Chapter 17: Exhibition Matches

During the walk from the inn to the guild’s arena, Gretel explained to Lexi how the operation functioned, largely putting the paladin at ease.

In its earliest incarnation, the arena had simply been a training ring, where adventurers would spar against one another, to hone their combat skills between quests. However, as time went on, word got out to the city at large, and a slow trickle of onlookers began. This trickle continued to grow, week after week, until the simple outdoor ring used by the guild members was nearly inaccessible to both the adventurers themselves as well as the onlookers — a situation which invariably led to actual fights breaking out within the crowd.

Seeing that the situation as it existed was bound to produce more trouble for the city’s guards and prisons, and also recognizing that there was apparently an enormous appetite among the populate for combat-oriented entertainment, the nobles funded the construction of the great arena.

“Today,” Gretel concluded. “This serves a dual purpose, both its original function as a place for adventurers to spar with one another, and for the capitol’s citizens to gather, watch the fights, and — of course — place bets on the outcomes.”

“People place wagers on sparring matches?” Lexi asked with some disbelief.

“Well,” the mage amended. “The thing is, what used to be more friendly sparring matches between comrades has also turned into exhibition bouts, where adventurers will try to show each other up, and gain recognition among both their peers and the public — in a way that’s relatively safe.”

“Relatively safe?”

“As safe as any kind of combat ever can be. Exhibition matches are either unarmed, or the fighters will use blunted wooden versions of their usual weapons. Even still, all kinds of accidents and injuries can happen from that.”

“Gotcha,” Lexi said nodding along. “So, since these obviously aren’t death matches, how is a winner determined?”

“Three ways,” Gretel answered, holding up an equal number of fingers. “Either one person ends up unconscious, or they chose so submit, or the judge calls the match — that usually only happens if it looks like someone’s going to get seriously injured. After all, the city depends on the adventurers to help keep the greenskins and other monsters away from the city. It’s only because of the guild’s expeditionary work that the city isn’t constantly under siege. So, the nobles want to make sure that what happens in the arena doesn’t end up maiming or killing any more otherwise healthy adventurers than can be avoided.”

“Wow,” Lexi said, awed at the tight logic of the system. “That’s actually a really well designed arrangement.”

“Yeah, it definitely seems to work in a couple of different ways, which is great. Aaand, for our purposes, the way the each day’s matches are organized should give us the perfect opportunity to scope out a potential third member for our blossoming little party.”

“What’s special about the organization?”

“Since there’s so much betting involved with the exhibition matches, the guild decided that the best way to both keep the fighters safe and to maximize the public’s engagement was to order each day’s bouts along guild rankings. That way, adventurers are only fighting their peers of the same rank — you don’t have novices getting torn apart by masters. And since the novices draw the fewest onlookers, those bouts take place pretty early in the morning.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Lexi said smiling. “After all, I doubt we’d have a chance of enticing anyone other than another novice to join us, so this should hopefully get us exactly what we want.”

Gretel nodded back, both girls smiling at one another in accord as to their mission for the day. It seemed like a good plan, after all.

What could go wrong?

The arena itself reminded Lexi very strongly of models she had seen in school of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. It was a large round two-story building with a single large entrance facing the street. It was done in the half-timbered style common to most of the city’s buildings, which Lexi had long associated with medieval buildings. The wood shingled roof followed the circular plan of the building. However, as Lexi and Gretel walked through the gate and entered into the arena’s grounds, the paladin saw that — just like the Globe — there was a large circular opening directly above the central platform.

Similar to the Globe as well, Lexi noted that there were three levels of stadium-like seating which wrapped around the entirety of the arena, providing room for a large number of onlookers. Although, at this early hour, the stands were only populated be a few dozen somewhat groggy looking individuals — many of whom appeared to be either hung over or still drunk. The one notable difference from Shakespeare’s playhouse was that the stage was not set into the back wall of the arena, but was set dead center, equally observable from any vantage point within the circular building.

“This way,” Gretel said, snapping Lexi’s attention back to her, and guiding the paladin into a row of seats along the ground floor. “We got here just in time. It looks like a match is right about to start.”

Just as the mage had indicated, as soon as the pair of adventurers sat down on the wooden bench, two men who Lexi assumed must be the fighters — based on the fact that they both bore wooden swords and mismatched scraps of leather armor — climbed the stairs on opposite sides of he square platform. They were joined at the same time by a small, rather dapper looking man in a black velvet doublet which was embroidered with a large crest made up of stylized sword and shield, marking him, Lexi supposed, as some kind of guild official.

The man pulled out a very curious device from a pocket in his doublet. It was wrought entirely of gold, and reminded Lexi of a very fancy version of the kind of wire hoop with a handle that kids would use to blow bubbles.

“What’s that?” she whispered to Gretel, pointing at the strange implement.

“Amplification wand,” the mage answered. “You’ll see what it does in just a second.”

Just so, the small man held the wand up to his mouth — just as if he were going to blow a bubble — but instead, simply started to speak. What was amazing was that this magical device was apparently very aptly named, because for all his diminutive size, the little man’s voice boomed throughout the entirety of the arena, filling the stands with his sonorous intonation.