Mythran's Master Of All

Ren saw that the room was lined with bleachers on one side, and they were full of dwarves. All of them were talking excitedly as Ren stepped to the middle of the room where Tegwen stood. A hush fell over the crowd. Gausen stood up and came over to Ren and Tegwen, and turned around to face the crowd.

“A Trial By Combat challenge has been issued and accepted.” He said and held out a hand near Tegwen. “The challenger declares that his intended woman has been stolen.” He held a hand out near Ren. “The accused has accepted the challenge.” Gausen dropped both hands. “Weapons and armor are allowed and encouraged.” He said and turned back to face Ren and Tegwen. “Death is not. You will fight until one of you declares he surrenders, or is unconscious and unable to do so.”

Both Ren and Tegwen nodded.

“Take your positions.”

Tegwen walked away about 10 paces and turned back to face Ren. “I will win your heart, Nathalia!” Tegwen shouted and pointed his weapon at her.

“Whaaaaaaatttt!?!” Nathalia shouted back.

“Do the same thing.” Gausen whispered to Ren, who nodded and took 10 paces and turned around. He didn't get into a ready position however.

“If I may speak?” Ren asked.

Gausen nodded. “You have that right.”

Ren spoke loudly so that everyone could hear him clearly. “I know nothing of your culture.” He said, and a single gasp was heard. “I've only known one dwarf, and none of this...” Ren said and waved at the ship. “...had ever come up in conversation. I didn't know that acting politely would cause so much trouble.” Ren said, then he froze in shock. Goddammit!

“What is it?” Teepo said from the ceiling.

I completely forgot about my recipe for Trouble!

“Ha... ha ha... hahaha” Teepo chittered in laughter so hard, he shook himself from his hold on the ceiling. His astral form fell down to the floor on his back, then bounced Teepo from his back to his front. Teepo stood up shakily on his legs.

“Oops.” Teepo said then skittered across the floor and under the bleachers. Ren clamped his mouth shut to stop himself from laughing, because he'd made that same fall and it had ended the same way. A moment later, Ren took a deep breath and spoke.

“I want to apologize to all of you for any indescretions that may have come up from my ignorance, especially to you, Nathalia.” Ren said to several more gasps from the crowd. I wonder if that's the default response? I've been hearing it a lot. “When this duel is over, I'd like to find out as much about your people and culture as I can, before we reach wherever we're going.” He was looking at her as he spoke, and she nodded.

Ren shifted his gaze to the crowd. “If you've all heard Gausen's story of my encounter with him, then you know that I hate fighting for no reason. I believe it's both pointless and serves no purpose.”

There were a few mutters of disagreement, and a few more telling them to shut up and listen.

“On the other hand, I was given some wise advice recently.” Ren continued. “I was told that if I was ever challenged again, that I shouldn't hold back anymore.”

Several gasps and mutters of disbelief spread through the crowd.

“That person told me to go all out... and I'm going to.” Ren said and equipped his blood red leather armor, but without the gloves. Louder gasps and mutters were heard and Ren smiled, then equipped his Dire Wolf Hooded Cloak.

“Ahhh!” The captain's companion screamed, and several other women joined her. Half of the dwarves in the bleachers stood to try and get a closer look, then were quickly dragged down to sit again.

Ren flipped up the hood to cover his face in shadow and the captain's companion half-screamed and then fainted. The captain tried to revive her, but was unsuccessful. When asked later what had happened, she claimed that it looked like the wolf had eaten Ren's head.

Ren had the Beetle Crown ring and 2 raised platform rings on his hand so far, then put his last raised platform ring on the same hand and added a ring on each of the fingers on his other hand. He absorbed the enchantments he'd placed on the rings he'd made, and then enchanted one raised platform ring with a quadruple Lightning glyph, the middle one with the Water Spray glyph (2 wind and 2 water runes), and then had a nasty thought. He enchanted the last one with the Immense Terror glyph (4 Terror runes) while concentrating on his Aura ability, and felt a connection form.