To Rayne's first and third questions, the harpy shook her head sadly. It seemed she wasn't a quest hook NPC for an escape route out of their current predicament, after all!<br/><br/>Though, she was a little more responsive to the second question. The harpy thought for a few moments, wingtip on her chin... then she shuffled as close as she could, her body pressing against the bars. Her arms transitioned into wings just below the shoulder, her feathers an exotic shade of soft blue that matched her hair, but her torso was very much a young woman's. With legs spread she tried to thrust her crotch out towards Rayne between the bars as much as they would allow (not much) and pointed between her legs with her wing. The feathers brushed against her swollen nub and puffy slit - oh, how wonderful their teasing touches must be! - but they weren't stiff enough to apply enough pressure, enough friction, to actually finish the job. Her frustrated arousal trickled down her thighs and Rayne could even smell it from where she was.<br/><br/>Perhaps the harpy was suggesting an exchange of goods for services rendered?<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Harpy's Desperation</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag94/Autocad-E/sample_2de438c447b9913405ff30adf136cea9_zpsvabswqjv.jpg)</div></div><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Rayne didn't have time to follow up on the harpy's offer either way as the dwarf arrived to lead her off shortly after. Perhaps later when, or if, she returned...<br/><br/>Her captor was a terse sort who didn't even dignify Rayne's protest with any recognition, much less an actual answer. He wore a rather unpleasant grin as he looked her up and down in her new outfit, the archer looking every bit like a slutty warrior out of an adult-rated game. More than she usually looked the part, at any rate. The bow... was actually decent, even if it wasn't masterwork or anything fancy. Instead of wood, it was made of a type of hard woody fungus commonly used as wood underground. The runes carved along the length suggested dwarven craftsmanship lovingly made by the bowyer, even if it did end up serving a questionable cause. The quiverful of arrows to accompany the bow were specially blunted to minimize their lethality without affecting their flight<em>(can only deal non-lethal damage with no other penalty)</em>. He pointed towards the end of the room, where a wooden elevator was waiting for her, with ropes and pulleys ready to pull the platform up to... somewhere. "Good luck lass... ye'll need it!" Sending her off he gave her a smack on her mostly bare rump - the thong-like bottom didn't cover much more than the top - for good measure!<br/><br/>She was taking the ride along... as the wheels turned and the elevator rose, nearing the top she began to hear a woman announcing, her voice magically amplified to boom out above the cheers and catcalls of a raucous crowd.<br/><br/><strong>"Laaaaadies and gentlemen, monsters of all alignments! Weeeeelcome to Balmorlag Arenaaaaaaaaaa!"</strong><br/><br/>The roars of the crowd were loud enough that even with magical amplification the announcer had to pause her speech. At that moment Rayne's elevator reached the top, and the noise of the crowd hit her at full blast. Light, brighter than any she had known since coming underground, shone into her eyes and temporarily whited out her vision. For a few seconds she was effectively blind and deaf, but gradually her vision and hearing adjusted.<br/><br/>She was in a large stadium enclosed by rock walls and awning. A large, large-enough-to-hold-a-person-inside-large, glowing globe hung from the cave ceiling and gave off light. That wasn't the source of the light shining in her eyes though - that came from a spotlight high above. There were several more, highlighting the announcer - rocking the fallen angel look with black-feathered wings and speaking into an anachronistic microphone probably hand-waved as an unholy fusion of magic and mad dwarven engineering - on a box beside the arena proper, and on the arena floor - which was smooth and plastic-like rather than sand - a pair of heavily muscled and tattooed dwarves in nothing more than bulging loincloths and boots. The stands were absolutely crowded, with dwarves an obvious majority but also representatives of every other race and also not a few monsters interspersed among the spectators.<br/><br/>The announcer continued.<strong>"I give you, in the black corner, baaaaack by popular demand, the Twiiiiins of Siiiiiiiiiin! Let's hear it for Keldun, Sooooon of Thuuuuuuuuuunder! And no lesser, Dunkel, the Tooooon of Suuuuuuuuuunder!"</strong>The crowd clapped and cheered itself sore and hoarse!<br/><br/><strong>"Aaaaand in the white corner, I present to you our newest challengeeeeer!"</strong>With a flap of her wings, the Announcer took to the air, landing beside Rayne!<strong>"Daughter of Elf from the far land of Azoth where the sun in the sky shines bright upon the city of Stag's End, would you grace us with your name?"</strong><br/><br/>Up close... Rayne could<em>feel</em>it: the ability to initiate actions that she only could with another player and not an NPC. No, not sex, rape-minded players actually could initiate that with an NPC, if they were strong enough to prevent any nearby guards from stopping them. No, it was the metagame actions, like partying or trading, that were restricted to PCs... the Announcer must be a player! And no, she wasn't wearing a collar either...<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Announcer of Balmorlag Arenaaaaaaaaaa</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag94/Autocad-E/4e104c06d13569a658be8adf60ca0db6_zpszx3jvtbv.jpg)</div></div>