Match 18306 Roman Gladiators vs. Owlbear

[Mercenaryblade]

“Impressive, is it not?” The trader smiled.

 

Quintus would never admit it as a proud Roman but the trader unnerved him. His eyes always seemed too bright, his teeth to pointy, and his way of speaking stressed the wrong syllables. Despite this, the trader always had interesting things to sell. 

 

He specialized in capturing exotic creatures, and what he had brought had never before been seen in the empire. 

 

“I have never seen the like!” Quintus admitted holding his toga close. 

 

The creature growled and thrashed against the iron bars of its wagon cage. Quintus had seen owls and he had seen bears, but never had he seen the two together. 

 

“A bear owl.” Quintus shook his head.

 

“Owlbear actually.” The trader said.

 

“Where did you find such a thing?” Quintus asked.

 

The trader smiled that damned pointy toothed smile, “Ahhh, far beyond your empire, and through the veils into the Fey lands.” 

 

Quintus snorted. “Keep your secrets then. All I want to know is your price.” 

 

The trader rubbed his palms together. “Well, I risked life and limb to capture this beast. He wont be cheap.” 

 

“You won’t get a better price from anyone else. I represent the Coliseum. This brute is just what we need for the games.”

 

“Four thousand aureus!” The trader proclaimed.

 

Quintus snorted. “You’re out of your mind.” 

 

The two haggled and argued for over thirty minutes but a sum was eventually agreed upon. 

 

“Done,” Quintus proclaimed as he clasped arms with the trader. “I’ll throw in some denari for transportation to the Coliseum.” 

 

Days passed and the great city of Rome was abuzz, there was going to be a special event in the Coliseum, a strange and dangerous animal from lands unseen. The masses thronged to the Coliseum to see the games. The crowd cheered in the pre game executions as the guards manned their stations along the walls. 

 

Deep in the labyrinth of the Coliseum the gladiators prepared themselves, armor was fitted on, prayers were offered and some stretched their muscles in preparation. 

 

One of the gladiators, a large man from the Germanic regions tested his sword blade. 

 

“Titus, any idea what we’re facing?” he asked.

 

Titus, a retiarius gladiator hefted his trident onto his shoulder. 

 

“I don’t know Wulf. One of the Venator’s said he’d never seen such a creature before.” 

 

“Is it the minotaur?” Aegeus an enslaved Greek asked. 

 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Wulf replied with a scoff. 

 

Soon the gladiators were assembled and after saluting Caesar with the usual ‘We who are about to die.’ they soon found themselves turned and waiting for their strange new opponent to emerge. 

 

There were a total of ten gladiators including Venator’s specialized in fighting animals. But none were prepared for what emerged when the gate lifted up. 

 

“By the Gods!” Titus exclaimed. 

 

The owlbear bounded across the arena sands and bellowed as it reared up on its hindlegs. The gladiators leveled their weapons and advanced. 

 

Fight is on there are ten gladiators of various type:

 

One Secutor (sword and shield)

 

One Trax (Sica style sword and shield)

 

One Hoplomachus (spear and small shield)

 

One Retiarius (net and trident) 

 

One Scissor (heavy armor with sword and an armblade)

 

One Dimachaerus (Dual swords) 

 

The rest are Bestiarii gladiators who specialize in fighting animals, armed with spears, nets, and daggers. They’ve fought more normal animals like wolves, big cats, and boars. 

 

Who will come out on top, are these gladiators enough to bring down an owlbear, or does the owlbear decimate them?

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Roman Gladiators
Read more about Roman Gladiators at Wikipedia
Official Site: Public Domain Links: Wikipedia

Owlbear
Read more about Owlbear at Wikipedia
Official Site: Wizards of the Coast Links: Wikipedia

[Mercenaryblade]

Hope everyone enjoys

[Boratz]

Great job, Merc!

I may be leaning more toward the owlbear on this one

[Mercenaryblade]

10 hours ago, Boratz said:

Great job, Merc!

I may be leaning more toward the owlbear on this one

Thanks. 

This is one I'm honestly curious about on who would win. 

[SSJRuss]

Good match Merc, albeit short it gets to the point and you characterize your story well. I have a soft spot for gladiators so I enjoyed this.

That said, this Owlbear is going down. These are experienced gladiators and bestiarii, even despite the fact they are fighting an Owlbear, they have the numbers and skill. There is only so much a single Owlbear will be able to withstand and these guys have weapons. I think the Owlbear kills about half or so before succumbing to its wounds.

[Mercenaryblade]

16 minutes ago, SSJRuss said:

Good match Merc, albeit short it gets to the point and you characterize your story well. I have a soft spot for gladiators so I enjoyed this.

That said, this Owlbear is going down. These are experienced gladiators and bestiarii, even despite the fact they are fighting an Owlbear, they have the numbers and skill. There is only so much a single Owlbear will be able to withstand and these guys have weapons. I think the Owlbear kills about half or so before succumbing to its wounds.

Heck yeah, Gladiators are awesome! 

Thanks for reading and voting, I'm interested in how this match turns out.

[DSkillz]

Good set-up, Merc. It actually has a feel of a story from centuries past. 

As for the match, I have to agree with Russ on this one. Given that the various warriors seem to have experience dealing with all types of creatures, an owlbear may not be necessarily the toughest beast they've fought.

[Mercenaryblade]

6 hours ago, DSkillz said:

Good set-up, Merc. It actually has a feel of a story from centuries past. 

As for the match, I have to agree with Russ on this one. Given that the various warriors seem to have experience with dealing with all types of creatures, an owlbear may not be necessarily the toughest beast they've fought.

Thanks DS! 

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
2.00 - Shoggoth breeder
5.00 - Boratz
4.50 - DSkillz
5.00 - SSJRuss

FPA Calculation:
4 Total Votes cast
16.50 Total Combined Score
16.50 / 4 = 4.12 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Roman Gladiators: 3
Owlbear: 2

[DSkillz]

Heh, @Shoggoth breeder I think you might be having some trouble with the new rating system. My bad if these are your legitimate grades, but they seem to be a bit on the low side. If this was a mistake, I think the switch from a four-point to a five-point rating system might be throwing you off.