The Incubi wasted little time in bringing her 'Punisher' halberd to bear, charging alongside Kaesar - though she ran past their opponent in an attempt to get behind him, using the lighter, spiked end rather than the bladed end to bash at the Hierarch; the usefulness of a halberd was most notable in how she kept her distance, using its considerable length to jab out of range from his klaives.
Should the man try and come at her, she'd simply back a step and swat at him with the weapon; and should he go for Kaesar instead of her, she'd swing the weapon down low with the heavy top end, aiming to sweep him off his feet.

Pushing off of the wall Aesra headed for the exit. "I think I'll take you up on that offer. This one will get my personal attention! Fret not! I shall return in time for the show." With that said he left the arena in search of his slave.

<Thû> @Colapse

"By your will, Lord," replied Thû, bowing in acquiescence to Zar'uil, "The traitor will be kept under watch, but no further action will be taken against him without your command. As for the third thing, I eagerly await your command to deploy. And as for the first, I beg leave to go now and inspect the fresh recruits. Long may you reign in power and wealth, Lord."

Bowing and taking three ritual steps backwards, Thû then turns and leaves the balcony in a swish of robes, headed for the barracks.

@bossaroo

Arriving just in time to catch the mass brawl breaking out between the new joiners, Thû glides his way to Ave'ras' position. Those unfamiliar with him would see an enigmatic figure swathed from head to toe in hooded midnight-blue robes, hands clad in black gloves, and face obscured by a smooth ivory mask lacking features beyond a pair of eyeholes. The robes obscuring his feet, said figure would seem to float across the ground like an unquiet shade, bringing a tinge of darkness and graveyard chill in its wake.

"Master Ave'ras, give you good day," come the mellifluous tones from behind the mask, "I perceive you are tenderising the fresh meat even as we speak. Most diligent a taskmaster, you are. This one has a favour to ask - our Enforcer corps, as you have no doubt noticed, is badly depleted. Could you see your way clear to sparing a portion of your recruits - say, five - for this one to train as replacements? Give me your youngest and rawest - veterans come with baggage and agendas. The Lord Archon and myself have agreed that malleability is more important in this instance."

"Ohhh how interesting, It seems someone has similar interests as I" Yrara said with a smile picking up the holo device he pocketed it, and had one of his wracks pick up the dead body to be used later then before leaving he gathered two of his wracks and one of his support Wracks encase it was a trap and decided to pay these people a good respective interest and began making his way to the ruined factory ready really for anything. Whether it proved interesting or not was already assured as it changed things up for him this day a new bump and new possibilities.

Seeing the slave pens, made Heltherith try to suppress a shudder at the sight. After all, it was a sight that was familiar to her from the past, but from the other perspective. Even then, she wasn't sure if this part was the more preferable one compared to what happened later with the benefit of hindsight.

However, being reminded about the past wasn't why she had came down here so the Wych went looking for some food she could go and use for some bribery, as well as observing the slaves down here and see which ones would be the best fit for what she needed of them.

Her manner of movement as she walked through the pens were not of someone who demanded attention as if reinforce her position as their overlord, but instead someone simply slipping into the background. Like she was someone more like their equal. After all, that might get them more willing to be open with her and listening to her than seeming like she was itching to bark out some orders.

<Incubi business> @Wata @Vlayden

Venessia and Kaesar attacked as one, their tactics sound and their movement, despite not spending much time together, in concert with one another for they were the masters of melee combat, the Dark Eldar Incubi. Against any other enemy would such devastating attack from two sides give fruit and overwhelm the intended target, driving it into the dust, but this was not just another enemy they were up against and whatever they thought or suspected before, Drach shattered it when he started moving.

Kabal of the Crimson Moon had four Dark Eldar forming the ruling cadre. To precious few who knew the skills of all four warriors it was obvious just how much they were different. Where Seneschal Kouron used every little dirty trick in the book to overwhelm you with powerful strikes of his archaic halberd, the Blood Queen Lyn'shela moved like a viper, exploiting weakness and slithering around your guard to execute a crippling blow. Even Zar'uil, their mysterious Archon, employed such speed that even the trained eye of a Dark Eldar had a hard time following his movement, every strike masterfully pulled and every step perfect, the experience born of eons spent spilling blood.

But it was Hierarch Drach who was the most different of them all. Outside combat his steps were carefully measured, describing him as a patient warrior, but when he exploded from his stance and counterattacked his two possible recruits, it was then that they understood they were dealing with a monster.

Meeting them head-on, the Hierarch smashed into Kaesar, his two demiklaives passing through his guard like a lighting, first one blocking the klaive aside as the second cut through Kaesar's chest guard, opening the armor right below his neck and cutting meat and skin from him, forcing him to take a bad step backward, almost falling on his back.

Switching styles and targets, Drach came at Venessia now that Kaesar was out (for few precious seconds), using powerful strikes to drive her on the defense. He moved with such agility that Venessia instantly knew she was dealing with much faster opponent than her who could probably even dodge her strike and move past her guard - and punisher's deadly blade - but instead his strikes kept on pushing her backward, straight towards the circle of the Incubi.

She heard rather than saw a blade whooshing through the air and she ducked, narrowly escaping decapitation as one of the Incubi slashed at her, not allowing her to reach the "border" of the circle while another one also stabbed with his klaive forward at her, forcing her to block the attack and turn a bit towards him which opened the way for Drach to slam her in the head with the flatside of his demiklaive, breaking couple of her teeth in the process and dropping her onto the ground.

Hierarch now held a position between to of them, giving them few seconds to recover and have a go at him (or do something else) again.

The woman was admittedly, not at all surprised by this; for the man to be so highly looked upon he had to have had his skill unmatched; if anything, she knew that her speed with such a weapon would be limited. At best she'd be able to keep her defense up and block his blades, though that would leave her open to his feet; and if she attacked, he could parry and deliver a riposte soon afterwards.
Of course, Venessia didn't pay too much focus on the Hierarch, her eyes briefly glancing worriedly at Kaesar, even if only for a split second; checking to make sure his injuries were not too lethal. That moment of panic calmed itself down an instant later as she composed herself; she admitted that it was partly because without him, she had little chance of landing this job. But even so, he was her kin. A fellow incubi; and she wasn't going to brush off his death if it happened in front of her.

She gave a single crack of her neck before - after giving Kaesar a few seconds to compose himself - charging herself this time, taking a single step and using the extended range to swing the massive weapon at waist height; whether he jumped or dodged would change her next reaction; if he jumped, she'd just let go of the weapon entirely and lunge forward, tackling him out of the air and holding on for dear life. Even bashing at her skull wouldn't make the damned woman let go 'till she passed out.
If he ducked though, she'd swing the weapon's arc up into the air and spin it about, before trying to bring its massive head down in front of him by mere inches; unless he took the time to actually calculate if he'd get hit or not, the woman was betting he'd move. And as it slammed down, she'd try to swing the head to either side, wherever he'd move towards to try and get at her; whilst using the spiked end to parry from the opposite side, even to try and push him off-balance. With the heavy end in this point being brought behind her, maneuvering the opposite part would be as though it was as light as a feather.

<Grand Arena> @Grall_Stonefist

"Bah you're right, who gives a shit if a wrack dies," Eliria nodded, "It's not like our Haemonculus can't make few dozen more of you anyway."

"Alright, I know you are up for the main course, however if you wish, you can go in right now with the next batch. Basically, this is the setup: first part of the scenario is a 3-way between Tau, Humans and us. Humans are holding the center which will be sort of a makeshift fort, Tau are attacking it and while they are having a go at each other, we swoop in with jetbikes and start ripping them apart."

"You ain't going on foot there so if that's not to your liking, then you wait for the second part where Kroot are thrown in as a reinforcements but it turns out they are mad and will kill anything that's moving, thank me for that by the way because I spent most of the time after the raid making those dogs go ballistic, and right during the mayhem Lyn'shela arrives on her Venom, dropping from the sky into the center of the battle and proceeds into killing everyone."

"So, what will it be, part one or part two?"


<Slave pens> @Maleth @kanila

Once again having to around and walk, Aesra returned to the slave pens in search for his slave. Going through the entrance and into the underground slave "town" he pretty much saw the same thing as Heltherith before him - just a bunch of slaves trying to create a life for themselves in this dark prison. As for the slave he was looking for, he had to go to a small "building" built against the right wall of the chamber where most of the cages containing Tau were located. Beastmaster saw a Dark Eldar slaver sitting nearby, overseeing a group of humans dressed in leather who were equipped with some basic whips and were currently using them to beat Tau prisoners, one at a time. But before he would go there and ask around - or even participate himself, Aesra spotted another interesting figure down the "street", close to a stand selling something that went as food in this place. It was Heltherith.

Heltherith on the other hand, even though she didn't want to draw attention she definitely got it for the slaves were "taught" to, when seeing one of the Dark Kin, immediately drop to their knees and show respect. As for the food, she had no trouble finding a stand that sold it, although the stuff on the menu was not looking that good - most of it were rats, some bugs and some sort of fungus Heltherith was positive her stomach would have a hard time digesting. So perhaps bringing them some food from the outside was a better idea. But then again, she could buy all of it here for merely a coin if she wanted to, not to mention she could just take it, it's not like the slave-seller would try to stop her.

As for the "slaves of note", she didn't spot anyone such as that, at least not on first glance. Most of the slaves were human, hunkering around their cages or around the market, while the Tau were separately located in one part of the "town" and they were locked behind bars at the moment. Interestingly enough, when she gazed over towards the Tau cages she saw a familiar figure near them - the figure of their Beastmaster Aesra.


<Barracks> @bossaroo @Skarboy @Draconion

Kholivaz didn't fully catch his opponent's strike as the gauntlet grazed his head, drawing a bit of blood from his right ear. However the attack was indeed a bit too "optimistic" and the Corsair managed to get a hold of his opponent's hair, driving him downwards and straight into his knee. The crack was loud enough and the bold recruit dropped on all-fours, gasping for air while also trying to get a hold of a small dagger hidden in his belt to try and stab Kholivaz in the leg or something (OOC @Skarboy feel free to deal with your opponent as you see fit).

Around the place, the fight reached its climax. The one Kabalite who ended up slammed against the wall recovered but then he was slammed head-first into it again. Being incredibly tough (or more likely incredibly dense) he once again tried to get up before his opponent kicked him in the head, silencing all of his further attempts for good and knocking him out cold.

The one that pulled out three hidden blades ended up being stabbed by all three of them by his angry opponent, who after seeing what was happening (and suffering three stabs himself) managed to disarm him and then proceed into stabbing all three of them into his buttocks and making him squeal in pain.

Couple of more Kabalites were on the ground, getting kicked and punched by their opponents and Ave'ras (and Thû) could see at least 5 clear winners while two more real fights were being fought still, where both of the combatants had equal chance of winning. The last pair was definitely having a different kind of a go at each other, but they were mostly left alone for the moment to enjoy themselves (and pretty much accomplish nothing worthy of mention concerning the test).

Ha, having the mon'keigh break the Tau! What a riot! Before Aesra could talk to the overseer he noticed Heltherith, further into the slavepits. He tilted his head slightly in a quizzical manner before shrugging and turning back to his goal. After all what she did with her free time was hers.

He approached the overseer, "Do those mon'keigh even know what a whip is? I've seen children with better form!" He gave a hearty chuckle as he watched. "Eliria sent me, I'm looking for the Tau pilot with the broken arm." He looked around from where he stood trying to locate it, then he noticed the chains and collars. "Gonna borrow one of these." As he grabbed a chain with a collar with tiny barbs facing inward. Enough pain not to kill him but just enough that he would never truly be used to it.

Kaesar could barely react to Drach. Before even realizing it he had been cut. Eyes wide he ran a hand over the fresh wound and inspected the blood on his hand. His following laughter filled the hall with its sound for a brief moment.
When he turned his gaze back at Drach to attack again, Kaesar saw Ven look back at him in the unusual manner that wasn't full of contempt or disappointment.

Does she actually care about his life? Why?

What little pause that thought gave him, he quickly shrugged it off. On the attack again Kaesar aimed to inflict most damage while Ven kept Drach busy hopefully for more than half a second.