The Covid Games - 3

Round three of our ongoing gladiator campaign saw some old favourites back in the arena, as well as some fresh blood. Literally.

As top lanista I had to offer my most skilled gladiator for the games, so Pugnax was brought out again. He found himself in the top-billed fight of the day, albeit fighting a novice gladiator, the thraex Satornilus from Catherine's stable. The second fight saw my crupellarius Victor against a sword-armed gladiator from Tertius's school called Marpesia. But the opening bout was between two unskilled gladiators, Ellenikos from Tertius's school and the diminutive retiarius Titan from Catherine's school.

Ellenikos and Titan maneuvered around each other, stabbing with spear and trident respectively.

Titan tried a couple of sweeps with his net, but Ellenikos dodged them. However Ellenikos was also tiring, and took a few light wounds as well.

At one point Ellenikos fell, and Titan closed in hoping his foe would submit. But he didn't, and the fight continued. Ellenikos managed to rip Titan's net from his grasp. Rather than retrieve it, the little retiarius simply shifter his trident to a two-handed grip and impaled Ellenikos, killing him instantly.

With one of his gladiators dead, Tertius hoped that the next bout would see some success for him. Marpesia faced the heavily-armoured Victor.

It took a mere four turns for Victor to force her to submit. The crowd were unimpressed, and Tertius lost another gladiator.

So on to the main event - Pugnax vs Satornilus. Heavy murmillo faced agile thraex.

Pugnax charged straight into the fight, forcing Satornilus to avoid being shoved into the arena wall. Things went from bad to worse for the thraex, when he lost his sword. For a couple of turns he fought with nothing but his shield and harsh language, but eventually managed to drive Pugnax back and retrieve his weapon.

It was obvious Satornilus was outclassed, and Pugnax wore him down slowly. But the thraex put up a splendid fight and managed to inflict a decent wound on his opponent. After nine turns Pugnax forced his foe to submit, but the crowd were more than merciful; they had been entertained.

I won two bouts, to go up to 5 Prestige. Catherine won one, putting her on 3 Prestige. And poor Tertius languishes with 1 Prestige. Victor was the only gladiator to gain any actual experience, since the other winners were fighting inferior foes in terms of skills. Victor is now a Crowd-Pleaser.