The Ella Chamber

[hoytti]

Sorish was on the defense the moment that the icicle thrower charged him with a hammer. Of course, attack the big guy with a big weapon, Sorish thought in irritation as he fully turned toward the man and braced himself with his shield in front of him. The giant hammer had great force behind it, but nothing his shield couldn't take even though it did feel like it had more force behind it then was expected.

Sorish then pushed the hammer up and swung his sword ready to slash anything that got in it's path as he was prepaired to slash a second time and whack his assailant with his shield on the the return swing. He also started to chant in his own language, "Water Bubble, may you come, I need you, oh Water Bubble." As he chanted his voice started to echo and a water bubble started to from behind him ready to be used. Perfect, Sorish thought as the bubble grew to two cubic meters. He then stopped his chant ready to use his next ability, something he should of done earlier. "Water shall dance and the rain shall fall," Sorish chanted as his bubble morphed into the shape of a small humanoid and dance around him.

Sorish was now protected from projectiles as well as fire for three seconds, but that wasn't the reason he did it, oh no, it was for the after effect. Once the bubble returned to just a bubble, it would rain, and his sea creature ability would kick in, any injury he received would heal at one mm per second as long as the rain fell. That was his intention.

[Dead & Walking]

Sand? Grond thought as the the rod turned to a sand spear. He then stopped his fake limp and pulled himself together. The cat was out of the bag when he dodged that attack. He now just needed to get closer. He walked forward at a normal human pace, his back still bent, prepared to grab that staff turned spear and throw it away so he could engage her in hand to hand combat. He couldn't wait to fight.

[Silence Sei]

Sei’s eyes followed Breaker and Sorish as they attacked one another, as well as other competitors. The action in the Ella Chamber was quite underwhelming. Between the shuffling zombie, Roht getting sick, and people trying to stop the action just to talk, there seemed to be very little going on. The crowd seemed to be getting impatient, several people moving onto other chambers while some even fell asleep watching the action.

“Let’s make things a little more interestin’, boss,” a voice came up from behind Sei. The mute did not have to turn around to recognize the thick southern drawl. The voice belonged to Oreo Jones, a member of the Ixian Knights Mercenary Team and known throughout Althanas as ‘The Heartbeat Kid’ due to his innate ability to hear heartbeats. Sei nodded casually as the man walked up beside him, withdrawing a pair of six shooters from beneath his dirty trenchcoat and aiming out the window.

Four shots were fired, two from each gun. One bullet aimed for the feet of Black Shadow, one just past Reine’s head, one between the legs of Baranabas Tourneymant, and a final one aimed just past Flint Slovik’s arm. None of these blows were going to hit their intended targets, but try to motivate them to stop standing around. “That oughta put some fuel in their tank,” Jones said with a smirk.

While normally nothing would be able to penetrate the shield, the Mystics under Sei’s command opened up a small enough hole to allow the projectiles to travel past, before quickly closing the barrier once more.

Sei nodded, locking his fingers together as he watched and awaited the results of Oreo Jones’ labors.

((No eliminations last night, but Oreo Jones, Ella Chamber’s Enforcer, has just fired upon Tourneymant, Reine, blackshadow and Warpath, in hopes to actually get them involved in the action))

[black shadow]

Black Shadow drew another arrow, only to have a bullet barely miss his foot. What?! He though to himself as he saw another bullet fly into the trees. He looked closely, seeing movement within, and readied an arrow. They want me to fight? Then so be it. He thought to himself as he aimed, and saw a woman. There you are. He thought as he released an arrow. Trying to hide... Well, not anymore.

[Tourneymant]

Barnabas jumped when the bullet passed between his leg. No one inside the arena has a gun, so where did that shot come from. He looked at the angle in which the bullet had entered the ground then followed what would have been it's path. So, they want me to fight. Fine but don't expect anything flashy. Barnabas then pulled one of his thirty knives he brought with him and threw it at the only other contender that wasn't in a fight, just as a bullet zipped past the man's arm. His aim dead set and the spin was perfect, however, It would hit the mans shoulder, not his heart, an attention grabber really, and the man wouldn't know who threw it.

(Well Warpath, I guess it's just you and me.)

[Breaker]

Josh ducked beneath the Coralian's attacks casually as line-dancing at a harvest festival. He flashed past the lanky swordsman, forearms vibrating as the sledgehammer scraped up and over the shield. But the Coralian's impossibly long reach served him well - the final stroke of his sinuous sword grazed Cronen's back just below the shoulder, drawing a seeping red line on his immaculate jacket.

He maintained his motion as he met the Mystic barrier. His right foot struck the energy wall and clung, enchantments woven deep into his metal boots coming to life. His abdominals and quadriceps burned with the effort, his shoulder stung where the Coralian blade drew first blood, but he ran up the inside of the dome like an insect trapped beneath an overturned bowl. The shield crackled and sparked with each gravity-defying step but held true as Breaker raced toward the sun.


The distinct pop of small arms rang across the clearing; four shots for four targets.


"Am'aleh drown me!" Jake Narmolanya cursed from his position between Stacia and Terech. "Master Bodorson, they're shooting into the arena!"

"Aye lad," the dwarf agreed, tapping his pipe and spilling ashes to the ground, "yeh've got the flyin' bullets yeh wanted." Terech waved the wooden pipe towards the Grandmaster's tower. "Never fret for Cronen though. They target only those who fail to compete." The dwarf clicked his teeth, seemingly lost in memories from days long past.

"Look!" Stacia exclaimed, removing a hand from her mouth to point at the tallest competitor. A sprite of pure water was dancing about the man like a guardian, its translucent form flashing in the warming sun. "It's so pretty..."

"It won't be for long," Jake muttered, watching the Coralian angrily, "Do you know how seldom Josh needs to hit someone twice?" The half elf crossed his arms, fighting the nagging feeling that someone inside the arena might make a better training partner for the Breaker than he.



Josh planted both feet on the inside of the dome and launched earthward. He activated another enchantment, flipping upright as the weight of each boot increased to a hundred pounds. Legs together, hammer gripped overhead in a streamlined position, he plummeted like a malicious meteorite.

At the last moment Breaker's right boot lashed out at the darkly dressed archer's skull. His left swung to destroy the water spirit as it waltzed around its summoner. And with both hands he brought the hammer down, a vicious blow meant to flatten the Coralian's crown and knock those long legs into the earth like nails.

Sei approved my use of the dome. Note to all participants: Regardless of the success of his attacks, Josh will be striking the ground weighing close to 500lbs with boots and weapons combined, which means a whole lot of kinetic energy. Feel free to express your characters noticing the impact, though I won't write it from his perspective until after Hoytti responds.

[hoytti]

Sorish dived out of the way of the hammer as it went through his dancing water spirit and slammed hard into the ground which shook the who arena and mad some pieces of rock hit Sorish in the back. If I hadn't gotten out of the way, I would have been dead, Sorish thought as rain began to fall and the spirit that had been smashed through reformed into a bubble. He then started to chant again. "Water gun, straight and true. Send him away, thank you." Suddenly the water shot forward straight for the man as he stood up from his attack. This attack could be held for six seconds and if it hit it felt like a ton of really strong punches hit him one after another. Sorish really hopped this would at least give him distance.

[Reine]

Frustration began to well inside her.

Watching the others fight and taking not a single part in it grated on her pride, and many other things. Seth had been explicit in remaining hidden if she could. He said to let them fight each other and step in only when a good opportunity arose, he said to hold back and fight the battles she had to and not willingly and unnecessarily throw herself into the fray just to get killed.

Yeah well, her mentor said a lot of things and Fae didn't necessarily listen to all of them.

She watched the 'fight', or whatever it was, between the giant and succubus whore from last night. The woman seemed quite confused and distraught over everything that was going on around her, not to mention her skin kept changing rapidly from tan, to pale to red and every shade in-between. In all honesty, she reminded her nothing of the woman she'd met last night, the woman she'd distracted quite easily and slipped these lovely reed bracelets right from her wrist, while batting her eyelashes and sliding her free hand up the side of her exposed leg.

Josh Cronen, on the other hand, seemed content to beat everything into a bloody pulp, like usual.

Yeah, I am so not jumping into the fray with him there!

That would lead her into an untimely grave.

However, as she watched, her fingers itching for the familiar feel of her spear Amalia, her legs feeling cramped from not being used, a new comer entered the arena. Like her, he was farther away from the main battle and all the others. Unlike her, he was naked from the waist up and had no hair on his freaking head. Plus, a full beard dominating the hard planes of his face, metal wrapped around arms as thick as her head and his neck—holy hell—it practically blended in with his shoulders it was so bloody thick. Fae didn't think she could wrap both of her hands around it and touch her finger tips together!

"If you get an opportunity to fight someone away from the main brawl, do it."

Her mentor had said that. The man was away from the main attraction and if she didn't start doing something soon she'd explode from inactivity and any other number of ridiculous things!

Rolling her shoulders, Faelynn reached behind her and wrapped her fingers around Amalia. She pulled the Delyn spear from it's sheath upon her back and twisted the rings in the centre of the enchanted weapon. Giving it a quick spin, she watched it unfold to it's full length at just over five feet. The weight a familiar feeling, comforting really. During her training with Oberon this spear had become a third hand, or more aptly, an extension of her hands.

Still keeping to the shadows, Fae slipped along the logs and the stumps, the grass and the splinters. Strangely, this close to Concordia, she could hear the birds and the cicadas louder than she could the grunts and screams of battle and the roar of the crowd.

Coming up along his flank, Faelynn paused.

"Never hesitate to stab someone in the back. This isn't some honour bound battle, Faelynn, it's The Cell. They won't think twice about doing it to you."

She grimaced.

While the thief understood Seth's words, doing it was something else entirely. And Jared was watching her somewhere in that crowd. But she couldn't get at the man's back anyway, he was too close to the wall. She'd have to settle for his side.

Don't get mad at me, Jared. She prayed in her head.

Keeping to that shifting shade, that wove and changed as the wind blew through the area, Fae found herself only feet away from Baldie. Taking a deep breath, she quietly stepped closer to him, her boots squashing the grass with barely a sound, or perhaps it was the sound of her steady breathing overriding anything else. As she got closer to him, the sound of gunfire cracked through the air and Faelynn felt her heart go up into her throat somewhere.

Someone in here had a gun?

Just as the thought passed through her mind, a whizzing went over her head, sound almost too close to her ears for comfort.

Dammit!

She hadn't seen any of the contestants fire it, perhaps someone from the outside? Mayhap they didn't like the idea of so many of the fighters just standing around doing nothing. Straightening from the shot, the thief noticed the archer wearing nothing but black having locked on to her position.

Ah, crap!

He loosed an arrow right at her. Ducking, Fae hear it whizz above her head and then slam into the barrier behind her, the wooden shaft shattering into a hundred splinters.

Hmm, anyone need a toothpick?

Realizing her stalking game had come to an end, and not with her reaching her intended target, Fae decided it was time to join the fight. She needed to get up close and person to the archer to destroy his advantage.

Kicking her speed into overdrive, the thief pushed off the soft earth and left the sanctuary of the shade. The sunlight blinded her for a moment, but her eyes quickly recovered as she spanned the distance between her and the man in black in less than five seconds. With her grip on Amalia firm, but her muscles relaxed, Fae pivoted on her left foot, then brought Amalia forward in a sweeping arch towards the archer's torso, the Delyn of the weapon glinting dully in the light of the sun. It was only at that moment she saw Josh Cronen lash out with a booted foot to the man's head.

[Breaker]

Stacia realized all eight of her fingers had hidden in her mouth as Josh struck at his prey like a diving eagle. She felt the impact from nearly fifty yards away, losing sight of her hero as shattered stone, wood, and earth exploded around him. She forced salty fingers to her waist and wiped them on her pleated skirts, peering into the dust cloud for any sign of Breaker.

"He missed!" Jake gasped, gripping her shoulder gently in surprise. "That big guy moves like a snake."

"See lad? Not half so bad as yeh thought, is it?" Terech mused, happily pinching tobacco from his pouch and re-packing his pipe. Although he feigned indifference, the dwarf watched the combat closely from the corners of wise eyes.

But Stacia was not enjoying herself. She noticed a thin trail of blood down Breaker's back as he straightened, and an instant later a river of water slammed into his chest.

She broke out of Jake's friendly grasp, lifting skirts and dashing toward Josh without thinking. That creature was hurting her teacher, her mentor, her friend, her... scarlet blossomed in her cheeks and behind her ears as she remembered all the things Josh had been to her, once upon a time. Mortification and pain fueled her wrath as her outstretched knuckles struck the unseen wall. Wringing her wrists, she screamed the first thing that came to mind at the coral-man.

"Leave him alone pole-legs, or I'll... I'll cut your throat and play cradle with your vocal chords!" Unused to threatening people, she didn't realize how childish it sounded 'till a harsh laugh struck her from behind. She whirled to find a fat Coronian man bearing down on her.

"Ol' musclebritches Breaker's as good as finished," he told her, alcoholic breath as offensive as his laugh. "Haven't yeh heard of the mighty Coralians?"

"Stay away from her, pigbelly." Jake's voice sliced between them sharp as a knife, followed by the half elf himself. The top of his dirty blond mop barely tickled the spectator's nose, but Jake confronted him toe-to-toe just the same.

"What'd you call our brother?" Growled a second man nearly identical to the first, who was backed by a broken-nosed third.

"Flaming Haidians on Harvest Day," Bodorson cursed, setting his pipe aside for later.




Josh left the hammer where it was embedded maul-first up to the leather grip. He'd barely considered the clouds gathering in the Ella Chamber before a torrent of water slammed into him. He threw an arm up to shield his nose and mouth. A puddle grew int the craters around his boots and swiftly rising, stirring muck around the hammer's handle. The water was frigid, unrelenting, forceful as a barrage of punches from a strong man. Breaker had only one experience in his lifetime that compared. It felt like...

Mmm, Raiaeran Massage. Josh pivoted carefully to avoid slipping in the squelching mud, letting the attack cleanse his wound and pound the tension from his shoulders. They'd ached from the impact of hammering earth so forcefully, but the torrent numbed the pain and reminded him of the hour he'd spent with the famous elven masseuse Telallase Surion*. She visited Radasanth to see clients every so many years, and had soothed his worries after his first loss in the Citadel.

Breaker reached up and drew his bastard sword, but numb fingers dropped it in the deluge. Water pressure swept the dehlar weapon out of the crater where it wound up lodged between two tree roots, blade pointed skyward and braced against the stump.

Never was one for swordplay...

Josh spread his arms and splayed his fingers, sensing the Coralian's presence, listening for life signs and movement, envisioning his adversary's position. With water splashing off his back and spraying over his arms, there was no need to waste time conjuring. The Coralian's strange incantation swam in his memory.

Water gun, straight and true. Send him away, thank you.

"No pal, thank you," he muttered through the falls on his face.

The droplets cascading from Cronen's fingertips froze into spikes, each the length and strength of a steel dirk. They darted behind him in patterned pairs. Josh had no need to see his target. He could smell the Coralian's position if he needed to. He had underestimated this enemy's finesse, but it would not happen again.

Two icy spikes flew under the stream of water that had sired them, aiming to pin those long feet to the ground beneath. The other four swooped around the current like angry bees that stabbed their stingers at the swordsman's thighs and sides.

As the frigid projectiles sought coral flesh Josh bent his knees and leaped, backflipping with a lazy twist that hauled his left boot through two hundred and seventy degrees on a collision course with the Coralian's lofty pate.

Josh exited the kick with a roll, winded by the cyper stumps that bruised his shoulders and hips as much as the chain of attacks. He ended up sprawled against the Mystic barrier, only then realizing his white gi was covered in mud. Rain fell within the arena, and clouds boiled as if beckoning a storm.

*Telallasse Surion translates loosely to Joyful Finish. Employed Josh's perception to detect hoytti's position.

[Roht Mirage]

Astarelle grimaced. The warrior of a doorman hadn't answered her. Am I supposed to ask the zombie? she fumed. The sliver of familiarity still taunted her like a gnat dancing before her eyes, gone the moment she tried to clap it between her hands.

With the sandy spear point still trained on the zombie, she turned to shoot the man one last spiteful look, and was struck dumb as literally as one could be without a blow to the head. This is insane, she analyzed hollowly as he ascended -no, ran- into the sky. At any other moment, she might have reasoned that, by his trajectory, the invisible cage was a dome, or that calling him a doorman was like confusing the sand-blasted harpy queen with sparrow. She didn't have time to dwell on either as her staff suddenly jumped out of her hands for a change.

She turned, her mouth just writhing with ready curses, but swallowed them all as a wave of undead stench hit her face. The zombie's eyes twitched in their decaying sockets, analyzing for a moment the weapon clutched awkwardly in its undead hands. The spear point had already begun to shrink back into the staff's core. Then, in a calculated gesture that made Astarelle shiver involuntarily, it tossed the staff aside and closed on her.

Astarelle took a frantic step back. “Even the zombies are surprising me today,” she almost cackled as she tried to shake off the chills running down her spine. Nothing could be so dead and so sentient at the same time. Yet, the zombie's manner was purely that of a warrior -a former warrior?- not the shambling, grasping caricatures of scary stories and Ai'Brone illusions.

The tattoos over her chest and right arm suddenly rippled and wilted, running down to her fingers like lights playing over still water. She raised her hand as the sand encased it in a blade no longer than the staff's temporary point, and she chopped at an approaching undead fist so forcefully that she spun. Then, she bolted along her new heading like death itself was on her heels, because it was.

Her sand returned to its tattoo state as, again, she veered toward her fallen staff, and again, she kicked it into the air. She was reaching for it when the ground shook with a blast that was far louder than any sound the giant could have made. The staff bounced off her fingers one, two, three times before she hugged it to her chest. You're not good with your hands, so learn to kick like a horse and hope they're behind you, came the whisper of an old memory. A real memory. Akashere had said it with good humor and more love than she had known at the time. Yet, without her lataro bracelets to aid her, it was the truth.

With most of her rage either scared away or shaken loose, she looked toward the source of the sound. The absolutely-not-a-doorman had his feet on the ground again... in a depression that he must have created. “This is nonsense,” Astarelle mouthed even before she realized that he was enjoying the torrent of water the giant was summoning. She laughed. It wasn't powerful or loud like the bizarre man's own, yet it took her by surprise and almost drew forth tears. Better him than me.

The darkening of the battlefield didn't break her from the precious moment of delight amid the chaos, nor did the unexplainable scent of a coming storm. It took a few raindrops on the head to do that, then the immediate burst of a downpour to wash the moment clear away. “You're joking,” she grumbled as her expression dropped. The entirety of her beautiful new tattoo tried to outrun the rain by rolling down her body and hiding within her skirt. It secreted itself just below her waist, clinging like a child during, naturally, a storm.

With her staff still clutched in both hands, she ran toward the impossible man in white.

Scared Fallien girl incoming with no tattoos and a sizable black eye now visible.