Staring with his reptilian grin into the crowd, Ivan Zagad gestures to the arena below from his place on the balcony. "We have on one ssside the mage. . . Whisssper. . . and on the other, the bard Melquiades. . ." A small cheer ripples through the crowd at the second name. "Without further pause, their blood shall be ssspilt. . . for your pleasure. . ." The lizard-man steps back into the shadows.

Singing and tumbling about, Melquiades enters the arena. He cartwheels along the edge of the pit, enjoying the fervor of the crowd. The spectators cheer him on as he finishes his flashy show of acrobatics at his assigned place on the edge of the arena. "Thank you! Thank you!" he cries, grinning. Quickly, he mutters a few words over the rapier at his side, and as he finishes the weapon begins to hum and glow with power. He raises the weapon to the crowd with a flourish.

As the applause dies, Whisper enters from opposite him, and a hush falls over the arena. The small, brown-robed figure exudes an aura of madness and hatred. He waves his hand, and the soft glow of mage-summoned armor surrounds him for a moment. Deliberately, he beckons to Melquiades. "Have you come to play with me?" he asks, voice cold and hungry.

Ivan Zagad raises one hand. "Begin!" he cries.

Melquiades immediately rushed toward his opponent. Drawing a dagger as he runs, the bard hurls it at Whisper. The distance between the two is too great, however, and the dagger clatter's at Whisper's feet. Ignoring the dagger, Whisper hurls an attack of his own, a small, closed bag, which flies wide of Melquiades and explodes in a burst of greenish slime on the stone floor. As the bard closes further, the young mage throws another tanglefoot bag at his enemy-- but this one also flies wide. Now Melquiades, singing a merry battle song, raises his rapier and slams into Whisper at full speed. The injured sorcerer falls back with a cry of pain. In frustration, he draws a pebble from one of the pockets of his robes and shrieks an incomprehensible syllable. As Melquiades raises his rapier to strike at his wounded opponent, the small stone flashes with enchantment and an unnatural darkness falls instantly over the two combatants.

From within the magical darkness, Melquiades' singing continues unfazed. The crowd can hear his sword slashing against the stone walls and the floor. One spectator shouts, "Hey! We can't see the fight!" Immediately, Ivan Zagad peers over the railing and hisses a word of power-- and, for the spectators, the darkness seems to thin and lose its opaqueness.

It is quickly apparent that the two foes are still unable to see each other. Melquiades continues his random slashing about, but he remains a dozen feet away from his invisible opponent. Whisper, too, has troubles. Carefully, the mage fumbles through his pouches and extracts a large, chalk-colored stone. Listening intently for his opponent's movements, he heaves the stone in the general direction of Melquiades. It touches the ground near the blinded bard and immediately detonates with a thunderous blast. Melquiades screams in pain, dropping his sword and covering his ears with his hands. Several members of the crowd shout angrily at this cruel attack, but Melquiades, deafened by the blast, can no longer hear them. Whisper mutters another spell-- the sound of footsteps suddenly emanates from the edge of the darkness. Of course, Melquiades, already unable to hear the illusionary sounds, doesn't fall into the trap. Whisper waits for a few moments, then lobs another thunderstone in the direction of the sound-- it explodes harmlessly.

Evidently satisfied with the results of his magical barrage, Whisper grips his darkness-enchanted stone in one hand and hurls it away from him. The stone flies harmlessly into the crowd, its enchantment extinguished as it leaves the arena by a gesture from Ivan Zagad.

His sight returned, Melquiades looks about for Whisper and charges at him, rapier raised. Calmly, Whisper draws a flask from beneath his robes and hurls it and the advancing bard. The flask meets Melquiades in the chest and bursts into flames. Grinning maliciously, Whisper reaches for his staff, left standing against the wall-- but Melquiades reaches him first. The bard slashes his rapier at the sorcerer's chest. Groaning, Whisper grasps his quarterstaff, sliding to the floor as he attempts to fend off his opponent's sudden torrent of blows. For several seconds he avoids the attacks-- then, suddenly, he swings his staff at Melquiades with all his might, desperate to turn the tide of the battle. Melquiades accepts the blow with only a grunt and sidesteps dexterously around the crouching mage, nonchalantly bashing him in the head with the pommel of his sword.

Defeated, Whisper collapses to the stone. The crowd breaks into delighted cheering.