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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haraash Saan" data-source="post: 4608489" data-attributes="member: 46615">*******    “My friends,” I roared as I spread my arms to include one and all of the enormous crowd that surrounded us in the arena.    The spectators of the Hydra’s first bout in the Games cheered as I began my introduction.    “You have come to be entertained. You have come to see blood.” The masses appreciated that!     “You have come to cheer on your champions. “ I continued, emphasising the last word.    “We have come to entertain you. We have come to be your champions. We have come to defeat Estrangular. We are the mighty Hydra! A slavering ravenous beast with many heads, each one with its own methods of deadly combat.“ I said, milking every moment of their adulation.    “We cause pirates to flee in terror. We smite evil. We are troll slayers and adventurers. We are here to fight. We are here to win. We are here for YOU!” I shouted.    This time there were louder cheers.    “May I introduce,” my voice rang out before adding in a sinister soft voice, “the many deadly heads of the Hydra.”    “Here stands the defender of Avinal. Scourge of the Northern Hordes. He has learnt his trade against the living dead! When he’s not defending the Fastness from the fell devils of Buramas, he is here for your entertainment. Here he is, The Beast from the East, Morgan Mortigan!” I swung my arm to the Fastendian warrior. He looked somewhat stunned at his introduction but managed to raise an arm in salute.    “His guise as the humble woodsman fools most, but he is the Pirate Slayer who strikes so powerfully that his very weapons shatter! No longer does he hew wood, no my friends, now it is necks he seeks. Raised by debased boars in the uncharted wilds, he is as ugly as he is dangerous. I give you, Argonne the Axe!” another wave, this time to my masked comrade. Argonne was much more into the spirit of my speech. He let out a wild cry and shook his huge axe above his head.    “May I present the next Hydra.” I continued, “A man that has lived through unmentionable torments! Whatever you do, do not show him your cat. He has looked death in the eye, and scoffed. He has too many talents for me to list. It is said that he has dined with kings, and stolen secrets from the sages. The question you should ask is what will he do today? Stravarious the Mysterious!” Strav raised both his arms and waved his gloves arms to the now Hydra adoring crowd.    I walked slowly to Mortec as I sang out, “His stature may be slight. His hands may be small,” I tapped my nose and winked suggestively “but the most miniature Hydra is a most fearsome weapon. Knowledge is his power and none know how to use it like he. In his native burrow he has outwitted foxes with his cunning! Please bow done so you can look him in the eye, I give you the dread Gnome Mortec!”    The little Gnome was none too pleased at my reference to his height, but the glare he threw me eased as he basked in the cheering and clapping dedicated to him.    “Hailing from Irudesh City, he learnt his cunning on its streets. He is the outcast, the disgrace of the Fastness, a dirty fighter whose tactics would bring shame to a sewer troll! So frightening that none dare call him friend. His family are the blades he carries and they feel most at home when buried in the flesh. Look upon Moxadder!”     Moxadder hunched a little, making his lanky stature somewhat smaller. He looked uncomfortable under the staring eyes of the crowd.     “Gaze in wonder at Zhontell.” I cried with my mouth agape in fake awe as I looked upon the elf, “A decade spent in solitude, honing skills and learning the power of the body have turned out a most subtle killer. Wonder at its ambiguous beauty, but beauty deceives my friends, I beg you beware. It can seduce you and lull you. May I present the Hydra’s own dancing death, Zhontell!”    There was no indication from Zhontell that he had even heard what I had said. He stood rock still, focused and staring directly at our opponents who were shifting restlessly on the arena sand.    I scratched Kuruul’s ear, more to wake him than anything else. He had been sleeping in the warm Burn sun. “Ferocious, merciless. He is the Divine Canine.” I bellowed as I turned to face Estrangular, “’Ware your throats, for he will go straight for the jugular. The hound spewed forth from the Hells themselves, the Savage Snarler, the Master of the Maul, Kuruul.”    “And finally may I introduce myself. Bane of the Pirate King Rumscully Jack. Duellist extraordinaire. Only my rapier is keener and more deadly than my wit. A thrust here and taunt there, my foes are utterly confounded. My name, Sir Gerard d’Montfort.” I bowed low, one leg slightly forward and swept my broad brimmed hat across the sand before flicking it stylishly back upon my head.    The crowd erupted in joy. The chant, “Hydra! Hydra!” echoed throughout the spectators that sat some fifteen feet above the ground in seats the ringed the walls that encircled the arena.     I soaked in there adoration, pleased with my little introduction. But now came the real test.     “Teams,” cried out the master of the Games from his position in the stand, “fight!”       </blockquote>

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