Osiris Open 2017 Round 1: JDD2035 vs Duffy

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

"The palace Pandemonium had architecture like no other. The reigning monarch some three centuries earlier had shipped in an architect from an overseas district. She knew his ideas, although perhaps common where he came from, would be sufficiently exotic in her kingdom to inspire awe in the populous. And so instead of the peaks in the roof, she had gold domed towers instead. She had an open porch at the front held up with most ostentatiously detailed pillars, painted in brilliant white. Inside there were no doors on the ground floor, only arches. The flagstone floor had been shipped in also and was made with a stone of soft blue hues that had never before been seen in the district. After completion it's designer had been executed to ensure he could never make a replica. It was then that the halls of Pandemonium became possessed. A trail of blood appearead throughout the great corridors. With each passing moment it grew thicker, and a phantom of the great palace's architect drifted through the halls, paling her skin to a translucent white. With each tick of the clock she wanted the king's heart to stop, just stop, to watch his eyes become glossy and vacant. The blood of his last victim had begun to dry, more brownish than scarlet. She was no longer human. Every choice had lead her here, to the side of the demons."

Brotherhood report #014

[jdd2035]

Captain Cain Jodin had fought several power houses over his several visits to the Citadel. He had fought a thunderstorm in a bottle about a year prior, he had before that fought a shape shifting naturally armored half giant and several other combatants. With the kind of opulence that this particular setting was Cain had a feeling that his opponent would be and incredibly talented individual.

Cain had entered the arena setting equipped with his pistols, saber, sea coat and his lucky tricorn hat. He passed along the blue floor and vaulted ceilings. His hessian boots lightly clicked along the flagstone floors and echoed along the multiple corridors. Once he found a spot at the end of one of his corridors looking down towards the central chamber. There he checked his equipment his charges were dry in his pistols, and the caps were fresh. His saber had been sharpened and double stropped to the point where one could actually shave with it. Finally his number one sea coat was in fantastic shape and brushed cleaned.

Now was the waiting game, he would learn how much power his opponent had within him during the fight it self. Now it would be only a matter of time before the the beautiful blue flagstones would be a blotted mess of brown and crimson.

Cain smiled with excitement.

[Duffy]

“Really?” Duffy rested his hands on his hips.

The palace before him rang with the sound of silence. Its beauty slain by the whispers of phantasms and tainted with the memories of people dying for their art.

“He’s certainly got a flare for the dramatic.”

The red headed bard removed his hood, unclipped his cloak and let it drop to the ground. Beneath, he wore a simple white shirt, woollen waistcoat laced with gold thread in patterns of ivy and madrigals, and a wicked grin. A sword hung on his hip, boots fell apart about his sweating feet, and a pair of muddied shorts told tall tales of a journey best forgotten.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. I just expected a sand circle or a field, something conventional.” He looked across his shoulder to his sister, waiting in the wings, and tried to appear confident.

“Shinsou is anything but.” Lilith had the small misfortune of meeting their illustrious host over one too many drinks in a tavern she’d rather forget. Whilst they had seen eye to eye, she did not quite trust him. “He seemed a little too keen to have one of us participate in this ‘grand adventure’.”

Duffy had volunteered before the assassin had truly explained the nature of the tournament. Fresh out of hell, or wherever he had been since his death, he wanted to prove himself to his siblings, to see forgiveness for leaving them to fend for themselves. Of the three, only Lilith seemed to understand.

“I will wait here, I’ve seen you die enough times to know it’s not a pleasant or glamorous experience.” She stooped to pick up his cloak and bundled it through the strap of her satchel.

“Your vote of confidence inspires me,” he stuck out his tongue.

Ready, he trundled over the gravel lane that lead to the palace’s decadent entrance and took deep breaths to measure the air. It smelt like iron. When he reached the top of the cracked flagstones and stood beneath the grand archway leading inside, he turned to wave and bowed politely. Before Lilith could wave in rely, he was gone.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she grumbled. She plonked her backside on a rock, and fetched two needles and a spool of wool from her satchel to pass the time.

With tentative steps, each footfall echoing through the dim corridors of ochre and turquoise, Duffy continued inwards into the palladium. Doorless archways lead him through abandoned halls and dusty ante chambers. In another life, he might have ruminated on the people who might have lived her. He might have wondered about the mindset of a king or queen or tyrant that thought it necessary to hide one’s insecurities behind buttresses and battlements. Now blissfully aware of his mortality, one, presiding, stinging thought occupied his mind: his opponent.

“And so young bard boy entered hell, and with it his own nightmares,” he began to sing. “Sword by side, with beer soaked hide, he heard the first bell ring-a-ding!” The ditty bounced through the palace, declaring him arrived and all too eager to do away with a game of cat and mouse. He stopped at the centre of a courtyard, atop the roots of a long dead tree and midst sun bolt he kept ears, eyes, and soul firmly pricked for signs of his opponent.

[jdd2035]

Cain heard the singing through the ringing in his ears as it echoed through the chambers of this palace. Now Cain did have a powerful sense of fair play and thought that if circumstances were different he could challenge his foe to a singing contest like halflings did from time to time...or was that riddles? Unfortunately circumstances were not different this was a fighting tournament and so he closed in on his opponent crossing over towards the central chamber.

Upon seeing his opponent Cain in his most genteel fashion gave a salute and stated "I am Captain Cain Jodin. It's a pleasure to meet you. Fill your hands." The in one smooth, fluid motion his hand came up along his thigh his middle, ring and pinky finger curling around the pommel of his cap lock pistol lifting it out of the holster; while at the same time his thumb rolled the the hammer back into its armed position and his pointer finger wrapped around the trigger. The instant and it wasn't even a tenth of a second that the barrel was leveled at his opponent the pistol went off sending an iron ball three tenths of an inch in size flying at eleven hundred feet per second.

In the twinkling of an eye a second shot rang out from his second pistol. Cain then darted away into a near by corridor.

[Duffy]

The bullet entered Duffy’s body above the clavicle. For a brief, scintillating moment, Duffy remembered what it felt like to be alive. Then, as elation came crashing down in a humbling torrent, pain washed over him.

“Shitting hell!”

He dropped to one knee, nausea obliterating his focus and stealing his words. The palace rocked and went to and fro in his field of vision, mimicking the tearing of muscle and the scraping of bone as the iron pellet embedded itself. Deep. Unforgettable. Reminiscent.

“I’ll fill my hands with naught but words!”

Undeterred, he changed the pace of his spell song. Rumbustious, folk lined lyrics emerged as pain ignited his determination. He clenched both fists, and drove them into the floor. He rose, eyes aflame, nerves tingling.

“For I am bound to sing a song. I’ll incite hatred, love, and war with verse and a lyric long.”

About his feet, flickers of fire emerged from the ether. Ruby, in her scarlet glory appeared in his image, guiding him and offering aid despite her continued fury and rage at his revival.

“Cut me with your blade, fell me with your bow, each time I am wounded, I will let you know.”

Each line ended in a deep baritone grumble. The second shot skimmed past his ear, a cliched follow through on a very real threat.

“I fight with memories not lies, and ignite the hearts of men, I stand before you as a ghost, as a theatrical friend.”

Raising his arms up, the embers turned into gushing spirals, smothering the bard in the warmth of siblings and secrets. They lashed against the oozing wound, searing flesh closed and re-affirming his stubborn, bastard nature.

“Run and hide, you can’t deny!” He levitated briefly, as the phoenix’s embrace turned a mortal wound into a battle scar, knitting flesh with heat from the heart of a sun and buying the bard vital time. He landed upright, arms dropped to his side, and a swirl of blue ribbons dancing about his hands.

“This is. My battle. Song.”

The last note followed the pirate through the corridors of the palace, threatening to smash the tiles and topple columns in a cavalcade of rebellion. He rolled his shoulder slowly, testing it. Whilst it still twanged, the scar told him he was not going to bleed out before he got so much as to swing a dagger in earnest. He bounced from boot to boot to limber up, and with the warmth of the Aria still in his bones, he conjured two elven daggers into his palms and gave chase.

[jdd2035]

~What was it with mages and their ability to prattle on and on.~ Thought Cain as he reloaded his weaponry. That had to be a boon to any one having to fight with a mage. His first pistol he loaded with regular shot and powder. His other caused him to pause, what he hated was to pull out a trump too early in a fight.

Cain he wasn't a spell casting dynamo like some nor could he power through the kind of storms that spell casting dynamo's could conger. No he was Captain Cain Jodin he was tenacious! Cain grinned as the mages songs echoed through the corridors and loaded his second pistol. The Captain began to laugh as he stepped out and fired his first pistol with that quick ~POP~ that always came from a finely crafted firearm. He waited a long instant long enough for the first pop to finish its reporting echo then he fired his second pistol.

His second pistol how ever was not loaded with powder and shot, not the standard stuff at any rate. There was no pop, there was first a powerful hiss as unadulterated visible tap energy surged through the barrel of the pistol and around Cain's wrist and hand. Followed by a growing high pitched moan punctuated by a deep ~BOOM~! Condensed raw tap energy erupted from his second pistol screeching towards Cains opponent at least as fast as the iron ball did previously.

[Duffy]

Prepared for another volley, Duffy drew on the power of the Aria in a hairs breadth before the cavalcade of lighting struck. The crackling prangs interlaced with the whirling vespers of energy that bore him from reality. He stood on a jetty at the heart of a mercury sea, looking up at the rolling visions of a million worlds that formed in the clouds. He took a deep breath. He checked his wound.

“Fill your hands, he says.”

Sarcasm dripping from his tongue, the bard steeled himself as nausea swirled in his stomach, the tell-tale sign he was returning to Althanas.

“I hate bastard pirates.”

He emerged three feet forwards and one second later from where he vanished. Continuing his advanced, he spiralled the blades gifted to him by the plague bearers of Raiaera threateningly. With every swing of his arms, his shoulder screamed, clotting hole re-opened with a rush of blood to the head.

“And so, in earnest he did sing, but nobody could hear him, and so he brought out Note and Rhyme, and filled himself with blood to the brim!” His last verse brought silence to the ante-chamber. The effervescent, smouldering wall where the lightning bullet struck crackled out. His footsteps thundered, but made no sound.

He drew on his sister Lilith’s gifts, and about him, as he bore down on the good captain with an onslaught of cutting, precise strikes, a ghostly geisha emerged from the void and sat on a crumbling pillar stump to set up her shamisen. Outside, Lilith began to play her own, corporeal instrument, gifted to her by a mother from another life and learned in an okiya until her fingers bled, and bled some more.

The ghostly melody filled the jungle without, and the battleground within. Duffy’s eyes sparkled. His skin blossomed with prickly heat. His heart pounded with the all too real threat of death.

[jdd2035]

....Pirate, Cain was no pirate. He was a noble privateer and his prey was fair and legal. He was no black guard, bloody minded pirate. Forsooth!


" `Vast that bloody singing!" Cain shouted smashing his head into his opponents face at triple the velocity that was normal. Gripping both of his pistols and using them as parrying cudgels in combination with his he did what he could to divert his opponents aggressive attacks.

Cain's eyes kind of turned into an even brighter shade of emerald as his face contorted into a predatory grin. The pistol barrel that shot the tap energy seemed to still be quite hot, and it gave him quite an idea. Letting his opponents daggers get tangled up in his number one sea coat while he drove the hot end of the barrel into his adversaries shoulder wound.

The over powered attacks did their work how ever with his shoulder popping partially out of place causing him to give some sort of animistic howl of pain. He may not win but by hell and high water he was going to make his opponent work for it.

[Duffy]

The headbutt Duffy could just about tolerate. His knees wobbled, his resolve undone by the guttural fighting style of the good captain. He brought his blade, a forty-five-degree angled riposte, but his attack fell short of the mark when the smouldering barrel of a gun connected with the oozing scar tissue on his shoulder.

One knee smashed into the flagstone, bare and brazen and red in a split-second. The elven daggers clattered to the ground, their wing strikes spent, their blades unfettered by blood and guts. The haunting notes of the spectral shamisen continued, their tone mirroring that of the conflict at the palace’s heart.

“This is the final countdown.” One final song. One last push.

“This is the final verse I’ll sing, today…”

Duffy pushed himself upright, shoulder singed, and air filled with the ashen remembrance of a Raiaera silk shirt. In combination with a succour grimace, the shamisen took on a darker tone, haunting the palisades and crumbling cavalcades of the Pandemonium.

“This is the moment of truth!”

A flash. A bang. A wallop. Theatrical debauchery swaddled the bard’s limbs, blue ribbons of light that had preceded a thousand lie-minded battles with tyrants, gypsies, and thieves. From nothingness, Duffy pulled a black handled katana from the ether, it’s blade seemingly created from air.

“Will you fight, or will you stay?”

Cain’s expression told him all he needed to know about how this conflict would end. He let the spell song die, and, pouring energy into the ghostly shamisen, he let it speak on his behalf. The blade began to hum, umbral lines forming along its Akashimen keen.

“No more pissing about. No more cheap tricks.”

He dropped to a low, samurai stance, one shoulder loose, one taught. It was unpolished, unfocused, and hamstrung by the growing pain and numbness in his wounded limb. But, if Duffy had learned anything in the last five centuries, it was a cornered rat fought harder than any.

“Show me that sea shanty snarl!” He dashed forwards, rotating the katana in a cleaving arc that aimed for Cane as it descended, two-handed, towards that bastard pistol hand.

[jdd2035]

If Duffy had time to draw his sword and give a speach, Cain had time to pull his. It was a beautiful curved sword that seemed to crackle with life as it was pulled from its scabbard. He gave a flashy duelists salute as he performed the salutes downward slash an electrical discharge crackled from its blade before fizzling out. Cains cavalry saber was now an ordinary sword.

This last tussle would be as fair as Cain could make it.

Duffy charged forward with two hands! Cain smiled, he had accepted that he was on the bitter end of the rope fighting a vastly superior opponent. Then an idea crept into his mind and his grin grew even wider. As the samurai sword was brought to bear Cain locked his blade with Duffy's and let the impetus of the collision push him onto his back. The split instant Cain landed he drove his foot into Duffy's stomach and pushed hard with his feet.

[Duffy]

An eye for an eye was Duffy’s life motto. Every now and then, it became a slash for a kick, and he stumbled back winded and disgruntled. His katana dropped to his side, pain spiralling out from the site of impact and pumping more adrenaline around his body. He had to give it to Cain, he was giving him a run for his money.

“Going to be like that, is it?” he stuck out his tongue at the downed captain.

The plucky notes of the Shamisen wavered, and the ephemeral music gathered about the humming blade to empower it, to engorge it, and to bring to life another aspect of the troupe’s power. He stepped several paces back, clearing himself out of the path of Ruby’s thunderous spell song.

“Fair fights are for women and gentlemen. And I am not neither of those!”

He slashed skywards, a cleaving arc that split the air itself. Three spherical whirls shot upwards, smashing into the ceiling and dislodging more remnants of a bygone age. Dust and rubble fell about them, comets of rage that precursed the three ghostly and explosive orbs descending haphazardly down at the Captain. Stood grinning amidst the chaos, Duffy defended himself with the Singing Sword, lest the unpredictable nature of spell singing decided to kick him in the nuts for good measure. Sweat beaded on his brow, and soaked his shirt down his back.

The shamisen dissipated, and outside, Lilith set down her corporeal counterpart, smiling politely to herself that she had given Duffy just enough education to perform. She looked up at the clouds, vespers of a storm filled morning, and took a deep breath of humid air.

[jdd2035]

"Bloody hell! A pox on all mages!" Cain said as debris started falling scattering ghosts and dust far and wide. Cain had spend a considerable part of his life avoiding collateral damage not from magical artillery but the idea was the same. Get out of the way from the very heavy, fast moving objects intent on making his life miserable or very short.

He dropped low and began scrambling 'away' from the collapsing ceiling dodging rock and boulders the size of of the peregrines best bower and cutting along around the corner he felt the walls begin shudder. "Warm work!" He shouted at his opponent as things began to quiet down once again. He re-loaded his pistols as quick as he could, grinning and taking a quick breath he raised turned back around the corner and fired once again both a caster round and normal shot! He made a mental check of his ammo six rounds powder and shot, 3 rounds of caster.

[Duffy]

“Nope.”

Lysander’s blade caught the lightning round and snatched away its power into the depths of its rhythmic pulsating. It crackled, rolled down his arms, and faded as the progeny of his heritage did away with the Captain’s cheap tricks.

Metal, on the other hand, was less easy to squirrel away.

“Yep,” he winced.

Duffy’s eyes glazed over, resisting the urge to look down at the warm patch on his upper thigh. Whilst on the one hand, he wouldn’t bleed out too quickly, on the other, it fucking hurt. Even though better protected by muscle than his shoulder, the bullet cracked bone and undid any chance of a swift pursuit.

Unfortunately for Cain, the momentary triumph fell short. The rubble might have stopped barraging down, but the ghostly spheres that ricocheted around the room finally found their mark. They hovered in a triangle, their power converging and creating a deep, umbral percussion that permeating every nook and cranny of Pandemonium.

“Have it your way, gun lover.”

As the bard let the katana fall noisily to the ground, and dropped onto his knees in a slouch, the personification of his voice darted directly at Cain, spiralling in a circle of unseen, but very much heard death. If anything remained of the Captain after, Duffy regretted not being able to stomp on it in triumph. He took a deep breath.

“An eye for an eye, a bullet for a bullet.” He clenched his leg, feebly trying to stop the bleeding whilst trying to find the words for another spell song that could blanche it closed. His head span. His heart raced. His mind clouded. Somewhere at the back of it, like a nervous debutante peeking out from red velvet curtains at a prospective audience, the bard remembered what it felt like to be mortal. To be scared. To be human.

He fell forwards, weak and feeble, arm held out to save himself the shame of face-planting the ruins, and found himself thanking his opponent for reminding him of the fact. In between swear words, of course. A circle of blood appeared beneath him, marking the location of his defeat, and the start of a whole new age of pain and avoidable mistakes.

[jdd2035]

The reverberating concussion passed through his number one sea coat like butter. He felt his ribs start to vibrate, then crack and finally shatter. The rest of his bones shortly followed. His face contorted into a hideous semblance of a grin as he slumped against the wall. The thought that passed through his pulverized skull before he blacked out was ~Ha! That was some good practice.~ He coughed up some blood and his body relaxed into heavy sleep or death or both. His pistols clattered to the his sides and his cavalry saber laid near his feat.

End thread.

Request any XP earned to be converted into GP please.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Round 1 is over! This thread is now closed for judging.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Combat

JDD2035: 13 / 30

You stuck to what you are good at – combat with a sailor’s repertoire. Your opening shot with your caplock pistols hit and caused Duffy a particularly painful wound. Your second shot was more powerful but also more predictable – a problem that allowed Duffy space to counter with a barrier.

I was perhaps most impressed with the idea of using the hot barrel to burn Duffy. Whilst not exactly overwhelming, it showed outside of the box thinking. With some work, this kind of vision could really help your skills in battles blossom.

A common theme so far in this tournament is the sheer lack of use of setting by participants. In this respect I have to say your score was severely damaged. You had an illustrious and diverse arena to use and I felt like you pretty much just ignored it entirely.

I felt that you were both fair and took hits as much as you dished them out. Fair play all round, so not much more to say here.


Duffy: 17 / 30

Welcome to Duffy’s Got Talent! I’ve experienced the Bladesinger side of life before with your alt Ruby, and it made for an interesting and original challenge. Now, being on the other side of the fence, I can have more of an appreciation for the unique set of skills.

The early gunshot wound hurt you and I was surprised to see you take such a critical wound in the early stages, but a quick rendition was enough to make sure the fight continued past post three. The theme of musical aggression continued deep into the fight but I didn’t feel like you were particularly predictable at any one time – thanks to the Aria.

I have to say, though, I nearly spit out my drink when I saw the words “The final countdown”, and all sorts of images crept into my head. Thanks for that.

Again, as with JDD, I felt a lack of resourcefulness when it came down to using the arena hurt both of you in this fight. You could have literally been fighting in the void for all I know, which is hugely disappointing given the rich opportunity there.

Once again, I felt that you both took hits as much as you dished them out. Fair play all round, so nothing to add.


Character


JDD2035: 10 / 30

I have done judgments for you before and even worked with you in some high profile tournaments, so I already have a fairly good grasp of what to expect from Cain. However, to someone who may never have read your work before, I feel that you didn’t really do him much justice here.

There simply wasn’t enough content in your posts to paint a picture to the neutral spectator of what Cain Jodin is really like. There were perhaps small flickers of his seafaring personality and his “never say die” attitude, but I think it is fair to say that this category left a lot to be desired. The one area of credit I can give you is that at least the bit of action we got could be reasonably attributed to Jodin’s way of dealing with things.

I am buoyed by the fact I know you are capable of much better, but at the same time I can’t help but feel disappointed.


Duffy: 17 / 30

I got a lot more from Duffy than I did from Cain in this thread, but if I am going to be brutally honest with you (as I have to be), it felt like reading a copy-paste of Ruby. That’s not to detract at all from Ruby – she is an excellent, well thought through character, but I just felt there were too many similarities which detracted from me being able to fully enjoy what you showed us of Duffy.

That being said, on this thread alone, I enjoyed what I read. Duffy’s actions made sense, his unique style of speech and song interwove well and you made the best use you could out of that quirkiness.


Prose

JDD2035: 10 / 30

I will give you credit where credit is due – your mechanics are definitely improving, but there is still work to do. The common enemy was the lack of punctuation in critical places. Spelling was less of an issue here, and that is a positive for you to take out of this.

My biggest bugbear with your performance was sheer lack of content. Rarely, if at all, was the setting described in any detail which made it difficult to pinpoint you in relation to Duffy. It also made your posts a bit monotonous and bland, although the upside of this is that your clarity was more or less spot on. The purpose of these judgments is to constructively criticise, and so this is my advice: work on your technique. You’re getting to grips with your mechanics, which will see your scores improve by 10%-15%, but the real hook is your technique. Throw in some literary devices to keep the reader interested; perhaps a couple of similies or metaphors. You did so well to think of using the overheated barrel as a weapon, so why not redirect some of that creative talent to making your writing a bit more glitzy? Food for thought.

Duffy: 20 / 30

Your mechanics were more or less solid. It is very rare that I read a piece of yours that hasn’t been properly proof-read, and I think I only came across a single typo in the whole thread. I really can’t add much more to that.

My sole issue with your style is that whilst it is appropriately flamboyant and full of charisma, it can sometimes be difficult to follow your actions with clarity. I often found myself re-reading sentences to unravel the metaphors and similes just to get to the core of what is actually happening. I do find it a very attractive style of writing, though; colourful and meaningful in equal measure. It’s just not particularly easy on the eye.


Wildcard

JDD2035: 5
Duffy: 7

With not much else to go on, I’m awarding the wildcard based on my personal preference for style here.

JDD, it may feel like a harsh judgment but there are positives to take out of it. You have improved on at least one area since my last judgment for you and I was particularly impressed by your outside of the box thinking, and that is progress, but I do feel like you had a bad day at the office here. I’m sure it’s a one-off.

Duffy, I enjoyed the style you employed and the flair you brought to your writing. I also know that you are capable of even better, though.


Final scores and rewards


Duffy: 61/100
JDD2035: 38/100

Duffy advances!

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

Duffy receives 1015 EXP and 70 GP!

JDD2035 receives 770 EXP and forfeits 80 GP to the tournament pot! **

**(Request for EXP to GP conversion denied as (a) the rule states that EXP can only be converted to maximum of double the earned GP value and (b) Osiris Open tournament rules state that loser GP is forfeited to the pot anyway)

Congratulations!