The Living Dead. ((Lorenor versus Krugor))

[Mutant_Lorenor]

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO!?"

Angry shouts. The night wore on and Lorenor found himself trapped within the warehouse in Scara Brae's Dajas Pagoda facility. Somehow, he'd become a Warrior ranked gladiator for the Dajas Pagoda after his encounter with the man named Joshua Cronen. That battle was a sweet one indeed. Blood was shed and now, Lorenor found himself bound to the Pagoda. Several individuals calling themselves Scara Brae Knights eyed the ghoul cautiously. Lorenor tried to talk his way out of the Warriorship title but they weren't hearing any of it.

He simply wasn't the type to teach a student how to battle better. Yet, they kept him stuck there against his will. At least a week's time passed since his encounter with the Inquisition and Joshua Cronen. He kept John Mattis' Plynt sword as a reminder of the events of that stormy night. Now, a storm threatened to explode within the warehouse. Lorenor's face was a visage of anger. They'd gotten his name and used it against his will. They promoted him, without his consent, the rank of a Pagoda Warrior and now they expected him to uphold the oaths of a Pagoda Warrior.

"Do you honestly expect me to just play along with this little game of yours you scoundrel?" Lorenor asked the man in charged. He was a young Knight named Shanders. Full of glory for the future and promise, the ghoul was very close to snuffing this light out for good. They were testing his already limited patience as it was. The warehouse was huge. Lorenor made his way into the warehouse the night of the battle with Joshua Cronen.

He was fleeing from the sun, but now he had the means to combat the sun thanks to his UASU uniform. It was given to him by the hands of the Golem Number 5,325. He wished his son were there to help him out of this jam he faced. It was clear to Lorenor that they weren't going to leave him alone at all. They were determined to make his life miserable. So far all they'd done was place this new burden on his shoulders. The ghoul pondered simply biting all ten of these men and converting them to mindless slaves. The thought was really tempting until--

"You haven't heard the BENEFITS yet. Don't be so quick to jump the gun on this matter."

That one phrase caught Lorenor's attention and quickly changed his demeanor from angry to interested. The very idea of a reward for his troubles instantly piqued the ghoul's interests. He now listened to what they had to say. He knew they weren't going to let him go either way it went so he may as well make a profit off the situation if he could. "So what are these benefits. Speak." Lorenor said trying to hide his displeasure.

"If you win the battles you get gold. The more battles you win, the more gold you get. Get yourself a good streak going and your gold will accumulate rapidly. We know from our tactical research on you that you're one greedy Son of a Bitch. Make a good showing of these battles and you will be rewarded with riches and fame. Refuse and we kill you on the spot."

Lorenor smirked.

"Such skillful negotiation tactics. You had me at hello." Lorenor with acid in his voice. He managed to keep himself relatively calm all things considered. "All right you bastards. I'll play along for now."

"Good because we have your next challenge already lined up for you."

[Krugor]

“Rock me baby, like my back ain’t got no bone!”

The cheerful voice sang loudly as the hallway door slammed open. The thick wooden door hit the wall so hard little bits of stone broke off and dropped to the floor like a broken sack of marbles. And as soon as the door opened an aroma of sweet chicken pot pie followed the singing voice into the lobby of the Dajas Pagoda. Out of the opened chamber a skeleton came sliding into the hallway. Making all sorts of weird moves that were supposed to resemble a dance of some sort Krugor made his way up to the clerk behind the counter.

“Oh, it’s you” the man said, on a strangely low tone.

The elderly clerk behind the counter wasn’t at all surprised by the scene unfolding before him, in fact, he more or less seemed to be bored by it. Taking out a huge feather he dipped the top in a small bottle of ink and crossed a name of the list in front of him.

“I assume everything was in order? No monsters this time?” the clerk said, though it was very clear that he wasn’t interested at all.

“Yep, thank you!” Krugor said unaffected by the man’s insinuating tone. “It was a delicious meal!”

The undead master chef had used to the Dajas Pagoda’s ability to create a room according to one’s wishes many times now. Not for the usual fighting though. No, Krugor used it to step inside the kitchen of his dreams. Everything he ever wanted he could find in there. The perfect place for a chef of his expertise to further explore his abilities. However, once in a while another creature would walk into the culinary heaven by mistake, resulting into a food-fight with horrible outcome. This time was not of those times and the skeleton felt satisfied.

“I’m not sure if I can let you use that room for much longer, sir” the clerk said, instantly bringing Krugor back down to reality. The skeleton’s smiled slowly straightened as the man in front of him didn’t seem to make a joke.

“Why not?”he asked surprised.

“I’m afraid the boss doesn’t want to waste his rooms on silly things as cooking anymore” the clerk explained, “He needs the money gained from fights. But don’t worry, there’s still a chance for you”.

A smirk appeared on the man’s face as he spoke the words.

“And what’s that?

“You just have to become a Grand Master here and you can use all the rooms you want!” the clerk said laughing “But I don’t see you even defeating someone of Warrior rank!”

Grumbling a bit to himself the skeleton felt a rage coming up. Insulting him straight to the face was one thing, but to make a mockery of cooking, the only thing he could do well, was just too much. The skeleton quickly grabbed his slender quarterstaff and held the mushroom shaped tip just an inch away from the clerk’s face. Surprised by this sudden change of attitude the man wanted to take a step backwards, but Krugor immediately cried out;

“Well then, why are you wasting time insulting me instead of signing me up for this completion!? Get me a warrior and I’ll slap him silly. I’ll show you cooks can fight!”

“O-okay, take it easy man!” slowly regaining his calm the man scribbled something on the yellow-colored paper. ‘Krugor Vrath-darr’ the letters said and a door opened right after the final ‘R’ was noted.

“Please go in, you’ll find your first opponent inside”

“Alright, that’s more like it” the skeleton chef said and he stepped inside the room. “To whoever’s in here, I’m coming for you!” he screamed, way more confident than he really was.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Note Krugor; Lorenor's warehouse is an actual warehouse the Citadel Hierarchs get a real combat arena, I'm just giving you the heads up that the Pagoda doesn't function like the Citadel. You'll be fighting inside a real warehouse))

A bunch of Scara Brae Knights gathered at the warehouse. Instinctively they drew their weapons when the double-doors of the warehouse were opened. An individual emerged from the outside world entering this place of darkness. The Scara Brae Knights grumbled and cursed to themselves as they saw it was only Lorenor's next opponent. They whispered amongst themselves about the two undead fighting one another in the pitch blackness. The Scara Brae Knights could easily take the two devils in one fell swoop.

Lorenor heard the sound of the double doors opening and was immediately put on combat edge. He drew the Plynt longsword he received from his battle with Joshua Cronen. A distinctive metallic sound ringed in the air when Lorenor drew his weapon. He rotated the thing a couple of times trying to get used to the feel of the weapon. After a few moments of practice swings, he jammed it into the ground, the handle aiming upwards. The Scara Brae Knight named Shanders eyed Lorenor calmly.

"He's a skeleton. Are you sure you'll be able to handle this or do you need some help? Remember the rules of the Pagoda. We are monitoring your progress very closely. More closely than those blasted Monks of Ai'bron would over at the Citadel."

"I get that you jerk." Lorenor wasn't the most intelligent member of Althanas, at least not yet, but he wasn't a damned fool either. He was sick and tired of everyone treating him like an ignorant corpse. The Immortal looked in the general direction of the skeleton. "A skeleton you say? All right then this should be very interesting. Let's see what sort of lessons I can muster up for a fellow Undead." Lorenor said out loud to nobody in particular. The foot falls and clackety clack sounds of awkward bone movements reached Lorenor's ears.

The small warrior frowned. He waited mustering as much patience as he possibly could. He spotted the Scara Brae Knights taking position in various places of the warehouse, hiding from view. The Archers made their way on top of various crates preparing their fabled weapons in case anything went wrong. "Damned jerks." Lorenor thought to himself as he waited for Krugor to approach the center of the warehouse.

A single Scara Brae Knight greeted Krugor's person. "You're here kid. Good luck. Follow me to the fighting area." The Knight said waiting for Krugor's response.

[Krugor]

Oh crap, you're right! My bad, it's been a while ;) I'll try to edit it asap!The skeleton looked closely at his surroundings. Even though anger was still the engine to his movements at this time, he kept a keen eye at the world around him. It had been a while since he was in a battle but he remembered everything he was ever taught about combat. Although, he wasn’t really taught anything. Unless one would call picking up a word here and there and eavesdropping on a tactical briefing “teaching”. However, running away from a necromancer for his entire undead existence did stimulate his senses and proved quite useful in creating a certain higher awareness.

Well, not really. For right as Krugor stepped into the room a Scara Brea Knight came up to him, greeting him on a cynical tone. Mentioning something about following, but it all went completely past the skeleton who kept eyeing every box and crate intensely. The master chef walked around like a predator, his back arched and his quarterstaff clenched firmly in his hands. He kept his eyes perfectly focused on his surroundings.

And what a surrounding it was. The warehouse was filled with boxes, crates and remainders of what was once one of those things. It looked like a storage-room for some sort of big business, who processed shipments around the clock but had to leave instantly. Everything looked like it was left behind were it was last used. Boxes were laying around scattered, crates were still standing in perfectly formed columns and torches filled the entire room with a spooky looking light.

“Don’t play games with me, kid” the Knight said, in an attempt to get the skeleton’s attention “Follow me and get this battle over with”.

“Who are you?” Krugor asked, finally noticing the man standing next to him.

“I’m the one who’s going to take you to your opponent, so follow me already and stop wasting time”.

The Scara Brae Knight didn’t waste any more of his precious time after that and started walking towards a pile of crates, hoping the skeleton would follow immediately after. And Krugor did, knowing this battle indeed needed to be done quickly if he wanted to ever cook again. He could feel the excitement rushing through his mind and entire body as the Knight walked around the large pile and climbed over another smaller one. He’s gonna wear me out before the battle even starts, the skeleton thought as another obstacle was completed.

“Here it is. Good luck” the man spoke and quickly moved from the scene.

Krugor was left standing next to a longsword, sticking out of the ground like a sturdy oak tree. It certainly gave the master chef the feeling that he was up against a very confident and experienced warrior. Who else would leave his sword in the ground and thus leaving himself exposed and without a weapon? Krugor didn’t feel like waiting long enough to get that answer and raised his staff up in front of him.

“Nice to meet you, sir” he said to the person before him, “I’m sure we would get along under different circumstances, but I’ll have to slap you silly right now. I have a cake to bake, you know”

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor's eyes shifted from his newly arrived opponent to his weapon. His weapon laid in wait. Somehow, the mood in the combat area shifted as the Scara Brae Knights saw the two Undead in one position. Lorenor noticed several flashes of light where arrow bolts were pointed at him and Krugor should either of them attempt anything. Lorenor was already a wanted man with a bounty from a previous incarnation. Also, many nights earlier, during his battle with the Dajas Pagoda warrior Joshua Cronen, Lorenor encountered the Inquisition and was forced to take over the Pagoda in the process.

Ever since then, Lorenor lay in hiding within the Pagoda facilities. About a week ago, the Scara Brae Knights discovered Lorenor hiding in the warehouse during a routine inspection. When it was discovered that the ghoul somehow became one of the Pagoda Warriors the Scara Brae Knights were forced to work alongside the ghoul. An uneasy alliance was formed. They knew that Lorenor had spared Joshua Cronen's life. Now, Lorenor knew that the Scara Brae Knights carefully watched his every move.

The ghoul walked over to his weapon and pulled it from the ground. He stared at the skeleton for a long moment having never fought such an opponent before. He'd heard stories of the living dead from merchants heading out of Raiaera and into Corone to barter imports from the land. The ghoul studied the skeleton chef unsure of what to make of him.

Standing silent, the ghouls' purple gaze observed with a certain level of intensity to them. He decided that he didn't need his sword. He drew it and rotated the weapon once in his hand before sheathing it in his scabbard. He walked towards Krugor until he was no more than five paces away, directly in front of the walking skeleton.

"All right now that you're finally here we can begin this. By order of the Scara Brae Knights and the Dajas Pagoda I'm supposed to mop the floor with you all over this warehouse. I can't guarantee that there won't be any permanent harm to you, but you know business is business. Tonight's lesson is a game in survival. I hope you brought your wits about you. You're going to need them." Lorenor said. "By the way, my name is Lorenor. Remember that."

[Krugor]

Intimidating.

Or at least attempting to be so, the ghoul in front of Krugor informed him of what was about to happen. Everything seemed to confirm the skeleton’s earlier thoughts, this was someone to be reckoned with. The decaying undead had walked up to him, until they could see the white in each other’s eyes. Figuratively speaking of course, for both of the undead didn’t have any white left. The ghoul known as Lorenor had eerie-looking purple eyes, which seemed to pierce right through the skeleton’s armor. And Krugor himself didn’t have any eyes at all! His eye sockets were still intact though and functioned like any other normal eye. To this very day he still didn’t know how that was possible, but then again, why should he worry about trivial matters like that?

There were more important things to worry about. Like winning this battle. Still clenching to his staff the skeleton walked up even closer to the ghoul. The Scara Brae Knights would be very confused as the skeleton walked up so close it looked like they could break into a passionate kiss at any time, but the scene quickly changed as Krugor returned the staff to its rightful place on his back in one fluent motion.

“If I wasn’t so angry your threats might actually be effective. But right now I’m too insulted to be worrying about your puny attempts to sound intimidating. So let’s stop the small talk, okay? I really want to get back to my cooking.”

The skeleton was surprised by his own words as they left his mouth. He couldn’t remember when he last talked like that. Wasn’t he always a joyful person? It had been a while since he was this angry and he blamed both the ghoul and the Dajas Pagoda employees for it. They insulted his cookery and tried to get rid of him like he was some annoying rodent. But he wasn’t! The skeleton was a respected soldier back in the days and he even managed to gain the respect of the Raiaeran Elves. He didn’t had to be treated like this. This had to stop.

“Let’s get this over with, sir!”

The curved plynt dagger was freed from its sheath before the skeleton even knew what he was doing. He felt the adrenaline pumping through his… Yes, his what? He didn’t have any veins and blood vessels left, so how was it possible he felt like this?

Damn this Lorenor for making me feel like this!

“Here we go!” he screamed as he charged forward, towards the undead. Krugor swung his dagger down diagonally, making a slicing motion as he ran.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

"YOU'RE NOT UNDERSTANDING THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS SITUATION WE'RE IN YOU FOOL!"

Lorenor found himself yelling and the battle suddenly began. A slight grin touched his face. The miles upon miles of crates surrounded the sparring duo, but to Lorenor this was always a life and death situation. He didn't have time to admire the scenery around him. He wanted to beat the skeleton's cranium in, literally. In an unexpected moment, after the skeleton talked some trash to the ghoul the thing RUSHED at him. Lorenor was puzzled by this for a moment as he saw his opponent moving in closer to him.

The thing was a skeleton. For whatever reason, the ghoul was only starting to register that in his thoughts. There was a fine line between cowardice and bravery. Lorenor wondered what he could possibly TEACH the skeleton and then the ideas dawned on him. Lorenor would do what he knew best. Fight dirty. For now, he had to worry about the immediate problem of the Scara Brae Knights and the Skeleton assaulting him.

Lorenor hadn't planned on using any weapons up until that point. His anger is going to get him killed. But I have to keep him alive so therein lies the problem in all of this. Keeping him alive. I have to figure out how I'm going to survive his attack. Time passed and the idea dawned upon him. As the dagger's slash came in close, Lorenor shifted his body at the last possible moment. In order to intercept the incoming attack, the ghoul raised his left arm up over his head.

He looked up at the incoming attack. As he raised his arm he knew that the impact would be unavoidable. He prepared himself for pain. At the same time, he readied his counter maneuver. The ghoul wildly attacked forward with a surprisingly strong palm strike right towards the skeleton's sternum with every amount of strength that the small warrior could muster. In the midst of his counter strike the ghoul felt the plynt dagger pierce not just flesh, but something else as well.

At the last possible moment, The Endless acted of its own free will and surrounded Lorenor to protect him from the full brunt of the attack. It wouldn't be enough to stop the attack all together, but it was something. The Endless wrapped itself around Lorenor with sticky black tendrils. It became a second skin of living, symbiotic, armor. The penetration came and The Endless screamed in Lorenor's mind, writhing at the impact point. His second set of skin managed to absorb some of the impact of the blow, but his foe's attack still pierced through. Lorenor felt the cold Plynt puncture his flesh and almost go right through the other side.

With the weapon in his arm now, an idea hit the ghoul. He continued his attempt to palm-strike the warrior's sternum. In mid-motion he sacrificed some of his forward momentum to shift the left side of his body weight, where the dagger struck him. In an attempt to pull Krugor off balance, the ghoul used his forward momentum to thrust his stabbed arm away from his opponent. If successful, Lorenor could not only strike his opponent's sternum with what full force he could muster, but take away his dagger as well. He knew that Krugor would be hard pressed to pull the dagger out now that it jutted right through his arm. Lorenor hoped that his plan came into fruition.

He waited to see what happened next.

[Krugor]

Incredible pain shot through the skeleton’s body as the mutant’s palm struck his chest. Like a drop of oil spreading quickly on water Krugor could feel the pain increasing, making its way from his chest outwards. If the ghoul hadn’t sacrificed some of his momentum to make a side-ward motion Krugor’s ribs were sure to be cracked. The skeleton didn’t have the time to feel lucky though, for just a millisecond after he felt his ribs being forced through his back he was flying through the air.

His precious dagger was stuck! Some sort of freaky dark glue was covering most of Lorenor’s arm. Never in his life had Krugor witnessed such a thing and it would be worth examining if he wasn’t airborne right after. For the ghoul attempted to pry the dagger from the skeleton’s hand by moving his weight, but struck Krugor completely dumbfounded. The lightweight cook couldn’t offer any resistance against the mutant and his weird armor. Krugor was to fragile, for as a skeleton he had no real muscles to strengthen his attack and burst through the armor. He had to let go. Let go of the dagger lest his arm be taken off.

Again.

Suddenly he was reminded of the iron bolds jammed into his shoulder. He could feel the old wounds as his arm was being forced into an unnatural position. Strange how at times you don’t notice what pain you’re in until you think about it. Krugor had to let go, he had to take his fingers of the dagger, right now.

Watching his dagger sticking out of the mutant’s arm he fell to the ground. He felt his bones shaking in their sockets as his body hit the hard floor of the warehouse. This had been a very big mistake. He had given away both the advantage of the first attack and his only weapon. This was the only thing he could do real damage with as the kettle, pot and spoons in his backpack weren’t really suited for a battle.

Laying on his side, looking up to Lorenor and the enormous pile of crates behind him he felt a plan brewing. Watching the eerie purple eyes glowing and the gluey substance take a hold of his weapon he felt his eternal optimism rising again. His only weapon? No, the anger had made him see things unclear. A mistake he had to pay for dearly now. But it wasn’t his only weapon. No, he had much better things to offer the ghoul. This was battle was his, he could win this.

“Alrighty, lets not do that again” he said as he picked himself up from the floor. Wiping some of the dust from his eye sockets he was glad he didn’t have any nostrils left for the bottom of the warehouse was so dirty it would surely give him a bad sneeze. Moving from his eyes to his arms and legs he quickly made himself dust-free again. Now it was time for some real action.

“You have something that belongs to me” he smiled friendly as the plynt staff was returned from his backpack to his bony hand. The sharp tips of his fingers caressed the quarterstaff as if it was a woman. This was his real weapon.

“Well, maybe not you but at least that thing covering you! Do you think it would mind giving it back to me?”

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor considered a lot of possibilities at that moment. Born out of desperation, his plan had worked better than he thought it might. The ghoul felt the dagger in his arm causing him to wince in pain. He felt the wound building up despite the best protection that The Endless could offer. Lorenor knew that The Endless would not be able to hold up against an assault from Plynt for very long. The ghoul would have to improvise.

He saw what the skeleton stared at. Hearing his words, Lorenor manged to frown in anger trying his best to look intimidating. That was his edge. Even if the ghoul didn't exactly scare THIS particular individual, he could talk the talk and walk the walk. Pulling the dagger out of his arm by with his free hand the youth remembered his battle with Joshua Cronen. The powers that be awarded a victory to him by default and that's how Lorenor became a Pagoda Warrior in the first place. Not by sheer skill. Skill would have to come during this particular bout.

He hadn't cared about the Dajas Pagoda up until this moment when he suddenly understood the importance of why he was there. I'm here to instruct. Someone someplace thinks I have something to teach to somebody and I can see it so clearly now. Lorenor rotated the surprisingly light dagger in his hand and gripped it once the movement reached its climax point. The young immortal thought about what he was going to do next. He turned in a half turn position away facing away from the Skeleton and tossed the dagger behind him in a downward thrust so that it became stuck in the dirt someplace behind Lorenor. Just outside of their makeshift combat arena.

"I know now why I'm here. You want to get your dagger back, you EARN it back. Show me what you can do. I'm supposed to teach you how to fight right? So this is how we're going to do it. From here on in I'm the teacher and you're my student. If you want to use that quarterstaff of yours feel free, that will help keep me on my edge." Lorenor said calmly.

The words felt uncomfortable on his lips but he did the best he could considering the circumstances. The ghoul took a few steps towards the Skeleton. He walked until he was about half a foot away from the Skeleton staring him right in the eye sockets. Lorenor stole a glance to the Scara Brae Knights that waited in case he tried something like that other time. In case something went South. He could still see the flashes of sharp arrowhead bolts in the darkness. This brought a sense of worry to the ghoul but he would handle the situation the best he could.

"You can put those away, I won't try anything screwed up." The ghoul called out to the Scara Brae Knights. His word wasn't enough. He would have to earn his Warriorship title now. He sighed at that. Removing the scabbard with John Mattis sword off his person, the ghoul placed it on the ground somewhere nearby and resumed his position. "Now you have the advantage, let us see what you can do. Hopefully I can teach you a little something about survival before this night is through. We can make a Warrior out of you yet." Lorenor promised and raised his hand closing it into a fist. "BEGIN!" The ghoul yelled.

[Krugor]

Krugor stared at the ghoul for a brief moment. For the second time that this battle had been going on he found himself dumbfounded. The words that were coming out of Lorenor’s mouth were amazing. Amazingly cocky. Talking about earning his dagger and teaching him to fight, the mutant made quite an arrogant impression. Krugor hadn’t come into the Pagoda to be taught the ways of battle by this guy. In fact, he didn’t wanted to learn anything about doing battle at all. He came here because he had no other choice. But now Lorenor was really getting on his nerves. If he kept up this pace things might be getting personal soon.

A scratching like sound broke the silence as Krugor’s skinless fingers clenched tighter and tighter around the plynt staff. There was no more caressing, no more stroking like the thing was a puppy. Now he was preparing for battle. If that walking corpse wanted to know what he was up against, Krugor would certainly show him. The skeleton completely ignored the men stationed way above the arena, they weren’t the issue at hand. They weren’t there for him anyway, he convinced himself. The master chef needed all his concentration for his next attack, which Lorenor strangely enough gave away again. But it didn’t matter, for this time he would do some real damage. This time the freaky corpse would need more than sticky liquids on his body to survive.

“Earn it? It’s already mine, sir!” the skeleton screamed, his jawbone making a cackling sound. “You stole it and I will get it back! Let me teach you a thing or two about survival!”

In just a split second Krugor grabbed the top of his staff with his left hand while keeping his right hand in place, forcing the lower part of the thing to thrust upwards, like a lever. The plynt staff made its way towards the mutant’s crotch like a starving bear to some sweet Alerian honey. It was a lightning fast motion, more so than he had originally planned. Therefore it greatly lacked in power what it gained in speed. Knowing this move wasn’t nearly enough to break the ghoul’s ego and stop the idiot-talk Krugor whirled around, steadying his staff horizontal and aiming his slam at Lorenor’s temple. Without knowing in advance what the outcome would be, the skeleton knew that the mutant was just close enough to force it into a defensive position, or maybe even force it to attempt a dodge.

But was that really true? Maybe Lorenor would try to suck the weapon into his body again, just like he did with the dagger. And the slender, mushroom-tipped quarterstaff was way too precious to lose. Doubts and second thoughts raced through his mind as he whirled on the tip of his toes. It didn’t take more than a second for the skeleton to completely turn around and gain momentum, but it seemed like hours to Krugor. What if Lorenor did this, or tried to do that? It was chaos in his mind.

But in the end he suddenly knew. He realized had to do this. There was no way back, this was his moment of victory.

“Kiss my mushroom, ghoul-boy!” Krugor screamed as he swung his staff towards Lorenor at full speed.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor was prepared. He'd been studying the Skeleton for a long moment before the thing began his mad rush. In a split second everything became all madness and movement. With the Endless still wrapped firmly about his person, the ghoul largely ignored the skeletal twerp's words. No. This was Lorenor's arena. I'll show you BONE BOY.

The Endless sang songs of defense and the ghoul knew that he was in a precarious position. Shifting his body weight once again at the last possible moment, the young immortal stepped off towards his right. he lifted his leg up at the last possible moment to intercept the staff. Lorenor knew it would hurt, but it was better to sacrifice limbs than to take a direct impact.

He was able to witness the ascent of the staff and thusly moved out of the way before it could impact with anything but whatever Lorenor wanted it to connect with. The skeleton advertised the super fast move with just enough time that Lorenor saw it coming. Saw it coming and could react only at the last possible second.

There was an impact of sonic force as the powerful staff connected to Lorenor's thigh. The explosion of force sent Lorenor flying in a backwards aerial spin several feet back. He felt something in his leg breaking. He landed with a tremendous thud on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He gasped for air, struggling to stand. It was right then that the ghoul started to laugh despite himself.

Struggling for air and trying to re-fill his lungs, the ghoul started to laugh at the skeleton. "So that's the best you can do. Very well then. You'll see what survival is about you cretin!" With a grin on his face and touching his lip, and a cough from his mouth, the ghoul stood up. He balanced on one functioning leg feeling the pain shooting up and down from the now useless leg. He'd broken the femur in his left leg and would need medical attention after the battle was over. That could wait. Defeating his opponent was more important NOW.

He'd gotten passed Joshua Cronen on a technicality. That bruised the warrior's ego. As he stood up, he limped over to the Skeleton after the motion was complete and proceeded to attack next without any hesitation.

He sent another wild palm-strike, this time with both hands, once again to the Skeleton's sternum region. Lorenor knew that he'd softened the bone-man up with his earlier attack and further strikes to the sternum region would only be a logical step. He waited to see if his attacks connected. He kept his eyes locked upon the eye sockets of his opponent reading no emotions from within. He could only see the skeletal movements indicating anger and disgust. This made the ghoul confident. Keep his mind off the battle, keep him off balance.

[Krugor]

“Get your hands of my boobs, sir!” Krugor screamed as the ghoul lunged himself towards the skeleton. It was another strike aimed for his breastbone and Krugor knew another successful strike would leave him with at least a few broken ribs. But Lorenor came attacking with much ferocity and the master chef couldn’t find the time needed to get himself to safety. Dodging would be futile in his current condition, as it would only leave him with the same amount of bruises. So he tried screaming.

It didn’t work, as could be expected, and the ghoul connected with the skeleton on full speed. How Lorenor could maintain such power and force with that kind of injury on his leg was beyond Krugor, but he didn’t needed to worry about that. He now had his own injuries to take care of. For the two palms aimed for the skeleton’s sternum were spot on. Like dried out twigs he could feel and hear his ribs snapping. Crack. CRACK!

At least three of them were completely snapped in half before the skeleton even lost the power to stand up. Krugor could feel his anger and willingness to do battle being drained from his body. Even his mind seemed to give up and give in to the pain. Damn! he said to himself as he slowly made his way towards the floor again How did he get me like that?

As if the world seemed to move in slow motion he saw Lorenor changing into large piles of boxes and large piles of boxes changing into the ceiling. Laying flat on his back Krugor tried to ignore the pain. Futile as it was he needed to focus on what little strength he had left and try to win this battle. The skeleton’s chest looked a big crater as a fair amount of his ribs were broken, leaving behind a gap since he had no organs beneath them. Which also seemed to be his luck, for it would only take a tiny splinter from his broken ribs to give a man a punctured lung.

“Gosh, that hurts!” he screamed, more to himself than Lorenor. For quite some time he continued his shouts of agony, alternating with loud coughs. The mutant ghoul had sure hit him hard and the chef knew there was no way he could get up without being slammed right back into the ground again. He needed time. Time to think of some sort of plan to get away from all of this. Screaming was the only way to stall the battle.

“You’ve broken my ribs, you sad excuse for an undead!”

And then it hit him. There was a way out! There was a way to get away from Lorenor to regain some of his strength. A smirk formed on his face as he planned out the details in his head. It quickly vanished however, as the pain was much too strong to keep on such a smirk. There was no to time to smile anyway, for this needed to be executed quickly. It would take a great amount of luck and timing to work, so he needed to act now. Now that Lorenor was still feeling like he was on the upper hand.

Krugor’s slender fingers searched the ground beside him, scanning the floor for his weapon. He needed his staff, without it all would be lost. But like it was true love he quickly found his trusty sidekick laying next to him. Immediately he clenched to it, grabbing the plynt material in his bony fingers and concentrating all his remaining strength in his arms. Using the quarterstaff he pulled himself off of the ground. It didn’t went smoothly but with lots of screams and cracking-like noises he finally stood on his two legs again. Well, “standing” might’ve been pushing it. Shaking like a young tree in a strong Salvarian winter wind he looked Lorenor in his purple glowers. He said nothing, knowing he would need every breath in just a few seconds.

And without a moment of hesitation he executed his plan. Krugor smiled as the mushroom on top of his staff dropped to the floor and grew to seven feet tall in just a millisecond. The rubbery looking fungus lunged itself towards Lorenor right after. It moved at an incredible pace, like an arrow being shot from a bow. Now’s my time! Krugor said to himself as the thing charged towards the ghoul. His giant shroom would buy at least a few seconds of time, whether or not Lorenor would dodge it. The skeleton moved away quickly from both the mushroom and the undead. With the bottom of his pool of strength in sight he climbed over a pile of boxes. Ducking behind a sturdy crate he assumed he was safe for a while. Lorenor would be distracted by the fungus and it would take a while before he had found the skeleton again. And to make it a little harder he started the final part of his plan. “Let’s see if you can find me now, Lorry” he said as the skeleton slowly changed into a tiny, greenish mushroom.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Meanwhile--

The Scara Brae Knights kept an eye on the arena's action the whole time. They had to be sure that both of the mysterious warriors made it out of the ordeal alive and reasonably intact. As the battle escalated the skeleton was injured and ran himself out of bounds and into the deeper part of the warehouse area unattended. Immediately, several of the Knights that held their positions atop many nearby crates trained their arrow tips upon the skeleton and waited for further orders. It was clear that the skeleton was trying to cheat now...

At least the Scara Brae Knights thought so. So they kept their arrows pointed to the skeleton's current position despite the archaic transformation. Some of the Scara Brae Knights kept their arrows pointed at Lorenor as well.

***********

Suddenly, an archaic force rippled through the air. The skeleton stood up in one chaotic moment and released some sort of hidden power. Lorenor saw the mushroom located on the staff's tip suddenly remove itself from its original position and LEAP onto the ground. In one hazardous moment, the ghoul saw that the mushroom until it was titanic! What in the name of the Thayne IS THIS!? Lorenor only saw such over grown fungi in one other place before and that was in Haidia.

However dangerous, most of the Haidia fungi didn't simply just walk and attack an opponent of their own conscious thought. No. This was something all together different and Lorenor was caught completely off guard by the giant shroom. The thing stared him down and RAN at Lorenor with such speed that the ghoul couldn't even react in time. All he could do was brace his already injured person for impact. The Endless sang songs of danger solidified itself further around Lorenor's body attempting to compensate for the ghoul's weak stature of strength.

So far anyway. In a quick moment, the ghoul felt the sonic impact and another burst of the sonic force dispersed into the air. The ghoul screamed in a combination of terror and agony. If not for the Endless, he certainly would've been crushed by the huge mushroom. Lorenor flew backwards several paces away and never got a chance to see the other part of the skeleton's maneuver which was leaving the arena and going into hiding. The ghoul stared up at the huge mushroom incredulously trying to gasp for air.

He felt some serious bruises and welts developing from the impact point of the mushroom but thankfully nothing else was broken. His leg got it the worse and the already serious injury intensified in severity. Lorenor howled in agony once more and decided that he'd had enough already. It was time to get this game up a few more notches.

Lorenor waited until he gathered his breath. The angry mushroom stared at him but made no more attempts to approach the ghoul for an attack. The mutant assumed that his opponent needed to be within a certain proximity of the mushroom in order to maintain control of it. Using the scabbard of his weapon to stand up, Lorenor found himself near the skeleton's dagger. He used considerable effort to stand wincing in terrible pain as he once again placed body weight on an already broken leg. A nearby Scara Brae Knight gifted in healing attempting to walk towards the ghoul, but Lorenor waved him off. "The battle is still going. Wait until the battle is over." The man nodded developing a newfound respect for Lorenor.

Lorenor used his sword as a walking stick and limped over to the dagger he'd procured from the skeleton. He'd lifted it off his person and now could use the weapon against him. Leaning down on the ground, the ghoul took the dagger up in his hands and placed it within his inventory. Let's see that punk earn it back. Where is he? Lorenor became frustrated when he saw that the giant mushroom was nothing more than a trick. I can't believe I fell for such a thing, damn it I gotta be more careful. The ghoul chastised himself.

He's a clever one, I'll give him that but I'll find him yet. Lorenor closed his eyes and concentrated on his senses. The ghoul had a particular set of scents unique to a chef. Someone who labored in a kitchen all day long. He smelled of soups and banquets. The scent of cooked food lingered powerfully in the air. All he had to do was pin-point it. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his advanced senses using his sensory grid to its fullest array possible. The Endless sang songs of detection as Lorenor searched his hiding opponent out.

After a few moments passed the scent changed direction and moved off into different location. Lorenor, like a blood hound, sniffed the scent out and ignored the giant mushroom once it became stationary. The ghoul tracked out his query and made it to a position of crates that was just outside of the combat arena. The little punk left the combat arena. I'm going to kick his tail for that. And right where his opponent should be, all that Lorenor could see was a mushroom. A small mushroom growing there where his opponent SHOULD be. This frustrated the ghoul.

Then an idea hit him. Where he observed the scene before him, reality changed and altered into a psychadelic response. The external stimuli that bombarded his sensory grid reacted in an unexpected fashion. For whatever reason, Lorenor hallucinated the skeleton CHANGING into the mushroom that stood before him now. The image ended just as quickly as he could. It can't be? Out of pure frustration, Lorenor leaned on the scabbard of his weapon and sent a powerful kick at the small mushroom. He hoped it would connect to the mushroom's side. "YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER YOU CHUMP! IF I GOTTA BREAK UP EVERY MUSHROOM IN THIS WAREHOUSE, I'LL FIND YOU!" Lorenor yelled in frustration. Gotta keep myself calm.

[Krugor]

The giant shroom of doom shrunk back to its normal size once his task had been completed. Strangely enough, even Krugor didn’t know how and why the thing operated like it did. At times it would continue on charging, even after impact, like it did in Salvar a while back. At that time it had saved Krugor’s life as the werewolf it had tumbled over and dragged with it was just the thing his partner needed to bring in the reinforcements. And there were times when the mushroom would hit something and immediately return to its original position on top of the staff. This was such a time. The tiny shroom raced back to the plynt staff and hopped back on its tip. Krugor watched his weapon reassemble itself through a tiny opening between the crates. He gave a quick sigh of relief as he realized he had been so lucky to leave his staff behind. If he didn’t, the thing would surely gave away Krugor’s position to the ghoul. But the downside was the fact that he was now completely weaponless… No dagger, no staff.

“…I’ll find you!” Lorenor screamed as he kicked harshly against a mushroom. Another sigh of relief passed through the skeleton’s body as he realized the shroom was only a few inches away from himself. Luckily the warehouse was filled with several spots of fungus, so it might take a while for Lorenor to find him. But if he did, he could crush shroom-Krugor with just a single one of his stinky toes. He needed another plan. A third plan. Hopefully his final plan.

There was little, almost nothing, he could do in his current shape. Except look stupid and have an incredibly bad smell. His spell hadn’t gone completely according to plan as his energy was mostly drained restoring from the impact from Lorenor’s palm strike. And as a result he hadn’t only gained the shape of a fungus, but also the stench that comes with it. Usually he would end up with just a bad smell, but as recent events made him more confident he found he ended up as a shroom more often. Not that it mattered, it was only a delay of the inevitable. Lorenor had proven to be the better warrior and Krugor was only prolonging the battle to wear the ghoul out. To save himself from being torn apart.

The master chef observed the mutant as he went about searching for his opponent. It seemed like the creature had some sort of scanning mechanism, a sort of internal radar that told him where to look. For even though Lorenor had assaulted the wrong fungus, he was just a few inches away from the right one. There was only one option for Krugor before he could even think about forming a final plan; getting out of there.

With a loud bang and lots of smoke the skeleton returned to his regular form. The fungus slowly grew skinny arms, a pair of legs and the top of it spontaneously formed a couple of eye sockets until the body of a skeleton was visible. Still a little dizzy from his metamorphosis Krugor stumbled towards the battle arena, hoping to get a hold of his staff. Tumbling over a couple of crates and making loud noises as he went he finally arrived near his weapon. With the agility of an overweight Dwarf Krugor threw himself on the weapon. Picking himself up again quickly and grabbing the weapon tightly he focused his final powers on the rubbery mushroom once more. This time however it didn’t grew, nor did it shrunk. It did what Krugor had been doing for the last couple of minutes.

Smell extremely bad. A greenish cloud appeared next to the shroom, seeming to ooze straight from it. The cloud smelled like garlic and almost made Krugor spill out his intestines. If he had any he would. And as the smell oozed from the tip of the staff he threw it upwards and grabbed like it was a spear. Now having the weapon in his hands horizontal he took two huge steps and lunged the thing towards Lorenor, the sharp end of it charging at the mutant’s body.

This was no plan, nothing had been thought of in advance. This was his last resort.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Blinking several times, Lorenor observed a messy cloud of energy spontaneously burst up from one of the nearby crates. He'd been close to his make shift student's position, but not close enough. Coughing several times at the disgusting smell of his foe's energy release that was all the distraction that Krugor needed apparently. In that moment of Lorenor's coughs, the ghoul blinked several times and saw that the skeleton warrior quickly made his way back towards the combat arena and was now armed. Damn, how could I be so stupid?! I missed a chance to completely disarm him, did he do that ON PURPOSE??!! Lorenor thought angrily to himself.

Had he underestimate his opponent completely? No. He knew he couldn't think like that. Focusing primarily on his senses right now the ghoul knew now he could no longer hold back. He's been keeping me at a disadvantage. I'm supposed to teach HIM something, not the other way around damn it! He clenched his fists tightly in annoyance and once again, felt the weight of John Mattis' sword against him. He'd been played for a fool this whole battle and it cost him one of his legs. No more.

Lorenor looked up at one of the Scara Brae Knights as they attempted to throw the towel in for Lorenor. The mutant shook his head. "It's not over yet!" The valiant Knight seemed hesitant but respected the Pagoda Warrior's request. Lorenor started to limp over towards the combat arena once more, dragging his broken leg as dead weight with him. He leaned on that side with the scabbard of his weapon adjusting quickly to the new experience.

As Lorenor walked towards his opponent and tried to cover the distance to get into effective combat range, a foul smell erupted into the warehouse. He gagged at the presence of the smell, interacting with it in a much more acute fashion than someone who wasn't like him might. The smell intensely wafted up his nostrils and made tears somehow stream down his eyes. He wretched out a bile like substance from his mouth and nose. The smell was simply too intense to ignore. But after he threw up, he quickly started to get used to the scent. There were other scents in the combat arena, and Lorenor focused on the Master Chef's particular scent. Through concentration, Lorenor found out that he could shut out the horrible garlic-like smell almost entirely to the point where other scents were more overwhelming. He focused on the more pleasant scents emanating from the Master Chef. Cooked loafs of bread, soups of all sorts, baked cakes with the promise of celebration. Lorenor concentrated on that and finally, the scent of garlic went away. When that happened, Lorenor became furious.

"NO MORE GAMES YOU WHELP!"

Lorenor yelled in frustration. He felt the heat of the moment and drew his Plynt Masterwork sword with his right arm. The weapon made a particular metallic ringing sound as he drew it into play. He rotated the weapon once and leaned his healthy leg. Though his left leg was broken, Lorenor was learning how to shut the pain out. He listened to The Endless as they sang songs of soothing and concentration. With the longsword at the ready, Lorenor reacted just in time to the skeleton's attack. He countered with a sword-swipe towards the center of the skeleton's staff. He had the next part of his plan ready should his counter maneuver prove successful.

"Fighting isn't just flashy tricks kids. It's about maintaining the upper hand. So far all those tricks you've used have proven worthless except that one. Let's see you try it again!" Lorenor said to his student.

[Krugor]

Impossible!

The skeleton was surprised at the rate at which the ghoul recovered from the nausea caused by his staff. A normal person would be too sick to recover that quick, but Lorenor seemed to have found a way to counter the symptoms. It was painfully clear that the master chef had no more legs to stand on. He was played out, no more tricks up his sleeve. Even his staff that cut through the air like a spear was parried with a simple swipe.

Or was it? Krugor watched closely as the mutant hit the staff with his own plynt weapon. He could see his shroomstaff being cut and carved as the sharp sword connected with it. If it was alive it would surely scream out in agony. But it didn’t, it just continued on his way towards Lorenor. The impact had altered its course drastically however and it seemed like the thing would miss the mutant by a mile. Krugor held up his hand before his eye sockets as he heard the thing pierce the ground behind Lorenor. Another failure.

“I guess I owe you an apology, my friend” the skeleton spoke softly “It seems you did teach me”.

Feeling the pain of defeat in his entire body Krugor sat down and grabbed his backpack. Taking the iron pot from it he looked up to face Lorenor. No more dagger, staff and spells left. It was over for real now. But Krugor wouldn’t go down without a struggle. If that filthy ghoul wanted to claim victory he had to finish Krugor off completely and the skeleton would fight back like a mother goose protecting her children. Fierce, angered and without any reasoning. With the pot in his right hand and a spoon in his other, he smiled.

“Come on, finish it!” he said “No more tricks here!”

He slammed the spoon hard against the iron pot, making a loud bang. The skeleton didn’t know why he did so. Maybe he was trying to aggravate the ghoul? Hoping he would run away screaming because of the awful noise? Whatever his reasoning, Krugor was cornered and used everything in his possession to defend himself from utter destruction.
He stood up again and slammed the pot once more. “Come on, what are you waiting for!” he screamed as he walked towards the ghoul “Finish it!”

When he was so close that he could see those purple headlights again he put the pot on his head, as if it was a helmet. “This was your battle. Now try to claim your victory, show me what you can do, sir!”

And in an instance he made a stabbing-motion with the spoon, hoping to draw out the ghoul’s true power.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor saw a successful counter strike and then his window of opportunity to finish the skeleton warrior off came. Lorenor had a full five minutes of thoughts whilst his opponent ranted on about the battle. The ghoul kept himself in combat stance as he felt the pain in his leg. The weight of his situation. He could literally feel the arrow heads pointed at him as they captured the light in the dimly lit warehouse.

Lorenor held his position with the sword extended fully outward. When he saw the comical attempt by Krugor to done some plain old kitchen supplies as weapon and armor, the ghoul decided enough was enough. He moved as best as he could on one leg and sheathed his weapon in its scabbard. But not after he pointed it at Krugor for a long, threatening moment. As he did that he could hear the Knights pulling their strings on their longbows back even further as they readied their legendary weapons.

Once Lorenor sheathed his sword he knew that he passed their test. They relaxed their weapons but kept them trained on the two undead warriors. He eyed Krugor for a long moment simply just staring at him. Once that passage of time passed, the ghoul took out Krugor's dagger and held it in his hand. He limped over to Krugor as a gesture of good will and attempted to hand the skeleton warrior his weapon. It was only then that Lorenor started to feel the weight of his exhaustion. Time was a cruel mistress indeed.

"You have passed the tests of the Dajas Pagoda well. My name is Lorenor V'halkulus remember that well. I'm a Dajas Pagoda warrior and you've survived your first set of training in the Pagoda facility. I've also passed my first trial with the Scara Brae Knights. Here. Take your dagger back there's no more instruction for this day." Lorenor said calmly waving the dagger in the skeleton's general direction once.

"You've done well. I look forward to giving you further instruction. You must refine your basic combat skills some more before you can become a truly effective warrior. Your weapon is deadly in the right hands. Make them the right hands."

[Krugor]

Krugor grabbed the dagger from his opponent, immediately putting it away and eyeing the ghoul with a face that said ‘told you I would get it back!’. It hadn’t gone according to plan however and being given back his dagger like this was just another slap in the face after being defeated already. The skeleton sighed a little as he took the pot from his head and stuffed both the thing and his spoon back in his rucksack. This battle was over and he had failed.

Lorenor went on and on about training and instructions, but Krugor was missing half of it. In his mind went through all the battles he had fought before. The chef had been bruised, broken and killed many times before but never had he felt like this. This had been a battle just to do battle. He wasn’t on a mission to save someone or to get from one place to another. This had been a competition and he had lost. And damn, it hurts.

“Thanks…” he said softly as Lorenor finished his story. “You were a great opponent. I guess I should be grateful you didn’t kill me off at the beginning, but defeat feels just as bad.”

The skeleton walked up to the ghoul and attempted to give him a slap on the shoulder. A friendly gesture, nothing threatening. The undead had only done what he was supposed to and Krugor couldn’t blame him for his defeat. He only had himself to blame. He could only hope next time would be different.

The master chef adjusted his backpack and tugged his vest back into the right position. He grabbed his staff and freed it from its earthy prison. Krugor scratched his bald skull for a second before he walked towards the same door he used to get inside. His entire body was aching, his bones rambling and shaking in their sockets. He was figuratively and literally broken.

“Maybe we’ll meet again someday, sir” he said as he waved to Lorenor, nothing looking backwards “I’m going to get my ribs back into place now. Bye...”

Pushing the handle down the door opened and he saw the Pagoda’s hallway once more. What a terrible day this had been.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Conclusion post))

Lorenor watched his former opponent leaving the combat arena. Somehow he felt like there was something more that he should say but the words never came out right for the ghoul. He nodded when the Skeleton gave him the friendly greeting and left the moment at that. It was only then that he felt the tremendous pain in his leg as his adrenalin wore off. Lorenor collapsed to the ground and moaned in agony. He grabbed his leg where the femur was broken and several of the Scara Brae Knights immediately put their weapons away and went to attend the fallen Pagoda Warrior.

Lorenor didn't think he'd won that battle. The powers that be would decide his fate next. Was he destined to continue on as a Pagoda Warrior? Or would Krugor take his place so quickly? Lorenor wasn't sure that he'd done anything spectacular enough to earn him any new accolades. He saw doubt in his student's eyes when it had taken Lorenor everything in his power just to survive. The skeleton needed to refine his technique considerably in order to become a skilled warrior. Wincing through the pain as the Scara Brae Knights operated on his leg (On the spot) the ghoul closed his eyes tightly.

He reviewed the events of the fight and wondered how it was possible that Krugor had so much power within him? Lorenor was familiar with the works of Necromancers and he considered that Krugor might be a result of the work of Necromancers. It was a possible theory. That might explain how the archaic forces worked within that strange skeleton warrior.

The Scara Brae Knights needed to use magic and technology to fix his broken leg up. Taking a steel bolt laced with elemental properties, they opened up Lorenor's leg and fuzed the broken bone with a steel bolt. They used archaic healing arts to close the injured bone in place and allow it to regrow around the steel bolt. They closed Lorenor's leg and he watched the whole time, potent anesthetics kicked in as they operated. Soon the task was done and images of the battle haunted the ghoul's mind as they worked.

He thought he could have done better. Self doubt touched his thoughts while they fixed the injury up. He'd received several minor bruises during the ordeal of the battle. His arm was still messed up but they were able to simply use their magics to restore his arm. Lorenor laid there for a long time after the Scara Brae Knights basically left, leaving only a couple of guards to watch over Lorenor. The ghoul stared at the ceiling and found himself loosing consciousness as he waited for his next challenge.

It was a fitting end to a tiresome day.

The End.

*****************************************

Spoils

001---Refined H2H Now Lorenor has reached COMPETENT skill level with his basic Hand 2 Hand skills. No longer are his strikes wild but there is a calculation behind his thrusts. He uses a variety of strikes, clawed, palm strikes, and closed fist strikes to wear down his opponent. He has now learned to apply added force by shifting his body weight with his attacks. This knowledge applies to his basic kicking skills as well. ((Locked until level 1))

002---Swordplay. Basic Knowledge. After he stole John Mattis' sword, Lorenor has had sometime to become familiar with the longsword. He practices everyday and has learned to use the sword effectively. This knowledge is currently basic but will become advanced one day soon. ((Locked until level 1))

[Karuka]

Lorenor's scores are in , Krugor's normal.

Cont: [color="purple"]4: 4

L: I understand why you're there, somewhat, but you tied things in sporadically and shakily.

K: I'd understand why you wanted to fight if we had rooms available for the general public to play in...but we don't. And I don't know why you've been there at all.

Pacing: 4: 4

The intro dragged on too long, and the fight seemed to shift gears sporadically.

Setting: 3: 3

I didn't get much detail from either of you on anything having to do with surroundings.

Persona: 4: 6


L: This Lorenor seems different from other times I've seen him. He doesn't seem the type to care whether or not he leaves his opponent alive, and all of a sudden he's a teacher? I don't know, it didn't seem to work too well, and he seemed to fluctuate during the battle.

K: Krugor stayed fairly consistent and likable throughout the battle.

Action: 3: 7

L: First, they don't force anyone to be a Pagoda warrior, and the Knights of SB don't hang around at the arenas. While the fights are monitored, they aren't monitored -THAT- directly. Think scrying spells, rather than spectators. And you DON'T walk on a broken femur. It's physically impossible for a bi-ped to still walk with a broken leg, it will crumple under you. I wouldn't let anyone get away with that. That's power-gaming

K: The Pagoda is purely a fighting area, we don't have an extra room to make into a kitchen, although, with nine members to feed, I'm sure we have an extensive kitchen. The Pagoda isn't like the Citadel. Other than that, I don't see how a skeleton can cough, but I guess he can. I don't get the shroom of doom or turning into a shroom, either, but it's a non-sensical concept that you seem to have fu with.

Dialogue: 6: 8

L: A note from your first post...guns aren't all that common on Althanas, so when Shanders said "don't be so quick to jump the gun," it wasn't really appropriate. Other than that...there's not much to say that I haven't noted on other Lorenor threads I've judged.

K: I loved the first line of your first post. You established Krugor as likable from the instant we met him. And the line "Get your hands off my boobs, sir!" made me laugh. Dialogue from you was great.

Mechanics: 5: 6

L: I don't have anything to add here that I haven't said to you before.

K: You have a few sentences broken where they shouldn't be, and then strung together oddly, and a couple of verbs in the wrong tense, like "it didn't went smoothly" from post 12 should have been "it didn't go smoothly."

Clarity: 7: 8
I generally understood what was happening during the thread.

Technique: 4: 4

I didn't notice anything special from either of you.

Wild Card: 4: 8

L: Lorenor, you've got several key things about the Pagoda wrong. The description and rules are carefully written up. You don't have to keep your opponent alive, we have healers.

K: You had some great one-liners and weren't afraid to lose to a lower-level character that was power-gaming his mobility.

If either of you have questions about the Pagoda and how it works, or about the judgment, please direct them to me.

And the Damage:

Mutant_Lorenor 35 to Krugor 58

Krugor WINS! He may take Mutant_Lorenor's Warrior position or challenge a Master, if he wants.

Other rewards:

Krugor gets 790 EXP and 150 GP.
Mutant_Lorenor gets 110 EXP and no GP, spoils requests tenatively approved, you'll have to run them by RoG.

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.