The Games of Saberhaven
Klad the Reaper of Death vs. Glub
        The Arena is unusually quiet for this combat, as the audience awaits the entrance of the competitors. Even this jaded crowd, which has seen every sort of warrior, from earthly royalty, to wizard kings, to demons from the pits of the underworld, waits in murmurous dread for the appearance of Klad, called the Reaper of Death, a feared minion of Orcus, a vampire. With all the powers of the undead at his command, and the skills and abilities of a wizard and unholy high-priest, Klad is a fearsome opponent.
       Contending against him today is a brute of a fighter, Glub the half-ogre. Standing seven and a half feet tall and weighing well over three hundred pounds without his armor Glub has pummeled nine opponents already since his registration in the Arena but he has also been beaten ten times. He is sponsored by Flash Command, the local humanoid mercenary group that recently lost the Winged Folk warrior Falcor to the vicious hands of Scourge the Undying. Talk around the Arena district is that this match is a double-or-nothing bet on the part of Flash Command to restore their good name, so it's safe to say Glub will be pulling out all the stops against Klad. Despite his hulking appearance, Glub is no oaf, and has been known to use a ring of spell storing in past fights.
        From one end of the Arena, Glub strides onto the floor. In his right hand he holds a massive hand-and-a-half sword, which he swings idly as if it were a toothpick. On his other hand is strapped a large shield, which likewise appears small in proportion to his hulking form. His well-muscled body is clad in glittering mail.
        Through the door at the other end a cloud of mist drifts in. Orbiting the eerie fog at a couple of yards' distance are four balls of crackling electricity. It quickly becomes apparent that the cloud itself is Klad, the Reaper of Death.
        On seeing his incorporeal opponent, Glub stops for a moment, apparently to consider his strategy. He then begins to run forward at tremendous speed even for his long legs but stops after traversing almost a third of the Arena. He then gestures with his sword, and a fireball launches from his fist, to speed across the arena and engulf the mist. When the smoke clears, much of the cloud appears to have burned off in fact, it appears about half its previous size. The spectators mumble about what this might mean for Klad when he solidifies.
        Klad ends their speculation quickly, condensing into his humanoid form. The vampire is bloodied and scarred, clearly heavily damaged by the fireball. His clothes and cloak hang in shreds and tatters around him. Apparently undaunted, the unholy mage-priest flies upwards ten yards into the air, and there he intones a prayer to Orcus. He is rewarded with renewed health, as some of his wounds mend. As he prays, two of the four glowing spheres leave their orbit and begin to float toward Glub.
        For his part, the half-ogre appears delighted to have a solid opponent to combat, even if he is far out of reach. Again, Glub gestures with his sword hand, and this time, five bolts of energy speed toward the vampire. They strike with deadly accuracy, erasing the healing Klad just performed and doing more damage besides. One of Klad's daggers also shatters with the blow, apparently showing damage sustained from the earlier fireball.
        Klad moves forward for a few seconds, and his lightning spheres move with him. Glub too charges forward to close the gap. The glowing balls of electricity home in on Glub, and one by one they explode in a flash of energy. Though the half-ogre runs directly through the explosions, he appears to be completely unscathed. Klad pauses in his flight to hover and make another prayer to Orcus, as Glub comes running to a stop thirty feet beneath him.
        Klad begins to rise slowly upwards. Chanting an incantation and drawing runes in the air with his fingers, he begins a spell. With unnatural speed, Glub drops his bastard sword, draws his short sword, and hurls the blade at the vampire. The blade of the sword barely catches the vampire on the right hip, but the enchantment of the blade and the force with which the half-ogre threw it are enough to open a sizeable gash. Klad curses as his spell is disrupted, then ascends higher into the air. Glub, meanwhile, is already picking up his bastard sword.
        The fleet-footed half-ogre zips over to where his short sword fell, and picks it up. Above him, Klad aims his fist at Glub and says, "Reelali!" From his ring burst three shooting stars in quick succession. Glub dodges back and forth with fantastic speed, trying to dodge the resulting explosions, and mostly succeeding. As Glub shakes off the effects of the fireballs, Klad moves further toward the domed roof of the Arena.         Klad looks down at his opponent and says, "Fires from the dark, strike my foe." From his outstretched hand a huge, roaring fireball heads toward Glub, and though the half-ogre dives out of the way, he is still caught at the edge of the inferno. Night-blinded from the blast, Glub seems unable to locate his opponent in the night sky. "Come down here and fight!" he cries.
        From the stands, the audience sees the dark silhouette of Klad drift slowly downwards. As he sinks, the vampire points his hands at the half-ogre and says, "Missiles of magic, fly true." Four blue-colored missiles streak towards Glub, striking him one after the other. Glub, battered, turns and runs for the distant end of the arena, hoping to escape the range of Klad's spellcraft. With quick and lengthy strides, he arrives at his starting position in a matter of seconds.

        Klad, apparently happy to take advantage of the reprieve, mutters another prayer to Orcus, and some of his burn wounds fade away. Glub, at the edge of the Arena, apparently does not trust the spellcasting, and sidesteps left to right and back again, in an attempt to present a difficult target.
        As Glub waits and peers out from behind his shield, the vampire flies forward at a deliberate pace. The half-ogre sees Klad spring into view at the edge of the radius of continual light, and raises his shield defensively, ready to leap away. Klad drifts down and forward, the tatters of his burnt cape flapping ominously behind him. He pauses for a moment, then begins an incantation. Glub immediately takes off running for the other side of the arena, hoping to outdistance the spell. Seconds tick by as Klad chants his mystic prayer and Glub pounds the turf. With a shout, Klad gestures in Glub's direction, and a pillar of flame slams down upon the hapless half-ogre. Glub dives to the dirt, a move that saves at least his front side from severe burns.
        The half-ogre practically bounces off the ground back into a run. Tearing up the turf with his phenomenal speed, he quickly reaches the other end of the arena. Klad flies forward, but can't catch up. Glub, though, has run out of Arena, so he turns and covers himself as best he can with his shield as Klad cruises into range. Glub's actions are timely, as Klad looses another fireball. The shield blocks some of the flames, but the half-ogre is too large to fit his entire body behind it, and is badly burnt.

       Klad finally begins to swoop in for a hand-to-hand attack, his fists clenched and an evil grin upon his face. Glub hunkers behind his shield, and the crowd is astonished to see him drop his bastard sword. The wily half-ogre watches Klad float down from the corner of his eye, and at the last second, just as Klad is almost in reach, he lashes out with one huge arm, and stabs the vampire in the chest. Klad falls to the ground, an astonished expression upon his face. From the tattered and scorched remnants of his shirt protrudes a half-foot of wood. After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd erupts in a tremendous cheer.
        "Not in my town, creep," sneers Glub to the paralyzed vampire. The huge fighter lifts his bastard sword from the dirt, and with one blow, decapitates Klad. Glub reaches into a pouch at his belt and pulls out a handful of what the audience can only presume is holy wafers. The crowd chants Glub's name as he lifts Klad's head and stuffs the wafers into its gaping mouth. As the guards approach, he lifts Klad's cape from the headless shoulders, and wraps the head in it. He lifts it up and screams, "FLASH COMMAND!" The audience goes wild.

        Glub turns toward the exit, and two of the guardsmen lower their halberds up to stop him. Glub shrugs, ties a knot in the cloth, and tosses the head at their feet. They raise their polearms, and Glub limps from the Arena, waving his arms at the crowd's adulation.

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