The school steward enters from the southern storehouses, an alert middle-aged man with a narrow build, ink-stained fingers, and a brown wool mantle over a faded tunic. He carries a draft tablet and two wax tablets for witnessing.
The School Steward
Before publicity invites interference, the safe endpoints must be copied: clean disarm or true immobilization, honorable concession, full purse, and each fighter’s right to depart.
He sets the draft beside Decimus’s public announcement. The language preserves the spectacle’s fierce challenge, but gives no herald, patron, or sponsor authority beyond the witnessed bout.
Decimus Severus
A clear record will strengthen the Colosseum. Let Rome see the rivalry, but let the tablet prove that neither fighter is owned by the story told about her.
Veteran Hoplomacha
If the words preserve the challenge rather than soften it, I will sign. I intend to meet Myrina as an opponent, not as a woman already defeated by a clerk’s caution.
The steward turns the tablet toward her and points to the final lines: no second exchange after concession, no divided purse, and no restriction on either fighter’s future work. Decimus waits with his stylus raised.
The School Steward
The reputation belongs to the fighters, but so does the freedom to leave. Let us copy the terms before the crowd makes them harder to defend.
“"Then write that the match will end when one of us yields or is unable to continue. I mean to humiliate her, which is hard to do if she is dead."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Oratory, rolled +0)
Valeria Asiaticus
Write that the match ends when one of us yields or cannot continue. I mean to humiliate her, which is difficult if she is dead.
Valeria’s words carry through the records room and toward the waiting crowd. Her established popularity makes the non-lethal ending sound like the promise of a fierce contest, not a retreat from spectacle.
The School Steward
Then the endpoint is clear: concession or inability to continue. No killing blow, no second exchange, and no divided purse. I will write it exactly.
The steward adds the terms beside the Exhibition contract tablet, preserving its lawful purse and departure rights. Valeria’s precise demand leaves no room for a patron to reinterpret humiliation as a license for death.
Veteran Hoplomacha
I accept. If I yield, Rome will hear it. If I cannot continue, the bout ends. But I will make you work for the victory before either happens.
Decimus Severus
Good. Crowd Favorite fills the seats, and Unbreakable Contract Negotiation keeps the terms from becoming a death sentence. I will seal this version for the public match.
The school steward copies the ending conditions onto both wax tablets. Decimus seals them beside the Exhibition contract tablet, and the grudge match now promises humiliation, spectacle, and a clear survivor without requiring either fighter’s death.
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the records room with the sealed rematch terms
✓ Quest Accepted
Stage the public grudge-match rematch
“She discusses the match with Marcus Flavius before the scheduled day.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Oratory, rolled +2)
In a quiet corner beneath the Colosseum’s records shelves, Valeria lays the Exhibition contract tablet between herself and Marcus Flavius. The lawful terms give their strategy a firm boundary.
Valeria Asiaticus
The crowd must believe I want revenge. In truth, I want a fierce contest that ends when one of us yields or cannot continue. I will press her without surrendering control.
Her words are measured for the arena as much as for her coach. Crowd Favorite turns the proposed rivalry into a promise of full seats, while the tablet keeps spectacle from becoming license.
Marcus Flavius
Then make the story serve your discipline. Let her spear threaten the space, let your evasions look desperate, and choose the moment when her recovery exposes her.
Marcus traces the planned exchange on the tabletop. Valeria’s Oratory gives the grudge its vivid shape, while Unbreakable Contract Negotiation preserves the clear ending, full purse, and both fighters’ freedom.
Marcus Flavius
I am persuaded. Fight boldly, but do not chase her anger. Turn her spear, make the audience fear the opening, and let the lawful endpoint decide the winner.
“She appears at the Colosseum on the scheduled day.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Athletics, rolled +2)
On the scheduled day, Valeria enters the Colosseum in fitted gladiator armor, moving with effortless athletic control across the sand. The armor protects without slowing her stride or balance.
The crowd recognizes Myrina before the herald can announce her. Cheers roll down from the tiers, swelling as spectators point toward the fighter who promised a public reckoning.
Veteran Hoplomacha
There she is. Let Rome see whether your confidence can carry you through the whole contest.
Veteran Hoplomacha waits opposite in her own fighting gear, spear grounded beside her. She is surrendered from their earlier bout, but today she stands ready as Valeria’s lawful opponent.
Decimus Severus
The terms are sealed: one bout, full purse, and an end at concession or inability to continue. Let the spectacle remain honest.
Marcus Flavius
Your footing is sound, your armor sits properly, and the crowd is already with you. Now make her spear work for every breath.
The herald raises his staff. Valeria reaches the marked boundary without hesitation, greeted by a roar that makes the promised grudge match the arena’s center of attention.
Quest Complete
Leave the records room with the sealed rematch terms
Skill Upgrade: Thievery Good→Great