Duel:Arlyeon v Lita, Match 6 of the 2023 Titans of Winter Tournament
Duelists: Trish vs Lita Duel: Traditional 3 rounds with final defense, 20 minute posting limit. Stakes: Standard, autohit delivered by winner with allowance for final reply. Judges: Meri, Quintessa, and Valrae.
East Arena
Unlike the others, the ground of the eastern arena is not paved of dirt or marble, but roughly cut, white bricks of ancient clay. Built into the pattern of the pieces is a primeval design of magical epistle, neatly segregating the area into proportionate divisions. Each region bears the glyph of the elemental sphere controlling its nature: earth, air, water, fire and spirit. The very central portion bears no sigil at all, though, as the hard ground has been burned over and blackened.
Valrae || The moons had started their journey into the Cenril night sky as the streets began to fill again for the highly anticipated Titans of Winter. The stands were already packed and the biting chill of winter was lessened by the heat of many bodies. The music was loud, the talk louder as voices rose to be heard above it. Fans for both contestants were out and seemingly more rowdy than usual, as brawls had already ignited and guards struggled to break them up and toss the offenders out into the streets. Lita was another tournament darling, popular still from her recent win in Vailkrin’s Blood Bowl. Ina was a local and well known merchant. Fans for either side were loyal and ready for blood. Ale flowed, food flew from hot stands and into ready hands. The Mayor watched apart from it all and felt melancholic as she longed for the days of being another face in such alive crowds. She was again in her private seating arrangement, surrounded by guards and wrapped in another fine dress spun from fine velvets and striking illusions. There were other nobles and foreign dignitaries sharing the Mayoral box, talking and enjoying drinks and delicate finger foods, but the conversation passed through her and somehow emphasized her longing. At the signal of an attendant below, the witch stood and took her place near the railing. The crowd simmered to a hush with the wave of her hand. “Welcome to the sixth match of the Titans of Winter!” Valrae’s voice carried with no trace of her earlier malaise. As the drum beat halted she continued, “Tonight, Blood Bowl champion Lita will test her skills against-” A loud voice cut into her announcement with their own. The voice was unrecognizable. “Trish, Of Trishes' Untamed Treasures! Your one stop shop spot for the finest things in life. Whether it's finely tailored items for the most discerning of adventurers, delightful and delicious desserts, or alchemical concoctions- We're the best in the industry! In fact, our contestant is willing to bet their life on it in facing off against last year's Vamp Champ! Just how will they survive this match? And will they even be in a state to show their face afterwards?”
Lita is here with no great fanfare or posh dazzle, it's just not her style. Dressed in the usual little black sundress, the leather crow bracer on her left arm and a bone charm bracelet around her right ankle. She makes her way through the crowd to pad barefoot into the arena. Raven curls have been somewhat tamed into a braid and as an homage to her first official arena duel, she sports a simply drawn smiley face on her right shoulder in silver paint. She stretches her arms over her head and onto her toes as she stands to await the beginning of the duel. She tends to purposefully ignore the crowd for these things, too distracting. But she'll be grateful to catch the occasional familiar voice, for sure.
Lita rolls her eyes at the sound of Trix's voice cutting into Val's address but a smile follows. She's not even surprised.
Arlyeon is here- though, at a glance, she'd likely look a fair bit out of place. Mostly because where others might have arrived with some form of armour, or arnament- the foxkins apparel is a bit more outlandish. And this is even compared to her penchant for dressing up like a professional card dealer. The first thing that would likely stick out is simply the fact that she's dressed for an entirely different climate, sporting sandals, cloth shorts that could only -just- be considered appropriate for an audience, and short crop top that more or less hangs off of her. It's incredibly casual, which makes the salamander demi-cape and hard leather gloves stick out all the more. That said, perhaps the element most likely to raise eyebrows, or otherwise bait attention- is the fact that the foxkin is -thoroughly- soaked, clothes and skin alike oiled up in a substance whose scent could only be considered as 'rank'. In any case, it's in this manner that Ina arrives, and promptly gets to work on setting up shop. That's right- instead of bringing in a sword, or a crossbow- what Ina has chosen to smuggle into the Arena as her combat supplies, is a large crate full of everything she needs to set up an advertising stand. Specifically, a pair of posts with a colorful banner that reads 'Trishes Untamed Treasures - So effective, I'll bet my life on them!'. It's...maybe a little shoddy- but it's fine, given what she could bring in. And once it's set up, that simply leaves her with the leftovers. Namely, a small string of potions she wraps about her waist, a bag on a cord that she loops about her wrist and an angrily humming vagrant's bindle. There's also a the box itself- which, queerly exudes a sort of radiant sense of being at peace that would probably feel right at home in a temple- but, the fact of the matter is she's more interested in using it as a soapbox, so she can try and at least measure up to the Vamp Champ in Stature, "Yo! So- I'd say may tha' best one ring, but ja'd probably cream me. So! Uh- May the worst one triumph, amirite?" She holds up a finger, reaches the bag-on-a-cord, and promptly procures a potion marked suppleness, "Speakin' Of which-" She has a pair of lungs on her, "If you're worried about the rigors of time, or what a life of hard adventuring might do to yer figure n' features- try Ina's Tonic of elasticity, sure ta keep your features smooth." There's a showmans flourish towards the bottle she's holding, before the whole thing is chugged back, "Because remember, if yer gonna leave a corpse- leave a pretty one." A pause, "Now go check out my booth- I think Someones manning it." Lanlan was -supposed- to be, but gods know if he actually is.
Arlyeon said to Lita, “I'd ask if ya wanna shake hands on a good fight- but uh- Look, I get -nervous-. Eheh.”
Lita said to Arlyeon, “May the worst one win," offered with a playful wink. "I'm good with that.”
Valrae paused as she waited for the crowd’s energy to die down again after the unusual interruption. Leave it to ‘Trish’. Still, the Mayor remained the picture of poise as she began again. “Contestants,” As she spoke, mages surrounded the arena. “Tonight, you will fight in absolute darkness.” They wasted little time enacting the spell that would plunge the arena into complete and total darkness, though cleverness would allow the spectators to witness what unfolded without any hindrance. Because of the delicate nature of the spell, an unintended twist would be that light would suddenly appear to the contestants in a strobe-like effect. It would allow them brief flashes of the space directly before them at random intervals. “But this is not your only challenge,” The witch promises. “This arena is filled with black ice and dangerous pits of jagged rock. Mind your step.” Finally, she dropped her hand. “Begin.”
Round One
Arlyeon’s immediate reaction to the ensuing plunge into darkness is to audibly -boo-, "MY ADVERTISEMENTS. I put hard work inta- AHHH!" Not only isn't she privvy to the fact that the audience can see things clearly, she's also not expecting the sudden burst of light, which washes over her in a nauseating fashion. "Rackum Frack-" Oh, and then there's ice, neat. She at least has a small island to herself, given the large box she's standing on, but it does make her think extra hard on her choice of footwear. Still, maybe it'd help to balance things out slightly- given she didn't have much of a hope insofar as outmaneuvering the vampire normally. And maybe, just maybe, it'd help the babies she'd brought along with her. it's on that particular note that the foxkin grasps the humming, nay -buzzing- bindle, and promptly pulls at the cloth holding it taut- loosening it enough that it completely unfurls when it's hurled in an approximation of where Lita can be seen. It's the sort of gift that would normally beget refund requests- given that it immediately erupts into a literal hive of killer bees, all of whom have been kept on a steady diet of dragon blood infused honey. When Ina invoked being the worst, she wasn't kidding. In any case- she's not really intending on resting on her laurels here, which is about the point that she tugs at the bag of holding around her wrist, and promptly plucks out an umbrella from it's depths. Perhaps Leoxander might feel some form of primal dread at the sight of it, given that opening it produces a perpetual cloud of pixie dust- but, really, he's probably at a safe distance. Which means, this is just a case of Ina getting high on her own supply, so the idea of fighting a vampire -without- a meat shield is less daunting. Plus, the umbrella sort of doubles as a stick she can use to poke at the ice and gently slide her platform along. Towards her banner, specifically. May as well try and optimize product placement.
Lita is not at all surprised to see Trix wandering into the arena half-dressed and carrying construction supplies. She shifts from one foot to the other, looking almost bored as the trickster assembles her little stand, advertising her shop. If Lita had less restraint, she'd march over there at first chance and light the thing on fire. She crouches for a few moments as Trix makes her spectacle and plucks a half dozen or so small rocks from the ground around her feet. No reason why she couldn't take out both. Even if a recent friend's words filter through her brain about not getting distracted by trivial things. She grumbles under her breath about it as she stands again, moving the stones from one hand to the other, if only to keep her hands busy for a moment longer. The familiar forms of mages move towards the arena as Valrae begins to announce their environmental challenge. She's hoping for exploding illusions or wyerns but she'll take the sudden pitch of darkness, especially since her opponent smells like death- which might be less a hindrance than she'd thought suddenly. And at least that would take care of the shop stand. Even with preternatural senses, she can't quite see her hand in front of her face. At least not until somebody explodes a small star into the arena with a flash of light and she groans a complaint and closes her eyes immediately. Well that was going to suck. She'd briefly seen Trix still near the stand and atop her soapbox but trying to see anything about the path between them was near impossible. She tosses a couple of the stones she's collected in a straight path between them, listening carefully so she can judge the distance and listen for any of those pits Val had mentioned. They do not sound like fun. She makes it about halfway between them to close the distance before she hits a patch of ice. Probably for the best since the bizarre sound of buzzing is growing louder and she has no idea what- She hits her butt on the ground, flailing a bit, a string of curses lets loose as a bee stings her right arm and she swats at it, squishing it instantly but wincing at the burn of dragon's blood. Should have known, right out the gate. Her only saving grace might be that they also seem to be having trouble seeing in the darkness. She rolls sideways to attempt to get off the patch of ice and her fingers find the edge of one of those pits. She crouches so she can keep her hand on the edge of the pit as she moves around it, still aiming to make her way towards the foxkin's stand. With the next flash of light, she sees she's a bit off her mark directionally and the girl has an umbrella? But at least she's put some distance between herself and those bees. "Hey!" She calls out from a few yards away, and she lifts an arm to toss that handful of rocks at Trix, aiming for her umbrella and hopefully beyond it. They might not exactly be sharp weapons, but they'd do a fair bit of damage if they struck home, all the same.
Round Two
Arlyeon’s in the midst of row-row-rowing her box (rather futilely given it's weight), when she's granted a reprieve by Lita's decision to be -sporting- of all things, the 'Hey!' coaxing the fox into turning in the vampires direction, a motion that is simultaneously accompanied by her swivelling the umbrella towards her in that same motion. Really, it makes for a piss-poor shield, given that it's not actually reinforced (yet)- but the steel framework does serve to deflect some of the pebbles that might have otherwise struck home. That said, a few do manage to make their way around, or even punch through the silken fabric- hammering into the foxkin's exposed flesh with every bit of unnatural force Lita was able to muster in that attack. "Fffff-" And it's in that moment that Ina is -unimaginably- grateful for the darkness- because it masks the manner in which the shards drive into her skin, distorting the flesh, but never rupturing it. -Dodging- a vampire had never been in the cards, the fox had known better- but a bit of suppleness, of potion-borne elasticity, was going to go a -very- long way to keeping herself alive. Especially when that same stretchyness snaps back against the pebbles embedded inside her of herself and sends them blasting back in Lita's direction with a vengeance, an equal but opposite strength, which also helps Ina insofar as planning her next action. Her none umbrella wielding hand dips down to her belt, tracing over her potion belt for the right addition. One of them was broken- the vials contents shattered by a rock, and now gliding over the oily coating she'd treated herself with, but the one nestled over her backside was still intact. Without a second thought, it's hurled towards where she'd heard a hey (and potentially any ice-bound scuffling)- the contents bursting on any sort of impact into a fine carpet of...it's just extra sticky honey. Gross. Gross...and dragons blood infused, and bee attracting. Sweet Cyela does Ina seem to have it in for the champ. And that's not even the whole of it, given that not even a moment later, the foxkins procured one last item from her bag of holding- namely, a small sugar saucer worth of something that looks suspiciously like turkish delights, which - she promptly spills. It's just a mess everywhere around her of small sugary cubes smelling of fruity confectioners sugar. Is it according to plan? Who knows! In any case, that developement is enough that she finally deigns to hop off her soap box, and take cover behind her it, when the next strobe-like flash resolves itself. Along with a dramatic "bleugh~" since she's probably supposed to be mortally wounded, instead of just mildly sore.
Lita is not at all surprised to hear that Trix has found some way to launch those stones back towards her. She might not be able to see the girl's nonsensery going on, or even take the time to understand it exactly, but knowing its plausability means she has to take it into accord during every step of this duel. She glances over her shoulder and away from Trix when the night flash of light booms around them, only to track where those damned bees are. They seem to have found their heading at last. Good. Lita waits, counting seconds, reminding herself to breathe, still crouched on the ground as she listens to Trix fumbling around in the darkness somewhere ahead of her. With the next flash of light, dark eyes take in the terrain between them as quickly as she can and before she can think much more about it, she takes off running at a sprint. Just in time as a couple of the bees is awfully too close for comfort and she swings an arm wild to swing at it out of sheer annoyance. She hits another patch of ice she hadn't seen and her arms flail to try and keep her balance as she all but surfs across it, entirely ungracefully, before hitting something slick and sweet-smelling. Gross indeed. She might have stuck in it if it wasn't for the bone charm anklet spelled to keep her feet clean. A necessity when you insisted on wandering around barefoot everywhere. Some of the mess splashed up to stick to her legs and the hem of her skirt but it doesn't seem to be enough to draw the bee's attentions as they're thankfully distracted by the mess. Past the ice and finding solid ground again, Lita keeps running. A few more steps and then her toes lose solid ground in favor (or the opposite of) empty air. One of those pits. Well, she hadn't seen that either. There just wasn't enough light. She launches herself into the air which as much strength as she can muster, just in time for another burst of light to illuminate the pit below. Probably shouldn't have looked down. She's trying to gauge the distance and her landing- it happens in slow motion in her head. Her right hand reaches for the dagger tucked away in her bracer and she hits the other edge of the pit with arms on solid ground and her feet dangling below, scrambling for some sort of purchase for a second before she buries the dagger into the ground and uses it to drag herself up out of the death trap. She'd definitely take wyverns over this, for the record. Standing finally, tugging the dagger free, she sets her eyes on Trix's little stand once more. Running the few more paces between them, sliding to her hip on another patch of ice, this time with a smile, she's a pro by now. One leg outstretched as she aims to send herself into the little shop stand and hopefully smash it to bits around the trickster.
Round Three
Arlyeon had -sort- of been hoping that the honey would do it, in large part because she was starting to get a little peaked from all the pixie dust floating in the air around her. Admittedly, it could also be chalked up to her own innate laziness, dislike of protracted combat- and the ovearall awareness that not only was Lita scary, she was likely -annoyed- at this juncture. But here we were- which meant, it was time for phase 3 of the plan. Specifically, as the patter of feet continued to advance towards her position, Ina snagged the potion belt from around her waist, and quite promptly swung it over her shoulder and against the cubes she'd scattered about her position. Maybe, if Lita could have clearly seen the details- she would have recognized the trap she'd fallen into. She did, after all, have first hand experience with those little cubed 'treats'. But the darkness had done an excellent job of masking them, and the light was so shortlived that those dehydrated gelatinous cubes may as well have been mistaken for pebbles. That is, until the contents of those potions shattered over them. Before Lita even has time to properly collide into the box, she'd find herself facing off against a -rapidly- expanding mass of acidic goo, if only because the -bulk- of the potions that Ina had been carrying were potions of -growth-. Which, one might think would be best applied to oneself, but- well, when it -fails- to grow vascular systems, their applications are a bit limited. Which is where the importance of a liquid repelling oily surface comes into play- since rather then be immediately consumed by the wall of goo, Ina is instead buoyed up onto it's surface, slightly wholly parasol still in hand. ...Admittedly, this also means that, Lita has technically succeeded in her mission, since while she wouldn't have reached the stand herself, it's definitely been immersed in miasma, and is now in the process of rapidly dissolving within the guts of an impromptu Kaiju. "...Oh. Wait. How do I get down." She blinks, trying to get some form of bearings from her perch on the gelatinous mass, and having a horrible time of gauging the distance due to the alternating flashes of darkness and blinding light. "Maybe I can jus'- ...wait?" Hopefully people don't think too hard on this and another craughmoylian incident. It's fine, she has deniability as just a supplier right? Right. "Yeah- I'll jus' wait here. it's fine. There's snacks in that bag." Covered in mustard powder, because she had decided she also needed mustard powder in the bag. "...Maybe the cube'll be edible. Eventually. Do they ever stop being acidic?"
Lita might have been more careful is she wasn't thoroughly annoyed at this point. She hadn't even had a chance to punch anything yet! Except maybe one of those bees and that had been unsatisfying at best. The sudden appearance of some growing goo monster has her scrambling over ice and earth to stop her advance towards it. Ultimately she turns enough to her side that she's not facing it directly, her dagger plunged into the ice to try and slow her momentum. The outside of her left leg gets swallowed into the expanding mass and she lets out a growl of pain before flailing to get distance between them yet again. She takes a few paces backwards in the darkness, finding her breaths again as she leans her weight onto her right leg. She reaches beneath the hem of her skirt for the dagger at her thigh. It's not as fancy as the one Ina had made her, but useful none the less. She can literally hear the goo-monster eating its way through everything it touches, leaving Trix floundering and trapped atop it for now. That could be useful. She moves with careful steps in a little circle around where she knows the stand is and the monster-thing is growing. One dagger in each hand, all she has to do is wait. She is not so good at the patience thing, one dagger tapping against her thigh as she counts the seconds. And then the next flash of light erupts and she catches her chance. A corner of Trix's stand at its backside hadn't quite been engulfed yet, likely because the trickster's little treats had been scattered mostly at its front, where Lita had been. So Lita heads for that corner, at a brisk pace, knowing she's working against a gooey clock just now and she has to be quick. One foot on the stand and she drives a dagger into the sign at the top, using it as another step to launch herself upwards and towards the foxkin, aiming a swift punch for her face, or at least to just knock her over the edge of the miasma and back down to the ground where she could aim the dagger Trix had made her into something fleshy.
Final Defense:
Arlyeon doesn't know why, but she somehow feels like her foxkin self has been slighted in some profound, yet ultimately incredibly petty fashion. She squints, peering in the darkness as she tries to figure out the cause. Which, to be fair, it's not like she has a hope in hell of figuring it out. In fact, she's lucky enough that she even misses the sight of Lan cozing up to Valrae, even if her 'hussy-senses' are tingling (Read: Possessive jealousy). That said, this also means she's distracted enough that when her attention does slide back over towards Lita, she has just enough time to awkwardly stare at the vampire as she crests over the surface of the blob, and lands a devastating punch to her face. This was likely the moment the audience was waiting for, because Ina's neck contorts under the force snapping a 270 degrees, with her upper torso following suit, wrenched about in a vile display of the vampires strength- and likely providing the spectators their first real taste of a tournament bound tragedy. Only, well- "Works as advertised~" comes the slurred words, issuing from a face deformed in the shape of Lita's fist. As horrifying as the sight may be, the foxkins body manages to hold it's ground, and even begin reasserting itself as the vampires fist is drawn back for her follow up- providing Ina the means of snapping back into a neutral state, and more importantly- to swing her umbrella into Lita's incoming dagger. And perhaps in a normal match, this would be where things would be concluded- given the blade would undoubtedly force the parasol to yield, and then begin carving it's way through the foxkins flesh. But there's an important thing to note here- and that's been the pixie dust that's been -continously- accumulating. A dust which has been imparted with a certain degree of flammability, and which now finds itself subject to an errant -lucky- spark in this clash. In the space of a heartbeat, the top of the cube is engulfed in a blaze of fire- one which Ina is -mostly- inured against due to the flame resistant properties of her enchanted salamander demi-cape, while Lita herself wields a weapon the foxkin made, which itself is -vulnerable- to that same fire. Which would be fine and dandy were it not for the fact that the -percussive- force of the blast meant Ina was now sailing off the side of the cube, technically intact, but incredibly sore, and hurtling towards the ground at an accelerated rate due to her own elasticity. Also, despite her best attempts, no- opening the umbrella does not in fact slow her fall. "Ahhh!" Fun fact: The audience now gets to see what it looks like for someone to bounce off the ground a few times. Albeit without bursting into some weird pizza adjacent presentation. She doesn't even get to see how things turn out.
Winner: Lita
Auto Hit:
Lita is horrified to see Trix's head spinning in such an elastic manner. Not because it's unnatural, no, she's quite used to the girl's antics by now. She's horrified at the sheer lack of blood. No satisfying crunch of bone to bolster the impact, no grumbled complaint of pain and instead another advertisement for the trickster's products!? It's enough to make her want to punch the girl again! Instead the umbrella swings out against her dagger, sparking the top of the cube-mass-monster-thing to erupt into flame and Lita murmurs a curse under breath, knowing all too well what that means for herself. It had been a gamble to use the dagger Trix had made at all, since the trickster knew its weakness after all, but one she'd decided to take in the end. Trix seems to be thrown into the air in one direction with the force of the blast, leaving Lita trying to extricate herself from the gooey, acidic, now flaming mass and finding herself ridiculously thankful for a nearby patch of ice which melts when she slips on it. The water puts out any flame remaining on her clothing or skin, but leaves the rest of her a soaking wet mess. She takes a few deep breaths before making herself stand again and makes her way over to where she's pretty sure Trix had landed. She would normally try to stab whoever her opponent was, but unfortunately she liked this one. A little. So instead she'll hold out a hand to help the girl to her feet as Valrae's annoucement sounds from the stands above the arena. She might seem about to offer some sentiment of 'good match' or 'thanks for showing up' but instead, "Bees!? Really!?" She practically yells, entirely annoyed by both the bees and the advertisement stand. "Bees!" She throws her hands up in frustration and turns towards the arena exit, limping a little on her left leg and still mumbling to herself about buzzing and dragon blood-honey.
Arlyeon after having finished bouncing, is a somewhat flattened version of herself- deflated, you might say. Even moreso when the darkness drops, the announcement is sung- and she catches sight of Lanlan canoodling with Valrae before he dissapears. It's enough to just drain the old fighting spirit, which means there's no motivation left to try anything funny. Well, beyond accepting Lita's help- which is only funny because when Lita tries to help, Ina's elasticity results in her arm extending with the tug, and then continuing to extend as the exasperated vampire marches off in a huff. Eventually, the trickster's stretching point hits it's limit, and she zips off in the direction the vamp champ dissapeared. Though not before she can offer one last (slightly drained), "Shop With Trish & Never miiiiiiiissssssss~" Okay, the advertisements are finally over.
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