Duel:Jinfeng v Isok, Match 1 of the 2022 Titans of Winter Tournament
Duelists: Isok vs Jinfeng Duel: Traditional 3 rounds with final defense, 15 minute posting limit. Stakes: Standard, autohit delivered by winner with allowance for final reply. Judges: Kasyr, Mathollak, and Meri.
Path of Bones
All along the path here, there are bones scattered about the floor, some old and some new. They appear to be from various different races, such as vampire skulls, human femurs, Elven ribs, and some other unknown bones. The smell here is putrid, reeking of death, decay, and rotting meat. It’s not entirely illogical that lingering too long and disturbing these dead bodies could result in the transmission of certain bloodborne diseases. The path leads upwards at a very high incline or to the west towards a cave that appears to wind downward. A trail of bones can be seen leading east.
Meri :: While Frostmaw usually spares no expense for the costs that might be associated with it’s annual Tournament, today the offerings seem a bit sparse. This is likely due to the more grotesque location that was chosen. How many are going to want to happily snack and drink when there are bones, some with rotting flesh still attached to them, strewn all over? There is still seating and measures have been taken to help make the stench of the place more pleasant for those who are sitting in the stands. The duelists will have to suffer. Separate from the main stands, is a smaller seating area that is reserved for the host of the tournament, as well as the Blue Demon himself if he decides to make an appearance. Balgruuf emerges from these stands and makes his way toward the middle of the fighting space. The Frost Giant’s voice easily carries through the makeshift arena, echoing through the cave with ever word spoken, “Today marks the first official match for Frostmaw’s annual tournament. We have the undead Isok and the brave fighter Jinfeng who will be entertaining us with a bit of bloodshed. Good luck to them both, I look forward to seeing who will progress through the tournament.” With the introduction spoken, Balgruuf clears out of the way and lumbers back to his seat.
Isok :: The half-decayed form of a once charming avian can be found here, hunched over a pile of bones with a single, decrepit index finger extended to trace over a random femur of a humanoid who probably died years ago. His beady, ice-blue colored eyes examine the nicks, and scapes tracing up the item, all the while pondering if a necromancer could bring this person back in a way similar to his own rebirth. However, Isok’s thoughts are interrupted by a more important matter; his scheduled duel and brings himself to a stand, paying little attention to the horrific stench of those who have been laid to rest here. The undead avian himself is dressed in ancient armor, that looks to be more rusty than actually protective - holes, and damage riddles every bit of it and parts of the natural decaying process have stained the warrior’s armor with bile. Within his right hand sits an old spear of some mundane make, but appears to be short and light. Strapped to his left arm is a small round shield, fastened to his forearm rather than being held by his left hand. For now, the being known as Isok stands waiting for his opponent to arrive. That is until Baalgruuf gives his announcement to the gathered crowds and Isok’s gaze wanders over them for a moment.
Jinfeng strides apon the blasted land of the Underdark, looking surprisingly serene for someone currently surrounded in an aroma of death and rot. The same relaxed smile as always curls the corner of his lips, and his hands, hidden in the voluminous sleeves of his Hanfu, are folded in front of himself. He marks himself lucky, honestly, that he had spent the last few days preparing for this, meditating in the Yang-rich air of the healing temple, before making his way down here... this place would provide next to no sustinance for him, the air of death and Yin nearly directly opposed to to the natural Yang qi that flows through his meridians. That said, with the Breath he had drawn into himself before this, he should be able to last this fight, especially with the grueling endurance training he had been subjected to by his teacher. As he comes onto the battlefield and faces his opponent, Jinfeng comes to a stop, bowing respectfully to the warrior, recognizing his opponent before uttering a few customary words. "I look forward to exchanging pointers with you. Shall we?"
Round One:
Isok narrows his gaze upon Jinfeng at his words which express exchanging pointers and offers a mocking sneer in response; stretching apart half rotten lips to reveal his blackened, craggy teeth in a gruesome way. Ignoring the monks well-mannered nature, Isok takes a sharp inhale of breath and leans forward to expel every ounce of air within his rotting lungs to release a battle cry to announce the start of combat; fetid breath and spittle expel from his lips during this horrific cry, only adding to the grim nature of this battle-ground. Stepping forward, the avian begins his approach, gaining speed with each footfall that slams down upon shattered bones beneath the combatants. With the speed granted to him through his avian nature, the gap between them is closed and Isok unfurls his onyx colored wings and gives them a mighty flap. In response, dirt, dust and bone particles are thrown up towards Jinfeng in an attempt to blind him, however there is a secondary use for such a thing. Isok takes advantage of the smoke screen and his ability with flight to circle around the monk in a heartbeat of time and end up behind him. A rapid succession of two spear thrusts follow, the first aimed for Jinfeng’s hip, the second for his thigh. Both are probing attacks aimed at studying his opponents defenses and at the very least, hinder his movement. All the while Isok licks his lips lasciviously in wanton need of a fight.
Jinfeng was under no illusions he'd be dealing with a polite opponent. He had perhaps hoped they would at least follow the most basic of niceties, but it seemed that just wasn't in the cards. Still, by the time that Isok had cleared the distance between them, a field of qi had begin to circulate, a lotus blossom of Breath that spring from the top of his head, cascading down to the ground in the shape of an inverted flower, before reaching the ground and flowing back into his feet to rejoin the flow within his body. This was the most basic of secrets he had learned, a flow of absolute perception: All matter and energy that entered the zone saturated by his qi would be known to him, regardless of its nature. As such, the cloud of debris that the undead stirs up would be less than useless: It would not affect the Monk in the slightest, and it's possible that such debris would hide his own motion, as well. As such, when that spear comes for the first time, he would slide aside like flowing water, turning sideways and stepping in toward his enemy,inside the thrust of the spear, which would find itself brushing just barely against his sleeve as the monk hooks his own arm around the arm that holds it, attempting to pin it for a moment as he launches his own assault, a trio of lightning-quick compact jabs toward the Avian's ribs, each accompanied by a shockwave of concentrated Yang, the power of life, and sunlight, and what those of this land would call 'holy', which burns the undead like cleansing fire, likely causing him no small amount of pain and difficulty should they land, though such expenditure was a little costly for Jin as well, given the environment, draining his ultimately finite reserves of energy in this place where the very air was devoid of life.
Round Two:
Isok snarls in retaliation at having his arm snatched up by the monk and thus ruining his probing attacks and attempts to hamper their ability to move around at full capacity. He also has no knowledge of qi and the unknown energies wielded by the monk, but the one thing that Isok has going for him, is his sheer will and determination to become a hellish nightmare upon the battlefield. Instead of pulling his spear back to free himself of Jinfeng’s grip, he raises that rusty shield, where the first of three strikes beats upon the defensive item like a battering ram, forcing Isok to recoil and avoid having his own defenses slam into his beak from the force of that strike; the item in question deflects that vast majority of the blow saving Isok from falling completely off balance. Otherwise, Isok as a member of the unliving, feels no pain, releases no sudden or sharp cry of agony. But while recoiling, the avian makes use of his momentum and flaps his wings, forcefully separating himself from the monk with ease and taking flight to just narrowly avoid the last two attacks by the skin of his teeth. While within the air, and well outside of Jinfeng’s physical reach, Isok twists his posture into the telltale sign of a spear throw. The weapon is violently released and sent sailing through the air in an attempt to impale Jinfeng through his midsection and skewer him like a pig. Regardless, Isok circles the room and plucks up a meaty femur from a long departed soul to make use of as a weapon.
Jinfeng does not let out a cry as his attack lands upon hardened metal. It had hurt, quite a lot in fact, but his arm would be fine. When the Avian's wings buffet and force them apart, the Cultivator takes several steps back, during which he almost seems to float, before suddenly jerking to the side as he barely avoids the spear that suddenly rushed toward him, cutting shallowly his side as he barely fails to avoid its path, burying into the ground behind him. He stumbles for a moment then, hand going to his side, a faint golden shimmer seen as the blood, which had flowed freely for the briefest of times suddenly stops, before simply reaching back and pulling the spear from the earth, turning it in his hands for a moment. Not as long as he'd prefer, but it would work well enough. rather than gripping the spear near its midpoint, as most would, he instead places his hand at the extreme end of it, near complete opposite the spearhead, with the other only barely a single body-width up its length, flexing it slightly before kicking off the ground, closing the distance between himself and Isok quite quickly, the qi flowing through his body giving him strength and speed beyond even that of several normal men, even without being expended, that same energy flowing through the spear as it begins to thrust and weave, actually performing a familiar maneuver, the same pair of thrusts toward his opponent's extremities, hip and thigh, each blow accompanied by a surge of Yang Breath like a lightning bolt of holy retribution.
Round Three:
Isok finally sneers as the first signs of blood this battle have been spotted, no matter how little it is, and finds that such things cloud his mind for the briefest of moments - even if Jinfeng had dodged the attempted shish-kabob. What Isok had not expected however, was for Jinfeng to use his unknown qi energies to take flight after him, and while using his own spear no less! The avian frowns at such things, but barely has any time to respond to such a brash attack. Dropping his left wing once, Isok adjusts his flight and begins to barrel roll head first towards Jinfeng. The first of two attacks whizzes right past the undead’s hip causing no harm, but with such a rapid response, Isok fails to put up an acceptable defense towards both. Suddenly, that spear plunges into his thigh, releasing the built up energies into his body. And for the first time, in a long while, Isok feels pain, surging through his body like magma due to the explosive holy energy released in the attack. With a sudden cry of pain, he loses his ability to maintain flight for the briefest of moments, where combatants might simply collide in a bone jarring smash within the air; his armored shoulder aimed squarely for Jinfeng’s ribs. Regardless, Isoks falls to the ground, only regaining his wits just before he hits the bony surface to keep from making a disastrous crash where he recovers himself and realizes that he still has that femur turned club within his grip!
Jinfeng had not quite flown. He was not that profound quite yet. And yet, one could be forgiven for thinking he had. To be honest, if he had not judged that Isok was currently distracted by attempting to find himself a new weapon, he likely wouldn't have made such an aggressive attack... and yet it had paid off. True, the Undead's shoulder had slammed into his chest, and this did hurt to some degree, but at the moment, the Monk would be remiss to let this advantage go to waste. As they drop toward the ground, he twists his body, using the spear still embedded in Isok's leg as leverage and the momentum he still carried from his charge as force to spin himself around, aiming a knee to strike at the point where Isok's wing joins to his body, another shockwave of Yang blasting out not into Isok's body but into the air, the force of the qi leaving his body driving the knee in even harder, only then an answering shockwave of qi invading the joint between wing and back, the force also propelling Jin further up and away, and his opponent harder into the ground under them, along with hopefully tearing the spear from his leg in the process, though that would be left behind if necessary, Jin coming to land some feet away, body low, legs wide apart, spear held in an upward guard position should it still be in his possession.
Final Defense:
Isok had little choice but to separate himself and Jinfengs use of the spear still within his leg, and twists violently within the air - removing himself from the pole Jinfeng was attempting to use as a springboard for his exotic movements. The blackened bile that Isok may call blood, or the semblance of what sits within his veins, bursts forth at the sudden separation of spear and flesh, staining his thigh in a disgusting fetid liquid that smells similar to the rot within this very room. But within the very nature of avians is the gift of flight, and just before Jinfeng can enjoy smashing his opponent into the ground, Isok whips around, using that momentum from his defense to turn and brush aside the knee strike with his shield where its lethal intent is swatted away with ruthless efficiency. Now facing his opponent, Isok tries to halt his momentum and does so to some degree. Regardless, Isok finally hits the ground and rolls through a pack of troll bones where he ends up in a heap, surrounded by debris from his own landing. As a member of the undead, who does not breathe or even feel pain normally, it’s hard to tell if Isok is still mobile or incapacitated otherwise.
Winner: Jinfeng
Auto Hit:
Meri :: Now that the duel has almost reached its end, Balgruuf rises from his seat. He does not exit the stands that were set up for the elite as there was still the final blow to consider. It would be dishonorable for him to place himself in the way before the duel was formally over. rather he uses the sheer volume of his voice to highlight who the winner is. “Both duelists performed well and put on a good show. However there can only be one winner. Today the victor is…Jinfeng.”
Jinfeng was about to re-engage the fight, charge forward and attempt to put his foe down... and then he was interrupted, the voice of the officiator declaring his victory. Now, Jinfeng was not a local, and had only some knowledge of local dueling customs. That said, it had now been declared he was the victor, and thus he saw no need to perform any sort of final blow. Instead, he turns the spear in his hand before tossing it back toward its owner, to land at his feet should he not simply catch it. Following that, he'd bow to the crowd, smiling serenely as always, and begin to make his way by shortest route back toward the sunlight - honestly, getting his wounds cared for was secondary to simply getting somewhere he could once more draw in the world's Breath and reinvigorate himself, healing would come quite easily after this. "Perhaps Martial Senior Shishi was an outlier..."
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