Thanks for your input everyone! We wound up going with a variant on one of the poll options, inspired by the Divine M/Right suggestions.
What happened next? Imagine that somewhere in Dar Aego, someone is writing an early 20th Century American newspaper. Then imagine that this piece was buried on page 6. If you read the story hour there might be minor spoilers, but nothing beyond what's already been revealed in this thread.
Mystery Gladiators Make First Appearance
The odds-makers are going to have to go back to their abacuses because scant days before the opening of this year’s sixteenth anniversary Dar Aego Games there’s been a change in the usual line-up. Coming out of… we’re not sure really… Seasons Fury fought their first bout last night, beating al-Assal’s Siren’s Call in a nail-biter.
Turn-out was sparse for the hastily-organized exhibition match where the two teams fought for the right to represent The House of al-Assal in the Games. Initially, it looked to be an easy victory for the Call, befuddling the other side with a rainbow pattern followed by a well-placed confusion by Essanis that had the Fury scrambling, babbling, and attacking nearly everyone except their opponents. Ouch!
However, all that changed when Random—one of the self-styled autumnal “Shadow Sisters”—lit-up the opposing enchantress with a shocker of a lightening bolt. That certainly got an indifferent crowd’s attention! Especially when, in al-Assal’s practice-sized ring, the bolt sizzled into the stands behind the home team’s gate! That’s a tactic that won’t go over in the big arena. While not nearly so flashy, observers-in-the-know opined after the match that Random’s follow-up dispel magic, that nixed her counterpart’s confusion spell, was what really saved the Fury’s season.
After all, just moments earlier, the Call’s Leeos thought he had found easy prey in Summer Storm who, surrounded by al-Assal’s notorious twin monks and her own befuddled allies, had beat a hasty retreat across the arena. She certainly seemed a more tender morsel than Hammer of Justice who Leeos had just left lying unconscious on the sand.
And indeed, the enlarged Leeos was just closing in for his trademark death-clinch (always a crowd-pleaser) when the dispel went off and Might of Spring, apparently clear-headed for the first time during the bout, came charging in on his mighty steed. With a single stroke he cut the giant grappler down to size and brought the crowd to their feet. Even from the stands it was clear Might of Spring had laid out a serious injury and reports later confirmed it was a death-blow.
With half of their number now down for the count, the Call just could not regain the momentum they had so decisively seized at the beginning of the match. While Miol, no doubt wanting to avenge her brother, fought to the end, the Seasons full Fury soon forced surrender from her and Sillas.
Personal fans of the twins Lios and Mial will be relieved to hear that al-Assal has assured this reporter that he plans to have Lios raised and he and his sister, along with the rest of Siren’s Call, will be resuming their non-gladiatorial duties at The House of al-Assal in the very near future. As always, all members of the Call are available for personal encounters only to select clientele and only by appointment.
But it looks like we’ll all be seeing more of Seasons Fury—and you, readers—at the games!
Sidebar Story
Who are these new challengers, and how will they fare in the big area? Their new manager, al-Assal, is close-lipped with the details, but this match provided some tantalizing hints. The team captain is known as Tandelle Dakara, The Thanean Threat, but she’s not leading an army like any we’ve seen before.
Tandelle seems young for a leadership role, but she’s tough in a scrap, and swings a flail like she means business. The Hammer of Justice looks to become one of those fighters the crowds love to hate, and he’s certainly fearless, being knocked unconscious twice and still coming back for more.
We’d love to say something about Random’s “shadow sister” Chance, but since she went invisible shortly after the fight began, we’ll just comment that we think that was her carving chunks out of Tandelle’s mount… and we hope she was confused while she did it! Might of Spring is a sword swinger to be reckoned with.
Oddly enough, while the last seasonal fighter, Summer Storm wears a holy symbol of Ehkt, she looks to be pretty handy with a magic missile. But did we really see her familiar healing Hammer of Justice to bring him back into the fight? Looks like these Seasons are going to be full of surprises.
