A fierce grin upon her lips, the gladiatrix planted a booted foot on the dead champion's corpse, and raised his severed head by his hair for the audience to see. His blood smeared her round shield and dripped from the tip of her longsword. It flecked her mane of hip-length blonde hair, a warm honeyed gold with undertones of rose and orange. It spotted the healthy glow of her tanned skin, drew the eye to the sheen of sweat over her classic hourglass frame: breasts large enough to fill a grown man's cupped palm each, lush and rounded butt-cheeks to match, flared hips and a tummy with the barest hint of a curve. When she first arrived, the<em>lanista </em>-- the gladiatorial trainer -- had sneered that she had the body of a breeding sow, not a fighter. The<em>lanista </em>died in a freak training accident two weeks later, and Shanna's next trainer had been a great deal more respectful.<br/><br/>Still beaming, Shanna tossed aside the severed head, still with its expression of horrified shock, and blew a kiss at where it landed in the sand with a thud. The audience went wild with cheers: they loved theatrics like this. The newest gladiators, the fresh meat, were wide-eyed and terrified, fighting for very survival. Some veterans were sullen and silent, making it obvious they fought only at the whim of their owners. Shanna was one of a kind. She exulted in the process, relished her victory, flaunted her joy in her cocked hips and smug grin. And in doing so she made it very clear she was her own master, gladiatrix or not.<br/><br/>"Shanna! Shanna! Shanna!" screamed the crowd as one. They called her Shanna the She-devil, for the ruthless skill with which she dispatched her opponents, and they loved her as much as they lusted for her.<br/><br/>Her scanty costume, all white with gold details, showed her off in all her glory: platemail bra over a white spaghetti-strap bodice that left her shoulders and midriff bare, long gloves and thigh-high stockings under ornate gauntlets and greaves, a flamboyant red cape that fluttered dramatically in the wind, and an outrageously short, pleated skirt that might qualify as a belt. It rested low enough on her hips to flaunt her dimples of Venus and the straps of her thong panties high on her hips. The hem exposed the lower halves of her buttocks and was barely enough to cover her crotch. There was probably no weapon in the arena more devastating than the three inches of naked thigh between her stockings and the hem of that flirtatious skirt that swished and flared and teased the promise of glimpsing what lay beneath with every step. The fighters she'd beaten and humiliated called her Shanna Short-skirt instead, for those devilishly-skimpy garments she loved wearing to flaunt her hips and butt and bare thighs, but they were always careful to do it out of earshot.<br/><br/>With a flourish, Shanna whipped out the ritual cloth fastened to her belt, wiped the blood off her sword with it, and let it flutter from her fingers to skip across the sandy pit. Arena slaves scampered forward to pick it up; it would be haggled over fiercely by chiromancers for use in fortune-telling. In the stands above, wizened scribes clacked away wooden beads on their abacus, totalling sums and calculating payouts. The Favored, the nobility of the city, exchanged banter, words of congratulation or exasperation depending on the outcome of their wagers.<br/><br/>But Shanna saw none of this. Her attention was on the Sorceror-King watching from his throne high above, to whom she turned, knelt, and presented her sword. She did it with such fluid, practiced ease that even though her skirt rode up dangerously high and the audience behind her got a scandalous glance at the half-moon globes of her buttcheeks peeking out from under the hem, she avoided flashing anyone her panties.<br/><br/>"Come on, old man," she muttered to herself. "My freedom. I beat this dumb champion for you, it's time I got to go free."<br/><br/>She was Shanna, twenty-two. She had come of age four years ago and spent four years in that pit of blood and sand and death. She had rose as high as any girl could hope to rise after being dumped by a passing trade-caravan short on food and left to stagger into the city on bare feet, and now it was time to cast her sights beyond the city walls.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Character Sheet</div><div class="spoiler_body"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Shanna (https://orcpub2.com/pages/dnd/5e/characters/17592239534284)</span><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">Female Human Fighter 1</span><br/><br/><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">STR</span></td><td>    </td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">DEX</span></td><td>    </td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">CON</span></td><td>    </td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">INT</span></td><td>    </td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">WIS</span></td><td>    </td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">CHA</span></td></tr><tr><td><div align="center">16</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">14</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">14</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">10</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">11</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">14</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br/><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Proficiency Bonus</strong></span></div></td><td>        </td><td><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Armor Class</strong></span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div align="center">+2</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">18</div></td></tr><tr><td><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Passive Perception</strong></span></div></td><td>        </td><td><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Max HP</strong></span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div align="center">12</div></td><td></td><td><div align="center">12</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br/><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Proficiencies</strong></span></td><td></td><td></td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Saving </strong></span></td><td><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Throws</strong></span></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Acrobatics</strong></td><td><strong>  +4</strong></td><td>        </td><td><div align="center"><strong>STR</strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong>+5</strong></div></td></tr><tr><td>Animal Handling</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td><td><div align="center">DEX</div></td><td><div align="center">+2</div></td></tr><tr><td>Arcana</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td><td><div align="center"><strong>CON</strong></div></td><td><div align="center"><strong>+4</strong></div></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Athletics</strong></td><td><strong>  +5</strong></td><td>        </td><td><div align="center">INT</div></td><td><div align="center">+0</div></td></tr><tr><td>Deception</td><td>  +2</td><td>        </td><td><div align="center">WIS</div></td><td><div align="center">+0</div></td></tr><tr><td>History</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td><td><div align="center">CHA</div></td><td><div align="center">+2</div></td></tr><tr><td>Insight</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Intimidation</strong></td><td><strong>  +4</strong></td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Investigation</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Medicine</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Nature</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Perception</strong></td><td><strong>  +2</strong></td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Performance</td><td>  +2</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Persuasion</td><td>  +2</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Religion</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Sleight of Hand</td><td>  +2</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Stealth</td><td>  +2</td><td>        </td></tr><tr><td>Survival</td><td>  0</td><td>        </td><td></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>