The All-Taverns Tournament: Vivian vs. Dirt Pie

[Pig Boy]

The All-Taverns Tournament

8th of Zi'da 721

OOC

Vivian didn't investigate her opponent, Dirt Pie. As such she goes into her fight without knowing much about his abilities.

Vivian's Stats:

Vivian:
Misdirection: 0 (Novice Tactics)
Detection: 1 (Competent Investigation)
Accuracy/Defense: 0 (Novice Unarmed Combat)
Power (Damage): 0 (Competent Strength + Size 2)
Evasion (avoidance/glancing): 1 (Novice Athletics + size 2)
Tanking (mitigation): 0 (Competent Shield + size 2)

Dirt Pie continued to eye Vivian across from the way, as she chatted happily with Faith and Tristan. However, much of his glare was lost to the back of her head, and he went unnoticed. He'd use that blithe disregard for him as a motivation going into the fight. Stupid Lightning Knights, always thought they were better than the rest of them!

Fairly soon after, however, they were let into the arena proper. Dirt Pie, once he was let in, grabbed a pile of dirt from the floor, and began smearing it on his face roughly, to get himself fired up. "Representing the Dust Quarter's Pit!, Dirt Pie!" Came the voice of Ilaren. "And in this corner, representing the The Barracks Tavern and Inn, Vivian Shiryu!"

The partition in the Lightning Dome that they were situated within would hold several of the fights at once, although the fighters would be well advised to maintain their focus on their own brawls. The partitions were separated by some fencing, ensuring that the matches wouldn't devolve into an all-out melee between all the contestants.

The voice from above, booming with energy came from Ilaren. "Round one! Fight!"

The crowd went wild with anticipation, roaring as the fights began all across the arena.

Dirt Pie didn't waste much time, but began moving toward Vivian, lowering his shoulders in a ground-fighting posture. He moved slow but steadily toward her, patient in his confidence. "Gon enjoy busting your jaw into the dust, Lightning Pig!" He said, with malice.

Off Topic

You have five days to post. I will try to post promptly after you, or around five days from now. Missing a round of combat forfeits the match.

[Vivian Shiryu]

When it was time for the tournament to begin, Vivian stepped into the ring where her fight would be taking place and shook herself as the effects of Ilaren's Decree settled into place. Putting one hand behind her back, Vivian started a basic time counting exercise where she touched the tips of her fingers to her thumb. Her Palenon Blessing greatly increased her reaction and processing time so long as she stayed sober, which she usually did, so she was feeling decidedly sluggish without it. The point of the exercise was to help her adjust to how much more time was passing between her deciding to do something and when that action was actually executed. She wasn't sure it would work, and even if it did, it wouldn't account for the increased time it would take her to react to what her opponent was doing, but knowing how much her own direct actions were being slowed by could help a lot.

Granted, she was already at a disadvantage going into this. Most of these folks were career brawlers, used to fighting with fists and feet and in their clothes. Vivian was used to operating with a blade and shield in her hands and covered in plate armor, so most of her training wasn't actually going to be all that much help here. Still, if she were going to let that little factoid deter her, she wouldn't have bothered signing up in the first place. So now, wearing a brown leather coat with matching pants, plus gloves and boots in a softer leather with a black cotton shirt, she was as ready as she was going to be and grinned excitedly at her opponent, a fellow with the unfortunate epithet of "Dirt Pie" as their Lady called the start of the tournament.

Of course, her smile only lasted as long as it took for her opponent to start talking, though the reaction he got probably wasn't the one he had been going for. "Really? I'm trying to convince some of the healers that we're all here for the sport of it, and you've just got to try and make things personal?" she said, her tone one of sheer disappointment. If he had been trying to be intimidating, well he wasn't any kind of 'nickel or a giant water maze or the Immortal of Death or a Sessfiend or anything else she had fought over the course of her career. After all of that, a guy with a dirty face and an unimaginative insult just wasn't going to cut it.

Granted, he might still beat her in a fair fight, but it wasn't like this was work, so that didn't particularly bother her either. So she just squared her shoulders and got into a her own fighting stance, her arms held up in front of her and her weight slightly more on her front foot. However, people who were observant and knew what to look for would be able to tell that her left arm was somewhat out of place, as if she were used to carrying more weight on it and hadn't gotten the hang of adjusting for its lack, which was a shame because she was currently leading slightly with her left side.

She started her own approach to Dirt Pie, but she circled him as she approached, rather than going straight for him. Charging straight at enemy that not only knew you were coming but could reach fast enough to do something about it was an amateur's mistake after all, and not one she was going to repeat. She also stayed on the defensive for now, letting her opponent make the first move. He was confident, and likely a professional at this sort of fighting. Far better to let him make the first move and see what she could get from it, rather than risk exposing herself too early.

[Pig Boy]

The All-Taverns Tournament

8th of Zi'da 721

Rolls

Vivian hangs back in a defensive/assessment posture of Dirt Pie, allowing him to open with an attack, tossing some ground dirt at her face.



It hits her, but she’s not too affected by it, her reflexes honed in the use of the shield prove useful as she blocks them from getting into her eyes..

The crowd gives Vivian a lukewarm reception. There are many Lightning Knights in attendence, however, and these few raise their voices over the general din to cheer the commander on. Even so, there are almost as many egging Dirt Pie on, mostly from the upper levels of the arena, and the back rows. He apparently has quite the following.

As the call to fight comes down from Ilaren, the two are left to sort out their differences. Despite Vivian’s protests against Dirt Pie’s lack of sportsmanship, he ignores them largely, and spits toward the side as he moves in.

Vivian opens up with a defensive and cautious posture, deciding to assess her opponent, rather than engage more directly. Whether this is prudent however bears out in the next few moments, as Dirt Pie isn’t about to let the opportunity pass him by, and he stoops close to the ground, gripping some dirt in his hand and launching it toward her face.

The dirt nearly sprays into her eyes, and some of it gets into her mouth, but otherwise does no damage. Her reflexes, honed in the use of shield, are equally effective at blocking much of the dirt flecks from getting into her eyes. This leaves her vision mostly unphased by the maneuver, but it’s clear to her now that he is a very dirty fighter, perhaps owing his namesake to that.

Yet, Dirt Pie isn’t about to let the opportunity by him, as he closes the rest of the distance, launching a curling arm into her solar plexus, trying to take the wind out of her.

[Vivian Shiryu]

She really shouldn't have been surprised that Dirt Pie was a dirty fighter, not with a name like that. Fortunately, her defensive stance helped keep her vision clear, but her instincts kicked in next. Vivian lept back away from Dirt Pie, only pausing for a moment when she landed to shift her weight before she lept forward, back towards her opponent. It was a tactic she used a lot normally, but she was usually moving at a much faster, lightning enhanced speed than she was right now. Still, instinct was what it was, and she adjusted for her lack of weaponry as well as she could.

Since she had neither sword nor shield, she instead made to slam her fist into her opponent's jaw with a heavy haymaker punch. Since she never attacked just once, she would follow that up with an uppercut using her other arm, then jump back away from Dirt Pie before the man could retaliate. Of course, all this assumed she was able to dodge the solar plexus in the first place, and that he wasn't able to knock her out of the jump back into place, and that she landed both hits. But it was what she was going for, at the very least. In the back of her mind, she was thinking about what to do next, but the raw truth of the matter is that she was too inexperienced at this style of fighting to really come up with a solid plan. So she resolved to take things as they came with the fight. Besides, she did a lot of her best work in the heat of the moment.

[Pig Boy]

The All-Taverns Tournament

8th of Zi'da 721

It was difficult to dodge, while attempting to also attack. While she might have been easily able to accomplish such a feat in a fencing match or pitched battle, unarmed and with only her fists for company, the situation was quite a bit different. She wasn't able to dodge the blow, but luckily it barely did any damage upon impact. Perhaps Dirt Pie was expecting a more agile opponent, but for whatever reason the power behind his blow was barely enough to wind her, and fell astray from her solar plexus, merely hooking her in the lower ribs.

This opened things up a bit as far as her own ability to attack, however, and she managed to get off a couple of punches, which were narrowly blocked by Dirt Pie. One punch flew wide, with his arm taking the brunt of the impact, while the other was dodged entirely.

Taking a few backpedaling steps backward, Dirt Pie shifted in his footwork, shifting his fists from side to side. In a moment, he lowered his hands, and then tried to spit in Vivian's eyes, venom in his gaze as he glared at her.

The crowd seemed to be very much enjoying the show, and Ilaren's gaze was upon the match of her marked knight. The crowd seemed to be on her side. It was a strange match-up, matched against a far more skilled opponent and yet holding one's own. In any other circumstance, she'd not be the underdog to this man, but the act of brawling had a way of leveling the playing field.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian took the hit from Dirt Pie, but it was a glancing blow and she'd felt much worse. Perhaps he'd been expecting her to be faster, because it wasn't the kind of hit she'd use against someone she expected to be able to hit easily. Regardless of his reasons, she was able to land one decent hit against her opponent, so at the moment they appeared to be more evenly matched than she had expected. That was going well enough for now, but she didn't think she could win with her current strategy.

Dirt Pie, if Vivian was right, was a better brawler than her and more used to this kind of fighting. She did not believe that she'd be able to outlast him on either point. Her strategic options were also quite limited at this point, owing to the simple arena and lack of familiar tools. So, with her offensive arsenal relatively limited, Vivian fell back on one of her most basic strategies. When Dirt Pie stepped back, Vivian stepped forward, keeping in close to her opponent. Knowing his propensity for cheating, however, she kept her head low and tilted away from him. It limited her vision to the lower half of her opponent, which made a traditional defense more or less untenable at the moment, as she didn't figure she could read his movements just from his feet.

So as soon as she stepped forward, she starting swinging at him. While she was generally aiming for his head and body, she wasn't targeting anything in particular, she was just trying to hit him. She was, however, putting as much power as she could behind each punch, and she was throwing a lot of punches. If Dirt Pie stepped back or anything such thing, she would pursue, always keeping herself in close to her opponent, and she didn't plan to stop until either he was down or she was.

[Pig Boy]

The All-Taverns Tournament

8th of Zi'da 721

Dirt Pie's spitting into Vivian's face was followed up by a quick jab against her jaw. However, his fist formed awkwardly on the delivery, or perhaps her jaw was just that tough, that his knuckles cracked painfully upon her. He yelped angrily, shaking his left hand in the air as he recoiled it. That was where Vivian saw and took her opening to try and do some actual damage against Dirt Pie.

However, the first puinch went astray, as he blocked it with the left that he'd just injured. His forearm came up to intercept it, and the other hand lying in wait to intercept any other attacks. However, this time she landed a glancing blow against his ribs, which was painful enough to elicit another grunt from the man.

He backpedaled a few feet from the woman, but her pursuit was relentless. He was about to lure her into an asault of his own, when an announcement came down from above.

"The match time has run out. By decision, I hereby decree that Vivian has won this bout."

"Bullshit!" Dirt Pie cried up at Ilaren, spittle flying from his lips as the audience went hushed. He tried to push his way toward Vivian to show them all what he thought of deciding a brawl by decision, when Ilaren jumped down from the Podium, and backhanded Dirt Pie across the floor. This rendered his unconscious, and he was dragged off to the infirmary before long. Ilaren turned to Vivian, and gave her a thumbs-up for her performance, then flew with a lightning flash back to her box to announce the rest of the matches.

Across the Stadium, it'd become clear that Praetorum had won his bout. as well as Balthazar.

Vivian could either retire to the lobby where the victors were gathering, or she could go to the infirmary to check on the wounded fighters.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Whether or not her plan would have worked to win by knockout, Vivian wasn't certain. She had a distinct feeling that if she didn't take him out quick, he would adjust to her new strategy. He'd hurt himself punching her jaw, which she had a suspicion was his own fault since she didn't think she was that sturdy, and she'd landed a few hits on him in her rush, sure. But she wasn't doing the kind of damage she figured she'd need to do in order to take him out.

However, Ilaren called time on the fight, giving her the win by decision. She felt her powers come back to her as Ilaren's Decree ended. Now back at her usual enhanced speed, she jumped back from Dirt Pie before either of them could accidentally keep the fight going. Dirt Pie, however, appeared to be quite displeased by the decision and made to continue the fight with her. Vivian tensed up, intending to just let him realize that he was going to have a much harder time hitting her now, when Ilaren intervened.

Vivian was fast with her powers, she knew that, but when she saw Ilaren move, Vivian felt slow for the first time in arcs. She'd known Ilaren was stronger than her, being able to take down Dirt Pie with a single hit wasn't particularly surprising, but she hadn't expected the Immortal to be able to intervene that fast. She nodded at Ilaren's thumbs up, then watched her liege return to her box with a slightly awed expression. Then she shook herself and listened to the rest of the announcements. She was a little surprised Elisabeth had won, given that she'd been a researcher just learning to fight when Vivian had seen her last. Praetorum and Balthazar were less of a surprise, given how well the two had done against Rhaum.

After a moment, she turned on her heel and headed to the infirmary. Her Warden powers could help any recovery there, and besides, she was pretty sure it was where Faith and Tristan would wind up as well.

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Vivian

Points awarded: 15
Magic xp: none

Knowledge:

Athletics: x2
Detection: x1
Endurance: x2
Strength: x1
Tactics: x 2
Unarmed Combat: x3

Renown: 10
Loot: Advancement to the second tier of the tournament.
Injuries/Overstepping: minor bumps and bruises.
Wealth Points: n/a

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: This was a fun match with some good back and forth or more forth from Vivian with a lot of vitriol from Dirt Pie... It was very close by the dice. It genuinely could've gone either way but you had some lucky spills on the part of Dirt Pie hurting his hand on Vivian's jaw.

Anyway, thanks for finishing this round, and get ready for the infirmary! I will link you all in when the next two threads are up.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!