Heathcliffe looks over the man's champion and then turns to the others, whispering, "I don't think we should engage in this activity. We don't know where we are and we are surrounded by lunatics even more so."

"What's more distressing than his questionable sanity is his comment about death not being able to release him,"  Thraim says in a sober tone.

Thraim takes a deep breath and breathes out slowly, calming his blood pressure and relaxing his tense muscles.  

He looks at the others, stopping on Heathcliffe, and says, "I'm positive that you're right, Heathcliffe.  We shouldn't engage this person.  But, I'm going to accept his challenge.  I need this right now.  A good game of punch in the face should satisfy my anger at the injustice befallen us, kidnapped and possibly imprisoned with people of dubious motives, or, at least, slacken it for a while.  Unless anyone else really has the desire to accept the challenge; if so, I'll step down."

Semina smiles at Jean-Louis as he leaves to take his place by his fighter.  She eyes the brute again, and turns towards her companions.  "Besides we may need the additional reward to help get out of this place."  Semina directs her attention towards the dwarf.  "You don't need to play punch in the face, Thraim" she grins. "There is skill to this type of fighting." Semina leans closer to her companions as she remembers her training from the monastery.

"When I lived at the monastery we use to play similar games for sport," her eyes twinkle with excitement.  "This helped sharpen skills and find vulnerabilities in others."  "First you study your opponent in the first few rounds ," her smile widens across her lips. " It will wear them down, letting you turn into the aggressor,"  her memory replays images in her head.   "Once they are confused and weakened finish your attacks till they lie still or ask for your pardon."

"No doubt your punching skills are some of the best, Thraim" she pats the dwarf on the shoulders.  "We need you at your best after the fight, and not in a puddle of blood."

Sander looks at Jean-Louis in a surprisingly calm manner and asks simply:
"Would you mind if I chant while one of my companions is partaking in this contest? For luck, of course."

Thraim listens to Semina's advice, knowing that the ascetic monks are highly skilled in the arts of open-hand combat.  Thraim takes her advice to heart, even though he was planning something along those lines himself.  He has no illusions that she could best him in a match, and that she probably would have been the better choice to go against Jean-Louis' champion.  

However, what the others may not understand is that he needs this fight right now.  Thraim tries to be a happy person, a light-hearted person.  This is not easy for him, he has to constantly battle himself.  There is a place deep inside that he dares not go, a place he fears he will never return from once entered.

Smiling and with a humorous tone, he says to Semina, "I will feel no shame if you have to avenge my honor against this champion!"

Semina glance over at Thraim, and gladly gestures her arms towards the ring.  "After you," she smiles.  "Keep you step lively, and give him a couple of kidney shots for me!"  Semina steps aside to let the dwarf fight his inner battle as well as the brute standing in the ring.

Thraim prepares himself for a match of pugilism.  He takes off his armor, weapons, and shirt, revealing a hirsute chest.  He ties the braids in his beard together with a small piece of leather thong.  Thraim does a few sets of jumping-jacks and push-ups to get the blood flowing and muscles ready for action.

As a final preparation for the match, Thraim digs into his cooking supplies and finds the cake of cooking lard.  Breaking off a piece, he smashes it in his hands and wipes some on his forehead, cheeks, nose, and ears.  He rubs some on his shoulders, and then rubs the rest on the back of his hands and knuckles.

Clapping his hand together, Jean-Louis stands up with obvious glee.  "Excellent!  You will represent your party, then, Master Dwarf?  Outstanding!  This will be quite the demonstration then.  And how much are you ready to wager on the outcome?"

Sorry, Oni, got caught up in the other stuff

Turning to Sander, Jean-Louis bows deeply, "Of course, you may pray to whatever gods you choose.  They may even answer you, but I wouldn't hold out hope."

Semina walks over to Thraim's boxing corner and sets her backpack on the closest edge, so she is able to retrieve it if necessary. She picked up Thraim's items as well and positions them close to the ring.

She brings out a water skin and other preparations for the fight, in case dwarf is in need of bandages or water.  Semina bows to the fighter and the others in the crowd as a form of acknowledgement, and awaits the greased up warrior.

"Pick your wager carefully," she chuckles.  "Ready when you are," as she opens the ropes for the dwarf to enter.

(I'm assuming I have 100 gp to spend - Couldn't find a total)

"One hundred soveriegns on my ally." Naren says in a level, even tone.

"I will wager the same as Naren." (Also assuming I still have the gold.)

After placing his bet, Sander begins to chant softly, though he had a strange, unfamiliar hunch that his chant would be met by nothing more than a void.

((No worries storm, I haven't exactly been an exemplar of punctuality myself, so I can hardly blame you for missing a day or so.))

Semina digs through her bag and finds the rest of her gold.  She eyes the thirteen pieces and place 5 back in the sac for any other ransom she may have to pay.  "My wager is small my lords," she clicks the gold together.  "Eight pieces is all I can spare, in case there are other wagers we may have to make along our journey."  

Semina jumps down from the corner and places the gold upon a table near Jean-Louis.  "I place my bet in favour of the master dwarf," she glances towards Thraim.  Semina hurries back over to his corner to prepare for the fight.

Speaking to Jean-Louis, Thraim says, "the wager here is beyond mere coin.  I am ready."

As Thraim steps into the ring, your group realizes his unusual opponent has thus far remained utterly motionless.  The creature appears to have taken no notice of Thraim at all, in fact, waiting in the opposite corner with its fists up in a defensive position.

"Very well, then," exclaims Jean-Louis, "we will wager the princely sum of 208 pieces of gold on the match!  Remember, Master Dwarf, this is a boxing match, not a wrestling match, so no grappling.  Hitting below the belt will not affect my magen, but rules state that is illegal anyway, and it will count against you.  Of course, my previous offer still stands; I will increase the pot for each round you are still standing, in addition to the wager."

Looking at the dwarf expectantly, Jean-Louis proclaims to no one in particular, "The fight is about to begin, let me know when you are ready, Master Dwarf..."

The combat for this will be a bit different as far as the timing is concerned.  Each 'round' will consist of six exchanges, each ten seconds in length, for a total of one minute 'rounds'.  Each ten second period will allow for one attack roll from each, and a damage roll, if successful.  As this isn't a standard melee combat situation, we will not be using the Pummeling rules.  Instead, Thraim will do 1-3 points of damage plus Strength modifier for each successful hit.  After two attacks doing max damage in a round (consecutive or not), further attacks in that 'round' delivering max damage will have a 10% of stunning the opponent, allowing a free attack.  This resets each 'round'.  Anyone stunned more than once in two consecutive 'rounds' will be knocked down instead of stunned.  After being knocked down twice in the same round, you will be knocked out, rather than knocked down again, regardless of remaining hit points, and forfeit the match.

Any questions?  If you want to re-acquaint yourselves with Invisible Castle, now is the time.

Looking at the dwarf expectantly, Jean-Louis proclaims to no one in particular, "The fight is about to begin, let me know when you are ready, Master Dwarf..."

Thraim barely registers Jean-Louis' words as he steps forward, focusing his mind's eye on punching and beating this strange opponent.

Guess being a lefty isn't going to help much against it, Thraim thinks to himself as steps into the first punch of his opening series.

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Round 1
1st exchange- Hit AC 9 for 6 damage
2nd exchange- Hit AC 9 for 4 damage
3rd exchange- Hit AC 2 for 6 damage
4th exchange- Hit AC 3 for 5 damage
5th exchange- Hit AC 4 for 5 damage
6th exchange- Hit AC 1 for 5 damage

Thraim's base THAC0 = 17
Unarmed THAC0 = 15
Thriam's STR = +2/+3

Do we roll for some kind of initiative?