The BlackSand Tournament I: Round I, Duel III
From Gadreel Creeper of the Moon
Gadreel loved 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 loved 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 loved. 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 barely lit city.
He truly enjoyed 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 curios. 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.