Prince Arzuné Vs Prince Manaur

[Yagathai]

A chill wind moans over gravestones and through the gnarled, fingerlike branches of leafless trees. A moon, full and bloated as a week-old corpse, casts a pale, sepulchural light over the ancient graveyard. As the Champions approach their starting marks, a low sussuration builds. The noise grows louder and louder, first a murmuring, then a chattering, then an unearthly cacophany of wailing as hundreds of pale and luminous shades of the long-dead explode from the earth and whirl into the air. They coil, and spin, and dance in mad circles of excitement. Tonight, they will feed -- and their numbers will increase by one.

They dance, whispering ancient blasphemies, and twine like cats around the legs of Prince Arzuné, last scion of Lost Lemuria. He holds a cold, cruelly barbed blade in one hand, and from beneath a metal helm burn eyes devoid of any humanity. He is clad in plain black cloth stretched over mail, and a set of heavy cloth skirts split for riding.

Facing him is Manuar El’Ethuil, Elf Prince. The ghosts fly screaming between his legs and around his head, but dare not approach too close to his gleaming elf-mail. He holds a slim, swan-fletched throwing-spear in his hands, and has two curving blades, one long and one short, sheathed at his waist.

The two Champions, guided by the voices of the centuries-dead, stand facing each other in a field of crypts and gravestones. The fight will begin with each 6 paces from the other.

PM me your first exchange, gentlemen.

[Yagathai]

Prince Arzuné takes a cautious step to his rear, squinting from underneath his helmet in an effort to determine what his pointy-eared opponent plans to do. His powers of deduction are not sorely taxed, however, as Prince Manaur takes a couple of quick steps backwards and, with a sidearm flick of the wrist, casts his javelin. It flies, straight and true... and lands point-first in the soft, loamy earth, right at the feet of its intended target!

A pair of ghosts fly circles up the shaft of the still-quivering missile, laughing mockingly at the elf's miscalculation.

Arzuné V1 script:

Action 1: Assess
Movement: Walk backwards

Manaur V1 script:

Action 1: Acquire Target
Action 2: Throw
Move: Walk Backwards

Arzuné, you find what you are looking for. Your opponent intends to throw a javelin at you. In fact, he just did.

Manuar rolls 4 black dice and gets 4 successes, -1 success for Walking, -2 successes for medium range. 1 net success is a hit -- except that your opponent is just outside your Lob range, and so you miss!

The combatants start the next volley at 9 paces apart.

Players have until 16:45 EST to submit any forfeits to me.

[Yagathai]

Perhaps emboldened by his opponent's miscast, Prince Arzuné dashes forward broken-field, ducking and dodging in case he's attacked again.

"Death shall be a..." he begins to taunt.

But his elf opponent does not seem to be taking any sort of aggressive action. Instead the elf hops backwards, leans forward and begins to intone an ancient elvish war-chant. The ghosts around him scatter in fear.



Arzuné V2
Action 1: Avoid
Movement: Jog

Manaur V2
Action 1: Song of the Sword
Action 2: Song of the Sword
Move: Dash Backwards

The combatants will start volley 3 10 paces apart.

Please have any volley 3 forfeits to me by 11:30 AM EST.

[Yagathai]

Dismayed by the growing gap between his intended victim and himself, Prince Arzuné puts on a burst of speed. "Death shall be a release!" he bellows.

Head down, legs pumping, he slashes at a couple of ghosts too slow to glide out of his path. They giggle madly as the blade passes right through them.

Meanwhile, Prince Manaur shuffles backwards yet again. He continues to chant softly, and as he does so he can feel the ancient power of his forebears fill him with a fiery strength. A bevy of shades coil loosely around his sword-arm, as if basking in the warmth of the eldritch power of the children of the earth.

Arzuné
Action 1: Block
Action 2: Strike
Movement: Sprint Forwards

Manaur
Action 1: Forfeited
Action 2: Song of the Sword
Movement: Dash Backwards

Manaur rolls 7 (!) successes on 5 black open-ended dice for Song of the Sword. He only needed 3. Manaur now has +1 balance die on his Sword skill.

Arzuné is still out of range for melee combat.

Opponents will begin this exchange 8 paces apart

PM me your exchanges, gentlemen.

[Yagathai]

The ghosts gibber and caper at a frenzied pitch as their two potential meals rush towards each other, heedless of the risk involved!

Arzuné closes with his singing foe, prepared for an attack. But with a single movement Manaur draws his blades and times a picture-perfect stop-thrust, sliding his chisel-sharp weapon through some chainmail links and into the muscles of Arzuné's left side. As the elf slides his blade back out, a nearby ghost screams in delight, swoops in and intercepts a few drops of the Lemurian scion's blood before they hit the ground.

Arzuné
Action 1: Block
Movement: Sprint

Manaur
Action 1: Draw Swords
Action 2: Block/Strike 4/9
Move: Dash Forward

Action 1: Block v. Draw Swords -- no conflict

Action 2: Nothing v. Block/Strike

Manaur rolls 6 successes on 9 grey dice. -2 success for opponent sprinting = 4 net successes. A Mark hit!

Arzuné rolls 5 black armor dice against an Ob. of 3 (Elven swords have VA 2). Only 2 successes. Arzuné takes a B7 Midi wound.

He makes his Steel check with successes to spare.

The combatants will begin the next volley 1 pace apart.
Arzuné has a Midi wound, and is at -2 dice to all of his actions.

Players have until 3:45 EST to send me V2 forfeits.

[Yagathai]

"He tasks me." Arzuné snarls. The Lemurian doesn't even seem to notice the slice taken out of his side as he continues the momentum of his charge and drives a shoulder deep into his opponent's midsection. Prince Manaur braces himself for the impact, but to no avail. He goes down in a tangle of preternaturally graceful limbs! His elf-blade slices ineffectually at Arzuné's armour as he falls, whispering through cloth but doing nothing to the woven steel links underneath.

The elf prince slashes blindly upward from where he lays with his blades, tearing completely through a shade that learns, too late, that his ectoplasm is vulnerable to the spirit-blade of an elven sword-singer. The shade dissolves with a keening wail and dozens of suddenly afraid spirits jet to a safer viewing distance.

Arzuné
Action 1: Charge
Movement: Sprint

Manaur
Action 1: Block/Strike 4/9
Action 2: Block/Strike 4/9
Move: Dash Sideways

Action 1: Charge v. Block/Strike

Charge: Arzuné rolls 4 successes on 4 black dice (+2 for having been sprinting for 3 rounds total).

Manaur rolls only 1 success on his 4 black dice Power check to resist the charge! (As he is in aggressive stance, had he used his Agility to resist instead, he would have only been rolling 3 dice)

Manuar is pushed three paces and is now prone!

Strike: Manaur rolls 4 successes on 9 grey dice, -2 successes for sprinting for 2 net successes. An Incidental hit!

Arzuné rolls 4 successes on 5 black armor dice against an Ob. of 3. Success! The armor deflects the blow.

Action 2:

Nothing v. Block/Strike 4/9

The opponents are too far away for melee combat this action!

The combatants will begin the next volley 3 paces apart
Arzuné has a Midi wound, and is at -2 dice to all of his actions!
Manaur is prone!

Combatants have until 4:45 EST to send me their V3 forfeits.

[Yagathai]

Arzuné slows to a jog. "He tasks me and I..." he begins as he approaches his fallen foe. The Lemurian reverses his barbed blade in his hands and raises it high in the air as Prince Manaur scrambles for better position. Arzuné stabs downwards with all of his might, though his wounded side twinges. Manaur is hit square in the chest -- and the point of the blade scrapes painfully across his elfmail and buries itself two fingerlengths into the earth!

The whirling shades moan. They hope to feed on sweet, rich elfblood tonight!

Arzuné
A1: Set
A2: Great Strike (+1 to VA)
Move: Jog

Manaur
A1: Forfeit
A2: Get up
Move: None

A1: Set v. Forfeit -- no conflict
A2: Great Strike v. Get Up

Arzuné rolls 4 successes on 5 grey dice, -1 success for jogging. A Mark hit!

Manaur rolls 3 successes on 5 black armor dice against an Ob 3. Success! His armor deflects the blow!

The opponents will start next round 1 pace apart.
Arzuné has a Midi wound, and is at -2 dice to all of his actions!
Manaur is still prone, though he's halfway to getting up.

Send me your next exchange!

[Yagathai]

As Prince Manaur attempts to get to his feet, Arzuné tries to catch the elf's deadly main blade in a cunning bind. For a split second both combatants think he has succeeded, but Manaur just manages to disengage his weapon with a graceful twist.

As he scrambles to his feet, the elf prince slashes wildly at his opponent in an effort to keep the wounded Lemurian at bay. The blow skids off of Arzuné's chest armor, but the chisel-tip of Manaur's sword just catches under his foe's shoulder-guard, popping a rivet and loosening a studded-steel epaulet.

Arzuné
V1
A1: Disarm
Movement: None

Manaur
V1
A1: Get up
A2: Block/Strike 2/9
Movement: Walk/Scramble

Disarm v. Get Up:
Arzuné gets five successes on five grey dice! Unfortunately, his Ob. was 6. Disarm fails.

Nothing v. Block/Strike
Manaur rolls 6 successes on nine grey dice. -2 successes for Takashido not-dashing penalty, for four net successes! A Mark hit!

Arzuné rolls three successes and one 1 on five black armor dice. The blow does no damage, but he is at -1 armor die on the chest area!

The opponents will start next round 1 pace apart.
Arzuné has a Midi wound, and is at -2 dice to all of his actions! His chest armor is at -1 die!

You have until 3PM EST to PM me any forfeits.

[Yagathai]

As if sensing the end is near, the ghostly spectators form a narrow, phantasmal ring around the combatants. Arzuné takes a weak step backwards and puts everything he has into one mighty cross-body slash! His elf opponent mirrors his movement, slashing from the opposite direction.

Both blades strike true, rending armor and sending links of chainmail flying. Everything is still for a moment, and then a gout of steaming heartsblood, black in the moonlight, fountains out from Prince Arzuné's chest. "He tasks me, and I shall... have him," Arzuné whispers. He falls, first to his knees, then to the ground. The race of Lemuria is no more.

Ghosts gibber and scream in delight as they swarm around the body, eager to get to the sweet, warm blood before it disappears into the thirsty black earth. Some are even so bold as to whisper across the blood-spattered armor of Prince Manaur, though they are careful to give his blade a wide berth. And the next time they rise, at the next full moon, a new shade will rise with them.

Arzuné
A1: Strike
Move: Dash

Manaur:
A1: Block/Strike 2/9
A2: Block/Strike 2/9
Move: Dash

Action 1:

Strike v. Block/Strike

Arzuné rolls 3 successes of 5 grey dice to Strike, -2 ob for two dashes, net 1 success.
Manaur rolls 0 successes (two 1s!) on 2 grey dice to block.
1 net success for Arzuné -- an Incidental B3 hit!

Manaur rolls 3 successes and 1 one on his armor die, against an Ob. of 2. The blow is deflected.
The failed armor die is re-rolled, and comes up... 1! Manaur loses a die of armor!

Manaur rolls 8 successes on 9 grey dice to strike, minus 1 success for his opponent's Dash for 7 net successes. A Superb B10 hit!

Arzuné rolls 2 successes and one 1 on four grey armor dice against an Ob. 3. His armor doesn't protect him from the blow! His armor is reduced by one die!

Manaur has defeated Arzuné.

One point of Fate to the victor.

[jc_madden]

Manaur ends his song and raises his sword in salute of the fallen. "Never again shall the Lemurian's plague the fair race of the Elves, you fought valiantly but in the end you were outclassed."