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[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]Agamen's throat bobbed. His furrowed brows twitched as the claw sank deeper. The snarling beast before him gave a mockery of a grin.[/color]

[color=#9e1e1e]“Yeah, you know. You know.”[/color]

[color=808080]Blood withdrew his claw and flicked the blood off in disgust. He jumped off the bar, a thick dust cloud rising around his hands, before prowling back across the hall. Agamen bowed his head over his plate of slop, his vision blurring. The feeling that had started churning his stomach since first setting eyes on this accursed was overwhelming. His shoulders and hands shook.

And from his lips… a dry, humorless chuckle.

Agamen’s hand shot out at lightning speed, his fist clenching around and ripping the fruit from Marcellus’s mouth. Before Marcellus made a sound, he was on his feet, and the projectile was hurtling into the back of Blood’s head. The few precious mouthfuls left exploded into pulp and a spray of red mist. Agamen followed his aim, his knee crashing into the accursed’s snout.

Fist and fur collided. Agamen on top, punching down, mechanical. Once. Twice. Thrice. Cutting his knuckles up on teeth, unflinching. At first the accursed was surprised, as was the rest of the mess hall, gawking and hissing. Then he barked,[/color] [color=#9e1e1e]“HA!”[/color][color=808080], and caught the fifth punch in his jaw. His fangs crunched down on bone and Agamen’s stoicism broke, his nose scrunching like the pain was a bad smell.[/color]

[color=#424d8c]“You should be dead,”[/color] [color=808080]Agamen seethed. Blood spat out his hand.[/color]

[color=#9e1e1e]“From that? You’re seriously underestimating what it’ll take. Give it another go.”[/color]

[color=808080]His head jerked back and forth as Agamen rained two more punches down, left and right. He then pulled the accursed up by his rags, biceps flexing with remarkable strength for a human.[/color]

[color=#424d8c]“It’s been two years since you did it,”[/color] [color=808080]he continued, eyes flickering with blue fire.[/color] [color=#424d8c]“Yet you’re still here, living it up among rogues and gorging yourself, like all those souls aren’t screaming for justice.”[/color] [color=808080]He slammed Blood’s head back on the ground,[/color] [color=#424d8c]“Why haven’t they executed you?!”[/color]

[color=808080]Blood’s eyes flared. Adrenaline shot down his arms, into his elongating claws that ripped into the stone floor beneath them.[/color] [color=#9e1e1e]“So you ARE a fan,”[/color] [color=808080]he chuckled through bloodied teeth, his tone darkening,[/color] [color=#9e1e1e]“Never saw your mug in the arena. You must have had a ticket!”[/color] [color=808080]He swung. Agamen lurched back and caught his wrist, arm shaking with the effort to keep those claws away. Blood’s growl was approving.[/color] [color=#9e1e1e]“I’ve earned my life here. Go ask your Emperor.”[/color]

[color=808080]No, the Emperor had condemned this murderer. 

Two years ago, an accursed gladiator from Gaureus Gloriam had turned his talents onto the cheering crowd. Indiscriminately. It had been a bloodbath. The numbers of those crushed under the stampede of fleeing citizens were higher than those slaughtered, but the remains of the murdered were near impossible to distinguish. A higher hand had ordered he not be killed on the spot, for what reason, Agamen did not understand.

For two years, the feral beast had been allowed to throw his weight around and bribe small luxuries from the guards.

It didn’t make sense. And right now, for Agamen, he had no reason to understand it. Not because his betters had commanded him to look past it, but because they were [i]not[/i] here to sway his hand.[/color]

[color=#424d8c]“If the Empire won’t put you down, then I will, [b]child butcher.”[/b][/color]

[color=808080]The light faded from Blood’s eyes, and the cocky amusement left his lips.[/color] [color=#9e1e1e]“I’m gonna split you ribs to dick and watch you try to stuff your guts back in, shitface.”[/color]

“You tell him, fuzzy!” [color=808080]A suspiciously Marcellus sounding voice heckled from the crowd. Blood’s fur pricked up, well and truly turning him into a fuzzball, and Agamen was thrown off.[/color]

[color=#9e1e1e]“WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT?!”[/color]

[color=808080]Not for long, as Agamen threw himself right back on.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

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[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]While all that was happening, Iggi was being killed. His sputtering was growing quieter as Bane and Castor tried to talk Jaxon down, but merely talk, neither seeming willing to actually throw hands for him. At first his flapping was pitiful, perhaps comical, but it was becoming concerningly weak. He could distantly hear their reactions to an altercation happening across the hall. The blur that was Jaxon’s head turned to it.

Iggi’s crooked tail slithered up, and into Jaxon’s pocket.

Then it shot up and drove half a dozen quick little stabs into Jaxon’s hand around his neck with the shiv it had found there.

The serpent was dropped with a massive wheeze. Iggi raised a hand. [color=#f2ef85]“Jaxon, let’s be mature about this,”[/color] he rasped. Jaxon reasonably went to punch him. With a yelp, Iggi flung himself at Castor, wrapping her up and constricting her movement.[/color]

“What the-?!” [color=808080]She exclaimed. Iggi ducked, tugging her with him, as Jaxon’s fist followed and crunched against her nose instead. Blood flooded down her pale face.[/color] “OW! GAHH! IGGI, WHAT THE HELL?!”

[color=#f2ef85]“Sorry! Sorry! Just a moment!”[/color] [color=808080]Iggi repeatedly apologised, making no effort to get off as he continued tangling around her and using her as a meat shield. The second punch knocked her jaw out of place.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[hider=Needledrop][center][youtube]https://youtu.be/jkb5HzF_bUc[/youtube][/center][/hider]

[hider=NPCs mentioned][table][row][cell][justify][center][h3][sup][b][color=bf8c50]M A R C E L L U S[/color][/b][/sup][/h3][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/9fd65145d33e.jpg[/img][/center][hr][hider=Story][center][h3][sup][sub]human | 31 | warfare | charisma | lore[/sub][/sup][/h3][/center][color=808080]A charming mercenary with a soldier's upbringing that finds himself on death's row for a murder he uncharacteristically didn't do... or was it didn't get paid for? He's popular with the ladies and disarms most conflicts with a smile - but his eyes hold the dull, superficial glint of the coin his sword-arm swears fealty to.

[i]penned by CabbageAngel[/i][/color][/hider][/justify][/cell][cell]
[justify][center][h3][sup][b][color=bf8c50]B A N E[/color][/b][/sup][/h3][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/59c0878c2227.jpg[/img][/center][hr][hider=Story][center][h3][sup][sub]accursed | 26 | warfare | plunder | curse of twin moons[/sub][/sup][/h3][/center][color=808080]A foolhardy, braggadacious leonine Accursed, and leader of the Fanged Pride gang in the lowest level of Bloodsand Gaol. A former highwayman with an unparalleled skill in brawling and grappling.

[i]penned by ThePigOrcEmpire[/i][/color][/hider][/justify][/cell][/row]
[row][cell][justify][center][h3][sup][b][color=bf8c50]J A X O N[/color][/b][/sup][/h3][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/fb20dc7f25ed.jpg[/img][/center][hr][hider=Story][center][h3][sup][sub]human  | 41 | warfare | handicraft[/sub][/sup][/h3][/center][color=808080]Also known as Jaxon One-Eyed or Jaxon the Cyclops; both of which he utterly despises. A short-tempered, belligerent berserker from the Free Marches, Jaxon leads the Ironhand gang in the lowest level of Bloodsand Gaol.

[i]penned by ThePigOrcEmpire[/i][/color][/hider][/justify][/cell][cell]
[justify][center][h3][sup][b][color=bf8c50]C A S T O R[/color][/b][/sup][/h3][img]https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4ff66c31c1a7.jpg[/img][/center][hr][hider=Story][center][h3][sup][sub]accursed | 23 | miracles | skullduggery | plunder | curse of dragon (poison)[/sub][/sup][/h3][/center][color=808080]A cold, crypt-dwelling satyr ranger from the Empire's frontiers. Performs miracles of holy, undead-repelling magicks - but all for the personal gain of looting tombs. Has a small crow griffin companion named Mica that helps her seek out shinies.

[i]penned by CabbageAngel[/i][/color][/hider][/justify][/cell][/row][/table][/hider]

[hr][right][i][color=808080]collabs - none | pc interacts - Blood | [@ThePigOrcEmpire][/color][/i][/right]