You decide to give your winnings to your Goddess. After all, her teachings allowed you to unlock your potential, and one would be well-advised to honor the Goddess of Revenge when attempting to get it. You get to your feet and proceed out the door, already used to the sudden appearance of the slave-character appearing on you, glowing malevolently. You don't have access to much of the city, or even to go near the edges, but the Temple Canton was free to all (mostly, at least.) After purchasing the appropriate novice garments and a crude True Sigil, you proceed to attend a class, and afterwards, deposit the entirety of your coin in the ancient burlwood bowl at the foot of the altar-tree.
After dinner, you wait for the slave-mark to grow hot, but it remains cold, and you decide to remain overnight. As you proceed to the room, a young-looking Sun Elf in full robes beckons to you. Intrigued, you follow them into the alcove, and are greeted with Cultspeak.
"We have come to possess knowledge that one of your next battles will put you against an enemy of our Faith. It is asked that you facilitate his path of self-destruction. Painfully. There is much honor in victory."
The Elf leaves before you can speak, and you flick your tail around, annoyed and also somewhat flattered. The next morning, you are aware of a new ability within you - drawing strength from pain - quite accidentally when nearly tripping over a loose rock on the street and kicking it in retaliation. Instead of moving a few feet like expected, the rock cracks from the impact and shatters as it rolls down the street. Over the following four days, you continue to attend services at the temple, embracing your duties as a novice with enthusiasm making up for your clumsiness and slight unwillingness to obey the rules to the letter; by the time your slave-character burns, you feel as though you are very close to earning the right to exchange your novice "robe" for that of the lowest laymonk. (Read this as: you are about to level in Monk.)
You return to the barracks to meet the Slavemaster, a surly scarred Celestialborn (you aren't aware of Angel or Demon, unfortunately). With a grunt, he pushes the battle papers at you, scratches his arm, and says "Name." One of the papers with enemies keeps jumping to your eye - naturally, it's the most dangerous one of the individual fights.
***
Fight #2:
a) Dryad Gladiator 4 / Healer 1
b) Redcap Berserker 2 / Blood Mage 1 / Gladiator 1
c) Dwarf Fighter 1/Warrior 1/Hammerer 1/Gladiator 1
d) Manticore (Predator 5)
e) Fire Giant Brawler 2/Fire Elemental 2
f) Wood Elf Duelist 3/Ranger 1/Earth Elemental 1/Gladiator 1
g) 8 Boarcuswine (Paragon 1/Soldier 1/Warrior 1)
Also, pick your name.
Actions Update:
Debuffs:
Retaliation 1: 5 MP, adds an additional .5 HP of Unblockable damage for every 1 HP damage in the fight. The pool resets to 0 upon use.