Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24510587-20190305012653/@comment-5543592-20190306010604

Daireg went to collect the scepter.

Cade gave Graicus a funny look before leading him out.

They headed back into the city, in the direction of the Solitude arena.

It wasn't as splendous as Cyrodiil's or High Rock's arenas--gladiators weren't a profession in Skyrim and knightly tournaments weren't as popular.

It was merely a floor of sand, circled by short wooden stands. The bloodworks were an unimpressive cellar off the side. It was empty now, save for a few people standing on the sand.

At the arena's center stood a Redguard male, wearing only a pair of cotton trousers and holding a blunted sword. He wasn't as big as Graicus or Cade, but was unquestionably large in build and looked to be without body fat--it was actually slightly disconcerting.

Seven men surrounded him. Nords, large in their own right, although lacking the fine-tuned excellence of the Redguard. Each was armed, carrying a hammer, blunted axe, or blunted sword.

For a moment, nothing happened.

And then they lurch into action.

One of the Nords swung, hammer raining down and the Redguard moved, sword raising to slap the haft of the hammer.

Two axes came at him, high and low. He folded at the hips, jumped, twisted in the air between them. His sword licked out, caught an ankle, drifted up high to crack across a throat.

The blademaster spun the sword behind himself, changing hands in time to bring the weapon around his body and parry a stab, then raise his weapon high to repel another swing of the hammer. He locked guards with the swordsman, pulled the Nord towards himself, stepped around in a circle so that the Nord was pulled of balance just in time to take a hammer swing for him. The Nord down, losing his grip on his sword, and the blademaster pulled the weapon into his hand.

The blades twirled as he rotated his wrists, a blur of steel. He stepped wide right, short left, like the first steps of a dance. He ducked under a sword, pivoted around the swing of an axe. His weapons shot out, each cracking first into a stomach, than a hip, as he wound his way between his enemies.

It was like he wasn't even there. The Nords swung at him, brows tight and furious with concentration, and were unable to land a hit. They were fast, strong, but the blademaster was stronger and faster.

Crack. He rung a Nord's head with the flats of his swords, crossed them into an X to catch a hammer as it careened towards him. He grunted, dropping to a knee from the sheer force of the blow. The hammer stopped not an inch for his face. He shoved upwards, rolled forwards, raked the blades of his swords across the man's back.

He stood. Five Nords lay on the ground, groaning, holding their bruised flesh and broken bones.

He leveled a sword at each of the final two. They were hesitant.

The blademaster raised a brow. "Do you want to get paid or not?"

Sighing, they yelled and rushed him. He parried a sword, rammed the blunted point of his sword into his attacker's navel. The man screamed and fell, holding his stomach.

The last had gotten behind the Redguard and dropped his axe, instead electing to wrap his arms around the blademaster in a bear hug. It ended up being a mistake as the blademaster jumped, throwing himself backwards, and crushed the man beneath him. The Nord whacked his had on the ground and went slack, unconscious.

The Redguard set his swords aside and carefully stood up, a little unsteady on his feet.

"Good work.  You can collect your pay from my man over there"  He pulled the blindfold off his head. Upon doing so, he noticed Cade and Graicus. "Oh.  Apologies.  Is it your's now?"