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Post by Dorn Koon on Apr 26, 2019 14:28:49 GMT -4
It took Thor a few seconds to register that the person next to him was talking to him, he had vaguely noticed her interaction with the man who left... but it didn't seem important for the young dragon and he was more focused on watching the stage below. He looked towards Arahna, than he glanced behind him to see if she might be talking to someone else, it seemed like that was not the case. His first random interaction with someone, how fun!
"Hello" He began, looking at her outstretched hand before looking at his own.
Mother had been talking about this, something mortals did whenever they greeted someone new. But, what had that been? In the end he awkwardly reached out and gave the top of her hand a gentle, patpat. Before looking at her in an expectant way, with large bright eyes.
"I'm Thordan, but you can call me Thor, that's what everyone calls me... which to be fair is not many since I only ever meet mom and dad before coming here to this place."
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Down among the contestants a small door opened, and a small person dressed in robes appeared, slowly making their way towards Brutus and taking great care not to meet the gaze of anyone there. It was hard to tell if the person was a man or a woman, the heavy robes covered most of the body and the parts not covered was wrapped in bandages. The person carried the tools of a scribe.
"M-Master Brutus..." The person said with a muffled voice as they reached their destination.
Brutus turned towards the stranger, before kneeling down in order to be on the sable level.
"Yes, what news do you bring Scribber."
"I bring news from the master and mistress, they wanted me to tell you that..."
Than it started to whisper, and most of the conversation was impossible to hear apart from a few choice words and phrases such as. "Pit" "The Beast" "Big chains" and "The mistress said they would hold", followed by a "gone a little overboard on the sharks... someone could get... hurt"
Once the Scribber was done talking Brutus stood back up with a nod.
"Very well, tell the Duke and Duchess that we are ready on our end, and can begin at their pleasure."
The Scribber nodded, before hurrying back across the room towards the door where they came from.
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Post by Dorn Koon on Oct 20, 2019 16:32:31 GMT -4
*Roughly 30 minutes later*
Once the message had reached the higher ups it was finally time to start the first contest of the tournament, following the introduction to the days festivities. Before long the contestants were all gathered and showed onto the large arena. Brutus had a very direct approach when it came to instructing the competitors, only telling them that they would all need to find a spot on the large slab taking up most of the arena. He didn't go into details what might happen for those who didn't... and if asked he would say nothing.
Most of the coliseum was full of people, coming from near and far they belonged to all the different people of Hyrule, and from many walks of life. Those more elite were of course seated in their own private boxes, with the largest one belonging to the duke and his wife, who were both present when the contestants walked out. It was a total of almost 50 people taking part in the tournament, and most of them didn't give a very strong impression, a few soldiers, some merchants and people with less reputable lines of work. There were even what looked like a young wizard dressed in a red/orange robe.
As soon as everyone had arrived the gate closed, and slowly the bustle of conversations died down as people noticed that the duke had stood up from his seat, he stood in silence and waited for silence.
"Stagnation is the enemy of any great civilisations" He began, and when he spoke, his voice reverberated though the arena, due to the buildings design he didn't have to raise his voice much to be heard by all below."We have lived in stability, prosperity and peace for many years. That is admirable to be sure, but if we get to comfortable we are unable to protect this stability should enemies show themselves."
Silence followed as the words bounced off the wall, and people whispered among themselves.
"To work against stagnation one need to find balance, and in order to find balance we need only look to the creeds of the gods, the virtues upon which the three sisters built our world, Powers, Wisdom and Courage. We are here today, not to simply find out which one of these brave contestants possess the greatest skill in battle, no that is not the goal here today, what we seek is to test these virtues. I welcome you all, and shall now give the word to my Master of Ceremonies to explain how the tournament will work."
The duke turned and gave a nod to a person standing to the side, before retreating back to his seat.
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The Master of Ceremonies was a person wearing a golden mask shaped like a beetle, with long antenna going out on each side and decorated with gemstones. They were wearing a cape that made one think of insect wings, along with clothes very similar to those found on a jester.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, Citizens of Hyrule and visitors from other realms. Welcome to this the Tri-force tournament!" They spoke with a booming voice, it was somewhat gritty, but carried with it a certain eloquence. "I will not be long, and shall only do his lordship said, explain how we will do this. The tournament will contain three parts, each part designed to test each of the three divine virtues. Buuuuut before that!" The Master of Ceremonies raised what looked like a horn to their lips, blowing it. The four large statues position around the arena suddenly alive, each one of them reaching down with their massive arms, grabbing hold of the slab on which the contestants were standing. Moments later it had been raised into the air like a platform, held up by the arms of the four statues. A few of the contestants had not been ready for this and ended up falling down from the platform as it was raised.
"We do have the elimination round to consider, so with that there are four parts." The Ceremony master continued as they lowered the instrument and returned it to their belt. "Before we get into the fun parts, we do need to weed down the amount of people, you are far to many as it is. So... this first part is simple. Remain on the platform and make sure other's don't! The nine who remains by the end will get to take part in the tournament, and the rest are disqualified. Good luck!"
The horn was sounded once again, and this time the statues began to tilt the platform. So before the contestants were a somewhat difficult challenge, they needed to remain on top, remove others, and also factor in the random changes in position of the platform caused by the four statues. How would they deal with this challenge? Would they force their way by removing enemies? Use some kind of sneaky tactics? Or wait out those who clearly didn't possess the skills needed for this contest?
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Post by sesh on Oct 20, 2019 17:51:14 GMT -4
The rest of the time spent in the waiting room was done in awkward silence. Sobek had neither the patience nor the experience for prolonged conversation, and sat like a statue with his mind completely elsewhere. His focus surged back into reality at the announcement that the tournament would begin and he stood up suddenly without a word. Several of the more novice contestants flinched and fell off their seats at Sobek's gesture, each hoping they weren't the next target of his ire. The hunter followed Brutus and appreciated the brooding figure's silence all the time. Taking a place on the far edge of the slab, his dark eyes quickly scanned the audience before turning back to his many foes. Even when the duke spoke, Sobek continued to analyze his competition like a ravenous wolf.
As the stab shook and began to rise, the cursed warrior's hand was already on the hilt of his sheathed blade. With a quick flash, his sword was out and looking for a new sheath inside Sobek's first bounty. While some of the competitors panicked and fell, others were made of more stocky breed. Sobek could see that near the center of the platform, five burly-looking brutes had made a pact and claimed sovereignty over the safest spot. They would be difficult to split and knock off, Sobek figured, and he also assumed this agreement had been made before the tournament even started. Turning his gaze upon the more vulnerable lot scampering about the lip of the slab. Sobek swept his left claw like a scythe in wheat, his grasp finding hold on the shoulder of a young Hylian trying to scurry by unnoticed. With an effortless swing of his arm, the hunter had sent his first target over the edge.
"Aaaargh! Die, monster!" Turning just in time to receive a glancing blow to the chest, Sobek saw a furious town guard that had entered the tournament. He bore an expression that Sobek found all-too-familiar. The look of hate, one inherited by the mistakes of his father, that had met him at the gates of every society he met. It was something that had deeply wounded him as a child, though ever new iteration had left the flesh tougher and tougher until the contempt no longer broke skin. The guard brought up his sword to let it fall upon Sobek's head, but the hunter was quicker. With a duck to the side and a disarming flourish, Sobek found himself standing tall above the guard with the tip of his own sword at the man's throat. The look of hatred was quickly melting away into its true form: one of fear. Having learned of their pitiful nature long ago, this came of no surprise to Sobek. And even though he had no wish to show pity on one that have given him none, he was keen on the rules of the tournament, and he instead delivered a light cut on the guard's cheek. Shallow enough to heal quickly, Sobek figured, but one that would leave a scar.
Tossing the guard over the edge of the slab, Sobek turned to face any others with the gall to approach.
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Post by NajaSide on Nov 4, 2019 2:35:44 GMT -4
By the looks of things, what with the coliseum workers barging into the fighter hall, their talk was to come to an abrupt end. The little bits and pieces did sound interesting, but Maewin's mission here wasn't to get a figure for what sort of things the Duke thought to bring into his coliseum, and meddling with the other fighters really was the best entertainment he could muster here and now.
He did try to restart the conversation, but none of the others were having it. Sobek certainly wasn't having it and most of the others there weren't too interested in chit-chatting with someone who had been so friendly with the Slate Gator. Looks like he had placed himself in a social corner, so to speak. Now, he was really missing Havran's presence. He would just have to make do. Somehow. He felt he had practically lost his patience when things were finally moving along.
Maewin sat upright when the fighters were called together and followed the others outside to the arena, mindlessly taking his spot along the outside edge. This was probably a good time to be checking out the layout of the arena or paying mind to the other competitors he had been paired against, but he paid either of them little mind. Instead, he held his attention upward toward the higher end of the arena. His cohort ought to be somewhere up there. Not to mention, his targets.
Even now, he could hear one of them. Yes, yes... peace, dreariness, readiness, yada yada. All the usual lines they say right before falling into the trap they speak of anyways. It's not like he hasn't seen it all before. The difference was, here he had the opportunity to take advantage of it this time. It was hard to keep his smile from bending into that ever deeper smirk. It was here that he probably should have paid the Master of Ceremonies some mind, but no. His eyes still held upward on that man and that lady next to him. Well, eventually. For now...
...For now, he had a role to play.
Beneath him, the ground began to rumble as the platform rose up into the air. Both hands fell to his side, gripping both the hilt and scabbard of his blade, and his smile deepened. Well well, time to get the first act of this show on the road.
Almost immediately once the mark had been called, one of the other, beefier fellows that had been placed to his side dove at him. Maewin ducked, the Hylian flew right over, sailing into another stocky warrior. Both toppled over the edge. But then there was still another foe that stood between himself and the circle that had formed in the middle of the platform. They were pushing the poor fellow further away from the center, and unfortunately, there was little Maewin would do to help the lad. He looked to try grabbing at the mercenary's lapels, but his hand somehow seemed to miss, and when it did, Maewin made his move.
The mercenary tugged sharply at the entirety of his sword's scabbard. All at once, his coat flew off his shoulders, flapping right into the face of the middle-man. Buried somewhere in that flapping cloth was the sword, the scabbard, and with the next motion, that hidden scabbard buried itself into the man's shoulder. He sagged in surprise- Maewin swept his leg outward, swung the weaponized coat yet again– slipping it beneath the man's arm –and turned, tossing him just past his side. And off the platform he went. Hefting the hidden weapon up, he flapped his coat up and over his shoulder, ready for the next idiot to approach him.
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Post by Meta on Nov 6, 2019 22:59:18 GMT -4
Sheraz had waited on baited breath for the match to begin. Despite being family, her sister had told very little on matters of the challenges of the tournament. She liked it that way, part of the fun.
What she didn't enjoy was taking on different personas all the time. Every death had to be real. Almost ruined her fun, which is why she took dying in this somewhat seriously. Razesh, of all her characters, wasn't too far from her real self so it'd be annoying to kill 'her' off.
Once the battle began, she spread out the distance between her feet, to keep better balance as the platform was being raised. Once that was over, however, the fun part began. A match reliant on domination of space. Had dearest Euryale tilted the odds in her favor on purpose? It didn't matter.
She took out both urumis, snapping the steel whips against the floor, as she then began to use both in wide swings, doing glancing hits and leaving cuts on the contestants too close to her, forcing them to give her space or be cut by the several metal blades being swung at them.
One of the gladiators attempted to hook an Urumi by catching it with his axe, pulling Razesh close and delivering a punch to her face, to throw her off balance. Before she could bring about the other sword to strike him, he swiftly pulled a dagger from his waist and drove it into her gut.
She gasped for air, but then looked up at the other contestant with a grin from ear to ear, before headbutting him, even as that drove the dagger deeper. This disoriented him for a moment, long enough for her to reverse the grapple on the weapons and wrap the blades around his arm. Then, she dove in again, striking her head against his once more, making him lose the grip on the dagger and keel backwards slightly.
At this point, she raised her foot and placed it squarely on his torso, then pushed him back with her weight, causing the urumi grappled around his arm to move and lacerate it. Now disarmed and with one arm effectively disabled, he was at her mercy.
However, that was the same time that an opportunist, having seen their struggle, charged towards Razesh with the intent to push her onto the floor before she could regain balance. His mistake was to scream in the heat of battle.
She heard the approach and using her other arm swung her second urumi backwards, aimed towards the ground, where it made light cuts on the assailant's leg and stopped his advance. She was effectively surrounded. But at that point, she simply began to wind up the urumis, letting the whips threaten to strike their feet, should they come closer. Letting them keep their eyes on the ground and used to the stagnant rhythm. Then without warning she alternated sides and flung each whip to the opposite end to strike them with cuts on their necks.
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Post by Dorn Koon on Nov 13, 2019 13:40:07 GMT -4
Instantly chaos had broken out on the platform, and a large chunk of the contestants had already fallen off in the span of the first ten seconds. A few of the people who seemed to make short work of the competition was a female soldier dressed in the armour of the Hylian army, with the mark of lieutenant on her outfit and armed with a sword and shield. She had quickly dispatched a small group of thugs with some skilful use of her shield, causing them to trip over each other before falling off the edge. The second was a large goron, who simply bulldozed himself across the arena, armed with a pair of large metallic gloves. The third one was the young wizard dressed in orange robes, it was no surprise that he used magic to fight, namely some kind of wand capable of summoning out orbs of fire that he could control and bombard opponents. Finally it was someone who was of uncertain nature, gender and race, a person in hooded robed who just lingered, did very little combat and instead fully focused on avoiding everyone else. With catlike grace they dodged incoming attacks without ever once strike at someone else.
The crowd was cheering on, booing and making a general ruckus.
Lady Euryale sat in silence next to her husband, having her hand gently resting on his arm with her sharp gaze fixed on the arena, her face in a constant mask of gentile smile. She found all this to be rather boring, these mindless fights were not her idea of entertainment. But her sister loved it, so she largely did this as a favour to her, and the people also enjoyed a good roughhouse to remain happy. Her gaze briefly shifted to the crowd, in her eyes little more than cattle, but happy cattle was easier to control.
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Post by sesh on Nov 14, 2019 1:19:35 GMT -4
The Gator's bleak gaze eyed the competition as it quickly shrank in size. It seemed like dozens were being swatted away like flies, and the remainder was nothing to sneeze at. The group of burly thugs still claimed dominance over the central, most stable spot on the platform. From the center of them came a dull glow, and with a flash flames taking the form of ghastly serpents sprang from the huddle. The fiery asps whipped about in the air chaotically like the embers that made them manifest, though soon their attention was turned to the scuffling contestants. Lashing out with reckless fury, the snakes brought down vicious fangs of fire upon their unsuspecting targets. Hopeful champions shrieked in pain and swung at the snakes in panic, but it was to no avail as their hands went alight upon touch. Some of the more fortunate duelers took the opportunity to throw the bitten opponents over the edge, while others stepped back in shock or futilely helped their enemies out of pity.
One of the magical beasts shot out in Sobek's direction, baring red-hot teeth in anticipation of a strike. Reaching quickly to the side, the bounty hunter grabbed a poor soul who had already been caught by one of the snakes, offering them a second assailant. With a pitiful cry, they went plummeting over the side with Sobek's toss and the cursed knight turned his eyes to the group in the center once more. More and more snakes erupted from the center of the mass, and Sobek could make out some odd figure being shielded by the group of brutish bodyguards. Looking around and seeing that no other had taken up the mantle of striking down the mutual threat, Sobek tightened the grip on his sword and dashed at the bunch.
Two split away at the approach to face Sobek and it was then he could see the cause of the reptilian havoc. A child, it appeared, sat cross-legged over a large tome while muttering some unknown language under her breath. A phrase repeated again and again, its punctuation spawning a small spark that danced from the youth's lips and rose swirling into the air. Its form seemed to take shape in the blink of an eye, swelling into a hungry viper that flew away towards its next victim. Before he could observe the child further, two meaty hands came down like a twin set of freshly fallen trees. Sobek glanced to the side to see his other attacker reaching in for a grapple with the purpose of disarming the hunter. Without much a chance to think, the lizardman used his advantageous speed to redirect the bludgeoning into the grabby thug, forcing the two into a confusing embrace as Sobek stood unharmed to the side.
Pulling back his neck, a gnarly gurgle reverberated from Sobek's throat. As the two thugs looked on in bewilderment, the Slate Gator's maw dropped open and a great plume of flames propelled from the hunter's gullet. The cloud of fire consumed the two for but a second, as that was all Sobek had released, but it was enough to ignite them as the snakes had done their enemies. Now victims to an attack of their own element, the thugs pushed off one another and flew into a distressed frenzy. In their wild state, neither had noticed that both were charging recklessly towards Maewin.
As the group of hooligans guarding the child sorcerer reevaluated their condition, Sobek turned and looked to the violet-haired woman he had seen in the waiting room before. While she seemed to be holding her own just fine, she was in fact surrounded by a sizeable group of gladiators. However, the snakes were making victims of at least half of them. "You, girl," Sobek shouted over the commotion of battle, though his gravelly voice managed to claim sovereignty over the noise. "Help me with the snake charmer. These other fools aren't worth the effort." Looking back to the central group, Sobek witnessed the number of fire snakes growing more and more rapidly. "I think taking them out is in all our interest now."
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Post by NajaSide on Dec 13, 2019 22:41:35 GMT -4
Standing in his spot on the platform, Maewin looked upon the other combatants present. There were nearly twenty still remaining. A sizeable amount to be sure– he caught another passing combatant on the back of their knee as they passed and tugged them back behind off the platform –but as long as the numbers were high, they would drop consistently enough. That aside, there were those who stood out among the crowd, who would last well enough.
Over across the platform, he could see a fire-casting sorcerer dancing back and forth, trading blows with a Goron, as best as either could. The rocky soldier had charged across the platform, but had been interrupted by the wizard's energy spheres. It didn't seem to really hurt the Goron, but it had caught their attention. But neither did the Goron seem to get through the magician's long-range defenses. A funny loop, that.
The mercenary started towards the next target, a young man who had no business being there, but as Maewin took a step closer to him, he saw two of the other fighters. Beyond him, the Hyrulean soldier traded blows back and forth between defending against the young man and taking swipes at the mysterious dodger. The trio were slowly circling along the edge of the platform closer to Sobek... Taking a step back, Maewin squinted at the lady soldier, scrutinizing her gear. The tournament banners were a lie. If one of Hyrule's lieutenants was here—
Yet another plume of flame burst forth over the platform. For as burn-friendly as he was, all these flames really were really getting untenable. At the very least, it was a good thing this one caught his attention for it was just moments later that he noticed two of the huge brutes from the the direction of the flames barreling their way toward him. The Hyrulean soldier raised her shield defensively, but fortunately enough for her, the two charged right past her; when she recovered, her nimble quarry had gone, moved further away to the other end of the platform. The young man though, he was right between the burly men and Maewin.
Watching the boy turn and nearly run right into him, Maewin let out a small sigh and rolled his eyes. "Here, let me at least give you a soft landing." He grabbed the young man by his arm and turned, throwing him ever more off balance. With a small heave and a lift of his one available arm, Damon lifted up and brought the man up onto his back. There was a clatter as he dropped his staff, but alas a loss of his own. He'd just have to deal with it.
Maewin began to make way away from the two flaming thugs and back toward his edge of the platform. That was at least the plan, but as he was nearly halfway there, his footwork there had begun to grow more labored. The brutes began to catch up. The horizon began to rise? The statues holding the platform began to tilt is sideways, sideways, and more so. Those all along it would need to adjust their focus on the battle to keep themselves on the fighting stage.
Off to the other end of the platform, the Goron and soldier had both stopped fighting. At some point, they seemed to have heard Sobek's shouts– whether they were meant for them or not –and teamed up to fight against the central six. Right now though, the Goron held onto the wizard as he carried him up to the rising end of the stage.
What a hellish pain. Maewin looked back over his shoulder as the ruffians were almost on them. "Arm out," he instructed. The young man on his arm didn't dare refuse. "Now grab that front, hold on tight..." He couldn't see the boy, but he could certainly feel the fear.
The two flaming brutes ran up on either side of them.
The young man's arm flew back, grabbing the nearest one by the waist of his pants. In one swift motion, Maewin threw himself down and spun himself around in the opposite direction. "And release." A single low kick to the other's leg, a grab, the two toppled over the rising end of the platform, beneath its underside, and down to the ground below.
Maewin rose up. "Nice work, kiddo. Get some rest." He placed a foot on the side of the platform to stabilize himself, pulled the young man up, and tossed him off his back over the edge to land on the fallen men.
Around fifteen left. Six till these prelims were over.
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Post by Meta on Jan 6, 2020 18:28:08 GMT -4
'Razesh' was almost fully absorbed in the fighting as she got swarmed with foes. With those urumis swinging, the approaches were few and cautious. Nevertheless, she was occupying too much space to just be ignored or avoided.
That was when she heard the Slate Gator call out to her. She grinned happily. "Of course!", she called out, as she swung her swords, aimed right at her opponents legs so they'd jump aside and open the way. Between her blades and the snakes, the contestants began to cave in, and either fall or step aside.
Now, however, she was exposed to the stream of magical beasts spawning from the center, and so she had to switch tactics. Rather than vie for domination and make a wide area open by sweeping the metallic whips, Razesh instead moved to swat and strike the beasts, either cutting them or moving them away from her path. Some bursts of flame got close enough to her, as their sheer volume could overwhelm her if she faltered.
One of them got through, landing its fangs on her leg and writhing as it burned her. Rather than scream, that only seemed to make her more invigorated to continue this battle, taking her time to move forward, and stopping to stomp at the snake and shred it to pieces only when it began to constrict around her leg and threaten to hinder her advance.
Whether or not she derived satisfaction from this, now that damnable wound had taken a toll, and she had slowed down, her bitten leg limping a bit while it got accustomed to the burns and nerve damage. Now, she was positioned further into the platform and closer to Sobek, slowly but surely approaching the snake charmer. She already was formulating fun little ways to make the casualty entertaining for the crowd and herself.
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Post by sesh on Jan 7, 2020 6:58:10 GMT -4
The central team quickly caught on to the fact that the rest of the contenders were turning on them. One of the thugs trying calming the mage from her frenzied serpent summoning, though his warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears. The young sorceress was engulfed in a mystical trance, the magical potency of her spell conquering her young mind. Waves of fiery snakes erupted from the entranced mage, shooting out violently with no regard for their target. Her bodyguards found themselves distracted now, swatting away the rogue asps that couldn't tell friend from foe. Still the group held together by frayed seams, keeping their crumbling alliance in hopes that some would make it past the preliminary round.
One particularly hairy brigand shouted a battle cry and charged for Sheraz with a drunken bloodlust. Charging like a bull, the meaty attacker rose his battle ax in anticipation of a lethal, and thus illegal, blow. The air was cut by a sharp whistle and the murderous brute let out a painful yelp. Out of the front of his right shoulder poked a bloody bolt head, glistening beneath the high noon sun. Sobek lowered his crossbow in time to raise his sword in defense of another thug's strikes. "Seems your secret weapon has backfired!" the bounty hunter taunted, drawing out his foe's ire. Sobek saw the next attack coming from a mile away, using his enemy's momentum to shift their back to the unleashed fire mage. An onslaught of fire snakes slammed into the opponent's back, the overwhelming pain knocking them out of consciousness.
Tossing his fainted assailant aside, Sobek shifted his attention between Maewin and Sheraz. "The girl is exposed," the cursed knight announced, welcoming all who had turned on the center group. "Deal with her quickly so we can move on."
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