Setting- The Torched Wastes



A large, football field-sized plain flanked by scorching oil fires and billowing smoke.

Battle Theme-

@Diexsmiling

I don't know of any rational boxing guard that obscures the eyes from the front. If he had covered his eyes, it'd have been a good idea to mention that earlier so I'd have known not to have Zande try a clearly pointless attack. Just an fyi, not a big deal, we can let it slide. As for the timing of the skewer, it was indeed after the brief stumble so that a clear shot could be taken. If it wasn't a clear shot, Zande wouldn't have taken it.

Now the real problem is the cobra venom. It's cytotoxic, it kills cells, causes necrosis. It's not possible to develop an immunity to that particular brand of toxin, and one must take into consideration that were Dartega exposed to something from demons that would permanently blind him before, he'd be, well, permanently blinded. It's also worth noting that such an immunity was never mentioned in his profile. The profile is like a bill. Once the match starts the bill turns into a law, and you can no longer add things to it.

@Doc Doctor

You've never seen a rational boxing guard that covers the eyes? Lol, I find that very hard to believe if you've ever watched any boxing or mma. A proper full guard covers the entire face and body, although I wasn't even going for that. What I had in mind was something similar to this:



The only difference being that instead of blocking a punch, he would be blocking a wooden skewer. It's only a natural reaction if you're a fighter to raise your hands after being hit in the face, even if it was just a misty spray.

And as for the venom, I don't really remember reading any specific details on your character's bio that say anything about necrosis, killing cells, or causing blindness. In the post where the venom is actually spit into Dartega's face, all it says is "a wracking, sizzling pain". So with all the information I was given, I took that causing pain was the venom's effect. Pain is something my character has endured his entire life, and it says so clearly in his bio.

Personally, I don't feel my character has done anything outside of his limits, or anything that could be considered OP. Honestly, it seems like you're the one who's now starting to get all technical and throw in extra details. No offense, you seem like a great writer, much better than myself I'll admit. So take it however you want to. Maybe if an unbiased, third party was here to observe the duel, it would go more smoothly and fairly.

@Diexsmiling

Thing it, it wasn't specified in the original post that he moved to cover his eyes. You stated nothing more than that he assumed a 'fighting stance', and told me after the fact what exact stance he was in. That's a no no.

As for the venom...

Weapons and Equipment- Two three kilo bearded sparth axes with snap button sheathes for fast access, a weighted serrated knife with a foot long blade, two seven inch steel karambit knives, three seven steel inch throwing knives, a blowgun and eight darts with inland taipan venom, three one-ounce leather pouches of spitting cobra venom, rubber soled boots with three eight inch steel claws on each foot, steel chestplate, large paldrons with protruding spikes that can stop and snag bladed weapons, steel shinguards, underclothing made from dragonhide (like an extremely tough form of steel chainmail with no gaps), a trained pet vulture acting as a spotter, a black steel war mask in the shape of a flat, ghoulish skull, and reinforced fingerless iron gauntlets imbedded with cast iron bird skulls.

This is not the same concept as a vague fighting stance. There's no way, implicit or explicit, for me to determine where Dartega's arms are with the information provided. Likewise I should not have to state that spitting cobra venom will permanently blind someone regardless of pain tolerance if they haven't access to medical help. If Zande had cyanide capsules and tricked Dartega into consuming one, you wouldn't be able to state that he'd live simply because you don't know what cyanide does. This isn't some private canon that only I know about. It's spitting cobra venom, it's entire purpose is to blind. I don't need to state what an axe is either, and how it can kill someone by splitting their skull down the middle.

@Doc Doctor

Hmmmm. OK ok. I'll be tapping out on this one. Learned something new about the spitting cobra today, lol. In the future I suppose I'll also be more descriptive about the position of my character. The only question is where to go from here... With Dartega now completely blind, I'm sure it won't take long for Zande to dispatch him. I'm expecting a fittingly brutal end, although it is a bit painful to see him defeated so easily... :( put a lot of work into that character, haha.

@Diexsmiling

If you want we can just proceed as if Dartega was able to shrug off the venom, just to make the fight last longer. See what could come after.

@Doc Doctor

Alright, sounds good to me. A little more practice/experience should help with duels in the future. Your move then?

@Diexsmiling

Aye, but first I need to know which hand K'Girr is in. Lefts and rights are pretty important! If it's not too much trouble, giving me the length of K'Girr would be great too, along with how far from Zande Dartega's face was after he stumbled. I can only see how long the short sword is in the provided picture.

@Doc Doctor

OK so the way I had imagined it was Dartega had blocked the skewer with his left hand, and K'Girr was in his right. The blade itself most closely resembles the one used by the Uruk'Hai in LOTR.



I would put its entire length at about 2 1/2 feet. And Dartega had stumbled back a few feet (3 if you want to be exact) when the venom spray splashed him in the eyes. So hopefully that's all the info you need. Like I said before, I'll try harder to include the specific details from now on

@Diexsmiling

Just two questions. Does Dartega have his helmet on? And precisely where is his stab aimed?

@Doc Doctor

The stab is aimed at Zande's torso, coming from slightly above due to the jump. And yes his helmet is still on

@Diexsmiling

For the record, I'm enjoying this fight quite a bit. Your style is a breath of fresh air!

Most sword and sandal style fights end very quickly. One mistake is all it takes, but you've pulled off the right moves so far. Since both Dartega and Zande have only one weapon at hand, and as Dartega is faster with his blade and better armored, he's been keeping up a heavy offence to keep Zande from using his axe. Perhaps you might've even known that the thigh slash is a good ploy to keep Zande from bringing the axe to bear, instead forcing him to keep it low and in an ungainly position to attack from, whilst Dartega's spinning is the best way to escape from a foot trap with the clawed boots, another tactic Zande might've tried.

I probably don't need to say it, but I don't want to throw you off by mistake. Thus far the constant assault has worked, but always do what's right for the situation at hand, and not just because a certain tactic has been proven effective. I only say that because a few times before, I've told someone that I like a particular move or trick they have, but then they go and immediately try it again and wind up dying because it wasn't the best thing they could have done, and I'd accidently influenced their decision. Again, I doubt you need me to tell you that, but I gotta make sure.

I'll probably reply sometime late tomorrow. Gotta go work the night shift in an hour, and I don't like writing from a phone.

@Doc Doctor

Well I'm glad you're enjoying the duel so far, I'm having a blast too haha. I mean technically this fight should already be over, considering the spray of venom and all. If Dartega hadn't been able to resist that, he definitely would have already met a very gruesome end xD. Aside from that though, I would say it's been really entertaining, and I'm glad we decided to continue anyway.

Zande presents so many challenges and tricky situations, and he definitely lives up to the hype. The versatility of his kit is just excellent. I do attribute a good portion of that to your own RP experience as well though. Already I've learned so much just from this battle, and there's things I would do completely differently next time.

Believe it or not, I don't even really think too hard about what my next move is going to be, it just sort of comes to me naturally haha. I guess I would call it intuition, just drawing on my past experiences fighting. I'm still really new to this written style of combat though.

Anyway, can't wait to see what your next post is going to be and how this fight is going to turn out now. One thing I do know for sure is that Dartega isn't going to quit until he's absolutely destroyed, and I'm sure Zande feels the same way lol

So this is really disappointing, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again. I'm enjoying this duel so much but tomorrow I leave with my unit to train in the field, in the Alaskan wilderness. It's going to be brutally cold and there probably wont be much down time. I'll try and check on the site whenever I get the chance though. It might be a day or two until I'm able to post again, or a couple weeks lol. Hopefully it's the prior

@Diexsmiling

All righty. No time limit.