The city of Mulan is a mecca of arts and culture. But that does not mean sports are overlooked. By far, the most popular sport in Mulan is the monthly match in the Mulan Arena. The gladiatorial contests are considered the epitome of art with their fusion of physical perfection, movement, tactics and blood. Nes and Chips The champion of the Mulan Arena was Nes Samjjo. Nes started in the arena as a slave and was one of the few who fought his way to freedom, but even then he stayed in the arena, fighting for the glory and riches that his skills brought him. He was helped in this by his agent and mentor Dene "Chips" Tuxedo who not only looked after Nes' massive wealth, but also arranged the gladiatorial matchups, choosing who Nes would fight. Although Chips was not particularly good with people, who was great at calculating odds. He also had learnt how to hack into the network controlling the massive areas of the arena. Through this he was able to introduce expensive gasses into the waiting quarters of Nes' opponents before matches. Undetectable, but causing rapid exhaustion of anyone breathing them. Because of the skillful manipulation of the system that Chips provided, Nes never lost a match. Of course Nes did not know this - as far as he was concerned he was obviously the most skillful (and handsome) fighter that Mulan had ever seen. Of course, this deception could not last long and while they were not able to pinpoint what was going on, the owners of the arena realised that something was amiss. At the same time, Nes was approached by some anonymous individuals who explained that their employer had made a great deal of money betting on Nes over the last few years, but now that few people would bet against Nes the return on investment was not what it was. They informed Nes that it would be in his interests to 'take a dive' in the next non-fatal combat and that if he did so he would be very rich. It was implied that he would meet with an accident if he did not comply. Of course, Nes would not accept such corruption and won the next battle easily. Buster Buster has always had a way with the rough and tumble. His tendency to not think things through often lands him in situations in which he has to resort to it - but so far he has managed to survive and thrive. He tends to have a child-like curiosity about the world, which has led him to befriend children and others who still share a sense of wonder. His current troubles have arisen because he has befriended a boy and girl (Klui and Baen) who have had the misfortune to have their single-parent mother fall into debt to the wrong people. Buster approached the debt-merchant, a lady named Ehvera and managed to convince her to wipe the debt. But that came with a price. Buster needed to sign up for the next arena battle. Despite his fears, Buster agreed and was shocked to find that even though this was his first arena battle, he was scheduled to fight the arena champion, Nes. While Buster considered himself excellent in a fight, this was beyond him. However, before the battle, Nes visited Buster to wish him good luck. They found that they got along very well and even did a little sparring. Surprisingly, Buster found his abilities to be at least equal to Nes, although Nes had enough of an ego to not notice. On the day of the battle, while waiting for the doors to open, Buster found himself suddenly and strangely becoming lethargic. He fought the battle with Nes, but felt removed and was beaten easily. Kell Kell was sitting in an ancient bunker he had been informed of, connected to a large numenera artifact that allowed him to listen to pieces of conversation around the city. He had not left this room for some weeks, as he had not found the starting point for his studies yet, but when he heard a snippet of conversation in which someone was told to assassinate Nes Samjjo and his agent, this was enough to spring Kell into action - he needed to warn Nes. Everyone Kell made his way to the arena, bypassing the automatic security. Despite his obvious social issues, he was able to warn Nes and Chips. The three of them left immediately and made their way to Chips penthouse apartment. The apartment, however, had been ransacked. Chips quickly checked and found that his gas supplies were gone along with many of his notes and his locked strongbox with all of his saved cash. They grabbed what they could and retreated to Kell's bunker to decide what to do next. It was obvious that they needed to get out of town quick, but to where. As they retreated, they came across Buster returning home. Buster was delighted to see Nes again. Nes (never one for subtlety) told Buster that they were being hunted, so Buster decided to join them. They made their way to Kell's bunker and went through the gear that they had grabbed from the penthouse. Going through the items they found a number of cyphers that they distributed amongst themselves, some shins and an old map that Chips had won many years ago and had stored away. Maybe it was time to get out of town and find wealth and glory elsewhere.
