The stands of the arena are full to bursting. The entire pit smells of blood, sweat and packed earth. Jeers and calls from the excitable crowd fill the air, pungent with the haze of qat and opium.

The current champion, Saina Nanaret, stands facing a beastman of immense proportions. He is nearly double her height, a bull-man wearing a filthy loincloth and wielding a tetsubo that looks like it might crush Nanaret's bones in a single shot. Such beastmen were bred within Five Coils unnaturally, with accelerated growth, to ensure the arena always had new and exotic opponents to thrill the audience.

The crowd likes Nanaret, the slight, quick woman beating the odds -- they can even forgive her her Moon-tainted nature, so long as she stays properly Essence-bound.

Saffron and Higura, wearing the Essence-limiting collars that marks them to Five Coils society as Anathema, have a good view of the fight from the medic's pavilion. Gladiators from earlier fights of the day (those that lived, anyway), as well as over-excited spectators who've exhausted or injured themselves, are laying there on stretchers or slumped forlornly in makeshift chairs. It's not a pretty place, splattered with bloodstains and dried vomit, rather lax on cleanliness other than what fastidiousness the healers bring with them.

Nanaret smirks boldly up at her opponent.

The gladiatrix is dark-skinned and wiry, with blue hair bound in ragged dreadlocks. She wears no armor, instead clad in baggy dark blue pants tied around the ankles, a black and white striped halter top and suspenders. Her feet are bare, claws digging into the earth, and behind her sprouts a bushy monkey's tail that twitches expectantly, almost with a mind of its own.

Holding twin hook swords in her hands, she pumps her arms into the air, working up the crowd into a breathless frenzy.

Then she starts to dance.

The Snake Form is by nature both graceful and distracting. And Nanaret is a skilled practitioner. Her body undulates hypnotically, her feet in constant motion as she circles her massive opponent warily, taunting him to strike.

From the pavilion, Higura watches the fight intently, keeping a close eye on Nanaret's performance. Eyes folded across his chest, the doctor is currently quiet - a short respite from the sessions he had been holding until only a few minutes ago. Just like it is Saffron's duty to insure that the contestants remain in good physical health and that their wounds are treated accordingly, so is Higura's duty to insure their spirits and minds also stay in good shape. The games are all about entertainment, after all, and gladiators not in good fighting spirits are likely not to put up as much of a show.

The work is much easier with young or new gladiators. They are afraid, inexperienced, and more likely to open up than those hardened warriors who survived multiple battles and opponents. Those are where the really difficult work begins, as they are much more likely to clam up, or refuse to speak about their experience or current condition. A lot of them treasure their hardened exteriors greatly, and are loathe to part with such a shell. But that is Yaishin Higura's duty, and he takes on it with all the patience and professionalism of one who has been doing this for some time.

Of course, this is Five Coils - and as the place itself, truths often have multiple layers. As an Anathema, Higura had to have some special purpose in order to be maintained alive at all. And thus, he has been forced to use his abilities to delve into the minds of the gladiators - not only for their own well being, but also for that of the rulers of this place. Indeed, Higura had been placed under order to keep the gladiators pacified, to subtly undermine their desires for rebellion and their resentment at their condition. Those he cannot control, he is instructed to report, that they might be dealt with before they can cause any trouble. Those are his real orders, his real duties, and he despises them.

But what the wardens might have forgotten is that Yaishin Higura is also a captive. And as such, he has not always followed his orders. He has acted subtly, however, so as to not let himself be caught - but this sort of work, ironically, has been the type of duty he had been asked to perform, and so he has yet to be uncovered.

The crowd cheers. In the arena, Saina Nanaret has started her hypnotic dance, dazing the audience and her opponent all the same.

From the Medical Pavilion, Yaishin Higura continues to watch intently.

   Saffron does not watch the fight. She never does and does not expect that will ever change. She disapproves of the senselessness of it and the barbarity of a culture that needs visceral violence for entertainment. Surely, Gateway was a better use of one's time or perhaps, a sport that symbolized the gladiatorial battle but didn't end with blood, gore and death would be better.

   She hears the rush of joy from the crowd and winces. Unable, even after all these trips here, to stop herself from doing it. She takes a moment to think of the loser. A man or woman, who would be brought to her, most likely in a condition that she could not help. Too many died needlessly for nothing more than a cheer. It wasn't freedom, and it wasn't an idea worth dying for. It was entertainment and it was sick.

   She is nauseated thinking on it. She always is. She tamps the sensation down, blocking out the cheering again and concentrates on her work. She wasn't here to think or to feel, she was here to work, afterall.

    She shares a small smile with her next patient. A young man with broken bones after a bout with a creature of some kind. The young man tells her he won with pride and Saffron pats him gently, trying to block out the details he seems eager to share. Perhaps, it helps with the pain, she thinks as she prepares a draught to dull the pain. He would be screaming soon enough as she set the bones and splinted them back together.

   Another massive cheer goes up and Saffron thinks of the blood to come.

Irritated by Nanaret's nimble dancing, the Minotaur hefts its gigantic weapon to crush her. The first blow is an awkward, angry swing, and Nanaret tumbles away from it, hardly breaking a sweat. She lashes back with both hook swords, the first barely missing, the second one tangling in the matted hair of his hide but doing no damage.

Another swing from the Minotaur sends the tetsubo careening toward her face. She parries -- barely, crossing the hook swords in front of her before slipping under the massive weapon and stabbing towards the beastman's torso. "First blood!" cries the crowd, as the hook sword draws a thin jagged line on the Minotaur's body.

The scent of his own blood drives the Minotaur into a rage, but again his swings are too ungainly for the slippery Nanaret. She ducks, the tetsubo passing under her head... then slips between his legs and behind him, bringing her hook swords up as she passes to slash at both of his legs. Larger gashes split open at his thighs, making him roar with pain as Nanaret uses the distraction to scramble up onto the Minotaur's back!

Unable to reach her with his hands, he tosses his head frantically, eyes rolling wildly. Nanaret manages to nick her opponent on the neck before he lets out a bellow of pained frustration and shakes her off so strongly her body flies clear across the arena. The crowd lets out a gasp, but Nanaret somersaults in midair, taking control of her descent path, and sticks a perfect landing. A smattering of cheers ripple through the audience, but they're also becoming bored. They want to see the girl bleed too!

The audience chants for Nanaret's blood as she dashes back towards her opponent, delivering two deeper slashes to add to the shallow cut on his torso. Mad and desperate, the massive beastman swings the tetsubo downward with a crushing overhead blow that looks destined to turn Nanaret's body into a pulp! But she musters Essence at the last moment, driven to her knees on the hard earth, and boldly catches the tetsubo between her blades -- mere inches from her face.

As the crescent caste mark glimmers on her brow, the crowd lets out a resounding "booooo!" and their chants begin anew... but the Minotaur is rapidly losing blood, and hardly looks in a state to continue the fight...

---

OOC - Just rolled a bunch of combat at once to speed this up!

Nanaret catches her breath at the close -- much too close -- call. As soon as the minotaur lifts his weapon, she leaps back to gain distance between herself and her larger opponent, lifting her bloodied blades.

The crowd jeers, but she ignores them. Her world consists of only herself, her opponent, and the arena. Her serpentine dance resumes, and so does her fight.

Her choice, according to her masters, is simple. Fight, or die. Her life, or his. She never thought herself a needlessly violent woman, but what she is -- above everything else -- is a survivor. If she can both survive and fulfill her role in the arena, she can live to fight another day. If she cannot, she will be killed, or rot away in her cell, never to taste even the illusion of freedom.

I'm sorry, she wants to say. But given the choice, I will choose to live.

Sizing up the condition of her opponent, she taunts the wounded beastman to strike again, buying her time to pinpoint the weak points on his body before retaliating in kind.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Fri 31 Oct 2008.

"They're never satisfied." Higura's words come out, soft and gentle, but carrying an underlying edge that betrays his contempt. "The captured have to fight to be allowed to live, and will give it their all in the arena, all in order to survive... But still, that is never enough for the crowd. Never enough pain, or blood, or hardship. For all my time trying to understand, I wish I could comprehend why people seek to see more misery in order to lessen theirs."

He turns back towards the other doctor, the compassionate woman who seeks to ease the suffering of these poor souls caught in an endless cycle of violence and fake fame. "Once again, let me know if there is anything I can help with, miss Saffron. My knowledge of bodily health is not as advanced as yours, but I can assist your procedures if you guide me through them." He smiles, knowing how the situation disturbs her, and how she wishes this whole state of affairs did not exist, and trying to bring at least a small measure of comfort through it all.

"The champion's bout is almost over. The day's contests are almost at a close, it would seem."

Delirious from loss of blood, the Minotaur's next half-hearted swing has no chance of touching the nimble Nanaret. She dodges easily, then thrusts both hook swords with keen accuracy towards his solar plexus, a blow that would be the end of any normal man. Instead the beastman falls to his knees, gravely wounded, letting out a mournful bellow.

But any reaction from the crowd is drowned out by the wail of klaxons, and the artificial voice of Five Coils commands the attention of all:

"WARNING! Maximum Security Breach in Forbidden Level B31. Maximum Security Breach in Forbidden Level B31. Now switching to Orichalcum Alert in Water Level B26 and below. All Jade Personnel and Ranked Officials, proceed to the nearest evacuation station."

"WARNING! As per Orichalcum Breach Protocol, purging of all affected levels will commence in T-minus 30 minutes!"

All concern for entertainment is wiped out as the crowd defaults to the basic human need to survive. They start to rise from their seats in a panic, fighting and trampling over each other to reach the arena exits.

Nanaret, Higura and Saffron also realize, at the advent of this announcement, that the Essence-limiting effect of their collars has been lifted.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:27, Fri 31 Oct 2008.

   "Human lives are truly nasty, brutish, and short," Saffron remarks as she cleanses her hands. As much as she despises those in the crowds, she does not wish them the kind of death many would face due to panic.

   As for her patients, essence limiting effects gone or not, she cannot leave those ill equipped to leave on their own to suffer. She thinks first of them.

   "What do they intend to do, Higura?" she asks the man.

As soon as the alarm resounds, he quickly turns towards the arena, witnessing the public panicking over the announcement and letting out a slow hiss. "It... cannot be..." He speaks, in a low tone, before turning back to Saffron.

"Someone has escaped. Someone like us." He notices the release of the Essence container as well, and for a moment a myriad possibilities play out in his mind. "Which means they are likely not going to take any chances... Miss Saffron, this 'Purge' they are speaking of - it means a purge of life. Either through gas, or through some similar mass-affecting mean... They will kill everyone in a five-stories radius. Us, and the patients included." He says the last couple sentences in a more hushed tone, not wishing to cause any further panic in the medical pavilion.

"Unless we do something... Your prognostic about lives being short will prove sadly accurate."

   "There is little I can do in so little time to save all the people here," she says. She looks to the crowds seeing those crushed by the stampede to leave, "Or those I am afraid."

   She shrugs, nothing to it but to do it.

   She starts with those incapable of walking out on their own and she drugs those that are awake. She wants them to sleep while she organizes the second set of patients.

   After the crippled, she very calmly goes to each patient that can walk. She whispers to each in turn. "Get up, help those that you can and find somewhere you feel is safe or an exit that will lead to the twenty-fifth floor. You destiny, you life is in your hands."

   Part of her wants to feel guilty but she knows ultimately each person decides whether he lives or dies. Those that could help themselves should and those that couldn't could depend on her only as long as she could some something.

    Those that remain, perhaps more than she could handle, give her pause. She decides to take everything that she can carry, filling a small bag full of drugs and instruments. "Will you help me?" she asks Higura.

Nanaret's face freezes in shock at the announcement. She's gone from a certain victory to a bleak situation, and she looks at her opponent with an expression of regret that suddenly, if briefly, twists into a pitiless scowl.

"This child wishes to pity you," Nanaret utters in a harsh, unnaturally amplified voice. Higura hears the voice and recognizes, from his psychological evaluations of her, the wrathful personality buried within her mind.

Her name is Ranavalona, the Bitch Queen.

"I will not. Pitiful creature, you will die here. Know your end will come slow... and inevitably!" Even amidst the panic of the crowds, Bitch-Nanaret concentrates on her opponent, knocking the beastman down -- and breaking his legs so he may not escape...

As soon as she does this, though, Nanaret shudders violently and staggers, holding her head. "No... NO!" she cries, and for a moment it does not seem she will move at all, rooted in place as she fights to maintain mental control.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Tue 30 Dec 2008.

"Of course. We need to get to a higher floor - or at least try to reach one. This might be a bit challenging with a group with us, so we will have to proceed methodically." He peers around, trying to assess the various conditions of the people in the room, before his attention is called back to the arena once more.

"... The Queen." He murmurs softly, as he watches the scene unfold. For a second, he lets her appearance fill his mind, but he quickly shakes it off, coming back to reality. Nanaret has now fallen back into a catatonic state, her typical reaction to the Queen's resurgence. His thoughts whirl quickly in his brain, and as he stands at a crossroad, he decides his next course of action quickly.

"...Miss Saffron. Please prepare everything for our exit - I will get us an extra pair of arms, that we might be able to move with more ease - and more chances of success. Please, wait for me, it will take only a short moment."

With that, he quickly crosses the boundary of the pavilion into the arena, headed towards the panicking champion.

The people who Saffron is able to speak to are calmed slightly by her coolheadedness. They gather themselves and try their best to look for a less crowded way up, though that doesn't mean they're no less scared.

Saffron is able to gather the equivelent of a Fine Medical Kit (+1 to Medicine rolls for diagnoses). She also gathers several weeks' supply of Res 1 drugs, a week's worth of some Res 2 drugs, and a single dose of one Res 3 drug (can potentially choose Res 1 or 2 drugs from Exalted 2nd Core p. 365, or Res 3 from p. 378).

The majority of the crowd has made a singular rush for the nearest set of stairs leading upward through the district. While broad enough to admit five men side by side, the crowd has flooded in and clogged the way up. Not only that, but there appears to be some fighting force on the floor above, actually preventing the crowd from proceeding. Like a beast with hundreds of heads they keep shoving desperately to break free toward the upper levels, crushing whoever is too weak to be caught in the middle.

Nanaret doesn't look responsive, at least immediately. Higura will have to do something to shake her out of it. Next to her the Minotaur twitches, slowly dying as it lets out shuddering, frightened breaths.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:49, Mon 11 May 2009.