Challenge of the Ixian Captains - William versus Talen

[Revenant]

The crowd that had gathered in the viewing chamber outside of William’s chosen battle chamber was veritably buzzing with excitement and the Revenant approached. Today’s battle had proven more divisive than any of the other fights that William had conducted against the other members of the Ixian Knights’ squad Captains. The division wasn’t acidic in nature, surely none of the Ixian Knights were coming to blows over it, but its overwhelming presence was certainly almost palpable.

Not terribly surprising, William thought as he waved off the jeering taunts from the side opposing him. After all, it’s not every day that a demon fights a thirteen year old boy in the Citadel.

Not that Talen Shadowalker could be compared to the average thirteen year old boy. Not only was the youngest Ixian Captain an extremely skilled combatant and shadowmancer, there were also rumors flying around the Ixian Castle that he was actually older than he looked, his youthful appearance held in place by his magic. Why anyone would want to use magic to make themselves appear to be a child was beyond William. But then, why anyone would deal with magic in the first place was a mystery to the Revenant.

William didn’t really care for magic users of any sort.

Still, William’s prejudices aside, this battle was supposed to be more for the benefit of Ixian morale than for personal gratification. By drawing such a large crowd, even if they were incredibly divided, William had succeeded. Now it was just up to him to put on a good show.

Ignoring both the cheering and the jeering of the assembled crowd, William pushed his way into the battle chamber. There was a moment of pure, silent relief that William reveled in before the chamber’s magic formed his chosen arena around him. He looked around and chuckled darkly as the scenery materialized before his eyes. Taking Talen’s youthful nature into account, William had asked for the Ai’Bron monks who ran the Citadel to fashion the battlefield into a giant playground, though it was certainly the most sinister playground that William had ever seen. Coiled spring riding horses and frogs leered down upon him from high overhead, their gap toothed grins twisted into mocking pseudo-snarls. A grotesque wrought iron cage filled one corner of the gritty gray sand pit, curling like a grasping fist to form a macabre play cage. But the thing that filled William’s mind with the most savage pleasure was the youthful voices that filled the playground, warped by the towering toys until one wasn’t sure if the children were laughing or screaming.

Delighted at his own personal humor, William patiently dug his foot into the sand and waited for Talen to arrive.

[Hysteria]

“Its like one of my dreams.”

Talen climbed out from inside a giant jack-in-the-box using the spring as a ladder. The boy stepped up onto the top of the box and rested his hand against the giant twisted face of the jack. Talen's blue eyes look around at the nightmarish setting and a smile spread across his face.

“You spoil me William. Next you'll give me black candy. But I never go past first base on a date.”

The youth pulled off his cloak and threw it to the ground. The thick black wool made a dull thud as it hit the multicoloured floor. Talen was dressed in a black vest and simple black pants. At his waist were his two zodiac weapons, the Ophiuchus Blades, while strapped to his bare right arm was The Bright Spark, a simple contraption that could emit a spark. On his belt was a small leather pouch, a dagger and his white demon mask. From his pocket Talen pulled out a small silver cigarette case and popped it open. He pulled out the only cigarette and put it in his mouth, but didn't light it.

The boy pushed the case back into his pocket and placed a hand on his smaller Wakizashi and drew it slowly. Talen held the blade out so it caught the light and shone down into the Reverant's eyes. The boy had come for battle, and figured provoking William was the way to go.

“So you going to go all demon hide on me, or do I gotta smack you around a bit first?”

[Revenant]

The Revenant’s lips curled in a mocking sneer. He had fought more than one opponent who thought that mocking, self-assured words were the way to conduct a proper fight. He had to admit that what the young shadow mage lacked in size and stature, he more than made up for in attitude, standing with the likes of Jensen and Duffy in his level of bravado. It was one of the reasons, he supposed, that Sei’s prophetic tablet had chosen the man-boy to be an Ixian Captain. Still, many opponents, both far more capable and with far more attitude than Talen, had drawn blade and bow against the demonic warrior only to realize that their confidence meant nothing. Jensen, Duffy, and now Talen; all had stood before him with the same self-assuredness. Now it was Talen’s turn to learn what the rest had come to know, a fight with the demonic Captain of the Ixian Knights’ monster hunters was not something to take lightly.

Besides, William reflected, he had seen Talen in action on several occasions. While the shadow mage’s swords and shadow trickery had proven effective at those times, they were nothing when compared to the primal destructive power that William brought to the table. He could see the difference in power that lay between he and Talen and it looked like a vast, gaping chasm to the Revenant; a chasm that no amount of shadow trickery would be able to bridge.

At least he chooses to stand there and face the inevitable, William thought in the split second that it took to free his molten power from its resting place within him. Black veins of charred corruption spread swiftly to cover his body, cracking and rending apart to reveal the molten flesh and blood beneath. The transformation, as always, was a painful one, akin to having his entire body flash roasted in a giant oven, but the pain was something that William had come to enjoy. He sighed in twisted pleasure, flexed his power-swollen body, and ground the edges of his razor-sharp claws together with relish. If Talen mistakenly wanted to meet the demon face to face then it was a mistake William would be glad to correct.

Taking Talen’s invitation, William bolted forward, his thick, charred body moving far faster than any normal human could manage. He crossed the short distance in the blink of an eye, deftly dodging through the gaps in the coil of an oversized bobble-horse. A single hand lashed out idly against one of the thick coiled springs as he did so, eliciting a shower of brightly colored sparks in a blatant display of the effectiveness of his steely bone carapace. But instead of continuing through the playground toy William paused to settle on the other side of the spring, gripping the cold metal with the bone claws of his hands and feet like a deranged bird. Twin orbs of glowing light burned like stoked coals from beneath the shadowed hood of William’s heavy cloak, a predator sizing up its prey. The pause only lasted a moment, and then William was back on the move, uncoiling like a striking snake to propel his wicked claws towards his young opponent.

[Hysteria]

Talen lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. The air was filled with the smell of smoke and burning flesh as William transformed. The youth could feel his cigarette taking effect as his body was filled with the particular mix of chemicals. The cigarette was his trump card in fighting the demon, a tool to double his speed.

Dream landscapes of shadow and darkness haunted Talen's dreams. He had lived on the streets, fighting away rats the size of dogs intent on gnawing on his spleen for his first ten years of life. He had faced monsters, demons and gods in battle. There was little left to startle the youth, except what happened. The Revenant was faster than last time Talen had seen him fight, much faster. The youth pivoted as William seemed to appear next to him.

A heavy pit of fear appeared in Talen's stomach as he struggled to regain his composure. The youth's pale face was creased with worry for a second before breaking back into his casual grin. The fiery demon moved towards Talen as the youth brought his sword down between them in a broad sweep. The blade cut through the air leaving a swath of darkness in its wake. The youth spat out his used cigarette and jumped backwards. His free hand reached behind his back and grabbed the white mask from his belt and shoved it onto his face. His sword lifted towards the shadow illusion and a pool of energy appeared for a second at the tip of his blade before shooting forwards in a jet of flammable black liquid. Talen hoped that the sudden darkness would cause William to pause for long enough for the liquid to hit him and ignite on his skin.

The mask bonded to his face as he watched through the eye holes. With the mask Talen could feel his body becoming more anchored in the real world. The normal strain of maintaining his form lifted somewhat and the youth knew he'd need every bit of concentration to keep up with his opponent. While he hadn't matched William's speed, he was much closer now.

[Revenant]

Watching how his simple display of power caused such a change in Talen was a delight to the demonic warrior. Fear in the face of his prowess was more of an expectation than something that occasionally popped up. William found that even opponents who thought they knew what to expect in combat with him often found that their expectations weren't able to match the lethal reality of having the full brunt of the demon's molten wrath turned upon them.

Coming out of his leap, William landed heavily in the thick playground sand right in front of Talen, causing the dark grains to crunched under his bone carapace. He flexed the talons of his feet into the grit, enjoyed the feeling of added power he got from it. Throwing a claw out lazily, William swiped his razor sharp fingers at Talen's face in an opening assault. His eyes rolled casually from Talen as he did so, taking in the haunted background behind the two combatants and making it apparent that he wasn't putting all of his focus into the fight. Talen might have been a competent fighter but he hadn't yet done enough to cause William see him as much of a threat. Putting all of his demonically enhanced strength into every attack, he thought, would have just been overkill. Besides, he didn't want to end this affair too quickly. The cheering Knights in the viewing room outside would have been disappointed if that were the case.

Seeing that Talen hadn't added any more armor to his ensemble since their last mission together, William was fairly certain he knew how the young Captain planned to blunt the force of his razor sharp claws. As if on cue, a wall of shadows sprang up between the two combatants, blocking sight if not the actual attack. While the darkness might have been a deterrent to the shadowmancer's other opponents, William was not the sort of creature to be stopped by a curtain of nothingness. Allowing his lips to curl into a predatory smile, William stepped through the shadows, prepared for whatever counter-attack Talen had in store. The jet of oily liquid that he found hurtling towards him wasn't exactly a surprise, since William had seen Talen use it on more than one occasion, but neither was it something that he found himself in a position to avoid it.

Seeing that the liquid was extremely flammable, and seeing that William was a creature who's blood literally burned within him, it was no surprise when the Revenant found himself suddenly standing in the heart of a raging inferno. The fire grew as the last of the burning liquid splashed onto William, until there was nothing but fire where the Revenant had stood a moment before.

And then, emitting a low rumbling laugh that was as eerie as it was out of place given the circumstances, William emerged from the firestorm, grinning his broad, shark-like grin. He glanced over himself casually, shrugging his burning cloak into a smoldering pile in the dark sand.

"You're going to need a bit more if you want that trick to work on me," he said in a low, menacing tone.

[Hysteria]

The flaming Revenant drenched Talen's hopes. The youth had again underestimated how much stronger William was. He had expected his spell's effect to be weaker, but never completely useless. Through the white mask Talen's eyes narrowed. Furiously his mind worked to come up with another idea to try and combat his fellow Captian. As if on cue, a spark when off in his head.

“Oh I have more.” he responded, relaxing his posture, “Would you grant me time to do my own metamorphosis?”

The youth clicked his fingers and skin-tight shadows encased his entire body. The black Talen brought his sword in front of him and stood still. The light of the arena absorbed into the black surface as it stood like a obsidian monolith.

“It will take only a moment or two.” assured the youth.

Talen concentrated and prepared himself as second ticked by. The youth was perfectly still as he forced his demonic opponent to wait. As little as thirty seconds past and Talen was ready. High above the Revenant darkness appeared from nothing. The shape twisted and changed and formed into Talen. The youth had teleported from inside the cocoon illusion of himself and started his descent towards William. Meanwhile, the decoy shadow Talen's surface started to move, as if underneath it something writhed and changed.

Five metres above the Revenant Talen pointed his sword straight down. The youth even brought his feet up and grabbed it to steady the blade as he shot like and arrow towards his target. William had survived fire, so Talen was trying cold steel.

[Revenant]

A look of surprised disgust visibly rippled across William’s face, as if Talen had just offered him a plate of raw sewage. Had the boy honestly just gone about his leisurely casting in the middle of a battle as if William was obliged to stand there and bide his time? William had made it quite clear in his challenge that each Citadel match with the Ixian Captains was going to be a show for the morale of the organization as a whole, sure, but this was pushing the lines too far for his tastes. What little estimation that the boy shadow mage had had in his eyes had just been wiped away.

“Foolish child,” he snarled in a low enough tone that even the sound enhancing qualities of the chamber would fail to transmit it to the viewers outside. Not waiting for Talen to finish whatever conjuration that he had fallen into, clearly assuming the Revenant would just stand there like a docile servant instead of the living weapon that he had, William stepped forward and brought his a hand to his prey’s throat. That was how William saw Talen now, not as a peer or a respectable opponent, but as skittering cattle fattened for the slaughter.

Razor talons wrapped firmly around the boy’s throat leisurely, as if William was expecting Talen to come to his senses at any moment. When nothing happened he shrugged, gripped, and pulled if hand back with a twist. On any normal person the move would have alternately broken the victim’s neck and torn his throat out at the same time. But, William realized as the image of Talen dissolved into wispy shadows, this boy was not just an ordinary person.

“Damn,” he hissed, suddenly on alert. Using his magic as a distractionary tactic, the boy had managed to slip away from him. That was not good. William held a general disdain for magic users, saw their practice as cowardly and unfulfilling compared to physically tearing into warm flesh, but he couldn’t deny a properly trained and positioned mage’s effectiveness.

William’s eyes suddenly shot wide in surprise and he leapt forward. He had only head the faintest rustle of cloth above him but his finely tuned combat instincts had been enough to catapult him into motion without thought. Unfortunately, even his inhuman speed wasn’t enough to move the Revenant completely out of harm’s way. An icy touch met blisteringly hot skin as the edge of Talen’s blade kissed his back. Most of the attack was negated by the Revenant’s thick, charred hide, but the cold, biting line down his back told William that Talen had definitely drawn first blood.

Doubtless the young Captain had intended his bait and switch to be incapacitating, but William’s reaction made it clear that the wound merely brought a new fervor to the demonic warrior. A fresh wave of heat flared to life so strongly around William that it was almost tangible. Thick blood hissed and popped in the cool chamber air as it seeped from the gash in his back, the surge of molten power causing his blood to boil with renewed intensity. Snarling like an enraged beast, William decided that the time to casually toy with his opponent had passed and whirled on the shadowmancer. Spits of burning blood flew through the air, thrown from William by the force of his movement, and a tiny hint of hope in the back of William’s mind prayed that some of it splashed onto Talen, but far more menacing was the vicious backhand that the Revenant made. With bone carapace as strong as steel covering his arm from hand to elbow, and backed by the full brunt of William’s inhuman strength, the strike was vicious enough to shatter bone or dent steel, but it was being thrown blindly, using only Talen’s blade on his back to mark his target’s position.

[Hysteria]

Success was bitter sweet as Talen's blade cut into the Revenant's hide. The youth smiled, but the dream of victory was quickly crushed as the youth realised that not only was his blade barely entering the beast, but that he had no idea how to land properly. The boy twisted and tried to move his legs to the same side so to not cut himself on his own sword. He landed with his back to the Revenant slightly surprised that he hadn't gone face first into the ground. Suddenly he felt someply splash across his back and shoulder. The vest offered a little protection, but pain ripped through his shoulder as he felt the blood burn into his flesh.

Talen involuntarily arched his back in pain and forced himself to continue with the fight. The youth's eyes opened to just catch sight of the Revenant's wild swing. His blade lifted instinctively and caught the attack. The steel and bone struck each other but like a twig against the sea Talen's sword was pushed aside. The force snapped the blade backwards against the youth and it fell flat against his body. The gauntlet continued, lifting the youth off the ground and flinging him backwards.

The small form of the boy skipped across the sandpit in mini explosions of grit with each impact. The boy skidded to a halt with a final cloud of sand. His mind kicked into gear and he gingerly stood up and took stock of what had just happened. The youth got to his wobbly feet, his shoulder had turned into a dull ache compared to his chest. The boy held his arm across his torso protectively. One of his ribs had been broken, but all the youth knew was that it hurt a hell of a lot. The boy lifted his sword, determined to continue fighting.

“My... sword...”

Talen looked in horror at his sword, now sporting a large bend in the middle of the blade. The youth was simply shocked. The zodiac weapon had never let him down before, but even it couldn't stand up to a direct hit from William Arcus. The youth lowered his sword and let it fall to the sand.

“GO TALEN!”

The youth looked up to the crowed as they burst into cheers for the little warrior. The men of the Ixian Army knew the power of the Revenant, and the fact that Talen was still standing and had actually managed to draw first blood amazed the men. Talen's felt his pride swell as he lifted his hand to the Revenant and beckoned him to attack again. The little warrior was not quite done.

[Revenant]

Hurling Talen across the monstrous playground felt good. Not quite good enough to cover the ache from the slash in his back, but good nonetheless. Knowing that the slash would heal within a minute or two made him feel even better. Seeing that Talen was still alive brought a frown to his face, but he supposed that dropping the boy Captain in one attack had been an unrealistic goal. At least he had damaged the sword which had cut him, which had to stand for something.

“Talen! Talen!” the crowd roared.

William’s eyes flickered from Talen to the crowd above. He was honestly surprised that the Ai’Bron monks had shown the watching crowd to the combatants. It had been his request that the viewing stands be left obscured by the Citadel’s magic, but he had also requested that they even up the fight as much as possible. He guessed that since Talen was little match for William in a standup fight, especially with his sword in its current condition, that the monks must have realized Talen would need a shot of confidence to keep him going. The eerie whisper of voices had vanished as a cascade of cheering voices drowned them out, Talen’s courage rose enough for him to remain defiant, and thus the game went on.

If Talen wanted to continue the fight, to test the limits of his newfound courage, then who was he to deny the boy?

Sand crunched under William’s bone-covered feet as he eagerly stalked forward, kicking up a plume of dust and ash when he trampled heedlessly over the spot where he had dropped his smoldering cloak. A light clicking surrounded William’s hands as they clenched and unclenched spasmodically, though it was drowned out by the cheering crowd. It was as if William could already feel Talen’s flesh parting under his touch.

The dour look on William’s face twisted into another of his vicious smiles. And then, as if he were the waters of a flood bursting from a dam, William charged forward. He had no words for his opponent, being too far lost in the red tide of his rage for petty insults or witty quips. Sparks flew as William absentmindedly lashed out at one of the steel-coiled play toys that he passed. He was enjoying this, he realized. There was nothing left in William’s mind save the sheer joy of battle.

[Hysteria]

The little warrior's hand went limp and pointed to the ground. From the boy's pale fingertips spewed dark energy. The black shadowing substance seemed to just drip from the boy to be absorbed by the sand at his feet. Through the slits in his mask the youth's eyelids drooped slightly as he fought to keep himself going. Already his breathing had become laboured, as he battled not only the Revenant by his own body.

There were seconds to spare as the Revenant came towards Talen. The youth just prayed that he could keep standing long enough to pool enough energy. His mind suudenly swooned and his balance was gone for a second. The youth stepped back slightly to steady himself and cursed as pain clenched his chest. Coughing wracked through him and his hand came up and pulled back his mask as blood spilled from his mouth and down his chin. Despite the pain, as the coughs stopped Talen lifted his head and smiled at William.

“Shazam!”

The darkness in front of Talen exploded upwards in a shower of sand. Talen shielded his eyes as the rows of black metal rods exploded upwards. The cascade of rising metal poles continued as it expanded out around the demon. More bars burst from the ground, forming a criss-cross of the bars to finished off the metal cage. Talen hoped that the cage was fast enough to catch the beast. From the starting point in front of him, there was a chance that someone could go wrong. The youth lowered his hand from in front of his eyes and hoped he had done it.

[Revenant]

Dark shafts, like bars of solid night, surrounded William, fully enclosing the burning warrior in a cage of black. The speed and precision with which Talen caught William was such that the Revenant couldn’t stop himself before he slammed bodily into the trap. Inhuman speed translated to inhuman force as all of William’s momentum turned back on him. It was as if the demon had been turned into a bouncing stone, ricocheting back, forth, and side to side within the tiny enclosure. Thick demonic hide could prevent damage from cuts and slashes, but it did little to reduce the pain William felt as his body was slammed into the shadowy bars again and again.

Everyone in the Ixian crowd was on their feet in an instant, howling with delight and amazement at Talen’s masterful defense. Even the cool grey sand of the twisted playground whirled around the cage of shadows on a soft breeze, as if the arena itself watched the duel in breathy anticipation. Fans of the monster hunting Captain and shell-shocked gamblers shook their heads in disbelief, praying to whatever patron power they worshipped that William wouldn’t be taken out of the fight so easily. But though he had taken quite a bit of abuse from bouncing around Talen’s cage, William stood resolutely as if he were answering everyone’s prayers himself. His feet were still under him and his claws were still eager for blood.

“You think,” he panted, pain evident in his voice, “that this parlor trick will stop me?” A fresh wave of murderous madness shone in William’s glowing eyes and he rushed forward to the front of the cage. He knew that Talen, while close, was out of reach of his snatching talons, and he didn’t want to give the young man the satisfaction of seeing him claw feebly at the air as if he were a circus animal playing for the amusement of the crowd. He thought of what it would take to just ram through the bars; after all he had done the same thing before when his rage had overwhelmed him in less sane days. But just as quickly as the thought came it was dismissed. Doing something so foolish would be like offering Talen victory on a silver platter while making himself look like an idiot at the same.

Knowing that there was only one thing to do, though it would leave him in a much less defensible position than he was in even in his caged state, William gripped the dark bars of his prison, roared like the enraged beast that he was, and heaved against them with all of the inhuman force that he could muster. The heat billowing off him in his state made it seem like Talen had caged a bonfire rather than a warrior, but it was worth it. Slowly, ever so slowly, the conjured metal bars began to bend back and give way to William’s strength.

[Hysteria]

Its over.

The words, bitter syllables, rolled across Talen's mind. The youth's blue eyes were tainted by disappointment as they looked at the raging inferno that was William Arcus. The metal bars were no match for the rage of the Revenant, and apparently neither was Talen. The youth had entered the fight on the premise that he was a match for the flaming demon, but his hope had been crushed quickly. As far as Talen had developed, William had done so just as much, or even more.

The youth grunted in pain as he turned from the sight of the burning warrior escaping from his metal cage. Talen walked slowly across the sand, trying to keep his dignity while inside he could feel his body screaming in pain. For the youth that had been accepted into the Ixian Knights from a life on the streets, Talen saw his image as core to his being. While it was true he played the vagabond often, he felt his essence was higher, that he was at his core; accepted. The fight highlighted that he was still the weakest of the Captains and destined to walk behind his comrades in the shadows.

“I don't think anything William. I accept defeat.”

The words were clear but soft as the youth walked past the cage and to the door of the chamber. Talen's eyes were focused on the ground as he walked. The sand of the twisted play pit spread aside with each step, as easily as how Talen saw himself swept aside by William. In his wake flecks of blood painted the sand, but Talen didn't take notice. With his back to his opponent, the youth casually lifted his hand in a half-hearted goodbye to the Revenant before opening the door and stepping through.

[Revenant]

A serene silence wafted the haunting playground upon which William now stood alone. With no enemy left to oppose the Revenant, William’s command to make the Ixian spectators unseen and unheard to the chamber’s occupants once again reasserted itself. Raucous cheers and curses faded on the breeze just as the ghostly chorus of spectators faded eerily from sight. Even the soft wind rolling through the chamber’s ashen sand faded into solemn nothingness. The battle between the two Ixian Captains ended not with a roar but with a stern silence.

“Huh,” William grunted, too surprised to form any other assessment. There had been no doubt in the Revenant’s mind that he would defeat the young Captain, but this – this was something entirely unexpected. Confused and battered, William lashed out against the twisted bars of shadow-stuff in which he had been momentarily enclosed.

Even the hollow ring of the dark steely bars on his bone sounded mute and depressed as the cage’s solidity faded back into the aether without Talen’s power to support its existence. The rage within William’s breast - the pure swell of emotion that drove him to murderous frenzy - flared once, bright as the sun, and then died into a heap of smoldering embers in the dark recesses of his mind.

Where was the joy in this combat, he pondered, letting his demonic façade fall away, reassuming the mantle of humanity that he most frequently wore. A flippant, unthinking gesture caused a bright door, wide yawning, to open in the space next to him, a way out of the magically deadened battle chamber.

I may be victorious, he thought as he stepped back into reality, but I certainly didn’t win.

[Yari Rafanas]

Challenge of the Ixian Captains - William versus Talen

Hysteria vs. Revenant

Story: 6 : 6.5
Rev scored higher in this category by consistantly reminding the reader that his goal was to raise the morale of the Ixian Knights by staging these fights between the captains and delivering this seamlessly through the action. I think Talen could take a few notes here on working the story into the battle. Despite making a couple mentions to his past and his motivations, it was nothing more than a glimpse and I didn't feel they fit with the theme of the fight.

Continuity: 6 : 5.5
Both players were consistent here, but unfortunately I had to bring you down just a notch here, Rev. You write William as having this burning rage, and at times it really seems fluid and his personality heated, but I got the sensation that you were bouncing back from pure rage to a more calculated approach between posts. When the battle only happened over a few short minutes, this really kind of killed the flow of your character for me.

Setting: 6 : 7
Ambitious arena setup, I'll give you that. However, most of the interesting elements were ignored by Hysteria for most of the thread. Rev kept reminding me of the noises and sadistic laughter of the ghost children, but other than kick up a little sand here and there I didn't really see the effects of the out of place battleground. Both of you had good descriptions of a couple of the set pieces though, just use them next time!

Creativity: 6 : 7.5
Here you can see two different approaches to combat flare in a thread. One one end with Hysteria, you can see that there is a lot of creativity and imagination in his attacks. From the diversion of his shadow self to the sweet cage at the end, it is clear you have a great knack for keeping things interesting. Sadly, your descriptions of these attacks fall short of selling me on just how magnificent of a spectacle they can be. On the other hand, Rev's attacks are standard and brutish in nature, but his knack for selling them to me through his writing made them much more interesting to read.

Character: 4 : 5
This was my first read involving Talen, and I am a bit upset this is how I have been introduced to the character. I don't get why he was snarky at the beginning, but then just up and quit at the end, despite the cheers of the other Ixians. Rev did a little better here, but as I mentioned before, you keep telling me you are lost in the joy of battle and the rage that consumed him, but there are inconsistencies and it seems is nothing more for me past the rage.

Interaction: 5 : 5
Nothing really stood out here.

Strategy: 7 : 7
You two tied here for different reasons. Talen had a great approach to the combat, while Rev's specific queues and reminders of several recurring themes through his posts seemed very well-thought out.

Clarity: 4 : 4
I was able to read and picture what both of you were doing throughout most of the fight, but I was really confused at the beginning of the fight. Talen climbed a Jack in the box, using the coil as a ladder, and it wasn't clear to me how the both of them ended up off the box and into the sand fighting. The fact that it was right off the bat and seemed to set the tone for ignoring the setting made me bring both of you down here.

Mechanics: 7 : 9
Only a few mistakes from Rev. Talen, errors like this “Suddenly he felt someply splash across his back and shoulder.” when you have such a great string of alliteration there really throws me off.

Wildcard: 4 : 4
A rather anti-climatic end. Kudos on no powergaming, but Rev you may want to link to the correct profile for your character somewhere. I had to manually search for your level 7 update to make sure that surviving an inferno like that was within your approved limits.

Totals:
Hysteria's 55 vs Revenant's 60.5

Revenant wins!

EXP and Gold:
Revenant gains 820 EXP and 250 Gold
Hysteria gains 250 EXP and 125 Gold

[Breaker]

Rewards added.