(10) Two Daggers and a Prayer v (15) Standing Ground

[Raychel]

Raychel was relatively tough and tenacious for someone of her experience, and her reflexes were not slow. Although this was the first time she had ever been wounded so terribly and she was greatly pained, she exhibited good self-control and did not panic. She had not given up and fully intended to continue fighting even with a wounded shoulder.

If she had been in a fair fight with a normal human opponent, she would have had time to do something after falling with the halberd. However, Raychel’s opponent apparently had astonishing powers of celerity. In less than a split second, he managed to let go of his polearm, pin her down, regrab his polearm, say something (his words flowed so fast that she could not understand what), and twist the polearm in a final coup de gras.

On the one hand, Raychel marveled at her opponent’s ability to break the space-time continuum. On the other, she detested his dishonor. The meaning of a just fight must have meant nothing to him. Why did people who could manipulate time like that even bother to enter a competition?

In Raychel’s dying moments, she spit blood into her opponent’s face. She hoped that word would spread far and wide of his abuse of power and disgrace him to the end of his days. She thought it more likely, however, that he and his comrade would leave the island after slaughtering Raychel and Lin, and spread tales of a heroic, glorious victory.

In Raychel’s last moment as the world was growing fainter to her, she stabbed at her opponent’s foot with her dagger. Not that it mattered- with the speed at which he moved, he had probably already run off, slaughtered Lin, taken a boat back to the mainland, and enjoyed an ale at the pub with his companion. And even if he hadn’t, it still didn’t matter to Raychel anymore, for the fight was now over for her: everything faded to black.

[Zerith]

So with one quick twist half of the opposition would disappear. Leaving only one more for Torin and Zerith to deal with. Perhaps she wouldn’t be anymore difficult than her unfortunate companion, considering the fact that Zerith took care of her by himself. So by logic, if this girl had the same amount of skill as the one beneath the young fighter, then this fight was already done. Besides, now the odds favored Zerith.

However the poor girl on the ground had a few things to give Zerith before he could go and help Torin. Of course that was if you could consider having blood spit in your face a gift. Did she feel some sense of accomplishment for doing such a pointless thing? He could easily wipe the crimson liquid off his face. However, she would definitely feel better with what she did next. With her last bit of strength she managed to drive her dagger through Zerith’s left foot and into the ground. Leaving the halberdier groaning in pain while she left the world of Althanas and departed for the Antifirmament.

“Bitch,” Zerith muttered through clenched teeth. Although it was probably only fair that he would suffer from some sort of injury, that didn’t change the fact that it still hurt. It even sent more pain through his body as he reached down and pulled it out of his foot with his left hand, making him stop to catch his breath and wait for the pain to fade away. But now with that hindrance out of the way, it was about time he starting to bring this battle to a close.

As he looked around to see where that other girl had run off to, Zerith unsheathed his dagger and held it between his teeth. He’d leave Amenzanil where it was, standing like a monument to show what happpened to the staff-wielder. What would that other woman think when she saw it, would she be outraged? Would her emotions lead her on a direct course with Zerith, forcing the two to get up close and personal? As the young fighter drew Trithdursil, he was beginning to hope so.

Then he spotted her, waiting outside the building that Torin was still probably in. That’s what he’d do, he’d distract her to allow his comrade a chance to escape. Then while Zerith was the object of her attention, Torin would come from behind and finish her with one swing. Then this would all be over and the two of them could move on to the next round.

After aiming the best he could Zerith took a chance and threw the blood covered dagger at the girl. Then as the small blade flew through the air he switched his serrated blade over to his only free hand. So with the dagger in his left and Trithdursil in his right, the fighter slowly limped his way to towards the only other person that stood in his way.

With luck, he would find her no more difficult than the first. Regardless of a small injury or not.

[Ashiakin]

TWO DAGGERS AND A PRAYER

Just a note to the both of you: While you technically did nothing wrong by posting in quick succession in the beginning of your battle, it's generally considered courteous to wait 24 hours before posting again after each of you have posted once.

Lin
Introduction – 6 (I liked your intro and the way you worked with Raychel, but I didn't like how you both posted in quick succession.)
Setting – 7
Dialogue – 7
Character – 6
Rising Action – 6
Climax – 0
Conclusion – 0
Writing Style – 7 (Very good and without all the fat that most people on Althanas include. Impressive for a round one tournament battle.)
Strategy – 7 (The bit with tearing down the building was nice, but I'd be careful with such tactics in the future--doing something like that to an object/structure that your opponent created could be considering bunnying if you take it too far.)
Wild Card – 5

Total Score – 51

Raychel
Introduction – 5 (Check my note up top and what I said to Lin.)
Setting – 5
Dialogue – 5
Character – 6 (You seem to have a good grasp on your character, but you need to do a little work on your dialogue and thoughts before you'll be able to express your character totally effectively.)
Rising Action – 6
Climax – 5
Conclusion – 5
Writing Style – 5
Strategy – 7 (Although your character died very quickly, you made it seem believable. It worked with the rest of the thread well.)
Wild Card – 6

Total Score - 55

Team Average - 53

STANDING GROUND

Zerith
Introduction – 5
Setting – 5
Dialogue – 6 (You did a good job of having your character speaking and showing your character's thoughts when appropriate.)
Character – 5
Rising Action – 5
Climax – 5
Conclusion – 3 (I can't give you full points here because you didn't conclude. This wasn't entirely your fault, so you get some points.)
Writing Style – 5
Strategy – 6 (Your initial attack made your opening post feel a little rushed, but I think that it was an effective and believable strategy--you saw that Lin and Raychel were just talking, so you attacked them.)
Wild Card – 6

Total Score – 51

Torin Reahkari
Introduction – 5 (You only posted once. That says it all, really.)
Setting – 1
Dialogue – 1
Character – 1
Rising Action – 0
Climax – 0
Conclusion – 0
Writing Style – 1
Strategy – 0
Wild Card – 0
Total Score – 9

Team Average - 30

Two Daggers and a Prayer advances to Round 2!

REWARDS:
Lin receives 836 EXP and 150 GP.
Raychel receives 860 EXP and 150 GP.
Zerith receives 51 EXP and 100 GP.