Waking up hungry wasn’t something new to the lowbie, but it certainly wasn’t something he’d wanted to do again. Zahn stretched out on his back with a groan as he fought the tight cramps of a complaining tank. His overlay clock showed it was almost noon and he’d slept hard since just after getting back to the food closet the night before. He smacked his lips and tasted something chalky, wishing he’d snagged a waterskin from somewhere during his clothing raid. Standing shakily and stepping around the feed bags he’d used as bedding, the lowbie shuffled out of the small room and looked down the quiet hallway.

Cages stood dark along the long curved wall, sparsely lit by a few remaining sputtering torches. Most of the doors stood open with straw and chains remaining inside, but a number of the stronger creatures he hadn’t been handling were still pacing or growling in their pens. Shuffling down the eerie walkway he’d been tending to just the night before left Zahn lost in thought as he neared a sputtering torch and the crackling sounds snapped his mind back to his dream that morning.

Fires spitting against the snow, moans and crying echoing in the silence after the blast. Feeble sunlight peeking out over the treetops gave light to the blackened ground and twisted metal, shadows jumping and dancing in the flames over the bodies, so many bodies-

There was a cold tingle on the Player’s forehead and with a blink he returned to the present, rubbing at his eyes. I gotta stop thinking about those stupid dreams. Why am I always having that same one here? I’m here now, I got this. Taking a deep breath to center himself, Zahn patted his aching empty gut and marched towards the intersection. Watching his shadow flicker in the light of the dying torch solidified his determination not to think about pointless dreams with his life on the line, like this place seemed to require.

As he came to the open gates and bright sunlight at the end of the tunnel, the roar of noise that had been a faint rumble down the hall hit him like a wave. Screaming, cheering, roars of beasts and men sounded through the arena and the sands were dark with blood in the chaos. Of the outer ten paved stone circles not covered by the huge wooden arena, each other ring held a group of warriors facing off with a similar group of Beasts and Monsters. The stage itself held a massive horde of the creatures facing off against a group of five battling at the center against the waves and pack tactics.

The circle immediately to Zahn’s left sat empty with bloodstains and kicked up sand everywhere, while the circle nearly two dozen feet to his right had the flock of small birds he’d fed the day before and two other living things he hadn’t seen yet. One looked like a stump had crossed with a boar with a wide circular back and an extra set of legs pushing its tusked face along. The other Monster was a wolf-like beast with a torso too long for its legs and shrunk down, giving the fast beast the mannerisms of a weasel on a beagle-sized wolf. As he stared in awe, the bird flock swarmed around the face of a mace wielder he didn’t know, who shouted a syllable and waved his club upwards to send the mass of birds flying upwards on a plate of blue light that left three of the starlings falling silently to the ground as the rest of the flock recovered and ducked to the side.

A roar from the stage answered by a cheer from the crowd pulled the Player’s eyes back to the center stage to see the hammer that killed him tossing a green-furred giant ape aside after breaking its back, and spinning like a baton before crushing the skull of a similar purple-furred monkey. With each kill the crowd’s roars and cheers ebbed and surged, sitting high enough in the sky that the Custom needed to shade his eyes to see the packed stands and filled alcoves draped in blue banners. Glittering silver in the sunlight on each draped banner was the shape of a doubled letter C over two vertical lines, a pattern he recognized from the chipper Burnato’s armor.

The clash and squeal of metal nearby had Zahn stepping to pull someone from a vehicle wreck when he saw the fight between man and beast was being won handily by beast. The wolf weasel had wrapped its long body around the heavy armor of a sword fighter, pinning his shield to himself as the mace man swung to free his partner and slammed into his armor as the Monster pulled its long body out of the way of each strike. Before the dance against platemail continued much longer their ally holding a smaller axe than the one Zahn met wrapped up chopped a divot out of the thing at its limbs and it growled a whine before looping off its victim and curling into a ball. Their pursuit would have finished the beast, except for the charging pig table that tackled the trio from the side and sent them into their dart thrower. With the ranged attacker buried the birds were freed to peck as a dozen-thick swarm at the fighters before the wolf got a mouthful of the ranger’s leg and ran around the ring, pulling him alongside.

The lowbie flinched away from the combat circle before he saw the beast wasn’t able to pass its fight ring. As it approached, the stones buried flat into the ground gave off a glow on the inner side that seemed to act as a wall or repellant, sending the wolf weasel around the edge in a circle with its ears flattened before it dragged its prey into the middle and wrapped around him tightly, biting down on his arms as he flailed.

The dart flinger would have faced a respawn if the mace swinger hadn’t come after his prey like a grudge-filled fisherman and swung for the skull at a charge. The beast eyed his attacker and released its jaws fast enough to begin dodging, but the Gladiator triggered another ability. Up close to the edge Zahn clearly saw a rune engraved on the metal shaft of the weapon flare red before fading away like Sasha’s scepter had gold, and then the mace began to glow crimson from within before changing direction and picking up speed.

Smashing into the Monster harder and in midair left its jaw clacking as it smashed backwards into the ward wall, sliding down the barrier as its blood pooled on the sands and the fighters turned away from their defeated prey. With the more fearsome of the animals dealt with, the charging wide boar still tackled the axe man and bore him to the ground but with his wide open back the mace and swordsman didn’t have much trouble dealing serious damage to a preoccupied foe. Before they killed it, the recovered ranger jumped up onto its back and launched a volley at the dwindling swarm and drawing them in before leaping off and leaving the group to the fighters.

As the team finished off their foes, Zahn glanced up at the stage and started backwards, heading towards what he assumed would be another fight closer to the southern gates. Nobody still standing in the closest fight ring looked like anyone he’d seen before and he wasn’t about to count on the sudden kindness of strangers during this tourney. Just stay outta their way, everybody’s fighting for their own thing right now. Just stay away and-

Blinking at his find, the lowbie didn’t register the creature that jumped off the stage until it landed in front of him. Stumbling to a stop on bare feet, he regarded the thing as it cocked its head at him, holding his gaze trying to trigger Identify.

Level: 6 | Pisggin Hoarder

HP: 79 | Monster, Earth

This Monster lives in groups with others of its kind, each taking on a specific role. Beyond the warriors and rules of their tribes, the middling members rarely grow much stronger than the average humanoid child.

The role of hoarder among the Pisggin is most similar to that of a librarian, or perhaps quartermaster. They take on one specific item or item type and gather that exclusively, to then distribute among their tribe as needed.

The pisggin looked like a pumpkin had mated with a lizard and grown mammal ears on itself besides. The thing was scaled and orange, its four legs supporting an almost round body as the triangular lizard head on top of the mass swiveled on its neck to get a better look at him in its side eye. Staring back at the thing, he was ready to shuffle around it when he got a flicker of a popup telling him this was not a suitable target for Mind Battle. Ignoring the message, he blinked as the thing opened its mouth far too wide and spat out a long sticky tongue.

Falling backwards to dodge the slimy limb he sent the signal into his throat to start charging up his Fire Spit and shuffled to the side to stand. Even though the little Monster was less than two feet tall, it scuttled around quickly on its little legs and gathered itself up to launch another attack.

Rather than sit still and wait for it, Zahn tried to jump to the side and circle it just to find his legs refusing to move at the right speed and the thing was able to burp out a pulse that knocked him off-balance again.

-29 Health. Pisggin Hoarder used Ripple Roar!

You are dazed!

You are Sluggish from the Caustic Blood!

Stumbling and cursing under his breath, Zahn looked down and confirmed the sticky bloody sand he’d been running through was leaving red splotches on his feet and the burn was starting to hurt. With a grumble and a wince he stepped onto as clear patches of sand as he could while he waited for his opponent to make its first attack again.

Stepping lightly as he tried to pick out a path among the muck, the lowbie kept looking between the beast and ground when the lizard launched another tongue attack, slamming into Zahn’s raised arms. He pulled back against the rubbery appendage and pulled both arms down, leaving a straight shot into the beastie’s face.

64 damage dealt! Zahn used Fire Spit!

Launching his own fire attack directly down the lizard monster’s throat set it squealing and hissing as it tried to pull its tongue back. When it began to unravel and free his hands he tried to grab it but fell short instantly as the thing retracted faster than he’d ever seen a tape measure move. The pisggin growled and shook its head, pawing at the smouldering maw and dragging its feet against the bloody sand. Sending out another Observe showed the lowbie that his target was down to just fifteen health and nearly dead.

Grinning at his luck, Zahn sucked in a deep breath and felt the heat build in his throat for a four count before launching his missile at the pumpkin monster before it finished trying to eat dirt. Smashing into the gourd-like body, his attack rocked it onto its side and sent it skidding two feet in the sands before leaving the smouldering remains where they lay.

16 damage dealt! Zahn used Fire Spit!

Zahn has slain a Pisggin Hoarder (6)!

You have gained 92 xp (ce).

Clearing away the notifications with a wave, the Player straightened up and smirked at his downed prey. Looking up and away from the monster he saw the stands around him filled with people cheering and hollering as they looked far too closely to be admiring the stage. Turning in place he took in the sight of hundreds of cheering fans roaring praise and shouting for more, the bloodlust heavy in the air. He punched a fist to the sky and heard the masses shout in return, the calls for ‘more’ and ‘war’ mingling in his ears.

Before he could get too big of a head, another thud sounded from behind and he spun to see the shapes of two more beasts landing from the stage as a pair, a matched set of turtle-like gophers. With a double set of buck teeth and beady eyes under a hard shell, the lowbie was torn between just walking away from them or trying to take on the duo when the rest of the arena solved that problem for him.

Coming from behind where he’d left the victorious small-time team, a set of darts shot over his shoulder and took the attention of both beasts. He looked back and found the entire foursome he’d been trying to avoid caught up and set to dealing with his monsters. He grinned and tried to wave at the ranger before leaving, but he scowled in return and shook his head pointing at the pair of mobs.

Opting not to die from darts to the back, he faced his targets and sucked in another breath, ready to dish out fiery death. Well at least they’re not just ganging up on me. Launching his fire attack at the closer of the two split their attention from the tank bearing a shield and forced the mace man to run around the edge of the pair’s range to smash the shell and pull it back on course. The monsters weren’t very fast and constantly chittered to each other at a low volume. With the roar of the crowd Zahn could barely hear the constant noise from the beasts and before his Observe activated they rushed to attack.

The slow beasts reared up to expose their weaker bellies which the axe and sword swung to take advantage of, but the move was a feint as the furred paws grew claws over a foot long in less than a second to catch the weapons, and for the left one snag the axe’s haft between its sharp talons. With their foreclaws extended Zahn didn’t want to get anywhere near them and spitting another fire attack seemed smarter than much else for options. Charging up another Spit while the mace man crushed his weapon into the tangled claws, he opted to shoot the one facing off with a sword and shield to give the solo fighter a better chance. Shooting the shell and singing its brown underfur made the Monster growl in the roars of the crowd and languidly turn itself in tiny steps to deal with the fire source.

As it turned its head away from the Gladiator he struck again and again on its neck and paws, dealing enough damage to get its attention again before it could muster the speed to waddle at the Player. With the turtle thing turning away again Zahn stepped like a dancer between the muddy blood sand and launched another Fire Spit once his prey had its tail turned towards him. Just as the last two strikes, as soon as it felt fire the thing would begin turning to face him until the sword-and-board fighter pulled its attention back.

Skipping in the sand and spitting fire at the target left the beast turning back and forth in place without making many attacks at all, keeping it helpless compared to its companion. The other turtle gopher hybrid was taking on the dart thrower and mace on one flank and the axe man on the other. The trio of attackers were working to shift its attention around similar to what Zahn was pulling off but the shorter range meant getting far closer to its prestigious claws to deal damage.

Launching fire spells one after the other let the lowbie take a moment and examine what casting this spell actually took from him. Before he could finish charging up the shot its mana cost was already refunded and the casting time began to feel more and more like someone else’s rules being set on his own spells. He tried casting two at a time and then one immediately after another, but each spell settled into its own four second charge before launching out like a bottlerocket. The only thing he could confirm after sending over a dozen of the missiles under controlled tests was the launch had nothing to do with his exhale and would rob the air from his breath if he spat it carelessly.

Under the barrage of fire spells and shielded tank, his beast on the right fell and stopped moving, its health bar low but the limbs laying flat on the sands. With his prey falling still the swordsman moved onto its partner and immediately took the aggression from his teammates as they spread out and surrounded it in a square.

Seeing his opponent downed and the group thoroughly engaged, Zahn grinned and skipped backwards away from the fight towards the double doors. If someone wins their freedom today, that means the key’s in play. Just gotta find it. Stepping around bloody messes and sandy rocks he passed the great gates and looked up the stairs at the stage. In the middle of the wooden platform stood the eternally cheerful Burnato swinging his curved sword mid-laugh back to back with the axe-wielding man in plate mail as each hacked apart one of the Monsters facing them. The woman in a poofy dress huffed and jumped with her silks dancing against the wind as she swung her massively oversized scythe and decapitated a fat serpent in one swing. With her landing she spun in a circle, causing her wide frills to flutter as they pulled on the air and blood to spray from the flat of her curved blade as she opened up the bodies of everything within her reach.

He didn’t see the sneaky Two anywhere, but the occasional thuds of Three’s hammer was audible even against the stone wall with screaming fans just above him. Skipping past the stairs up and around the edge, Zahn almost made his way towards the metal skull gate when a voice shouted from behind him where he left turtles fighting.

“Hey! How’d you get in here?”

Trying to ignore the voice quickly proved pointless when One’s fluttering dress rippled through the air and she landed between the Player and his open doorway, a wide grin showing beneath her strange frilled hat. Looking backwards Zahn saw the foursome from before with weapons out running towards him and the battleaxe carving through monsters at the closest edge of the stage. Looks like death to me. Turning to face front he squared his shoulders and stared over at One in her overly large bell dress.

Feeling the ember of warmth in his throat, the Custom tried to find his similarly warm Mana Core somewhere in his chest. Without mediating navigation of his own mana system seemed impossible, and he hadn’t even tried to sink into a mana recovery state since before the boss fight. A flare of anger jumped in his throat as his wandering mind touched on the underground cave. This is all their fault. I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t do shit to deserve this! As his mana cycled through his body and temper flared, adrenaline coursed in his veins and the lowbie felt his magic move. All I fucking want is to leave, and you assholes won’t fucking let me! Just, let me OUT! Panting and gasping, Zahn’s vision spun as the air in his lungs stretched thin and he felt the world closing in.

Eyes vibrating and glowing blue with mana, the lowbie’s neck started giving off its own red light and his body staggered, legs splaying outwards to catch himself. The mildly amused high ranker confronting him moved in to execute him as he fell off balance, but when his head snapped up facing her with a torch on his tongue she jumped up and backwards. Unable to see or control his shot, Zahn fired the overcharged spell and sent the missile curving towards the sky, a wad of bright red fire crackling and sizzling as it burnt its path through the air and up past the stands. The missile set fire to a number of hanging banners as it passed, ultimately clearing the top of the arena before erupting into shards and sparks that rained slowly on the screaming fans.

Zahn lay on his back, gasping and panting for air after the spell. His launched Spit robbed him of air and the force had already sent him on his ass, leaving the lowbie completely helpless as he stared up at the impromptu fireworks in the sky. The fans he could see were jumping and screaming out of their seats, the noise crashing against him in waves as he tasted something copper in his mouth.

Light became shadow as a familiar shape leaned over him, blocking out the after effects of his spellcasting and the crowd cheering for more. “That wasn’t smart, punching bag.” For the first time since meeting him, Burnato didn’t look even cheerful as he sank his blade into the Player’s chest and sent him for respawn.