003 : Destiny meets Hoskgak
The half-orc looked anxiously to the entrance of the Inn, then back at his drink, of which he would take a sip, then at his sword, then at the entrance, the drink, the sword. He had located himself at the furthest table of the inn, but with a view of the door. He stayed consistent: one sip at the beer, one touch on the sword next to him, one look at the door, repeat.
An awkward silence invaded the Inn along with a Tabaxi. People were unfamiliar with them. They were always first curious, and then later hateful, as Hoskgak had found out many times. As the creature stepped in, gazes followed. Weirdly looking at her tail, the Tabaxi meandered between the tables, seeming to follow an inner compass, and eventually found herself standing by Hoskgak's table.
"Hi, do you want to be my companion? Can I sit?" The Tabaxi said.
"I’m not your companion, I’m a fighter."
"No, I think you're my companion! I know it." The Tabaxi sat herself on the chair and smiled. At least Hoskgak thought it was a smile, this baring of many sharp teeth. He struggled to read expressions even on humans. This one was a mystery.
"Are you the Pit Boss? This chair is for the pit boss," he said finally, when he came to the conclusion she wasn't about to leap at him and try to tear his throat out.
She lifted a paw, put a finger on her cheek, then nodded. "Yes, that's right! I’m the pit boss! I have great adventures for you. Fame, glory."
"Fame? I don’t care... but people will know of Hoskgak."
As he said this, the door opened, and this time a large, heavy man dressed in work clothes entered the Inn. He quickly spotted Hoskgak and went straight to his table.
"Are you Hoskgak? I have a matter to discuss with you."
The half-orc stood up. "I am Hoskgak. Who are you?"
"I’m the Pit Boss. Who's this?" He pointed at the Tabaxi.
Hoskgak looked back and forth between the two. "I don't know. She said she was the pit boss."
"Scamper off," said the Pit Boss, "I have something to discuss with him."
"But I’m your companion... I will stay with you."
"Fuck off, I have a private matter to discuss with him," the Pit Boss spittled in her face.
The Tabaxi moved away from the table and, from the corner of his eye, Hoskgak saw she tried to listen to the conversation. The Pit Boss leaned forward.
"You have to lose the fight," he said quietly.
"I’m Hoskgak, Hoskgak wins."
"Then just leave town. That works too. I will give you twenty pieces of gold if you don’t show up today at the arena, instead of the five if you do and you win. There are big bets placed on you and, well, you know how this business is."
"Hoskgak fighter, Hoskgak fights, not run."
The Pit Boss sucked his teeth. "Look, friend, I won't repeat myself again. Either lose the fight or leave town."
"Hoskgak fight."
The Pit Boss dragged a palm across his face. "Suit yourself."
Hoskgak looked down at his body, and shook his head. "Already suited, wearing armour."
The Pit Boss shook his head, stood up, and left the Tavern.
Soon the Tabaxi sat in front of Hoskgak again.
"What was that, companion?"
"I’m not companion."
"What did he want?"
"Pit boss don’t want Hoskgak to fight. But Hoskgak fighter, Hoskgak fights."
The cat-like creature looked at him, as if she was trying to decide something. "I see you have a sword," she finally said.
Hoskgak took the sword and enumerated the countless marks on his blade, telling each of the fights and how it happened.
"When is your fight? Can I come?"
"You are free, you can go anywhere you want. Hoskgak is late, must go."
They left the inn, the Tabaxi following, asking questions, distracting him. Which is why he didn't spot the ambush until they were deep in the alleyway. Five strangers blocked the way. They moved around Hoskgak. Ignored the Tabaxi. Two behind. Two in front. Another one furhter.
"You, you were told fuck off. You're still here. Time to pay."
"Hoskgak late, I must go to Arena."
"You don’t get it mate, you're not going to make it to that fight." As he said this, the man behind Hoskgak grappled him and held him. Two came towards him. Two hard punches. The leader cursed at his companions: "Not punches, idiots, we need to kill him!" He pulled out a dagger and tried to stab.
It was time to act. This was Hoskgak's favourite way to deal with problems. If it had to be a fight, so be it.
Hoskgak released the blade at his back and pulled it out, angling the edge to slice through the man who was holding him. The brigand fell to the floor dead. The others tried to stab him again, and one made a nasty cut on Hoskgak's arm, but the half-orc repaid him with another upward slice that left him holding his entrails.
The Tabaxi had vanished when the fight had begun, but it seemed she hadn't gone too far. Hoskgak saw a dark cloud seem to travel into and hover around one of the fighters. It was soon followed by a bolt from a crossbow, which wizzed past the man's head. Then a second bolt struck the man in the chest and he collapsed, black tendrils spreading from the wound. Whatever the Tabaxi was doing, it seemed to be effective.
With only two villains left to dispatch, one of them lost his courage and tried to step back, but Hoskgak was ready and plunged his sword in the man's heart as he retreated. He was worried about the last man, the ring leader, but as he turned to face him, a bolt of energy shot across the alleyway and slammed into the last ruffian. He withstood the blow at first, just about, but soon the black tendrils did their work again, his eyes rolled inside his head and he fell to the ground, dead.
The noise of the fight got the attention of some guards and strangely the Pit boss was next to the guards. Taking positions at both sides of the alleyway, the Tabaxi and the Half-orc got arrested and confined in a cell awaiting the trial for murder the following day.
The tabaxi wasn’t completely happy about waiting there with four more humans, and had better plans, trying unsuccessfully to trick the guard to get his keys. The tabaxi managed to make the four humans fight among themselves drawing the attention of the guard. With a spell the Tabaxi managed to sleep the guard and retrieve the keys with a mysterious floating hand. The Tabaxi then opened the door, looked at the half-orc and said: "Cmon, you have a fight to fight, quickly, move." Hoskgak started to appreciate that cat, it seems that cat wanted him to fight, and he was definitely committed to carry on with the fight.
They both made it to the Pit. It was an awful place full of smelly people and disgusting roaring noises. The Tabaxi found out her new companion will be the closing fight and final fifth encounter. They just arrived when the second fight was over. She convinced Hoskgak to move and hide with the people without drawing too much attention. Quite convinced of her new companion skills, she then went to where other people were handling money, and started to pay attention to the transactions.
"Hey you, I want 10 pieces of gold for Hoskgak." The guy looked at that newbie, with shiny armour and unused gear, with a smirk took the money and said: "You are really wise, the bets are 4 to 1 for Hoskgak, I heard he is a great fighter." The guy then took the money an placed in a drawer like it was his money.
That place was exciting for the Tabaxi, it smells like trash, but people were shouting and… During the fourth fight two women were fighting with great skill, but one killed to the other. That’s new, how come people are happy about this. They are killing each other, what is going on.
A familiar face took the stage, it was the pit boss, and he introduced the next fight. A big armoured guy jumped in and started looking at the crowd. As he was starting to announce Hoskgak has decided to do not fight, the half-orc jumped from within the crowd screaming his name. The face of the pit boss was recomposed quickly, but he wasn’t expecting that twist of events.
Without many words, the pit boss said: "Fight!", as soon as Hoskgak put his feet on the arena he pointed at his opponent and laughing said: "You are so ugly that you have to cover your face!" The fighters started delivering and dodging the blows like a synchronised dance. Hoskgak wanted to end that quickly and gather all his strength for a brutal swing from top to bottom, but it landed on the arena ground leaving the sword stuck in the floor. The other fighter took the chance to deliver a blow at him. The half-orc left the sword stuck and grabbed his two handaxes, landing a couple of brutal attacks and ending with a huge roar that frightened his opponent. The fighter was quite confused, and tried to swing one more time, but the half-orc dodged the strike and delivered a successive strike, one to the chest, another one to the head, making his opponent fell flat to the floor. Hoskgak put his feet on his opponent chest and rising his both hands handling the handaxes roared to his beloved crowd.
The Tabaxi approached the guy dealing with the bets and with great surprise for the manager, she got her money back with the profits. The pit boss approached Hoskgak and gave him 5 gold pieces. "Don’t show up in this town ever, if you do you are dead!"
The tabaxi noticed the half-orc was not getting the message, but she was missing another companion, so she convinced Hoskgak to start moving and crash for the night somewhere. They both walked a bit and found a tavern to hide. As they approached the bar a shot was on the table, noone near it. The curious tabaxi took a sip and fire run though her throat, Hoskgak laughing pat her back and took the full shot in one go. The cat was quite interested on that liquid so she ordered a few more rounds. Strangely her mood was getting quite good, she was happy, things were spinning but everything was...it was great! In fact it went so great that she landed in the floor and the half-orc grab her and put her to sleep on a bed. Not having another bed in the room, Hoskgak then put his back against the wall and slept there, next to the door, looking at the strange cat that has saved the day.
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