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A lovestruck centaur paladin named Witch Hunter faced Grickle, a four-armed, eyelid-free thri-kreen, on a stretch of ice the Grandmaster couldn’t be bothered to name creatively. What began as a parade of flirting, stray nipples and a naked man named Bruce turned into one of the more unexpectedly tender endings in the arena. The bug tried to save the centaur from drowning, and the centaur left the bug his family’s glaive. Then The Shadow King stepped in and ended things the way he ends everything.

The Story

Goblin Bowling

As The Acolytes took their seats through portals across The Void, the Grandmaster walked the halls of The Dread Fortress. She was Grandmaster “but only a name” now, and her heels were no longer the loudest sound in the building. A cackling scream drew her to the Shadow King’s throne room. She kicked down its dusty old doors and found him rolling a large bowling ball down a long rug into a row of small, shaking goblins. He knocked half of them over. “I need to practice,” he explained. “I have a big tournament this weekend.”

Elusia scrambled to set Henry, Lucy and the others back on their feet. She pointed out that they weren’t even the right color for bowling pins, so he snapped his fingers and a goblin walked in carrying a bucket of paint. She had needed those goblins hours ago to bring the Acolytes in and prepare the arena, so she clapped her hands, and the goblins scattered “as if they were holding their breath.” The Shadow King shrugged: “Their weight was all off anyways.”

The strain was showing on her. Her hair had begun falling out in little patches, and her left eye twitched a little more each time she had to deal with him. When he grumbled that there were “only 10 of them. I figured you could spare a few,” she shot back that, fortunately, he was bad at bowling and hadn’t gotten any spares. She told him to “be a good, lazy king” and promised him two champions he could throw bowling balls at if he liked. He settled onto his throne. “Next time, lead with the good part.”

Then she gripped the amulet at her neck. Its sharp edges cut into palms already scarred from summoning this way, and as her blood trickled down, a bright orange portal opened.

The Champions Arrive

Witch Hunter trotted through first. “Good to see everyone. Is this the bathroom?” Exiled to a corner, he complained that it was her fault the building lacked centaur accessibility. The Shadow King agreed he’d been telling her that, and Elusia directed the complaint to the feedback form, to be filed with HR. “And I definitely didn’t kill HR last week,” the Shadow King added.

Grickle followed. “Where am I? Is this the thing? This is the thing.” Witch Hunter took one look at him and declared, “Oh my god, you have a dump truck for a thorax.” He then offered Grickle a pamphlet about “our lord and savior, Maliki.” Grickle snapped, “Get that out of my face!” Witch Hunter was unbothered: “It’s fine, I have more.” Grickle answered with a display of his own: his shiny carapace faded to a dull gray, a cape billowed from his shell, and his wings spread for a moment.

That was enough for Witch Hunter. “When I find someone attractive, flowers bloom on me,” he warned, “and flowers are blooming.” Elusia called it a perfect match: one ready to fight and hating the other, the other loving the one who hated him. She plucked a marigold off the centaur, sniffed it, and handed it to Henry the goblin, whose shins were still bruised from the bowling. A blue portal opened, and Witch Hunter led the way: “Centaurs first.”

The Frozen Lake

The arena was an icy tundra miles from anything. The wind cut across their skin, or in Grickle’s case his carapace, which, Elusia noted, doesn’t get goosebumps. With no eyelids to protect them, his eyes streamed in the wind, and he wept as though something awful had happened while still standing proudly. “I welcome you,” said Elusia, “to the frozen lake. It’s not creatively named.” Something moved deep beneath the ice. When she spread her wings, the gust was strong enough that Witch Hunter had to stake his spear into the ground. Overhead, where the sky should have been, the Acolytes roared from a coliseum.

Before a blow was struck, chaos handed each champion a magical horse that could take the shape of any beast. Witch Hunter observed that “technically this is my cousin.” Elusia warned, “You should not be riding your cousin,” but the Shadow King waved it off: “It’s okay, there’s no state laws here.” Witch Hunter then chose a human instead: a naked, friendly-looking 43-year-old with a dad bod and a very bushy mustache, big enough on all fours to keep the centaur’s hooves off the ground. He named him Bruce. Grickle rode a giant rhinoceros beetle named Gricklebackackack, which was nearly his own name with a few more clicks on the end. “So foreign and exotic, I love it,” Witch Hunter swooned. “I don’t see a ring.”

First Blood and the Ledger of Deaths

Grickle struck first. “Now you see me?” He hid behind his beetle’s fluttering wings and vanished from Witch Hunter’s sight entirely. The paladin, it turned out, “didn’t bring his glasses.” Then the wings parted, two scimitars came flying out of them, and Grickle hopped back aboard and skittered across the ice. Witch Hunter, who claimed an unhealthy amount of World of Warcraft had taught him how to fight a rogue, slapped Bruce’s butt cheeks to give chase. On his first swing his glaive caught in the ice, flipping centaur and mount alike, and Bruce sprawled naked in the snow with his “Ding-a-ling” splayed out. “I prefer Ding-a-ling, actually,” the Shadow King noted. “The scientific term.” Witch Hunter recovered and called on his god (“May Maliki be with me”) for a holy strike that hit hard, though Grickle parried away some of the blow.

When Grickle admitted he didn’t do math (“I’m a bug. I don’t do math. I kill people”), the Shadow King held up a blood-smeared journal: the master logbook of deaths, “a log of everything for everyone.” It credited Grickle with exactly one half of a kill. “That book is lying!” Witch Hunter’s count was 69, “but most of that’s an orphanage.”

When Elusia sassed her uncle, the Shadow King tightened the shadowy chains he kept on her and dragged her toward the ground. “Just because you’re my niece doesn’t mean I’m going to let you speak to me this way in front of all the Acolytes,” he said, and then: “It’s because I love you.” Witch Hunter asked if this was generational trauma. It was.

Pets, Nipples and the Box of Chaos

Grickle’s next slash took off Witch Hunter’s nipple “like a pepperoni.” It sailed into the stands, where the Acolyte Divinity D&D caught it in their mouth. “Food for the Acolytes!” Then Grickle retreated, slipped on the ice, and fired an arrow straight up. It came whistling back down and killed his own beetle. The logbook updated to 1.5. “It do be like that sometimes,” Witch Hunter offered. Furious, Grickle fired again (“That was clearly your fault!”), missed, and hit the Acolyte Glass Flippers in the arm, which turned the crowd against him.

“It seems the Acolytes want a taste of chaos,” the Shadow King announced. A box thudded into the middle of the arena. A shadowy hand reached into the stands, lifted the “already damaged goods” Glass Flippers into the air, and a second hand karate-chopped him in half like a log. The Shadow King slammed his black soul into the box, and a column of pink and yellow fire shot skyward. The Box of Chaos was primed: offer it a sacrifice, and it would give back a magic item. Elusia also explained the Acolytes’ gifts to each champion, their energy, hopes and fighting spirit, which could be spent once for a moment of glory.

Witch Hunter healed himself by “caressing myself gently… with oil” pressed from the very flowers that bloomed for Grickle, which left the Acolytes, by Elusia’s account, slightly uncomfortable but also slightly aroused. The Shadow King wanted to know what kind of oil, “because we have a tradition of hibiscus lube in this arena.” He left Bruce, now “Bruce Bruce,” on a break. The mount curled into a ball and kept his face warm in his own butt cheeks. The centaur then struck Grickle with a smite so radiant that a rainbow wrapped around the bug and marigolds bloomed from his wounds, “with all the colors of the wind.”

When the Shadow King bellowed “MOTHERFUCKING SHADOW KING!”, Elusia decided he must be an impostor and pulled off his face like a Scooby-Doo villain’s mask. Behind it was a swirling black void with yellow eyes, shadow teeth and tentacles. She put the face back and covered it with a trash bag. Witch Hunter, meanwhile, found that the Shadow King’s face had turned him on and his one remaining nipple had gone hard, sharp enough, Elusia ruled, to serve as a small piercing dagger.

Bread, a War Pick and a Bad Juggling Act

Grickle beat a “tactical retreat” to the box, past a coward’s corner in the stands waving tiny white flags. Glass Flippers’ shadowy figure clawed out and asked what he had to trade. “I have bread?” It was stale, hard as a rock. “I like bread.” In return the box spat out Iron Fang, a crackling war pick. Grickle raised it with two arms, held his scimitars out with the other two, and hurled it with an awful screech. It only clipped the tip of Witch Hunter’s other nipple and landed behind him, where it stayed.

Grickle then tried juggling his scimitars to impress the crowd. He kept dropping them, and not even the children were impressed, but Witch Hunter was genuinely encouraged (“I liked it… Are you available to be hired as a life coach?”). The centaur chased Grickle down with the reach of his glaive, and Elusia marveled that the two were exactly as hard to hit as each other: “It’s like this was fate bringing the two of you together.” “Love story for the ages,” said Witch Hunter. “Do you feel something?” “Yeah, I feel my carapace breaking.” A twisting stab drew a cry of “the old dick twist!” During a breather, Witch Hunter revealed his real name was Ricardo, a former bounty hunter who rebranded after “an orphanage incident.”

Flashbulbs and a Storm

After a break, the Acolytes unleashed the paparazzi, who mobbed both celebrities and left them blinded, dazed, with little tweety birds circling their heads. Grickle took his chance to flee, ran straight into his opponent (“Did we just kiss?”), and impaled his own eye on the nipple dagger. He then pressed himself flat to the ice like a cockroach and vanished perfectly. Witch Hunter healed again, shielded himself in shimmering light, and sniffed aggressively for “the musk of Grickrick.”

Feeling “a little bit warm,” the Shadow King raised a hand and called down clouds, thunder, sleet and freezing rain. Bruce Bruce, naked and waxed, suffered worst of all: his breath froze his face permanently into his own butt cheeks.

Grickle rose from the snow and landed a massive blow to the centaur’s ankle that dropped him to the ice, breaking his concentration so his shield flickered out. Grickle slipped behind a pillar. Then Bruce Bruce, rolling “in donut form” in search of warmth, tumbled into the Box of Chaos as a sacrifice. The fire launched a half-gallon greater healing potion into Witch Hunter’s hands. He drank it and announced “I’m allergic!” He was, to the red dye. A second trade, his heirloom lucky rabbit’s foot, got him a regular healing potion, the kind he was allergic to, which he wisely left undrunk.

Through the Ice

“That book was a complete lie,” Grickle insisted. “I know what I’m doing.” Reasoning that a centaur is heavy and a bug is light, he spent the Acolytes’ gift on an arrow into the ice at Witch Hunter’s feet. The lake cracked open and swallowed him, with blood pooling in the frigid water.

Then Grickle did something no one expected. “I’m going to play into the story we’ve created,” he said, and ran to pull his enemy out. Four arms and clawed feet weren’t enough on slick ice. “Oh, man, my mom’s gonna kill me,” he fretted. He was, he explained, only two years old, because thri-kreen don’t live long. Witch Hunter spent his own gift trying to climb out. The rescue turned into a messy flail, the two of them knocking each other’s hands away, “like trying to rescue a deer from the black ice.” Elusia broke her composure and cheered: “Oh, Witch Hunter Ricardo! Do not give up this fight tonight! Survive!”

The Final Blow

Witch Hunter looked up at the bug he loved.

Witch Hunter: “This is my grandmother’s glaive. She, like, saved her family from this. Please, I would appreciate it if you could, you know, keep it going. You use it in your future battles, and I wish you all the best. And maybe in the next life, we can do laundry in Texas together.”

Weighed down by his chainmail, he let go and accepted the cold. As he sank, his marigolds broke off at their frozen stems and floated to the surface like little dollops of gold, “almost as a beautiful funeral.” The logbook ticked to 2.5. Grickle fell onto his back and made snow angels in grief, clutching the glaive to his chest with his two small arms while the other two flailed.

The Shadow King melted into the shadows at his throne and reappeared beside him. “It’s okay. Don’t cry. Your pain’s almost over.” He snapped his fingers, and a giant black boot fell from the heavens, crushing Grickle and splattering his guts across the ice. “Welcome, and good night, to D20 Deathmatch!”

Dried Blood

Afterward, Witch Hunter’s player promised to write fanfic about the pair’s relationship, and Grickle’s player wondered aloud why the ending had been so emotional. He said Witch Hunter’s kindness gave Grickle a change of heart mid-fight, and the bug’s youth fed into the rescue. Two more facts about Ricardo came out: he once had celiac disease, which he no longer has since becoming a paladin, and he “has romantic feelings towards bug people.”

Notable Moments

  • The Shadow King bowled with live goblins, and Henry received a marigold for his bruised shins.
  • Grickle’s own arrow fell from the sky and killed his beetle, and his next shot hit an Acolyte.
  • Elusia pulled off the Shadow King’s face, found a tentacled void, and covered it with a trash bag.
  • Bruce Bruce’s face froze into his own butt cheeks, and he rolled into the Box of Chaos as a sacrifice.
  • Grickle tried to pull his drowning rival from the ice, and Witch Hunter left him his grandmother’s glaive.
  • The marigold funeral was immediately followed by the giant black boot.

Memorable Quotes

  • Witch Hunter: “Good to see everyone. Is this the bathroom?”
  • The Shadow King: “Next time, lead with the good part.”
  • Grickle: “I’m a bug. I don’t do math. I kill people.”
  • Witch Hunter: “But most of that’s an orphanage, so. Not my fault. Didn’t mean to happen. Still counts, unfortunately.”
  • The Shadow King: “Just because you’re my niece doesn’t mean I’m going to let you speak to me this way in front of all the Acolytes.”
  • Grickle: “Yeah, I feel my carapace breaking.”
  • The Grandmaster: “Oh, Witch Hunter Ricardo! Do not give up this fight tonight! Survive!”
  • The Shadow King: “It’s okay. Don’t cry. Your pain’s almost over.”

Who and What Appears

Characters

Witch Hunter / Ricardo (D’Angelo). A centaur paladin.

  • Faith and origins:
    • Worships Maliki and carries pamphlets about him.
    • Real name Ricardo. He was a bounty hunter until “an orphanage incident,” then rebranded. He hunts “anyone who doesn’t believe in Maliki and uses magic.”
    • His kill count is 69, “most of that’s an orphanage.”
  • Body and gear:
    • Marigolds bloom on him when he finds someone attractive. He uses their oil for Lay on Hands.
    • Wields his grandmother’s glaive and wears heavy chainmail.
    • Lost one nipple to Grickle’s scimitar. The other was clipped by Iron Fang, then turned into a piercing “nipple dagger.”
  • Quirks:
    • Played World of Warcraft (Caustic Phoenix: “canon”).
    • Allergic to the red dye in healing potions.
    • Once had a gluten intolerance, cured by becoming a paladin.
    • Never learned to swim; had no father figure.
    • Called “Witch King” after a “battlefield promotion.”
  • In this episode: drowned under the Frozen Lake after giving Grickle the glaive.

Grickle (nat1fun). A thri-kreen fighter with rogue-like tricks (sneak attack, Uncanny Dodge, maneuvers, Mobile).

  • Body and gear:
    • Four arms, a shiny carapace that can shift to dull gray, a cape-like display and wings. No eyelids.
    • Only two years old (“we don’t live that long”); “my mom’s gonna kill me.”
    • Two scimitars and a longbow; gained Iron Fang.
  • In this episode:
    • Killed his own beetle and wounded Glass Flippers.
    • Lost an eye to Witch Hunter’s nipple dagger.
    • His ledger count was ½ → 1.5 → 2.5.
    • Tried to rescue Witch Hunter, then was crushed by the Shadow King’s boot.

The Shadow King (Mudcat).

  • In the Dread Fortress:
    • Bowls with goblins and has “a big tournament this weekend.”
    • Calls Elusia “my niece” and tightens the shadowy chains he keeps on her (“It’s because I love you”).
    • “Definitely didn’t kill HR last week.”
  • His face: behind it is a black void with yellow eyes, shadow teeth and tentacles. Elusia covered it with a trash bag.
  • His powers in the arena:
    • Keeps the master logbook of deaths, “a log of everything for everyone.”
    • Primed the Box of Chaos with Glass Flippers’ soul and summoned the freezing storm.
    • Caustic Phoenix: “He used to be the box.”
  • The finish: he ended the match by crushing Grickle with a giant black boot.

Elusia, the Grandmaster “but only a name” (Caustic Phoenix).

  • Under the Shadow King, she does the real work of running the Deathmatch.
  • Her hair is falling out in patches and her left eye twitches.
  • She summons portals by cutting her hands on her amulet; her hands are scarred from it.
  • Ripped off the Shadow King’s face, and cheered for Witch Hunter at the end.

Bruce / Bruce Bruce. Witch Hunter’s shape-changed chaos mount.

  • A naked, waxed, mustached dad-bod human (43, later “45”). His butt cheeks clap when he runs. He says “Bruce, Bruce.”
  • His face froze into his own butt cheeks. He rolled into the Box of Chaos as a sacrifice.

Gricklebackackack(ack). Grickle’s giant rhinoceros beetle mount. Shot dead by Grickle’s own arrow.

The goblins: ten workers who prepare the arena and bring the Acolytes. Henry (bruised shins, given the marigold) and Lucy are named.

Glass Flippers (Acolyte): hit by Grickle’s arrow, then split in half by the Shadow King. His soul primed the Box of Chaos and appears as the shadowy figure that trades from it. He likes bread.

Divinity D&D (Acolyte): caught Witch Hunter’s nipple in their mouth.

Places

  • The Shadow King’s throne room (Dread Fortress), with dusty old doors and a long rug.
  • The Frozen Lake: a tundra “not creatively named.”
    • Something moves beneath the ice.
    • An archway over a small pond, a pillar and an elevated area.
    • The Acolytes’ coliseum hangs in the sky above.
  • The “coward’s corner” in the stands.

Items

  • The Box of Chaos: primed with a soul, it trades a magic item for a sacrifice, with a pink-and-yellow heatless fire. “Not explosive, but not in that way.”
  • Iron Fang: a war pick, +2, extra thunder, with “sparkle/glitter damage” (Grickle to name the effect).
  • The greater (“half a gallon”) and regular healing potions, which contain red dye.
  • Witch Hunter’s grandmother’s glaive, his heirloom lucky rabbit’s foot keychain, the stale bread, and the master logbook of deaths.
  • Elusia’s cutting amulet and the shadowy chains.

Lore statements

  • Elusia is the Shadow King’s niece (stated by him).
  • The Shadow King “used to be the box” (Caustic Phoenix, in table banter).
  • There is a Deathmatch every Sunday evening. The goblins help bring the Acolytes.
  • Hero points are the Acolytes’ energy, hopes and fighting spirit, gifted to the champions.
  • The arena has “a tradition of hibiscus lube.”
  • Thri-kreen have no eyelids and live short lives (Grickle is two).

Full Round-by-Round