No matter that some people managed it, he'd always found it difficult to move around on a deck with it. So he'd "retired" from the crew of the "Merry Mayhem" but would keep an eye out for suitable crew to send their way.
Now he was a hired spellcaster for an Arena in a major city. A position of importance that paid pretty well.
The black-haired one seemed the most deadly. The wand, sleek polished bone from the thigh of a ghoul, stabbed out.
The human boy keeled over in a satisfactory manner. The wand stabbed out twice more, aim precise.
The girl fell as easily as the first boy, but the second boy was now a swarm of duplicates. Some form of the Mirror Image spell perhaps? No, well - he'd need something more area-effect to catch this one. He had to move quickly after all, it wouldn't do to delay the scheduled fight more than necessary.
One had to be a professional after all.
Daggers flicked against his Shield spell. Interesting. Mage/Thief perhaps?
Lord Shivak was an Arena Master, and one who had held that job for quite some time. Like many, he had started out as a simple orc warrior mercenary. He'd gotten a taste of "show business" during an Open Fight Tournament and had fallen in love with the thrill and spectacle. Now he was the richest and oldest member of his family and still having a ball.
The black-haired human boy was a cocky youth with some combat skills. Nothing special that he saw. Might sell him off to a pirate crew - after a couple of years of training he might actually be worth something. Or dead.
The girl hadn't done a damn thing and so he couldn't tell what sort of skills she might have. That hair was an unusual color, only time he'd seen something close to that shade had been on a genasi. One of the dao-spawn if he recalled correctly. Might be able to sell her off to a brothel or something. Or use her as leverage for one of the other two.
The kid in orange. Good instincts and a sense of showmanship - this one was a keeper. The other two were less likely but he'd have to see what kind of skills they might have.
That Wand of Paralysis that Tolan was using shot a precise beam, so it was useless against the swarm trying to form a pyramid of itself and crawl up the wall.
Oh. It was managing despite Tolan picking one after another off using his missile-hurling wand. Ah, that must be the real one as he created a set of duplicates ON the wall.
Tolan used a Web spell. Good. Most of the duplicates poofed into nothing, leaving a single copy of the boy struggling. Good enough. Kid had some skill but no experience or he wouldn't have made such a simple mistake.
Good. Crowd was getting restless. Time to bring out Freep The Fearless and his opponent, for the glory of the Red Mantis of course.
"Ungh."
"About time you woke up, dobe."
Naruto blinked, slowly coming to realize he was in a cell. "What's going on?"
"We're locked up in small cells next to each other," said Sasuke. "Whatever they did left me unable to move for several minutes. By then they'd stripped me down and thrown those clothes in."
"Yeah," said Naruto, realizing he was naked and putting on the scratchy clothes that had been provided. "What about Sakura?"
"Over here," said Sakura.
"Where?" asked Naruto.
"Idiot," said Sasuke, jabbing a thumb towards a metal statue.
After a moment, Sakura's head popped up from behind it.
"Why are you hiding back there?" asked Naruto.
"They took all her clothes and didn't give her any," said Sasuke. "Obviously they're planning to interrogate her first."
"Except she can't understand the language," said Naruto.
"Yeah, some kind of creature came down here twice and jabbered at us." Sasuke looked off to the side abruptly.
"(So. One of you CAN speak,)" grumbled a voice as something came down the stairs.
"An ONI?!" exclaimed Naruto.
"(Yes, that is the name of my species,)" admitted the blue-skinned ogre as he stooped to get through the doorway. When he straightened his horns still brushed the ceiling. "(Wait. No, that's not it - your mouth movements don't match. You have the Gift Of Tongues don't you? How intriguing.)"
"The 'Gift Of Tongues'?" asked Naruto.
"(Judging from expressions, your companions do not have such a gift. Very interesting,)" rumbled the blue oni. "(Well, I have a few questions for you.)"
"What's going on?" demanded Sakura from behind the metal statue.
"He wants to ask questions," said Naruto.
"Don't tell him! Resist torture as much as you can!" advised Sakura.
"Uhm, I can't answer any questions?" asked Naruto.
"(I kind of got that just from the tone,)" said the blue oni. A hand came up and pointed at the statue in Sakura's cell. It flipped open, revealing that it was hollow and had spikes lining the interior.
"That doesn't look good," said Naruto.
The oni unlocked Sakura's cell, entered it, then locked it behind himself.
"What?!" yelled Sakura as she hid behind the statue. "What's going on?"
"That statue-thingie opened up and it's kinda spikey," said Naruto.
"(It's called an 'iron maiden',)" said the oni.
"An 'iron maiden'?" asked Naruto.
"Okay," said Sakura. "I know what that is. That is bad."
"(That sounds like she understands. Do you understand that I can put her in that device?)"
"You wouldn't," said Naruto.
"(I will if you don't answer questions.)" The oni held up a hand, making an odd gesture with it. "(The language barrier is a pain. Not as much as your little friend can expect.)"
"That didn't sound good," commented Sakura.
click
"Uhm, what kind of questions did you have?" asked Naruto.
"(Where are you from? Obviously far away as you don't speak any language I've ever heard,)" said the oni.
"Konohagakure, Hi No Kuni," said Naruto.
"(Never heard of them,)" admitted the oni. "(Sort of expected that. What is your profession, some kind of rogue?)"
"Ninja," responded Naruto, not seeing the problem with answering either. Just their forehead protectors should tell them that much.
"(Ah. That I know. Oddly dressed for it, but I know that. Rogues specializing in stealth and assassination. Some sort of teleport mishap then.)" The oni considered the eyes peeking out from around the statue. "(Let me explain to you the situation you find yourself in. You are on Mediogalti Island.)"
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(Posted Thu, 13 Nov 2014 08:27)
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