The Arena

Orientation

By sixshooter500 (formally the mighty lu bu of fanfiction)

I don’t own oblivion, hell I don’t own the computer I’m using to write this.

20 years after the oblivion crisis

“Welcome to the arena pitdogs,” Stated a female Dunmer. “You all might know who I am”. To which one pit dog replied “You’re the champion of cyrodiil”. Then another one chimed in “no, she’s the divine crusader”. And then another “I’ve seen her face in the mages guild, she was the arch mage.” And one more “she was the grand champion of the arena before she resigned”. The Dunmer held up her hand commanding silence.

“Your all right, But the part that pertains to you is that I resigned my arch mages position and my championship to run this place when our battle matron died of old age. When Owyn asked me to take over I was more than than happy to. I am you battle matron Elanoil.” She said.

She then continued “Some things have changed recently you all need to know the changes, first off the reason you are here in this group of pit dogs is I can not allow you fools to go up into battle unless I’m sure you can understand what you are doing. Truth is, roughly an 8th of all pit dogs make it to next rank. In other words for you bunch of idiots most of you will die.”

But among you among you just like every group of pit dogs their is always a strong warrior or powerful wizard or stealthy archer that will rise through the ranks and become gladiator, or hero or perhaps even champion. Sometimes they are old warriors from distant lands or ex-fighters guide members who got kicked out for their excessiveness at that craft, or really good bandits who felt like a real challenge instead of some hapless innocent. But that doesn’t matter, as most of you will die.” She finished.

She scanned there faces for fear, but the look their faces shown that idiotic invincibility belief. She also scanned the crowd for some real warriors that might be among them. There were a few, Bosmer archer (no surpise), a Redguard who looked like a mage (that was surpising) and a few others.

She then continued “The code of dress has changed around here, no longer do you have to were heavy or light raiment’s to compete in the matches, but rather this arm band to signify whether you are on the blue team or the yellow team. My blade master I believe has already assigned you your armbands correct?” The pit dogs nodded.

“This means you can wear what ever armor you like out there, or even no armor at all. Hell we had a warrior go out in her underwear to fight, she actually made it to bloodletter before and arrow nailed her in the heart. You can do almost anything you want out their, except for one thing, loot the corpses. If you are caught looting the corpses you will be punished. If you can’t afford armor we still have heavy and light raiment’s if you wish use them.

Punishments vary, but my favorite is forcing you to survive 2 and ½ minutes in the arena with me, no ones ever succeeded. The rules are as follows. No looting corpses, do not fire arrows or spells into the crowd, if you do we will hand you over to the guards where you will arrested thrown and jail, and once you are free you shall discover you have been banned from the arena. You may not leave the arena until your opponent is dead. If you’re a vampire you may not feed on fellow arena members,” said Elanoil

“Don’t think I can’t tell if one of you are or become a vampire, I was a vampire before I found a cure so I can tell the difference even on a well fed one. This is not a ban on vampires but rather a ban on feeding off of fellow arena fighters or servants. No stealing from arena combatants, no fighting with them except in the arena. Finally if you have a bounty out, you will not be allowed to fight unless you serve your time or pay it off.” She finished.

“Any questions”? She asked. “Do we have to remain here and fight everyday” An imperial asked. To which she answered “No, you may come, compete and leave and return when you feel like it. The beauty of this place is that there are always people willing to throw their lives away for some arena fame. If there is nothing else” she waited “then I hereby clear you all for combat, sign your names on this parchment and you may go compete anytime you wish between 9 A.M and 9 P.M.”

One such pit dog was a young female Khajiit named Umthar. She was raised in bruma, which is an odd place for a Khajiit to be raised, she was found by Nords as a baby next to her dead parents, they gave a Nordic name and raised her as their own. She has a personal hatred for bandits since then due to the fact they murdered her parents.

She had come to the Arena to make some cash, and gain some fame, as well as kill the many bandits who joined the arena looking for a real challenge. She signed her name on the parchment, and was ready for action. All she had to do was go to the Blademaster and say she was ready for a match. She would finally get a chance to show of her skills and kill a few people.

The battle Matron was worried about her, she had a bloodlust, but wondered if she would make it through the first round, because she knew that bloodlust often leads to ones own blood leaking down on the floor of the blood works. She would find out in just a few minutes.

Umthar approached Owyn, “I’m ready for a match”. Owyn scanned her, Mithril Armor covering everything except the head, no shield, silver bow with arrows, and an elven longsword to boot. “Put on your damn arm band, hurry up get up there and don’t die right away, the people like a good show!” Cursing herself for having forgotten it she ran out toward the arena entrance.

The sound of the crowd became loud as a voice filled the arena. “Welcome to the Arena! Your about to watch to pit dogs have their first match ever. Who will win the Khajiit from the blue team, or the Altimer from the yellow team? Watch and find out, lower the gates!” The voice echoed.

Umthar pulled out her bow and aimed at the charging Altimer, she released a single arrow, which made contact with the shoulder but the Altimer did not stop. Umthar ran out at him as well, as the two got close Umthar leapt into the air landing behind him and then swung her blade into the back of the Altimer’s skull, he fell down in a pool of blood and brain matter.

The voice ran out again “Congratulations blue team pit dog you are victorious” Like she didn’t know she thought to herself “Go now, rest you have earned it.” The voice finished. She exited the arena and met up with the blade master. “50 gold pieces pit dog, wonder if you live to see your next 50”. She left to rest; she would be back and soon. The battle matron was pleased to see that she was still alive, but she wondered how long she would last.

Special disclaimer: An altimer got really messed up in the head during the making of this chapter.