Open Chronicles The Beast Pits

[Fenic Creed]

An open invitation struck the Allirian streets and the villages of the reach, a cave was hosting the event of the century with or without legal approval.

A new game has been created, a new coliseum, a new gladiator, a new bloodbath to tickle the fancies of the bloodthirsty populace, a new deathmatch.
People can now come and watch primal combat like never before...

"WELCOME TO THE BEAST PITS!!!"

... The voice of the announcer boomed around the room amplified by a combination of magic and metal pipes.
A light show was going on, hooded lamps sending out their spotlights around the room in multicolored wonderment.
An excited crowd was gathered in the underground fighting arena, the entire cavern filled with the excited and ecstatic sounds of people great and small, human and demi-human, elf and dwarf.

The pit was a sand trap surrounded by stone walls that hedged the crowd back and out of reach from the danger zone below. The sand was being raked of blood after the last match, a mere appetizer before the main event. Two gladiator teams of mixed races and abilities had gone at it to slaughter one another, one team won, the other team died.

"I CAN GUARANTEE YOU FOLKS, YOU'VE NEVER WITNESSED SUCH CARNAGE IN YOUR LIFE!!!
ONLY TWO CONTESTANTS, BUT TWICE THE GORE!!!"

Two observation booths were situated on opposite sides of the arena at the top of the wall. From back doors on the left arena booth a well dressed man entered the booth with an entourage of servants attending him, little more than slaves by how they were dressed and treated... In fact they were slaves by the iron collars on their necks.

On the opposite booth a large tattooed man dressed in furs entered with a small team of similarly decorated attendants, apparently barbarians from some sort of tribe.

"HERE YOU'VE COME TO WITNESS DEATH! HERE YOU'VE COME TO WITNESS CARNAGE! HERE YOU'VE COME TO WATCH FORCES OF NATURE TEAR EACH OTHER APART!
OUR CONTESTANTS ARE IN POSITION, IT'S TIME TO INTRODUCE OUR BEASTS!!!"

On the barbarian side the big muscled individual that must have been the leader knelt down and lowered his head as if in meditation. A single mark on his tattooed body began to glow with a primal green light.
The portcullis lifted and a moment later a massive hulking beast lumbered out of the darkness and stepped out onto the sand.
The beast was immense, over thirteen feet tall and appeared closely related to a massive Seal or Sea-lion. It's speckled short fur was marked with many battles scarred into its thick hide.

"INTRODUCING... KING GLACIOUS!!!"

At the sound of its name the beast let out a bellowing roar with which it displayed its massive fangs.

_____________________​

In the opposite booth the well dressed man took a seat instead of kneeling in the designated spot.
His slaves knelt around him in subservience, but one slave was motioned closer... A small girl, emaciated and pale with dark hair that fell over her face.
The man that was her master looked at the bellowing beast strutting around the arena.
"Fenic... Destroy him for me..."
She didn't respond, he didn't ask her to, she simply had to obey.
She knelt down by his side in a meditative position and her own mark glowed a deep purple.

________________________​

Her eyes opened again, but they were the eyes of another creature. Reptilian slits quickly adjusted to the darkness, the door of her cage stood open with nothing else nearby, only a stone hallway before her and bright light filtering through the gated portcullis at the end.

She moved forward on all fours, her claws making great rivets in the stone as she crawled towards the light.
The portcullis lifted and she sharply heart the sounds of the crowd, the scent of the people, the spoor of her opponent, and the boom of the announcer.

"... AND OUR SECOND CONTESTANT! I GIVE YOU... APOCOLIIIIIIIIIIIIIISK!!!!!!!"

At the announcement of her name she emerged from the darkness and lifted her head... A low rumble began in her throat that vibrated the ground, that rumble grew in timbre and volume until it turned into a roar, but then the roar suddenly turned into a primal screech that sounded like twisting metal and a thunderclap all at once!

In this form... In this arena... She was not Fenic the slave... She was Apocolisk, the beast!

 

[Zier Xya Zythos]

It's hard to believe his last visit to a fight club turns one year old in nine days.

Spoiler: Time flies.

Zier is a caring soul, and he doesn't like the idea of hurting people in a fight. He's into it for the artistic view of battle. He enjoys the lightning-fast reflexes, footwork and different fighting styles that come with it. The way people are able to train their body to display incredible feats of strength and stamina in the pen, then execute explosive, yet elegant, attacks with ease. It's truly a beautiful art to him, an art he too takes part in.

Then, there's his last visit from Elbion to to Alliria

Spoiler: Feels like three days ago

He came from Fal'addas so he's a relatively new face around Elbion and he recently started exploring it's taverns and other points of interest. By the time this journey concludes and he's arrived in Alliria for the first time, he hopes to have seen every beautiful site the trail between Elbion and their destination has to offer.

He did get to see those captivating sights and taste their wonderful foods! Well, now, after a hiatus to train up and better his skills, he's returned right back where he started... a fight club! He wanted to participate, but he didn't register and he's really glad he didn't because he just found out that killing it involved and murdering isn't his style. Instead of throwin' fists, he threw himself down into a seat as the uproar of the audience around him fueled his anticipation for this match.

He observed in silent awe as the first creature emerged into the arena. He clutched his drink in excitement while the creature released a deafening roar. Tall... big muscles.... it's probably slow as hell. PROBABLY uses it's head as bludgeon and definitely uses it's teeth.

Then... the second creature emerged and he literally lost his shit, rising to his feet and shouting "LETS FUCKING GGOOOOOO!" Among the crowd as he inadvertently spilled most of his drink on someone next to him... he could've sworn he's done this before.

That whole shit is a machine from its tail to it's head. Probably way more athletic and brutal than the first. I can definitely see all it's limbs overwhelm it's opponent.

He sat back down into his seat, awaiting the brutal slaughter that's certain to happen. He arrived late to the party... again, so he has no idea that there are fuckin' people. He has no issue with savage monsters killing themselves.

 

[Fenic Creed]

The two beasts didn't hesitate. With thunderous roars they charged at each other, the hulking seal like beast led in with its greater weight and size while Apocolisk came in quick and lethal.
They clashed and both monsters tried each other strength for strength, their monstrous arms bulging with massive muscles as they locked claws together.

King Glacious was a massive beast and it appeared his strength would win out, but Apocolisk wasn't giving it to him easily, in spite of its smaller size she was nearly matched in strength... And Apocolisk had and extra pair of arms. Those arms lashed out with long claws, cutting at the muscular torso of King Glacious while the snapping jaws of Apocolisk drew nearer and neared to the larger beasts throat.
Apocolisk fighting King Glacious was like a wolverine fighting a bear, what she lacked in strength or size she made up for with pure ferocity.

Glacious twisted their grip and threw Apocolisk to the side to escape the onslaught, she rolled quickly to her feet before Glacious could take advantage.
great drops of blood and chunks of flesh fell from the chest of King Glacious, but the beast acted as though he was hardly scratched.
Once again the beasts charged each other. This time Glacious attempted to ram Apocolisk with his shoulder but Apocolisk was going high. She leapt over the charging beast and clipped it face with a claw before landing on the other side but as soon as she landed she caught a massive claw to the ribs that sent the smaller beast flying against the wall with a thunderous impact that shook the cave.
Blinking away the haze Apocolisk pulled herself to her feet while Glacious growled and roared in frustration at being damaged so much in so short a time.

Again the two beasts regarded each other, the intelligence of the people who inhabited them examining their opponent. Once again both beasts bellowed their challenges, drawing roars of approval from the masses, the sound alone almost shaking the cavern as well.
Apocolisk paced back and forth on four legs, its two smaller arms flexing claws as she looked for another opening.

 

[Zier Xya Zythos]

He grinned of satisfaction that his observations were correct about the creatures. Glacious speed was outmatched by his opponent and he did use his shoulders for ramming. Apocolisk a formidable opponent with big boi muscles and speedy attacks. As he watched the brawl ensue, shaking with adrenaline and excitement to see the victor, he noticed something... nah, can't be. Nahhhhhhh. The big stop-n-think moment was that these creatures fight with intelligence? Damn. It was just something about the way Apocolisk leapt and was alert enough to claw the other big dude in the face. Zier dismissed this as it's probably just his dumbassery talking.

Zier fell out of his seat when the cave was impacted by the beast with tremendous force, spilling what remained of his drink. "Damn it." He scrambled back up and sat down, and that's when that feeling came back. Are they... analyzing each other? He's never seen monsters do that. Normally they'd lack enough brains and just claw and tear at whatever. He knows that from his stint with the Monster Hunters. These mysterious beasts clearly had a brain. Maybe they developed it from battling in the arena for a long time. Y'know, experience. The feral roar from them both had drew Zier to his feet like the rest of the audience and clapping loudly. Dude was fairly certain his money is on Apocolisk. Unlike his last run in with a underground fight club, this time he bet.

Fenic Creed

 

[Fenic Creed]

The opening came sooner rather than later. Thinking it saw an opening Glacious let out a trumpeting roar as he bolted for Apocolisk's flank, a bad mistake on the tundra huntsman's part.
Glacious's massive incisors were going for her ribs when an elbow spine jerked back and caught the beast in the throat.
A bellow of pain from Glacious and a satisfied hiss from Apocolisk as she drove the spike into the beasts throat a couple more times before the beast had the chance to stagger back.
When Glacious finally got clear he was bleeding badly and was using one clawed paw to put pressure on the wound, but the beast still seemed far from dead on his feet, but to the attuned eye there was a slight falter in his step.

Apocolisk caught this falter and pressed the attack, keeping range but using her larger upper arms to deliver punishing slashing blow that Glacious was pressed to defend against without losing too much flesh, defending himself with one arm which received deep cavernous wounds... But Apocolisk had gotten cocky.

The paw holding the neck wound suddenly came around and caught Apocolisk across the face, blood flew and hit the wall just shay of the audience. The powerful blow sent Apocolisk sprawling and Glacious came up on top of her, using his weight to hold her arms down while his snapping jaws cracked like thunder trying to tear out her throat.

_____________________________​

Up in the viewing box Fenic's body was immobile, her master reached out and stroked her black hair as he watched the fight like she was some prized puppy.

The other side wasn't so composed, they were excitedly cheering on their leader as he grinned with his eyes closed, sensing victory so close at hand.