Duel:Vehara v Kovl, Match 3 of the 2014 Frostmaw Tournament
Duelists: Kovl vs. Vehara Duel: Traditional 3 posts each, with final defense. 15 minute posting limit. Stakes: Autohit post. Advancement in the Titans of Winter Tournament 2014. Judges: Satoshi(mid), Svilfon (hmail), & Valen
Elven Rope Bridge
No stands have been erected for this match. The surrounding trees of Sage serve as ample seats for all in attendance, made doubly so by the fact that all who enter the Kingdom of Enchantment find themselves shrunken to the size of a pixie. With combatants and audience turned miniature, there is sufficient room to sit among the trees and watch the battle unfold upon the elegant--and deceptively sturdy--elven rope bridge, suspended between treetop shops. Who will claim victory tonight? Kovl, the cunning pixie, at home in this environment? Or Vehara, the fleet-footed half-drow, as skilled as the finest of assassins? Only time will tell, with Enchantment as the stage for this fearsome faceoff!
Vehara emerges from one of the mouth of a hut like some ebon-clad phantom, her eyes fixing upon the familiar pixie in a cool, calculating stare. Moving both of her slender hands down to her sides, the half-drow draws a pair of simple daggers up and out of their respective confinements, giving little more than a serpentine hiss to announce their arrival. They fit so readily within the assassin’s grasp, the faintest trickle of moonlight above revealing a peculiar sheen that seems to coat the metal of these nefarious weapons. With only a quick nod of respect, Hara suddenly streaks forth on her lead leg, her dark cloak whipping about angrily with the speed she assumes; the boards underfoot give an ominous, vicious clatter as the assassin bears slices the space between herself and the pixie with blurring celerity. Nearing proper proximity with Kovl, Vehara slows her steps and sets into violent motion, the twin daggers cutting high and low like practiced clockwork. The first slices low for the pixie’s thighs while the second tears high for the bridge of his nose, giving little more than a quiet ‘swish’ with the speed they move. At the tail end of her combo, Hara tucks her form and rolls past the pixie in a precarious motion that sends her dangerously close to sliding off of the wooden boards below; assumedly behind her opponent now, she swipes the steel daggers for the back of his knees, aiming to finish her crippling assault in wicked fashion. Should any of these blows score upon Kovl, he will soon find the intent of the pernicious poison they are covered in; sourced from some sort of venomous creature, the toxin bestows a sort of stupor to the victim not unlike drunkenness. Not only would it make evasion difficult, but also the casting of spells that the pixie certainly relies on…
Kovl eyes the half-drow as she steps from the doorway of the storefront ahead of him. This is the pixie's first encounter with the assassin after months of silence, and Kovl is unsurprised by the sudden charge of his opponent with daggers drawn. Quickly stepping back as the half-drow approaches, the pixie's boots teeter the edge of the bridge, and while Vehara may be his size now, she is no true pixie. As far as Kovl is concerned, she has not dealt with human hands swatting, animal jaws snapping, as much as he has. No, the illusionist is well-accustomed to constant reaches of opponents attempting to trap him in a jar. Reflexively and without much thought, Kovl steps backwards from the edge of the bridge second before Vehara's first swing, evading the touch of the poisonous blades wielded by his opponent. The Arcane Steward moves quickly, opening his wings as a parachute below the bridge and outstretching his hand to catch his Xalious staff which materializes within his grasp. A few words are muttered under his breath before the darkened sky is lit considerably by a rainstorm of fireballs. These flames are a trick of the mind, but if his opponent thinks for a second that they are real, she would feel the searing pain of the hell raining upon her. Eyes upward, the pixie guides three such images directly toward the half-drow, the first landing in front of her, the second preventing escape behind her, and the third is aimed directly toward her person.
Vehara looses a frustrated growl when none of her hasty strikes make contact, snapping to her feet and brushing the sleeve of her cloak against her brow to wipe away any sweaty beads formed from such exertion. The wheels within the assassin’s mind begin to grind as Kovl sneakily sweeps his way underneath the bridge, devising just how to reach him when the pixie’s attack is noticed; the heat given by these illusory flames is quite palpable, and it’s enough to force her to forget that these fireballs may not potentially be so real. The fiery trio bearing down upon the half-drow leaves few avenues of escape, so her only true option is to follow the pixie…sort of. Dismissing her daggers to their rightful holsters, Hara abandons the bridge, which surely seems like an insane idea without wings! The assassin has no intention of falling to her death, however, and she simply snags hold of the edge of the planks, leaving her teetering there in a most precarious position. Steeling her resolve and trusting in her grip with merely one hand, Vehara sends one arm to the small of her back, revealing her most trusted weapon; the kusari-gama, the infamous weapon that is best described as a weighted chain attached to a sickle. She cannot quite swing it well with one arm, but luckily she is not forced to. A mere flick of the wrist and the ensorcelled chain unfurls, screaming as it seeks to wrap about any part of Kovl – preferably his waist – and leave him ensnared, the weighted end moving as the pixie does with a strange sort of intelligence to avoid evasion. Should he be captured, the assassin will certainly give a mighty tug - or as mighty as she can give with one arm - and seek to send him crashing up through the planks above; they may well indeed roar with the illusionary fire, but it doesn’t seem to dissuade the half-drow if Kovl is forced to meet a nasty fate alongside her.
Kovl , with an eye toward the half-drow, smiles deviously as his visages of fueled flame descend upon Vehara. There is no way she will escape, the illusionist thinks, and because of this fault in judgment, he is completely taken by surprise as the assassin dangles to dodge the destructive detailings of his mind. A quick yelp of surprise is uttered as the drow begins her attack, and he quickly folds his wings to allow gravity to aid a hasty escape. Much to the pixie's dislike, the half-drow's kusari-gama catches his leg, entangling him to his captor. As Hara tugs toward the boards, Kovl experiences the terror and thrill of a bungee jumper unsure of where the bungee's pull will take him. Cursing under his breath, Kovl is pulled to hit the planks above, but the illusionary flames have already vanished in the pixie's quick surprise. Falling limp, the illusionist attempts to use his weight against the dangling half-drow, and his wings consequently add to the pull of gravity. Kovl's fingers dig into one of his pouches of pixie dust, and he curses again as most of the contents of his bag fall toward the ground, but not before his grasp encapsules the small bit he needs. Activating it with a pulse of magic and sticking his hand into another satchel, the pixie's terrifying pet dwelling within is rendered invisible to the naked eye. Kovl pulls the invisible creature from his bag: a snakpioner, gifted to him from Svilfon. Its origin was from a previous fight between Svilfon and Vehara. One who sees it would recognize it as a combination of a snake, a scorpion, and a spider with an elongated body, pincers, and a tail filled with poison. "Attack," the pixie whispers as the invisible being crawls up the half-drow's weapon to his familiar and long-lost foe and launches its poison-filled stinger toward any exposed flesh or cloth it can manage.
Vehara ‘s lips fold in a victorious smirk when the chain manages to snag hold of Kovl and send him on a collision course with the boards above, though unfortunately it doesn’t seem the necessary force is there to send the plank splintering open. The half-drow’s sense of satisfaction is soon turned to frustration when the pixie begins to flail and fly against the chain, sending her swaying dangerously and eliciting a cry of surprise. Not willing to fall to keep Kovl entangled, Hara gives a tug on the chain-sickle and loosens grasp of the his leg, freeing him entirely…but not before the invisible snakpioner finds purchase upon the links and ascends up the length of the weapon toward her. Since she’s not able to see it, the assassin disregards Kovl and works to pull herself up onto the bridge once more, giving a heavy grunt with the effort. Her torso does gain purchase, but at about the exact same moment the damnable stinger laces right into her side! A loud cry tears free from the assassin’s throat as the snakpioner’s stinger knives through her cloak and bites into flesh; not a particularly deep wound, but then it does not need to be to deliver the nefarious toxin. With a sudden growl, Hara takes up the sickle end of the weapon and swipes right near where the stinger stung into flesh, and thankfully she is lucky in this respect; the poor creature, not having time to pull his stinger free of the cloak, is sliced cleanly in half, ending the incorrigible being’s life instantly. Not yet feeling the effects of the poison, Vehara finishes pulling herself up along the surface of the rope bridge, heaving a sigh from all the intense effort. The kusari-gama, much like her daggers, is dismissed. The third weapon – which is ironically the same third she used against Svilfon that dreadful day – is a slender pipe she pulls from the confines of her cloak, soon joined by three darts that are fitted into the device with practiced ease. Peering over the edge of the bridge for any glimpse of Kovl, the assassin soon locates him and places the blowgun to her lips, a simple puff spitting a tiny dart en route to his wings. Most unfortunately, it’s at about this moment the toxin begins to do its dirty work, causing the half-drow to near double over the ropes and heave. Unwilling to fall victim so easily, she shakes her head and ignores her somewhat blurring vision, spitting the remainder of these darts toward the pixie. Some are understandably off target, but once again she doesn’t need to be wholly accurate. All three seem to give an peculiar glow mid flight, seeking the pixie’s presence and changing direction as necessary in their pursuit.
Kovl bolts immediately toward the ground as the kursari-gama is released from his leg though Kovl's gaze remains upward to see if the snakpioner makes purchase. Judging from the drow's recoil and quick slash to his pet, the pixie believes its purpose has been served, but at the expense of experiencing a swift demise. The pixie's emerald eyes do not leave Vehara as she wields her blowgun and immediately the illusionist knows he is about to be under fire. Darting as quickly as he can back toward the bridge, the pixie is able to dodge the first and the second dart, but a third catches the top of his shoulder. Crying in pain, and moving in desparation, Kovl's incantation is spoken aloud this time as he barrels toward the half-drow. This next illusion creates the visage of the bridge below Vehara's feet swaying eradically, in hopes of causing her to lose a very precious advantage for any assassin, her precise footing. Like waves in the ocean, the planks below her feet apex repeatedly below her, arching and falling in their violent curves. Holding his staff firmly between his two arms, the pixie thrusts himself toward Vehara's body at full-speed, using his momentum to attempt to cause the assassin to plummet off the bridge into the unforgiving ground below the duelists.
Vehara tosses her blowgun aside when the last dart is away, not feeling entirely swift as the poison begins to course through her system. The suddenly swaying bridge simply adds insult to injury; -really-? Already her footing is not terribly great, but the bridge violently churning this way and that like a vessel stuck in a storm is just plain sickening. Luckily, the ropes are there for the assassin to grab hold of, stabilizing her balance to some small degree. Hara’s eyes seal shut briefly, trying to stave off the sickness welling in her gut; unfortunately, however, she’s soon forced to open them again, because of a distinct whirr in the air that signals something’s approach. That something happens to be Kovl, making a beeline as he apparently attempts to crash right into the assassin and send her off the proverbial – and literal? - plank right into the seemingly endless depths below. Growling in heated frustration, Vehara darts aside with all the strength she can muster, avoiding direct contact with the speeding pixie. Considering all the factors, however, total avoidance is impossible; Kovl clips her, sending Hara into a precarious tailspin. She twirls comically, like some sort of drunken wench that is about to be propelled overboard. She nearly ends up over the edge, but once more – due to luck more than anything else – her hands find the rope, grabbing hold for dear life. With all that frentic motion, however, what follows is sort of academic. She heaves and proceeds to vomit into the depths below, hopefully not hitting some poor sap that happens to be traveling there…but at the moment, she can’t be bothered to care. She only glares at Kovl through blurred vision, growling out as she spits a foul taste out of her mouth. “After this is over…I am hunting down every last stupid snakpioner in existence…and making them extinct.” There she continues to sway and dangle, full of venom but absent of her most recent lunch.
Winner: Vehara, split decision
Vehara is still teetering on the rope, holding on for dear life and doing her best to devise a way to win this match. Knowing Kovl will be coming around for another pass to knock her into the proverbial abyss, she has to act quickly. Though it isn't simple, the half-drow plucks a dagger from her waist and comes to stare at the pixie through blurry eyes, summoning every bit of focus to get a clearer image; and then it hits. For a split second - nay, more like a fraction of a second - she pinpoints his position. The dagger spins out of her grasp and strikes true, clipping one of Kovl's wings and sending him to a skittering, crashing halt upon the bridge. But Hara is not yet done! Pulling herself entirely onto the planks, her vision soon blurs again and she makes a decidedly stumbling approach to Kovl, intent on making him pay. "You...I ought to..." Ought to what? Uh oh. Just as the half-drow reaches the downed pixie, she heaves and vomits again...spewing it all right on the little guy. It surely wasn't intentional, but again Hara is not terribly torn up over it. In fact, being that she doesn't hate the poor little pixie, she decides this is enough. "...That...that'll learn ya." Satisfied, she stumbles away toward one of the huts, intending to seek immediate care to flush this damn toxin from her system for good.