Doc Doctor

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

All righty. No time limit.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

Both of Zande's arms were too busy to be used to attack with, one angling his axe by his thigh so the sword would slash across the broad of its much heavier blade and pass harmlessly by, and his other hand having just thrown the cloak over his opponent. It was inferred that Dartega would be spinning counter clockwise, to his own left in the direction of his thigh slash.

So, as Dartega completed his attempt at a thigh slash, Zande attacked with something else. He let his left foot rock back on its heel as the short sword struck his axe, so he could slide the claws off of the fallen broadsword and plant his boot more firmly on the ground in a fraction of a second. Then hissing through his teeth, he launched into an attack best witnessed in slow motion. He whirled about counter-clockwise, claws gouging at the ground as he pivoted on the ball of his left foot, right leg chambering horizontally at the knee, striated muscles in his thigh bunching up. The knee swung around and the leg whipped out in a white hot roundhouse kick, dust trailing from his heel. The short sword would glide harmlessly between Zande's legs, assuming that Dartega's head was at least above the level of the Savage's groin. It'd be awkward to squat much lower, and if he were, Zande wouldn't aim for the kick in the first place as he'd risk getting his dick cut off. The only other troubling factor might be that Dartega had brought his other arm up in a preemptive defensive gesture, but thus far no mention of it rising again after having dropped the broadsword had been made.

Were Zande's counter to work, Dartega would all but whirl face first into an armor plated shin, unable to see it due to the cloak still over his head. It'd hit almost as hard as a one handed swing with a bar mace, right at the moment when his legs were splayed in the midst of his spin, potentially sending him backwards in a steep arch onto his shoulder blades as if he had just decided now was a good time to perform a bridge stretch. The key to a good roundhouse was follow through. You didn't aim to kick someone in the face. You aimed to kick through their face.

His helmet could absorb superficial damage, prevent broken bones, but his brain might be all kinds of rattled from the hit due the sudden shift in his skull's momentum, resulting in a dazed, bleary state. Strips would be torn from Zande's cloak and left hanging from any pointy bits or spikes on Dartega's armor they had caught on. Only after the blow landed would Zande then unleash another lunatic scream, like a man for whom the world has ended, so viciously that the noise could be heard raking at his throat.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@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.

Gun Fight For No Reason

@Parvo

We almost there?

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

Unable to pull his axe back in time and with only a bottle of rum in his other hand, it seemed like Dartega was a shoo-in landing the stab. There was still a missing element to the savage's fighting style though, and in hindsight him initially only arming himself with a skewer and some liquor should have given it away, especially in how Zande had evaded and trapped the broadsword.

It was that he didn't use or need his arms for defense. He handled virtually every attack thrown at him this way, with as little expended motion as possible and keeping his arms free.

A solid thrust could definitely puncture plate armor as thick as Zande's. Head on, that is. Trying to stab through plate armor at an angle results in the blade just glancing off. Zande demonstrated this by twisting his upper body further counter-clockwise, to his left, so that instead of Dartega being able to land a direct thrust the short sword would instead skid across the armor and past Zande, drawing bright yellow sparks. There wasn't enough time for Zande to bring his axe up, but he could turn his upper body freely and quickly.

It'd be unlikely that Dartega would notice the pint of rum had fallen from Zande's hand during the attack. He'd abandoned it as soon as he realized his opponent wasn't going to back away, clawed fingers instead finding the hem of his cloak as his enemy's stab went past the mark, so that he could then throw it up over Dartega's extended arm and drape it over his head and across his field of vision, filling his sight with the ragged black fabric.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

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

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

Zande's axe wouldn't be out of its sheathe in time to race Dartega's broadsword, alright. He'd lose that contest, if he tried to win it. He was going to put to use a different asset instead. When Dartega's sword struck the ground, Zande stamped his left foot out to catch the end of the rising blade beneath the curved steel claws of his boot and force the sword back down by bearing his weight forwards, preventing his opponent from easily recovering from the swing in time to beat Zande to the punch. And what a punch it was. If Zande temporarily snagged and trapped Dartega's blade, then in short order his sparth axe would whisper free of its sheathe. It was brought about in a brutal arch, the savage slinging it down full force towards his opponent's right bicep, seeking to rend the metal armor and sunder the arm like a summer sausage, potentially taking it right off below the shoulder.

All the while Zande was screaming like a maniac at the top of his voice, shrill and wild. He'd not been about to dodge Dartega's next attack, rather, he had been preparing for the incredible exertion of a diabolically powerful blow, one that could sever a pig carcass in two at a swing.
Dartega might avoid the damage if he released his sword and lunged away. If he tried to tackle Zande, he'd probably wind up with the heavy axe burying itself in his shoulders, back, or skull, maybe somewhere else that would hurt very, very much. Besides that Zande was visibly bristling with knives and other sharp implements. On the ground he'd probably be even more lethal.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@Diexsmiling

Boxing reach is an iffy thing. It measures the wingspan of a fighter, rather than the length of one arm, because typically when you throw a proper punch, you angle your body into it, adding some length from the shoulder.

The average reach of a fighter sits at around 68", arm-shoulder width-arm, 25"-18"-25".
Zande was unusual in that he had an extraordinary reach for someone of his height, 84.5", or 31.25"-22"-31.25".

Though his fist was closed around the skewer, taking up four inches of it, the shoulder he put into the thrust made up for the loss. Effectively, his thrust would carry across about 4.25 feet, likely quite close to Dartega's reach. Though Dartega's weapon was longer than the skewer, Zande's arm made up for the difference.

Dartega probably wouldn't find it an easy proposition to hit his opponent when Zande, seeing his surprise attack failing and having his rabbit skewer knocked out of his hand by the deflection, stepped back a generous foot and a half behind his left boot, turning perpendicular to Dartega's line of sight, and swayed backwards so that the broadsword passed harmlessly before him, shaving a few strands of his dreadlocks off as they flowed after him. Basically, a proper side step, whose timing was thanks to Zande's sharp perception, his attention to Dartega's core motions, the split second squaring of his shoulders and the motion of his biceps, similar to how a professional fighter gauges when to bob through an overhand punch.

As he did so he brought his left hand swiftly over its relative shoulder to grasp the thick handle of one of his massive war axes, snap button sheathe popping as he gave it a hearty jerk to free the weapon from its leather incarceration, eyes glittering hot behind his dreads, Triassic ambers with the fire of a forgotten age still kindled deep within.

It was a fool's move, trying to unsheathe a large blade when only about four feet from a fully armed opponent. That being said, Dartega probably knew at this point that Zande was no fool, and there was something off about the savage's body language. His chest was heaved out, filled with air, and the muscles in his left bicep were strained taut, coiled tension evident in every molecule of his being. The rum was held at his right side, almost out of sight. What use was it, a mere glass bottle of liquor? Zande didn't seem to have any semblance of a guard up, making no effort to visibly protect himself.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@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.

YOU WANT BLOOD? - DARTEGA VS. ZANDE

@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.