Free-For-All (One)|Darkthrone, New Morilanta

[Kender Bard]

At dawn, the men scheduled for the first free-for-all fight of the day arrived. There were three others. Two had no armor and only poorly made, the wood-hafts warped, spears as their weapons. It was clear that these men were but poor commoners hoping to get lucky in the day's fight and bring home a winner's purse to their families.

The third man, however, was well outfitted. He wore polished armor and had an impressive looking broadsword with a decorated scabard at his waist. A tabard draped over his body (dark and pale sea green with a ship and three swords pointed downward below it) declared him as the champion for House Anatolius.

[Deleted]

Jack Groves was dressed in a combination of makeshift armor and real armor. On his head was an old helmet, which covered most of his face. This was part of a suit of armor that he and his friends had stolen years ago. However, that was about the only part that actually fit him.
His bulky upper body was concealed by a leather vest. Under the vest, a long chain wrapped around his torso a dozen times, hopefully providing a little extra protection. On his left hand, there was a pair of brass knuckles. In his right, there was a long hatchet.
Before he entered the arena, Phineas, who was acting as his coach, slapped him on the back and told him to "Rip them up!"

[Kender Bard]

One of the men in charge of overseeing the arena ushered the four men in. Already the seats were filling with eager and expectant citizens. Bets were already being made just to look at the men as the director of the event sent each man into his own corner. Scattered on the ground were a couple of weapons for grab though nothing too special--a board with nails in it, a rusty and almost broken looking mace, amongst other things.

"This is a free for all battle!" the announcer shouted. "The last man standing lives! Place your bets now!"

From the corner to Jack's right, one of the poorly clad men shouts at him, "You're going to die today, stranger!"

[Deleted]

Jack couldn't think of anything to shout back, so he growled at the man and made a threatening gesture with his weapon. He then started eying the weapons on the ground, mainly so he could make sure nobody picked up anything he didn't want used against him.

[Kender Bard]

Soon the stadium was brimming full and many of the bets had been placed.

"Ladies and gentlemen... the bloodbath begins!"

Someone rang a gong somewhere and that seemed to the cue to the fighters to begin. One of the poor brothers darted towards the champion. He and his brother had serreptitiously began storing elemental energy just before the match began and he held out his palm and blasted the armored champion with a powerful spray of water up close, knocking the man clear onto his back.

The other brother just stood his ground and faced Jack. The earth trembled beneath him briefly and suddenly the slate shot up in a deadly jagged spike beneath him.

[Deleted]

Jack moved forward the moment he heard the gong, and so managed to avoid being impaled, although he was thrown off balance. After taking a few seconds to regain his footing, and glancing around at the other contestants, he began to run toward the one who had attacked him.
He didn't plan on using his element much in this fight, since his helmet covered his sign. Besides, he was a lot better with weapon. He lifted his hatchet, and prepared to swing it as soon as he was in range.

[Kender Bard]

The Earth was light on his feet and his lack of armor meant he was able to touch the sign on his bicep easily. He did so, trying to keep near-constant contact with the sign even as he backed away hastily to keep out of range of the hatchet. With a grunt, he threw his spear hard towards Jack's chest, hoping to take him out of the fight quickly.

[Deleted]

As Jack neared the spear, he reached out with his free hand to grab it near the head, and tried to push down on it to the left while pushing himself slightly to the right. He continued to move at nearly the same pace, although his hatchet was no longer in the air.

[Kender Bard]

The Earth grunted as his attack was forced to the side and he nearly stumbled onto his face as he followed its path. Landing on one knee and hand, he jerked the weapon around and tried to sweep Jack off his feet with a blow at the back of his knees. If he couldn't manage that, he was a goner.

[Deleted]

Jack turned to the left a bit, causing the blow to hit him the left knee. He was knocked down, but he fell toward the other man. Once again, he swung his hatchet straight down as he fell.

[Kender Bard]

The man twisted and squirmed, trying to get away in time, but his positioning was poor--the hatchet fell and bit deep into the Earth's back. He gave a scream of agony and thrashed a little on slate floor of the arena.

The Water and the armored champion had continued to fight but while the Water had gotten a jump of initial surprise on the champion, his lack of any real armor put him at a severe disadvantage. As one brother died, so did the other; the champion's swing of his sword had nearly decapitated the other man.

[Deleted]

Jack yanked his bloody hatchet out of the Earth, and then held it up while grinning to the audience. Before getting up to fight the champion, he decided to lift the Earth's head and take another swing at the face, both to please the crowd and to intimidate the opponent.
Now he stood up and began to approach the champion, this time a little more cautiously.

[Kender Bard]

The champion was busy catching his breath. He ignored the wild shrieks and cries of the audience who looked on the bloody display with delight and approval.

"Well come on, then, you nobody!" the champion jeered and waggled his bloody sword towards Jack. "I don't have all day." Abruptly, he darted forward and took a power swing at Jack, roaring as he did so.

[Deleted]

Jack ducked, but only low enough that the sword clashed against his helmet loudly, knocking him over. After he landed, he scrambled away from the champion, and reached for one of the weapons on the ground - the board with the nails in it. He got up again, this time holding the board in his left hand (awkwardly, since he still had the brass knuckles on) and the hatchet in his right.

[Kender Bard]

The champion laughed contemptuously at the improvised weapon. "You'll put up less than a fight than the poor bastard I just killed!" Feeling cocky and enjoying the shouts of the crowd, he lifted his sword high and brought it down on another power swing.