Death Yield
With Max 'Expendable' Redshirt turning up asking for a progress report from the councillor, we let him know what little we've found out. Our main hope of getting closer to the political mind behind the possible revolt is still fighting as gladiators in the arena in the hopes that the currently sole agitator sees the potential in us and recruits us for whatever cause she is promoting. The fighters in the party head back to the arena to see the organiser of the events and get us on the bill again, this time at the top of the bill playing a special fight. The only downside is that our opponents have an extra fighter, and we are asked if we could find someone else for this fight. I remain staunchly on the side of believing that dying in the first round isn't much help, so it's lucky that Max Redshirt had turned up, and that he's itching for some friendly combat.
We find out that the fight will be special as there will be barrels full of water hung from the rafters in the arena, and that the gladiators are encouraged to try to cut the ropes holding them up so the barrels drop to the arena floor, preferably on top of an opponent. This gives us an idea, and I get myself a ninja outfit for the big night. When the night comes, I manage to get myself up in to the rafters where it is dark enough and I am stealthy enough that I am unlikely to be detected. I then position myself close to the barrels, so that should the opportunity presents itself one of my team can haphazardly throw any weapon up at the barrel and it will be guaranteed to drop the barrel. It's a plan that works quite well, and whilst I am up there I also notice that the office areas in the arena don't have ceilings, so once the barrels have been depleted I head on over to the office of the agitator and hide myself as well as I can, hoping to find out some new information after the fights of the evening.
Meanwhile, the fight is interesting. Tal, being the strategic mastermind that he is, charged headlong in to all the opponents right at the start of the fight, getting himself surrounded by four of the five, and flanked by two, and being in dire straits quite early on. We manage to salvage his situation and get ourselves positioned better after a few rounds, and although we have taken quite a beating so have a few of the other side, and it could still be anyone's match. Dexter looks pretty bad, though, and one more blow, however glancing, could knock him down. A solid hit could end him. Even though yielding to the opponents is unwelcomed by the audience and takes one out of the fight, it is far more preferable to being killed, particularly in a simple gladiator fight for entertainment.
Even so, when Dexter gets to act his critical state of health doesn't really register with him immediately. He turns to a wounded opponent and swings his hammer mightily, crushing the man's skull, killing him. It is then that Dexter realises that perhaps he should not be in a position to be hit again, and shouts 'I yield! I yield!', dropping to the ground and crawling to the edge of the arena. It's an interesting tactic, to kill someone before yielding, but it was certainly effective.
I wonder if it would be possible to ready an action to attack someone who said they were yielding. After all, the readied action technically occurs just before the action that triggers it, so it sounds like a valid move, and there cannot be much more of a softer target than someone who is so wounded that they have to yield. It would certainly make yielding a less attractive option.