Sakhmet frowned. Years of training with a dagger came back to her, but that sort of training wasn't meant for fighting. "I find daggers to be terrible weapons for combat. Getting close is nice, but it's nice for your opponent too. Personally, I'm trained with wielding a staff for defense, but if I was to choose another weapon it would be a bow or a spear. Both weapons keep the distance from the enemies and protect your body from harm." Her eyes stay glued at the spectacle below. "A Dagger can do a lot of damage, but it takes a lot of force to go through bone which requires a strong person or a lot of training to be able to deliver a quick kill. Otherwise, you have to go for the gut which is too slow or the throat which is too small of a target."
Having no effect on the golem, Arsenios concentrated on dodging its attacks, trying to stay on opposite sides of it to his allies. And Arsenios moved swiftly between its legs to try and get it off-balance during one of its swings.
The request had gotten the shopkeeper's expression who actually smiled for a second at hearing the crack in the succubus's voice. "I've never had a request like that before. Too cute for your own good? Poor dear." As Thea got out some belongings for trade the merchant slowly took a look at them, trying to appraise the value while thinking about the question. "It'd be easy enough to make illusions to make you look uglier...but this is some kind of curse or something, right? That means it's more about the mind than the actual body." While not having all the proper facts, the magic shop keeper was still good about catching onto things as she hummed to herself trying to think about something. "You probably saw them on your way here. Those licensed merchants with the tattoos. They're...unusual. Emotional suppressing magic over an area might work, but that's not going to be easy...I guess, you could just..." She waved a hand at the burning candles in her shop that still gave off a strong scent of something that Thea couldn't place. Have it produce a kind of anti-aphordiasic. Can't say how well that would work in open space and I still use way more than one candle to make it work." The idea seemed possible. She didn't have the same marks as the other merchants but had been looking into Thea's eyes the entire time and not wandering anywhere. Still, Thea understood enough about magic as well to realize while potentially possible, how practical it would be was questionable. "The simplest solution would be to redirect energy to circulate in the ring..but that'll burn out the energy pretty regularly, knowing this garbage. Any of the good magic gems are troublesome to get with the monopoly on them. We're pretty much stuck with the junk ones. It'll still work how it should..just not for long." After a bit of back and forth, Thea was able to settle on a price though it would cost her almost all the leftover profit from her journey. She'd have just enough to get a place to stay for the night if she needed it, but the woman was tough and didn't budge. Not like the amount was actually that much. It was a relatively trivial sum and quite a bit of a lower cost than what most merchants would charge even for a no longer working artifact. But with her current financial situation, it still came off as way too steep.
Thea sighed as she realized the shop keeper saw through her ruse... or more like she failed to keep it up completely. "Well... you're pretty sharp. And... I guess there is no harm in telling you." Her hands move to the hems of her hood, as if she planned on revealing her face. But the succubi decided against it, she couldn't be too careful now. "I'm a succubus, half, technically. But that half was enough to... you know. Erm. Anyway. Do you think you can do it?" She said, no longer concealing the tone of her voice. Though the smell the candles gave off was odd, Thea had more important matters to think of right now. Especially since she's going to be broke after she buys the ring. Hopefully, she can use her own magic to give it some juice, so that the shop keeper can enchant it.
"I'm sure it is." If Kellia didn't know Raziyma, that could almost be confused as her meaning it as a joke. Even so, the princess walked down the hallways as normal, only to change direction from the exit about halfway and walk off to the direction of the gladiator pit. Kellia followed along to bear witness to the variety of people from different countries, varying in quality of physical condition. Most of them badly wounded and scarred, from their recent matches as pit doctors went to work patching them up, but Raziyma ignored all of that and turned her attention to a guard making threats to one of the caged fighters. "Perhaps I should remove that pretty little head from y- "Kellia? Ask this man what's going on here." Raziyma refused to directly address the guard, but he still heard her voice and it forced him to jump. "Princess Raziyma? Ho-wh-it's an honor." Quickly moving to scramble and bow in her presence, the princess was unphased, just naturally expecting him to do that anyway. "'I won my rounds. I won my freedom!" The woman on her knees tried making threats, but somehow keeping to a calm and focused voice despite the seething anger. It had it's impact on the guard, but Razyima paid it no mind, focusing on speaking to the minor noble elf. "I saw. She was quite good. Tell her she did a good job and then tell both of them to be quiet." "Ah, milady..ugh.." The guard catching himself aware of Raziyma's refusal to properly interact him focused on the elf as well. "Her opponent had came down with a severe case of poisoning. Princess Safiya made the consequences to those caught cheating quite clear." While Raziyma could also hear him, she just glanced over to the elf. "Ask him if they have any proof of their charges."
Kellia was a bit surprised by the princess' sudden change of direction, but obediently followed along and listened to what followed. Upon finally getting a chance to speak she addressed the girl. “You did well. Rest now and be quiet, while I speak to this man.” She instructed, then focused on the guard. “So, you accuse this girl of cheating and poisoning her opponent? And I assume you have proof to back up such a claim? Let's see your evidence, then. And while we're on the topic of the suspected poisoning, explain how she managed to get her hands on the poison and how she then managed to successfully poison her opponent without anyone noticing and stopping her.” She half-asked and half-commanded the guard, then waited for the man to answer.
@Daylan "No. I need you to lose. Brothel tabs don't pay themselves." For most people the request would be instantly shot down, but when it was from the man who made it, they knew better than to refuse. Reluctantly, one of the other players slide over his winnings to the middle aged man. This wasn't exactly how the young man had expected to spend his time. With all the commotion going on about the opening of the arena, it was assumed that would be the place to be. Instead, his master had dragged him out to a new establishment that had quickly became a favorite of everyone. Bars existed before, but never like this. The novelty of the western culture being adopted into the city left the building embraced or instantly hated by life long citizens for being different than what they were used to. His master in question, was of the variety who had adopted it in wholeheartedly. This wasn't even changing the typical day that followed for him. The older man was happy to count out his newly won coin, flicking over one to the younger man. Even this whole concept of a proper settled currency instead of just trading goods was still relatively new, but not entirely a bad thing. It definitely made exchanges much easier despite the coins having no real value themselves rather than just looking pretty. Constant complaints were circling around the sudden and wild new changes surrounding the country, but just as many were looking forward to seeing where it leaded. Just... "Lousy priests..." The loser was not pleased by the verdict of having the coin they bet on lost, but the high priest had just gave a shrug. "Which reminds me. Holding a public sermon later. Show up. Or don't. You know, just as long as you pay your offerings on time." It was the way he casually dismissed attendance, and the fact he wouldn't even wear standard priest garb that had lead many to thinking High Priest Zaid didn't take his job seriously. He didn't. He insisted that the gods were real and only a moron wouldn't worship with them with magic almost everywhere, but he never had any interest in pushing the religion or was as dedicated to things as people would have liked to see. He would still enforce all forty two commandments with an iron fist if pushed to do it, but more often than not, he spent most of his time drinking and avoiding doing any real work. It didn't make him a bad person to serve. If anything, he was far too easy going in letting his people get away with whatever they wanted if it wasn't directly heresy against the gods...those that felt he'd be soft on that too, found out how wrong they were the hard way. Approaching the snake tattooed boy, he lifted his beer to his mouth and began to down it...and continued to down it. After a solid thirty seconds, he placed it down. "I don't get what Prince Roi is bitching about...he bitches about everything, don't get me wrong. Still. A lot of this western stuff is fine by me. They don't know how to brew a drink that doesn't take like piss, but it's strong piss, at least."
"Ehh. Swords seem nice, but by the time you reach to draw it, I could have already stabbed you. Besides..." Safiya gazed down to her left hand. At a distance, it would look like a regular armored gauntlet which would be bizarre with how lightly dressed she was, but sitting as close as she was, it could be seen the golden metal was actually replacing where her skin should be. She idly moved each finger, the motion and flexibility being more than a regular piece of armor should provide. "I'm pretty strong." It was an unspoken rule among the nobles not to call attention to any of her metallic body parts unless she brought it up on her own. But it wasn't really touched on, with her focus snapping back to the field as the crowd peered in awe, as well as the highers up at seeing the golem, completely ignore any attempts for it's attackers to make an impact on it. People had seen golems before, but one that wasn't solid in form at all was unheard of. Sakhmet didn't need to have Roi's tactical mastery or Safiya's obsession with being on the front lines to realize how drastically it differed. Other golems relied on rock solid bodies to keep themselves sturdy and defensive. This was almost the completely opposite. An amalgamation of endlessly flowing sand that couldn't be disrupted any better than someone could stab at a river. @Tjf @unisol_gr44 It showed in the battle down below. The band of fighters had realized the futilely of trying to break it and were clearly trying to confuse and avoid a direct engagement with it. Arensois narrowly avoiding the blinding speed of a spurt of sand that was the equivalent to a fist striking at the ground. Non solid material or not, a blow at that speed and force would fold his armor like parchment. He had swept underneath the creature's who attention was divided between the other two trying to harass it. Safiya who was now watching intently with Sakhmet, obviously understood what they were trying to do, her face looking torn between smiling or frowning. "Won't work..." Sakhmet was left seeing things unfold. The vampire had taken the risk of trying to slash at one it's elbow regions seeming to hope to disrupt something, and the archer was keeping a safe distance. With the other one directly underneath it, the golem's options were limited. It's arms returned to it's center, and it's fists became open palms as it went through various unusual motions, looking as if it was consciously calming itself in preparation for an attack. Sakhmet could tell that while silent and wordless, the movements it was mirroring in a crude way were the equivalent of it getting ready to cast a powerful spell. Even the common folk had recognized it and were waiting breathless as it brushed off any attacks and began to calmly charge it's attack, undettered by any attempts to even slow it down, the crackle of light blue electricity starting to emit from the center of it's palms. Down below in the pit, Kijito hadn't been in much danger and as the creature was starting to prepare what was surely going to be a powerful attack, she was still trying to make distance through the arena and her attempts to running had worked until the sudden shift of an incline forcing her to pivot at the last second and avoid a sudden jet of sand lurching out. It wasn't an arena trap. She hadn't seen any. But she saw the eruptions start to happen quickly, mostly focused underneath the golem's feet. While the other two were busy dealing with that, she was weaving through the bursting field of attacks to try and slow her down and she managed to get through them just fine, until her foot struck something solid behind her. Arena wall. This "sandy cunt" had actually thought that far ahead to pressure and trap a much faster opponent into the corners where it wouldn't be able to keep running. It didn't look like the others of her team were doing much better. Arsenios's armor saved him from a sudden attack on the back, only winding him a bit, but he was directly underneath the golem as a volley of sand streams shifted into tendrils, coming from both the golem's legs and underneath the sand itself. The effortless way it all meshed put the idea in his head that that the golem's body was actually much larger than what they were fighting. While good to know, it still left him parrying and shielding a sudden range of all kinds of instruments from sand shifted into making mock spears or what looked like miniature hands trying to grab at his ankles and hold him still. The sudden strikes that he couldn't avoid, he managed to avoid taking direct hits, but the sight of one of his shoulder plates crumpling didn't bode well as he escaped underneath the golem's feet, to observe what looked like an entire thicket of sand streams in the shape of a rose thorn push stabbing at the vampire knight, and with the loud cry she let it out, it was obvious she had been hit. With her almost completely entrenched it was difficult to see what had happened, but the makeshift sand weapons began to get blown apart by a sudden burst of blood red magic scattering all of the grains of sand into the air as a storm, and inadvertently taking the pressure off of him and giving him a side to retreat to and the force extending just enough to destroy some of the formed sand traps impeding Kijito's path, allowing them to group up again. She had obviously been focusing on herself and any attempts to help either were certainly accidental, but still useful. On closer examination, he could see the hole punched in Aversa's armor at the chest, likely the only reason she survived was due to already being dead and invoking blood magic from her injuries. Catching her breath for a second, she still readied her weapon, wondering what to do about the golem that was still in no hurry to finish charging it's attack. "This...what is this? Golems literally don't have brains. It's actions are way too intelligent for a regular golem."
Arsenios charged back in with long quick strides, taking up speed. The Carian warrior chucking his spear like a javelin at the golem's hands with all his force. With the javelin in the air, his foot sunk into one of the sand traps, throwing him to the ground at full speed.
"I suppose it is good enough that Bast would not object to using it for her ceremonies if we needed to," the snake tattooed boy replied speaking with a soft voice that was still audible over the din of the crowd as he flipped the coin tossed to him between his fingers, "I would not want to risk Tekhi's wrath on it though." Chike did not really like places such as this. Not because of the Western influence in and of itself, of which he was mostly neutral on, but he was never one comfortable with... tight social settings. Sometimes he wondered if the High Priest enjoyed dragging him to busy places such as this to watch his reactions to the people around them or when people bumped into him. Or maybe the man found his amusement in seeing someone who was in his priestly robes contrasting with the rougher surroundings. A thought hit him and he added, "And the Prince could be worried that cultural influence may one day turn to political influence if it roots itself in too deeply among the people."
"Succubus? Don't see many of those here. I wonder how potent some juices would be for..." Catching herself and realizing her customer was standing right there, her face didn't really change in expression. "Obviously, I'm not going to just up and take it. But yeah...that doesn't sound too complicated." Looking confident that she'd be able to manage, she handed the ring over as well as some coin. Thea at least had some spells that looked to be possible options. Not just any spell would work to charging them. It would need to sustain a charge and these weren't made to naturally absorb just any magic that hit it exactly. It couldn't be overloaded and just random force of magic wouldn't work. Fortunately, she had picked up enough tricks from other caravans for this kind of situation. She knew how to make a light charge. Just enough to bring back a small spark of life into the gems and jumpstart them again. Not enough to power it entirely, but it would at least be a start. It was successful on taking effect to return a faint orange color into the smaller gems,that soon radiated into a full glow of life returning to them, but as soon as she tried the same to the large one which was clearly the main focus gem, it would only stutter and remain dead. The shopkeeper seeing the problems, frowned. "Looks like you'll need it to be replaced. Quality won't really matter much if you just want it going again. But I know where you might be able to get a few of the good ones. I didn't really sell you anything worthwhile, so may as well let you know that there's regular shipments coming in the city every week of these things. Pretty heavily guarded and nobody will let you near them...but they get delivered to the priesthood...probably just ask for one. Anubis is going to judge all of us as not worthy of a great afterlife in the end, but stealing from priests...that can't be a good thing."
"Kellia, I said to ask him, not insult him." Raziyma's smile didn't fade. This was all fun for her. Kellia knew how she worked. But she remained silent, starting to look ahead at the outside of the gated area to see the battle raging from down below. From what the elf could make out, the battle had commenced and it was intense. She could only catch glimpses of it, but the golem looked to be proving much more troublesome than what was expected. It wasn't a matter of it's size, but the fact that none of the fighters had any real way to actually hurt it. The sight actually forced Raziyma's smile to fade for a moment. "They're having more trouble than I thought. I guess, that's good. " Taking a look back at the guard, she made a wave with her hand in a get on with it gesture, but still not opening her mouth to say any words actually directed at him. Taking it as a sign to speak, he looked more cautious now, obviously trying to think of what to say without risking insulting the nobles. "She was pitted against sir Yeven. The odds of her winning were four to one. She should never have won that fight so she had one of her servants break into her opponent's waiting room and drug their drinking water." While he gave the account of events, she jerked her head up, forgetting about the blade pointed at her. "I didn- Fwick. The sound of fingers snapping and their voices drowned out into muffles as a light green glow began to emerge in thier mouths. Unmoving and unable for the guard to remove as much as he tried to grab hold of the sphere, it wouldn't budge, deflecting his fingers away from the magical gag. Raziyma lowered her arm, letting out a yawn. It was no real effort for her to use one of her favorite spells. Kellia had only even seen the princess use the barrier spell on a small scale and only really used it as a gag for when she found people getting too loud, but the elf realized the level of control she actually had to have to do it so casually. "The motive is valid. The proof that she knowingly intended to drug an opponent is not. I suppose I could sort this out...but I don't really want to." She looked over to the elf idly, but mostly focused on the gates, Kellia realizing the first round she be about to conclude. "Does this feel worth bothering with to you?"
Kjito puts a sand trap between herself and the golem, firing arrows into it, to get it to come after her again.
The spear launches at it's target. While not able to strike anything solid, the impact from the javelin point colliding into the golem's hands while magic was flowing through it had a chain reaction effect. The sparks of lightning catching themselves on the metal tip and the sounds of the crackling becoming wild as the electrical current was broken and disrupted by the metal moving through one of the golem's arms taking the charge of electricity along with it, in an explosive blue burst that took one of it's arms, sending a flood of sand into the air and a few unfortunate audience members trying to shield their face from the fallout of the destructive blast. It hadn't completed charging it fully and the golem being non living, the electrical attack didn't do much more damage than the actual blast itself, which still forced it to stagger for a few moments. Aresnois from down on the ground was left peering upward to the audience above and while the distance was incredibly far off, the level of rage on Safiya's was unmistakable, fuming at her creation actually somehow being damaged. But she quickly calmed down and it became apparent why. While the burst of disrupted magic was powerful enough to backfire and give it pause, the golem started to lower itself back into the earth, all the disturbed sand shifting and pulling itself backward. The thing had burrowed itself back into the earth, and while he never fought something like this before, he realized that it was likely in the process of restoring itself while putting itself out of reach from enemy attacks. This thing wasn't particularly bright, but still frighteningly cunning for a golem. The idea that they intended to introduce these to the battlefield, with far more than just one...there would be something to write home about anyway, though he had to guess that was probably what they meant for him to do as an attempt to intimidate with their latest weapon. "First round over! The warriors team has managed to keep themselves alive, a little worse for wear, but kicking. This monstrosity. Is it even possible to defeat it? We'll find out after the intermission, then look forward to the next two rounds. Can they keep themselves alive for two more rounds of this?" The crowd was ecstatic, though some disappointed to not see the round properly conclude, it was short lived by a few people in bright colored garb entering in through the opened gates to juggle, tell jokes and entertain while allowing the warriors to make their way to the pits. Aversa looked to be the most damaged, but namely being immortal in most ways, was likely fine. She took a look towards Kjito as she began to walk off to the pits. @Tjf "Keeping safe? I don't think another two rounds will be survivable at this rate...but I'll go as many as it takes to break the dam thing." Taking a look to Arsenios, the vampire still looked stressed. "I thought they were just spoiled brats. They did this?"
Kellia considered for a few moments, then shrugged. “Depends on whether it is a one-time thing, or something that happens regularly. If this sort of thing is not an isolated incident, then it means the guards are not doing their jobs properly. In that case it is best to take care of it now, else it might become a problem later. And even if it is a one-time thing it might be best to take care of it now anyway, to set an example and avoid potential issues later. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to deal with – unless it is a lot more serious than it appears.” The elf gave her honest opinion as she examined the guard and the slave.
Kjito grunts. "I've never run from a good fight before." She twists her head. "Don't underestimate them. Those royals are a bunch of brats, but they've got power."
Zaid didn’t mask his disdain to the prospect. Chike knew it wasn't towards him personally. Nobody would argue that the smaller one wasn't the more mature, but Chike was well aware that the high priest was no idiot. “That’s one way too look at it. I think Peaches sort of has the right idea. Times are going to change, like or not. We won't be able to fight that off forever. So we need to keep open to how things are changing and take what we can learn from it to keep things running like they should. I'm no pansy. I'm all for life as it is here. But if we want to keep things the same, we need to adjust a little rather than trying to burn everything that doesn't totally fit. If we want things normal, we are only going to do that by learning everything we can and getting ahead of the curve. The size of armies isn't enough. We should be leading the world in technology and culture too and have neighbors adapt to our way of life inst-" "That's a lot of talk for a Methodist!" The high priest's thoughts were cut off by the shouting of some heavily influenced bar patron that he had just taken money from. The accusation was met with a scowl. "Say that again and I'll knock your teeth out!"
'Phaw, a good fight? This is ridiculous. I managed to prolong our chances a few moments by pure luck,' Arsenios spat on the ground, 'Zeus curse them, they are making a mockery of us to test their newest toy.' He stormed off to the pit.
