WATCHTOWER 16: Quick and Dirty

[Gullara]

[Training Grounds]

The elemental rapidly changes direction, but still manages to get clipped by the pilum. She staggers a bit, and loses some momentum, but finishes her charge. She slams both her palms into the shield. Water jets out from her hand and thrusts into him. It's a fair bit of force, but nothing a trained soldier like him shouldn't be able to handle if he's prepared.

[The Bushranger]

*BR's muse bludgeons himself across the head*

I leave it to you. I never got a shoping scene.

"Ok." Mia will agree. MDM the robot will follow behind.

We can assume they did their shopping offscreen then. And return!


[Training Grounds]

"Well then, pick up any weapon you like, and step into the ring," Wenomir says.

Shawna considers the selection of weapons, before selecting a two-bladed sword and, after testing its weight, nodding and stepping into the ring.

[Aric Kale]

Training Grounds

Here's something I had forgotten, luckily Marcus hadn't, Roman sandals have spikes that work like cleats. This allows him to gain greater purchase in the ground, however, while pushing against his own shield he won't be able to draw his gladius and get in an attack for this turn.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds]

Wenomir quirks his eyebrow at Shawna's choice of weapon, but says nothing. Instead, he grips the sword by the hilt with his right hand and right above the cross-guard with his left hand, then places it in front of him, diagonally to his body. Then, he waits.

[Front Gate]

A wounded person stumbles up to the gates of Watchtower. It appears to be a muscular humanoid covered in light brown bristle, with a flat snout, elongated tusks in the lower jaw and a pair of stiff, pointed ears - an orc, in short. He's wearing a dirty and bloodied sleevelss shirt and pants, as well as worn-out sandals. He appears to be bleeding from a found in his side. He knocks on the door.

[Gullara]

[Training Grounds]

The elemental keeps the torrent up for a moment longer, but it soon stops and she retreats backward. She seems somewhat... lessened after the attack. The turmoil inside of her has calmed except for a swirl originating in her belly. She's no less quick as she starts to circle around him, however.

[The Bushranger]

[Training Grounds]

Shawna lifts the weapon, seeming to almost be treating it as an extension of herself, its weight balanced in her hands as she steps forwards, raising one blade in a testing strike.

[Aric Kale]

Training Grounds ~ Marcus

Marcus does not press the attack, instead, joining the elemental in the circular Dance of the Duel. If she does not charge soon, the Roman will lunge forward and attempt to bash her with his shield; gladius ready to stab her stomach.
If she does attack he'll perform similarly, seeking to knock her back long enough to stab her with his gladius, aiming for her sides. In all he does, he uses his knowledge to strike nonvital areas.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds]

Shawna lifts the weapon, seeming to almost be treating it as an extension of herself, its weight balanced in her hands as she steps forwards, raising one blade in a testing strike.

Wenomir remains in place, waiting for Shawna to strike.

[The Bushranger]

[Training Grounds]

The technopaladin starts with a simple attack, feinting slightly with her left blade, then bringing the right up and around in a cautious attack.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds]

The technopaladin starts with a simple attack, feinting slightly with her left blade, then bringing the right up and around in a cautious attack.

Wenomir does nothing when Shawna's left blade moves. When she attacks with the right one, he raises his own sword, trying to push Shawna's blade forcefully aside and make a diagonal slash at her shoulder, stopping right above it should the attack go through.

[Gullara]

Training Grounds ~ Marcus

Marcus does not press the attack, instead, joining the elemental in the circular Dance of the Duel. If she does not charge soon, the Roman will lunge forward and attempt to bash her with his shield; gladius ready to stab her stomach.
If she does attack he'll perform similarly, seeking to knock her back long enough to stab her with his gladius, aiming for her sides. In all he does, he uses his knowledge to strike nonvital areas.

[Training Grounds ~ Marcus]

It seems that the elemental is the first to strike. She attempts to shoot forward toward his shield side, and then rapidly change direction to throw him off. She wasn't expecting for him to attack with the shield, however. She suffers the hit, and tries to back away, but not fast enough to avoid the strike entirely. She cries out in a very human sounding voice and staggers backward.

[Aric Kale]

Training Grounds ~ Marcus

Marcus has decided that he does not like magic, not in the slightest.
Anything that can produce such a creature so similar to a human, out of water, cannot possibly be condoned by the gods...
Needless to say, he is unnerved and hopes to end this duel soon. I commend you, maiden of the waves, but I must beg you to yield now or suffer the consequences!

[Gullara]

[Training Grounds ~ Marcus]

Te elemental hesitates for a moment, but then shake her head. "No, I need to test you." She says, although she was considering it. Meanwhile, the swirling water inside of her has built up enough strength again for her to mount a less obvious attack. She points at his feet and a short burst of pressurized water fies from her hand at his feet. It has enough force to knock ihs legs out from under him if he let it.

[Aric Kale]

Training Marcus

Haha, she was considering it, that's definitely good for-
Aaand water. Marcus lands face forward, on top of his shield, though he'll try to roll over and wave his sword threateningly...

[Gullara]

[Training Marcus]

The elemental lunges again, but she backs off again when he swings his sword at her. He'll have a moment to recover, as she doesn't seem to be able to throw another ranged attack.

[Aric Kale]

Training Marcus

He scrambles to his feet, grabbing his shield on the way up. Marcus then proceeds to throw his shield. It's a hasty action, so it shouldn't be too accurate, but the shield is also quite large.
Whether he hits or not, Marcus will still charge the elemental, slashing at her arms.

[Ashen Lilies]

[DC's Other Lab (though now i guess it's his main lab?)]

"Putting a personal bounty on each and every one of their heads isn't special treatment?" Says KR incredulously.
"Yeah, we step on slavers from time to time. We need to break in the new members somehow, and slavers are simple to crack. AMEN is not simple. Magtok is not simple. Did you see the kind of force Excelsior and Enshadu are sending against him? It's more than we have at the moment. And I'm willing to bet that Magtok is going to kick them the hell out of his cave, like he did when Reinholdt and his mecha-citadel tried to storm the place. And now you want to deliberately antagonize him and make him use every resource he has into crushing us, instead of letting us protect the world he keeps his stuff in. Why? Because he's kind of a ****? There is absolutely zero point to antagonize him when he's been fighting against every apocalypse as fervently as we have."

[KR and Wenomir's Room]

KR looks thoughtful for a moment.
"I guess... if you've never seen magic... I could show you some?"

[5a Violista]

Opening the Front Gate,

A man opens the front gate.

He, incidentally, has a head that's actually a wolf's head. His clothing aren't dirty or bloodied, like the orc's clothing.

As soon as he notices the man is bleeding, Conrack (who knows healing magic) crouches down to the orc's level. "Oh, my - what happened?" he asks.

You have to ask before you help. That's a basic rule of first aid.

[Morty]

[KR and Wenomir's Room]

Milena's eyes go wide. This is pretty much her dream come true.

"R-really? I'd love to!"

[Front Gate]

"...help. We need help," the orc says. "This is a fortress with warriors, yes? We need powerful warriors, or we'll be destroyed."

[Darkcomet]

[DC's Lab, No Longer Other]

"Out of pure self-interest. Fighting to stop apocalypses is no sign of anyone's value, it only means they like living. Whether he likes us or not, he likes living, so no matter what, he will continue to fight them as they come. This is practically guaranteed. Even beyond that, I specified that he was exempt from the bounty unless evidence was presented that the clone was involved in AMEN operations at the time it was captured or killed anyway. And then there's the fact that he tried to help Jezebel infiltrate our base. Why should we just ignore this? We can't just bend over and take it from him or anyone else. We have to put our foot down sometime, and it's well beyond time with him and AMEN. We already attacked them when they were getting too powerful before, when Gordon was still in charge, and Ilpholin has gone rogue. There's no reason not to try to stop them now." DC neglects to mention that the prior attacks involved the Empire's assistance, and its successors haven't been as eager to bomb AMEN.

"Just what do you want us to do? I somehow doubt you think 'nothing' is a serious option."

[Gullara]

[Training Marcus]

Oh dear. The elemental stumbles as the shield crashes into her raised arms. She barely has a moment to recover before instead of a shield, a sharp blade is hitting her arms. She cries out. "Stop stop, I yield!"

[5a Violista]

Front Gate

"Yes, it is," replies Conrack. He nods. There are warriors here, apparently.

"I'm going to heal you now so we can gather them," he says, as his hand starts glowing a light blue healing color. He moves it towards the Orc's wound in his side and holds it there for two seconds. It should heal up the wound so the bleeding stops - but not much more than that.

...

After that, for better or for worse, Conrack gets up in order to gather people together to help.

[Morty]

[Front Gate]

The orc looks startled and scared when Conrack starts doing magic, but manages to keep calm. He will wait until more members are assembled.

((Those who want in can post now.))

[Aric Kale]

Training Marcus

Marcus stops his attacks instantly, drying his blade before sheathing it. I accept your yield and I apologize for causing you injury... Marcus turns to Cessie, I believe I heard a commotion by the gate, Ma'am.

[Shadowcaller]

Training Marcus==>Front Gate

"Yes, follow me Marcus." The sorceress gestures him and the elemental to follow her. "You passed the test gallantly by the way, good job." She states as she walks to the front gate.

She wasn't sure what to do with the elemental now though, the applications for an actually sentient elemental were interesting.

[The Bushranger]

Wenomir does nothing when Shawna's left blade moves. When she attacks with the right one, he raises his own sword, trying to push Shawna's blade forcefully aside and make a diagonal slash at her shoulder, stopping right above it should the attack go through.

Shawna is pushed back by Wenomir's counter, nodding as she takes the swordsman's measure, stepping back just enough for balance before counter-counter attacking, spinning with one blade slashing low in the direction of his legs.

[Zefir]

*BR's muse bludgeons himself across the head*

We can assume they did their shopping offscreen then. And return!

And so they end up at Watchtower again, ready to go.

((Eh where did they want to go?))

[Morty]

[Training Grounds]

Wenomir brings his sword low, so it connects with the spinning blade. Then he steps back, swinging the blade upwards, trying to make the tip pass by Shawna's face, while increasing his distance to take advantage of his superior reach.

[Aric Kale]

Front Gate

Marcus follows her excitedly, Thank you m'lady. I applaud you for the choice of testing, for it was truly difficult. On the way out of the training grounds, Marcus makes sure to recover his shield and pila.

[The Bushranger]

And so they end up at Watchtower again, ready to go.

((Eh where did they want to go?))

((Well, I assumed they'd already done their shopping offscreen, if that's alright))

[Training Grounds]

Wenomir brings his sword low, so it connects with the spinning blade. Then he steps back, swinging the blade upwards, trying to make the tip pass by Shawna's face, while increasing his distance to take advantage of his superior reach.

Shawna doesn't flinch as the blade whistles close to her nose, allowing Wenomir to step back as she spins the double-ended blade in her hands and then steps back into closer range, seeking to get inside his reach as her hands flash out rapidly, right then left, blades almost singing in the air.