Fight:Reece v Seke

Seke Vs. Reece (spar)

Note: Basil participates early on in RP, but main confrontation is between Reece and Seke.

Seke :: On a dimly light wall, a human sized shadow appears, yet nothing seemed to cast it. The inky darkness stayed motionless until someone steps out of it, tendrils of mist blackness trailing from their body back into the deeper shadow. It was easy to tell the person was a woman by the way her black chest plate hugged her bosom and the plated pants clung to the curve of hips and calves, but was hard to discern the race with only eyes, for the armor covered near all her form and a dark hood hid her face in blocks of darkness, yet showed a few locks of silvery light gray hair. Only a small area of her neck and her finger tips showed skin of ashy grey color. When the woman was fully free from the grasp of shadow, the darkness faded away to leave the wall as it had been moments before. 'Thud' 'Thud' 'Thud' sounds the steady steps of her heeled boots as she crosses the tavern room to the bar. The woman's head never moving to look around, looking as if ignoring the other patrons. With an ease that spoke of awareness to ones body and of great confidence, the woman slide onto a stool, making sure her sheathed sword was moved out of the way, before placing a few coins on the counter. How did she suddenly seem to make the money appear? Was it magic? No. Just a simple slide of hand. The woman seemed the type not to waste energy on something so trivial.

Reece became aware of Seke's entrance almost as soon as the shadow appeared on the wall. The subtle variety of the magic she used something he had long ago become attuned to, for his own survival. His sharp gaze, unfogged despite his slightly innebriated state and posture, follows her unerringly across the room and remains fixed upon her at the bar.

Seke :: Mesthak gave the armor clad woman a wry look all the while making sure that her glass was cleaned well. "Keep your filthy gaze to yourself bird." The voice spook the insulting command in an eerily soothing tone from the darkness of the hood, but she had never turned to see him. It was as if she had eyes everywhere while looking nowhere. A strange clicking hiss echoing behind her words. The dwarven bartender quickly filled the now cleaned glass and placed it within the woman's reach, continent to leave her be. Seke's slender, yet callused fingers take hold of the glasses steam and raises it beneath the hood. Lips unseen, caress the rim of the wine glass, letting a small amount wet her throat.

Basil crossly folds his arms over his chest. "Harumph." And it is in defiance rather than defeat that he swivels in his seat, turning to Reece with his tankard still in hand, seeking the rational consolation that only one man can offer to another in times such as these. "I thought I'd been doing rather well, didn't you? So she was a bit feisty... did you think I-" Seke's insult cuts him short. "Beg pardon, missus, but if you say things like that, someone might think you're out for trouble!" His grin returns in full force. "Not we mind trouble here. Want to see a trick?"

Reece blinks, otherwise remaining still before vanishing in a twinkle of barely glimpsed light to materialise suddenly upon the stool immediately to Seke's left, an action somwhat difficult to miss considering the immediate shimmer of light which reflects off of his fine chain-link robes and dances motes across the wall. Mesthak is used to this and merely shoots a mildly annoyed glare at the avian before bring a randomly selected beverage of reasonable strength and depositing it upon the bar.

Seke :: Even as another spoke so disrespectful to the woman, she continues in taking another small sip before slowly lowering to rest upon the counter top. She still did not turn about as she replies in the same soothing tones as before, "Unintellectual. You do not even know when one is not addressing you." The woman cared not for his petty tricks so did not deem it worthy to comment on. Her partially gloved hand darts out to the left in a dark blur just as the Avian shimmers into solid form beside her. A small throwing dagger was held in her palm, the tip extending an inch from the tips of her fingers. "Make another unwanted move and you will find your wings clipped." This time her soft voice held a hint of steel. The threat was well meant, for the edge of the blade had come to a stop just against the Avian's right wing where it merged into his back.

Reece lifts the glass from the table and takes a sip, for his part seeming unconcerned by the knife edge poised by his wing joint despite quite obviously being no sort of physical fighter. "My dear lady of darkness. If I feared you I would have stayed away, and I can leave as easily as I arrived so I suggest you put that toy away before I feel obliged to relieve you of it." Still apparently unconcerned the avian takes another sip of his drink, the rest of his body other than his arm and lips remaining perfectly motionless.

Basil quietly huffs again and reaches into his pocket, contemplating drawing his wand and seeing if he can make her loose her cool. Then the dagger is out again, and he's pretty sure he's about to be two for two when, instead of himself, the little blade is directed at his avian friend. Basil's eyes narrow. Knowing Reece, and also judging by his unconcerned demeanor, there was probably no reason to get involved. No good reason, at least. Unfortunately, the mage can think of plenty of bad reason, namely that he cannot tolerate disdain. There's nothing fun about disdain. The wand is out, and with a few muttered incantations, he conjures a miniature raincloud, black and tempestuous, to hover above Seke's head and Seke's head alone. With a miniature thunderclap, a cold and drizzly downpour begins.

Seke :: A chuckle sounds from under the hood, but there was no warmth in it, just a creepy emptiness. Again the clicking hiss trailed the end of her words. "You could never take a weapon of mine." Suddenly the shadows of the stool in which the Avian sat, sprung up to hold him. Seke hadn't put all that much effort into the shadow chains, but knew that they would cause a hesitation in his magic and movements as he made the effort to be free. If he chose not to.... well the sweep of her sharp knife would amputate the wing in full instead of just a small cut in warning. Simultaneous to her slashing blade, a dark shadow much like the one she entered through, drips down from the ceiling to swallow the conjured rain cloud before a drop of water fell upon her. As soon as the mage had called up his power, she had conjured her own, yet it was magic so quiet and worked so softly, that it took an extremely well trained and attentive magic user to since it. "Embarrassing." The word directed towards the mage across the room.

Reece sighs in tandem to his movement. Shadow magic, despicable and effectively useless. Of all the arts to choose from he never understood why this one was so popular. Any other form of magic may have caused hesitation in his movement but not Shadow magic. LIterally centuries spent dealing with users of the art had allowed him to unlock its secrets, create every defence against it and discard it as a useless form. As he slips sideways just enough the chains of shadow disintegrate as smoothly as they appeared, unable to take a grip on his form as the knife slips past with just a few millimetres to spare. Here he smiles now, swivelling a little on his seat to face her and lifting his glass as if in a toast, "Dear lady, that would be your first strike. Strike 3 and I shall relieve you of your weapon. Your Shadow magic shall hold no power over me." His tone is yet light and unconcerned as he takes another small sip of his now half empty glass, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth, the only visible component of his face.

Seke's smirk went unseen as the avian thought that shadows could not harm him. When the chains disinigrate, they turn to a choking shadow mist. This shadow seemed different, in fact it was very different in make than its predicessor. It was given life by her goddess, Astrala, and feed with her own blood that ran like tears from her eyes, only being seen when the red trails meet at the hollow of her neck. There was only one way to effectively banish this shadow... and she'd never tell. The new shadow quickly drifted up to cover the Avian's face to suck the air from his lungs. Caring the motion threw as the small blade misses its mark, the woman brings around her right hand, this time with her blade Isto, in hand to slice the avian, forcing him to leave his seat or risk being rendered in two. Seke turns the throwing blade in her left hand and sets it in the ready position, only to be thrown where the Avian moves to. Only fleetingly noting that the mage had given up and departed.

Reece blinks, seems it's something he does a lot, this was divine blood magic now. The shadow component of it still held no grip but he wasn't particularly fond of the powers of a dark goddess clogging his lungs. As before the blink precedes a sudden vanishing, leaving a space in the mist with root-like pattern imitating the shape of his lungs as the mist is left behind. This has the added effect of avoiding her blade Isto, though that was in his opinion the lesser of the threats provided. The glimmer of reflected light betrays his appearance some distance behind her, 'cept this time a slender dagger of silver and shimmering runes is in his hand, leaping swiftly into the path of the throwing blade, its magical edge most likely severing the knife at the hilt as its flight is deflected over the illusionist's shoulder. His face lights up now, or what is visible of it anyway, thrilled a little by a twist he hadn't expected, "Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't you, priestess?" The emphasis placed on the last word is taunting as he extends his free hand before him, a collection of glittering shards of glass-like substance seeming to manifest spontaneously before him. The stool between Seke and himself disintegrates an instant later, sliced effortlessly by their lethal edges as the small cloud blows towards the drowess in its full glittering fury. Should she try to intercept this with shadow magic she would find her power to be as effective on these as it had been on himself before, namely ineffective.

Seke leans backwards as the knife leaves her hand, and she does an extremely quick and graceful back flip. Her now empty left hand providing leverage at such a low height. The dark hood falls back from her face to rest rumpled between the nape of her neck and her armor. When she comes back to her feet, a delicate and soft ash gray face with two ruby red eyes meet the Avians. Her face was framed by locks of silvery white hair that had fallen loose from the high pony tail holding the rest of her long tresses back. It was clear to anyone who had heard anything about drow, that this was one such. Seke barely had time to register the glittering cloud for what it was before it came within feet from her. From her chest plate sprung a large black spider, blending in so well with the dark metal it looked like many of the raised reliefs decorating the woman's armor. The shards seemed to be attracted to him, like light to a black hole, and as each pierced its skin, they sunk deep within and disappeared. When all the shards where absorbed the spider fell lifeless to the floor, but the female drow was anything but idle during the time. Once the spider went into action so did she. The fireplace was chocked out by shadows, throwing the room into blackness so dark, it wasn't natural, no sight save a drows special night sight could pierce it. Seke could be sinced everywhere, as if her very being was encompassing the whole of the room. Throwing knives went unseen as they darted first from one side of the room, then the other. Bombarding him with sharp edged steel. Always tracing where the Avian moved to next.

Reece raises an eyebrow, the finely haired ridge of his face rising above the edge of his mask, though as the room descends into darkness that is not exactly the sort of thing one notices. The avian's sight may have been good but it was his hearing where he truly excelled. Unfooled by the shadowy presence of the priestess, seemingly everywhere at once he follows the light footsteps, amidst the chaos of sound that the tavern had descended into. The tiny whistle of knives flying through the air betrays her attack just in time, runnels of light connecting symbols down his arms as the avian, now with eyes closed begins a strange dance, hand unerringly lifting and catching each knife in turn, pivoting and sending them on return flights to their owner. while this is going on though he's preparing something else, the spell upon his arms acting almost without the need to pay it attention. The faintest whisper of an incantation travels on his breath, almost like a song in nature. As the seventh knife goes returning to its owner the whole battle, Reece himself, Seke, airborne knives, and spells presently cast, is transported to the street outside the tavern, everything still in relation to everything else. Playing on the moment of disorientation this is followed by a brilliant flash of light, the avian then striking at the priestess directly with his mind, a mental barb launched into her psyche with the intention of incapacitating her with his psychic powers and bringing this battle to an end swiftly. Should this work he fully intended to just leave. He wasn't interested in killing her.

Seke :: In the darkness, the drow twists and turns, contorting her body out of the way of her own blades sent back at her. Only one managed to clip her left bicep, but luckly her shoulder guards protected the tender flesh and sent the blade bouncing to the side with a metallic 'clink'. Long pointed ears, the same color as her skin, picked up the sound of a barely heard song. Then a moment of dizziness envelopes Seke and is quickly followed by a bright flash of light. However, it was the light that shocked her from her disorientation and it gave no advantage to the Avian. Even though her eyes clenched tightly closed against being blinded, her hard trained skill of blind fighting came to the fore. What was a weakness had been fortified with such a skill and any drow of high house rank or wealthy enough could be taught it. This so happened to be such a drow. The first daughter to the house of Veldrin. Not only did she listen for the faint tell tell noises of whispered cloth and scuffled dirt against the sole of a shoe, Seke also used her nose and sixth since of magic. Yet it was not with a physical blow that the Avian struck with. Suddenly, a fierce force pushed against her minds barrier, only meeting momentary resistance before sinking deeper within the dark corruptness of her mind. Just like a rock falling in water. As such, the force of the Avian's mind found a force similar to gravity with a rock, and would not let it rise back out of her own mind. Insane laughter, cries of passion, pleas of mercy and things one would only expect to hear in the underworld echoed from the nothingness, drawing closer. If the Avian did not pull from the drows mind, light magic or not, he would find the leech of insanity crossing threw their bridged connection to fasten directly to his.

Reece 's facade it seemed would crack now. His careful act threatening to disintegrate as he surveys the drowess' mind. A high pitched laugh escapes his lips as he stands there, not even seeing with his eyes the drowess paralysed before him. He was insane too, or the part of him that as in control of everything was. The sane part of him was stuck somewhere else, its only ability to make his left arm twitch occasionally as it struggled at its restraints. Needless to say the avian, though drawn deep into the priestesses mind was not so much at risk of becoming insane so much as he was at risk of exposing his own altered nature to those still unaware. As his crazed laughter subsides he coils himself within the priestesses mind, leaving a tiny stigma in a part of her unconscious mind as he struggles to retreat from her mind. It wasn't easy, as a drow she had a remarkably convoluted mind and trying to retain his composure somewhat extricating himself was long work. He'd been in the situation before though and so it was that eventually, mostly due to experience gained in similar events of the past, that he slides from her mind, returning control of her body to her, his eyes finally seeing again. A sinister smile curls his lips as he eyes her, a respectful bow directed towards her, "You my lady I shall see again." His voice was silibant, dangerous and almost seductive, if you were the type to like that. behind the eye holes of his mask her sharp eyes may discern the wink he gives her before vanishing. He hadn't had that much fun since... well, that's another story.

Seke's muscles relaxed as the Avian withdrew the presence of his mind, releasing her. Red eyes watched him wryly, and even when he had vanished, she kept in tune to that around her. Only when she was absolutely sure he had left, did she left out a bark of laughter, a smirk turning up on corner of her lips. "Well meet indeed. It will not be so easy the next we meet." The drow knew that she would need to go cleanse herself, mind and body, after such a fight. It just would not do if a shard of corruption, enslavement or the such had been planted while their mental minds directly touched one another. After all, it was how many drow slave traders keep their stock so compliant. It wouldn't be all that difficult since she was a priestess, but it was a very time consuming ritual. Reaching behind her neck, Seke pulls the dark cloth up to cover her face once more in shadow, then seemed to fall directly downwards, through the ground. A shadow darker than its brethren, slowly closes after her disappearance. Reece Seke Basil