Duel:Edward Mandrake v Irthos, Round One Agitation Monster Tournament

Part of the Agitation Arc

Duelists: Edward Mandrake, evil mandrake root (played by Lanlan) vs. Irthos 
Duel: Traditional 3 attacks and defenses each. 15 minute posting limit. 
Stakes: Advancement into Round Two of the Agitation Monster Tournament. 
Judges: Hildegarde & Pilar  

Xalious

Edward Mandrake appears to be alerted by Irthos's sudden interruption, delicately turning with the aid of its long branches to get a better look. Here you can see that not only do the berries have faces, but so do does the root; a mean one that appears to have been carved directly into the bark. You may notice that nothing near him seems to move of its own volition, this is because Edward Mandrake is a murderer without moral. Not to say it's immoral, more like un-moral. This to say that there is no warning or explanation for it to attack the thing that moves, being Irthos. While still shambling about, a wave seems to start in the upper part of one of Ed's root limbs. It started off slow, then it started to grow! The wave travelled down his long arm, creating an enormous loop with the slithery limb, and then whipping its appendage sharply into the ground where it detects Irthos to destroy him like a tiny bug. The end of his wooden tentacle fanned out as roots do when they hunger for the most nutrients, but his merely helped him to squash things.

The pixie’s eyes wide at the makeshift flyswatter and quickly zips out of the way just barely out of the way as it came down, however the gust of the wake from the swat blasted him faster than he expected and was launched across the desolated clearing, “Wheeeee!” Irthos’ mind starts working at top speed and formulating a plan of action on his attacker. Though quite fascinated by this in life for, he had to think about ways of stopping it before it stopped him. Dead things burned easily he was going to try that again, however his worry about burning down another forest was making him a bit hesitant to pop another pepper. So for now the mini-mage was going to get fired up. Reaching deep within himself he taps into that reserve of power he always had, not taking a lot but enough for now to boost up his own magic. Doing so the air around the pixie starts to distort and heat up, soon the body for the mage was engulfed in flame and he turned to look at the plant thing and only smiled, “Time to roast like a potato Mr. Plant-guy.” Irthos raises his hands forming L’s with his index finger and thumbs, pointing at Edward his says, “Bang, bang, bang!” and barrage of fireballs is sent in Mr. Mandrake’s direction.

Mr. Plant-guy tried to chase the creature through the air with his prehensile roots but was too slow, too clumsy, not being designed for dexterous maneuvers. Detecting danger in the pixie's fire, he begins to slither away on his tentacles and to brace himself, crossing his roots across his wooden body. He arranges his roots in a web before his body, looping them in knots to defend himself against the fireballs. Two of them smack into his arm and conflagrate it, almost instantly reducing it to ash. Before it can travel further up his shoulder, he jabs it in the dirt and smothers the flame. Another one smacks right into one of the berries on his head. The thing blisters and boils, the face appears to writhe in pain and scream until suddenly it bursts, dousing Edward and all the grass beneath him in an abhorrent viscous fluid. While Edward comes to grips with his own mutilation and dismemberment, the grass comes to life on his behalf angrily. The roots that held them to the ground become like legs and infinite little green blades scurry along the ground in a moving swarm. The little creatures climb trees, disappearing into the leaves and then jump off, casting themselves to the wind to create a deadly green cloud. Any that can wrap Irthos in their roots and attempt to force their way into him through any orifice available. Others stiffen their green blades and attempt to perforate him with their forms. Literally using their bodies as mini swords.

Giggling with delight, and slightly a bit manic from the sudden up rush of power, the mini-mage’s keen eyes pick up on the detail of the poison spilling over the grass, he also felt a pang of guilt for hurting whatever trapped soul were in those odd fruits the plant-guy had. Oh well bad feel was over. His mind raced with all sort of possibilities to get him out of this in depending doom. Since he was in for a fight for his life all of a sudden, he shrugged, well at least he thought he did, everything to him seemed to be going in slow motion as his mind, anyway back to the situation, <What was one more burned down section of forest?> At the moment he actually returned to reality the grasslings had already entangled him and his started to drop like a rock, the ‘blades’ of grass slicing through the roots that had entangled him before freed his wings a bits from him turning ever so slightly. He was getting bored so he reached deep down again inside and tapped a bit more power from his reserve. Irthos burst into flame again and this his fiery aura burned around him about the size of a normal human. The mini-mage zipped through the air around the ground forming a circle, he soon increased his speed using a spell he hadn’t used in a long time not since his entrance fight into the Mage’s Guild. This jumped him up so fast in velocity that his aura became arrow shaped he used this speed to create a flaming vortex, wide at the bottom but funneled upward. His temperature was getting so warm that his own skin started to blister and bubble in some places, but he had to do this so he might survive the encounter.

The mandrake never had a feeling of guilt, and never would, but not just because he might die right now. Whatever moved him was difficult to describe. There was no complex thought or sapience. Just an instinct to spread its seed. Secondary to that was to kill whatever pests might hinder its ability to pollinate things. And perhaps the last instinct it even had was to keep itself alive. The "firefly" circled around Edward; he could sense the heat rising, the air drying, feel itself dying. The berries on it's head bubbled, blistered, and burst one after another. Again the mandrake was doused in the viscous poison, and for a moment this is the only thing that keeps it from being desiccated. But not for long, as the heat continues to soar. Mandrake ingrains itself; and under the earth, his roots fan out, foraging for a source of moisture; a source of life. Above, Edward's dying, the moisture of his body bubbling to the surface in blistery globules of deadly sap. Its arms wrinkle and disintegrate, and his form begins to shrivel. With what might be perhaps its last breath, Edward wails and the noise sounds horrible, piercing, shrill....human. The screech of someone experiencing ultimate suffering. Even if no one can truly experience another's pain, you could -hear- this plant's. If the sheer decibels don't disorient him or even hurt him, maybe he'll feel sorry enough for the Mandrake to let him live before he roasts.

Covering his ears and closing his eyes to the pain in his eardrums, Irthos sped forward for a bit before the disorienting sound made him drift off course and slam into the side of a tree, at his temperature though he burned a sizable hole in it before stopping in the center of the tree core. His body burned still with all the fire energy he could muster when he started, which in turn made the tree start to sizzle and steam from the hole which the mage had entered. Eventually the tree started dying from how how damage from Irthos it took, and the mini-mage climbed out of the sizzling tree and dropped to the ground, his skinned blistered terribly and some parts were bloody from burst blisters, not to mention the the dryedblood on the sides of the pixie's face from his ears bleeding from the sound that came from Edward. Maybe a pang of guilt was felt somewhere under all that pain he was going through at that moment, but it didn't surface until after Irthos had woken up from the encounter.

Edward's roots wiggled through the dirt until one of them was stopped by a cobblestone surface. Above, he looked like he was dead, petrified with a horrid grimace. He was coated in black ash. But beneath, his roots scratched desperately against the mortar between the stones. Scraping so hard, the bark chafed away to the flesh. Finally they forced their way into the town well, nourishing itself and poisoning it's contents with concentrated evil sap.

Irthos wins.