Duel:Linn v. Mr. Rock, Round Three Agitation Monster Tournament

From HollowWiki

Part of the Agitation Arc


Duelists: Linn versus Mr. Rock, a pet rock (played by Hildegarde)
Duel: Traditional 3 attacks and defenses each. 15 minute time limit. 
Stakes: Placement in Final Three of the Agitation Monster Tournament. 
Judges: Alex & Pilar  


Scenic View, Xalious

Oh, the view! You think to yourself, as you overlook this cliff. You feel no fear from this great height, due to the amazing view down the mountain, to a tree-filled valley. From here you can see a large park, with people eating and playing sports of all kinds, as well as rolling hills and a large fountain. Beyond that is the great Xalious Tree, the incarnation that the god of the same name has taken. Also visible from here is a small village resting in a valley in between the mountains, and above that the great Mage Tower, the training place of the spell casters. You think you could stay here forever, taking in these wonderful sights, but you must press on soon. Off to the east, you notice a small hut in rather shoddy condition, probably unused for quite some time. In a quiet corner is a tiny little grave, freshly dug surounded by many flowers, the majority of them being baby's breath and and crisp fresh purple roses. All of them left in tribute for what you expect was a very young soul. A roughly carved statuette of a young feline is here, with, - You will not be forgotten' engraved in the base


Duel

Mr Rock had beaten back two mortal idiots from Xalious. First that annoying bard, then that drow with the really bushy eyebrows that were definitely not ‘on fleek’ as the kids would say. Xalious slang is the worst. Mr Rock had rolled all the way to the Scenic View where he could question his sentience and existence in silence with the exotic pebble Roxy. Maybe they could go to Cenril together and escape this strange land that had plagued Mr Rock with sentience. Here the rocks sit in peace, Mr Rock overlapping Roxy in a solid but loving embrace. That is until Linn comes wandering into the scene and steps on the pair. Roxy is a delicate pebble. She’s not made for being stood upon and cracks under the pressure. If Mr Rock had a voice, he’d scream for his beloved. But alas, he is but a rock. With the shattered Roxy, Mr Rock’s sanity likewise shatters and he is filled with a fury that could only be rivalled by a volcano. The cliff that makes the scenic view is a beautiful place, indeed, but it is made of hard rock, minerals and precious stones. All of which feel Mr Rock’s tragic grief in this moment. The cliff trembles under the sheer force of Mr Rock’s psionic fury and one might think it’s going to collapse! But instead, great boughs of the earth shoot forth into rocky and pointed ends; stalagmites stabbing from the ground up to impale the treacherous man that would crush his heart like they had crushed his precious love. Stalagmites are not enough though, that’s not enough punishment for a man like Linn! Chunks of rock fly from the cliff face and shoot for Linn’s face and hands, peppering against that gas-mask and hood with vindictive fury.


Linn did not step on Roxy no, but rather, he came casually sliding in like he owned this place, like it was *his* to guard. Fate had decided that Mr. Rock and his beloved should be separated by the flying boot, the pretty pebble sent skittering over the cliff never to be seen again, leaving the enchanter alone with the dreaded Mr. Rock. His magical sliding had come to a halt as the first tremors begin as he sent a brief glance over the cliff in search of another giant hulking rat, only to find nothing. When he turned back, he found something else, the very earth and stone he stood on flowing and shaping itself to impale him as the first stones came from the edge of the cliff behind him and into the back of his head, forcing him to stumble forward with the blows as he began running to try and make himself a smaller target. Where in the world was all of this coming from? No roars, no crushing footsteps, no screeches to signal a creature, just pure hostile environment. He may have acquired that gift from Desparrow just in time for it to save his life from an invisible foe it seems… Under the mask the iris of his right eye turned a vivid violet as he plunged his vision into the arcane world, seeking whatever connections and magic he could that would (hopefully) converge on the creator of all of this chaos. He attempted to dance around the stalagmites the best he could, the soles of his boots unfortunately being the one thing he had neglected to magically reinforce, a bad step here and there bringing a spear of pain through his feet that threatened to shatter his focus. For now, his goal was to seek out the brightest focus of power with his arcane vision to know just where to unravel the cause of this chaos.


Mr Rock may have only recently come into sentience, but he is aware of mortality and has a sense of it since becoming sentient. As soon as the stalagmites began to swiftly breach the earth, Mr Rock had used the disruption to his advantage and merely fell into one of the earthen holes created by the stalagmite to be protected by the very earth itself. He would only register as a faint blue, as did most of the cliff given his psionic influence over it, to Linn’s eye which could be confusing. With Roxy lost to him, Mr Rock has lost his heart. And with the loss of a heart, comes only darkness and evil. Linn must focus his power and continue to avoid the stalagmites that continuously pierce the earth in a grim attempt to skewer the human – shish kabab a Linn-kabab - but focus can be broken. The mound of soil that denoted a tragedy to another person was of no consequence to the cold and stonehearted Mr Rock. The body of the infant, who could be no more than a year and a half, is dragged up and out of the grave; it’s rotting and bloated body sent flying towards the face of the enchanter to wallop against him as its tiny fists are forced to batter against his mask covered face. The blue glow forces the mouth of the infant to open and spew forth jagged rocks and stones that had no doubt been placed there just before Mr Rock forced the infant to surface. Yet this is not enough! Linn must suffer, suffer like Mr Rock is suffering right now. The infant swoops low in an aura of blue, its dead arms and legs wrapping tightly around Linn’s leg as its bloated belly warbled with energy before the child exploded with force; sending jagged rocks and stones flying and skittering like a grotesque nail bomb. If Linn hasn’t lost his leg, he had best thank his blacksmith for the quality of his armour but those now free jagged rocks and stones glow eerily as they float towards Linn. Some settle upon his armour, crumbling to dust against his chainmail to sink through the tiny gaps of the chain and to press against his clothing and his flesh, where the grit of the former stones would begin to move rapidly in an effort to sand his skin off and burrow into the enchanter.


Linn saw no focus of power, nothing to signal who he was looking for in the diffuse energy of the cliff. With a blink he cleared his vision, settling his focus on hardening his own armor to blunt and block the blows of the rocks with a diamond-hardness of his own. The child blasting from the earth sent him reflexively diving… forward, straight under the hurled projectile, only for its falling to send him face-first right into it, rocks exploding and scratching the black of his mask into the silver of freshly exposed metal before the fragments came back, seeking their way in. Fortunately for Linn, he at least had some ability to control stone through his common use of it in enchantment, the rocky dust’s proximity to him allowing him to pour his own energy into it as he attempted to override Mr. Rock’s psionic control, or at least counter it with forces of his own if he was unable to force out the hostile influence. Where…? The blue. The blue the infant was even without his sight? Maybe? He drew the fire-enchanted blade at his side before rising to his feet, wincing in pain as he searched again for the brightest blue glow he could before hobbling over and pointing his blade at it before shifting his focus magically defending himself to unleashing a torrent of white-hot fire from the blade straight at it if he could find it. The blaze was enough to ruin steel, the blade’s enchantment barely managing to keep it from melting itself, and would no doubt begin melting the rock, hopefully Mr. Rock, into lava, dispersing whatever forces brought him into this world.


Mr Rock’s signature blue aura was well covered by how deep he was in the earth. Linn is wasting his magical energy on the stalagmites that continue to pierce the earth in an effort to spear the enchanter. Mr Rock knows it’s best to send your forces out to die on your behalf rather than suffer, so in sending the infant out to be ‘killed’, he has burrowed ever deeper into the earth due to the ever stabbing stalagmites that are certainly leaving the scenic view in a horrendous state. Linn be nimble, Linn be quick, if you want to avoid a stalagmite up in an uncomfortable place. Yet finally, the earth erupts in a bigger explosion than before! Dirt, earth, everywhere! Obscuring the vision as the beast emerges. The great beast that Mr Rock has been collecting while harassing Linn and keeping him busy. The great beast that Lanlan had tried to deceive Mr Rock with, the swine. The great beast appears to be a golem made of many rocks and stones all clumped together and it has erupted right behind Linn and his sword that’s blasting pointlessly at the ground. The hulking beast drops earth and a few smaller rocks as its great big arms swing downward in an effort to crush his little man skull and end his life.


Linn, unable to find a single clue of where Mr. Rock might have been or ever will be, figured it was pointless to fight a foe he couldn’t find a way to bring down right now, let alone find them in the first place! He had barely spent any time blasting the earth with fire before he completely lost any signs of Mr. Rock, and had begun hobbling his way out the best he could until the giant burst from the ground behind him, prompting a quick twist of his head for a metal face to see a stone one. If he was going to try and fight such a thing, he’d have to do it on better ground. But first, not getting crushed is a good thing. Ducking his head to cover his neck with the mask he dove forward as hard as he could, hardening his armor to blunt the stalagmites before shifting his magic again, this time to remove the friction between the ground and himself so that he could slide his way out the same way he came in, aiming right for the softer, more forgiving soil that provided less material for Mr. Rock and/or this golem to work with. Really though, he was in full retreat, his condition far too compromised to continue a fight against the unyielding giant. He spun to his back as he went, revealing the bright violet crystal in his off-hand as he sought the golem, the black void flaring to life within it as reality bent and inverted before a wicked bolt of negative energy blasted from it in a desperate attempt to consume the energy of the rock golem and de-animate it to cover his runaway.


Mr Rock’s golem is held together through his psionic will and not magic. So as the bolt of nothingness energy strikes the golem, he grunts in confusion and simpers as Linn runs away. His playmate was gone. Instead, the stony golem meanders around to look for signs of the dearly departed Roxy.


Mr. Rock wins.