Training Phase I
While the taskmaster doctore certainly shows his shortcomings in the first few days of training the gladiators, he still provides some level of guidance alongside the training equipment provided by the household.
Severina noted an acceptable level of change in
Asterix, the Farmer.
Technique (Axe): 3 > 6
Agility: 2 > 4
Theatrics: 3 > 9
She also saw some improvement in
Pardus Magna, the Miner.
Technique (Short Sword): 3 > 6 Resilience: 3 > 9
Agility: 4 > 7
Theatrics: 3 > 7
Strength: 4 >7
The planned exhibition day was soon upon the Magnii. A small group left for the city with
Pardus Magna, the Miner in tow. They arrived at the forum arena without issue.
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The Games I
Severina met with Martius Lovernius, the owner of the shop that the arena was built behind while Tycho and Tertius took care of getting Pardus Magna set for his match. They were going to be the opening fight - nothing too lethal or exciting, but just enough to get a crowd interested, to get the blood pumping. While not everybody basked in the sight of death, a true Roman couldn't help but watch two people beat the piss out of one another for sport.
After Martinus and Severina discussed the terms of the fight once more, she made her way into the wooden stands where a crowd had gathered - a fairly large crowd for the first fight of the day. Tycho and Tertius were glaring across the fighting grounds at the stands opposite them.
Pyrinikos of Abdera and
Publius Flavius Lepidus, two unremarkable, overrated, underqualified members of the Flavii House, were sat staring right back. A few moments afterward they were joined by
Titia Aelia Pecuniosia, the woman in charge of most of the family's business dealings from behind the scenes.
Before Severina could figure out why they'd be here as well, the question was answered.
"Good morning, everybody!" Martius Lovernius entered the packed dirt arena ringed by a wooden fence, both arms raised and an excited look on his face, "In celebration of Agonalia today, I have booked a vast number of fights for your entertainment, perhaps as you shop! While a majority of today's stock will come from the stables of
Decimus Mallius Gavros," he gestured towards the Magnii.
Severina looked back and noticed the man sitting on a bench raised right behind them for the first time. After a brief wave to the still-growing crowd, he leaned forward and spoke into Severina's ear.
"I saw who's going to be fighting. I hope you don't waste my investment," Gavros hissed. Severina's head snaps around but he's already seated back, hands up in surrender, "I jest! I jest! You've already put more into keeping the thing alive than I did buying it."
Severina missed the introduction of the other source of the day's gladiators, but Tycho and Tertius caught it. The man was sitting behind the Flavii and had the attention of Titia was
Manius Marcius Caelus, a shrewd businessman and rival to the man speaking to Severina.
All their attention was back on the fighting ring. Martius spoke, "Today I have the distinct honor of introducing two new ludii, and it just so happens to be a pair with a relationship we all know
very well. I imagine it's why many of you are here this early!"
A portion of the crowd cheered. The Magnus-Flavius feud was going to be a spectacle from this moment forward.
"Today's first fight will be as nonlethal as we can make it. Victory will go to whomever floors their opponent first, or to first blood. Well, if it's
significant, anyway!"
The growing number of spectators got a little more riled up.
"Presenting Pardus Magna, brought to us today by the Magnii!" Martius Lovernius announced with a flourish, followed by a less-than-enthusiastic
Pardus Magna being shoved into the arena, wooden gladius in hand and cloth wrapping around his waist.
"Presenting Ferreus Secundius Alternis, offered to us as today's entertainment by the Flavii!" Martius flourished yet again, and from the opposite side of the arena came the Flavii's gladiator. He was dressed and equipped exactly as Pardus Magna, but was a little thinner and shorter.
The crowd seemed to be a dead-even split between who they favored, largely based on their proximity to the family in question.
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Pardus Magna squared off with his opponent as a few people in the crowd began to cheer the both of them on. His opponent was quicker on his feet and stepped in with a downward strike, but Pardus parried, sidestepped, and hit Ferreus across the belly as they passed one another. Pardus and Ferreus turned to face one another again, with Pardus launching a strike this time, stabbing for Ferreus' midsection. Ferreus deflected the blow to his right, but barely. Pardus swiped his gladius across Ferreus' midsection again. The gladii clashed and both gladiators pressed into one another.
"This is going to fucking hurt," Ferreus said in perfect Roman.
"Indeed," Pardus responded.
Ferreus launched a knee at Pardus' side and landed a hit, though Pardus seemed completely unphased. Ferreus attempted to follow up with a headbutt, but Pardus used his free hand to block the attack and grasp Ferreus' face. Pardus managed to twist his gladius inside of Ferreus' guard and thrust it forward, grazing his ear as Pardus released his face and slammed his elbow into the opposite side of Ferreus' skull. Pardus sent his dazed opponent backward a few steps with a solid kick to the chest.
As Ferreus tries to recover from the brutal assault he just received, Pardus attempted to gain the crowd's favor. As he raised his arms and got absorbed by the increasingly cheering crowd, he failed to notice Ferreus had stood back up and was charging him. Pardus had spun himself around
just in time to see Ferreus coming at him and ducked a wild swing at his head, responding by slapping his gladius across Ferreus' back as he passed by yet again. The impact cracked loud enough for the crowd to let out a single "oof" in unison.
Ferreus fell to the ground writhing in pain and grasping at his back where a massive bruise was already forming. Before Pardus could jump back on his opponent, a trio of spearmen placed themselves between them both before they shackled both gladiators and dragged Ferreus from the arena.
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"And with that, a victor!" Martius Lovernius announced as he entered the arena, "Glory today goes to the Magnii!"
Ferreus seemed impartial to the attention and cheering. Now that the fight was done he didn't really care too much. Severina took note of this. While more time in the arena usually improved a gladiator's draw to the fame and glory, she also wondered if there were ways to speed up the process of acclimatizing a gladiator to the life.
Severina spoke with Martius as the second fight of the day was prepared.
"Your guy was rough out there," he said, "And the crowd loved it. Here's the coin as we negotiated, plus a little bonus for the unannounced surprise opponent. The opportunity was too good to pass up, I hope you understand."
Severina scowled even though she knew she'd have done the same thing, and the coinpurse Martius handed over had more than enough heft to it to lighten her mood, "Yeah, I think I do."
"Well, I'd like to work together some more. And hey, if a business partnership blooms, perhaps I can introduce you to some of my fellow merchants and tradesmen for more, ah,
specialized needs."
[+2 Fortune Tokens, +1 Favor Token]GM Note: While I won't always break down exactly why you got tokens and what benefits you get from things, just so you know that things are actually meaningful I'll be doing so for a couple turns. One fortune token resulted from victory in this fight, while the other came from Severina's perk. The favor token comes from your choice to attend an exhibition, which has Martus feeling obligated to assist you (though this is just fluff, and the token can be used mechanically for anything - it's my responsibility to make sure it fits into the narrative, not you). As you form relationships with people you'll also be told pretty plainly what continued work on said relationship could provide you. Martus could provide connections for goods and equipment, for example. Note that negative relationships can also provide benefits to you, because I took a leaf out of Alpha Protocol's book and it's a fantastic game if you can get past the clunkiness. But I digress.
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Planning Phase II
With a clear victory beneath the Magnii banner, it was obvious, to Severina at least, that they were destined to reach great heights. After all, they'd just won a victory in combat after accidentally desecrating a temple to Mars! Spitting in the face of a god, *their god*, couldn't keep them from success, so what chance did anything else have?
It was time to check out the fresh slave stock and book the next fight. Or fights.
Tullius Antonius Viator was at his usual spot in the forum. Rumors of raids launched from Northern Africa had eventually reached the city's ears, and it seemed as though Tullius' stock reflected that.
"Ah, yes! House Magnus returns! I take it this means you were pleased with your previous purchase?" he inquired as Severina stepped forward.
"It worked out well enough," she said simply, "What do you have on hand today?"
Tullius pointed at and briefly described each slave for sale.
Numidian Captain (Cost: 2 Tokens)Traits:
Numidian,
Raider,
RuthlessTechnique: 6 (Convertible)
Resilience: 6
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 5
Theatrics: 9
Strength: 9
Equipment:
RagsLibyan Quartermaster (Cost: 1 Token)Traits:
Libyan,
MerchantTechnique: 3 (Convertible)
Resilience: 8
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 6
Theatrics: 5
Strength: 6
Equipment:
RagsGallic Hunter (Cost: 1 Token)Traits:
Gaul,
HunterTechnique: 4 (Convertible)
Resilience: 4
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 5
Theatrics:5
Strength: 6
Equipment:
RagsRoman Beggar (Cost: 1 Token)Traits:
Roman,
HomelessTechnique: 6 (Convertible)
Resilience: 6
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 2
Theatrics: 7
Strength: 3
Equipment:
Rags----------------
While Severina dealt with Tullius, Tycho and Tertius went to book the fights.
Back Alley PitFight 1:
Unbooked vs
UnbookedGambling Den (Costs Tokens to Participate)Fight 2:
Booked vs
Unbooked Reward:
3x Token RefundFight 3:
Booked vs
Unbooked Reward:
2x Token RefundForum ArenaFight 4:
Unbooked vs
Unbooked Match Type: StandardGM Note: Any unbooked positions not filled by one of the teams will be assigned an NPC. You can generally consider prebooked fights as grinding levels before checking if the other team has the balls to face you in an Unbooked fight. Whether or not your opponent is an NPC gladiator will not affect rewards. In order to prevent an issue that occurred last game, I have decided to pair Prebooked fights, so that if both teams try to book the same match the unlucky team still gets a fight, even if it doesn't pay out as much. Rewards are also multiplied by the amount of gladiators you assign to a specific match. You could, for example, assign two gladiators to the Back Alley Pit if you wanted to double your reward while making sure one of your gladiators had to kill another for some reason (and there could be a good reason for that, who knows?) However, if you try to double-book a fight and the other team tried to book it as well, their gladiator will override your second pick.
IT IS NOW THE PLANNING PHASE.As this is your first true Planning Phase (even though I titled it the second, to keep it consistent with turn number), I'll reiterate that your only decisions this phase are which Gladiators, if any, you'll purchase, and which fights, if any, you'll enter into. All other token expenditure occurs next phase.
Severina Caecilia Sabina, Shrewd Businesswoman, Head of Operations
Tycho Flavius Vulpus, Ex-Flavii
Tertius Avitus Cato, Hired Help
Titia Aelia Pecuniosia, Profitable Businesswoman, Head of Operations
Pyrinikos of Abdera, Foreigner
Publius Flavius Lepidus, Hedonist
Valley Estate: A sprawling estate in a beautiful valley. Has some means of self-sufficiency. [+1 Fate Token/Turn, 3 Food]
Desecrated Temple: The dead now taint the grounds of this old building once dedicated to Mars thanks to the actions of your kin. Restoring it in some fashion could see benefits for the family. [+1 Fate Token/Turn]
Basic Refurbished Ludus: Each Gladiator gets +1d6 for training in addition to the distributed pool of 4d6. Negative morale from poor conditions reduced, difficulty of escape is increased.
--Palus+Dummy Training: Sturdy wooden posts and manipulable combat dummies provide each Gladiator with weapons training, giving them each a 1d6 for Technique Training rolls with offensive and defensive melee equipment.
Amateur Taskmaster: While unfamiliar with combat, the Taskmaster can excel at pushing people past their breaking point. Currently provides a single reroll of a 1 on each Gladiator.]
Name: Asterix
Traits: Gaul, Farmer
Technique: 6 (Axe)
Resilience: 6
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 2
Theatrics: 9
Strength: 6
Equipment: Rags
Name: Pardus Magna
Traits: Roman, Miner
Technique: 6 (Short Sword)
Resilience: 9
Agility: 7
Intelligence: 3
Theatrics: 7
Strength: 7
Equipment: Rags
Decimus Mallius Gavros, Lanister: Neutral
Manius Marcius Caelus, Lanister: Stranger
Martius Lovernius, Merchant/Forum Games Manager: Acquaintance
Tullius Antonius Viator, Slave Trader: Neutral
Magnii Training: Gladiators rolling for training get +1 to Resilience and -1 to Intelligence
Shrewd Businesswoman: Severina is capable of negotiating for better payouts in the arena, resulting in an extra Fortune Token for every victory.
Gaul: +1 Technique (Axe)
Roman: +1 Technique (Short Sword)
Farmer: +1 Resilience
Miner: +1 Strength
Food: 2/3 (Used/Total)
Fortune Tokens: 3 (+1/Turn)
Favor Tokens: 1
Fame Tokens: 0
Fate Tokens: 2 (+2/Turn)
Author
Topic: Blood and Sand - House Magnus (Planning II) (Read 3919 times)