THE BRONZE MATCH! (La Volpe vs. dakkagor) [Judge Wattz]

[Wattz]

As the two contestants take their stance on the battlefield, bright lights shine in their eyes from on high. The sun hangs over a land doused in shades of blue and white, of enormous fixtures and buildings comprised solely of glass. Each one is see-through, creating a dizzying effect that catches reflections on the surface of the world. The sun filters through each object to create dancing lights of blue, green, and pink on the faces of the contestants. They stand on a smooth, hard surface of glass. Looking down reveals the reflection of the city. Even the hills far off in the distance beyond the city seem made of glass with each blade of grass a delicate pin-prick of a needle.

A harlequin reveals herself halfway between the two contestants. Her clothes are stingy, tattered, with a faint odor. Her smile is yellowed and her hair is a tattered mess of blonde. She bows to each in

“So you’ve come to the end of the world, I see!
Such battles were fought, such destruction was wrought.
Winning this stage shall grant you the key
To your freedom, your honor, and the glory you’ve sought.
I grant you one last gift before you’re worn thin:
Conquer this beautiful land of illusions to win.”

The harlequin disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving the two standing to stare at one another, their reflections bouncing off the glass buildings and ground.


---

Each writer gets five posts each. You have 72 hours between each post or you will be disqualified.


At the toss of a coin, La Volpe goes first.

[La Volpe]

Victor shielded his eyes with a raised hand, trying to protect them from the dazzling lights that sought to blind him. From beneath his hand, he looked on in fearful amazement as he realized how this entire new world was glass. Not just the buildings, but it seemed like every last aspect was glass, he realized as he caught sight of the crystal like grass covering the hills in the distance.

His inspection was cut short though, as a new figure materialized in front of him, and as he suddenly realized, another person. Victors icy blue eyes narrowed as he looked at the harlequin. Her clothes are stingy, tattered, with a faint odor. Her smile is yellowed and her hair is a tattered mess of blonde, yet even looking this way, she seemed to radiate an intense, god like power.

“So you’ve come to the end of the world, I see!
Such battles were fought, such destruction was wrought.
Winning this stage shall grant you the key
To your freedom, your honor, and the glory you’ve sought.
I grant you one last gift before you’re worn thin:
Conquer this beautiful land of illusions to win.”

And with that, the harlequin disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two standing to stare at one another, their reflections bouncing off the glass buildings and ground.

Victor looked at his opponent finally, dropping his hands down to his sword hilts, yet he didn't draw them out. Standing in front of Victor was a women garbed in a suit of the most impressive armor the young assassin had seen. His eyes scanned over the armor quickly, trying to pinpoint any weak spots he could slip one of his swords in. He was quickly distracted by the weapons the women had though. Her rifle caught his eyes first, making his heart sink somewhat. He'd heard of these weapons before... Able to tear men apart from huge distances away with a single blow. He saw the sword next, giving him a little hope for close quarter combat. While Victor looked her over, he began to feel a wrongness about this stranger that quickly put him on edge.

"Who are you?" Victor asked calmly, his hands still resting on the hilts of his sword. He allowed his body to seem relaxed, but he slowly began to tighten the muscles in his legs, ready to burst into action in a moments notice.

[dakkagor]

The Howling (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUtIZXXHE4)

Kally blinked once, twice, then sighed as her eyes refused to adjust to the flare of light. She pulled her photo-visor goggles down over her eyes and took another look around. Just a few moments ago she had been crashed out in her bunk back aboard the MoonCalf, so she could only come to one conclusion: she was dreaming again.

The city scape of blue-white glass was still impressive though. She went to take a step forward and felt her boots slide instead of grip. She paused, bracing herself to stop the movement and looked down. Even the floor seemed to be made from glass, reflecting the city back to them in a thousand distorted angles. A puzzled looking Kally met her gaze as she stared into the reflected surfaces where ever she looked, each mirror breeding more reflections so that if you stared too long, they seemed to repeat for ever.

"Weird." she muttered. She had a feeling this fight wouldn't be easy.

Something drew her gaze forward as a tattered clown appeared nearby. She frowned at the old, yellowing costume it wore over an emaciated frame, the crown of mattered hair and the faint odour of sweat and piss. Kally recoiled away from it, beginning to raise her bolter to fire. Was this her opponent in this insane arena?

“So you've come to the end of the world, I see!
Such battles were fought, such destruction was wrought.
Winning this stage shall grant you the key
To your freedom, your honor, and the glory you've sought.
I grant you one last gift before you're worn thin:
Conquer this beautiful land of illusions to win.”


She blinked as the harlequin disappeared, revealing a man clad in the garb of a feudal world assassin. He looked lean and athletic, dangerous like a sharpened blade. His equipment looked light, designed for mobility. But she guessed they would offer no defence against a bolt shell.

"Who are you?" the man asked, and despite the calm voice Kally caught an edge of steel in that tone. He looked relaxed, at ease. But Kally thought she caught him tensing slightly, even as he lightly rested his hands on his blades.

"Kally Sonder, Agent of the Inquisition." she hefted her bolter and switched the fire selector to hellfire rounds before bringing the weapon to her shoulder, centring its sight on the Assassin.

"Look, I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead, so why don't you give up now? I've had enough of these screwy fights. I've got a gun, and as far as I can tell, you don't have a ranged option."

She wrapped a finger round the trigger and waited. If the Assassin so much as moved a muscle towards her she wouldn't hesitate to blow him away. But if he backed off, she would let him.

[La Volpe]

"Kally Sonder, Agent of the Inquisition." the women replied, bringing her rifle to her shoulder, setting the sights on Victor. Yet, Victor was relived to see, she did not fire.

"Look, I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead, so why don't you give up now? I've had enough of these screwy fights. I've got a gun, and as far as I can tell, you don't have a ranged option."

Victor watched carefully as she wrapped a finger round the trigger and waited. If he so much as moved a muscle towards her she wouldn't hesitate to blow him away. But if he backed off, she would let him.

The odds were stacked against him, but an idea quickly began forming in the Assassins mind as he saw she was wearing a apparatus to aid her sight.

"Lower your gun Inquisitor. I have a proposal for you. A duel. If you best me in martial combat, you will have my unconditional surrender, but I ask for the same in return if I best you." Victor said, removing his face wrap, his face void of any emotion. He had no chance of getting out of here alive as long as that women had her damn fire arms.

Taking his hands from the hilts of his swords, Victor hoped that she would accept, other wise he'd have to figure out a new way to survive this.

[dakkagor]

Take down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ks0geHHFY0)

"Lower your gun Inquisitor. I have a proposal for you. A duel. If you best me in martial combat, you will have my unconditional surrender, but I ask for the same in return if I best you."

Kally lowered her gun an inch and stared incredulously at the Assassin. Was he seriously suggesting that she give up her advantage and take him on in a fair fight?

"Sorry pal, but as one of my mentors used to say" she smiled grimly as she remembered the drinking session with Kadath when this had come up. "If you find yourself in a fair fight, it cause your tactics suck. And I'm not obligated to fight fair."

She yanked the on the trigger of the bolter, sending a burst of rocket propelled rounds down range at the black clad assassin. She doubted she would catch him flat footed because of her grandstanding a second ago, but it was good enough for now. Let him know she was serious.

Immediately after firing she began to move, breaking right and running towards a low glass wall that led to one of the cities transparent towers, her boots squealing on the sheer surface as she sprinted. She didn't stick around to see if the rounds had knocked him down, preferring to re-position and keep the initiative.

After all, he could have been playing for time and had something else up his sleeve.

[La Volpe]

Well, shit... Victor thought as Kally rejected his idea. As the girl began to boast why, Victor's body was already in movement. As Kally squeezed the trigger of her rifle, Victor was already rolling to the side, just fast enough for the rounds to pass by him without harm. Unfortunately for Victor, the glass floor gave very little traction, causing the assassin to slide farther then intended, sending him sliding into the glass wall.

From his position though, Victor watched his opponent hastily run towards a low glass wall that led to one of the cities transparent towers. Scrambling to get back up, Victor slid free one of his hidden daggers, and just as quickly, let the balanced blade fly at the back of the leg of the Inquisitor. He doubted he'd actually hurt her, but if he was wrong, the girl would have a much harder time moving with a dagger in her leg.

[dakkagor]

House of Mirrors. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i92wtrH91kE)

Kally was booking for the glass tower. She had spotted a door at ground level, and was developing a plan to deal with the gormless assassin. It was time to take advantage of some of her more subtle toys. And this weird dream scape.

Her eyes caught something coming towards her on the edge of her vision, and she dropped into a slide, disappearing behind the low wall entirely and coming to a halt inside the building by bracing her booted foot against an internal wall of see through, amber colored glass. She thought she heard something metallic clatter from the low glass wall outside. Maybe a knife or an arrow. The assassin was fighting back at last.

Going to have to try better than that. she thought as she picked herself up and looked round the towers ground floor. A infinite number of Kally's reflected the motion in the glass around her, many distorted or otherwise changed by being reflected in the panes of glass, tinted by glass that span from sea blue, to bottle green, to warm amber.

"Perfect" she muttered. She chambered her kraken rounds, the fearsome rocket boosted anti-armour penetrators, and headed into the house of mirrors. She walked as quietly as she could, taking seemingly random turns until finally she was, by her hivers reckoning, in the rough center of the buildings ground floor. Most underhivers had a kind of 'sixth sense' when it came to confined, artificial spaces. Kally's was so refined you could have blindfolded her and she would have still found her way out. If anything, a blindfold would make it easier. Less confusing visual input.

She racked the slide of her bolter, and took stock. The mirrored and see through glass was thinner than the outer supporting walls, which was much thicker to hold the weight of the rest of the tower. She could probably smash through the internal walls with a decent body check. Her ammo count was green, and there was a good ten meters, straight line between her and the door. To actually get to her was by her reckoning more like thirty through the passages.

She dropped to a knee at hearing movement, and brought up her bolter, whispering a prayer to its machine spirit, and patiently waited.

[La Volpe]

With dismay Victor watched his dagger miss its mark, and the girl all together. Damn it all! He mentally cursed as he ran after Kally. He noticed something as tracked his prey, his well worn leather boots made almost no sound as he moved. This would help a great deal. Moving swiftly, Victor entered maze like chamber, a house of mirrors it seemed. With a quiet hiss of well oiled leather, Malice and Spite were drawn to bare, all thoughts of peace gone from the young assassins mind. He stopped almost as soon as he entered the room though. The walls were see through, and each cast a thousand reflections of there own. He would be vulnerable right off the bat, with no idea of where the gunman was, and how he'd get too her.

Taking a deep breath, Victor readied himself for the mad dash he'd have to make. Clearing his mind, Victor pushed out his magical awareness, searching for the strange aura that the women gave off. Dead center. He discovered to his dismay. She had the tactical advantage, with the best position in the room locked down, and a weapon that rained death faster then Victors own swords could. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Victor pushed out all thoughts, slipping into his battle trance. Taking a final deep breath, Victor dashed into the maze of mirrors, his goal the center, and the women who now held that position.

[dakkagor]

Big guns Never Tire. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljNPyNP_6tE)

Kally grinned as the skinny assassin entered the building, his reflection joining hers in being repeated hundreds of time, recoloured by the myriad panes of glass.
She took a moment to savour the confusion and fear she saw in those eyes. This guy was just a poser, and it made her want to laugh.

Then, after centring himself, the kid took of at a sprint. Deeper into the maze.

He knew where she was!

No time to figure out how. She drew her Lathe blade and stabbed it into the glass floor, its ultra dense, razor sharp point sinking into the glass like a table knife into clay. Then she brought her scope up to her eyes. She toggled the view to IR and disabled the red dot.

The world through the scope was rendered in dull reds, pinks and whites. The assassin, even through the glass, stood out easily as he continued his mad scrambling dash.

"Gotcha." she breathed. She switched to full auto and pulled on the trigger.

Kraken Rounds are uniquely designed. Unlike the bolt shells used by the holy Astartes, they lack the first stage 'kicker' charge to be used in close assault. However, their ultra dense diamantium tip, combined with flight stabilisers and a solid fuel rocket, meant the mass reactive rounds could tear through heavy xenos armour at ranges superior to most rifle weapons. Kally's Stalker pattern bolter carried them in magazines of 24, and could empty the entire clip in 4 seconds.

As such the panes of glass stood pretty much gak all chance against them. Kally began to empty the magazine in a blaze of fire, sending bolt shells rocketing and smashing through the glass house towards the Assassin. They punched and roared through the sheets of reflective glass, tearing them down in blizzards of razor sharp edges as they continued unhindered on their flight. The recoil, even braced, was back-breakingly, arm numbingly fearsome for full auto fire, even without the first stage kicker charge.

But Kally was a veteran of decades of combat, and she had started young. And she was, admittedly, an adrenalin junky, someone who emotionally bounced from 'broken' to 'deadly' depending on how well distracted they where. And right now, Kally was having the throne-damned time of her life. She laughed murderously as she corrected the guns tendency to yank violently upwards after every shot, and turned on the spot to keep the hail of murderous fire bracketing Victor as he attempted to close the distance through the rapidly disintegrating maze. She was quickly surrounded by a ring of broken glass on the floor, but she didn't especially care.

She kept her finger on the trigger, and watched the ammo counter spin down past 12.

[La Volpe]

The world began to explode around the young assassin as he mad his mad dash through this rat maze, trying to reach the center before he was shredded by the hail of high power rounds that chased him as he ran. Victor didn't panic though, in fact he was smiling like a mad man as he ran like hell. He could see her now, laughing madly as she rained death upon him from her position. A sudden idea entered the mind of Victor as he ran, and Victor acted on it without hesitation.

Dropping flat on his belly, Victor let the hail of bullets pass over him, using the momentum of Kally trying to follow him to cause the girl to continue to pivot, if only for a few brief seconds, giving Victor his chance to gain some serious ground. Victor could feel the bullets pass over him, and almost as fast as the assassin had dropped to the ground, he was back to his feet, running straight for Kally, moving with the speed of a man chased by death himself, and the way things had been going for him, maybe he was. Thanks to Kally's firing, she'd made Victor a clear path right to her. In his dead sprint, Victor brought his twin swords together, merging them into there bastard sword form, and gripped the sword with one hand, his other slid the dagger hooked to the small of his back out, and held it in a reverse grip, the distance between him and the girl hopefully taking her fire arms out of play.

"Let's see how you fair in close quarters!" Victor roared, coming in fast and hard, swinging his sword in a downward arc aimed for her neck, while bringing the dagger across to slit her throat. He would have to kill her quickly before she could bring one of her guns to bear once again. And if that happened... Then the assassin didn't have much chance of making it through this.

[dakkagor]

Shotgun Senorita (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNYKJS8CUC0)

The ammo counter span down to six as the assassin went down. For a split second Kally was convinced that was it, she had won. She eased her finger from the trigger and the fire slackened to a halt even as the skinny kid got up to his feet and dashed forwards towards her, crunching across the shards of glass and through the impromptu corridor she had cut with her heavy fire.

She cursed inwardly. The frakker should be dead! She gave up shooting the scum as a bad job. It seemed in her dreams everything had to be settled at point blank range. Fine by her.

She began to rise, and the world slowed to a crawl. . .

"Let's"

She tossed the bolter to one side as she began to stand.

"see"

her left hand snaked down to her boot and snatched out a cadian combat knife, carbon black and razor sharp.

"how"

Her right hand gripped her lathe blade, buried in the glassy floor, her gloved hands wrapping around the grip with confidence.

"you"

The blade slide clear with a shriek like a banshee as she rose from kneeling, pulling the blade out and across in a guard.

"fair"

The world trudged by, glass still falling in sheets to the floor from her deadly but useless fire earlier, slow motion destruction accompanied by the groan of the injured building behind.

"in"

She analyzed his attack. A heavy, high attack designed as a feint. A quick attack with the off hand to open her neck. Good footwork but nothing stellar.

"close"

She shifted her feet and raised her blades. Her saber came up in a strong guard against the knife, the real attack. The knife, reversed against her forearm, went up to deflect the heavy blow.

"quarters!"

The blades met and world crashed back to normal speed as metal squealed against metal. She pressed into his charge, bringing her face up to his. She snarled at him as she tested her strength against his.

"Pretty good, thanks."

She twisted on her heel, slamming out a booted kick at the assassins unprotected stomach. He staggered back from the low blow and Kally was all over him, knife and sword slashing together to retake, hold, and throttle the initiative. He met her blow for blow, blades clashing together as they each sought an opening.

Typically, Kally made hers. She had maneuvered the fight towards a still standing pane of bottle green glass. As soon as the Assassins back met it there was no where else to go.
She lashed out one last time, a heavy sweep followed by a shoulder barge. What her blades hadn't finished, the falling sheets of glass finished off easily.

"Should have backed off when you had the chance" She muttered as she turned away, the fight over at last.

[Wattz]

In the interest of time, my notes won’t be as detailed as usual. I apologize for that, but if either of you have questions please feel free to ask.

La Volpe

Writing Style:
-Ideas 2
-Flow 2
-Conventions 2

Effectiveness of Combat:
-Character Consistency 3
-Ingenuity 2
-Interaction 2

Control of the Field:
-Environmental Awareness 2
-Strategic Awareness 2
-Control of the Fight 1
TOTAL: 17

Victor has developed a lot since the last match. You were really dedicated to pushing his limits and getting him interacting with Kally, and I loved that a lot. However, the writing style lacked depth and needed an extra oomph to get it on another level. The environment was not used to its full potential, but Victor’s personality really shined through and made me curious to see him in an extended RP.

dakkagor

Writing Style:
-Ideas 3
-Flow 3
-Conventions 2

Effectiveness of Combat:
-Character Consistency 3
-Ingenuity 3
-Interaction 3

Control of the Field:
-Environmental Awareness 3
-Strategic Awareness 3
-Control of the Fight 3
TOTAL: 26
One of the most entertaining reads I’ve read in a while. Kally has so much character, and you were really strong with style, not just in voice but also in visual format. It was like reading a dance between the two characters. The environment was used very creatively. You were docked some points for conventions, however, since they were not always consistent.

And without further ado….
Dakkagor wins!!