Palladium, 6th Century

[shiivster]

Yumi remains perched on Aki's shoulders. the small creature watches with beady eyes all that goes on about her.

Aki meanwhile pays little mind to Yumi as her eyes observe the strange half beast creatures in the 'cargo hold'. she moves closer to the half beasts to study them carefully from about 5 feet away.

her own 'wild' nature is apparent as she circles the Coyles to look up at the Minotaur and its horns. Yumi at this point hisses once at the coyles and chirps at the bigger beast with a questioning tone. a finger rubs the mongoose under the chin as she shrugs and chirps back. she moves on to the strange trio of 'human like' females and blinks at them.

Yumi starts grooming herself dry and chitters from time to time as she shakes and resumes cleaning. Aki moves away now that her curious nature is settled. she looks now for fresh water to wipe her friend down.

'i no fight. not able to fight with those that are half beast. not fight them *points at the three females* i no have fight with them' *that said in her simple manner, she picks a hammock to put the soggy pack on and settles onto it

[albatross]

The demon black ship takes two days to reach the Green Isle of the Giants.

At the docks, as the gladiators disembark, a lively port with elevel other tall ships can be seen, as well as numerous smaller ships and dozens of boats such as fishing craft. Seabirds wheel in the morning light, darting among the fishing boats looking for discards.

The island itself is steep, and covered in jungle. The demons escort the gladiators up a switchback road past a fishing village and port town. As they walk Aki can hear numerous tropical birds and sees evidence of a few other types of wildlife, mostly small animals but it appears some giant insects are about. About a mile of zig zags up the hill there is a large depression in the rock, a natural ampitheatre on three sides with large steps or seats carved out of the stone. The side facing the gladiators is a giant-made structure which completes the arena.

A wall mural adorns the building, larger than life size. A human scaled warrior battles a giant, and there is something familiar about the human - the way that he holds his spear and his face looks similiar to the thief. There are crude words written below the poster, hard to read even if they knew the langauge.

A shout goes up from inside the arena, the shout of giants carries far... the roar of the crowd of what be thousands of giants echoes accross the island.

A dozen giants, some of them wearing armor, others wearing light robes in the tropical heat, receive the gladiators from the demons and escort them into a well fortified area on the lowest level of the arena. There are numerous cells, most of them with pillows, blankets, a few hammocks, but all of them have barred doors.

All of them are lead to benches, which look out through more metal bars out into the arena. Out in the arena, they can see a human sized warrior with his foot on the neck of a cyclops. The crowd is laughing and yelling as they gesture with thumbs down and the human raises his foot and stomps, breaking the giant's neck and killing him. He turns, and though his face looks different in this setting, he strongly resembles the thief.

He calmly walks over to the giants huge sword and picking it up, bashes the wooden handle to bits on some spikes the giant is wearing. Now just the thin metal is left on the handle, and the thief wraps his hands around the sword though it is slightly taller than he is.

[dakota]

Dryzh watches quietly, before finally speaking," Dryzh think all in trouble."

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Yar." Allen grinned, noting the familiar figure. "'Tis good fortune we be taken up with these scallywags." Clearing his throat, he says, "We're not in trouble. We just have a problem to figure out. Notably, how we can keep him from thinking this is some kind of game."

He looks out, wondering how he can challenge this thief, and if he knew what Allen was, yet.

[shiivster]

' . . . we all fight? . or just some fight? . . . '

*her eyes watch the strange man, then her eyes turn to the giants that ring the arena. a simple sigh. 'not want fight them either . . . would make toe hurt. nothing else, just a toe. if it showing .... '

[albatross]

Watching through the bars, they can see all kinds of giants in the audience. Lots of Nimro, only a few Algor and Cyclops, some Gigantes, as well as numerous lesser giants like ogres and trolls. They are eating turkey legs as if they were dainty chicken wings and drinking huge flagons of beer or straight out of wine bottles holding more than a gallon. Through the bars the gladiators see some doors open on the far side of the arena. Four human women enter the arena, so lightly armored as to appear scantily dressed. One carries an axe, another a spear, one has a two handed sword and the last carries a wicked looking spiked club. The thief rests the giant's falchion across his shoulders and strikes up a casual conversation with the women as they approach.

[shiivster]

'oh look ... him is ... starting mating ritual .. ?'

Aki simply points out the man's actions. human's are sooooooooo confusing to her ....

*Yumi is snooping about the cell. at least this one will be free of nasty surprises like rodents and other insects that would cause skin irritations

[sasqaricious]

"No Yumi I am not neccessarily sure he is trying a mating ritual. He might be distracting her or trying to do some other things, heck I could be wrong and he might be talking her up in a means to begin copulation." She then turns to her master. "Master Tesla if you need me to do all the fighting I do not mind, as painful as it is I doubt anyone here would be capable of killing me in any shape or form. If that is what you wish. That and it would keep the rest of you safe and uninjured. You could even order me to do it and then I will be extra savage or whatever you need me to be."

She then stops, having not recieved any directions decides there is one other option. "Otherwise we could try to see if we could get the thief to come over here and free us, if he is enchanted by pretty girls, I might be able to help, but truth be known I would rather try to fight!"

[Renekin Skywalker]

And, out come his body guards... Allen thought to himself. Looking for the nearest cell of gladiators, he says, "So, what are the odds on that guy anyways. And what's with the women?"

"Aki. How sneaky is Yumi. Could she find the ship he rode to get here?"

[albatross]

The gladiator nearest Allen grunts, but the coyle confers with another gladiator nearby. "No one has beaten Fakir, but he isn't exactly a crowd favorite. The cyclops fight was ten to one in favor of Fakir, but this fight is twenty to one in favor of a draw. See he only plays with them, he'll only fight sometimes and the giants have a time of it figuring out when or why." Sure enough, Fakir, if that is his name, simply dodges the initial attacks and though it is tough to catch what he is saying his words and actions seem closer to mating ritual than combat. Even when the women coordinate their attacks, Fakir merely sweeps the big sword in a graceful parry and leans in to kiss one of them. The giant crowd turns ugly, chucking giant, full mugs of beer and wine bottles at the thief and screaming obsenities. The thief responds with exhagurrated shrug of the shoulders and holding his hand above his eyes as if scanning the arena for his real opponent even when while the women nervously become more desperate in their efforts to kill him.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Allen watches, looking over at Sapphire, then back to the Coles.

"And so people just line up like that to be the ones to beat him?" He asks.

[albatross]

The coyle laughs, "Well, we don't get to pick our fights now do we? But I heard he and that cyclops had a strong disagreement the other day. If not in the ring, I think they would have broken out of their cells and killed each other anyway. Looks like Fakir didn't pick these girls though. Sometimes the giants just like to mess with you - especially if you are always refusing to fight."

[shiivster]

'can ask Yumi. can ask for finding of .... door openers .. i ask her, is up to her if she go looking'

*that said, she squats and stares at the creature, forgetting everything else about her. nose to nose and staring at each other, the mongoose chirps angrily then after a bit seems to question a few things. then it settles back on all four feet and rolls about on the floor.

*looking up she asks 'you would hunt the killers of Yumi if she killed? she worries who look after me if she die. i not wanting to send her, she knows this, but will try. need to know what .. place holds him ... she need smell to find his start place'

*that said she waits and looks about. the mongoose has climbed onto her shoulder again and is nuzzling the ear and cheek. Aki chirps at the feral creature and it relaxes its nervousness and now looks about waiting for direction.

[kurff]

"rough looking crowd..might be able to recruit some help if we need it. We should be careful not be weak or strong in front of them." Tesla states simply. He looked about to see what weapons were strewn about and their condition.

[albatross]

The giants are booing loudly now, and more gates open up, releasing seven tigers into the arena. Akit can tell by the way the animals move in, ignoring each other's territory, that these are trained tigers. And from the looks of it, tigers trained to kill.

The big animals jog in towards the gladiators, shifting a little but not exactly running all out just yet.