Moments before the fight is scheduled to begin, a loud crash can be 
heard and the doors on the far end of the Arena burst open.  From the 
darkness comes a chill that permeates from some source of unnatural
power, laying just behind the blanket of blackness.


    Slowly the feeling grows, peaking with a brilliant green flare and the 
appearance of the powerful necromancer, Tynian Blackfist.  His form is 
layered with magical fire, which shimmers and bends with its own life, 
echoing in the depths of his golden eyes.


    As Tynian steps forward, the magically amplified voice of the announcer 
reaches all those in the stands, introducing Tynian.  Screams ring out as 
the crowd gazes upon the tortured figure entering the Arena, but these seem 
to have no effect on the concentrating warrior.


    At the other end of the Arena, the opposite doors swing wide, revealing 
the second competitor, Morlock.  Appearing as a human in his late 40's, 
Morlock's hair is beginning to turn grey.  In his hand he carries a staff, 
capped at one end with gold, and with silver at the other.  Attached to each 
end of the staff is a leather sling.


    A glowing ribbon of magic stretches across Morlock's chest, and the 
arenea seems to be cloaked in shadows, within which crackle tiny bolts of 
lightning.  His entire form is also shrouded in whispy blue flames that 
flicker in the wind.


    Looking across at his newly arrived foe, Tynian, speaking in a low 
voice, addresses the defiler, "Now I will show you what a true opponent can 
do old man!"  With a sharp word, the air around the necromancer shimmers 
with a white/blue glow, flickering just outside Tynian's body.


    Watching his opponent's movements, and seeing the manifesting magic, 
Morlock's left hand tightens into a fist around the ruby he carried in with 
him.  Muscles stand out on his arm, highlighting a pheonix tattoo on his 
forearm, and there is a sudden crack.  Magical energies quickly spread from 
his hand, racing up his arm and diffusing across his body, before seeping 
into his skin.


    Keeping his gaze locked on his opponent, Morlock replies, "Let's just 
see which one of us it is that walks out of this Arena, eh?"


    A look of sadistic glee on his face, Tynian takes a few quick steps 
forward.  At the other end of the Arena, Morlock pulls a small crystal rod 
from a pouch at his belt.  Intoning a few quick syllables, the arenea points 
the rod at his foe and intones the last word of power.


    Throughout the Arena, the spectators' hair stands on end as a vortex of 
electrical energy gathers.  Suddenly, a bolt of lightning forms, a mere 50 
feet from Tynian, and rushes toward the necromancer.  A second later the 
lightning reaches Tynian's location, but just before it can slam into him, 
he disappears.


    With a soft popping noise, Tynian reappears about ten feet to the left.  
Grinning, he begins the droning chant that will release his
magics.  As he finishes, he points a clawed finger at Morlock, smiling as he 
says, "Your time is up old fool..."


    As he speaks, a lance of grey energy leaps from his fingertips, striking 
the human defiler.  There is a flash as some hidden magic erupts from within 
Morlock, defending him from Tynian's spell.


    "I see that you can fight with magic, but I wonder, what else can you 
play with old man?"  Softly, the necromancer speaks one word, twisting the 
syllables until the air seems to glow around him.  As the glow begins to 
grow, the fire around him dissipates, and the stones that circle his head 
fall to the ground.


    Picking up the stones, the necromancer smiles, drawing his wickedly 
curved blades.


    With his opponent still at the other of the Arena, Morlock focuses on 
the spell he is casting, intoning the complex incantations needed.  A moment 
later he finishes the spell, and puts forth his hand, clenched in a fist.


    Opening his hand, several motes of light rise it, flying up to circle 
his head.  As they do, the lights grow, seeming to become more solid with 
each second.  Slowly the light fades, leaving a ring of seven eyes circling 
his head.


    With a smile, the necromancer comments, "I knew you were old, but the 
need for 7 eyes?  tisk, tisk, tisk."


    Concentrating quickly for a moment, the necromancer waves to Morlock, 
disappearing with an audible 'pop'.  Suddenly, the necromancer reappears 30' 
from the defiler, readying his blades for combat.


    Morlock turns to face his enemy, while rising into the air.  The defiler 
continues to rise until he is 20 feet above the ground.  Morlock reaches 
into his pouch, then smiles down at his foe and waves, showing the steel 
sling bullet he'd retrieved.


    Tynian returns the smile, making a wave of his own.  With a flare of 
magic, the green flames once again wrap themselves around the necromancer, 
who begins to point.  He speaks a simple word, "19", and suddenly a small 
bead of light flares forth from his outstretched
hand, rising towards the smiling Morlock.


    Suddenly the bead bursts into a huge ball of flame, the flames outlining 
Morlock, offset by the shadowy aura around him, and illuminating a second 
magical aura cloaking him, previously hidden by the shadows.  This second 
aura flares for a moment, drawing in the flames.  In a moment the fireball 
is gone, completely absorbed by Morlock's magical protections.


    Placing the bullet in the sling attached to his staff, Morlock swings it 
forward, sending the steel ball racing straight for Tynian.  The necromancer 
tries to duck away, but is too slow, and the bullet slams into the side of 
his head, momentarily stunning him.


    The second bullet hits right after, pounding into Tynian's chest.  As 
his opponent stumbles back from the force of the blows, Morlock reaches into 
another of his pouches.


    With a burst of speed, Tynian begins to rise into the air, moving 
quickly towards Morlock.


    Morlock's eyes narrow as he watches his foe flying toward him.  His 
hands fly to his weapons, as he opens his mouth, from which spews a gout of 
flames.  Tynian, having nearly reached his enemy, barely manages to blink in 
time, appearing ten feet behind Morlock.


    In a flurry of movement, the necromancer moves forward to strike out at 
the human, his movements flowing together into a flashing vortex of steel.  
Morlock spins to face him and there is the clashing sound of steel as the 
two close to melee.  At the same time, the green flames surrounding Tynian 
spread to cover Morlock as well.


    With the speed of the attacks it's hard to tell what is happening, but 
it looks as though both score hits on their enemy.  After thirty seconds, 
the two pull apart momentarily, enough to see that both are splattered with 
blood.  However, there are no cuts evident on Morlock's body.


    Before the melee can continue, Tynian blinks once more, this time 
reappearing 15 feet away.  He glares at his opponent for a moment, then 
disappears again.  Only this time he doesn't reappear.


    Spinning all around, Morlock scans the Arena for his foe.  Seeing no 
sign of him, Morlock starts another spell.  Quickly finishing it, Morlock's 
entire being seems to glow for a moment, before fading back to normal.


    With his opponent still nowhere to be seen, Morlock opens his mouth and 
lets out a single musical note, it's sound layered in magic.  As the note 
fades, the bruises that were beginning to form where Tynian's scimitars had 
hit disappear.  Then, swiftly, Morlock's body begins to change.  Nearly in 
the blink of an eye, Morlock is gone.  In his place is a marilith tanarri.  
Looking around, the demon says, "Come out Tynian, and fight me."


    So saying, the marilith reaches back and grabs the four scimitars 
strapped to her back, while also holding the staff that Morlock walked in 
with.


    Morlock, now in marilith form, spins around as Tynian suddenly appears 
behind him.  The necromancer's wounds are gone, and his first strike 
narrowly misses Morlock's neck.


    The defiler brings his weapons to bear, and melee is joined once more.  
However, the fighting is much shorter this time.  A few hits are scored, and 
more blood is spilled, but then Tynian loses his grip on one of his 
scimitars.  Reaching, he barely manages to grab it before it falls to the 
floor of the Arena.


    Morlock, seeing his chance, slashes forward with his weapons, but it 
seems that he's not used to having this many arms, as his weapons all seem 
to hit each other at once.


    Seeing his opponent is impervious to his strikes, Tynian begins to 
curse, blinking backward faster than most eyes are able to follow.  Suddenly 
there is a tremendous flare of magic from one of his rings, and a bright 
ball of flame leaps from his fingertips, speeding once again towards the 
tanarri in front of him.  The fireball bursts with an explosion that rocks 
the Arena stands themselves, sending more than one patron to the ground.


    Morlock stands his ground, and as the fireball explodes around him, he 
opens his mouth and releases what looks like a light green haze.  Tynian 
finds himself caught in the hazy cloud and suddenly starts clawing at his 
throat.  He coughs a few times, then goes limp.  The magic supporting him 
fails, and he falls the 20 feet to the ground, landing in a heap on the 
floor of the Arena.


    Sheathing his blades, Morlock shifts back to his human form.  Looking 
down to where Tynian lays, he says, "I guess if Stitch wants my head he'll 
have to come and get it himself."