Finnris at the House of the Fallen Star - early autumn 04/M7 2213 AR

On his last night with the Pit Fighters. Urgak of Katagia invites Finnris to the House of Fallen Star, a notorious fighting pit and brothel in the Sark district east of the Great Quosa, and introduces him to her owner, the Nimothan Setesh Uttikal. The three of you gather at Uttikal’s pit side table to drink well and watch the show.
Most of the battles that night are fairly routine, until the last – three Phoori Headhunters pitched against a lone, unarmed man… a man over eight feet tall! He has elaborate tattoos on his arms and legs, as well as on his face and the top of his bald head. The crowd goes wild at the sight of him – Setesh Uttikal leans over and comments:
“That is Ruuk Nath. He is undefeated – watch…”
Finnris watches as Ruuk Nath uses his massive bulk to toss his three opponents around and knock them senseless, breaking limbs and smashing bone with his mighty punches.
As he crushes the skull of the last Phoori, the man-mountain Ruuk Nath looks up, covered in fresh gore, and catches Finnris’s eye.
And he smiles.

Finnris bows his head and raises his flagon in salute to the giant, but does not break eye contact. Finnris grins like a hungry wolf, but his eyes are cold as death.

Ruuk Naath grins back mirthlessly at Finnris as his fingers dig into the face of the last Phoori - there's a sickening pop as the whole front of the skull caves in. Naath turns away, raising two corpses above his head in jubilation as the crowd cheers.

Finnris has a sense of foreshadowing...

Finnris replays the fight in his mind, measuring Ruuk May is reach, considering his foot work and balance.
Calling for more drinks, he toasts Urgak of Katagia and Setesh Uttikal and says.
"So tell me about the giant Ruuk Nath?" 

Uttikal frowns, sipping dark wine.


"There is a dark story behind this brutal champion’s fame. From early boyhood, when he first began to exhibit signs of his extraordinary size and strength, Ruuk Nath has been steeped in violence and murder. He was bought by a nobleman I shall not name, and trained to be an unthinking weapon. As a boy, they say, he was given small children and frail old slaves to strangle. As a youth, he murdered weak or injured slaves and warriors. After every death, he was rewarded with dark rituals, infusing him with even greater size and strength. As a grown man, Ruuk Nath lives now only to demonstrate his might by ending the lives of others."

Finnris muses:

The ways of those calling themselves civilised and noble are strange. And they call my kind savages and barbaric.
                                                           * *

HOUSE OF THE FALLEN STAR 
If there is a more sordid establishment in Quodeth, it would be hard to name it. The Fallen Star is a sprawling, ramshackle fighting-pit where bloody arena fights are staged almost every night. Raucous taprooms, brothels, and a bustling black market are located in various parts of the rambling stone structure. The place was built atop the crater left by a good-sized meteorite that struck a decrepit block of buildings fifteen years ago, knocking down half the block with the force of the impact. The meteorite still lies in the middle of the fighting-pit and remains warm to the touch even to this day. The master of the Fallen Star is a strapping Nimothan barbarian named Setesh Uttikal, a former freebooter and mercenary who adventured all over Thule in his youth. His two wives—a Dhari woman named Eamel from a tribe Setesh befriended in his travels, and Valebel, an elf that he saved from Crimson Slavers—help him to run the place. A dozen heavy-handed enforcers and legbreakers make sure the revels don’t get out of hand each night.