Search for a Champion (Tournament, Din Clan Only)

OoC: As you can see by the title, this is a tournament that has been set up for the Din Clan. Please do not post in this thread unless you have signed up for it.

And now...on with the show! ^_^

BiC: Still half-hidden by the rolling hill country several miles in the distance, the early morning sun cast it’s light over the combined citadel and training grounds that overlooked the swift-flowing river, promising to bring warmth to the cold stone walls later in the day. A reddish tinge seemed to hang over the world, an effect produced by the sun’s rays reflecting off the wispy clouds floating high overhead. The lone figure that stood on the citadel’s great stone wall facing the east to greet the beginning of a fresh dawn and new day smiled at the effect, knowing it to be an omen from his patron Goddess, blessing the task he would soon begin.

Within the citadel itself, one of many that his powerful Clan maintained across the goddesses Creation, those thirteen warriors who had answered his call stirred from sleep and refreshed themselves from the long journeys they had undertaken to be in this place, at this time. Each of them was a mighty warrior in his or her own right from a variety of lands, and could have defeated virtually any foe had they worked together. Instead, the thirteen were here to duel with each other over the right and privilege to become the Goddess’ chosen warrior – the Champion of her Clan, more blessed and powerful than any of her other servants save their Lords, past and present.

Turning away from the brightening horizon, the current Lord of the Clan of Power drew his dark robes closer to his body and considered the past history of his Clan. Since the earliest days, when they had been ruled by the Triumvirate of Remus, Drewballa, and Tristann Velorei, the Champion had always been synonymous with the Lord of the Clan. It had stayed the same during the reign of the Lioness, and her successor had assumed the mantles of both Champion and Lord when the great Goddess had called her on to higher duties elsewhere.

Of late, though, he had felt that his efforts were not enough to adequately fulfil both positions. At some point after he had been given leadership of the Clan, it had grown in size and power to the point where a second person may be necessary to do what had only ever required a single person. With this foremost in his mind, the Lord of the Clan of Din had sent out a call to many different warriors, to come and be tested for their worthiness and perhaps take on the role of being the Goddess’ Champion. The thirteen within the citadel had answered that call, and now he would begin their trials.

~ ~ ~

Several hours later, with the sun throwing golden light down into the citadel, Tiroth stepped out into the well-kept garden and turned to face the warriors. At one end of the gathering stood the wielder of the Justi Blade, who had once faced dragons in combat. Next to him was a young archer who had once seen the face of the Three Goddesses, while a strangely mutated Hylian stood just in front of them. Another of the warriors carried a suppressed demon inside him, bound by wards that appeared to centre on his blade, while yet another showed signs of mastery over fire. Beside the pair stood a young male of the Gerudo race, almost obscuring a young human mage that sat on a bench behind him. A figure heavily swathed in cloaks sat on the other side of the bench, his undead form protected from the lethal sunlight by the many layers of cloth. A tattooed Zora glanced at the odd warrior out of the corner of his eye, clearing intrigued by him. Three other humans completed the group, two far younger than the third and possessing reasonable magical potential, along with a solitary warrior clad head to foot in heavy armour.

All thirteen warriors turned towards the Lord of the Din Clan as he approached the small gathering, focusing their attention on the one who had called them here and offered them the chance to earn greater power. Tiroth smiled inwardly and allowed his red-eyed gaze to briefly play over each of them in turn until he came to stop a few short metres away from the nearest.

“Welcome to my citadel,” he said. “You all know why you are here, and what each of you stands to gain if you are successful in the trials.” Here, Tiroth paused for a moment to let his gaze wander between those assembled before him again, before continuing in a harsher tone of voice. “Each trial will be trial by combat, fought against another of your number.”

One hand rose from his side, and pointed at two of the gathered warriors in turn as he said, “You may begin.”

With that, the Lord of the Clan of Power turned and walked to stand at the base of the citadel walls, to watch and judge the fight to come.

OoC: The first two combatants know who they are.

OoC: So sorry! My turn, getting to work. Sorry again.

BiC: Slow, bold strides the young Blackshot took. His thin legs moved in perfect rhythm as he made his way to the center, his fellow members of Tiroth's Din Clan watching wordlessly. At last, at the center, he remained poised for combat, one hand sliding to his sword, and another to his crossbow. Tiroth smiled at him thinly.

From the other side came a fairly tall, muscular man wielding a sword that gave off an aura of energy. This man had jet-black hair, and his steps were light. As he made his way to the center, Blackshot eyed him like a hawk. "You two. Fight," Tiroth urged. But they did not yet. "Name?" the crossbowman asked suspiciously. The answer: "Rex," the other said simply.

"Let this fight be one to be commemorated." And with that, Blackshot lunged. Rex caught the two in a sword-lock immediately, and with his superior strength, Blackshot was quick to fall. Rex smiled as his sword came down on Blackshot's back. It did nothing but bounce him backward. Smiling at Rex's puzzlement, Blackshot clarified "Sacred Armor." "Ah."

And now Rex charged, but Blackshot was ready. He leaped over the blade and struck at Rex, who staggered backwards. Not taking a chance, the crossbowman unloaded about 20 arrows at the disoriented swordsman. Imagine his shock when Rex stood without a scratch upon him! "Missed," Rex laughed. And the battle began again.

OoC: Once again, sorry for the wait. Posts will be longer after HR arrives.

OoC: Alright, I'll finally get a post in. Hopefully I can still get on to finish this battle. I'll try to make this interesting...

BiC:

All the clan's best fighters were assembled. As Tiroth welcomed them, Rex looked around at his potential opponents. 'They will be destroyed easily' Scion, the demon inside of Rex, commented.

After Tiroth was done with his welcome speech, he pointed at two of the warriors saying “You may begin.” Rex looked down the Din clan's all-powerful Lord's finger. Surely it wasn't pointed at him. As everyone else around the room looked at him and his opponent, he rose and moved to the center of the arena. When asked his name, Rex only replied the one word.

The battle started with a few unsuccessful attacks, but Rex could tell both of them were still only warming up. He twirled Eliendel around his head as he charged once more. Blackshot quickly attempted a stab at Rex's open torso, but it was quickly deflected by Rex as he brought the blade back down. He slashed horizontally at the archer, who jumped away from the shot, barely avoiding the blow. The wind from the swipe ruffled his clothing as he slid back.

"What is your name?" Rex asked as he stood up straight.

"Blackshot, the archer" the stranger replied. It was amazing how they both served the same goddess, but had never met. That was how it was with most of the warriors. Only a few words were exchanged over dinner, and then everyone had been too tired from their journeys to continue anything else. Everyone had gone to bed at the same time.

"Sacred armor, huh? Then I'll have to attack where it doesn't protect!" Rex attacked again while saying the last few words, but Blackshot quickly shot a few warning arrows at him. Easily twirling around them, Rex had halted his attack. Blackshot let loose another volley, but this time with more arrows. Rex had to jump to avoid them, even doing some aerial acrobatics. When he landed, another volley had him on the run again.

As Rex ran along the sides of the arena dodging arrows, he noticed a figure standing in along a wall. It was the almighty Tiroth, watching them silently. Knowing his performance was not his best, Rex knew if he were to win the fight he had to get at Blackshot's weakness. Close-range combat.

'But with this blade, I can't hurt him. That armor protects him.' Rex was thinking only to himself.

'Then you must find another weakness. He has to have one. Let me out for a bit...'

'No! That's the last thing I'll do. You know that.' Rex would not allow the demon to trick him, not anymore.

"Who was that?" Blackshot called across the arena. "I heard a voice."

"He can hear you!" Rex blurted out in amazement. 'You can't talk anymore. You could give away any strategy we have. Just send me ideas, not words.' Rex realized that he was at an extreme disadvantage here. Without his tactician fully available, and his blade utterly useless, there was a small chance he could beat this archer. But he had to, for the glory of Din!

He rushed in to the center of the arena, as Blackshot slowly backed away firing a volley of arrows. As he reloaded, he turned and ran away quickly.

'There's his weakness!' Rex was excited. He had found a way to exploit him. When Blackshot got to the wall, Rex was on him in a flash, swinging his blade heavily down on the weaker man. Blackshot rolled out of the way as Rex turned his blade so it wouldn't get buried from the strength of the attack. By that time Blackshot had gotten a few more arrows in his crossbow, and he fired again. Rex slashed them out of the air and advanced again.

Once he realized it would be close-combat fighting, Blackshot pulled out his own dagger. Rex attacked blow after blow just trying to tire Blackshot out. He controlled the fight just as long as he could keep Blackshot on the defensive.

OoC: Sorry, but I have no time to reply. My dad's in the bathroom now, and I only have another minute. My apologies, but I get little to no CP time.

OoC: Well, I think this fight has continued long enough. Time to move on.

BiC: Leaning against the wall enclosing the gardens, Tiroth watched the duel carefully as blows rained back and forth between the two warriors, sliding off armour or leaving shallow slits that leaked blood behind them. Eliendel would dart toward it’s master’s opponent, only to be turned aside from striking a serious wound and pulled back to parry a thrust from Blackshot’s smaller weapon. Occasionally, the archer would pull back from the melee and attempt to impale Rex upon the tip of a crossbow bolt, but the swordsman would always manage to dodge the deadly missile by a hair. The dragon could see the demon’s influence in each and every near-miss.

Despite all this, it soon became apparent to Din’s servant that neither of the two warriors was truly fighting at his best.

Stepping towards them, Tiroth silently drew his millennia-old katana from it’s plain sheath on his back and held it by his side. Red eyes narrowed to slits, he waited for a short moment to judge his timing and leapt forward, thrusting his ancient weapon into the centre of the conflict and knocking both combatants weapons aside. A small, controlled burst of magic did the same for Rex and Blackshot, clearing a space between the two and making the demon caged within Rex’s body simmer with anger at the attack.

Ignoring the enraged demon, the draconic Lord of Din’s mortal servants pointed towards the citadel proper with his blade. “This duel is over. Rest yourselves, and return to this garden when the sun rises again.”

Turning away from the two surprised warriors, Tiroth passed through one of the numerous doors leading into the open area and beckoned to two of those others who had answered his call. One straightened and hurried after the cloaked Lord, while the other, swathed in a heavy cloak himself, simply shuffled after him.

* * *

Close to an hour later, the three of them stood amongst the trees of a forest. Light from the afternoon sun filtered down through the branches and leaves, leaving a patchwork of light and shadow playing over the leaf litter beneath their feet.

Tiroth turned towards the two warriors. “Use the terrain as you will. Your opponents shall be each other.” Then, he turned away from the two and walked a short distance away from them – close enough to see and hear their fight, but far enough not to get caught up in it.

“Begin.”

OoC: I'll let my opponent go first, to get a taste of his skills.

EDIT: Okay where's SheikahOps?

OoC: Okay, now I'm just mad. I hope that if I post he'll come.

Twae explored the terrain. The lush trees left the moon to shine through their slender branches, revealing his opponent in the midst of the forest. His tair trailed down to his shoulders, from then down a long cloak reached his knees. Something strange about his tall slender figure. When he turned around a spider figure was on his back. A mace, which resembled a screaming human face, was man's weapon of choice. The war instrument was clamped in his hand, ready to spike its opponent.

Twae made the first strike. His long spear raised in the air and made a vast cloud of smoke. It homed toward the human figure. Almost reaching him, the human cried out:
"Summon Guardians!"
After the smoke cleared, Twae saw two giant spiders blocking his path between the stranger and him. With a quick slash, green blood spewed of the spiders.

"Very good." The stranger said, "What is your name?"
"You haven't recognized me by now?" Twae said in amazement."I am Twae Shaenah of Dragnar."
"I am Daryn, an Arachnid summoner." Daryn said.

OoC: What will Daryn do next?

"And now you should prepare to die," Daryn smirked as his finggers flexed in the patterns so accustomed to his digits. He threw out his hand in a threatening gesture as his spell finished.

The other warrior grasped his spear; a hint of dark magic oozed from the weapon. "Stay away from that," Daryn ordered his guardians. "Now - attack!" The spiders leaped towards their prey with eager eyes as saliva dripped from their mandibles.

"For the favor Din," muttered the enemy as he thrust the spear into a threatening stance. His breast plate knocked against his body as he twirled the spear around, and his helmet reflected the light of the area.

With a leap, the man brought himself to Daryn, spear at the black priest's throat. The spiders scuttered after him, but it was too late; the undead warrior was to close. "Who will die now?" asked the warrior as he prepared for the slice.

"You!" yelled Daryn. The fluttering of wings sounded, and a large bird crashed into the spirit. "Exsquisite battle so far, don't you think?"

OoC: So many apologies for the wait.

OoC: So glad you returned! ^_^. Now its my turn, and hopefully Monsieur Tirothe will let us fight a while longer.

BiC:

The bird crashed through the forest top, so sudden that Twae's abilities couldn't sense it. The beak pierced his arm as he fell to the ground. Icy hands' grip pulled him into the ground.

Daryn stood, triumphantly over the remains. What he didn't know, was that Twae wasn't done with him. Where Daryn stood, was not his Earth. Twae had taken him to the Shaded Jungle, where dark vines and branches towered over Daryn's head. Because the Shaded Jungle was an illusive area, Daryn didn't even notice he was there. The dark vines were invisible: for now.

Daryn packed his sword away, but didn't see the Lord of the Din Clan anywhere near.

"Now we're at my grounds!" A voice from above shouted. As the voice pierced the Jungle's roof, a magical aura traveled down the flowered vines of the old Jungle. The sky grew dark. Leaves fell, branches with them. A shadow dropped from the Jungle top. The long wooden warspear's steel point shone the moonlight onto the Twae Shaenah's dark face. Daryn stood in horror as Twae's red eyes stared a hole through him.

The battle began. Twae's steel spearhead slashed against Daryn's mace, sending a clang throughout the entire forest. Daryn rolled to the left and tried to slashed at Twae's backside, but the warspear flew back and blocked the blow. Another repeated move scarred through Twae's leather plateskirt. Twae grasped his warspear, aching in pain and cried out words:

"Hijrah, Ytri, Ertinei!" Twae shouted as he withdrew his arms into his chest. When they were removed, a rain poured onto Daryn and he was frozen solid. Unable to move, Daryn forced himself to fall over. He rolled toward a tree and pulled himself up with his fingers. In a few moments, the spell wore off and Daryn moved again.

A daring strike from the mace was blocked by the long, slender warspear that Twae beared. Twae repeated his actions to freeze Daryn, but he couldn't gain enough concentraiton. During this time, Daryn took advantage and make a quick slash to Twae's shoulder.

"You are quite skilled," Twae said, writhing in pain. He grasped the wound, his leather glove warm to the it. Twae's dry zombie-like skin prevented it from bleeding.

OoC: Pretty long add, eh?

No blood? Daryn asked himself. How do you kill something that doesn't bleed? He backed off for a second and took a look at his surroundings. They were in a large jungle, which perpertrated a stench of dark magic; it had just appeared out of the thin air. This one was a good fighter."Where are we?" Daryn asked as he brandished his mace into a defensive position. There was no sense in summoning the spiders now. Who knew what traps riddled this world for the unwary magic user?

"I told you," grinned the undead man. His tangled gray hair fell into his mouth, but he took no notice. "We're in my turf!" He flung himself at Daryn, spear twirling every which way. The spear was blocked by the mace each time, but it came at a price. Daryn staggered backwards; fatigue was taking him. The spirit laughed as smoke spewed from nowhere in particular. A spell, Daryn surmised. Time to fight back, he smiled as his fingers twirled. His two guardians appeared and scuteled to protect their master; he had fallen down in a poisoned stupor.

The undead man jumped at the smallest of the two spiders, spear pointing towards the ground. He landed on the arachnid with a crunch. The combination of his weight and the inertia of the jump had driven the spear deep.With a perverse version of a scream, it's legs collapsed as it twitched horribly. "No!" yelled Daryn, who had awoken a few moments earlier.

He threw his arms out furiously. They twisted and twirled. And then the forest awoke. Yellow eyes beamed open, and the hiss of sharp claws scraping against ground served as an alarm for the other creatures of the forest. Daryn had gained control of the forest's creatures, and now he was going to use them.

Originally Posted by SheikahOps

No blood? Daryn asked himself. How do you kill something that doesn't bleed? He backed off for a second and took a look at his surroundings. They were in a large jungle, which perpertrated a stench of dark magic; it had just appeared out of the thin air. This one was a good fighter."Where are we?" Daryn asked as he brandished his mace into a defensive position. There was no sense in summoning the spiders now. Who knew what traps riddled this world for the unwary magic user?

"I told you," grinned the undead man. His tangled gray hair fell into his mouth, but he took no notice. "We're in my turf!" He flung himself at Daryn, spear twirling every which way. The spear was blocked by the mace each time, but it came at a price. Daryn staggered backwards; fatigue was taking him. The spirit laughed as smoke spewed from nowhere in particular. A spell, Daryn surmised. Time to fight back, he smiled as his fingers twirled. His two guardians appeared and scuteled to protect their master; he had fallen down in a poisoned stupor.

The undead man jumped at the smallest of the two spiders, spear pointing towards the ground. He landed on the arachnid with a crunch. The combination of his weight and the inertia of the jump had driven the spear deep.With a perverse version of a scream, it's legs collapsed as it twitched horribly. "No!" yelled Daryn, who had awoken a few moments earlier.

He threw his arms out furiously. They twisted and twirled. And then the forest awoke. Yellow eyes beamed open, and the hiss of sharp claws scraping against ground served as an alarm for the other creatures of the forest. Daryn had gained control of the forest's creatures, and now he was going to use them.

OoC: What creatures? The Shaded Jungle is basically a graveyard with trees. I'm going to play along, though..

BiC:

A large cat charged at Twae. Its claws beared, it slashed at Twae. A mark on his left arm was scratched out by the creature. In Twae's anger, he raised his spear and brought it down as fast as the cat scratched. White and ghostly hands pulled the cat into the ground. Without a sound, it had been withdrawn into the dark soil.

Daryn ran at Twae, who simply shuffled to the right and avoided the mace. A spear slashed into Daryn's arm, as red blood heavily came. Twae withdrew his arms into his chest and ice rain fell onto Daryn again. Before he froze, Daryn cried out a few words which Twae could not make out. A could of smoke appeared. It disappeared as soon as it had appeared. In the foggy distance, a frozen Daryn stood.

"You're too easy!" Twae said.

He ran to Daryn, and brought his spear down onto him. The ice shattered, but Daryn was not dead. Twae could sense it.

Daryn fell from the trees, what Twae had slashed was not Daryn, but an illusion.

"Summon Minions!" cried Daryn. Two, large, one-eyed arachnids appeared.

Very Clever, Twae thought, Indeed

The spiders jumed at Twae. He stood, spear at the ground. Without notice or warning, Twae slashed at the first eight-legged fiend, who spewed green blood. The other turned to face Twae, but it was too late. Twae's silvery-grey spear tip slashed into the eye of the arachnid.

With a movement of his hand, Daryn broke a nearby vine and lashed it out to Twae. The vine caught Twae's neck, and squeezed tightly.

"You suppose this will kill me?" Twae said, as if a vine wasn't surrounding his neck. "I no longer need to breathe as you foolish mortals think I do."

"Impossible." Daryn said. "You remain on this Earth, yet do not need to breathe."

Twae's arm pulled the vine off his throat, and threw it in the air. The vine, still tied to the tree, was wrapped around Twae's spear. Closley watching and unaware, Daryn looked at his opponent. In a ready stance, he swung his mace.

Twae spun his spear around in a quick motion, and pulled the strong vine. The tree that Daryn stood near began to topple. A loud crack was heard behind Daryn as he turned around. To his horror, a tree was pulled from its stump and whacked Daryn in the chest, taking him breathless. The tree fell over onto him.

"Im.. press... ive..." Daryn said. "Such great strength yet precise abilities to.. rip the tree from its roots and not even remove the.. vine..."

Twae laughed. His opponent was near death, but he watched for his next move.


OoC: I hope this wasn't too strong. I don't mean for Daryn to die here, but I want to see what he'd do in a part like this.

OoC: Well, you didn't say anything about that...

BiC:
“Din demands the….” He wheezed. “She demands the best….” Daryn finally spluttered out. The tree covering him was huge, and unfortunately for the spider mage, one large bough had thrown itself onto one of his ribs. Daryn swore he could feel his rib scratching at his lung. The undead man was a great warrior, for sure, but then again…. So was Daryn.

His body still in shcok, he feebly twirled his fingers around for one last spell. “What are you doing?” asked the undead. He grasped his spear, point down and stepped towards the casting mage. Daryn smiled as his spell finished.

“What the hell are you doing!” screamed the spirit. His bony hands clawed at his eyes as he threw himself into the fetal position. The fear spell had taken effect. “No!” screamed the ghoul. He started digging a small hole in a feeble attempt to hide from the astounding images assaulting his eyes.

This was no ordinary version of the fear spell; Daryn had dropped the inhibitors from this particular spell. What played across the warrior’s mind must have been horrible, for what must have been only one of the times the man had ever…. cried.

While the Lich wailed away the moments; Daryn worked fast. With his now only working hand, he summoned the larger of his two guardians. With a mental command, he ordered the spider to wrap the log in silk. It did so; large steel-like white strands hung from every possible leverage point.

“Pull!” Daryn ordered his guardian. With a great heave, the giant tree rolled down his what must have been broken legs. “Argh!” screamed Daryn. The release of pressure issued forth torrents of blood; the bough had gotten the mage good. With a shudder of chill, the mage inched himself up into a sitting position.

The silence was a perfect background to the pain that – “The silence!” Daryn screamed out loud. The ghastly undead was nowhere to be seen. That wasn’t good. The graveyard-esque jungle was dark now. The only light that was given off was the tiny pinpricks of stars. There would be no way of knowing which way the enemy would come from in open ground.

So Daryn would get out of the open.

With a flick of his wrist, the summoner ordered his spider to his protection. He grabbed onto the bumpy back and ordered the spider to climb up the highest tree. They reached the top, and waited.

The ghoul walked into the middle of the clearing. “Where have you gone, little one?” he cackled. His bony face showed true glee; he realized that he had truly injured the summoner. “Are you a coward; can you not face me?” The verbal assault continued for several moments, but Daryn did not take the bait. “Din will not smile upon you!” the frustrated ghost yelled. “She sees cowardice as an offense!”
This riled up Daryn. Even though that Din was not his true goddess, he still revered her greatly. Power was to be revered.

Daryn ordered his spider to kneel on the bough they hung from. He threw his leg over it’s neck – or where it’s neck would be – and ordered it to jump. They fell hard and fast – the undead saw them though. With his incredibly strong arm, he grabbed the arachnid out of midair and threw it into another tree with a sickening smack – minus one rider. Daryn’ mace was raised for the strike, his rib wound still gushing out blood.

The smile fell from his face, though, when he realized the spear was at his throat. “It seems that we’re at a stalemate, and I believe that we should – hell!” He was cut off by a sharp light, and they were back in the physical world.

“Bravo.”

OoC: Indeed an amazing battle! Thats why you stared at his Bio so long! You made him see a Light Warrior in the fear spell

OoC: I apologise for how long this has taken me. It won't happen again.

And sorry it's so short, too.

BiC: "Bravo," the Lord said, staring at the two returned warriors. "I had not anticipated inter-dimensional travel. It took me several moments to track the two of you down." He turned back towards the Clan citadel several miles distant and gestured for them to follow him, but turned back to face them after taking only a few steps. "Next time, I will come after you personally instead of dragging you back here. Am I understood?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turned again and stalked back through the forest.

* * *

Night had fallen, and each of the thirteen who had answered the call rested in their beds, awaiting the approach of the new day and the challenges it would bring. Those four who had fought rested easier than the others, more confident that their abilities would be enough to see them through and perhaps win the prize that Din's chosen servant had offered upon their arrival.

Walking quietly down the corridors of the citadel, Tiroth allowed each of the torches in their sconces to dim as he passed, making the hallway darker and darker. Pausing outside one door, the Lord of the Din Clan pushed it open and gestured for the tired warrior inside to follow him. Startled, the human complied without question, snatching his weaponry up from where they lay close to his poorly-made bed and hurrying out of the room.

The corridor was down to it's last two torches when they saw a third figure waiting for them. The dragon stopped in the pool of light, studying the obviously reptilian figure, and the ninja behind him reluctantly did the same.

The three stood there for a few moments, the warrior and ninja's eyes adjusting to the level of light beside the torches. Tiroth waited just long enough for all traces of their night-vision to vanish before stepping aside and extending a hand to each of the two he had summoned. "You may begin."

OoC: Right. Don't forget that neither of you will be able to see outside the light given by the last two torches to start with. And remember - one week, or three posts each; whichever comes first.