[The Osiris Open] Round 1: Core Beast vs BlackandBlueEyes

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Opens 1st June 2016 at 12am EST.

Arena to follow!

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Pandora’s Citadel

Diary of Lufenia – 22nd May

In my travels, I have seen many wondrous sights and experienced many things. I have set foot in the crumbling stronghold of the Red Dragon clan, where a whole country united against the onslaught of the Castigar empire. I have sailed across the ship graveyard in the Dead Sea where Arius Mephisto’s fleeing generals met their watery ends and marvelled at the sheer, untameable force of the waves as they tore at the hull of a galleon belonging to the great ISOS himself.

This place, though, was perhaps the most breathtaking of them all.

It was known as Pandora’s Citadel, a relic from thousands of years ago, before the age of man. When I stepped through the dimensional tear, my foot touched down on a sodden surface. The toes of my shoes sent ripples across the surface of a thin layer of water that spanned the once dusty floor of this gladiatorial arena of the ancients. This magnificent building was roughly elliptical in shape, measuring by my estimation a hundred and eighty metres wide and a hundred and fifty six in diameter. I couldn’t help but marvel at the architecture as I stepped forth from the centre and cast my eyes around. The building stood on a base of two marble steps; above it there were three floors of arcades and even a fourth storey without arches but with small rectangular windows. There were eighty arches on every floor, divided by pillars with a half column of purest white.

I remember clearly, as I staggered around this untouched treasure from a forgotten age, seeing all the ancient architectural "orders" of some of the religions of Althanas, most of them in styles recognizable mainly by the columns employed. The order of the ground floor half columns was one I had never seen before - divided by flat composite lesenes in place of the half-columns of the lower arcades, with a rectangular window every second panel. A series of bronze shields was affixed all around the attic on the panels between the windows.

All around the sandy arena floor there was a wall called podium, about ten feet high, whose scanty remains did not allow for a precise reconstruction. During fights, I can imagine the arena covered with yellow sand taken from the surrounding hills.

Above this awe-inspiring structure was a cool, star struck night sky overlaid with a fluorescent, twisting green aurora ribbon that forked in streaks overhead. Gazing at its beauty was like peering into the void of the rift itself.

I will probably never see something as beautiful and untouched by human hands as this place again, but I am richer for the experience.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

By now, if you need me to explain to you why I would visit the famed Citadel in Radasanth, you're either new here or a fucking idiot.

It's a place where you fight. I like fighting.

I mean, it's good exercise, for starters. It also kills an afternoon if you're bored. It keeps your skills sharp and your wits sharper. It's a great way to meet people with similar interests in discovering ways to make others bleed and beg for mercy.

I love fighting, in fact. Especially when it's without consequence. Especially when you snap the other guy's neck while trying desperately to ignore the searing pain of a laceration across your chest from their weapon, only to have everything magically waved away by the wonderful Ai'Brone who populate the halls.

Sure, there have been a few times that I didn't walk through those giant imposing doors of my own free will: I've been made to fight to pay off debts, thrown into battle against far more powerful opponents as some sort of half-assed method to torture me for stupid shit I've done, I've even strapped on my gloves as dares and for losing stupid little bets.

But no matter what happens in my life, no matter who is chasing me down or what horrible situation I've managed to get myself into now, I always find myself back here in Radasanth, in front of the towering stone spires of the Citadel.

Several minutes later, after some quick discussions with the monks and assurances that I wouldn't cause any problems again (during my last visit, I unleashed an experimental plague on the poor sucker I was paired off with, and the monks had a hell of a time purging it from his system), I was shoved through a portal and transported to a freshly-created arena that would soon become a slaughtering ground.

The first thing I noted was that it made me miss the haunted carnival that served as my old Dajas Pagoda arena.

I stood on a damp floor, a thin layer of water soaking into my boots in the middle of what seemed like a very big worshipping area, or at the very least a very small coliseum. It wasn't quite a complete circle; I could see that the perimeter stretched out just a bit at the sides, making it more of an oval shape. Several floors of arcades, each supporting the other with dozens of arches, towered above me. I made note of twelve small staircases, wide enough for three or four people to climb at once, equal distance from one another around the entire building.

There weren't any torches to provide lighting for the upcoming battle. Instead, the green-hued ribbons of an aurora danced across the starlit night sky, casting everything below it in a magical viridian glow. They softly glinted off the polished head of my mace, the mythril of my face mask, and the bronze shields that lined the walls of the arena.

Yes, I thought to myself in the calm before the storm, this will do nicely.

I drew my weapon from my belt, resting its heavy weight in the palm of my left hand, and silently waited for my victim of the day to arrive.

[Core Beast]

Downfall made his way towards the arena at the request of the Blood Goddess, Balorious. It had been two years since the war at Eiskalt, and since then Downfall has done nothing but read every scroll and religious text he had collected before he burned the defiled church to the ground. He now knew that in order to appease Balorious, he had to fight and kill. And according to the texts, the best place to do that was at The Citadel in Corone. As he entered the citadel, everyone turned and stared at him. Downfall couldn’t blame them as he had not seen a single being as big as he was. His 20’ tall figure was also bulky. He had two giant wings on his back that did nothing to grant him flight, though he could use them to slow his decent. His head was large with no visible neck. Blue flames would show through his rocky skin every once in a while. He was an intimidating figure.

His intimidating appearance was good in a fight. But when it came to socializing, it caused trouble as was seen that day. As soon as Downfall walked through the door. Most of the people in the area ran. It took about an hour for Downfall to get directions to his fight, but he was finally able to after the workers calmed down. Room 522 was his destination. It was the 22nd room on the fifth floor. As soon as he found it, Downfall wasted not time to enter the battle field. His oversized frame just barely fit through the door.

As soon as he entered, steam could be heard as Downfall put his foot down in the into a giant puddle. By instinct, Downfall jumped back onto dry ground. Downfall looked into the room and noticed that the entire floor had a thin layer of water on it. The amount of water wasn’t enough to actually harm him, but it would be uncomfortable. With a sigh, he reentered the arena. Steam began to billow around him as he walked through the water that seemed to constantly return only to turn into steam upon touching him.
It took a bit of time to find his opponent. And once he did, he was disappointed. The woman before him looked even weaker then most humans did. She was extremely skinny and almost looked like she was malnourished. Add in the fact her skin looked lifeless and you got a recipe for a short fight.

Downfall took one more look at the girl before him before he took his whip off his belt and lit his body to the max. More steam surrounded him as his whip came to life. He cracked it once and said in demon, ”You who be my opponent. Stand fast and show me what you can do!”

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

"You got it, big guy," I said, my thin voice barely escaping the confines of my mythril mask.

I immediately whipped around and broke into a run at full speed away from the flaming giant. The fabric of my hood rippled with each step, threatening to fly off the top of my head. Each of my footfalls kicked up stale water as I drew closer to my goal--the staircases that lined the circular walls of the arena.

Now, let me make something perfectly clear here. I'm not running because I'm scared; I'm running because I'm not an idiot. Here I am, five feet seven inches of walking plant matter inside a wrap of flammable cloth and leather, and the monks of the Ai'Brone thought they'd have a little giggle amongst themselves by throwing me up against a two story tall and very angry-looking blue fire demon thing brandishing a flaming lash that looked long enough to swing around this entire arena.

No matter which way you look at it, with all I'm capable of doing, there's no way I'd survive ten seconds if I stood toe to... hoof or something against this creature.

From the moment it was dropped into the middle of the coliseum, steam erupting from its feet from where water touched blue tongues of flame, my mind went into overdrive, wondering how the hell I was going to beat this thing. I'd need to weaken it somehow--but, I could only breathe a cloud of poison as high as its chest, and I'm not sure how well my acid would do against its skin, since demon skin is generally tougher than regular flesh...

...I suppose I could fall into that dark place and use her magic...

...But I don't want to if I can help it. I don't like it. I don't like what it does to me. I feel like I lose a piece of myself every time I call upon the gifts she gave me. It's a sensation that's only gotten worse since the day she died in the Red Forest.

And so, the only option right now was to book it for a staircase and hide in it while I figured things out. Even in the soft glow of the aurora above, I could see that the ceiling in the was low, and there was no way for this thing to follow me in. Perhaps he could reach in and try and grab me, but I was confident that I could handle that, at the very least.

I just hoped that the monster wouldn't catch up to me before I reached safety.

[Core Beast]

Downfall watched as the little girl ran. He hated when they ran. It just made it harder to get their blood. But then he got another look at her and saw it wasn’t out of fear that she ran.

No, He thought as he looked at her, she has a plan. This angered Downfall, he was a balrog, one of the most powerful demons to ever walk the earth, and this girl didn’t fear him. I will show her that she should fear me. With that in mind he sent his whip at her. The loop that traveled down the whip would crack at the end and instill fear into her, and if it actually hit her, that would leave a burn and laceration on her that would make her fear him more, and maybe cripple her as a bonus. And as all warriors know, fear caused mistakes.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Blood and adrenaline pounded in my temples as I booked it across the arena as fast as I could, far away from the monstrous creature.

I didn't hear the heavy thudding of hoofsteps chasing after me; instead, I heard the heavy whoosh of his thick lash being drawn up and whipped through the air. Taking a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw a line of cerulean fire heading right for me at an incredible speed--

"--Shit!"

The air around me spiked in temperature as the demon's whip drew closer and closer. A sudden warmth grew in my chest, where I kept the crystallized manifestation of Pode's soul after I tore it from her dying body in the Red Forest. I grit my teeth and clenched my jaw as a wave of dark magic rippled through my body, a protective shield that would deflect the fiery attack. However, the monster struck with such force that a thunderous crack! sounded throughout the arena, echoing off the polished stonework of the coliseum, and I was thrown to the ground from the force of the clash.

I could hear the faint echoes of that bitch laughing in the back of my mind as her magic faded around me. I'd mentally curse her out, if it weren't for the fact that I was already preoccupied with getting back up on my feet and making it to the staircase.

My clothes were damp, my mace was heavy in my briar-knit hands, my mask was slightly askew, but my feet were swift and sure.

In seconds that seemed like minutes, I was able to make it to the staircase. I scrambled up them, and pressed my back up against the wall, the space narrow and safe from giant flaming beast creatures and their weapons.

Let's just hope that I can come up with a way to defeat the thing before it finds a way to reach me.

[Core Beast]

Downfall watched and seethed as she made it into the little are that was the stairs of the chosen battlefield.

Great, he thought as he looked at the offending piece of wall, now she is protected by that wall. He began to walk towards the hole she ran into and knelt down he looked inside and saw that she was just barely inside. He smirked before he pulled back, pulled in a breath and dropped on his hands as he released a 150^oF roar that would stay that temperature for three feet. The girl would defiantly have felt the heat of that one, if she hadn’t moved when he pulled his head back to breath in.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I watched from my perch as the demon stomped towards the opening of the stairwell, got down on all fours, and inhaled deeply. I didn't stick around for what came next.

I rounded the corner just as the beast exhaled. I was expecting a large blast of flame to fill the stairwell, bending against the stonework of the arena to reach me and roast me to ashes, but... That's not quite what happened. Instead of a brilliant flash of incinerating fire, all there was was a puny burst of blue flames and a wave of heat that barely made me break a sweat.

All this running, all this concern over fighting a twenty-foot monstrosity, and this was the best it could do?

A giggle caught in my throat. I cackled in the stairwell, and then burst out into a full fit of laughter.

"Is that the most you can do?"

Now that I knew that the demon's flames were weak, it was time to show him what a true monster could do. I pushed aside my feelings about tapping into a Forgotten One's magic, and fell into that dark place once more. Blood red color seeped into my arms as I silently mouthed the incantation. A thick, terrifying buzzing filled the air as a hundred direwasps emerged one by one from between the vines of my arms and took flight.

Swarm him. Sting him. Make him suffer.

[Skie and Avery]

Judgment: Osiris Open rubric

Combat

BlackandBlueEyes: 18/ 30

Core Beast: 11/30

You were both definitely hurt here by the fact that the fight didn’t progress very far. However, I saw more strategy and working with the environment from BlackandBlueEyes. Using the edges of the ruined tower to hide was a very good strategy and one that worked. Core Beast had a great idea to flush you out, but the execution fell flat by virtue of the low level of his abilities. Had he been a higher level with a more intense/reaching flame, that part of the fight would have gone very differently I feel. I had high hopes for the battle, because I feel that the two of you could have written something fun that would be a challenge for the both of you – Core Beast going against a cunning, powerful opponent and Madison fighting something that is physically just so much MORE. In the end, Madison carved out more points because it felt like Core Beast was a passive opponent, reacting to Madison and using abilities without much strategy.

Character


BlackandBlueEyes: 19/30

Core Beast: 18/30

You both did pretty well here with the short amount of time you had. I really loved seeing Madison’s disgust at losing herself to Podë coupled with her penchant for self-preservation. You edged out Core Beast by virtue of having a really solid grasp of your character and being able to express Madison’s love of the Citadel and discomfort at what she keeps inside.

Core Beast, I feel like as you work more with your character, you’ll do even better here and I think you have a great foundation. There were little clues you left that makes me think that with a longer thread you really would have hewn his character out and shone in this category. Two things that really stand out to me – you mentioned that he lacks the opportunity to socialize because of his monstrous form. I was surprised when I read that because I wouldn’t have expected a balrog to really want to make friends, ha ha. I feel like if you had explored more feelings of loneliness (or lack of said feelings, it might have only been mentioned to make light of how long it took him to find a fight) it would have given me a better idea of the character.

Secondly, I know that he’s there to appease Balorious but why does he even want to? Is he her servant, is there unflinching loyalty, does he delight in giving her blood or is it something that presses on him? BaBE didn’t seem to have much motivation either, aside from boredom and scratch-the-surface murder without repercussions villainy. I guess I would have liked to care about why the characters were there and at some level I feel like this might be a problem with fighting tournaments in general with our characters. Without a tournament woven into the character’s canon, it can sometimes feel like they’re there because, eh, why not?

I will say I did give points here to Core Beast for the simple tactics. While they didn’t help you in the Combat category, I felt like perhaps they did fall in line with a newly birthed monstrosity who only wished to spill blood above any other motivation.

Prose

BlackandBlueEyes: 22

Core Beast: 15

BaBE, your straightforward style works well with first person, and I couldn’t find fault with your grammar. I think that if you can mix in technique to really make the picture come alive and focus on immersion for the reader in the setting as much as you do with Madison’s internal world, you could very easily have this category on lock down.

Core Beast, I feel like you have a lot of work to put in here, but you’re on the right track. First of all, definitely watch your tenses. In your first post you mixed past tense, which you used almost exclusively with some instances of present tense: “Downfall has done nothing” instead of “Downfall had done nothing”. Some minor spelling errors as well, but nothing terribly glaring.

As far as technique goes, I’d like to see you paint more pictures rather than relying on grocery list writing. For instance, you told me that Downfall was intimidating because he was 20 feet tall. Instead, you could have written about how he had to squeeze through the halls of the Citadel, the flames of his body radiating heat and leaving sweltering, red faced patrons to scatter in front of him as he moved. When you tell me a character is scary, as a reader I’m just like, “Well okay” and move on, without really processing that information. But if you describe him to me in a way that feels ominous and after I’ve imagined your scene and I stop and think to myself, “Holy cow, this is a bad mama jama,” you’ve set the stage for me to be in awe and apprehension of what he’ll do next.

Wildcard


BlackandBlueEyes: 5
Core Beast : 6

I wish y’all had been able to finish this fight. It was a fun start. I like monsters, and I think the way the both of you portrayed the monstrous would have been a good contrast.

Final scores and rewards


BlackandBlueEyes: 64/100
Core Beast: 50/100

BlackandBlueEyes advances!

In accordance with Osiris Open rubric, both contestants receive rewards based on a score of 65. Core Beast's GP is forfeited to the tournament pot!

BlackandBlueEyes receives 3575 EXP and 52 GP!

Core Beast receives 650 EXP and forfeits 39 GP to the tournament pot!

Congratulations!