It's always darkest before the dawn - Bee and Dough

[DoughGuy]

Ker'Tiaan (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47727&p=1699878&viewfull=1#post1699878)

Vs

Holly Jonas (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47718&p=1698785&viewfull=1#post1698785)


Battle Arena description:
Located to the very south of Ue, right where the lands touches the sea, is the Syphon. For the religious of Vuehrau this is a site of great importance, for it is said to be where the souls of the Touched go when they die. It is also believed that when a mage dies, their magic goes to this place, hence the name, in order to fuel the lives of the souls who rest there.

The place itself lends to these rumours. A circular bowl situated at the end of a narrow canyon the screeching winds which pass through the area sound like the screaming of lost souls. Multiple black obelisks litter the area, all perfectly straight and pointing to the sky. Each is about four metres tall and perfectly smooth. The few experts who have studied them determined they were made of obsidian but don’t know how they were made.

The blackness of night fills the sky, only the tip of the sun peaking its head over the horizon. For now the world is still shrouded in darkness as our two duellists meet. Under this shroud they will meet in battle, until the sun rises and puts an end to the fight one way or the other.

In twelve rounds of posting the sun will rise. By then Holly will either have to flee, whether victorious or not, or burn in the sunlight.

Magic/Superhuman abilities allowed: All CS abilities are allowed

Additional Conditions: N/A



Ker'Tiaan rose from his position of prayer in front of one of the pillars. He didn't know what had called him to this place, but it had the scent of blood on it. Its presence had been impossible for him to ignore. He turned to look over the edge of the cliff and stared towards where the sun would soon rise from. The Syphon was such a dark place, especially at night. The souls of the dead made poor company for its visitors. The touch of the day's light was the only sign of joy it ever received.

His claws slowly emerged from his knuckles and extended to their full length. Whatever was here was here to fight him. He turned to the entrance of the Syphon and scanned its landscapes, noting that there were plenty of places to hide behind the pillars. Spreading his wings he waited for his foe to reveal itself, ready to take flight.

[Bee Bear]

Post 1

Holly peeked around one of the tall black pillars, her face shining with hope. She'd been watching the winged man for a little while now and she was quite sure that she was totally smitten. He sure was ever so dreamy, gosh. That hair, those feathers ...

She sighed deeply. If only she wasn't starving ... She'd have loved to go on moonlit walks on the beach with him, holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes ... But ah well. She'd settle for just slitting his jugular vein and drinking him dry. She sniffed delicately and nodded. Yes, she definitely smelled magic on him. He'd be a wonderfully rejuvenating treat.

"Hellooo!" she called, stepping out from behind the pillar and waving. "Goodness me, what an odd thing to run into someone all the way out here. I thought it was totally deserted!"

[DoughGuy]

Tiaan looked towards where the sound had come from, noting the appearance of the woman. In her green robe she resembled a mage of some sort, not an odd sight for the Syphon. The only odd thing about her was the bat hiding in her hood, perhaps a familiar of some sort as rare as those animals were. He let his claws retract back into his knuckles though his wings stayed ready. He wasn't going to be overly aggressive but neither would he let his guard down. She was the only thing around in this place of death.

He approached her slowly, "We often come here to pay our respects to the fallen, and to pray for guidance from those who lived through worse than us." For anyone native to Vuehrau it would be clear he was talking about the Touched. "Why have you come? It is clear you are not one of us. If you were I would know you, but your face is new to me."

[Bee Bear]

Post 2

Oh my gosh, he's so polite ... Holly inwardly swooned and fiddled shyly with her green robe as she walked out towards him. Her bare feet made no sound. "I'm new to the area," she smiled, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. She gave a cheerful little skip or two and came to a stop in front of him. "I'm Holly," she said and took one of his hands to shake in polite greeting. "I'm sorry to bother you while you're praying - I had no idea. But I was just sooo hungry, you see." She didn't let go of his hand and now held it firmly in both of her own. "So ... um ..." She shuffled her feet a little awkwardly. "W-would you mind? Giving me a taste, that is ...?"

[DoughGuy]

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline letting you eat my hand." Tiaan withdrew his hand from her grip, now suspicious of the young looking woman. Two balls of light sprang into existence suddenly, each one sparkling over one of his shoulders, "What are you?" he asked the woman. The balls of light shone in a way that seemed to point towards Holly. He took a few steps back from her and flapped his wings just enough for him to hover in the air a foot off the ground.

[Bee Bear]

Post 3

"Awww ..." Holly's face fell, as did her hands. "There's no need to be mean ... I'm a vampire, not a cannibal. I just wanted a sip of your blood. It would have made me feel so nice and you'd barely have felt it, I promise. But what are you?" she asked, examining the two balls of light and his flapping wings. "An angel?"

She took a few steps forward to close the gap he'd created between them, and reached up to untie her green cloak. It slipped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet, revealing her floaty white dress. She was fine with getting blood on it as she believed the red on the white looked artistic and rather vogue.

"In any case, let's get started then. I'm really hungry." She leapt forward, teeth bared and hands raised to reach for Tiaan's face. But instead of going directly for him, she angled slightly to the side so she wasn't directly in the path of those strange floating orbs.

[DoughGuy]

"A vampire?" Tiaan asked in confusion, never having heard the term before, "How do you not know what I am? Everyone in Vuehrau knows what the Touched are." He meant to question her further when she suddenly removed her cloak and leapt at him.

What the hell is this thing?! he thought to himself. The attack caught him off guard but he was still able to fire both his orbs at the charging woman. The balls rippled slightly before twin beams of light shot from them, burning through the air between the pair. As he did this he gave his wings a powerful flap to put some distance between them. While his face would move out of reach of the attack his armoured legs would still be easily in her reach.

[Bee Bear]

Post 4

Holly, having moved to the side - Tiaan's right - already, was able to angle her slender body out of the way just in time to avoid the beams of light. She felt heat warm the skin of her arms for a moment, then she was out of harm's way. But her quarry was getting away! He was very fast with those big, pretty wings of his - if he got in the air she'd have a hard time catching him again, that was for sure.

She'd unfortunately missed her chance to grab him by the neck, but his legs were still in her reach. She locked a hand around one of his ankles and dug her feet into the ground, steadying herself, then yanked him down. Her other hand reached up to grab one of his wrists.

[DoughGuy]

Tiaan was shocked again, this time by the woman's strength. He could do nothing to resist being pulled down from his attempted take off and being slammed into the ground. The Touched were stronger than the normal person, but this woman was far stronger than him. However he wasn't going to let her beat him just through strength.

With a thought a chain sprung from the air next to the arm she was using to grab at his wrist. The manacle shot forward and attempted to clamp shut around her own wrist and halt her movement.

As this happened his claws re-emerged from his knuckles and extended to their full length. He swiped one at the grasping hand hoping to shred it to pieces. He could feel the plate on his leg buckling and need to get her grip off him before it broke and his legs was subjected to those forces.

[Bee Bear]

Post 5

The sudden appearance of the chains caught Holly off-guard and she didn't pull her hand away in time to avoid it. The shackle clicked into place around her left wrist. "H-hey! I'm not really into that kind stuff!" she protested, but didn't have time to say anything else. He'd grown his claws again and goodness, they sure looked sharp.

She released his ankle to make a grab for the wrist of the hand that he was using to attack her, while she tugged on her shackled arm with all her considerable strength in an effort to get it out of his reach. As she did so, she raised her right knee and made to kick him in the groin with it.

[DoughGuy]

With her considerable strength Holly would be able to shift the chain where she wanted albeit slowly. Each tug would shift it about a foot in the direction she wanted.

With his leg released Tiaan pushed himself up onto his palms and soles and gave a mighty flap of his wings. He shot into the air more successfully this time, but not entirely. The woman's kick caught his groin as he was airborne, denting the armour inwards slightly and making his privates rather uncomfortably compressed. Luckily it stopped a millitmetre short of damaging anything.

However the touch still sent his flight off course and his takeoff became an uncontrolled spiral through the air. I need to regain my composure! he yelled to himself mentally. With another mental command his body crackled with light before it suddenly leapt outwards in a blinding radiance. The firework like explosions erupted from him in all directions, rapidly expanding to fill the area of battle.

[Bee Bear]

Post 6

Startled, Holly cringed away from the light. She was quick enough to start turning away and curling into herself when she saw something fishy going on, but that wasn't fast enough to save her eyes from the blinding light. She squeaked and felt one of her pet bats fly out of her hair in fright.

Blind, she felt extremely vulnerable. She chose a direction she thought was clear of any obstacles and that led away from the angel man, and started running with all her vampire strength.

[DoughGuy]

Tiaan used the sudden relief to spiral upwards before righting himself, coming to a stop in the air. He spotted the woman take and wondered if he'd got her in his sphere. if he had he didn't have much time before her sight returned. locking his fingers together his claws merged into a pair of swords which he grabbed. He flapped his wings into a dive, shooting straight for the fleeing girl, blades both held to his right. Your death may spoil this sacred ground, but I will not let you leave monster. He swung both his blades at the back of her neck hoping to end the battle with one, strong blow.

[Bee Bear]

Post 7

Holly felt a dull, crushing blow to the back of her neck, and heard the crunch and crackle of her own bones breaking. Still blind, her legs crumpled under her and she hit the ground.

"Whoaaaah ..." she groaned and rolled over. Her limbs weren't quite working like they were supposed to and she had trouble turning her head - broken spines did that to a vamp - but she could manage. One of the many advantages of being undead was that it was hard to make her die again. "Did someone get the number of that bus ...?"

This guy sure is good, she thought. I better not give him a chance to do that again.

While she was helpless - for the moment - she started to summon any and all bats in the area. It wasn't something anyone would notice her doing - there wasn't even a sound. But soon her familiars would arrive with the thundering noise of hundreds of pairs of wings flapping, and the screeching of hungry mouths.

[DoughGuy]

After his blades had collided with the woman's neck Tiaan soared back skywards. He spun around to look at her fallen form, surprised her head was still attached to her body. "The beasts of evil are strong to weather the forces of good." he said. His hands opened back up to palms and the sword disappeared. He clenched his fists and they reformed as his claws, his intention to dive down and finish her off by running her through.

At two dozen metres in the air he could barely hear the flapping of wings in the distance. Not enough for him to worry that it was any more than an Equilla somewhere. Instead he continued his attack, pointing his body downwards to aim directly at the "vampire". He let gravity take over and dropped, his wings aiding his downwards speed. His claws were pointed right at the woman's stomach. When he reached a metre from the ground he would curved up, attempting to rake his claws from her stomach to her head and soar back in the air.

[Bee Bear]

Post 8

Holly's vision was finally clearing after that awful attack of light and she could see well enough to track her hunky foe as he flew across the sky, looking angelic and menacing. That was really mean of him, to break her neck. She was rather annoyed at him now.

She sighed softly and cleared her throat, then reached up and grasped her head in her hands. A sharp upwards pull and a bit of a twist aligned her spine again, and not a moment too soon. Tiaan was suddenly right on top of her, claws out. "Eeep!" she squeaked in fright and rolled to the right and out of their way. She kept rolling for a few meters, then jumped to her feet and went to hide behind one of the pillars.

Her batty friends, meanwhile, kept approaching. From the relative safety of her shadowy hiding place, Holly told the 300 plus bats to all converge on Tiaan - more specifically, his face. "He hurt my eyes, so bring me his," she whispered, mostly to herself.

[DoughGuy]

Back in the air Tiaan heard the growing screeching and turned to face it. Are those hers? he asked himself in surprise, Perhaps she is a Touched and just doesn't know it. He wondered how to deal with such a large number of foes, he was better suited to singe combat.

He let the bats approach. Watching as they grouped up together to converge upon him. He could see the hunger in their eyes and the points of their teeth. He could see the mindless devotion to the being which commanded them. And for an instant, he could see himself, a glowing bringer of justice.

His attack orbs fired, each burning through dozens of the animals as bunched up as they were. Some were not dead, merely injured or singed and kept coming, but many died. His wings flapped once and he launched into the swarm. His arms slashed through the air like broken wires tearing through small bodies with ease. Black shapes dropped from the swarm like flies.

But it wasn't entirely a slaughter. Tiaan's arms were decorated with rivers of red as he emerged from the other side of the swarm. His body and legs had been protected by his armour, but his wings and face were also red with blood. Feathers drifted down to the earth, torn free of their roots. His hair was almost entirely red and his face looked like it had warpaint drawn on it. He looked for Holly, a lion hunting for his prey.

And the swarm still lived, injured, but there.

- - - Updated - - -

Back in the air Tiaan heard the growing screeching and turned to face it. Are those hers? he asked himself in surprise, Perhaps she is a Touched and just doesn't know it. He wondered how to deal with such a large number of foes, he was better suited to singe combat.

He let the bats approach. Watching as they grouped up together to converge upon him. He could see the hunger in their eyes and the points of their teeth. He could see the mindless devotion to the being which commanded them. And for an instant, he could see himself, a glowing bringer of justice.

His attack orbs fired, each burning through dozens of the animals as bunched up as they were. Some were not dead, merely injured or singed and kept coming, but many died. His wings flapped once and he launched into the swarm. His arms slashed through the air like broken wires tearing through small bodies with ease. Black shapes dropped from the swarm like flies.

But it wasn't entirely a slaughter. Tiaan's arms were decorated with rivers of red as he emerged from the other side of the swarm. His body and legs had been protected by his armour, but his wings and face were also red with blood. Feathers drifted down to the earth, torn free of their roots. His hair was almost entirely red and his face looked like it had warpaint drawn on it. He looked for Holly, a lion hunting for his prey.

And the swarm still lived, injured, but there.

[Bee Bear]

Post 9

With just under half of her Bat Force gone, Holly was sad. Those poor things - she hadn't expected the angel man to be that good at cutting them down. And they didn't even manage to claw his eyes out. That really was a shame. Pouting as she peeked up at him from the shadows, she formed a plan.

The bats immediately reacted to her silent instructions by pulling slightly away from Tiaan and arranging themselves into a rough circular form around him. They whizzed around and around, darting in and out and covering most of his field of vision. It would be as if he was encased in a ball of screeching, disorienting bat bodies. They would stick close to him, but not so close that he could reach them with his claws.

When she felt they were in position Holly would use her vampiric strength and speed to quickly sprint to directly underneath Tiaan and then jump to catch a hold of his body. She'd then sink her teeth into any exposed skin she could get her mouth on.

[DoughGuy]

As the bats swirled around him Tiaan tried to evade them, moving erratically in the hope to get free, but found he couldn't. He couldn't even hit the small things as they moved now. The woman controlling them had gotten smart. He was beginning to pant too, they'd done a fair bit of damage in their attack and he'd lost a bit more blood than he had hoped too. Even now it was rolling down his armour and dripping off his fingers.

He was taken by surprise when a hand suddenly grasped around his ankle, a hand whose strength he recognised. Looked down he saw an arm he recognised too. Fortunately his plate armour would hold off her teeth for now, but he had to act fast. With a mental command he made a chain appear below him, the manacle shooting for Holly's leg. He then flapped his wings with all his might and went straight up.

[Bee Bear]

Post 10

Once again caught in chains, Holly gave a dainty little growl and ground her teeth together. She didn't let go of the angel man's leg though it felt like she was being stretched like a piece of toffee. Her joints made odd popping sounds.

She'd finally caught him and if he thought he was going to get away that easily, he was mistaken. "Come here, mister!" she ground out and reached up with her free hand while she pulled him closer with the grip on his ankle. She was using the anchor of the chains wrapped around her legs as leverage, despite the pain it caused. She grabbed a hold of the edge of the armour that covered his calf and pulled. With her strength she could snap the straps holding it in place or simply bend the metal, and once it was off she'd sink her teeth into his calf for a nice refreshing drink of magical blood.

[DoughGuy]

With Holly's massive strength she was able to pull the armour off Tiaan's leg exposing his thigh, though it was still covered by his pants. As she moved to bite his leg he lashed down with one of his claws, hoping to knock her away or simply block his skin from her bite. He wasn't too keen on seeing what the woman's sharp teeth would do to his leg.

Through this he kept his wings pumping to put the strain on her. He knew his chain would disappear soon and when it did he would suddenly be able to fly again. The sudden force would likely pin Holly where she was, or perhaps even weaken her grip. And he'd also be able to get high in the air where he had the advantage. As her mouth closed in he could see the chains slowly fading into nothing ...

(Chain disappears at the start of your turn)

[Bee Bear]

Post 11

Just when Holly thought she'd finally get to sink her teeth into some yummy, juicy, bloody flesh after she pried the angel man's armour open like a can of tuna, she was foiled. There was an audible "tink!" as her teeth connected with his claws, then a scratching sound that gave her unpleasant goosebumps as they slid over them. She growled low in her throat and looked up just as the chain around her legs disappeared and the tension which had been pulling at her body went with it.

Free but still clinging to Tiaan's leg, she went wherever he did. With lightning quick movements she reached up and pulled herself hand over hand up his body. As soon as she could reach it she made a grab for his opposite wrist while she used her body to pin his other arm between them. Her legs wrapped around his and while he was hopefully sufficiently tangled up in her grip she sent the remainder of her bats in to unleash a relentless attack on his wings.

When he was at his most distracted from that she would go in for the kill and bite his neck.

[DoughGuy]

As Holly climbed up him Tiaan did the only thing he could. With her so close he unleashed his blinding radiance, doubting she had any chance to dodge. He also hoped it might disorientate some of the bats as well buying him some extra time. As she pinned his arms, managing to catch them before he blinded her, he halted his upwards flight and began a dive again, racing ahead of the bat swarm that was chasing him. Hoping Holly was blind he lined himself up for an incredibly risky shot. His body was aimed right at one of the obsidian pillars, Holly's formed lined up to collide with it while his was a inch off suffering the same fate. It was like a person trying to brush an insect off their skin.

But with his arms pinned he wasn't able to stop her reaching up to his exposed neck. He could only hope they collided before she bit down and the pain threw him off. His thoughts were silent, his whole concentration focused on the maneuver.

[Bee Bear]

Post 12 (Final)

In the moment that he unleashed the flare of light which immediately blinded her, Holly opened her mouth, bared her fangs and thrust her head down. While her eyes teared up in pain she felt them sink into his flesh and wonderfully warm, fizzy magic blood flooded into her mouth. New strength surged through her body at the first gulp and she didn't even notice that her bats had retreated and Tiaan was going into a dive.

She clung to him like a leech while she drank and not even twenty crowbars would have been able to pry her off him. With all her vitality restored and then some, she felt like she was invincible and wouldn't stop drinking until he was bone-dry. If he stayed on course and she was hit by the pillar, she'd barely notice.