Duel:Lemmiwinks v Reginae, Round One Agitation Monster Tournament

Part of the Agitation Arc

Duelists: Lemmiwinks, dire mutant lemming king (played by Kang) vs. Reginae. 
Duel: Traditional 3 attacks and defenses each. 15 minute posting limit. 
Stakes: Advancement into Round Two of the Agitation Monster Tournament. 
Judges: Emilia & Lanara  

Fountains of Corruption (Xalious)

A hill that hadn't always been there sits near the fountain, feeding off the corruption and chaotic energies. Somehow, some way, it senses the presence of the naga woman and rises from obscurity. The towering mythril-plated creature rises and shakes the dirt off, rattling the razor-sharp spines on it's back. It doesn't roar, it doesn't growl, hiss or vocalize at all. The creature opens a pair of green eyes. . .then two more. . .then two more. And so on, until all fourteen eyes are open, staring in all directions. It releases the colorless, odorless toxins from it's claws, readying itself for a hunt. Hunger and anger rage silently through the seven minds that had fused and become one. Lemmiwinks, the lemming-king had awoken. Towering above the trees at highest, it steps lightly, stalking closer to Reginae. It rotates as it approaches, letting every eye see the prey. Finally, it leaps into the air and curls up into a ball of spiked fury, spinning in fury and spreading the toxic fumes as it races towards the naga.

Reginae had been traveling through Xalious in her usual form of a human child; armed with no visible weapons and dressed in a ragged black cloak and furlined snowboots. Her hair was loose, dragging the ground and stirring dust of it's own when the strange hill ahead begins to move. The naga woman takes a step back as the creature reveals itself before her and yet still miles ahead. "Damn," she mutters, realizing this is just another bit of the plague Josleen had mentioned. Another side effect of the Dark Imp's intentions. In the time between it's rising, and the time it begins to stalk around, Reginae has been able to shift back into her natural naga form. Giving her a smidge of an advantage of her human state. But still, if that thing wasn't menacing. As Lemmiwinks leaps into the air, Reginae takes a quick glance around for cover and finds none. Nothing here would withstand the gargantuan lemming as it feel to earth again. The palms of her hands slap together while her eyes hold the creature in steady view; forcing her shapeshifting to increase her size to rival her opponents. What a sight to behold! The naga managed to make it to three fourths of her intended size before the blow, which she catches just on the side of her otherwise pristine tail. The scales grate against the mithril plating, sparking and screeching with the resistance. The toxic fumes go unnoticed. Her torso twists to "bat" the ball of Lemmiwinks away, but the momentum wouldn't be enough for more than a few feet (considering their sizes) and into a few hundred trees if he didn't manage to wiggle away. And people think naga's look creepy! There would be no hiding from those eyes, so she didn't bother. Reginae is back on the offensive and lunging at Lemmiwinks with her full weight and claws that were naturally sharpened to a fine point, attempting to dig them into as many of those damnable eyes as possible while dodging the raised edges of the mithril plate surrounding.

Lemmiwinks ducks that head taking the blow to the top of the head. The claws sink into the cranial cavity, damaging the brain. The heads to the left and the right lunge at the moment of penetration, pincering Reginaes claws with the mithril plates. The two large portions of Lemmiwinks, snap their overlarge front teeth at where they believe the naga is. To make things worse, the noxious fumes are spreading. Plantlife is wilting and nearby animals are coughing up blood. The source of the fumes arcs at Reginae's tail. Claws with their over-full poison-sacs crash against scales and Lemmiwinks' own mithril plating. Directly beneath the naga who had crushed this skull, the eyes open once more. The heads on either side had taken control. The grotesque expression on this face can not be fully described. Their control is shoddy, but life has returned to the mindless portion of the body.

Reginae feels her claws sink in with a satisfying slush as flesh and muscle gave way, blood oozing down her arms while Lemmiwink's other heads look on, seemingly amused by her attempt on his 'life'. The click of it's mithril plating against her claws was a less satisfying sound. More along the lines of terror. The gnashing of it's teeth break her momentary fixation on the burning sensation that is seeping between her scales and drawing forth small bubble of blood in each groove. The tip of her tail is now coated entirely with a strange concoction of black ooze streaked with crimson. This is serious. With a grin, she pushes her claws just a bit deeper into the mithril pinchers and the resurrecting skull before thrashing in three calculated jerks to regain control of her arms and attachments. It was going to take more than her previous attack to bring him down for good. Reginae's torso dips away, falling back from the monster while letting the length of her tail try to swipe back, giving her most distance to plan her next attack. Lemmiwink's teeth find purchase in her already throbbing extremity and she nearly shrieks from the pain. The poison is starting to seep in and the wounds are only growing in size. Her vision blurs and she stumbles backwards, her tail flicks back to life at her summons and curls beneath her once more. Here, if she's granted the distance she aimed for, she'll begin to construct an Illusionary cage to hold the monster. It was unclear whether or not this beast had intellect enough to negate her intended invasion of his mind. The monster's motions were jerky, and slowed. It might just be enough.

Six of his seven heads still working fine, Lemmiwinks rotates the weakness to the back, preparing to charge again. Thirteen eyes watch the illusory cage form over the large monstrosity (the fourteenth just won't focus). It tests the bars and is confused by the odd consistency, or lack thereof. This simply causes more toxic gas to be expelled from it's claws. Despite being colorless, enough has escaped to form a cloud of fog in the area. Vision is obscured, and probably permanently damged in the case of on dog. Not sure a dog can regrow melted eyeballs. At least it didn't experience the pain, because it had died moments earlier from inhaling the venom. Lemmiwinks can no longer see the bars and rages forward at Reginae, sprinting full bar at his prey, not willing to stop for anything. After all, at the core, he -is- a lemming. Suicidal charges are instinct.

Reginae takes the blessed but short amount of time to shift even larger, making the proportions more believable in the case of any lemming to any naga. It expelled more energy that she would admit immediately, but in the event she survived (which, she was aiming for) there would always be time to heal. Nagas were use to venom and poisons so they had little to no effect on them. That's not to say she was immune. The punctures in her tail were throbbing, and distractingly painful. Seven heads on this thing...Sven Almighty. As Lemmiwinks broke through her illusioned cage, she pulls back to brace for the impact. The tip of her tail, still dripping with a concoction of blood and black pus, shifts to resemble the blade of a large sword before swinging high into the air above the mutated lemming. Almost blindly, Reginae is forced to bring the blade down in a guillotine fashion repeatedly around the corrupted fountain. It proves worth while in dispelling the mist surrounding, but it's impossible to tell if her blow has yet to land. Then, from the corner of her eye, she sees a shadowed figure charging. "Glorified Rat..." she snarled, slithering over the corpses of the many animals who had perished here today without a second thought. Her focus remained only on Lemmiwinks as she lifted her sword like tail to put the finishing touches on this murderous scene.

Lemmiwinks continues his charge, claws seeping poison, spikes sharper than they have any right to be. Dodging the blow from the sword-tail isn't even a fragment of a thought in the thing's head. It barrels directly into the blow, protected mostly by the mithril plating, but once again the blow strikes true drawing blood and sinking to do who knows how much damage. Whether the spikes slice his opponent or not, whether she fails prey to his toxins or not, whether she is trampled into mulch or just dodges somehow, Lemmiwinks continues his charge raging in a straight line to recover or die from his horrible ordeal. Regardless of anything else. Nagas make poor prey. The lemming-king needs to set the bar lower. Maybe a deep dragon as an apperatif.

Reginae wins.

Reginae holds position as the lemming makes it's final charge. Poised like a guillotine in all her threatening and gigantic glory, the naga's blade like tail falls down to the earth with a sickening crunch. The spasming body of the once great Lemming King is separated by a inky pool of blood from it's seven heads. The heads begin to shrivel together like a wilting flower folds in on itself. While it's tempting to try and take the head as a prize, Reginae has no need for shriveled remains in her quarters. With a sigh of relief, the Naga Princess reverts to her normal size, unable to hold up her human disguise in her injured state, and starts her long journey back home for some much needed R&R.