Duel:Asailu v Vaidhe
Duel Info
- Judges: Rawnie, Rilling, Jerralith
- Stakes: OOCFC Round 1 Advancement
- Assigned Duel Details: Novice Fermin Thief with 1 low powered magical item(not weapon)
- Rd/time: 3rds / 15 min
- Date: 07/16/2012
- Venue: Fermin Apothecary
- Decision: Vaidhe (split)
Venue
Fermin Apothecary
Twitchy Twibble, the fermin apothecary is here.
Vaidhe vs Asailu
Vaidhe :: The evening had been going so well till now. The small sack slung on Vaidhe's back, bulging with an assortment of ill-gotten gains from elsewhere in these damp tunnels, would give testament, however modest, of the young thief's various successes...and never mind that most of the items were near useless - a comb, a hunk of half-rancid cheese, a knife bent out of true - since in the eyes of most aspiring bandits, one theft ought to be nearly as good as the next. And here, in the apothecary, the novice's run of good fortune seems to have come to an end. It is not due to the proprietor, who appears to have fallen asleep behind his rickety stool, but instead due to the shape now clearly visible in the apothecary doorway. It would appear that Vaidhe is not the only hapless individual plying his trade. The creature he glimpses is one of his own kind, and perhaps up to much the same business as himself, but if there is one thing that a hard life below ground has taught this youthful ratkin, it is that being observed at mischief is a good way to find your troublemaking brought up short. So thinking, Vaidhe drops to all fours, shrugs his small shoulders and shakes loose the ratty pack which had earlier been slung across his back. It spills open upon hitting the floor, and Vaidhe kicks the whole mess toward his opponent, hoping to cause a slip and tumble should she have approached before thinking the situation through. Regardless of her advance, the floor is now littered with an assortment of rotted, broken and otherwise dangerous debris, all of it entirely mundane in nature. As if to goad his new foe into some sot of hasty thought, Vaidhe plucks up a jar from a shelf and fires it toward her as hard as his wiry arm can manage, then begins to scuttle back and forth, hissing through clenched fangs as if in jest or taunt. Few fermin flee from such a challenge, but Vaidhe waits to see if this one will be any different; perhaps that quickly thrown jar will have fetched the woman a good bonk, caused her to stumble and fall afoul of the mess on the floor. Gifted with such good luck, the young thief will waste no time in pouncing upon his new prey.
Asailu , a three foot black ratling, had spent much of day in the sewers visiting the variety of shops to be had. From each one she had taken something new to add to her collection of odds and ends. Little hands quick with the skill of pick-pocketing that she had learned as a little baby fermin. The goods had already been stashed away before she'd ventured toward the Apothecary hoping to get a few potions from the gray man to sell for a higher price to the people in Larket, but her luck seemed done with the run in with another thief at the shop. Beady eyes scanning the room quickly as the bag and its spilled contents came scattering her way. The path to Vaidhe was a mess with random objects all over the floor. Her nose scrunched up and sharp teeth bared the female accepted the challenge of the male. Having been watching his skittering about the jar was almost missed as it came flying toward her. Dropping to a similar position on all fours Asailu took the jar to her thin left arm on her way down sending her into a small spin backwards. As she moved in the turn from being hit her pink tail whipped out smacking purposely against some of the junk that had fallen closer to her, sending them flying back at their owner. Quick on the return after bumping into the door frame the ratling scurried across the floor in a dead run at the male squealing out the battle cry, "For the Mistress!"
Vaidhe voices a triumphant shriek as his glass projectile strikes Asailu's arm and bounces away, the tiny vessel shattering on impact with the stone floor. So taken up with this new addition to the fray - a pungent blob of cave mould and a strew of broken glass, a veritable trove of weaponry if he can get close enough to use it - that he is caught almost completely off guard by the wayward items so speedily returned his way. He trips and falls rather gracelessly as half a bedsheet and a stone-hard loaf of bread bump one of his scurrying rear paws. He falls to his side but immediately sits up, snarling, raising his left arm to ward off the charging female fermin as she quickly bridges the distance between them. As she reaches striking distance, Vaidhe pistons that blockading arm outward and toward her muzzle, issuing a single guttural word quite unfamiliar on the tongue of a rat. The single utterance causes the buckler strapped to this appendage to snap open like a rough clamshell and disgorge its payload, in the form of a sinuous snakelike blast made of grayish smoke. The serpent's head is a compacted ball of electricity, good for only one charge, but the rest of the reptilian form is a fairly tight stream of ccorrosive gas acting as both propellant and serious irritant. The buckler dangles from the ratkin's left arm in two shattered halves now, as much an encumberance as an aid at such a time, but Vaidhe holds his breath once the single explosive cantrip has been expelled, not wanting to be laid low by his own attack. Now poised on his haunches, prepared either to leap straight forward or to dart away toward the broken glass ane half-spoiled fungus, Vaidhe waits for the interloper's agony to begin, silently congratulating himself on having acquired such a nifty bit of gadgetry in his travels. Never mind its steep cost and one-time use; that single dirty trick, he thinks, might well mean the difference in this struggle.
Asailu had been keeping a close watch with her beady eyes upon the male who had tricks bouncing around his little mind. Though her path was direct toward the male she waited until she was but two feet away before changing her directed path to running diagonal and from the other side. His arm that swung out with his fancy gadget missing her with the ball of the serpent head as it released from the compartment, but the gas that followed could not be avoided by the snarling ratling. She'd breathed it in without knowing what had hit her causing her mouth to quickly go dry from any saliva that was being formed. That wasn't the half of it as it burned away at the inside of her nose and throat causing a rather sickening coughing sound. With her coughing it slowed the progress of Asai's run down, but the thief would not allow her back to he turned to the other. Quick hands reaching for any piece of fallen junk that she could grab onto, a comb… One swift motion as the male rat leap she slide the comb against her sharpened teeth to bust away the pieces leaving a rather sharpened piece of plastic. Coughing still from the gas Asai lunged with all the force her body could muster at Vaidhe, sharped comb out in hopes of stabbing into her foe.
Vaidhe takes Asailu's own cue and bounds into action, the better to be slashed a glancing blow rather than remaining stationary and risk being brutally carved by the remnant of the comb in the female's fist. His leap takes him in the direction of his hurled glass jar and causes Asailu's wild stab to pass along his right hip and leg instead of digging into his rather unprotected belly. Landing spread-legged in the broken glass and suffering many small abrasions to the pads of his feet as a result, Vaidhe begins scooping up handfuls of sharp shrapnel and flinging them at Asailu, hoping that the gas is still enough of an impediment to her that her eyesight - and thus her reaction speed - is less than his own. Most of these bits of flung glass are not aimed in the slightest, but from time to time Vaidhe throws a particularly vicious-looking shard with a split second of forethought behind it, intending to skewer an eye or puncture the throat-vein which pulses so near the surface with its freight of rancorous blood. To add to this assault, Vaidhe punctuates his fuselade with wild shrieks, hisses, clicks and squeals, the better to further unnerve and disorient his adversary. Without any warning or preamble, and still possessing enough ammunition nearby to continue his assault, Vaidhe springs nimbly into the air in a low flat arc with both forepaws out, a move of considerable risk but great potential as he intends to slam Asailu face-first to the floor and batten upon her neck and spine with teeth and claws both. This ratkin may not be a seasoned thief, but his upbringing, as is true of most Fermin, has lent itself to a brutal, pitiless existence where one tiny mistake might mean the difference between life and death. It is just such an instantaneous lapse or distraction he hopes for, a moment of weakness or confusion which will turn a wild pounce into a wicked killing-stroke.
Asailu had finally stopped coughing enough to be able to hear what was going on shortly after the male fermin had landed from his leaping lunge away from her and the comb. Her sight was blurry at best, but like most of her kind she was skilled enough to not need her sight as much as she used her excellent hearing. Straining to listen against for the sound of the flying glass sharps the ratling scurried left and right to avoid most of the pieces. It was a bit hard to hear all of them with the noises from Vaide. Small, but sharp pieces would puncture into her black furred flesh. Each time the female moved left or right to avoid the aimed pieces her tail would swing the opposite direction sending pieces that had already landed zipping back across the room at the male thief. Along with the shards came random objects from the floor with the first couple swishes; one of which was a knife bent. But it was when she heard him spring from his place by the mold and entrance she extended a small hand with a single ring upon her finger, the stone placed in the center red with something swirling in the midst of the stone. A single shriek released the fire ball contained within the magic ring. She only had one shot to make it count as that was all the enchantment of the stolen item allowed. As soon as the fire was released Asailu pushed with her feet to slid backwards away from the incoming thief. She had no plans of becoming caught in the fireball as he came down upon the floor before her.
Vaidhe is so incensed by the battle that he hardly seems to notice the wound in his right leg and the various impacts against his feet and shins before launching himself airborne. Pain is felt, but given little credence in the heat of combat. As luck would have it, the fireball from Asailu's ring hits Vaidhe as he is coming down, scorching the fur on his back and setting it ablaze. With an alarmed shriek, the Fermin does the only thing he can think to do in the cluttered apothecary; he rolls into a ball, protecting his more vulnerable parts and trying to put out the flames by simply rolling over top of anything and everything handy. The bedsheet and a moth-eaten towel serve to mostly quench the blaze, which was fitful at best, and amid the smell of charred rat, Vaidhe uncoils himself near the apothecary doorway, facing inward, and rises to all fours, scanning the room before locking his eyes on Asailu before issuing a snarl. Never say die; it is a motto to live by. The young thief may be hurt, but his foe is now in no position to flee, and Vaidhe, despite his injuries, has enough fight left in him to bring to mind sayings about the danger of cornered rats. He will await Asailu's next move, whatever it is, hoping to observe a sign of weakness before making some reaction of his own. The night is long, and his wounds, painful as they are, will not kill him before dawn. "Lots of time," he hisses at Asailu. "Lots and lots of time. Come and let's be done with you."
Auto hit round
Vaidhe edges deeper into the small chamber housing the apothecary, gaze locked upon Asailu in case she should make any sudden moves. There is something undeniably predatory in the diminutive creature's stance as he moves, offset only slightly by the blood matting his fur and the burn across his back and shoulders. He moves in such a way as to keep Asailu in his line of vision, crabbing sideways as necessary to maintain his vigil. When he approaches melee distance, the ratkin lunges forward with both small fists tightly curled and delivers a quick one-two punch to the other fermin's muzzle, an artless pair of blows which might nevertheless render her dizzy or unconscious for a brief spell. Vaidhe makes haste to collect a few vials from the wall; amazingly, the shopkeeper has not stirred from his sleep in the far corner, suggesting perhaps that someone of greater skill has been here before to plunder some goods. With his newfound treasures and little else jingling in his tattered knapsack, the small fermin slips out the same way he had come, intent on the small hollowed-out section of tunnel he calls home. A stiff drink, a squirming meal and a bath, probably in that order, await him there