The Armonia Chamber

[Roht Mirage]

There was not enough power in her, even enthralled with her dehlar partner. Nor was there enough time, for the pulse in her head was growing stronger, heavier, threatening to shake her consciousness to pieces.

Don't touch her, Astarelle's fracturing mind cried as Crozius was swept from under her. The sand of her dagger, sacrificed to draw so little blood, hadn't returned to the hilt. Only a thin film of grit remained, tearing at her fingers instead of securing them.

As if it was a person -as if it was her abandoned temple-sister, left at home to assume all the duties of the runaway priestess- she hugged Crozius and felt for just a moment the warm skin and fluttering hair of awkward little Lisere. She had left behind so much responsibility for the poor girl to bear.

So Astarelle would bear her own, without complaint or regret, in an alien place to protect people she barely understood.

Sei Orlouge! she thought as loudly as she could, hoping to reach the fabled telepath, Clear your schedule. When this is over, we are going to have a talk.

Her mind reeled from the sending, spurring on the dizziness that seemed so much worse when she was prone. Yet, she found her feet, hoisted herself up on two legs of flesh and one of dehlar, and charged for Breaker in spite of the crashing tide. She left the ground through the force of Crozius' skyward sweep, but it was too steep, and gravity too strong. Even as she spun in the air, a fluttering brown leaf once more, she knew the wave would wash over her.

You danced beautifully, she bid adieu to her partner as her grip quaked, loosened, and broke. Crozius sliced through granite froth straight for where Breaker had perched so proudly, but Astarelle did not see the crescendo. Her body smeared across the blasted earth just in time for the wave to wash over. A thousand sharp weights pinned her. Air became a mass of dust, yearning to be solid once more and almost succeeding. In a thunderous rush almost as loud as her pounding heart, she was rolled, surrounded, and bur-

She did not utter her favorite curse. She did not even think it. She just chuckled against the granite debris that was her final breath.

How fitting.

Fin

[Breaker]

Crozius smacked into Cronen's palms as silt buried the Fallieni. Frenzied chanting from the stomping crowd washed over shifting sand. Splintered timber and blasted stone collapsed to entomb Astarelle. Disturbed dirt settled and rumbled, hungry and asking for more.

Breaker heard nothing but the sweet song the warhammer sang. It flowed through his veins like fine elven wine and smooth-burning dwarven tobacco. The weakness in his legs and the ache of his torso vanished behind a surge of strength. Godly power imbued the Breaker's body as he brandished Crozius high. Despite the coat of dust the dehlar weapon wore, its etched cross caught a ray of light. With this kind of strength he could conquer Corone and crush the Remis one by one. He could seek out Sha'keth and slit the assassin's throat using the Aleraran's own blade. He could rise above his Lady and walk amidst the Thayne, letting his hands shape the land. He could smash to the depths of Haide and free souls of friends and lovers lost. He could...

Let go.

Josh swung the maul down and struck the ground with all his magnified might. The dehlar weapon was buried to the cross in a wave of rippling earth. He'd released the handle in a moment of inspiration, clinging instead to a memory of a moment. When he'd stood on the ocean floor beneath crushing dark water and heard his Lady's promise. Crozius granted godlike strength, with it he wielded power untold. But the road to deification was straight and shortcuts were not for the bold.

"There is no path to Godliness," Cronen panted as he pushed up to his feet, translating an Akashiman proverb. "Godliness is the path." He touched the icy poultice that covered the wound on his chest and remembered how he'd stopped Astarelle's thrust from piercing his heart. He had flexed for her - just once. "Guess I owe Jensen twenty gold," he muttered as he pulled the kerchief down to his neck.

His words were swallowed by a unified chant from a crowd that boiled and cheered. Dust within the arena swirled and swayed as the Mystics lowered the shield. It split from the top amidst translucent sparks and folded downward to nothing. Onlookers moaned in despair or danced for joy as the winner walked out of the wreckage. Over shattered stone and spilled blood he tread past the bodies of Knights and their enemies. Mystics filled the field as he left, picking through the tower's remains.

Joshua Cronen's hazel eyes swept the flushed faces of the crowd. His torso still showed a winding road of purpling cable bruises. The icy crown atop his head reshaped to something of splendor, and people drew back as if true royalty walked among them.

The audience parted to make way for the Breaker and two familiar forms appeared. Bodorson sat with Jake's head in his lap, slapping the youth's pale cheek gently.

"Wake up skinnybritches, bloody well wake up!" Terech growled, shaking the half elf's lifeless shoulders.

"What happened?" Josh asked, kneeling at Jake's side. He glanced at the forms of two unconscious men, both wearing trickling head wounds.

"Poison," the dwarf replied, peeling back a hastily wrapped bit of green cotton. Jake's shoulder was swollen with pus, the skin around the cut blackened as if burned.

"Where's Stacia?" Cronen asked as he placed a palm on Jake's chest, feeling a faint rapid pulse. He recognized the bandage over the toxic wound as cloth torn from the Scaran's skirt.

"Bringing Orlouge and his healers at the double," Bodorson replied, feeling Jake's sweat-slicked brow. "He be burnin' like a forge fire, Breaker."

Josh removed his icy helm without feeling its misting chill. He nestled the crown around Jake's matted hair, letting it slow the boy's fever. Josh ran his fingers across Jake's face and neck, touching pressure points and stimulating veins. He could not draw poison from the youth's blood, but he could help his friend access some energy the toxin had blocked. As he pressed a soft nook behind one pointed ear, green eyes sprang open suddenly.

"Wench!" Jake cried as he came awake, breath catching and dragging in his throat. "Josh?" He coughed and rolled off Bodorson's legs, posting on his good arm. "It was the novice, Josh. Master Bodorson, the healer who..." Jake trailed off as the surge of adrenaline left him. He slumped in the grass, awake but stunned by the pain of his wound. "The louts," he uttered, "they were her partners." Bodorson helped the half elf drink some water from a skin.

Breaker frowned and grasped the nearest corpse-like man by the collar, dragging him closer. A nasty swelling covered a contusion on the man's temple. Josh had seen the wound before, on less-experienced fencers foolish enough to cross swords with Jacob's stick. He patted the overweight Coronian down, finding a small purse and a sheaf of paper in burlap pockets. He ignored the coin and unfolded the documents, whistling a low note as he scanned the contents.

"This is a wager slip from Piston's Pleasure Palace," he said as he read the finest print, "Six thousand gold on the Abomination to win. And this," he raised an eyebrow as he flattened the second parchment, "is a letter-of-rights from Sei, entitling the bearer to payment at any bank for services rendered." He dropped the documents on the concussed man's belly and lifted the lout's right hand. Long thick calluses different from his own lined the large man's palm. The type of wear gained from hours spent laboring with mortar and stone.

"Are those papers orders from the Remis?" Jake asked, choking on a mouthful of water. Bodorson tutted and capped the skin.

"Not quite," Josh chuckled and patted his friend's leg. "It seems our novice tried to hedge her bets with the help of these men."

"There were three," Jake said, gritting his teeth and working his shoulder, "the last one got away with the bald woman."

"They may have each wagered on a different contender," Josh mused, rubbing his chin. "Her healing felt different than the usual Ai'Brone way. She closed my wounds and replenished my muscles, but the Tap felt fainter as the fighting wore on..." he trailed off and snapped his fingers. "I thought it was just because she was new."

A pulse ran through the crowd that stood back a respectful distance, as if a smaller mystic wall had been erected to protect the three friends from the masses. Voices buzzed and heads turned as Sei Orlouge and his retinue approached.

Josh inhaled. He knew there would be questions to answer, criminals to track down, and the ceremony that concluded the Cell. But something else pulled him, a promise made to him, and he knew in his soul Jake would recover. His concerns about Ixian Castle's security melted as he stood and saw Sei striding through the parting crowd. In the Cell it was easy to feel alone. He had earned a place among the Knights, but a different kind of companionship called like a Siren's song.

"Jake," Breaker said, "I've asked too much of you today--" the youth cut him off with a pained chuckle.

"The ocean?" Jake coughed violently, but when he uncurled his abdomen he'd drawn a golden quill from his jacket pocket. "No worries Breaker, I've been saving my," he sighed sleepily, "strength."

An oaken doorway sprang into existence in the space left by the crowd. Cries of surprise and questions upon questions poured from gaping mouths.

"Be well," Josh said, turning the knob and looking back at his friends.

"We've got this bloody well under control lad," Bodorson replied sternly, "just don't be gone too long."

Cronen pushed open the door and stepped through the portal onto a sandy beach.

The cove encircled a glimmering bay of waves that swelled and waned. The sand shone like a bed of diamonds and tall trees swayed beyond. It was Jake's lucky spot where he often brought girls, his horseshoe shaped slice of paradise. But it emptied into the northern sea, and that was all that mattered.

Josh kicked off his boots like a kid during summer as the doorway vanished behind him. He strode barefoot through the surf, sand squelching between his toes. The chill of the ocean embraced his ankles and lapped up around his knees. He waded out 'till saline licked the pebbled skin of his granite stomach. A wave broke and two shimmering droplets splashed his lips.

Yes... he could taste her in the water.

Rather than recede the wave rose up and surrounded him in a cylinder of her scent. She appeared like home around the last bend in a long road wearily traveled. Her body took shape in shades of white and blue, water and refracted light. Shimmering strands of liquid hair flowed down an elegant neck. Eyes as soft as summer rain shone for him alone. Legs like rapids, lithe and long floated above the ocean's surface. Her raindrop toes dipped beneath and splashed the Breaker playfully.

"My Lady," he said, tone encrusted with awe.

"You may speak my name, Champion among men," she whispered like drizzle in the dark, "I see you still wear my token on your neck... but where fell your icy crown?"

"Did..." Josh clapped a hand to the poultice on his heart and found that it had melted. "Am'aleh... did you protect me from that stone?"

"The Mystic's shield allows nothing in and nothing out," she laughed like rain on the sea.

Breaker glowed in her presence but noted how she evaded the question. She was everything and nothing, and he could only wonder whether her hand had slipped the barrier. Love and serenity overflowed doubt and spilled it from his mind.

"After I triumphed in the Ella Chamber, you granted me a kiss." He reminded her. "Would that winning through Felicity and Armonia could bring the same reward." His nerves flared and fired with furious anticipation as she floated downward toward him. More of her merged with the water until breasts like swollen like storm clouds faced him.

"You may capture your kisses however you please," she said, eyebrows arching as rainbows behind falls.

Josh reached up and took her face in his hands, finding her solid and warm. He drew her down to his level and slipped a strand of glistening hair behind her sapphire ear. Gently he thumbed her eyes closed and pressed his lips to her lids, one and then the other.

The wave receded leaving the sandy cove bare, save for a pair of black boots.

Concluding post. Feel free to bunny my NPCs when you put a bow on it Sei.

[Silence Sei]

As Breaker stood amongst the contestants, the last of the Cell warriors. Sei began to glide down from his makeshift seat in the air. He could still smell the dust from the chaos as the barrier began to lower around what was left from the fight. Breaker instantly took off towards his friends, Sei calmly following behind him. He kept a safe distance from the group until Breaker said his farewells and left the area. It was only then that Sei walked over towards the ‘Breaker Group’.

“Ma-Master Orlouge…” The injured one, Jake spoke between labored breaths, “The Cult….the Remis…”

“Are already being taken care of, sir” Sei spoke calmly. The looks on the faces of the three friends of Joshua seemed to be skeptical at the mute’s response. Before he could elaborate, however, Andrew Octane appeared beside him, courtesy of the plant-like beast known as Misery.

“Sei,” The young man said, his hands tucked into his leather jacket as he looked upwards to his leader, “The spectators have been safely delivered back to their homes. Misery worked really hard during the last minutes to make sure they got to safety. Your doggy deserves a treat for his efforts.” Sei waved the youth off as if he were trying to swat away a bug. He smiled while looking towards the three.

“You will find that most of the crowd this round were filled with soldiers of the Ixian Knights, as well as the Mystic race. I had the Mystics build new barriers around any straggling innocents in the audience. The Remi’s would have found themselves with faces full of glass if they tried to attack them. Everybody else was well armed and prepared for what was to come.” A sly smirk crept across Sei’s features, as if he were simply showing off how smart he was.

“By the Thayne,” Bodorson spoke, his own mind wrapping around the intricacies of it all, “You knew they were going to do this the whole time. You planned for it!”

Sei nodded as he reached into his pocket, taking out a war fan and placing it over his face. He hated the smug look that graced his features when his plans had been realized, too late for anybody to do anything about it. “Correct, Lord Bodorson. I knew that if I kept advancing Draug during this tournament, I would lure in more and more cultists getting ready for some sort of surprise attack. You see, the Cult has launched too many surprise attacks against us, I felt it was time to give them a taste of their own medicine.”

As if on cue, there were screams from all around the group. The cult members that weren’t surrendering were being cut down without remorse by the Ixian Knights. The blood of Cassandra Remi’s fodder stained the castle grounds, staining the blades of Sei’s soldiers. Those that would hope to strike a blow against the Knights would find that the Mystic race would not sit on its laurels while it’s savior’s army fought on their behalf, often launching Mystic Protections, light and shadow magics, and (for those that had lost their Mystic powers, yet still learned other Non-Mystic magic) the fury of the elements.

“It will not be a permanent solution,” Sei noted, “but it will make sure that the Cult never attempts to come after us in our home again. I knew they could not resist the opportunity to send their ‘Champion’ out, and the more Generals I sent his way, the more they took the bait. They honestly thought I wouldn’t prepare for an imminent attack when the majority of my Generals may have been injured from the tournament? Cassandra Remi is a bigger fool than I had thought.”

“What of Jebb and the daughters?” Octane asked, his head turned more to the sounds of the chaos, “We’re just going to let them go?”

“Correct. We need survivors to tell Remi how the Cult failed her this day. Her rage will be so immense; she may eliminate many of her ‘children’ herself. Furthermore, we’re sending her an even greater message; we could have taken whatever left she held dear to her, but chose not to. We’re the bigger men in this war she is so set on waging against us. Breaker may have won the round…”

Octane finished for the mute, “But the true victor of the Cell was the Ixian Knights.”

[Silence Sei]

	Hysteria	Roht Mirage	Enigmatic Immortal	Breaker	Abomination	The Hound
Story	6	7	6	9	7	6
Setting	5	7	5	4	4	5
Pacing	5	7	5	8	5	6
Communication	7	8	6	6	7	5
Action	7	8	8	8	8	7
Persona	6	6	7	7	7	8
Mechanics	5	7	6	8	7	8
Clarity	6	7	8	6	7	5
Technique	5	6	6	7	6	7
Wildcard	0	7	0	6	5	5
Total	52/100	70/100	57/100	69/100	63/100	62/100

The Winner is Roht Mirage! Breaker wins Second Place, and Abomination squeezes by for Third!
Bullet point notes

• Hysteria
  
• 0 for missing your deadline in wildcard.
• Nothing about Talen really stood out this round, other than his being compelled to aide Astarelle. Though it was a cool angle, it was expected after the last round, leaving your story a bit dry.
• Your action and communication among your peers gave you a slightly higher score though, while it lasted. If you had not missed your deadline, you may have been in the top 3 this year.
  
  Roht Mirage
  
• The story of this girl dealing with who she truly is (or rather, could be) struck out to me. The appeal of Crozius’ power drawing her in made me actually wonder just how long it would be before it corrupted absolutely.
• I enjoyed how Asta managed to turn a foe into a friend rather quickly with Arden, and then attempt the same with Josh. Her frustration at Draug and Jensen really came through in your writing.
• While you used a few literary devices, very few struck out at me. I would leave some suggestions but I’m not a technique master myself.
  
  Enigmatic Immortal
  
• Also a 0 for missing your deadline.
• By taking Draug downstairs, you made this entire tournament a Jensen Vs Draug 1v1, and while it would make sense in the context of your character, I could also see Jensen asking for help from Talen, and maybe even Arden at this point.
• Your fight played out like an episode of Dragon Ball Z, complete with over-the-top attacks. I liked it.
  
  Breaker
  
• You’re elaborate rodeo opening, while cool, was rather impractical and took a couple of re-reads to truly understand the intricacies.
• While there was some okay non verbal communicating and dialogue in your posts, the star wars reference was really jarring and dragged me out of the experience. It was funny though.
• Once you lost your ropes, your clarity spiked up, and your actions, stealthy or otherwise, were quite a clever use of Josh’s abilities. Land Mine FTW!
  
  Abomination
• I couldn’t buy that Draug would just stop mid-fall by jamming his arm into the wall of the tower. If anything, he’d just be sliding at a slower rate, and more likely than not break/lose the arm in the process.
• Draug has a major character flaw in that he’s going to take a lot of work to actually evolve, though you have been making strides in this tournament to get him to that point.
• As with Jensen, your fight was good, if not a little over the top, and a couple of your attacks were questionable (The blood rain in particular had me debating whether or not to dock you for powergaming) Also, your ending was, quite honestly, not your best.
  
  The Hound
• As usual, you shine through with technique and mechanics, but your Clarity suffers for it. Particular during your Astarell Rescue scene. I’m still not entirely sure what happened there.
• Arden surprised me in changing his tune, and your ending was really good as well/
• Arden doesn’t really convey himself well to others, be it non-verbally or otherwise. It’s hard to get a read on the guy when he tends to be a blank slate of emotions.

There you have it Ladies and Gents, this Concludes this years Cell! Exp will be calculated shortly, but here are your prizes.

Roht Mirage Receives 5000 additional Exp on top of what she earned in the finals. She also receives a magical item of her choosing as Cell Champion.
Breaker Receives 2500 additional Exp, and a choice between a 75% off Bazaar Voucher, or a 250 PM Box
Abomination Receives 1500 additional Exp, and a choice between a 50% bazaar voucher, or a 200 PM box

Congratulations to the winners!

[Mordelain]

Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place have been awarded.

[Mordelain]

Roht Mirage receives 4250 experience.
Breaker receives 4000 experience.
Abomination receives 4000 experience.
Hysteria receives 850 experience.
The Hound receives 1275 experience.
Enigmatic Immortal receives 1275 experience.

Each participant receives 100 gold.

[Mordelain]

Experience and gold added.