Duel:Beldur and Ynhaldei vs. Larewen and Vanzel

Part of the Surface Tension Arc

Location: Inside of the drow watchtower, located in South Sage
Duelists: Beldur and Ynhaldei (Surface Allies), Larewen and Vanzel (Drow Allies)
Judges: Leone and Argent
Stakes: If Larewen and Vanzel win, their actions directly led to the drow maintaining their control of the tower during the battle, and from it launching a massive attack to break the line of invading elves and keep a significant chunk of the insurgents at bay. If Ynhaldei and Beldur win, their actions destroyed the top half of the drow’s watchtower, effectively ruining their ability to survey the forest from above and defend their camp with archers for some time.

Drow Watchtower

Beldur climbing the ladder, he was actually glad at the success at not being noticed as they reached the tower. Granted, he was wearing heavy armor and wasn't very good at stealth. Seeing Larewen and Vanzel, he sighs as he doesn't see any way around them without fighting. His sword being drawn silently as he motions Ynhaldei, his partner on the mission, to prepare to support him. His large shield being held in front as if preparing for any potential attacks that may be directed to them upon entering.

Vanzel Turns around spinning a small glowing orange fireball around his left hands fingers at the smell of the human, disgusted at the disgrace of his presence smirks growing the fireball in size letting more light into the area. He motions to Larewen to give him support with the nussiance when he smells the other who he only suspects to be helping Beldur.

Ynhaldei :: Sighing as she enters, she never expected to do this idiocy but apparently her ‘people’ need her. Where were they when she was dying out in the desert. Shaking her head one last time before she glanced around the room and saw a familiar face, blowing a kiss toward the lovely lady Larewen before she introduced herself. “I am known as Miss Yin. Circus Master of the Travelling Mischief.” The Blind, dark skinned desert elf quietly surveys the room with her acute hearing, smiling as she adjust her magician garb and top hat, expecting some fun and adventure with them.

Larewen paid little mind to that which was going on around her, for the tattooed elf was busying herself with spells. A subtle whisper to renew the one that she kept upon her mind and another that would alert Vanzel and herself to the arrival of unwelcomed visitors. It came just as Beldur and Ynhaldei began their assent and so it was that when they entered, Larewen turned to face the pair. Beneath the ebon veil of her hat, her lips quirked upward in amusement. "A bit sooner than expected, but this ought to be fun," she cooed.

Beldur sighs as he forgot that his companions previous occupation. "We're not here for pleasentries and I doubt they want a show, Miss." Noticing Vanzel's fireball, he rose his shield as he marched forwards. He charged towards the elf after a couple steps. Tripping the drunk drow as his sword rose over his shield. The polished blade and armor like a wall of Mythril and the point aimed to injure the mage. "Remember the mission!"

Vanzel laughs at the knight charging his and summons a couple undead ording them to take the blow from Beldur, he rolls away shooting a fire bolt in Bedlur's direction and 2 more in Ynhaldei's direction. Unfortunately before he could finish with a fourth one aimed for Beldur Beldur went through most os the undead making a flying chunk of bone lodge into his calf. "You'll pay for that Human!!" He shouts.

Ynhaldei :: Now Now… Not introducing oneself is rude even between enemies.” Shaking her head as the group started attacking each other. Her hand runs against the pommel of her Dadao as she watches her partner move forward for an attack. Tossing her top hat above which immediately halts in place as a magical circle dimly glowed under her. She is a mage that is knowledgeable of Spatiomancy but it has been a while since she last saw her Master. Using the magic in its entirety is a risk and she has to bend the rules to survive. A mage may chose a branch of magic but all started with the very basics like the fireball or minor illusions that only work on simple minded audiences. “Let’s make this a bit more interesting.” Drawing her wand as she use her own partner as a distraction as the magic circle filters the mana from the very air and is contained within her circle. Using her own mana pool as she control the space that she is currently stepping on. The hat serves as a secondary circle that recycles the magic within and eventually releasing the renewed magic underneath her feet. It was risky as she won’t be able to move. “Who likes toast!” Aiming her wand toward her enemies as magic circles starts to appear out of thin air. Any mage would know it was fireball but somehow she was able to cast multiples of them at the same time, a trick only a real pyromancer could achieve but with the contained mana, she is able to open up magic gates to trick the spell into thinking there is a caster. Casting multiple fireballs at the same time, chaining it to block incoming spells only to take one in the knee, searing her skin. Using her wand to properly vent the fireballs toward a direction, flames soon started to fill the very air as heat waves screams into the small tower. As the one who attacked her is still busy with the knight, She smiled before sending some love to the beautiful lady.

Larewen remained still as Beldur charged at Vanzel, a curious stare cast in their direction. A moment later, the room was filled with fire and smoke, all of which gave pause to the dark sorceress. She was, after all, a vampire, and flame was not her closest of friends. When Ynhaldei began her show, which was rather impressive, even to a practitioner of darker arts, Larewen settled her attention upon her. At the moment, the circus mage was the larger of the threats, for Beldur was a Knight Errant and needed a close proximity in order to tear into his foe. Flame licked at the walls of the room, consuming cloth and wood quickly and hungrily, for the lumber used to construct the tower was no longer green, and the alcohol that lined its walls was fuel to the fire. One of the fiery orbs caught Larewen in the shoulder, searing skin. The elf would not give their opponents the satisfaction of hearing a pained cry bereave itself of her pale lips. Instead, she grimaced as the flesh boiled beneath the heat and fire caught to her clothing. As she remained where she was, words of an arcane nature rolled themselves off her tongue, sweetly mingling with the smokey stench of burning wood and alcohol. The spell began at her person, sucking her very proximity dry of air. As it spread outward, the lack of oxygen, unless countered, would begin to curb the voracious appetite of the flames, including those that were upon her own body. The spell served a dual purpose though, for as it robbed oxygen from the fire, the air would also grow thinner.

Beldur knew little about magic. His eyes turned blank as he felt the lack of air. His adrenaline from a feirce rage suddenly errupted, urging him to plough through the last skeleton as he lunged his sword towards Vanzel. His shield swinging openly to try and bash him. The tip hitting a skull as it flew towards the pair. His shield swung open from his armored chest. His attacks now blind, but well practiced as if he hasn't finished controling the berzerkers rage. His eyes focused on the elven necromancer before him. A dagger was ledged in his thigh, assumingly from one of the skeletons who got in a lucky hit. He doesn't seem to notice, perhaps due to the rage or the adrenaline.

Vanzel does a series of spins trying to avoid the knight's blind attacks, barely managing to kill a drunken Drow soldier and summon him ordering him to attack Ynhaldei before having to dodge another attack. After a few more series of dodges he aims his bone scepter at Beldur's head and charges a Fire bolt letting it fly why Beldur's shield was swinging downwards and sword lashing. Taking the stab to the thigh which cut up his side making it look like a gill had formed on Vanzel's right side he shoots another fire bolt to Beldur's body, then rolls again getting just far enough away from Beldur to inspect the fight's progress.

Ynhaldei saw that the corpse move before her and had no choice but to draw her Dadao sword. She was still not moving in her position but the scrambling corpse was not doing any good either. It is incapable of moving as fast as one would hope especially that its owner is busy with the knight. She counters its attack, ending up slashing its arm and bruising her shoulder with the bottle it was holding. Cleaving the creature away as she has more important matters to attend to. Watching as the flames slowly die out, she did not expect this but the lady was snuffing out the air out of her flames. Stretching her arm as she channel her mana to counter the lady’s magic. Soon enough her magic circle started to rotate even faster. The hat as well follow suit as the circle underneath her started to expand. She could feel the pressure against her body as she forces her space of territory to expand. Intensifying her mana output as her space widens even further. The air now dissipates more quickly as instead of stealing mana she has converted her space to steal air, killing off all the fire but causing violent gusts of wind to vent into the wooden tower. She could feel the air within her space thickening that it is almost impossible to breathe. She could feel copper already dripping the side of her mouth as she adjusts her footing while tightly holding her sword. Screaming loudly as she expand her range upto her ally to give him one last gulp of air as her final gift. Successful of not, Once she reaches her limit. She burns off a massive chunk of her magic to force the air back into her single space before violently shattering the magic circle and cause a violent implosion of air. Hoping for the best that her theory is enough to save herself that air will vent away from her, nonetheless if she does survive. She’ll run up to the lady and try to force her blade against the goddess’s body.

Larewen was amused as Ynhaldei drew the air toward herself. The flames, starved of air, died. In this moment, a glance was once more cast toward knight and necromancer, perhaps to check that the two were well enough as they were. Fortunately for Vanzel perhaps, Ynhaldei was focused just as much on Larewen as she was on the desert elf. The stench of charred flesh and burnt wood permeated the room, stifled only by the thinness of the air. With violent intensity, the wind ripped through the room, sending ash and splinters of wood everywhere. Bottles shattered as they collided with the walls and glass joined in the fray. As the brunt of vented air collided with the elf's body, debris left welts and scratches upon her porcelain skin. A few shards of glass and slivers of wood even dug their way into her body as she was pushed back toward one of the walls, where the burnt skin was pressed flush against fire-warmed lumber. It was not the most pleasant of feelings, but it was bearable. Darkness began to gather at her fingertips then, another spell already edging its way off the tip of her tongue as Ynhaldei charged her. Larewen made no move to defend herself from the woman's approach until Ynhaldei was close enough to bring her brand to bear in its upward slash toward the elf's throat. The grin that swallowed her expression was maniacal at best as those dark, chocolate-hued eyes fixed on Ynhaldei's knowingly. With a faint whisper of magic-laced breath, the shadows that gathered in her hand began to draw away from her flesh, floating upward and toward the desert elf with the intend of pervading every orifice of her face with its darkness. What the dark sorceress had conjured was gaseous and could just as easily be breathed in as it could be manipulated along its course. It was a curse, meant to corrupt the other mage's magic just as a similar spell, cast in a slightly different manner, had so tainted the dark sorceress's own so many years ago.

Beldur ::The first fireball hit the knight's shoulder. Leaving noticable burns on him under his heavy mithril plate while the next two were barely blocked by his shield. The gust of wind not helping with his rage as the enchanted sword easily cleived through the random chair that flew towards him before his attention returned to the injured mage. The last fireball catching the plume on fire making him look terrifying with the berzerker eyes and the enflamed plumed helm. He doesn't seem to notice through his rage the vampresses dark magic as his focus was on Vanzel.

Ynhaldei ’s attacked missed… somewhat. Her blade fell short as it maybe cause by exhaustion or her body is starting to fail after numerous damage which she herself caused the most. Wounds starting to appear out of nowhere as she did try to contain that much pressure in one location. She had to vent out too much mana aswell and it needed basically used her body to project it out, forcefully going through her skin just to compensate the magic she needed. At first she thought the magic she had gathered within her small room was enough… that was not the case. Her magic is still unstable without the proper teaching from a Master. A magic that may cause death to her if continued. Her hat idly follows her as it slowly starts to glide toward her, losing its own altitude as the desert elf is running out of magic. Did her ally remain alive? She doesn’t know… and to some point, she doesn’t care. With her last attack she hoped that it would knock everyone down and most likely be ended by her sword but apparently she herself is not doing so well. Lady Larewen was able to survive the attack and she had no way to block her hands. Exhausted and already running low of mana as she drives the Dadao’s tip against the wooden floor as the curse starts to form up around her head. She can’t attack anymore but to save herself from the lady’s attack, she turns her sword’s handle in a certain degree like a knob causing a spring loaded mechanism to extend and turn the Dadao Sword into a Guan Dao Spear, impressive it may be but the pommel of the weapon struck the desert elf in the chin sending her flying away from Larewen and releasing her from her grip. It wasn’t a beautiful exit like a performer would have wanted but it was all she could do to save herself one last time. Her hat slowly falls against her face as she lie on her back, knocked out from her own attack.

Winners: Beldur and Ynhaldei - Surface Allies