This may seem like a paradox, but the truth is, as ever with the Dark Elves, more complicated than it looks to the untrained eye. Quite recently, a trend of gladiatorial combats had become a fashion in some places in the Druchii land, and while it was officially not allowed, young Rakarth had not much of a problem with it – he knew some prominent members of the noble families had interest in fighting these slaves, and with the fights being relatively fair some highborn ones that preyed on his position might somehow lose their lives.
In the eastern part of the city, there were a lot of stables where beastmasters trained and were trained. However, some stables were circular shaped, with a sand-covered floor and with seats like the ones one would rather expect in a theatre than a stable. Blackened torches illuminated quite a lot of the inside, so that an audience could still see what was happening in the dark places.
Today, the stable, nicknamed the Stable of Lights after the many torches, was packed with interested Elves. The place was buzzing with rumours, as the new pack of slaves was quite promising to the insiders. Although betting too was officially disallowed, it was a nice opportunity for the gathered ones to enrich themselves.
Suddenly, a spot in the lower walls opened, giving entrance to the arena. With the bare eye it was difficult to distinguish the doors, and through it a single Elf entered. Covered with flexible armour and a sword and dagger sheathed, he walked to the centre of the lower floor. Looking around, he spoke:
“Welcome, my friends. Today, a new pack of slaves has arrived, and the chance is given for noble families to enter one of their slaves or family members to fight each other within these stables. The winning family is given much honour and wealth, a price to fight for. Now, who shall enter?”
A lot of shouting followed the Beastmaster’s words, and now was the time to see which nobles would enter and honour their name – or drag it through the mud.
Welcome, Dear Druchii.netters, to Path of the Gladiators. In this Arena of Death, noble families from all around Naggaroth and beyond get a chance to earn fame and fortune, or an assassin’s attention
The rules are as following:
- characters up to 200 points are allowed
- only characters under the Heroes section allowed (ie, no Lords)
- No characters with the special rules Daemonic or Undead allowed (they make for poor slaves)
- Characters from Appendix lists are allowed (such as an Eshin sorcerer, or Gnoblar Honcho)
- only 1 wound mounts allowed
- no special characters allowed
- up till 50 points of magic items, virtues, Temple of Khaine upgrades etc. allowed
The following items aren’t allowed:
Tress of Isolde
Sword of Fate
Van Horstmann's Speculum
The Daemon Sword
The Fellblade
The Bane Head
The Grudge Rune
The Talisman of Saphery
Virtue of Confidence
Annoyance of Nettles
Also, any item which I have missed here that includes in its rules "nominate one enemy character" is illegal.
Changed:
Gaze of the Gods - same points cost, before the battle roll a D6 - 1 = you get a 6+ ward, 2-3 = you get a 5+ ward, 4-6 = you get a 4+ ward. Such is the fickle nature of chaos.
Warpstone amulet - same points cost, but roll to see if you die before the fight instead of afterwards.
In the first round of combat, both warriors count as charging for the purposes of lances and other special rules. If neither warrior has a 'strike first' ability (or a 'strike last' ability), the person with the highest Initiative will strike first. If both warriors are equally entitled to strike first (usually because they have equal initiative), striking order will be determined randomly.
The fight is rolled like a normal challenge. This means that dice are rolled 'to hit', 'to wound', 'saves', and 'ward saves'. It will continue until one warrior dies. If both warriors die simultaneously, the entire fight is re-rolled from the start. This means no shooting or magic (including prayers).
Killing Blow will not instantly kill it's foe. Instead, when a 6 is rolled, their armour is ignored as normal for the rules for killing blow. If it then bypasses their ward save, the victim will suffer D2 wounds, instead of instantly killing them.
Fear is handled similarly to normal. In the first round of combat, a warrior facing a fearsome foe will take a Ld test. If it is failed, he/she will hit on 6+ for that round of combat, even if he/she is outnumbered.
Hatred is also handled as normal. The warrior will re-roll failed 'to hit' rolls against hated foes.
While there's nowhere to run, you can still have the confidence and fighting frenzy knocked out of you, and therefore models do lose frenzy as normal.
There will be a magic phase, but the enemy character counts as in combat for the purposes of magic missiles and the like. The shooting phase will also still be available, but all to hit rolls will suffer –2 due to the urgency of the situation.
If you wish to enter, PM me with the family name (only one family per member) of your noble house and the character (stats, items, appearance). In this thread, you can post your character’s fluff and challenges. NOTE THAT FLUFF IS MANDATORY. Challenges can be declined or accepted. If I want to start the game but there are unchallenged characters or unanswered challenges, I will pair the characters randomly. The challenges work using the knock-out system, so if you’re beaten you’re beaten. This also means a game can start with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 etc players. Should there be a shortage, I will include characters randomly chosen (I have a couple in store for you ).
Note that this is the first of a series. After this one is over, each family gets the chance to enter again, apart from the one that was beaten in a most disgraceful way (ie, the fastest) which will be excluded from the next series. The winner will get 10 more points on his character to spend the next series regardless of point limits.
A chance to win fame and fortune is not easily overlooked by the Druchii, for while fame may come in handy fortune is a goal in itself. And of course, everyone knows that money is good, money is right… and might makes right.
Also, for each placing the participant will receive the opposite number of revenue points (e.g., in a 16 man round no.2 will get 15 points, no. 3 will get 14 and so on). These points may be used to buy the following:
- 10 more points magic item allowance next round - 1 revenue point
- re-rolls to hit* - 3 revenue points
- re-rolls to wound* - 5 revenue points
- re-rolls for armour saves* - 3 revenue points
- re-rolls for ward saves* - 10 revenue points
- a sorceress from the convent - 30 revenue points
* = will be used at first possible opportunity
A sorceress will be able to summon a daemonic character for the family, within the normal restrictions.
The next round, after Karond Kar, will take place in Har Ganeth, so stay tuned