Let the games begin (open)

[Darren Caerdeth]

Five men stood in a wide circle on the sands of the Crimson Pit. They were mortals, all five of them, and armed with crude swords. In the middle of their circle stood one man. Immortal, Vampyre to be exact, armed only with himself.

The five men standing around Darren were fighting for a reward. If they won, they were granted their lives, and set free. If they lost, they had to endure an extremely painful death, as apposed to the quick and easy one they would have been granted when they made the transition from slave to food.

Darren kept his hands open, and rotated slightly on the balls of his feet, waiting for one of them to make a move. Even though they outnumbered him, there was an obvious hesitance. Darren was a member of the Shrine council, so obviously, he had to present some semblance of danger. That hesitation was forgotten though, as one of them raised his sword and charged forward. The other four men followed suit, so all five of them were charging in at once.

Darren immediately sprung into action, and bolted toward the man who charged first.

The human swung his sword, only to connect with thin air, as Darren lept over his head, smoothly landing on the outside of the circle of men.

His hands were brought up in front of him, his right slightly slightly more forward than his left. Darren's body was tensed, every muscle ready to jump into motion as the Vampyre waited for the next attack....

[Lord Soth]

The Death Knight watched silently from the upper tear's of the Blood Pit some two and a half stories above the battle floor. Howls of fury and cry's of blood lust rang out within the massive domed arena. The smell of blood was thick and sweet, lofting on the air like a beckoning fragrance to those who knew its scent well.

Soth let his cold eye's wander over the crowd of mortal's that were unknowingly mingled with some of the Vampyre family that resided at the Shrine of Damned...Some would never see their beloved homes again after the games were over this night. It was common place for the people of Rooden to venture to the Shrine for a chance at quick wealth and fame, in turn feeding the Creatures of the Damned while the economy was stimulated by the moneys it generated. Many of the missing denizen's of Rooden were simply passed off as those who ventured to close to the Dead Forest, a place of superstition and legend. The fateful woodland's deadly reputation for taking the unwary indiscriminately and suddenly was well known.

Soth let his eye's trail back to the melee that took place below him. A wicked smile crept across his chiseled feature's as he looked on intently, knowing damn well the sizable wager he made with a local would pay off handsomely...The Death Knight credits were on none other then...Darren Caerdeth, his brother in blood!

[Darren Caerdeth]

Four of the men were in awe over the feat they had just seen. It wasnt everyday that you encountered a man with enough physical prowess to leap over another man's head. None of the five mortal combatants had ever experienced the Crimson Pit, and chances were, none of them ever would again.

The fifth man though, he wasnt shocked. At least, he didnt act the part very well, as he came charging forward with his sword, hoping to catch Darren as the vampyre landed.

His hopes had paid off, and Darren didnt have time to turn around. He lifted his sword to strike, and was immediately sent to the floor of the arena as Darren's body turned and his right foot shot up to meet with the man's chin. The power behind the kick was enough to lift the man off the ground. He landed on his back, knocked completely unconscious.

Darren turned around completely to face the group of four. He stepped over the fallen man's body, completely ignoring the weapon the man had dropped, as he slowly walked toward the rest of the fighters.

Behind him, one of the iron gates opened long enough for a few men to run in. They quickly tied up the fallen fighter and drug him to the edge of the pit before returning to the gate.

[Dirjj Mordrai]

Another figure stood nearby watching the spectacle in the coliseum, leaning against a column. His longcoat was pulled back revealing a lightsaber and two holstered westar blasters. There lie a lit cigarra hanging lazily from crimson stained lips, he had just feasted before arriving. A small cloud of smoke blew from his mouth as his eyes narrowed, carefully observing Darren's every move and counteraction. The four left on the arena floor were good as dead, but perhaps they had found enough skill at fighting as to extend everyone's amusement appreciatively.

This was life in the Shrine during times of relative peace and economic reprisal. All participants had swore their poor, backslidden souls to wager against a vampyre. Winner takes all, loser loses all. Dirjj had also entered the waging pools and placed quite a lump sum on the vampyre, of course. Hopefully these sodden fools put on an entertaining show. Enough to compliment the rest of Dirjj's activities this evening til dawn.

[Darren Caerdeth]

Surprisingly enough, it looked as if one of the slaves may have had some sort of military training. The group as a whole was backstepping as Darren moved forward, the whole time, one of them was whispering to the others.

There were others challenges in this matchup also, challenges that Darren had set upon himself. If this had been any kind of danger to him, he would be concentrating on ending the fight much sooner.

This fight had to last though.

Each of the five participating were promised a very painful death if they lost. Each of the five weighed their options and decided that the hope for freedom was enough to risk against a nasty death.

They would each suffer before the night was over.

The group of four slowly kept backing up and spreading out. More than likely, they wanted to surround Darren again, where the vampyre would have less of a chance to defend against their swords. One of them, on the outside of the group, acted as if he were about to run and try to free the first victim, who was slowly waking up. The "leader" quickly stopped him. This man was smart enough to know that the "emancipator" would be attacked quickly without any number advantage.

By now the vampyre was getting bored. The group was now slowly encircling him again. Darren stopped and stood, purposely falling into their trap. Their deceptive confidence would make it easier for them to attack.

With a sharp warcry from the "leader", the whole group charged in at once. Darren immediately walked with a fast pace toward the one coming at him from his left. Rather than attacking, he dodged the man's sword and grabbed his arm, slinging him into the man that was coming in from Darren's right . The leader had taken longer to get to Darren, opting to run clear behind Darren before charging straight in. This left Darren to engage the slave coming in from Darren's front directly, without immediate interuption. Darren turned his body to the right, bringing his right leg around to kick the sword from the slaves hand. He kept in motion and brought his right foot back down as his left foot shot out to connect with the slave's chest. The move brought Darren around facing the leader, leaving Darren just a split second to sidestep to avoid the leader's overhanded strike. Darren's right foot drug through the sand as he kicked the leader's sword away, and kicked sand into the eyes of the slave who Darren had attacked first.

The leader immediately drew back and threw a punch, which Darren caught with his left hand, before twisting the leader's arm sideways with a jolt, snapping the elbow joint out of place.

The leader automatically backed away as Darren kicked the blinded slave into the slave behind him, and brought his right hand up to catch the arm of the slave he had disarmed first.

With the slave;'s arm held upward, Darren sidekicked him on his vulnerable side, instantly breaking two of the slave's ribs...

The slave fell to the ground clutching his side, as the group at the iron gate ran out again to drag him off to the side, tieing him up beside Darren's first victim...

Two down, one injured, one blinded, and one that had barely been touched. Darren had yet to break a sweat....

[Darren Caerdeth]

As Darren stepped forward, he brought his knee up into the stomach of the slave who was desperately trying to wipe the sand from his eyes. The knee doubled the man over, as Darren brought his knee back up into the man's throat, sending him to his back on the sandy floor. The slave behind him was shaking. He had seen three of his teammates put down with little effort, and the team leader was nursing a broken arm. The slave drew back to swing. Darren was on him in an instant. The first hit came from Darren's left leg, which hit the slave in the stomach. As the man stumbled back and partally doubled over, Darren grabbed his wrist and kicked straight up, his right foot connecting under the slave's arm, immediately dislocating the shoulder. Darren then twisted the man's arm again, bringing the slave to the ground in pain. With his grip still firm on the slave's wrist, Darren brought his foot down on the slave's shoulder, breaking it outright .

Just as Darren was getting up, an arm flew around his neck. It was the injured leader attempting a chokehold. Immediately, Darren brought his leg up, solidly kicking the man in the groin. The man let go of Darren and staggered back, doubled over and puking. A quick roundhouse swiftly knocked the man unconscious. The slave that had been blinded by sand and knee'd in the throat was now getting to his feet. Darren reached down to the slave with the broken shoulder and picked up the man's sword. The man brought his sword in front of him and stayed his ground, waiting for the Vampyre to attack. He was thinking well, as a strong defense is the best route when taking on a stronger opponent.

Darren moved in and swung. The slave brought his sword up to block. The two swords met and Darren immediately drew back and swung again, this time it was a two handed strike, with Darren bringing his sword upwards. The power from the hit knocked the slaves sword from his hand. Darren turned to the left, stabbing his blade into the slave's chest as he did. Halfway through the turn, Darren caught the sword that had been knocked from the slave's hand. His right foot came up and hit the hilt of the sword in the slave's chest, as Darren brought the other sword around and decapitated the slave.

The other two slave's had been drug to the side and tied up. Out of the original five, four had been taken out and tied up, and the fifth killed. Much to the dismay of the local's betting against him, Darren had won the fight, and a sizeable wager on himself. Now came the fun part....Disposing of the 4 captured slaves....

[Dirjj Mordrai]

Dirjj had just accumulated a substantial increase of credits from the wager that he would be handsomely situated on the next off-planet venture. The council member of the Shrine dispatched the five humans in an expected cruelly calculating fashion but what mildly impressed Dirjj was the combative finesse and skill in which Darren displayed in the arena today. The lack of wasted motion there of.

Dirjj clapped his gloved hands loudly together wearing a frightening leer because the bloodlust was increasing with the sight of the gratuitious violence that led to the bleeding, injured bodies lying on the arena floor or those being hoisted and tied to the posts. He was very curious what closing performance was going to conclude the evening's festivities down on that bloodstained sand.

[Darren Caerdeth]

The group that had been running out tieing up the slaves were now securing three of them to the posts. The fourth one was left sitting on the bloodied sands of the pit. As the other three slaves were completely bound, Darren walked over to the fourth one. The leader of the group...

"You can still earn your freedom...."

The slave glanced up towards Darren with a hopeful, yet worried look in his eyes. He'd been offered this chance once already, and was already suffering for it...

With a swipe of the sword in his hands, the slaves bound hands were free'd, and the sword that had liberated them was now sticking up in from of him, the blade embedded in the sands of the pit. Darren turned and walked to the sidelines, giving the slave one last command as he walked away...

"finish them off....and you are a free man....."