It is quiet in the dungeon save for the occasional scurrying rat and few torches line the walls of the corridor between cells. A dreary, rotten place reeking of dozens of unwashed captives.The prisoners lie in their bunks, some sleeping and others too bothered for such a thing. For come morning, they will struggle for their lives but in vain. Death is their sentence and if not at the hand of gladiators then the hand of an executioner. Creaking open like the very gates of oblivion, the dungeon door slowly gives way to a detail of Legionaries in heavy plate. Their boots thud on the stone floors and their armor clanks to further announce their arrival. As they walk the corridor they light more torches and draw their swords, the distinct sound waking any that might be sleeping still.

"Wake, scum! the time is nigh that you pay for your crimes!" One of the guards shouts and bangs the flat of his blade against the wrought iron bars of the closest cell. They take their places by the cell doors of those marked for death. One by one, the warden unlocks these doors and proceeds to the entry of the corridor. "Exit your cells and step forward. Do not try to resist for if you do, your death will not be swift."

The few prisoners whose doors were now open, emerge. A Dunmer, Breton, two Orcs, a Bosmer, and a pair of Argonians step into the torchlight. Grim expressions adorn their features and their eyes filled with hatred towards the guards. They march at sword point with their hands bound. Some prisoners still locked in their cells come to their doors and bid farewell… others laugh and make obscene gestures. Through the dungeon and out into the night, as the sun had not yet risen. 'These poor souls won't even see their last sun rise' one guard says to another as the convoy passes by bound for the Arena.

The Arena pits are just as dim and foreboding as the dungeon had been and no gladiators were present.. this side of the pit was reserved for the occasion. A bald man in plain brown robes entered behind the guards and addresses the prisoners. "The Nine guide you. There are weapons here for you to use, Pick which suits you best. Die fighting with what honor you have left." With that, the guards and the robed man left the pits and locked the door behind them. The prisoners were alone now, left to their own devices for the short time before the fights began.

(I shall arrange the fights, mingle for now :) it has begun)

Pushing his way past several prisoners, Karnog steps up to the weapon rack and takes out the battleaxe. Iron, crude, and heavy, Karnog is almost insulted with the piss poor craftsmanship put into it.

"This axe ain't good enough to chop a skeever, let alone a skull." He said with a huff.

However, its better than using his fists, even if they could crush almost anyone in here. With that, Karnog holsters the axe and leans against a wall, idly picking rat chunks out of his teeth.

Rias rolled her eyes as she was shoved a little by the brute. She sighed softly and walked up to the weapon rack.

"Well we have a few minutes before we are all forced to brutality murder each other for the entertainment of imperial city, anyone have any last words?"

As she spoke she picked two iron war axes off the rack, rolling them around in her hands.

Daric moved over to one of the weapon racks before taking a gander at what was on offer. Most of it was rubbish that not even a beggar would take for defense, it almost seemed like the people running the arena didn't want the prisoners to survive. It would take more than a few rusted weapons to put Daric down though, his magicka reserves were full up and unless he was met with a particularly magic resistant enemy he probably wouldn't even have to use whatever weapon he picked up.

He eventually decided on a shortsword which was rusted around the edges at some parts from low quality maintenence. He took a seat near the door and began to think about what he'd actually do if he survived this. His reputation as a witch-hunter would probably be at an all time low and he most likely couldn't a job involving magic because of his new criminal record. He'd probably have to get some job with a band of mercenaries or something. He looked at the other contestents, they didn't seem all that special or at least nothing he'd not seen before. But then again, looks can be decieving. The filthy Orc picking his teeth from rat chunks could have been the mysterious 'Gray Fox' of the thieves guild for all Daric knew. But then again, he doubted the Gray Fox would let himself be captured so easily. Daric sat in waiting, he didn't respond to the Orc girl and merely stared at the wall in front. No point in talking to someone he might be about to kill.

Syndus had watched the others grab their weapons before going and grabbing a longbow, along with a pair of shortswords as backup weapons in case he had to fight up close and personal, even though he was very efficient in hand-to-hand combat. He had gotten first impressions of the others from how they had gotten their weapons. Obviously the male Orsimer would be the easiest one to deal with. Big, dumb, and slow, and obviously relying more on the quality of his weapon to compensate for lack of skill, judging by his reaction to the quality of the axe he'd picked up. The Breton would be a bit of a challenge, considering the man's reputation as a witch-hunter, but nothing that Syndus hasn't dealt with before. He'd have to be wary of the Orsimer female though. He couldn't tell anything about her, so he'd have to be careful until he figured out her style of fighting. There were multiple ways one could use twin axes. After he had gotten an idea in his head of what he needed to do, he just sat down on the floor, using a loose stone he'd pulled up from his prison cell when they had him locked up to start sharpening the shortswords the old-fashioned way as if it was a whetstone.

Kiba looked all over her surroundings, damp dark and musty she was used to the highest of luxury, back in her where she stayed, she had been captured just the same as the predicament she is now, she had to face seven members of the kings escort, so these were nothing, she picked up an iron longsword from the rack as she looked in digust at the orc

Judging by the expression of the Dunmer, his act was working. Giving the impression of a dumb barbarian was a skill that the forge wife of the stronghold had taught him.

"If they think your stupid, they won't think your as much as a threat." her voice echoed in the back of his mind.

So far the competition was looking average. No matter what, an orc was an orc and judging by her calm demeanor she isn't going to go down easy... or maybe she will, he hasn't seen her in action and she may be just a push over. The Bosmer looked like he would crumble if he breathed on him too hard, and he just might judging on what he had just eaten. Now the witch hunter, he had heard about that one on his way here, it would be nice to test him, blade to blade.

Karnog didn't like the Bosmer, the way that he had looked at him was full of contempt and it made his blood boil in a way that only an orcs could. However he suppressed it and decided to passive aggressively fling the last bit of rat meat in his general direction.

kiba had been through worse than a mere little death match,although, she couldn'nt shake the feeling that she was getting sussed out, in almost all of her fights she used a perfect fighting style called Ai, Xu Su

She let out a huff as she leaned on the wall, bouncing the axes in her hands, trying to judge their weight.

"Not very talkative bunch huh?" She mumbled

Maybe she should of taken it more seriously, but honestly, she couldn't care less, it was either this or actual execution, at least this would be a little more interesting. She wondered if she should feel bad if she killed anyone, then again, they were all criminals here, at least as far as she knew. She glanced down at the prison rags she had on, not a lot of protection, considering it was a potato sack, having this in mind, she may want to take the defensive side.

Kiba walked to a wooden dummy to practise, she kicked it i.n the midsection, then jamp high in the air to sever the head swift but powerful slice.

Karnog huffed in amusment at the Dunmer.

"This is an arena fight, not an acrobatics routine grey skin." Karnog said with a tone both mocking and full of amusement.

Walking up to another dummy, Karnog unholsters his battleaxe. "All you need to do is cleave." With the end of his sentence he cleanly split the wooden dummies head in two, breaking the handle of the battleaxe in the process.

"Damn." Was all he could say before going to the rack and picking up a war hammer.

Before going back to his wall, Karnog just huffs out a "Never trust imperials to forge."

Rias glanced at him and chuckled.

"And never trust an Orc to be careful, you do that in battle and you will be dead quicker then you break your weapon. Just remember, in the arena, your not going against wooden dummies, and they aren't going to stop and let you find a weapon, we aren't playing for sport here"

At that Karnog scowled, this little orc thinks that he can't take care of himself? Hes fought bears with his own hands and won. Losing an axe, especially a crappy axe like that one, is nothing.

"Watch yourself kinsmen, I've killed men for far less than that." Karnog said with ill restrained malice.

A small smirk crawled upon her lips as she looked to him.

"Goes to show how petty you are. If you want to kill a poor little female Orsimer for trying to give you some advice, go ahead, you would have one less competitor for the fight now wouldn't you"

She watched him careful, she didn't really wanna take off his head, but she would give it a shot if he decided on it.

Kiba would burst out laughing at the orc "Slow and pathetic, orcs should be erased from existence."

Rias dragged her attention to the Dark Elf.

"Right, I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt but it seems you are just as ignorant and hateful as the rest of your kind"

"Stay your toungue, wretch." Kiba pointed her sword towards rias beck.

Rias let out a growl as she stared with disgust at the sword to her neck.

"Oh it's not my tongue you should be worrying about Elf! Yours is the one that is going to get cut off" She spat her words as she placed her axe on the blade of the sword, pushing it away.

Aurora

Sighed the 'male' prisoners looked at her as she was very petite, pushing away some of the prisoners she finally reached the weapons racl, seeing a unique group she only stared to see wha they were doing, "Ehhhh....Hello?" she said her voice was oddly child like, shifting towards the side of the rack she would grab a dagger which seemed very interesting as it has 'odd' markings on it. She smiled towards the others and grabbed the dagger upside down and by the hilt.

" Need I tell you, I slayed 7 of the Kings Personal Guard, you are nothing compared to them" Kiba said to rias