The Arena

The acid fog slowly made its way to the two slowest, heaviest male gladiators, who were unfortunate enough to be the Heavies- heavily armoured and wielding great axes, deadly perhaps against other gladiators but the poorest souls on the sands against this Rift Drake. They All the others, especially the Brides, moved swiftly out of the way, the Bride Champion Red in particular jumping in great leaps and bounds thanks to her enchanted belt- which was taken from Caerys’s possession.

Vermilion had no time to show her disdain at Red’s use of her heirloom, and focused for now on closing the distance on the Drake. The gladiators brought out bolases and weighed spears to attempt to ground it first.

Red tossed her enchanted spear at the dragon’s wings- the spear too belonging to Caerys but taken from her- the magical weapon speeding towards its wing joint. The crowd cheered at Red’s capabilities, while sections of the audience cheered for their favourites... except for the Heavies left behind.

The drake banked, hard, out of the way of the thrown weapon, and circled around the group, until it dove low and flattened the dive, staying at the maximum range the chain would allow, using the chain to act as a trip wire to tangle and knock down the gladiators, before it would aim to climb back up and out of reach of their melee weapons...

The drake would climb up as high as the chain would allow, causing thrown weapons to miss, before banking to the side and opening its mouth to launch a ball of acidic gas toward the ground below, aimed for the remaining slowest targets, and those that had been knocked prone by its sweeping strike. The ball would explode, covering an area of 15 feet in every direction from the impact point with the stuff.

The acid was incredibly potent, not unlike the concoctions of the Zaunite Melters. Metal, flesh, bone, everything could be melted if the acid was allowed to make contact with it. In addition, the stinging pain and effects of the green stuff would cause all struck to suffer a slowing effect, halving their movement speeds and negating much of their maneuverability...

It would then dive straight for those that had been slowed, claws open, neck back, wings folded, and ready to strike for terrible damage...

The Brides had mis-stepped...

As the Rift Drake landed, it landed amid the acidic cloud of its breath, kicking it up around its body like a dust storm. They would find the joints and hide of the beast protected by thick spines, making it difficult to get direct strikes onto its more sensitive areas. There was a reason the drake had been the "big thing" in the arena for many months, ever since it had been captured.

The women would be exposed to the acidic cloud, which would sting their skin, eyes (causing blurred vision or even blindness), nostrils, and lungs (impairing breathing), and would find their armor and weapons beginning to corrode and rust away, unless they were resistant to acid damage. The drake, however, was seemingly unaffected. Perhaps its thick hide offered better protection against the green gas than they might have believed...

The drake was incredibly tough, but it was not invincible. The spiney protrusions were able to defend against the two attacks made against its wings, and the drake reared back to throw the women from it, armor and weapons and skin smoking and burning. However, the flail caught the side of the drake's head, knocking it to the side, and drawing some blood. Despite the strike, the dragon's skull was made of thick, durable bone. Bone so strong weapons were made from the material and considered to be among the most hardy of arms. The spikes and spines protruding above its eyes and moving backward along its head served to better protect it as well.

Regardless, the drake seemed angered by the hit to its face, still rearing back, its wings folded to protect them as it dropped back down, snapping at the bride before its maw with cobra-like quickness. The problem with a flail was that once its momentum was lost, it was hard to fully regain, and with the drake's skull having soaked the hit, Caerys would be without a heavy weapon to strike back as the lighting-fast return attack aimed to snatch er up like the poor man that had fallen earlier...

The other two women would likely be cast back from the thrashing, rising drake, and be forced to deal with the arena floor, as well as the acidic cloud that clung to the local area. As if that wasn't enough, the drake's tail would lash from side to side, aiming to impale them on the spikes, and cause great damage while they were unable to maneuver...

One down, two to go. The act of the women removing their armor would help to give them a little more mobility, but it would also make them far more vulnerable to the effects of the acid. It was a risky trade off.

Caerys was blessed with some luck. The drake's teeth did not puncture her leg, however, she would find her leg, skin, and armor beginning to burn from acidic saliva within the beast's mouth. In addition, she would find her leg crushed by the biting force of the beast, possibly cracking the bones of her lag, and certainly bruising muscle. With a quick reaction, the drake snapped its neck to the left like a whip cracking, as its body spun around, tail swinging back around to attempt a second strike at Red, her spear missing the mark of its right eye.

The result, however, was Caerys being hurled through the air like a ragdoll as the beast opened its maw. Before it released, however, the woman's blade would just barely manage to strike a wound against the underside of the drake's head, missing the neck's vital arteries, but impaling the underside of the tongue. The wound was not substantial, but it was very painful.

Caerys would find herself spinning through the air with not rhyme or reason to the motion. Her vision would be fleeting, but she would be able to gather that she was heading toward the arena wall at high speed. The impact would not be gentle, and would surely cause some damage.

With the woman in its mouth temporarily dealt with, the drake would spin around to face the cocky Red, and let out a thunderous, ear-splitting roar of intimidation with such force the ground would shake, and the acid cloud would be blown away. With just one target, the drake was many times fiercer...

The crowd Cheered as the battle took a heated turn. many of them literally jumped out of their seats, cheering on for them to continue. Nevin stood up to be able to see. He continued to closely watch Vermilion. 'come on, come on. He almost mumbled, not nearly loud enough hear through the crowd.