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Some fifty kilometers northwest of the Imperial City of Apothos is a place known as the City of Broken Hope (CBH). It is a city for the battle hardened, the champions, the gladiators, the gunners, the magicians, the fighters of all Beyon. Tournaments are constantly held here, ranging from the forced fights between convicted prisoners and the professional combat of those seeking to make a name for themselves and prove their abilities to the rest of the world. The most important by far is the once in a lifetime event known as Beyon Tournament.

The city is built on a flat bedrock plain, surrounded by the nearly flat to slightly hilly farmland of Sentarian plain. It is located in the heart of the old Delfos Empire. The empire earns money by leasing out the right to hold tournaments to the highest bidder.

CBH is divided into multiple arenas, stadiums, coliseums, and proving grounds.

Apothos Stadium


A modern thirty thousand seat stadium. The battlefield is a football field shaped and sized arena of plain grass turf. Underneath the stands are the facility's for the guests who watch the events. There are plenty of restrooms, shops, and lounges for visitors. All stadiums have their own security office, announcement system, and communications grid as well. For the protection of the audience, high density energy shields activate, wrapping the combatants in a bubble should their attacks backfire at the spectators. It is located in the north west corner of the city.

Yaits Corporation Stadium


The same as Stadium A except that the battlefield is a simple circular cement platform with a diameter of 50 yards. It is slightly smaller, seating about 20 thousand fans. It is located in the south east corner of the city.

Gunslinger Stadium

This is an enclosed dome stadium with a high wall, their are often steel cages suspended from heavy chains from the domes ceilings. Below is a metal platform surrounded by a retractable cage wall. This is a technical stadium where high power fights are not allowed. The main focus of this facility is gun battles and cage matches, as the floor can be set with obstacles to provide cover and make gunfights more interesting. It is located in the south west corner of the city.

The Coliseum


The first structure ever built in CBH. It is a smaller facility, designed in the ancient Grecco-roman style. The seating for the audience consist of cement steps which go down to a precipice overlooking the field of combat. Here, the floor of the arena consists of soft sand and the area is much smaller, an oval about 20 yards wide and fifty yards long. It is located in the north east corner of the city.

This structure is used only for battles in which the contestants have no powers beyond the scope of human ability, as there are no safeguards in place to protect the structure or the audience.

Proving Grounds


In the center of the city is a hilly proving grounds, fenced off from the general pubic. Here fighters are allowed to go at it freestyle, anyone who wished to get involved in any active fight may upon entering the grounds. It is closed periodically for the cleaning of corpses.

Other places

There are three hotels for visitors who wish to watch the tournaments.

Hotel Wonderia: Located between the Yaits Corporation stadium and the Apothos Stadium. Hotel Wonderia is a twenty story high rise hotel with five star amenities. Upon entering the grand lobby you'll find a vast red carpeted area under an immense golden chandelier. Grand ballroom staircases flank the main desk, leading to art-deco display of the second floor balcony.

The service desk stretches wide between the two staircases, and there are always three or four clerks dressed in black suits with red blazers, waiting to take you in with a smile, as long as you have sufficient gold for a night stay.

Executive Suite- There is only one. The top floor is the executive suite prime, servicing one lucky and fabulously wealthy individual. It serves well as one's own personal mansion away from home. Amenities include a heli-port, a roof top garden with an olympic swimming pool. There is a full sized kitchen in case you feel the need to bring your own personal chef, as well as a cleaning quarters if you must have your own cleaning staff, but you will still be charge the same rate regardless.

The bathroom is equipped with a personalized shower stall that provides a forceful spray of water from up to sixty different directions. There is also a full bath and a bubbling jacuzi so there will be no lack of cleaning options. The bathroom even has its own personal sauna.

The executive suite prime lounge area is nearly the size of the lobby, plush seating arrangements, open space, and a wet bar provided with either your own or one of our bartenders makes this the perfect place to party. There is even a stage with the latest in sound system and lighting technology for that live concert experience. The grand bedroom comes standard with king sized four posted bed and of course the massive HD television systems are retractable so they can fit back into the walls when you don't want to be bothered with television, gaming, or internet. This suite is designed to have a prime view of the CBH riverfront and the outlying plains, which have been cleared of slums to create an elegant landscape with a prime view of the Telmi river.

Prime Luxury Suites- The prime suites are spacious accommodations on the upper floors. Full valet parking comes standard. The rooms have a spacious living area equipped with wide screen entertainment center, a full office, a luxury bath, kitchenette, and a bedroom with a king sized bed and secondary entertainment center.

Standard Luxury Rooms- Lower floor rooms, still quite luxurious with a full bath, king sized bed, entertainment center, and corner office.

Hotel Arcadia:

A prime competitor of Hotel Wonderia. The layout of this hotel is much the same. It is located between the gunslinger stadium and the ancient coliseum. The main view of the top suite being the Gunslinger stadium and the coliseum respectively. As there is no riverfront view and the hotel is closer to the slums. Prices are slightly better for all rooms here.

The Primal Bend Hotel & Bar:

On the border of the slums and the outskirts of city, along the road to Apothos itself, can be found the Primal Bend Hotel & Bar. It's a two brick story building surrounded by little brick huts with doors that serve as hotel rooms.

The main building has the bar, which encompasses the entire first floor. The counter itself runs along the entire back length and both flanks of the room except for a small space for darts in front of the left front window. It has a wooden decor with a biker bar feel, neon signs in the windows and advertisements for brew on the walls. It's a hangout for every low life fighter In CBH, so bar room brawls break out often. The damages are considered he cost of doing business, but if you start tearing things up too badly, the owner will put you out.

The two rooms in the main building have a double bed and a bathroom, they are also kept the cleanest.

The other rooms, surrounding the building, are substandard at best. You get a single cot, a lamp stand, a drawer, and some faded carpet space for your feet. Each of the rooms as a ceiling fan for the summer and a small electric heater for the winter. The bathroom is a shared stall facility in the center of the huts. It may not be high class living, but it is quite affordable for poorer fighters seeking a fortune in CBH.

CBH Park Mall Compound:

There are also several small malls with restaurants and shops around the stadiums and the hotel. These are all no fighting zone, enforced by the sponsors and the Delfos Empire.

Security:

Red had been hanging around these parts for awhile now. The fact was, she was trapped here, trapped in a city of broken hope. Past events had not been kind to her, she had been tossed and abused, lost and broken. The organizations she founded were gone, her money was gone, her memory was lost, she didn't even have decent clothes anymore. Her old clothes and armor had long disintegrated from battle and overuse. She was thin, gaunt, malnourished, a ghost of her former self. All she had left was to continually battle, to continually abuse herself, constantly pushing herself to the edge.

She would emerge from behind a twisted pile of three steel hedge-hogs, standing before Argos rather boldly. This was her next meal ticket. Argos would not see a warrior, but rather the remains of one. A thin and sickly woman with long red hair, wearing a brown burlap dress that was dirty and torn, a weathered hemp rope tying it in the middle. Her feet were bare, but there were bands of armor, some type of steel, tied to her wrists, palms, and shins. She was holding a long bowie knife that looked a bit dull from overuse and a lack of sharpening. There was a bag hanging from her left hip, its contents a mystery.

She took a battle stance as if it was the most natural thing to do and stared at him through wild red eyes, a twisted smile rolling up the left side of her lip. Then she ran at him, darting between obstacles and disappearing before appearing again in effort to confuse him. Her speed was almost unreal, as she moved as fast as a human could possibly travel with ease. Using that speed, she attempted to get to flank, or even the rear of his position before he could adjust.

The high speed tempered stainless steel bowie knife almost two feet long was her only weapon.

She needed to attack from behind, if she couldn't get behind him before he reacted, she would retreat and hit from another position.

Her inventory was exhausted and her only working weapon was the bowie knife. Yes, it was a little worse for the wear, but it could still cut without sticking if she sliced with the right part of the blade.

If Argo's back was facing her, she would strike full speed, as she was positioned only slightly outside his attack range. Her speed and agility, the ability to avoid and evade, the strike when the enemy was not facing her, was now her chief weapon.

If Argo was facing her, she would back track, running for the cover that was so ample in this gun fighting ring, from there, she would attempt to flank him again. you'd think she'd be winded from all the running, but she wasn't, running was her life, she was always running.

She was caught, a full on attack was launched from behind, his right arm catching her, throwing her initial attack off as she was going for the throat. Whether or not she intended to kill once she got her knife pinned there was another matter.

Being knocked off balance from being blocked at such speed made it near impossible to avoid the next attack, which was too fast and light to be avoided in her situation, so the back of her head was vulnerable. Though, Red wasn't hesitant to use her knife, there was a wild glow in her eyes as she slashed her bowie knife toward his left arm as it rolled upwards, hoping to make him pay with a wound for using such defensive tactics on her, for underestimating her.

It was more like the way she used to fight, always waiting for the enemy to make the first move then defending. She wasn't so much like that right now.

He'd hit her, it hurt, but she had left her head fall forward at just the right time, eliminating some of the dizzying power.

Her cranial motion was low and forward, intended to ram him in the gut with the top of her head. It was a stupid strategy but she followed it blindly, charging full speed away from him as he backed away and regrouped, as her target was now behind her. Once she realized she was running away, she listen and try to tune her senses back to near normal.

The impulsive move and not knowing where her opponent had gotten too would actually save her from having her back become a target by the Drell's blade, for now, as at full speed she should have been able to outrun him, unless Drell's were really fast.

Sitting amidst the empty seats sat a being. It was more than a man, but less than a god. His bright blue eyes focused on the battle. Acresius smiled. The two of the combatants had entered the arena with out even really knowing it. Though he supposed the more interesting fact was the one who had appeared through a portal. Probably the work of some damned technology. The other two had merely exchanged some small blows. Mostly focused on knife combat. Though the red headed human was skinny and appeared weak, she was doing quite well. A sigh slowly brushed upon his lips. "Might as well make my presence known." He mumbled.

Acresius' fingers ran to the back of his head to scratch his head, blue hair moving slowly back and forth with the motions as he stood up. When the itch was gone he brought his hands together in a slow clap, which eventually sped up. "Bravo!" The powerful voice boomed through the arena.

If they hadn't noticed him before his presence would be known now. His black leather jacket falling to his waist, meeting his black belt and pants. Attached to the belt was a bright blue sheath, out of which an elegant hilt stuck out with red leather and signs of blue metal at the end. Underneath the black leather jacket a gray-green shirt covered his muscled mass, and around his neck was a black leather collar with a broken chain dangling down. He continued to stare at the three combatants, then his gaze followed down to a small gang of bandits that seemed to come for one of the three. Possibly for Acresius himself. He had no way of knowing for sure.

BOOF!!

Being a foot away from the mad rush of a charging woman was not a good place to find oneself. Especially a woman of Red's heritage, her body was built for speed, and she could maintain a good run far longer and much faster than an ordinary human. Her people had not been known as the acrobats of the western lands for nothing. It was very unlikely he'd have time to think about escaping before before she slammed into him. Lucky for York, she was holding her knife out, but was a bit disheveled from a hit in the head and was keeping it to her side.

Slamming into him, he would receive a devastating head butt to either his stomach or side depending on where he stood. Red would pass out, not so much from the hit but for hunger, she was a gaunt shadow of a woman, and looked as malnourished as she felt.

I will fight on!