Duel:Kanna v Meilani, Match 6 of the 2018 Frostmaw Tournament

Duelists: Kanna vs Meilani
Duel: Traditional 3 rounds with final defense, 15 minute posting limit.
Stakes: Auto-hit to the winner.
Judges: Brennia, Celaeno and Larewen.

Natural Bridge

Leone said, "Welcome to the second round of the (seventh) Titans of Winter Tournament! Here we gather at the Natural Bridge, where the Frostmaw shamans and priests have shaped and moulded magics to present the utmost challenge to our contestants. The naturally occurring stone bridge has been transformed into a death trap. The floor below, though not a particularly grevious fall, is made all the more precarious by the addition of crowded stone spikes, ready for impaling. The bridge itself is only a few inches wide at this point, barely the width of a palm. The ice remains thick and treacherous. The wind has picked up, a frigid, whirling storm of snow and sleet pelting away at the bridge and the contestants. It is strong enough to begin to erode the meagre walkway, leaving curious chunks and gaps in the stony span. Good luck to both Kanna and Meilani!"

Meilani would look from Leone to Kanna with a warming smile. "Hi there, nice to see you again!" She shouts over the winds as she slowly lowers her guitar case to the frozen ground at the her end of the bridge, placing her cloak to the ground beside it, leaving only her long dress to guard her from the chill. She guides her hand down to the hem of her skirt, removing a dagger from it's sheath hidden at the death singer's thigh as she slowly steps forward out unto the narraw path. Placing the dagger to her teeth, she extends her arms out at her sides, steadying herself as she carefully inches closer to the fellow bard. Throwing caution to the winds, the death singer pushes of the bridge, leaping forth as throws herself into a twirl. Her dress flairs outward, hopefully distracting Kanna of Meilani pulling the dagger from her teeth as she spins. Comming off the spin, Meilani branishes the dagger own at her hip, seemingly ready to raise and slice at the bard. But no, hopefully the sight of the dagger catches the bard attenntion for it would be Meilani's foot, which she raised off the spin races for Kanna throat, seeking to crush the singer's windpipe and hopefully silent her singing for a bit.

Kanna was rather upset that she could not bundle up any more without limiting her movement. Her attire is a uniform white, from the thick coat and hood stuffed with winter wolf fur, to the snow white snow boots almost disappearing into the piling snow that whips against her rounded form. Because she has to wear gloves to keep frostbite away, the only instruments on her consist of a pipe with the crest of Schezerade stamped into the side, and an hourglass shaped drum. Just like during her fight against the paladin, it rests in the small of her padded back by a white strap around one shoulder. At sight of the elf, brunerra blue eyes widen. The elf from the tavern! Oh dear. The moment the high elf's feet are off the ground in a leap, she blows a single high note into the pipe. She was never a fan of woodwinds; the practice came to her about as easily as an orc learning avian table manners. The note is enough, though, and a burst of amplified sound waves pulse forth. They wobble slightly under the tremendous strain of the wind, but they still bounce forth to try to knock the wind out of her opponent. After two pulses are released, she shuffles back along the walkway. "You'd fit perfectly with me in my loneliness." The song is perhaps too low for Meilani to hear over the howls, but the magic takes effect nonetheless. Even if her gifted nature magic could not attack, surely it would defend. Scraggling branches shoot out from the ground, slowly at first. It is not until she sees Meilani still advancing that she does what would surely be an act of madness to onlookers: she jumps off the bridge and down onto the branches that make a flat enough surface for her to land on without touching the spikes. "But we'll just go our ways." She sings again, and another platform is produced, further away to which she retreats. If the elf were to try to follow her onto the first platform, she would find that it would give way under her, for Meilani was not the one who summoned them. With a deep breath, Kanna pulls out her drum and begins playing a steady beat, hypnotic at that. If left uninterrupted, the high elf would find herself becoming unbelievably fatigued, and ready to sleep in the storm.

Meilani , missing her kick causes the death singer to lose her balance on the icy ground and she slips and falls over the edge of the narrow path. She doesn't find the falling motion, but goes with it, and arches her back into the fall to send herself into a backward flip. She extends her dagger hand outward, buring the dagger into the edge of the path which aids in anchoring the high elf to the side of the bridge, leaving her hanging over the side. The snow, the winds, the biting frost eats away at the death singer's fouce and engry. Her eyes would follow Kanna as much as they can, but the snow hides the woman. The only thing that give Meilani any sign of where the bard is, the faint sound of the music over the wind. But she's slipping, her grip flailing, maybe it's the cold or the music. Either way, she's fading fast forcing her to once again herself into danger. She swings her lower half of her body so her feet can being place to the underside of the bridge as she turns to face the sound of music. Ripping her dagger from the bridge, she pushes off, sending herself into an angled dive. Tugging her knees to her chest, she rotates her body forth in a flip. From this, Meilani springs both feet outward, seeking to drive both heel into Kanna chest and hopefully knock her into the spikes.

Kanna is too focused on maintaining the steady beat as sleet ruthlessly pelts her face. Even if she had seen Meilani coming, no song would have made a platform fast enough for her to escape to. She is aware for a split second that something has struck her, then the next moment of awareness she is no longer on the ground. The spikes approach at a horrifying speed, and instinctively, she lets out a shriek, releasing the drum to cover her chest and face with both arms, fists balled up against her forehead. It takes a moment for her to realize that she has fallen between two of the stone spikes. There is warmth under her, for which it takes another heartbeat to realize that the warmth is her own, the skin of her back is cold, and that she is suddenly very much in pain. With a gasp, she bites down on her tongue to keep from screaming out and giving her location away; until she sits up, the only blood visible would be from a spike feet away from where she fell. She whispers a song then as the platform that Meilani would have likely landed on crumbles away. Surely, that distraction would be enough to warrant that the sudden appearance of another spike among the masses, rigid and smooth. The only thing giving it away is the darker brown tone compared to the gray surrounding it, though it is quickly being covered in snow. Inside the safety of the cone, Kanna begins to sing again, attempting to heal the gash on her back in the interlude she has.

Meilani doesn't have much strength as the platform she's hope to land on does indeed give away at her feet, sending her falling to the spikes below. She'd attempt to land in a simular fashion to Kanna, between the deadly spikes. But she isn't able to control herself as mush in this free fall, barely managing to turn her body she she hits the spike pit on her side. She hits the floor hard, with her breath leaving her body and returning as sharpe struggling pants. Pain rush through her body causing her to let of a peircing scream into the frosty winds. She painfully lifts herself up on her side as eyes race downward to her hip, where the pool of blood begins to form. Panic and adrinaline race through her veins as she reaches to lift her skirt to view the damage. The spike hidden beneath the snow of the impaled itself through her rear, passing through the flesh from one side of the cheek and out the over end. Relief and dread both grip the death singer, she missed a orgin but her rear will forever have the scar. It takes alot of will power for Meilani to pull herslef from the spike and up to her feet. She drags a limp and nearly lifless leg across the earth as she hobbles toward Kanna, coming to stands only a mere foot or so front of the woman. She balances with all her might upon her good leg, bending it to lower herself slight. She then pushes off the ground, sending her self frontal flip. Painfully her damaged leg extended outward as its swung downward like an axe with it heel seeking to crash into Kanna skull, seeking to knock the woman unconcance.

Kanna is unable to see Meilani approaching from under her cover. It seems paying attention may be her downfall, as the sound of her voice echoed in the cone covers the sound of Meilani limping to her. The scraggly layers of frozen branches give way easily until the weight of the elf's leg, but it takes just enough momentum away to keep the human conscious when struck, even when her head bounces on the stone on the other side. Kanna scrambles to stand to her feet, propping herself up on the pillar behind her. The cover of her white clothes is ruined now, as blood has stained the entirety of her coat's back, while fresher blood drips from a nasty-looking gash that extends from her temple to above her eyebrow. That is when she sees the damage the elf has taken, or rather, she sees the damage where a chunk of flesh should have been. Despite being a survivor of many past horrors, the gore is something she can never quite get used to. "Hurp." She gags out of reflex, and again when she sees blood dripping all over her front. Using the stone spikes to steady herself, she moves around them to make distance between herself and the elf. In the distance, she can see the bright red strings of her drum; putting her to sleep was surely not an option now. Something clatters, and her attention is brought to the pipe still inside her coat. The pipe! Gloved fingers search for it, and before another attack can be made, she takes a deep breath and plays a single long note, sending waves of forceful sound energy out to hopefully knock out her opponent, or at least keep her away, and bring this to an end.

Meilani would have no defend for this, putting all she had left in that last strike. The force of the sound wave knocks her back, throwing her off her feet as sailing through the air. Meilani is helpless for the most part and simply goes with the flow, managing only to turn her body slightly as to be able to see where she's being flung. Her foot touches the ground, but the force she was thrown causes it to buckle and send her crashing to the floor of the spike pit where she rolls and slides to a stop via slamming into the dull side of a spike. She'd painfully lift herself into a seated postion, leaning her back to the spike she slammed into. She sats here, panting and lifting her head to the sky.

Winner: Kanna

Kanna stays leaned on the stone spike, watching as Meilani lifts her head with an air of resignation. She staggers over to the other bardess despite the burning cold. The wind has died down considerably, though fresh sleet still hammers at the exposed gash on her back. Meilani looks about ready to attack again when she drops to her knees and throws her arms around her. "I'm done." She says softly. "It hurts too much to keep fighting, so let's stop here." Her voice cracks slightly, hot tears mixing in with the blood still flowing from her forehead. "I can... I can heal you when we get inside somewhere, so please... can we still be friends?" The poor human is practically dripping snot, and it's clear that Meilani's presence at her first battle, plus their meeting at the tavern, had really made her happy.

Meilani would wrap her arms around Kanna, to embrace the woman to steal her warmth. She doesn't look much better for wear, with her skin bruised from the fall and both legs now barely able to support her weight, yet she has enough strength to give a chuckle and a smile. "Of course. Being your enemy is a pain in the butt."

There's an audible groan from spectators above, and the fight comes to a close.