Duel:Hildegarde v Razor, Round One Agitation Monster Tournament
Part of the Agitation Arc
Duelists: Hildegarde vs. Razor, a giant mutant lizard (played by Linn. Duel: Traditional 3 attacks and defenses each. 15 minute posting limit. Stakes: Advancement into Round Two of the Agitation Monster Tournament. Judges: Josleen & Reginae
Cliff (Xalious)
This cliff doesn't seem very treacherous compared to some that you've seen around here. There isn't anything in particular about this one despite the wholesome glow coming from the bottom. You wonder what could be down there, but you don't see any way to reach it. If you only had someone to belay you down, you might be able to make it its only about 45 feet tall. To the south there is rather rough territory, while to the west is a path leading to a small village.
A black-clawed hand reached up over the shattered Cliffside where so many lemmings had run over weeks ago before the mutated lizard pulled itself up and over it. The rumors about the creature that had been dubbed Razor may have been slightly exaggerated, but they still held truth. The creature’s appearance was indeed sharp in so many ways, angled scales covered its body, pitted and twisted by its own silvery acidic blood that leaked out from tears in its skin formed by its ever-growing armor. In its mouth was an uncountable amount of shark-like teeth, corroded by black, slimy saliva that attempted to stick and eat away everything it could find. Even its own insatiable hunger stabbed at it like a knife, driving it to consume whatever moved. Slitted amber eyes settled on the figure of the red-haired knight travelling nearby before the black scaly form began sprinting on all-fours, the galloping thumping of heavy claws heralding it’s arrival. As Razor approached it pushed up onto its hind legs before a pounce, revealing it’s size to be at least a foot taller than Hildegarde, as well as the significant bulk of muscle behind the mass hurdling her way in an attempt to pin her to the ground and tear her throat out with a mouth full of mottled, jagged teeth.
Hildegarde was well accustomed by now to being accosted on the roads as she travelled across the realm. It was not so long ago here that she and a fellow dragon had been accosted by hellish bat-like creatures that would certainly have made off with many local villagers if they had not been defeated by the knight and her paladin cohort! Alas, the thumping clawed paws that strike across the ground and make their way toward her do not escape her attention as Hildegarde is most fortunately a Silver dragon: her hearing is beyond acute and she can hear that thumping approach just before Razor comes fully into view. The sight of the beast may have made any other mortal man gasp with shock, but the knight did not expel a breath, rather she drew it in before breathing out a ghastly concentrated cone of ice onto the ground that Razor was bounding down towards his intended meal. If the beast lived in Xalious, no doubt it had no true experience of ice and snow like Hildegarde had. With the ice spat out, the knight growls as she throws herself to the side and rolls out of its lunging path and avoids becoming a meal – for now, at least. Hopping back up onto her feet, the knight wastes no time in swinging her halberd down with a mighty roar of effort: intent on slamming the axe-head of her halberd into the tail of Razor and subsequently wedging it into the earth beneath them to momentarily pin the beast as she raced up to the side of and tried to get a grasp of the creature; clambering up onto its scaled back where she would draw her short-sword and prepare to slice the damnable beast’s head off.
Razor indeed paid no mind to the ice that now coated the ground in front of it. While on all-fours the creature’s claws allowed it enough grip into the ground, though the moment it tried to pounce the ground was unable to support the forces that the talons put against it. With a spray of icy dirt flying behind the mass came crashing down as it hurtled forward, never able to make it to the air. Razor flailed for a second on the unusual surface below before mottled scales gripped it and allowed it to roll back onto its feet. The tail followed the motion, but not enough. The halberd met quite its own share of resistance from the creature’s scaly hide and thick muscle as it cut a gash deep into the tail, but missed the bone that would allow her to fully pin the creature. Silver blood flowed from the wound and began to coat the ground and the steel of the halberd; it’s corrosive nature wouldn’t have time to take effect right here and now, though long term damage may happen. When Hildegarde approached to grab at the creature it gave another furious twist in an attempt to throw her as scales would rip across the surface of her armor, shredding anything unprotected that they might find. Talons swiped out in an attempt to tear apart the mail over the knight’s joints and grab at her limbs and pull her into a death-roll, paying no attention to the blade leveled at it in its fury.
Hildegarde had been in enough battles with men and beast alike to know when exactly she needed to move. Obviously, the creature didn’t want her to get upon its back as she would likely be able to commit to the killing blow she intended to perform. So as those talons swipe out, the knight leaps back: the talons screeching across her mithril armour loudly, even eliciting a spark here and there from the sheer force. The sparks that flew from the contact sparked an idea in the seasoned knight’s mind. Double-stepping backwards and dipping to the side, the Silver desperately tried to evade the grasping talons that sought her out. Her gauntleted arm extended and her blade came down, striking across her own armour to elicit sparks again: this time the Silver exhaled that paralytic breath that was well known to her kind and allowed it to make contact with the sparks; resulting in a brief yet fantastic flaming spurt in the direction of Razor’s outstretched hands. Of course, this gesture would certainly burn the mouth of the Silver: as the fire would always touch back at the source. Yet with the spurt of flames spat out in Razor’s direction, the knight dipped and rolled forward toward the beast like a madwoman; remaining in a crouching position as she thrusted her blade outwards to stab at the soft under-belly of the reptilian beast, acidic blood be damned. The knight is no fool, though, and regardless of whether or not her assault is successful, she rolls out and away again: hopping to her feet in preparation for whatever may come next.
The moment Razor’s claws only met hard mithril in its twist back to its feet the creature displayed a rare moment of bestial cunning in light of its madness. As all four feet struck the ground they were immediately off again, this time angled off to the side of the Silver instead of directly towards her. The fire licked against the creature’s scales as it left, turning them red-hot as quicksilver blood boiled away under the assault. The blade would find nothing but empty air where the lizard just was before another audible spray of dirt came from its landing some ten feet away. This time instead of pouncing the creature stayed low on all fours as it dashed forward again, weaving side-to-side as it neared the knight. The moment Hildegarde began her predictive roll was the moment the creature left into its straightaway towards the knight in an attempt to crash into her the moment she got up, aiming to find the throat of his prey in the same manner as it did before, hopefully without preparation to guard it this time.
Hildegarde should have expected some sort of reptilian cunning from the beast, given that she too was a lizard brain. As the popped up and the beast came bounding toward her, the knight only had time to double-step back to avoid being crashed into but those looming jaws were still coming forward and might envelope her entire skull if she doesn’t think fast. With a mighty roar of anticipated pain, the Silver twists her body so it stands at a side-on stance; thrusting her arcana negating gauntleted arm into mouth of the beast so those vicious shark like teeth chomp down on her mithril coated arm and her tough dragon hide flesh. With a yell of agony, the knight’s fingers flex around the hilt of her short-sword as she pulls herself closer to Razor whose teeth would most likely be caught in the metal of her mithril and the weave of her mithril chainmail, “Smile, you son of a--!” she roared as her blade shot out suddenly to pierce one of those amber slitted eyes.
Linn | Razor withdrew the bite the moment it realized that it hadn’t found the life of its prey in its jaws. Black corrosive saliva now coated the gauntlet mixed with the silver blood from numerous shattered teeth, though that wasn’t enough to stop the massive momentum of the beast’s leap. The creature slammed into Hildegarde like a massive anvil with more than enough force to knock over a line of several men. Now wrapped together in death with the knight it reached out attempting to grab at her arms and pin her to prevent the retaliatory stab in its repeated attempts to close its jaws around Hildegarde’s throat, preferring a controlling offense to defense in all cases.
Hildegarde wins.
"Smile you son of a--!" would have been the last words poor Razor ever did hear, as Hildegarde's sword-arm moved faster than his reptilian brain could process what was happening. The blade pierced through his eye with a wet squish of impact, causing the knight to even wince as she recalled the very sound her own eyeball made when it was crushed into oblivion. Her blade pierced deeply, right up to the hilt of her blade and right into the brain of the beast. The Silver twisted the blade once for good measure, just to make sure that the beast was most certainly dead: getting the confirmation when it collapsed upon her and crushed her under its immense weight. With a groan, the knight lay there for a long moment before wriggling free and withdrawing her blade from his oozing eye socket. His head would make a fine trophy to adorn the walls of Frostmaw fort.