Duel:Hildegarde v Meri, Third Place Match of the 2014 Frostmaw Tournament

From HollowWiki
Duelists: Meri vs. Hildegarde
Duel: Traditional 3 posts each, with final defense. 15 minute posting limit. 
Stakes: Autohit post. Third Place in the Titans of Winter Tournament 2014. 
Judges:  Vehara, Eliason, Tristram (mid)


Spider Nest

As the Titan's of Winter tournament approaches the final match, the contest for Third Place is prepared to get under in Vailkrin, the City of the Dead, cast in eternal twilight. But the arena of choice this evening is not in the city itself, but the notorious Dark Forest that surrounds it. Mage-fire lanterns illuminate a violet pathway through the woods, leading combatants and viewers alike deeper and deeper. Surrounding the pathway, and growing thicker with progress into the forest, are spiderwebs until the lanterns end in a tunnel made entirely of the silken substance. Here is where the duelists must face off, in a nest of Vailkrin's Giant Spiders, surrounded with walls of sticky web. Thick threads of the spidersilk hang like streamers heavily throughout the battlefield, creating a maze to navigate that promises to ensnare the unwary. Contact with the ropes of spiderweb is not recommended, as any unfortunate enough to get caught will discover a debilitating contact-poison coats the substance. And much like the prize for this match--a Vailkrian Spidersilk Scarf--this webbing is stubbornly resistant to being cut, broken, or torn. Who will better weave through this crippling jungle of spiderweb and emerge victorious, the psionic warrior Meri, or the Silver dragon Hildegarde?


Hildegarde was in an incredibly foul mood after spotting the blood-spattered cocoons hanging high above her head, she fumed and raged at her inability to have rescued these people and now was not the time to attempt any sort of rescue when she has a psion to deal with. So, with the foulest of moods in mind, she wastes no time in charging towards Meri with her halberd firmly in her grip: blasting concentrated frost in the direction of the floor and Meri’s legs with the intent to coat her in the substance and freeze her in place or to put such lethargy in her legs from the startling cold, as her halberd swung in a menacing arc. Not one to underestimate an opponent smaller than herself – she knows how speedy they can be – her body twists with the arc of the halberd, rotating to face Meri again as the halberd came over head: if she could not tear Meri’s body horizontally in half, she would have to do so vertically, with the hopes that if the psion evaded her attack, she would find herself falling into the poison coated webs.


Meri was dressed in the same manner that she has been for a vast majority of the battles for this tournament. Her armor was sparse, not wanting to weight herself down and giving up any advantage of speed she may or may not have on Hildegarde. Strapped over her shoulder and resting across her back was that fine metal scabbard, plain looking sword resting within. Hildegarde’s sudden assault does well to catch the psion off guard, more specifically that concentrated blast of frost aimed toward her feet and legs. The psion concentrates, focusing on building an unseen wall of energy to deflect the blast of frost from a direct hit on her legs. With its purpose served, the protective wall dissipates, leaving Meri to face Hildegarde’s halberd. It does hit the ground, the frost freezing the area immediately in front of her, creating a slippery surface of ice for both Hildegarde and Meri to deal with. Meri’s gut reaction is to draw that bastard sword from the scabbard, the friction from the motion instantly setting the blaze of her sword blaze. Fire against ice. Rather than attempting to dodge and evade, the blazing sword is raised above her head, one armored hand gripping the hilt of the weapon while the other reaches out to grip the blazing blade. There is no doubt that the woman can only maintain her grip on this blade of her sword for so long before the heat becomes unbearable. Meri steps forward, aiming to push the center of her sword against the shaft of Hildegarde’s halberd, stopping it from cleaving her in two and steering the halberd off course. It is at this point that Meri finally moves, seeking to circle right around Hildegarde’s person while also dislodging her weapon from Hildegarde’s, but trying to keep her proximity close to the Knightly woman. A halberd was a distance weapon, the closer Meri was to Hildegarde the less chance Meri would have a conversation with the head of the weapon. Rather than assaulting Hildegarde with any sort of weapon, Meri ducks down, looking to drive her shoulder into the Knight’s side to push her off balance and maybe even knock her into one of those tendrils of spider silk. The icy floor created by Hildegarde could work to help Meri with that as easily as it could work against Meri herself.


Hildegarde has no love of fire, that much is evident from her disgusted expression and her frosty nature. But she is not utterly defenceless against it and she doubts Meri is invulnerable to the effects of the fire, causing her to expel the paralytic gas that is natural to her species, intending on having the flammable nature of the gas spark against the sword and burn the psion’s face and hands to end the battle quickly. As Meri attempts to drive her shoulder into her side, the knight twists her body and throws her arms over the psion: her halberd at Meri’s back to keep her in place as she stumbled backwards on the ice she had caused earlier. As she falls, she does her best to twist her body so Meri will fall directly onto the webs and cushion the knight, but she would be a full to trust in such a motion. Should she fail to twist Meri around into the webs, she would release one hand from her halberd and begin to batter her powerful fist against the side of Meri’s head; intent on bashing the woman’s brains out it seemed.


Meri deals it the gas in much the same way that she dealt with the frost. As soon as the gas collides with the flames dancing across the blade of her sword, another protective barrier is willed into existence. Meri is able to protect herself from a majority of the fire but her reaction was not as quick as it should have been and the woman’s face does taste a bit of flame, enough to leave a burn but not enough to take her out of the battle completely. Hildegarde was proving to be quite the formidable opponent. The knightly dragon is successful in ushering Meri into one of the webs that has been threatening to entangle both fighters. Meri is not about to go down without a fight. The heat that has been transferred toward her armored hand from her prolonged grip on the blade of her weapon serves Meri well as the blonde reaches above her. Spider silk might be strong but it was not safe from the adverse side effects of flame and heat. In addition to this, Meri is already working to cut/burn her way free from the web using the flame of her sword. In order to do this, she sacrifices any attempt to block the punch geared straight for her head. This was not the first punch Meri has taken nor would it be the last. The force of the blow serves to help knock Meri free from her current predicament. The psionic warrior manages to free herself only to fall to the ground, looking a little dazed and stunned. Or was she just concentrating? The myriad of spider webs that dangle in the area begin to gravitate toward Hildegarde, seeking to attach and bind themselves to Hildegarde’s person, holding her at bay. Just to make things a bit more gruesome and disgusting for the Knight...One of those human side cocoon that Hildegarde was so concerned about? Well the silk that was keeping it suspended above the two fighters suddenly snaps, the bloody cocoon dropping straight down on Hildegarde. Yummy.


Hildegarde strikes with the strength of dragons, a part of her is so entirely raging that she wishes to cave Meri’s skull in with the sheer force of her fist, destroy bone and brain matter alike; just overall turn her skull to mush. The sizzle of web catches her attention and she roars furiously in the face of Meri, aiming to disorient her and slow her progress down, before she can blast more concentrated frost upon the sword and webbing that Meri is so desperate to cut, intent to kill the flames of the blade and make the webbing all the harder to cut through. As Meri falls, the knight grunts and gets to her feet to level her with a ferociously angry stare. She is not one to stand about and wait for the psion’s attacks to reach her, nor is she going to want to stay close to those creeping tendrils of webbing. No, she charges straight for Meri with a roar of anger. Her roar acts as a triple threat, for it could disorient the psion, it could dishearten her and it would most certainly catch the attention of their arachnid onlookers. The knight pummels her armoured body against Meri’s – the knight is by no means light – and charges onwards into the nest of treasure, slamming Meri down and using her own bodyweight to pin her in place as the creeping legs of a giant spider edge forth from the trap; hoping to take a bite from Meri’s skull as the dragon pins her there.


Meri might appear to be your frail little human at first glance but there were quite a few qualities the woman possessed that were quite reminiscent of a vampire. Speed. Strength. The ability to feed on others. Meri just did it a little differently. Rather than sucking blood, like the spiders inhabiting this area, she leeched off the living around her, drew her strength from it, healed at a rapid rate because of it. While Meri might be grounded, she was not entirely senseless. Dazed perhaps but Meri tried to ignore this, pushing on...because that is what a warrior does in the heat of battle. The woman remains crouched low, watching Hildegarde charge at her, anticipating the woman’s intention, reading her body language. It seemed Hildegarde was hellbent on throwing her into the webs behind her. When Hildegarde charges forward, Meri does not sit still either. The crouched woman pushes forward, driving her entire body into Hildegarde’s legs, aiming quite low at about knee-height so that she can hopefully knock the woman off her feet and send her flying through the air. This was done at all cost, even if it meant risking taking a knee or a foot to the jaw. If the momentum of Hildegarde’s charge was not enough to keep the knightly dragon in motion, then Meri would assist using her own psychokinetic abilities to aid the process of turning Hildegarde’s own assault against her and send her careening toward the web. That spider sure looked like it wanted a bite of someone and it probably did not really care who.



Winner: Hildegarde




Hildegarde raised a hand towards Meri, “Wait!” she growled, noticing the increased presence of spiders in the area. They were watching them like prey, watching them with eagerness. “Get out of here,” the knight commanded her, picking up her halberd and heading towards Meri. She gripped the woman – gently, mind – by the wrist and pulled her forward to leave the area, “We’ll get you patched up.”


Meri has no qualms with Hildegarde’s command, waiting as instructed, leaving as guided. Spiders were not a favored critter of the tattooed woman, so she saw no reason to linger and risk putting the both of them in any further danger than any have already put themselves in. Meri lets Hildegarde lead her out of the area by the wrist, keeping a watchful eye out for any assault against the spiders.