Ellenikos Again

This evening I continued Ellenikos's career in the arena. So far he had fought five bouts, winning four and getting a draw in his fifth.

A few weeks after his epic fight with Telemonius he found himself facing his first truly dangerous opponent - Crixus. Armed with a sword and small shield, Crixus was a veteran of a number of bouts in the arena, and had the skills to prove it - Stamina, Agile, Defend and Veteran. Ellenikos was definitely the underdog in this fight.

Ellenikos went for the aggressive approach, and got in a good early hit, wounding Crixus. But Crixus was a veteran of the arena. he bided his time, and soon knocked Ellenikos down. From that moment our hero was on the back-foot.

He was backed against the arena wall, and with no room to manoeuvre was soon forced to yield. The fight had been entertaining, though - plenty of blood and fancy moves. The crowd were merciful.

Unfortunately things didn't get any better. After a period of recovery Ellenikos was put forward for a rematch with Cupido. However since their last meeting Cupido had acquired a seriously good reputation in the arena, and was one of the best gladiators in Rome - Veteran, Tactician, Stamina, Defend and Crowd-Pleaser were his skills. All Ellenikos could bring to the party was Agile and Attack.

Ellenikos once again scored the first wound - just a scratch, but a good start.

Cupido retaliated by catching Ellenikos in his net.

Try as he might, Ellenikos couldn't cut free. He put up a desperate fight ...

... but Cupido forced him to appeal to the crowd. The fact that he had wounded Cupido was all that saved him. He survived ... just.

It seemed, however, that the mob really enjoyed the bout (and, to be fair, this short write-up doesn't to credit to how tense and exciting it actually was). When Ellenikos recovered from his wounds, they asked for a rematch.

Cupido didn't mess around in this fight. Ellenikos was swiftly entangled again.

Before he could escape, Cupido sidestepped, and thrust with his trident. It went straight into Ellenikos's heart, and he breathed his last as his blood spilled onto the sand of the arena.

And that was it for Ellenikos. At least he fell to a straight kill, rather than via the whims of the baying crowd.

The 'campaign' lasted eight bouts. Ellenikos won four, lost three and drew one. He never became highly skilled or truly famous, but his fights were all entertaining.

This was a useful exercise in trying out the new skills, however, as they really came to the fore in the last three bouts. Both Veteran and Tactician allow a player to adjust the combat dice after they are rolled; Tactician swapping the dice and Veteran flipping one dice. They only work against a foe with fewer skills. Ellenikos was on the receiving end of both skills, and would have purchased one of them himself had he lived long enough.