[color=#FFFF00][b][u]Subtle GM sneakiness:[/u] For the sake of the Plot, exactly three hours have suddenly passed IC. All PCs (Exempting Roan, who found a nice, comfy place to rest up safely) have moved to the Arena. For better or worse, you are all there. Go on from there. That being said… Here’s something to play with.[/b][/color]

The Grand Othean Arena was filled to brim, not a single seat empty and hundreds standing packed together all over the walkways between the seats. Virtually all the people of Amaryth and the surrounding environs were present in the arena, for today, unlike the days prior, was the grand melee, the greatest fight of all. The entire floor of the arena, capable of holding hundreds of combatants at once, was filled with clean, ebony-black sand. In the fading light of dusk, the torches lining the walls lent an eerie feel to the air.

Far above the arena floor, the royal box stood. Only the lucky few, like the foreign dignitaries, could see the people within, though many tried to look through the wrist-thick, stained glass lining its sides. Following some unseen signal, the doors just below the peak of the tower opposite the royal box opened. Between each opposing pair of towers, and around the arena’s perimeter, thick chains were strung. The moment the doors stopped moving, the chain between them and the royal box started moving. Ever so slowly, a massive bell slid out. It was easily the height of six men and must weigh countless tons.

As suddenly as it had started moving, it stopped. Perfectly centered over the arena floor. The doors to the tower shut themselves. Half the crowd were silent in anticipation, the other half noisy in the same. Virtually all had seen it come. Again, some hidden signal was sent from within the royal box. Perfectly synchronized, six massive tree trunks, their ends covered in a massive fist made of steel, swung in towards the bell, sliding along the ropes suspended above the chains.

The moment the trunks hit, the entire city shook with the massive DING. Even as it reverberated through the countryside, not a single sound could be heard from the awestruck crowd. The bell of Angnar Otharion I, first king of Othea, had been struck. For the first time in decades. Had anyone spoken, they would have asked what sort of event would compel the king to ring it, what sort of momentous event he had planned. 

The arena was silent for minutes, the only audible sound being the faint humming from the still-vibrating bell. After a full ten minutes, the six gates edging the arena floor opened up, and in marched the combatants. four hundred and eighty of them. Some were armored, some not. Some had swords, others axes and maces. Some were mounted, others not. No two were exactly the same. As with the audience, they came from all walks of life. peasants, craftsmen, merchants, nobles. None had been barred from entry. 

After what seemed like an eternity, the contestants had all entered, lining up in ranks and files. The doors they had entered from slowly slid down, slamming into the ground the moment the sound of the bell returned, having bounced off the distant mountains and returned. It was eerie how well-planned that had been.

~|~

Angie fidgeted a bit as she watched the gladiators and warriors enter the pit below. seated in the third tower with the other Kalesians as she was, she was a bit uncomfortable. She’d been to arena matches before, but never before had she had a seat, let alone in one of the towers. It made her uncomfortable. She’d had to hold her hands over her ears when the bell struck. The sound made her head hurt. It had been so loud. All around her, the voices of the canines complained about the same. Where the people were silent, they were everything but. But at least they stopped speaking of he-who-smells-blood. That one had disappeared deeper into town. Or at least the canines said so. He was out of sight and thus out of mind for them. Had been so for quite a while.

She wondered a bit on when the fight would start, turning momentarily to look back at her escort where he sat, then offering a glance over to the one called Alessia. Before she could decide on whom to ask, the sound of the bell once more returned, clearly having bounced off another set of mountains. This time, it was much weaker even than the time before, so she realized that it must have been even further away.

Almost as one, the combatants started moving. The fight had started. Angie leaned on the balcony, staring down at them all. Within minutes, scores were laid low, it seemed. Many seemed to group up, working together. She even saw a large group form a circle of shields. “odd.” she muttered. Then a strange smell hit her nose. Or maybe it was the nose of a canine further down. She didn’t know what to make of it. It smelled… Unclean. Dirty. Filthy.

Before she could even think further on it, a section of the arena floor caved in, a dozen combatants falling down into the hole. A massive creature seemed to jump up out of the hole. The creature’s hide had a sickly gleam to it. It flailed about, biting and clawing people all around itself. Where the combat between the contestants had been chaotic in an orderly sort of fashion, there was no pattern to the creature’s attacks. Without warning, it ran on all fours to the wall of the arena. Angie could almost see how it bunched its legs up, then shot straight up into the air in a single leap, barely clearing the stone railing. The packed crowd there, not quite having understood the danger the creature had posed were paralyzed in shock. Within seconds, scores had been struck. Only then did the rest think to run, only to find their paths impeded by the crowd overfilling the arena.