James Eredas versus New Challenger

[Fierach 3639]

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 3:52 PM, Robbie Rotten said:

"Aw, crap! Why do they always gotta be tough guys!"

Instead of dodging James's advance or the table smash that followed, Varina just turned her bottle up for another pull, apparently considering the maintenance of her blood alcohol content to be more important to her self preservation than actually avoiding damage. The large wooden circle broke upon her back as she crouched down just before impact, flattening her onto the ground in a rain of splinters as the two split halves fell off on either side of her. The cursed girl laid on her stomach with her face to the floor for a moment, still clutching her two "weapons" stubbornly and groaning in pain. While a natural human of her size would probably suffer at least a few broken bones from this, if not worse, Varina pushed herself back up and returned to her unsteady feet as if it weren't any worse than a hard clap on the shoulder.

"Alright, alright!"

She held her arms up in front of her in something vaguely resembling a fighting stance.

"If that's how it's gonna be! Here I come!" she exclaimed, stabbing her dagger towards the open space between the two sleeves of his jacket while holding her bottle in close to her own torso.

As Varina was getting up, James reached over to grab the woman by the hair on the back of her head.

Although her knife strike would find purchase in his side, his other hand shot over and gripped her wrist tightly, ensuring she could not twist it easily, or escape from him.

With a roar, the Slayer dragged her head down to meet his rising right knee. It was going to hurt.

[Robbie Rotten 6039]

"Aghh, not the hair, not the hair!"

Varina felt her knife hit something, but there was something else that wouldn't let that arm move, so that was annoying. With that limb temporarily incapacitated, she swung the liquor bottle up alongside James's own arm where it held her hair, attempting to break it over his head even as his knee came up to hit her face. Her head bounced off the man's leg with a sharp pop and she stumbled back as black blood flowed from her crushed nose, cursing incoherently through the combination of drunken slurring and the warping produced by her smashed nasal cavities. The effect made her sound quite silly indeed.

"Fuck, shit, not the face and the hair, man! So rude!"

[Fierach 3639]

5 hours ago, Ceekay said:

Not so for the angelic bone sprite, for for a one hundred and sixty-eight pound ninja, he could move . . . out of the way of the down-coming axe-fist.

 

He cringed as he surveyed the damage he had done to his adversary's right arm, blood spilling from a superficial but messy wound on James Eredas's upper arm. He didn't like hurting the sons, or daughters, for that matter, of men, for he had once been a man, just a step be-low the angels, and that he would be until his Creator called him Home.

 

The bone sprite hopped back-ward, twice for good measure, and opened his right hand. His right arm pivoted on its axis, following James in his descent. Clash Fah turned his right humerus in-to a bone saber, extending it point-first at the descending Eredas, attempting to eviscerate the man.

James landed cleanly, but was immediately beset by the imp's counterattack. Bringing both hands up to grasp the bone saber, he managed to stop it mere centimeters from piercing through him. Had he not been wearing his custom gloves, blood would have been drawn just from the effort James expended holding onto the skeletal blade. As it was, the imp could probably throw his weight behind the attack and push through, but James didn't intend to give him the chance to try it out.

Seeing that the bone saber was a part of the imp, James tested out the idea that as a part of him, it could hurt him. Much like breaking the antlers on a stag, or a bull's horns, the daemonslayer let go with one armored fist, and brought it down on the bone saber, seeking to at least crack it, if not break it.

[Clash Fah 6]

The bone saber broke and cracked under the pressure of Mister Eredas's armored fist, leaving Clash Fah with a distended humerus. He with-drew the blade, using his left hand to pop his cracked elbow back in-to place, then flung his right hand out in an attempt to throw blood in Mister Eredas's eyes. He dropped to his right knee, gritted his teeth in pain, then stood up, extending his claws. Using his right and left hand simultaneously, he attempted to rake and tear at Mister Eredas's face and head. Lifting up his right leg, he attempted a straight kick at Mister Eredas's stomach, using his five bone spikes.

[Fierach 3639]

21 hours ago, Robbie Rotten said:

"Aghh, not the hair, not the hair!"

Varina felt her knife hit something, but there was something else that wouldn't let that arm move, so that was annoying. With that limb temporarily incapacitated, she swung the liquor bottle up alongside James's own arm where it held her hair, attempting to break it over his head even as his knee came up to hit her face. Her head bounced off the man's leg with a sharp pop and she stumbled back as black blood flowed from her crushed nose, cursing incoherently through the combination of drunken slurring and the warping produced by her smashed nasal cavities. The effect made her sound quite silly indeed.

"Fuck, shit, not the face and the hair, man! So rude!"

 

Unfortunately for Varina, James practically towered over her. It was a difficult attempt for her to reach his head when he had at least five inches on her, and was dragging her down to boot. Her bottle thudded against his broad shoulder to leave a bruise, and while he let go of her hair, James pulled Varina back by the grip on her other arm, and swung down at the woman's bloodied face with his now free hand to knock her to the ground.

 

He'd back away afterwards, grunting as he did so, letting go of her fully now. He allowed the knife to stay embeded in him for the moment. Painful as it was, it was stopping a good amount of blood loss, and he wasn't ready to pull it out without preparing some medical aid first.

 

She got him good with that one, but he'd be impressed if she got up now. It was hard to take a knee to the face and keep the will to still fight.

 

"Should know when you're beat. Stay down", he warned.

[Fierach 3639]

17 hours ago, Clash Fah said:

The bone saber broke and cracked under the pressure of Mister Eredas's armored fist, leaving Clash Fah with a distended humerus. He with-drew the blade, using his left hand to pop his cracked elbow back in-to place, then flung his right hand out in an attempt to throw blood in Mister Eredas's eyes. He dropped to his right knee, gritted his teeth in pain, then stood up, extending his claws. Using his right and left hand simultaneously, he attempted to rake and tear at Mister Eredas's face and head. Lifting up his right leg, he attempted a straight kick at Mister Eredas's stomach, using his five bone spikes.

 

When the imp threw out his right hand, James automatically covered up like a boxer. What he was most concerned about were more bone shards, and not the blood that splashed harmlessly across his arms.

Unless the imp's blood was acidic or something of course, that would suck. Claws were something he was more familiar with.

The daemonslayer defended himself expertly against the slashes, guarding well using the armored gloves he wore taking the brunt of the claw strikes. Light grooves were drawn in them from the fierceness of Clash's assault, but they held firm, and when the imp started to lift his right leg, James saw an opening for his counter-attack.

He brought both hands down on the incoming kick, not to hurt the imp, but to knock down the leg, and immediately leaned forth and lashed out with a forceful two-handed shove to the imp's midsection, to knock him back. With luck, he'd be unbalanced from the kick attempt, but the goal was to put a little breathing room between him and Clash's bone extensions.

[Robbie Rotten 6039]

"Ufff..... beat? Nahh, I'm not beat, I'll..... beat you off! Wait, that uhh....."

Once again Varina hauled herself to her feet, a bit slowly, a bit unsteadily, but she made it nonetheless. A knee in the face hurt, no doubt, but if a table breaking over her back hadn't put her down, that surely wasn't going to do it. With her now-free hand that had previously held her dagger, she slapped herself around the cheeks a bit, then shook her head like a dog, clearing her stringy hair from her face and sending a nice spray of blood from her nose flying all over the place, making a goofy sort of psych-up noise in the process. The pain from those blows mixed with her alcohol dosage quite nicely, and she was beginning to feel more awake by the second. Catching sight of a wet streak on James's chest and shoulder where her open bottle had poured out onto him during her usage of it as a club, Varina looked suddenly down to it in fear that it had broken, but thankfully the vessel remained intact.

The girl went to take another shot from it, but it slipped out of her hand halfway up, causing her to juggle it around between her two arms awkwardly for a few moments while it sploshed precious liquor out all over the place, mostly in James's direction.

"Fuck, first the face, now the drink! Today sucks! Okay, okay!"

Varina shook her head again, took a proper drink, then put the bottle down on a table nearby.

"Now I'm warmed up!"

Raising her arms up once again into a fighting state, the two limbs began to transmutate, making a quick, seamless, and seemingly effortless transition from small human arms into something else entirely. Attached to Varina's sides and bulging up out of her shoulders were now two thick, trunk-like things so long that she could scrape the floor with them if held at her sides, arms of coiled muscle covered in black scales, with huge hands and disproportionately long fingers ending in curved talons. They looked like they belonged on some kind of demon, some kind of demon that was over twice the size of Varina herself, and had somehow been grafted onto her--yet their movement was as natural and fluid as if they were right where they belonged.

"Rraaahhh!!"

Reaching down and picked up the two halves of the table James had broken over her a moment ago, one in each hand, Varina flung them back at him, one after another, then lunged forward and stabbed one arm's talons at his torso while holding the other bent parallel to the floor and close to her center as a shield, its armored hide, thick layers of muscle tissue, and sheer size providing an effective deterrent against attack.

[Fierach 3639]

19 hours ago, Robbie Rotten said:

Raising her arms up once again into a fighting state, the two limbs began to transmutate, making a quick, seamless, and seemingly effortless transition from small human arms into something else entirely. Attached to Varina's sides and bulging up out of her shoulders were now two thick, trunk-like things so long that she could scrape the floor with them if held at her sides, arms of coiled muscle covered in black scales, with huge hands and disproportionately long fingers ending in curved talons. They looked like they belonged on some kind of demon, some kind of demon that was over twice the size of Varina herself, and had somehow been grafted onto her--yet their movement was as natural and fluid as if they were right where they belonged.

"Rraaahhh!!"

Reaching down and picked up the two halves of the table James had broken over her a moment ago, one in each hand, Varina flung them back at him, one after another, then lunged forward and stabbed one arm's talons at his torso while holding the other bent parallel to the floor and close to her center as a shield, its armored hide, thick layers of muscle tissue, and sheer size providing an effective deterrent against attack.

As Varina mutated her arms into something that would've been more fitting on an ogre instead of a young woman, James simply raised an eyebrow.

"Well okay then" he deadpanned. Clearly this match was going into round two. He needn't have worried about her well-being (a curious thought considering he broke her nose). The daemonslayer immediately decided on plan B, pulling out Varina's dagger with a pained hiss before turning and bolting away, the table halves landing where he had been moments before.

Staying out of her unnatural reach for the moment, James dashed for the bar counter, vaunting over it with one hand, and nearly stumbling on landing as the pain shot through his side blindingly. He had full range of motion despite the injury, but the wound would bleed and pain fiercely from being constantly aggravated.

As it was, James might've collapsed landed on the floor in a heap if the shelves hadn't arrested his momentum. Shelves full of liquor, which he started to dutifully hurl at Varina en masse.

[Robbie Rotten 6039]

"Hey! That's good stuff! Ahh, don't waste it!"

Varina chased James over to the bar, but her progress was somewhat hindered by the size of her arms, which made her gait rather ungainly since they added a huge amount of weight without contributing to ground movement, as well as necessitated bashing furniture aside to make way for them. She was pretty close on his heels by the time he started throwing liquor bottles, but still not quite there, so she had to hunker down a bit and let the first couple smash against her shield-arm. The arm itself seemed no more than scratched by the impacts, but a few shards of glass ricocheted at the right angle to cut her face, which brought yowls of annoyance. On the third bottle, Varina's other arm snapped up and caught in mid-flight, the knife-like fingers showing a finesse and precision that contrasted sharply with the brutish manner in which the arms themselves were wielded. As she hopped up onto and over the bar, the girl took its cap off with a claw and swigged from it, accepting another bottle broken against her chest as she jumped down towards James, trying to grapple him in a bear hug from above. The liquor burned in her torso where it mixed with the cuts of the glass shards, but she welcomed the pain, it was part of the experience.

"What are you runnin' for?! I'm not gonna hurt ya! I just want a little love, that's all! Hahaha!" she said, now fully aware and clearly enjoying herself.

[Teyler 187]

@Fierach

 

 of an unfamiliar air was immediately distinguishable. The usually cheerful and calm stonebacks, a race of hard-shelled amphibious reptiles, had become wary and tense. Someone not from this village had shared the same air which now filled her lungs. The stonebacks took great pride in preserving their world, and now someone was here tainting it.

"Ichu, whats going on?" she asked the elderly stoneback woman who had given up her guestroom to allow Tori to hide from the eyes that pursued her. The hard-shelled stoneback turned herself around groggily, using her walking stick as a pivot point, "Newcomer. Smell like death." She raised her hands to the sky and muttered a silent prayer before pointing at the source of the corruption.

A black haired man sat alone at a bench amongst the crowds of gossiping stonebacks, almost oblivious to their discomfort. The first thing that caught Tori's eye were the several layers of thick white cloth that wrapped around his right arm. He appeared to be unarmed, but she knew that everyone was fully capable of skillfully concealing weapons.

She eyed the man suspiciously. Breaking the cover of the home that the stonebacks had given her would make her an easy spot for the Queen's ravens. She sighed as her emotions conflicted with her practical self. Usually, her practical self almost always won. Emotions just weren't a thing for Tori anymore. They had left her, just like all those she had once called friend.

"Veek-tor-ah, you must help us. We cannot stand up to him," Tori felt a tugging sensation on her calf. She looked down to see the young stoneback which lived next to her small straw house.

A smile made its way onto her face, an instinct that she couldn't tell was forced or natural. "Tanto, I really shouldn't. There are bad people after me, and if they see me out in the open, they will come for me," she knelt down on one knee and looked the young stoneback in the eye. She saw fear, and uncertainty, amongst the pure innocence of a young child's eyes. All infants were born good of heart. Alas, it was the world that corrupted them.

Tori clenched the sweat in her palm. She hadn't donned her armor for a long time, and had taken up civilian's clothing to prevent herself from drawing attention. Her armor had taken a separate shipment through a series of human traffickers. It would be a few weeks before she would finally reunite with the clothing that she had been accustomed to all her life.

With a long sigh, she broke the cover of the canopy above her head, stretching her arms into the daylight. She pulled a woven hood over her temples to conceal her face from above. Approaching the man, she kept both her hands in her pockets, refusing to reveal what she. As she walked towards the dark haired man, she held her gaze steadily past him. Where she was brought up, looking a man in the eye was a sign of disrespect. In spite of being revered as a hero in her world, she had only ever looked into the eyes of one man, her companion which she had killed in cold blood.

"Hey!" she called, breaking the awkward silence which the stonebacks preferred using to drive away people whom they disliked. She took up a confrontational posture and blocked off his view of the village with her body.

"You can't stay here. I'm sorry, but you need to leave," she crossed her arms and kicked the bench that he was sitting on, deliberately missing his thick calf by a hair's width. She knew that she was being rather blunt an unreasonable, but she didn't have much time before the raven's picked up her sent, and send her back into hiding once again. As far as she was concerned, he needed to get out of the village to stop further disrupting the stonebacks' daily routine. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Teyler

[Fierach 3639]

20 hours ago, Robbie Rotten said:

"Hey! That's good stuff! Ahh, don't waste it!"

Varina chased James over to the bar, but her progress was somewhat hindered by the size of her arms, which made her gait rather ungainly since they added a huge amount of weight without contributing to ground movement, as well as necessitated bashing furniture aside to make way for them. She was pretty close on his heels by the time he started throwing liquor bottles, but still not quite there, so she had to hunker down a bit and let the first couple smash against her shield-arm. The arm itself seemed no more than scratched by the impacts, but a few shards of glass ricocheted at the right angle to cut her face, which brought yowls of annoyance. On the third bottle, Varina's other arm snapped up and caught in mid-flight, the knife-like fingers showing a finesse and precision that contrasted sharply with the brutish manner in which the arms themselves were wielded. As she hopped up onto and over the bar, the girl took its cap off with a claw and swigged from it, accepting another bottle broken against her chest as she jumped down towards James, trying to grapple him in a bear hug from above. The liquor burned in her torso where it mixed with the cuts of the glass shards, but she welcomed the pain, it was part of the experience.

"What are you runnin' for?! I'm not gonna hurt ya! I just want a little love, that's all! Hahaha!" she said, now fully aware and clearly enjoying herself.

Varina caught James with the bearhug. The daemonslayer was more or less trapped with his back to the liquor shelves, and while he could've tried to duck under her, frankly unappealing demon gorilla arms, he didn't mind her thinking she had the upper hand for the moment.

As his arms were pinned to him, James dropped one last bottle that he was holding onto the ground.

"What are you runnin' for? I'm not gonna hurt ya! I just want a little love, thats all!" she laughed.

"Sorry, but I'm a bit full of myself" the warrior grunted, smirking. He suddenly became very hot to the touch.

"I think I'm too hot for you~"

Not that she'll probably catch that last line as James flared up in flame. The daemonslayer's spiritual power manifested as such, sacred fire that was anathema to supernatural beings. Hell, even if it was a more mundane sort of flame, Varina was hugging him, whilst soaked and smelling of a distillery. Ontop of that, Varina likely didn't have the high heat resistance that he did. He figured that with the extremity of her body modifications maybe she'd be able to mutate herself some defenses, but in the time it would take her to do so, he'd at least make an attempt to head-butt her in the face (always the face!) and break out of her grip.

[Fierach 3639]

5 hours ago, Teyler said:

"Hey!" she called, breaking the awkward silence which the stonebacks preferred using to drive away people whom they disliked. She took up a confrontational posture and blocked off his view of the village with her body.

"You can't stay here. I'm sorry, but you need to leave," she crossed her arms and kicked the bench that he was sitting on, deliberately missing his thick calf by a hair's width. She knew that she was being rather blunt an unreasonable, but she didn't have much time before the raven's picked up her sent, and send her back into hiding once again. As far as she was concerned, he needed to get out of the village to stop further disrupting the stonebacks' daily routine. 

 

James opened his eyes at the woman calling out at him, and frowned as she kicked at the bench. The turtle people were a keen race indeed to see his aura of death and blood thirst, even as he had it muted in his normal, resting state. They had good reason to be worried about him, even as he really paid them no mind. James was just passing through.

"You'll deny a weary traveler his seat? That's rude" he remarked lightly, before looking away and waving a hand at her to shoo her away.

"I'll just be a few minutes, then I'll be on my way"

Edited June 28, 2017 by Fierach

[Teyler 187]

@Fierach

Tori's ears tingled with irritation as the man rebuked her, his sarcastic tone suggesting that he saw little of her. All was quiet in the distance, but she couldn't take her chances. The longer she or this man stayed out in the open, the higher the chance that a passing raven would pick up her scent.

"Listen, you have to leave," she said a little more sternly, "you could leave on your own, or I could cut you up and dispose of your remains in the river myself."

The stonebacks began to back away. They were frightened by the sudden standoff. A peaceful race they were, no more malicious than a young child.

However, that did not mean that they were defenseless. Surrounding her and the man, were several spiked barricades, carved out from the trunks of fallen trees. Sharp spikes extended outwards, their edges glinting in the light. If one were to be shoved upon the spikes, being impaled would leave a rather fatal wound. For indeed, they had nature on their side. The canopy above them was thick, several layers of leaves concealing them from the eyes of the law.

She held her ground cautiously, unsure of what to think of this man. Exposing herself out in the open could hold terrible consequences, but if this man didn't leave, he would attract the entire flock onto her location. For they attacked anything that was warm blooded, but she wouldn't tell him that.

From her pocket, she slid out the blunt hilt of a sword. It was long, about half the length of her forearm, but clearly not any sort of weapon due to its blunt edge. It wasn't long or big enough to serve as a mace either. She fidgeted with it in her left palm nervously, awaiting the response of the outsider.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Teyler

[Fierach 3639]

16 hours ago, Teyler said:

"Listen, you have to leave," she said a little more sternly, "you could leave on your own, or I could cut you up and dispose of your remains in the river myself."

The stonebacks began to back away. They were frightened by the sudden standoff. A peaceful race they were, no more malicious than a young child.

 

 

Well that was a serious threat.

 

James opened his eyes again and turned his head slowly toward Tori, as though he were some creepy animatronic rather then a human being.

He didn't sense any malice from her. She looked nervous too, but there was an inkling of conviction in her words. She would follow through with that threat, he surmised.

"Thats something you do often then?" The tone of his voice changed. His eyes were focused, open and gazing at Tori as though he could burn a hole through her with his stare alone.

 

The daemonslayer reached behind him into his pack and pulled out a pair of strange, ornate-looking gloves, armor glinting off them. He put them on as he stood up, facing the woman down.

 

A shift of a foot revealed something else, the hilt of a sword laying in the grass. James kicked it up and caught it deftly despite its size, revealing the weapon to be a nodachi almost as long as he was tall. He examined the blade, making sure that there were no scratches or blemishes from its worldly treatment, before laying it down on the bench in full view of Tori and stepping away from it. He did not intend to use it.

 

"Fine. I'll leave. After I teach you some manners"

 

Seriously, what kind of person threatened to mutilate and cut up a stranger they just met?

[Robbie Rotten 6039]

"Yeah, I can see--"

Varina's attempt at a crappy retort got cut off by the flames. Motherfucking huge flames randomly coming up out of the guy! Of course she wouldn't be the only one with weird powers. A scream of surprise and pain rang out as James based his head against hers, which wouldn't do too much (Varina was very hardheaded, after all) since the grip of her arms was much too strong to be knocked away that easily. The fire was a different story though, she couldn't exactly continue to hug a bonfire, so she leapt back away from James in a heap of yells and flailing limbs. Though she wasn't particularly focused on doing so, the wild swinging of her arms as she sought to push herself away from him may very well leave him with slashes or a glancing blow from the hands themselves.

The momentary contact with James was painful and surprising, but not long enough to do real harm. However, Varina now had to contend with the fact that her clothes were on fire. First he went for her hair, then her face, and now her clothes, the fucker! Acting quickly so as to avoid any serious burns, she raked her massive claws across her own body and tore her cloak and tunic to shreds with a single outward ripping motion, still hopping and tripping around and knocking into random chairs in her efforts to get away from the remnants of the fire. James was treated to the sight of the small girl left standing in only her skivvies, although she already wasn't much to look at, and the huge mutated arms clashed rather badly with any titillation that might have been produced. Part of her hair was visibly singed away as it hung over her face, and in addition to the wounds she had already accrued, she had a couple fresh cuts on her belly from getting a bit too over-eager with her own limbs. Varina blew a lock of half-burnt hair away from her eyes and looked awkwardly down at herself, then back up at James.

"Fuck, man, at least buy me dinner first!"

A bit belated, but Varina was fairly proud of her comeback. Even as she said it, she began to stalk through the middle of the room, keeping her eyes trained carefully on James for any sudden movements. This was going to be more awkward now that she couldn't grapple him with her whole body, but that just meant she'd have to switch over to cutting him apart instead of crushing him. Returning to the bottle of liquor she'd put aside earlier, she took it back up again, her new arms large enough to grip it easily between only thumb and forefinger. Varina chugged it while advancing back towards James, and when she was just outside striking range, her curse visibly flowed out of her left arm and up into her shoulders and then her head; the dark, scaly mass traveled across her frame like a living thing, rippling and flowing beneath her skin, as her left arm returned to human and her head now transformed into something from a nightmare. The new head featured curved horns and a skeletal, snarling face covered in the same scales as the arms, with a massive jaw and jagged teeth that were permanently exposed, melding seamlessly into the scaled flesh with no lips to cover them.

Varina popped the empty bottle into her new mouth and chomped down on it, her lower jaw working back and forth as it ground the glass into shards with a few quick motions, then she reared back and spit it all at James, expelling the blast of shrapnel at high speeds. If he hadn't avoided or interrupted this attack, she would follow it with a forward lunge and a wide swipe of her still-transformed right arm, the splayed fingers able to cover an area wider than the size of his torso so as to circumvent any attempts at blocking it.