The Covid Games - 5

We went into the fifth round of our gladiator campaign with all three schools on equal Prestige. This meant that the choice of primary school would be a matter of fate - a die roll. Catherine was the lanista selected by the editor to put forward her best gladiator for the next event, and her only choice was the hoplite Danaos, who has fought in three of the previous four games.

We ended up with the following pairings - The retiarius Medusa (me) vs the thraex Bremusa (Tertius), the dimacherius Spiculus (Tertius) vs the secutor Margareites (Catherine) and finally the Gaul Vocorix (me) against the hoplite Danaos (Catherine). Although Danaos was the 'chosen' gladiator for this round, the fight between Spiculus and Margareites ended up as the top-billed bout; obviously the crowd have a soft-spot for Spiculus, who was also fighting for the fourth time in the campaign.

I was quietly confident that Medusa could take down Bremusa.

A deft sidestep saw the thraex trapped in Medusa's net ...

... only for her to immediately slice her way out, down the retiarius and put a sandal to her neck, forcing her to submit.

The crowd booed, and Medusa was dispatched. The Empress Pandora approved.

Medusa had a single skill, whilst Bremusa had none, so I lost a point of Prestige for being defeated by a lesser gladiator, and Tertius gained 2 points of Prestige for for such a 'splendid' win. Public opinion is so fickle.

One of my light gladiators was fighting in the next bout - the naked Vocorix was waving his enormous sword around for the entertainment of the crowd whilst his opponent Danaos showed them his long shaft.

Anyway, they got stuck into each other.

Vocorix dodged around his heavier opponent, but the dice weren't with him; Danaos either saved, or took criticals which knocked him off balance, but where Vocorix couldn't finish him.

And when Danaos was fighting his much greater skill was wearing down the Gaul, who was soon bleeding from numerous wounds.

The bout went on for nine turns, and Vocorix was now hoping the referee would call a draw at the end of the next, when Danaos caught him off-guard and ran him through, leaving Vocorix mortally wounded.

So I lost a second gladiator, but no Prestige, whilst Catherine picked up a point of Prestige.

And so on to the top-billed fight of the evening - the experienced Spiculus against the novice Margareites.

They danced, dodged and parried, but the AP dice weren't with Spiculus, who couldn't translate his skills into decent attacks on his opponent. Margareites played a slow, steady game, wounding the dimacherius little by little.

Spiculus relies on speed for defence, and the wounds were slowing him down. That's not to say he wasn't having some success, but it wasn't helpful; twice he knocked away Margareites' shield, but twice Margareites recovered it before Spiculus could exploit his advantage. Spiculus even got in a spectacular attack, dodging around Margareites' unshielded side to strike one blow and then use the cheers of the crowd to attempt a second, but couldn't take down the novice gladiator.

The bout went past ten turns, and it looked like the referee might call it a draw. Catherine made a concerted effort and Margareites went in for one last attack, thrusting with his sword and then swinging his shield. The latter attack caught Spiculus on the head, stunning him, and forcing him to submit.

Margareites has won a superb victory against a gladiator with two really useful skills. His victory gave Catherine two more points of Prestige, whilst Tertius lost a point. Spiculus was easily spared by the crowd, who didn't want to lose one of their current favourites.

So at the end of the fifth event, Catherine is now far and away the highest ranking school, with 7 Prestige. Tertius has taken second place with 5 prestige, whilst I am no longer the darling of the mob - my appalling performance in these games now sees me with only 3 prestige.

Catherine will be top lanista at the next games, which means that Danaos will be taking to the sands again.