MelonHead

NoW: LeeRoy vs. Melonhead Rnd 2.

Metz looked mildly amused as he was reprimanded from across the way, though his frown quickly re-asserted itself as he stood up.

“I’m a survivor.” He said in a level tone, back in response, he drew his knife with his right hand and looked at it in the light as his foe continued to rage at him, threatening to stab him or some such nonsense. Metz left hand had already crept down and plucked his remaining vial from his belt, the liquid within black as night, swirling unnaturally as if it had been shaken abruptly. He only had the one vial left, his enemy’s timely retreat had resulted in that, so Metz justified what was to come as really the man’s own fault. Yes, that was right, this was a measure Metz didn’t want to take but had to, he had to drink it.

He downed the black vial even as the man finished speaking and ran towards him. The effect was immediate, his muscles bulged beneath the armour and his eyes changed, his skin falling into an unhealthy shade and steadily growing darker by the moment around his eyes and hands. His veins pulsed and unlike the glorious euphoria when pure mana suffused through his body, Black Mana was a burning pain that somehow grew into ecstasy. His voice even deepened a little as he looked on at the incoming man in delight, his grin feral. “No. I will tear you apart.” He growled, the knife in his hand unsuitable for the bloody destruction he wished the wreak upon his enemy he lifted his left hand claw-like and spat out a couple of words, bypassing his normal spell restrictions. One sharp drawing of his hand down and he thrust it back out palm forward, the lightning bolt launching from his hands at the ground beneath his enemy’s feet as he closed the gap between them to thirty feet. The serpentine manoeuvre was useful when one is targeting the body as its movements were erratic, but the ground was a more sure-fire target, and serpentine can be just as predictable as any other run. The bolt would disrupt the earth, detonating and knocking a normal man off his feet, though the man was anything but his injuries would probably result in the bolt unsettling him.

[Ranked] 2 v 2 battle! Reapers Vs Champions; A Dance of Blades!

I misunderstood your post so yeah.

Kinda still don't, actually. *is an idiot*

@DJAtomika

It was a very different kind of post, more story driven and with more character emphasis than my usual more technical posts. The point was that Judgement would skewer his opponent if she tried to strike at him again because it was what he was made to do, and the risk to his own person was unimportant. Your character can hit Judgement if she wishes, but she can't just nonchalantly flick his blade away again, which by the way would have been very difficult in the first place considering the huge disparity in strength and weapon types. It would be akin to trying to parry a thrusting broadsword with a shortsword times like ten.

[Ranked] 2 v 2 battle! Reapers Vs Champions; A Dance of Blades!

@MelonHead I don't get your attack. Where is he attacking from and in what way? I also don't get how he can stab her again when she's stepped past the point and into his guard. A big dude rearing back a huge sword would have to have arms like tentacles to pull that all the way back to align the point for another stab.

Unless he's attacking from up high, with the blade pointed downward but his other hand holding the hilt higher so the whole thing's pointing down.

Regardless I already have a post in mind.

@DJAtomika

Yeah that post might need editing, I think I threw it out quickly when I had no internet.

Actually no, Judgement surprised your character with speed as she stepped back to avoid his initial strike after parrying it he was already striking at her again before she could move into his guard, so it stands. Your character committed to moving into a strike, but you can interrupt that and do something different if running onto the end of Judgement's sword doesn't appeal to you, that's why I wrote in such a matter of fact way that your character -would- be impaled if she launched her attack.

Allaria Ch. 4: Rescue and Escape

Akael was cautious, also timid, in approaching the seat offered to him by the Tengu. His eyes narrowed and he selected another, further into the room by with a better vantage point of the entry way and little opportunity for one to sneak up behind him. It was perhaps an unnecessary caution, but experience had taught the Jungle-Born Elf that caution was usually its own reward, and to act in any other fashion had a tendency to reward one with little but an untimely end. He sat on the edge of his seat, his body language perhaps revealing more than he would wish as he pulled the chair away from the table. He was like a trapped animal, caught in the hunter’s grasp but alert for that moment that had to come, call it what you will, the moment which held the greatest opportunity for escape. He said nothing to the Tengu, Akael was not uncomfortable with silence, he may have even gone as far as to say he preferred it.

He did not have long to wait, other assorted individuals of the motley kind that made up the resistance arrived in drips and drabs. It surprised him the sheer unsuitability of those that appeared to any single task, at least to his mind, though he could only assume whatever the Tengu had in store for them would make the choices at least somewhat clear. Time would tell. As he sat there in silence keeping his eyes low in that fashion which to the untrained observer could often make a man invisible, his senses took in all around him with the ease of a Jungle Hunter. The only slight marring to his strong concentration was the niggling but persistent ache of unfulfilled addiction, ignored for now, he knew it would return with a vengeance.

As the plan was outlined and the reason for his presence became clear Akael frowned beneath his hood. There were clear issues with the plan, not to mention the clear fact that he had severe doubts it had even the slightest inkling of success. He couldn’t be certain as he was unfamiliar with the nuances of the city and with social interactions outside his tribe in general, but when applying his experience to the situation it did not sit well. For one, he was not entirely sure the Tengu was sane, at least he did not seem to have the state of mind required for ordering a group of unsuited individuals on a mission that could see them all dead. The drink was the first clue, the second was the abstract dejection in his voice. Akael puzzled over this, unsuited himself for further perceptions in regards to the Tengu himself, wishing he had the eloquence to the broach the topic with the other individuals. The second issue was simple, why were they sending such a group on this mission, a group whose very diversity became their greatest misfortune, they would stick out like a sore thumb by his estimation. Akael was not familiar with the city, but when a warrior a shaman and a scout come together, one grows suspicious. When three scouts run together, they scout, when three warriors run together, they plan to fight, when one of each run together, their purpose becomes more complicated, and as a result, more suspicious. Again, Akael was unsuited to query the issue further, could his fellows?

He did have one specific insight though.

“This War Leader is the problem, yes?” Akael asked uncomfortably, his voice cold and almost quiet.

“Why send the Mongoose to release another when the first could so easily slay the snake?” His analogy was strange, probably as a result of his time spent in the jungle, but he still made an obvious point. If the group was to be sent on a dangerous mission and would likely face up against this war leader anyway, why not have them assassinate the man outright rather than struggling to release another for the task?

"Maybe we cannot match him, but poison brings death to all equally."

Summary: Akael watches the others enter the room from one side of the table, after the briefing he questions why the group would be sent to rescue a man to kill the Warleader, when it would be of similar difficulty to just assassinating him outright if not harder and more complicated.

He also has private doubts about the Tengu's state of mind and the suitability of the group for any covert plan, but lacks the necessary understanding to solve the issues.

Nexus of Worlds- Darkness Rising- A Guild Tournament

You might be right, I wish I could have been there in the early days. Oh well.

Nexus of Worlds- Darkness Rising- A Guild Tournament

<Snipped quote by MelonHead>

Don't worry, it is your fault, since you set the precedent to doubt Skalla in the first place. You remain as the source of all arguments.

@GreivousKhan

I'm a cynic, I'm British and I'm a Uni student, I wouldn't be doing any of those things justice if I just accepted everything as a given.

Regardless, fair enough.

Nexus of Worlds- Darkness Rising- A Guild Tournament

Weird seeing an argument I haven't caused for once.

I see no issue with Yoshua's queries, I think the issue here is that there really is no decent distinction between what is statistically assured and what T1 is set in place to balance. If the point of T1 is that every action is completely equal, then how do the varying unique powers and the like interact? How does anyone decide how much damage anything should do? What statistics do we ignore when deciding how something works and what do we follow? Yoshua is right technically, there are so many scientific implausibilities in that power that its existence should really boost the tier of Khan's character beyond the majority of characters here, but T1 in theory balances it, at least it's supposed to. The thing is, if T1 makes everything balanced, why do character tiers exist? Surely every character is fundamentally the same then and therefore tier is unimportant, but as every imbalanced fight ever seen has shown, tiers are definitely required to keep a fight entertaining and competitive.

I kind of agree with Rilla in the sense that the more technical Arena fights get the less fun they are from an artistic perspective, but T1 is specifically designed for competition and yet really doesn't do a particularly good job of explaining much of anything at all. Do you just accept someone can do something everytime they do it, regardless of if it makes logical sense, just because T1 states all things are equal? It doesn't really allow for the natural imbalances, the strengths and weaknesses, that make any match-up fun.

I dunno, seems like someone needs to re-iterate what T1 means in regards to this forum, because it's unsatisfactory in many ways as it stands, at least for me. I'm growing tired of the current system, I can exploit it easily with really very minimal effort, I choose not to most of the time because I really do believe this should be about fun and interesting stories rather than just winning, but the tournaments are ultimately competitive, and they need a rule-set that everyone fully understands to stop these issues cropping up.

Storm of Blood

I can join, it's literally just if you need an additional Black Talon player.

NoW: LeeRoy vs. Melonhead Rnd 2.

There wasn’t a whole lot of obscuring scrub or foliage in the immediate vicinity of the strange lake, and what scrub that existed was obviously not the kind his enemy deemed it wise to utilize. He had instead opted to take the path across the sandy lake’s edge towards him, leaving him in pretty plain view as Metz watched his approach with tired eyes sitting just behind his triangle of circles. Shin had opted to come in from the right hand side, though Metz wasn’t overly surprised he hadn’t opted to use stealth. From what he had seen the man was little more than a beserker, and not even a particularly good one, if such a think existed. Metz looked on with disinterest as the man made steady progress towards him, noting with amusement that it was not unlike starting the fight again. The cyclical nature of it appealed to him in his state of melancholy, speaking somewhat of the futility of combat.

“Well, looks like he has a little fight left in him.” Metz muttered, judging him a good two hundred meters away at least. On a good day Metz could cover that distance in about twenty five seconds, so unless his enemy had recovered from his wounds he had little to fear for a while yet. He seemed to be walking a little precariously, so it seemed that the fight was really already over, though the weapon in his hands still posed a threat at range and he could well have been faking his wounds. Disdainfully perhaps he looked on, letting his enemy know he had spotted him and deemed him unworthy of even standing up in preparation. Metz would probably stand up with about one hundred feet separating them if nothing else changed, though it really depended on the severity of the situation.

NoW: LeeRoy vs. Melonhead Rnd 2.

Hmm, a different set of events than I imagined, but that's the arena for you I guess.

You know I do really like the why Matz uses magic, he actually uses Somatic components. An art I thought was dead in the arena when it comes to powers or magic. You have no idea how annoying I find the idea of people manipulating elements and powers with nothing but a thought or with their minds with no outward signs. Heck T1 even says you have to make it apparent your using an ability or prepping... >.>

Though he does weave precise hand gestures so fast it would make the hand signs in Naruto look like stop-action slow motion. :P

@GreivousKhan

It's worth pointing out that before mana became a precious resourse that drove Torm into hyper-drive it would have taken longer, he can essentially move thrice the speed he should be able to, and even a normal human can do some pretty wild gestures in a few seconds.

But yeah, I wanted to go back to that more obvious form of spellcasting with more limitations, mainly because I thought it would be better balanced for this tournament.