The BlackSand Tournament I: Round I, Duel III

From Gadreel Creeper of the Moon

Gadreel Creeper of the Moon (6039)

Gadreel was comforted by the night. Hiding in the shadows. Creeping under the dim light of a full moon. That made for a solitary life. But he didn’t mind it. He preferred being one with darkness. Being free to carry out his destructive instincts.

Gadreel always wore his spiked helmet, fully covering his face and only letting a glimpse of his shadowy eyes through. Folks were easily scared by his sinister appearance. But most of all, they were intimidated by the loud chainsaw he carried with him. Sometimes held in his right hand, sometimes hung on his back, that chainsaw had seen hundreds of fights. Gadreel’s brutal strength meant he could easily handle it as it if was a light sword: with impressive speed and precision. Afterall, he was a Fronod fighter. A warrior trained in the distant Forgotten Lands.

And fighting he understood. That was the reason for his quick journey to BlackSand. A couple of days earlier he had heard about a tournament with gold prizes for winners. Not that he needed additional incentives when it came to ripping apart someone’s arms with his chainsaw, but a few gold coins wouldn’t hurt.

Gadreel reached a small hill from where he could get a good view of BlackSand. Cold wind was hissing through his helmet, carrying dust and sand. In front of him laid a vast plain covered by a thick layer of dark black sand. Scattered detriments of something Gadreel didn’t recognize glittered under the moonlight. On the left side he could admire the Salt Sea, its tall waves braking loudly against the black shores. On the right, the Mountains of Light were hugging the entire plain, casting an even darker shadow onto the dimly lit city.

He glanced approvingly at that view. That place almost felt like home: a dark, lonely place. Left alone to the mercy of nature.

Gadreel decided to camp there for the night. Under that beautiful moonlight. Cartillen, his loyal mutant turtle laid next to him, and they both fell asleep.

Loud stomping woke them up shortly after. The moon almost gone behind the horizon. The sun rising. Gadreel stood up, calmly. Nothing could really spook him. Yet, he was curious. The stomping continued in the distance. As he looked towards BlackSand he saw a group of several large beasts running towards the city. “Those are not horses…maybe ceratops?!” he asked Cartillen, not really expecting any answer. He had never seen ceratops from this close, but plenty could be found where Cartillen came from.

Awoken, Gadreel decided to march on the city to learn more about the tournament. As he reached the wooden city gates, he found several flyers pointing towards the fighting pit. Everything was dusty and covered in dark, thick sand. After a few minutes he reached the entrance of the fighting pit. Wooden bleachers and fences delimiting its perimeter. Once entered, he signed up for the tournament. The wizard taking down his name informed him to comeback in three days time for his fight.

What he saw when he returned to the arena three days later slightly surprised him. A fairly sizeable crowd was already in attendance, almost filling out all the available seats. The ground of the fighting area seemed extremely wet. A few wizards dressed in white were running around. Two of them were carrying someone out of the pit on a stretcher. “Interesting…”

He then heard a loud voice calling for his name from the bleachers, inviting him to the middle of the pit to start his fight. “Let’s do this” he yelled as he run towards the center of the arena.

From Rogue Disintegrator of the Lost City

Rogue Disintegrator of the Lost City (10277)

What brought Rogue to BlackSand was a mix of faith and duty. He was a warrior swore to the Sun God. The one true god spreading light, truth, and righteousness across lands. Rogue’s duty was to be the living proof of the Sun’s powers to the unfaithful. That was why he made his way to this almost-forgotten city. The Order of the Sun God had instructed its disciples to head to the darkest corners of the Runiverse and profess the Sun God’s truth.

As soon as Rogue heard of a tournament hosted in BlackSand he knew that was his opportunity to abide to the Order’s directive. “I’ll showcase the power of the Sun and convert any unfaithful on my path” he grunted proudly, stroking his golden sword.

Walking down the dusty streets of BlackSand, Rogue could not help but wonder how beautiful that place could become under the guidance of the Order of the Sun. A rich, glorious city led by the One Truth.

When he reached the wooden entrance of the tournament arena, a wizard wearing white garments and a blue hood was silently standing. “Is this the right place for the tournament?” Rogue asked with his bass voice. The wizard lifted his head and stared into Rogue’s eyes. After what felt like a couple of minutes, he finally reacted by simply rising his right thumb in approval. Confused, Rogue entered.

Sitting at a table not far from him there was another wizard wearing a long purple rogue. His face round, stony looking “Ah…” Rogue grunted “A corpse eater” he whispered, “a dark creature that walks in the shadows…”

The wizard lifted his head, staring at Rogue. “A Lost City warrior” he said, “what a pleasant surprise! Let me sign you up for our third duel. I look forward to witnessing the power of your sword and shield” he continued, waving his hand to dismiss Rogue. “Calm down…” Rogue thought to himself, his hatred for creatures like that boiling his blood “this is not the place; the time will come.”

His calling had always been fighting off creatures of the night such as goal, zombies, and vampires. Corpse eaters were on top of his list. But those were rare, powerful wizards that very rarely exposed themselves. “What brought him so out in the open?” he wondered as he left the arena to find an inn for the night.

A few days later it was time for his duel. That morning Rogue woke up early to fully conduct his Sun routines. He ended with the ritual prayers, invoking the Sun's blessings. “May your light fill me with courage, strength and righteousness. May your heat dissipate my fears. May your power embolden and guide my strikes. May your enemy face your wrath, against which all darkness fails.”

Basking under the sunlight, Rogue entered the fighting pit. His golden sword firmly held in the right hand. A Rune of Sun engrained on the shield in his left hand. Both sword and shield charged with the one true power of the Sun. He lowered the visor on his helmet. He was ready to fight.

From Shaman Azazel of the Astral Plane

No results

“A fight between darkness and light. A fight between Sun and Moon!” Azazel shouted to the crowd. “May the fight begin!”

The excitement of the crowd was growing with every duel, bringing more and more folks to the bleachers. Azazel was pleased. “This is working” he smiled.

The fight commenced. On one side of the arena Gadreel Creeper of the Moon was holding a large, loud chainsaw. On the other side, Rogue Disintegrator of the Lost City held his golden sword and shield.

As soon as Azazel initiated the duel, both warriors started charging towards each other, thirsty for violence. Gadreel was the first to swing. He raised his chainsaw high and hurled it downwards aiming at Rogue’s right shoulder. But Rogue raised his sword and parroted easily. Gadreel retracted the roaring chainsaw and tried another hit, this time to the left of his opponent. But Rogue was fast and stopped the attack with his shield.

The two exchanged a few more hits, but always parroting or evading the enemy’s strike. The crowd kept holding their breath as the two warriors tirelessly continued their attacks.

Suddenly Rogue jumped to his right, gaining a few feet in distance from his opponent. He then crossed sword and shield in front of his chest. He shouted what sounded like a prayer and a beam of light erupted from the rune on his shield, targeting the opponent. The attack was so fast Gadreel had only enough time to lift his shield. The beam of light hit with extreme precision. Gadreel shield started to melt, but that gave him a split second to throw the shield away and jump to his left. The beam kept bursting for a few second, flowing into the wood fences at the other end of the arena.

Rogue grunted in disappointment, but quickly repeated his prayer and called upon a second beam of light. But this time it was smaller and slower. Gadreel had time to evade it and charged back as Rogue was busy maintaining the beam’s flow. The move brought him back to fighting distance. He swung his chainsaw hard aiming at Rogue’s left leg. Rogue rushed to regain a fighting stance, but had to quickly lower his shield to prevent damage. The chainsaw loudly hit the shield launching it off Rogue’s hand. The crowd gasped in surprise!

Rogue had to jump back before Gadreel could strike again. Shield-less, he was now only holding onto his golden sword. He pointed it straight to his opponent and with another prayer he called upon another light bean. This time faster. The beam rushed towards Gadreel and hit him on his left shoulder. Gadreel screamed in pain as his flesh started burning under the heat of the sun beam. But he didn’t desist. Gadreel charged again, this time running with his Chainsaw held high.

Before Rogue could reposition his sword, Gadreel stroke and hit Rogue right on his helmet. The hit was hard. Rogue’s visor scattered in pieces. Gadreel didn’t stop and swung the chainsaw again, this time piercing through his opponent armor right below the rib cage. Another hard hit. Rogue lost balance and screamed in pain. He then fell to his knees, and threw his sword to the ground, in a sign of surrender.

The crowd went wild as Azazel announced the end of yet another great fight: “Congratulations, Gadreel Creeper of the Moon. Darkness has prevailed today.”