the modest fighting pit were two quarterstaffs stood erect in the ground.
Above him as the door closed there were onlookers but not a group of commoners to entertain. This was clearly folk of means, draped in reds, blues and clothes adorned with gold thread. They were men and women of all shapes and sizes a cluster of about twelve. Sitting in shade and eating and talking amongst themselves.

A few moments after Geskar entered a second gate (four in total) opened and out came his opponent.
A clacking sound came from the dark. Thin, bleached bones walked, animated by dark unseen forces.
A skeleton, reanimated to vile purpose stood in the arena and cocked it's skull at Geskar then the Masters then back at Geskar.
It wore a few bits of clothing. A military skirt and boots but nothing else.

It just waited for some unknown command or perhaps, what might have been worse, was deciding what it would do next.

Geskar Blightbrood

 

[Geskar Blightbrood]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Speaking of four arms, Geskar had only two but he had removed others too. That tended to happen when his weapon met flesh and tendon. Only he had no weapons on his person as he entered the arena, blinded by bright white light that instant. Then he blinked. He could see. And he saw the ring, the seats and the weaklings eating and drinking their grinning faces in the sweet serene shade.

They were, of course, the very same faces he was here to entertain with swords and more. He knew this game, he played it well, only he saw no blades, only staves in the ground. Well now… It was his turn to grin. Guess I’ll be breaking limbs instead of severing them… Unless some fingers found his teeth, that is. Heh.

That moment a gate opened adjacent from his own. The blue orc didn’t wait as he stepped forth even before the creature emerged from the darkness of the doorway, and it had no face. Only boney, anyway.

Its garments were no red or blue or gold threads but what looked like this one whore wore when this winner of a gladiator got to bed her. “You are one ugly mother fucker,” Geskar offered his sparring partner as he walked forward.

“This skinny piece of shit supposed to be my opponent!?” He asked as he spat at his audience. “Fuck it. Let’s begin.” At that, he didn’t delay for some stupid speech from an announcer as he moved to grab a staff while ready to counter.

Borr

 

[Borr]

As Geskar moved the skeleton seemed to react to him. Snatching the other staff and twirling it.
"YEEEHAAA!"
It spoke and the watchers above began to chirp enthusiasms.
"I like the eager ones Haha!"
With a quick step it began jabbing at Geskar with the staff, aiming at his face.

Geskar Blightbrood