Chapter One-Hundred Sixty-One

Rhonda is the first out of the slime, probably because she’s the least injured of the three.  It’s hard to tell exactly how hurt Rezlar is, but I’d bet Freddie will be out last, thanks to that broken arm.  Rocky helps the goblin out of the slime and back into the ring, where he lifts her hand (and the rest of her, too) to the roar of the crowd!  Rhonda looks pretty confused about that.

“But… we lost?”

Rocky grunts in laughter at that and Lucas chitters, confusing the goblin even more, until she takes a few seconds to think.

“...winning wasn’t the point, was it?”

My boxer grins around his mouth guard at her and nods, and she takes a bit more time to think about the fight.  It’s the hardest pressed I’ve seen them be so far, and it’s not like they’ve had much chance to delve anywhere else.  Her eyes widen as she seems to recall the end of the fight, and she looks at Rocky with awe.

“What was that… what did you *do* with that attack on Freddie?!  It felt like…” she trails off, apparently unable to put words to what it actually felt like.  Rocky mimes scribbling something, and Rhonda’s eyes widen once more before she pulls her notebook from her belt and starts furiously scribbling.  Rocky hops out of the ring and digs around underneath it for a few minutes before pulling out a chest, which he places in the center of the ring, before helping Rezlar out of his slime.

The elf actually yelps and jumps back when he realizes who’s helping him to his feet, earning another laugh out of Rocky before he motions for Rezlar to follow him to the ring.  Nervously, Rezlar does as bid, and Rocky raises his arm as well.  The cheer is a little quieter this time, for the simple reason that a lot of people have made their way out of the colosseum to head back to the enclaves.

Rezlar looks just as confused as Rhonda did, but she gives him a quick answer, even as she continues scribbling.

“Winning isn’t the point.  The point is to learn.”

Rezlar doesn’t look like that’s cleared up much.  He looks to Rocky, who nods, and Rezlar can only sigh and accept he doesn’t get it.  He takes a seat on the chest, the fight replaying in his mind, and eventually he speaks up.

“Did you dodge my one attack because it could have actually done anything?” he asks Rocky, sounding like he already knows the answer.  Apparently he didn’t, as Rocky puts his dukes up, pretends to get hit, and lets an arm hang limp for a few moments.

“Really?  You think it could have done that much?”  Rocky nods, and then I guess it’s his turn for questions.  He points at Rezlar’s feet, before doing a bit of his own footwork.  The elf just stares for a few seconds before understanding dawns.

“The Dance of the Tides?  Footwork is an important part of fencing, so I tend to change stances a lot.  The Dance of the Tides is probably my strongest one, it feels like I just let the flow of a fight guide my feet, forward and back with its own rhythm, like waves on a beach.”

Rocky grins at that and encourages Rezlar to stand, clearly wanting a better look.  The elf sighs and stands, then pauses as he gets an idea.  He looks a bit nervous, but manages to force himself to talk.  “Can you show me some of your footwork, too?  You don’t move like any zombie I’ve ever seen, nor any other fighter, for that matter.”

Rocky grins and the two act like they’re on an invisible DDR machine for a few minutes, before Rocky goes and helps Freddie out of the slime.  The orc smiles at him, though it falters as he spots his broken shield on the ground, crumpled beyond repair.  He soon spots Rezlar and Rhonda in the ring, and raises and eyebrow.

“Did… we win?”

Rezlar looks away as Rhonda laughs.  “Not even close!  I’m pretty sure he could have done that crazy punch a bunch more times, and even *that*, I think, was him holding back!”

Rocky bashfully nods at that, earning him a chuckle from Freddie, before my zombie scion brings him into the ring and raises his hand like he did the others.  He gets a cheer as well from the people who had stayed, before they start to make their way out as well, the show well and truly over now.

The orc sees his two friends in thought, Rezlar moving his feet and Rhonda tapping her chin as she looks at her book, and he soon follows suit as he mentally goes over the fight.  It seems like something sticks out to him, because he speaks up.  “Rocky?  When I did the shield punch to try to get some room, you rocked backwards a little, instead of just absorbing it?”

Rocky nods and holds up a hand and punches it, keeping the punched hand steady.  He then shakes his head at that and repeats the motion, but this time more catching the punching hand than simply stopping it in its tracks before nodding.

Freddie thinks on that for a few minutes before he spots the chest and gives Rocky a curious look.  My boxer nods and points at it, and takes a step back to let the kids enjoy their loot.  Or talk about it, as they seem to prefer to do.

“Is it really ok for us to open it?  We lost,” points out Rezlar.  Freddie just nods.

“It should be fine.  The chest wasn’t there in the fight, so it must be a reward for us, even if we lost.”

Rhonda’s eyes gleam as she looks at the chest.  “Learning *and* loot!  I hope all dungeons are like this,” she says as she steps forward, the other two right behind her.

“They aren’t,” Rezlar informs her, but he doesn’t seem too reluctant to help open the lid anymore.  All three lift the lid together, and they collectively gasp at what they find.  I’m pretty surprised at what’s in there, too.  That’s definitely not ordinary loot.

Rhonda is the first to get her prize, which at first looks like a folded bolt of blue and red silk.  As she pulls it out of the box, though, it’s pretty obviously a robe, and not just any robe.

“Robe of the Sage…” she murmurs in awe.  It reminds me a lot of a graduation robe, but without the hat.  It even has the hanging scarf thing, embroidered with arcane runes.  No way my aranea made that.  I don’t even know if my spiderkin could have made it… at least not on their own.  I *could* see Thing helping, though.  He’s had a lot more time for his own projects after the Axe.

The next item pulled out is by Freddie, and I know it didn’t originally come from me.  Well, the raw resources probably did, but that axe is way beyond what my ratlings can make.  I’d put money on it being made by Legs, and it’s quite the interesting design.  At a glance, it looks like a hatchet.  Any longer look shows it to be one made of mythril.  Paying a closer look shows it’s only *mostly* mythril, with the cutting edge made of orichalcum.

How the crap did Legs come up with a composite design like that?!  Has Violet been watching the ratkin at their forges?  Cappy might have spread that far?  I’m going to need to have Teemo talk with the sneaky little dungeon and let her know how proud I am of her progressing that quickly, and ensure she doesn’t go eavesdropping in people’s houses.  Privacy is important.

Back to Freddie, he’s carefully holding the hatchet like it’s made of glass.  While the weapon shape is pretty simple when compared to his more traditional single-head battle axe, it’s very high quality and of course made of special metals.  Freddie chuckles as he gets the name for it.  “Simple Hatchet?  Not hardly…”

Rezlar is the last to claim his treasure: a new rapier.  The leather of the sheath looks different, and so does the blade.  “Thresher’s Rapier…” slips from his lips, and I’m pretty sure he means the shark, not the farmer’s activity.  The metal of the sword feels weird, and it takes me a bit to realize that’s because it’s not metal.  I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of processed coral.  I believe normal coral is way too brittle to be an effective weapon, but seeing Rezlar do a few practice motions with it makes me certain it’ll serve him well for a long time.

Rhonda is the first to recover from receiving such an incredible reward, and launches herself at Rocky with a hug and a shout of thanks.  Freddie soon steps forward and hugs the confused zombie, and even Rezlar is able to put his fear aside for a moment to hug Rocky in thanks.

I just smile as I watch Rocky try to carefully escape the hug, but Lucas and Fiona are working their silk to make it more difficult, and the kids are starting to giggle and laugh at finding one of Rocky’s weaknesses.  I can feel him try to get help from me through the bond, but I’m staying out of that.  You may have outsmarted yourself with those personalized rewards, my guy.  I’m sure you can manage a way out of the hug eventually.  You’re not getting out of that friendship so easily.