Duel:Hanan v Vehara, Match 2 of the 2013 Frostmaw Tournament
Duelists: Hanan vs. Vehara. Duel: Traditional 3 posts each, with final defense. 15 minute posting limit. Stakes: Autohit post. Advancement in the Titans of Winter Tournament 2013. Judges: Svilfon, & Satoshi
Frostmaw Arena
Satoshi once more is seated in the private arena box, eyes alternating between scanning the growing crowd and checking the series of glass panels hovering above the arena floor. At the moment, the glass is dark and empty, but as the last of the seats fill up with eager audience members, Satoshi stands and raises a hand toward the panels. A spark of azure magic arcs along the magus' fingers and in response a matching flame flickers over the glass, activating their scrying magic and transforming them into windows. Windows that show a scene from multiple angles and heights, the view of this match's venue: the fluorite cavern just north of the arena, specifically its subterranean lake, where the deathly cold water has been topped with a series of frosty platforms. Although the platforms appear to be set at random and float about easily with the water's motions, many are close enough for an able-bodied person to leap to, and some are easily large enough to bare two humanoids. Due to the roiling of the lake and the icy surface of the platforms the footing is unsteady and treacherous, promising to inhibit those that are not surefooted. The beach and cavefloor have been made off-limits save for the slightest edge around the lakeshore, thin enough for a foot to rest and little more. The fiery walls of a magical ward prevent one from leaving the battlefield, lest they want to suffer the agonizing burn of an augmented, voracious frostbite. As Frostmaw's queen and the gathered audience watch through the scrying glasses, waiting until the two combantants appear ready. When that time comes, Satoshi's voice--amplified with magic--echoes through the arena, "Ladies and gentlemen, now is the time for the second match of the Titans of Winter tournament, between Vehara and Captain Hanan! May the winner triumph in their bloody victory~. Let the match begin!"
Svilfon appears out of thin air on his own chair in the arena, before looking out at the icy screens showing the coming battle. He leans over and whispers something quickly to Satoshi, before settling back to watch the fight.
Faux Twilight Cavern Lake
A sense of ancient, arcane power permeates the chilled air as the southern tunnel opens abruptly into a massive cavern. Very little light enters this area, for the only opening that can be found aside from the entrance tunnel is a perfectly round hole in the distant roof. Yet one can't help feeling as if they're in the wide open despite being below ground. The walls are a peculiar wonder and aid to the strange illusion, appearing to be almost entirely basalt unnaturally polished to a glossy sheen, giving the cave the uncanny appearance of an inky night sky--with the ceiling gap above small enough to pass for a moon. But it's what lurks amongst the basalt that is the true source of the strange atmosphere: stars, infinite and brilliant in their eternal shining. These stars, however, are not quite the same as the ones in the night sky, albeit being remarkably passable at first glance; rather, they are myriad gemstones embedded into the walls--fluorite, for those able to recognize such things--in an array of colors, from flawless white to glowing yellow, serene blue and glistening violet, all eagerly catching faint light and reflecting them in an eternal mimicry of winking starshine. Any can tell this place is no longer purely a natural formation, if ever it was one. Enchantments long have been woven into the very core of this strange cave to maintain the careful appearance of an open sky beneath the earth. Further travel into the cavern will reveal a massive underground lake occupying the northern half, its unfrozen but deathly cold waters lapping at a 'beach' of black sand and rounded pebbles of blue fluorite. If one possesses night vision or squints to their fullest, they may just spy what appears to be a large glacier and structure in the center of the lake. The home of this place's creator? It's impossible to be certain, and there seems no obvious way across the waters to reach it--a lurking, intelligent presence seems to suggest even attempts at flying across will prove fatal.
Hanan was here on a dare, literally. A man had come up to her in Frostmaw's main tavern, slammed his fist down on her table, and said: "You talk big but yer too yeller to join the Queen's tournament." In Rynvale this would have made sense given her reputaton. The version of Hanan in Frostmaw on an errand had been sitting quietly at a corner table with a ledger and a hot toddy, the least aggressive cocktail known to sentient bipeds. Hanan being an idiot in several key ways failed to ignore the raving lunatic and instead signed up. Which led her here. A very cold cave much of which she was familiar with thanks to a dear friend living in an ante...cave. Chamber? Antechamber. It was a cave with a bed in it. She was familiar with the bed anyway. Hanan tugged up the collar of her peacoat, not entirely comfortable in two layers of sweater beneath but not as cold, which was a higher priority. The long dagger tucked into her left knee-high boot poked a bit but that was comforting. She half didn't feel the weight of her rapier against her hip anymore. She certainly felt the Really Big Cleaver strapped to her back under her coat because it was a rutting Really Big Cleaver. Grot's old cleaver. It felt important to have that if Satoshi was involved. Hanan looked across at the floating platforms and the fiery walls and the magical everything and especially those godsdamned scrying glasses, growled a bit under her breath, and shrugged out of the coat. "Bullshyte."
Kasyr isn't doing anything particularily fancy for his seating arrangements, the Kensai having chosen to spectate from inside the cavern- lounging atop a rock outside the the magical barrier. Really, the only luxury he's afforded himself is an apple...and a small box of skewered roasted mice.
Vehara is already waiting on one of the platforms, having settled here in wait quite some time ago. The half-drow is kneeled close to the ground, some sort of weapon occupying the very floor of the icy slab beneath her feet, but it isn't very clear what sort it may be from a simple glance, especially at Hanan's distance. Despite how advantageous it might be, the woman has little desire to stack the deck by attacking before Hanan is even upon one of the platforms. Raising her voice, the assassin calls out, "Are you ready, Hanan?" Clearly being here is little more than business; Hara has little taste for taunts and the like.
Hanan set her coat down next to one of Satoshi's lackeys and moved through a gap in the Ring Of Magical Posturing. "Ruttin'... hang on!" She chose one of the less icy looking platform and hopped on, footing as steady as if she were in a rowboat. For reference, she was good at rowboats. "Let's get this over with!"
Vehara nods, rising swiftly as Hanan hops onto one of the platforms. The weapon at her feet - a bow - comes along, gripped with practiced ease as green eyes narrow to slits upon the vampiric captain. A single ebon hand darts to a quiver along her back, carefully plucking a single feathered arrow free from its confines. The half-drow takes but a moment to steady her booted feet on the platform, ensuring the necessary balance before the projectile is set expertly into place, gripping those slender fingers as necessary and pulling the string taut. Immaculate aim taken, the tension is relieved and the arrow is sent sailing out of the bow with assumed precision, knifing through the air en route to a hopefully fleshy sheathe: that being Hanan's left shoulder. All the while a second arrow is set, prepped and sent soaring through the frigid air in swift succession, that lethally barbed tip screaming as it seeks the other shoulder of the captain, aiming to viciously render either of her arms useless and end this battle before it has truly begun…
Hanan drew her rapier with a practiced flourish; straight out of the sheath, held , quick snap of the wrist so the point arced beautifully forward and down, right boot slightly forward, a sort of practiced devil-may-care attitude about her. She knew it looked good because her dark eyes had flicked up to the windows suspended over the arena, the one facing her actually focused on her front from above. A good angle. She grinned lopsidedly and took an arrow straight through her left shoulder with a sudden, surprised grunt. She blinked and bled. "The f--" The crowd was going wild, it was an absolute din. "--are you bringin' a ruttin'--" She ducked instinctively; the second arrow whistled by her right ear. "BOW TO A PITCHED MATCH YOU GODSDAMNED--" Hanan flew like a bullet out of the chamber, or more specifically a cannonball out of the cannon as firearms are strictly prohibited. One moment she was crouched and angry on the platform, the next her boots were pounding the platforms, hopping from one to the other, a crazed yet surefooted charging jackrabbit. Granted her enraged charge was taking her in a roughly straight line directly at an archer and the blow she'd aim at Vehara was a straightforward stab at the chest, but Hanan wasn't thinking clearly at this point. She had an arrow impaling her left arm and all she knew was that hopping was effective against snipers.
Vehara tosses the bow into the frosty depths carelessly as Hanan makes her frenzied approach, unclasping the quiver at her back and discarding it as well. A slender hand moves to grasp a dagger at her side, drawn up and out of the sheathe with a heated hiss; a personified cry that echoes the half-drow's own contempt for any foe that dares oppose her in the Queen's Tournament. A readied stance is assumed just as the Captain encroaches, lips thinning into a grim line while those emerald eyes meet Hanan's rage with a cold readiness, easily as chilling as their given venue of battle. That swift thrust comes and the assassin twirls deftly, impeccably balanced by virtue of her mixed heritage and chosen profession even on this frozen platform. Having avoided the simple but barbarous strike, Hara's free hand darts to her belt, plucking something small and white from a pouch and gripping it tightly in her ebon palm. That fist is pounded right along her leg, a quiet but distinct 'crunch' heard, much like the sound an egg makes when it fractures. In a smooth, seamless motion, that hand is cast out for Hanan's face, revealing the contents of that insidious implement; finely ground glass, sand and ash, all infused with a caustic pepper, cruelly designed to rob one's vision. In an immediate follow up, Hara lunges in with that dagger, driving it straight for the armpit of Hanan's rapier wielding arm, propelled by all the celerity necessary and expected from an assassin.
Hanan was even more flabbergasted midway through her hopping charge when Vehara tossed away her bow and her quiver into the frozen lake for no apparent reason. What a waste! ANGER. Her stab missed but she hadn't quite expected it to; or at least the reptilian portion of her brain hadn't, her sentient bits were still too red to strategize. Fortunately said reptile brain had skipped the lecture on flight and put everything into the alternative, which proved an advantage when Hanan in the process of turning to aim another strike was promptly blinded. "YOU FILTHY--" Hanan couldn't help a momentary flail that knocked Vehara's blow astray; the knife bit through two layers of sweater and into flesh at the top of her shoulder rather than beneath. Both shoulders hurt--the left far more than the right--and her vision temporarily gone, Hanan again acted on instinct. They were on a floating platform, right? Hanan pounded the edge of the platform with her right boot as hard as her fangs would allow, jumping immediately after; a kickflip that would turn their fighting space upside-down and momentarily eliminate Vehara's footing entirely were she not fast enough. Granted from the audience this would look more like a demented lumberjack games event. Hanan, if successful, would promptly land on the platform's former underside.
Vehara grunts as the dagger doesn't quite make the impact desired, withdrawing from this too-close proximity. Now her booted feet settle precariously on the rim of the platform, preparing herself for another rapier thrust, but it does not come. Instead the Captain stamps the platform forcefully, sending the whole icy structure quivering in protest and giving the half-drow insight to Hanan's next maneuver. Hara grits her teeth and sets into a measured run just as the vampiric Captain leaps, bending at the knees and launching up just as the frigid platform is stomped with all the force to flip it entirely. The resulting momentum casts the half-drow through the air like some sort of deft acrobat, thankfully clearing a path to another platform nearby. However, due to the icy surface, her landing is not quite as clean as she hopes; her legs are torn out from under her on impact, sending the assassin into a clumsy crash, landing rather awkwardly on a shoulder. A pained groan leaves the half-drow's lips, willing and pulling herself up to face the adjacent platform where Hanan lies. The Captain is given a haughty look, gripping that dagger in her grasp before it spins out rapidly into the air, seeking the undead heart of her mark. Not satisfied with that singular effort, Hara's hands move like speedy clockwork, retrieving a pair of straight spiked shuriken from some unseen confines. One after another they sail upon the air in a brutal barrage, driven by awe inspiring alacrity. The first flies with utmost accuracy for Hanan's throat, but the aim of the second is slightly - perhaps due to her gimped shoulder - and traces a lower path, primed to perhaps lace into her thigh, should it be lucky enough to hit at all.
Hanan , through an angry peppery film, saw a Vehara-shaped blur fall on another platform. She totally missed the haughiness but had a negative reaction anyway as Vehara rose. "You--" Hanan edged toward the far end of the platform carefully--she still couldn't see very well--and growled. Her clumsiness turned her somewhat, the throwing dagger not hitting her heart but rather her... left shoulder. Again. Not too far from where the arrow was still sticking out. "...mother--" Gods that hurt. At least she could blame the water in her eyes on pepper and glass. Pain sped her up; she began one of her hopping charges again, straight for Vehara's platform, only to be intercepted midway by a shuriken in the neck. "Urkgh?!" Which couldn't arrest her progress but could destroy her footing. The second did hit her thigh, but at this point it didn't matter as much; Hanan's bloody neck distracted her from first her footing, then her grip, and sent her skittering over the side. She at least caught herself with both hands on the edge of the platform. In icy water--she was a vampire, so not deadly, but intensly uncomfortable just the same--grabbing a rectangular platform, staring up at a haggard, cold, beautiful but utterly distasteful woman, Hanan knew that knew that far across the distance and spaces between them Vehara had come to show herself an ass. Near, far, and wherever this was, Hanan knew her hate for the lousy no good cheating drow bitch would go on. Tinwhistle. Hanan resorted to the only action left to her and angrily shook the entire platform. Maybe the drow would fall. Maybe the drow would get annoyed. ANGER.
Vehara waits on edge when Hanan makes her leap to the platform she occupies…only to smile cruelly when she goes teetering off the edge. The half-drow, in her confidence, believes she has won - but not so fast! The platform is sent shaking this way and that, making the assassin dance about awkwardly as she struggles to maintain purchase of the surface. It really looks quite comical, and soon her footing is disturbed enough to send the half-drow tumbling against the platform. Her lithe form tucks into a tight roll, closer and closer to the edge…until a precarious halt is reached right at the edge where Hanan lies below. Placing a palm firmly on the icy surface, she can only smirk down at the Captain below, seemingly delighted at this result.
Winner: Vehara
Hanan growled up at the drow; her hand was still on her rapier, technically, fingertips gripping the icy edge of the platform, eyes burning, the crowd's roar in her ears. The result of this match was more or less obvious. "Sure, you won," she whispered, on account of her neck, "...but not square. I'm comin' for you."
Vehara 's smirk widens at Hanan's taunt. A hand grasps at Hanan's collar, lifting her up just enough to stare the Captain in the face. Only now does she finally speak, offering a chilly riposte. "Whenever you're ready for more, bitch." The dagger in her hand sings out with a swish into Hanan's cheek, cutting a gash that issues a spray of blood against the half-drow's own face. A growl builds in Hara's throat as she summons the strength to pull Hanan up out of the water, her snarl only interrupted by a grunt of exertion. Tossing the woman to her feet on the platform, the half-drow's leg snaps up adroitly, smashing a heel viciously into the Captain's jaw. It's enough to peel consciousness from Hanan, leaving her in a beaten heap on the platform and allowing Hara to turn away with a haughty brush of her shoulder.
Hanan was a little limp as Vehara lifted her up, cold lips mouthing "seriously?" right before she took gash to the cheek. Huh. Funny. She used to have a scar there, right across the eye. Had to get rid of it on account of a wanted poster. Hanan tried to push herself up onto her arms once tugged to the platform but took that heel to the jaw instead. More crowd screaming. Hanan rolled wearily onto her back; not unconscious, she was a damned vampire and thickskulled besides, but dazed as hell and ringing. At least the water had cleared most of the powder from her eyes. Ceiling was pretty. She pointed in the general direction of Vehara's behind. The arrow was still jutting up from her shoulder. "Thas'petty."
Satoshi severs the magic fueling the scrying glasses--after she's caught Kasyr's eye and mouthed the words, 'Share those roast mice, jerk.' She'll leave the crowd to their cheering, recapping, and arguing over bets, while she makes her way to the cavern herself.
Svilfon frowns for a long moment, before offering Satoshi a quick tip of his hat and a crooked grin. After that, the wizard vanishes in a cloud of smoke, back to the library.
Svilfon begrudgingly makes a brief stop in the cave on his way to the library. He wanders close to the water's edge, before tossing out to Hanan's platform a drink or two. with that, and another crooked grin, the wizard carries on his way.
Vehara quirks a brow when Hanan speaks, glancing back over her shoulder. The source of the Captain's odd flattery seems to be her bottom, and this brings an amused smirk to Hara's lips. "You're not the first one to think so." With that the assassin hops between the platforms carefully, no longer as hurried since the heat of battle isn't sweltering over her. She'll take her leave as soon as the fiery walls come down and allow her safe passage.
Satoshi enters the cavern not longer after Svilfon came and went, her first action to dispell the arcane ward. Spotting Vehara waiting for precisely this, the magus dips her head in acknowledgement of a match well fought. The fact that cheers can still be heard from the arena down the hall should be proof of that besides.
Hanan turned her head and spied Svilfon. Oh rutting hell, he was here. She raised a hand briefly in greeting but he was already gone. He left rum, though, which was incredibly helpful. "Yeah, Vehara, not s'sup'rised." Damn it, her jaw really hurt.\