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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 17:52:16 GMT -5
The twisting corridors were hardly a fair place to hold a duel since the hippogriff wouldn't be able to use her natural form to it's full effect underground. Then again it wasn't like they were on even terms as far as power went anyhow. Still that just made it all the more interesting. Delano's cause was lost, Corbin would ultimately destroy this shambles of a coven so his purpose here was at an end. He might as well test himself one last time before seeing what fate had in store for him.
"I think here should be secluded enough that we have no need to worry about interruptions. Now..." Tilan turned and swiftly rose his blade, shifting his weight into a fighting stance. The blade gave a flicker of a deeper red shade as if to indicate it's own readiness.
"Shall we begin?"
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 18:04:18 GMT -5
The naginata swiveled in a semicircular arc as the female followed in silence. Her narrowed ochre eyes watched Tilan carefully, mimicking his motions in case he tried anything. The hippogriff's fingers tightened on her staff as he turned to face her. She blinked slowly and nodded.
Brie crouched and then lunged forward, the blade of her staff gleaming in the faint light of the tunnel torches. She crossed blades with him, the collision bringing a loud clang!
"What do you fight for?" she hissed, auburn hair flashing in the light as she swiveled her body for another strike with the staff. her scowl didn't fade, and it seemed like the shadows were screaming.
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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 18:31:50 GMT -5
Tilan pushed back against the blow, keeping his sword up and in striking position. He turned as she did, stepping backwards and crouching down a little before swinging his sword back up to block the next blow. She had the advantage of reach with her spear and it would be difficult to find an opening if she was as talented as he expected. Their last encounter had told him nothing of her spear play though so for now he had to play it safe and examine her in combat.
"Myself simply. It interested me to see how far this coven would go, just as it interests me to test myself against you. In the end this is all just enjoyment." He replied while dodging backwards again, swinging his blade to cover the move, being sure to keep an eye on the walls he was passing so he didn't lead them down a dead end.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 18:41:21 GMT -5
Brie stiffened slightly and hissed, "Selfish bastard."
The mare cursed as she pursued him, lunging forward in a quick set of stabbing motions as if she was harpooning a whale. Each time, her blade met his and she scowled, turning and swiftly changing the angle so that she aimed a stab for Tilan's leg instead of his torso.
The hippogriff in her let out an avian screech of anger. She wanted to pin him in a corner and rip him apart.
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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 18:55:45 GMT -5
Tilan was a little slow to account for the change in aim, the leg of his trouser luckily the only thing to pay the price for the moment. With a quick mental curse he adjusted his parries to account for the new angle. After a couple more blocks he lashed out with a series of swift stabs, trying to regain a bit of ground against the advancing hippogriff.
"Perhaps, but then I was not made solely to protect another." He retorted, mouth edging into a sly smile. If he knew one weakness of the changling it was her anger, though at the same time that was a deadly weapon if he gave her the oppertunity to use it against him.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 19:15:19 GMT -5
Brie growled at the comment, pausing onto to block the blows. As the sword stabbed down, it connected with her shoulder plate and sent her to the left, luckily dodging the others. She rolled her shoulder and shook off the blow, hissing as she leapt away from the wall and Tilan's blade. The corridors were almost impossible to maneuver around the naginata around, but she could see stairs ahead. Oh gods, how the hell would that work?
She pressed her assault until they reached the stairs, stabbing downward towards his legs again. She would slice everything he was to ribbons. Her ochre eyes gleamed, more so in the darkness.
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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 19:36:15 GMT -5
Tilan returned to the defensive, dancing backwards nimbly as the blows continued to drive him away. He took some solace in the walls not letting her swing as well with her weapon but that didn't do anything to counter the reach. As the blows rained at his legs again he darted to the side, ending up on the flight of stairs. The church yard was probably deserted and so long as he kept his wits about him he didn't have to cede any advantages.
Fighting backwards up stairs though wasn't the easiest thing to do and left him far to vulnerable. He feinted a forward lunge, hoping the time it's take her to attempt a parry would give him the opportunity to turn and ascend the stairs without getting a naginata to the back.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 19:44:35 GMT -5
Brie cursed and dropped back to avoid the attack, only to realize that he was buying time for him to run upstairs. She hissed and chased after him, her metal footsteps banging hard on the concrete steps. They appeared in the church courtyard.
The hippogriff narrowed her eyes and leapt the last few steps, landing in a crouched position. She glared at Tilan and charged after him, her staff whirling like a dervish before she clutched it and stabbed forward powerfully. The aim was for his stomach or at least for the sides to slice through.
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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 20:01:16 GMT -5
Tilan kept running until her the faint sound of her staff spinning disappeared. Taking the hint he twisted to one side , bringing his sword round to deflect the possible attack. He had been right about the attack, but underestimated it's speed. The blade nicked his side, cutting through his jacket and cutting just deep enough to draw blood before he pushed himself away from the danger.
The brief flicker of pain registered and was just as quickly dismissed as the witch lunged back with his blade, swiping for the changeling's arms or hands. If he could lessen her ability to use the spear things would be a fair bit easier for him.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 20:12:24 GMT -5
Tilan's blade slashed the hippogriff's arm but it barely transmitted to her brain as she kept coming, her spear stabbing for his stomach once more. Did he think that she would stop because of a hurt arm? She was trained never to give up, never to surrender. She was keep fighting even though unconsciousness; the shadows would puppet her frame around until her quarry was killed...or she was.
Brie spun the blade again, switching hands and licking her forearm. The blood smeared on the valkyrie's cheek, darkening her already-hellish appearance as she charged after the witch. She ducked to the level of his knee and surged upward, hoping to knock him back with brute force before stabbing down with a vicious cut to the thigh.
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Post by Varian on Jul 15, 2008 20:35:41 GMT -5
The fact that the arm wound did nothing to deter her assault wasn't so much a surprise as a welcome sight, the last thing he wanted was for her to go down easily. He had little time to notice her change of hands, the sudden quick rush catching him off guard. He lost his footing for a moment, attempting to roll backwards the moment his back touched the floor. Again though the blade was faster and this time he wasn't lucky enough to get away with a scratch.
The blade dug painfully into his thigh, causing him to yell out before trying to kick the naginata away with his other foot. Instead of focusing on rolling away he instead attempted to push himself upwards, aiming his sword for her stomach and getting ready to roll to the side after the attack.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 15, 2008 21:32:43 GMT -5
She ripped the staffblade out viciously, feeling Tilan's sword clash against her stomach armor and his leg kick her blade out of her hands. In a flurry of black shadowy flames, she transformed into the hippogriff form, letting out a brutal scream as she reared. The sword fell away, letting blood drip from her muscular horse stomach.
The changeling Guardian of the Night raised her avian hooked claws and attempted to slash the witch against the face to rip him apart. Enraged at having been injured, she was now executing a rampage, her sharp beak and dangerous talons engaging in an assault with the witch.
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Post by Varian on Jul 16, 2008 20:02:23 GMT -5
Tilan bit back another yell of pain as the staff left his thigh just as painfully as it had entered. Seeing her shift into her hippogriff form he did his best to push away from her, knowing that staying at her mercy while she was in that form would easily lead to his defeat. He tried to keep the blows from talon and beak away with his sword but it was not an easy task in such close quarters. He spared himself any more deep wounds though he took several rakes to his arms and chest in fending off the blows.
The wound to his thigh made any sort of quick movement awkward, keeping him from trying to roll out of the hippogriff's hold. Instead he aimed a kick for the wound in her stomach, hoping to wind her long enough to get to his feet.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 17, 2008 1:19:52 GMT -5
When she reared, he had taken advantage of that opening to kick, and the hippogriff let out a scream, stumbling back but landing on all fours with a murderous gleam in her black-rimmed ochre hues.
"Bitch...," she hissed, lowering her head and scratching the weed-ridden with her hooked talons like a charging bull. Brie stampeded forward, her bloody beak open to intercept him as he came to his feet.
"I will kill you..."
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Post by Varian on Jul 18, 2008 22:08:09 GMT -5
Tilan moved to his feet as quickly as he could, hoping to gain some time to collect himself but that wasn't to happen as the Changeling charged straight for him. He swung his sword round as possible though the speed of the assault was too fast for the sword alone to be a deterrent. His free hand waved down, brushing over the wound in his thigh and flicking a few droplets of blood into the air. Adverting his eyes he snapped his fingers, causing the droplets of blood to flare into blinding points of light for a split second before fizzing out. With any luck it would blind the hippogriff long enough for him to put some distance between them.
"You can try..."
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 18, 2008 22:16:12 GMT -5
As the sword flashed down and the witch's magic sprinkled the air with light, Brie's eyes hastily surveyed the situation and lunged to the right, where Tilan had turned his head. She quickly turned, her pointed hooves and claws tearing up pieces of the courtyard underneath. The hippogriff let out a vicious screech and bucked forward onto her front limbs, her powerful hindlegs tightening and releasing a powerful kick that she hoped would strike the witch in the chest or stomach. However, it was a blind shot since some of Tilan's magic was still sparkling in her eyes.
"No, it's a promise...," she hissed.
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Post by Varian on Jul 25, 2008 18:29:06 GMT -5
Tilan started to move back the moment the light fizzled, twisting his body slightly as he went. He was lucky that he had done so else he would have earned a blow to the stomach and at the very least been on his back again. The blow instead glanced his sword arm, enough to knock the blade from his hand and to somewhere behind him. He cursed but focused on withdrawing, he could get the blade back once he was happily out of the threat range of the hippogriff.
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep Guardian." He returned, testing the mobility of his injured arm as his other one reached inside his coat for a vial of blood.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 27, 2008 21:22:31 GMT -5
A vicious scream ripped through the hippogriff's maw as she turned, her slitted eye affixing him with a venomous glare. She faced him and charged at him once more.
"Likewise, you stupid witch," she hissed as her hooves and claws clattered on the cobblestones.
She chased after him furiously, shadows bubbling up like lava as her beak snapped out for anything that she could reach and rend apart.
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Post by Varian on Jul 29, 2008 11:35:03 GMT -5
Standing his ground, Tilan withdrew the vial and threw it to the ground, shattering it against the rough ground. He kept his eyes on the charging hippogriff, trying to time his strike. Fear wasn't something he was akin to feeling, but it was beginning to register that if he acted in panic he was as good as dead.
"I'll only promise you a fight." He threw his hand up sending the blood running across the ground, spikes breaking upwards into the air in front of him. His injured arm move forward as well, shooting a ball of fire. It was a good time since he had used his normal magic in a real fight, but at this point he didn't want to hold anything back.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Jul 29, 2008 22:31:01 GMT -5
The hippogriff reared back as the spikes exploded from the ground, slamming her talons and beak down in the grooves between the spikes. She let out a shriek as shadows rose in front of her, blocking the fireball with a smoky explosion. Silence suddenly crept into the room as the dark shield dropped to the ground like rain, the blackness rushing away to the wall behind Tilan.
"Oh...Tilan..."
Shadows bubbled and plopped, stretching out in gruesome designs as mishapen and bent avian limbs popped out of the wall. As if the bricks were an amniotic sac, the hippogriff's head wrenched its way out of it, screeching...in an almost seductive way. She reached out for Tilan, her claws dripping in...shadows or black blood. Whatever it was, it covered her arms as well, like wet tar.
Slowly, slowly, slowly, a red eye made itself known in the black bird-like mass that was her head. It blinked and swiveled its slits over to the witch.
"WHY. SO. SERIOUS?!" A scream rent through the air as she lunged for him, her blob-like figure materializing once it left the wall as she began scrambling for him. Shadowy claws surged forward with the force of a juggernaut as Brie aimed her slash for the witch's chest.
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Post by Varian on Jul 30, 2008 10:02:23 GMT -5
Tilan watched the smoke dissipate, keeping himself alert for whatever could be coming next. He had another vial in hand quickly, not wanting to waste a second when the hippogriff decided to show herself again. He span to face the voice that came from behind him, being greeted by a rather grotesque sight. It didn't take long for him to come to his senses, flicking the vial open and tipping the blood into the air. His hands moved with trained precision, forming the floating liquid into a solid barrier between him and the hippogriff moments before she charged.
Time seemed to slow for him as he watched the guardian lunge at him through crimson barrier. Something was wrong, something wasn't quite right. It struck him then, a sharp spike of fear struck him. The barrier wasn't going to hold. He took a step back, or at least as much as he could. Time decided it would would move at normal pace again. The hippogriff as anticipated cutting through the barrier as if it wasn't there. The claws connected with his chest, gashing deep wounds. He stumbled backwards at the force of the blow, loosing his footing and falling over. His hands moved shakily to his chest, feeling the blood covering his chest.
For some reason all he could think of doing was laughing.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Aug 1, 2008 5:39:09 GMT -5
Like a horse leaping a barrier, Brie's hooves and talons clattered down on the cobblestones, the black grimy blackness splattering all over the ground like a dropped bucket full of ooze. It bubbled and spat venomously once it touched the ground, occasionally allowing the screams of smothered insects and other tiny creatures to be heard from underneath. The guardian snarled and screeched, towering over Tilan. Her tufts of feathers on her head lifted dominantly as she rose, declaring herself the victor.
However, she was slightly nonplussed at the laughter. She brought herself down heavily from the rearing pose, the acidic darkness puddling everywhere. She glared down at him, hissing slightly. Sable blood dripped from the tip of her curved beak, dropping onto Tilan's nose as she stood millimeters away from him. She was no longer worried about his power.
The hippogriff panted slightly, her eyes narrowed as she watched the man laugh.
"You laugh in your moment of death. I suppose that is the meaning of a true comedy."
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Post by Varian on Aug 5, 2008 9:09:31 GMT -5
Tilan carefully lifted the hand from his chest, examining the mixture of blood and black ooze that covered it. He could only smile at the sight, how long hand it been since something had actually injured him this severely? He was half numb with a mixture of pain and shock but at the same time he felt almost more alive. He figured his mind must have been in shock as well but there wasn't much to be done about that.
"Death? You've bested me...but I must deny you that privilege..." Tilan grinned, looking perhaps a little hysterical next to his normally calm appearance. The blood on his hand formed into a small blade, a blade that he quickly stabbed into the area of his coat containing his blood vials. The blade split into parts, fracturing the remaining vials and spilling their contents. The blood quickly started to cover him entirely, flashing brightly with pulses of light. Mere moments after blade struck the blood had covered his entire body, seemingly bubbling away at his body. Soon enough his body had apparently melted into the ground itself, leaving the hippogriff alone on the surface.
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Post by x_p a n d a on Aug 5, 2008 10:14:37 GMT -5
It was at that moment that the stopped wind now began to blow once more, a simple thing. It just washed over the mare and the trees and leaves in the courtyard. She stared down numbly at the bloody cobblestones, feathers fluttering in the air. She sighed and transformed into her human state, sliding out of the bubbling shell that was her shadow hippogriff form. "Tilan...," she said breathily.
Her armored feet clanked on the spluttering mix of blood and shadows as she emerged from the hunkering mass of a hollowed-out cocoon. The guardian had kept her black wings and owlish tufts for ears that stuck out from her auburn hair. She looked to the sky, wondering about her master's fate.
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