Crownless Tourney - Shiruba vs Rizadoman

With the starting of the Crownless Cup Shibuya had become a centerpoint of activity the last few days. To the Alliance that had struggled to make the city a success, only to lose it to the foreign army for a time and then struggle again to reclaim it, it was very satisfying to see. But we're not here for recent history lessons. We're here for gladitorial combat for the entertainment of the masses.

And Shiruba had gotten wrangled into too. It was at least partially Fukaziroh's fault, and her machinations to achieve a Shiba plushie of ultimate floof. But Shiruba felt an obligation herself, as moderator of the Silver Sword, New World's primary combat and exploration Guild, and as one of the Alliance's Adventurer leaders effectively, to at least make a showing. Hopefully being a DPS type class will be able to hold up!

"It's okay," she murmured as much to herself as the falcon perched on her shoulder, "The Duel System will prevent anything severe from happening. And this is just like hunting a specific quarry, it's just under more specific and controlled circumstances." Deep breath. "Nothing to worry about. Ready, Windburn?" The falcon ruffled a bit for a moment, ready to take-off when the time came. "Okay then."

Shiruba gripped Thundersnow Howl tightly in her hand, and strode out onto the proper arena grounds. Trying to not think about how many people were actually out here watching.

    Rizadoman walks onto the arena, wearing very little. If this was anyone else it may even be believable that Rizadoman lost a bet somehow, but this is Rizadoman and he seems to have intended this. The only thing the lizardman has on is a pair of shorts, his shield resting on his back and what appears to be an ornate staff with several markings that look like they were made with claw marks and decorated with bones of small creatures and plants. There is a momentary pause of hesitation as Rizadoman gathers his will for combat. Finally taking a deep breath, Rizadoman stabs the staff into the ground of the arena.

     Bellowing out for all to hear, Rizadoman begins a rather wordy introduction "I, Rizadoman, represenative of Moon Tree, warrior of the Swamp Lizards, apostle of the Church of Law, and most importantly, an honorable Lizardman, here and now present this token of my challenge. By issuing this challenge I swear on my claws and fangs that until this challenge is resolved I will see you as a friend no more. Instead until one yields you are but an opponent of mine, nothing more. If you accept my challenge, nothing need to be said simply come with everything you have, or leave this field of battle and know that I will see you as no less then I see you now."

     Rizadoman then slowly draws his shield from his back and prepares for combat as he stares at Shiruba and waits patiently for her decision.

There was no way that the mercenary gnoll wasn't going to watch two of the leaders of New World slug it out. He had found a position not too far from the dueling field, standing by arms crossed, though anyone who knows him would know who he's pulling for in this fight.

There is the commands to engage the dueling... do you even really call it a code anymore.. but Rizadoman makes a bit of a speech to be more dramatic about it. Shiruba's tail flicks a bit. She wasn't expecting to have to make elaborate talk, but now it feels necessary despite his saying otherwise. At least she can crib from his own formation. "I, Shiruba Howlinger, Leader of the Silver Sword, Ranger of the Storm, accept your challenge. I am the hunter, and for tonight, you are my quarry." She doesn't use prey, because that would be a bit demeaning to the Were Fang just because they're a monster race.

With the duel accepted the system engages and the signal to start is made. Windburn spreads wings and takes to the air to be ready for if she is required to assist. Shiruba pulls an arrow from her quiver, flicking the head against an arm of her bow as she nocks it to spark the head and ignite it. Pulls back, ears forward, eyes narrowing as she focuses on Rizadoman and filters out the rest of the arena. Aim, pull.. and the bowstring cracks like minature thunder when she lets go and the blazing projectile makes her opening shot!

    The arrow of fire is released and Rizadoman's shield takes on a blue icy aura as it catches the arrow with a thud and seems to snuff the flame out. "So we begin," Rizadoman states before charging forward as he does a quick whip of his shield to return the arrow towards Shiruba, "An eye for an eye. " The lizardman moves in close , attempting to pin Shiruba down quickly, "And a tooth for a tooth." With his fangs bared he lunges forward aiming to take a bite out of Shiruba.

Gwen is in the strands along with Morri and Uther. It's funny how in such a relatively short time the two had been better parent to Shiruba than her own ones of blood. So far as Gwen knew but that's part of why they are here. She's still glad in her Taki outfit. Morri then whispers something to Gwen. She gets a smile much like her mother does when she ships. Oh dear what is going on here. She'll leap up in the stands calling at the top of her lungs.

"IF YOU DONT WIN I WILL INVENT FLANNEL HERE AND MAKE YOU WEAR IT!"

Uther looks more than a little horrifed at this... he has not forgotton the FLANNEL incident either...

Shiruba is completely unsurprised Rizamon has the means of resisting a fire based attack. To the point that it might have been an intentional test. Hunter gauging the ability of her mark. After firing she braces herself, focusing some of her Light magic through herself to prepare for the fight that's to come.

At the same time Windburn swoops in, making a display that animal companions are good for more than additional attacks, as she circles at high speed to help kick up an obscuring mist around Shiruba as the lizard-man charges. Lunges. Chomps down... He'd feel his fangs scrape against something, but the haze makes it hard to tell where his attack landed.

Then Shiruba is visible lunging from the fog, diving and rolling off to the side little worse for wear. A few tumbles and she comes up onto one knee, an arrow already pulled back in her bow. "I'll bring it alright. An entire windstorm, just for you." Indeed wind can be heard whistling as she fires the arrow with such speed it's difficult to see.

But gawd Gwen, don't make this weird, she's trying to concentrate here!

    Rizadoman spits out some fur, whether it was from Shiruba or just loose shed is hard to tell, he doesn't know if he even managed to nick her. However now is not time for that question as from the fog the voice of Shiruba can be heard and he sticks his tongue out for a moment before smiling. " Your wind can not stop the mountain that I am." The lizardman doesn't need to attempt to dodge the high speed attack, there is only one target. Instead he waits till the last moment to do his best to catch the arrow with the shield. It glances off and bounces to draw a deep scratch along Rizadoman's face. He grins though as the wound is already healing, "You will need to do more then bluster at me Shiruba." With that said the Lizardman is on the move again, chasing down the elusive wolf and attempting to dig his claws deep into her.

While her arcane defenses were arguably stronger, one of the first things Shiruba had learned was not to rely on one set of tactics. She could be agile when she needs to be, one of those times is now. Her tail flicks back and forth to help her balance as she scoots and shuffle in a quick yet artful manner, deflecting one of Rizadoman's strikes with the reinforced arm of her bow as she moves and keeping any harm he inflicts to minimal grazes. The status effect they cause is a little more annoying, but she is a hunter. Many creatures in the wild are poisonous. She will deal with it as she needs.

She made extra sure her trademark longbow was ready for this fight, and is shows as the two break apart once more and Thundersnow Howl is already charging up. Shiruba grabs the bowstring and pulls back, forming an arrow of ice as she does, which becomes electrified with lightning as it's readied. "Ask and ye shall receive" she quips back, and fires.

    Rizadoman leaps back at the weapon swap and prepares for what is to come as his shield is raises, glowing a fiery red as the brunt of Shiruba's attack hits his shield and forces him to slide back along the arena while the aura drains away as much of the attack as it can before the attack disipates enough that Rizadoman can knock it aside. Once the attack is cleared Rizadoman rushes back towards Shiruba, his shield breaking into a pair of blades that light on fire as he slides along the arena floor, slicing once at Shiruba's waist. Then spinning around he slashes upward, before bringing the final bit of this 'dance' to end with a diagnol slice.

Watching this back and forth just reminds Kaydon why these two are in the leadership positions that they are. A small smile creeps across his face, "C'mon Shiruba, hit him with one of those tankbusters I've seen you use!" He's seen her blast an undead general in half with a shot.

After the first few exchange of attacks, there's a noticable shift in Shiruba's demeanor. The hunter's mind was working. She has seen Rizadoman in combat many times, but this was the first that she was facing him directly. It took a little adjusting to build a more thorough strategy. But it's visible as her pace becomes more measured, more composed as she specifically steps in to meet Rizadoman's attack this time, again using the reinforcement on the arms of her bow to shield against his attacks. "Your time with the Slayer has served you well, Riza. But I'm no mere Goblin..." She grunts, and pushes apart from him once more.

But there's no arrows this time.

That might be slightly off-putting as her strategy changes. And it comes with the reminder that as a Spell Fletcher she is quite capable in more arcane arts as well, as the sky over the arena is split by a thunderous crash as a bolt of divine lightning comes blasting down towards the lizard warrior.

    Rizadoman raises his shield expecting another arrow but the change of pace is enough to throw Rizadoman off. The sound of thunder is the only moment he gets to raise his shield but the shield can't reduce the pure might of the lightnning as the mountain is hammered into the ground. As the dust settles, there stands Rizadoman smoldering as he lets out a challenging roar before he forms a ball of light in his scaled hand and sends it into the air before it explodes into blinding light. Using the bright light as a distraction, Rizadoman comes in and swipes out with his large muscular tail before the hunter regains her sight.

The burst of flaming light is not unlike one of her own tricks. Shiruba hisses, and deducing it serves a similar purpose, braces herself. Which barely works, as Rizadoman puts his thicker and less fluffy tail into motion to slam into her. The wolfgirl skids backwards from the impact, but her brief moment of readiness keeps her from losing her footing and falling over.

Which means she's quick to draw an arrow, pushing her mind past the injury and nocking it back into her bow. The elemental gems adorning Thundersnow Howl's arms light up as she takes aim, channeling a thunderstorm's worth of electricity into the special arrow made of conductive metal, which she then fires at Rizadoman with startling accuracy despite the flare! There's a good chance she's aiming at him via sound with her sharp hearing rather than sight in an effort to adapt.

    Rizadoman's shield glows with that same fiery aura of earlier as the electrified arrow slams into the shield and the danger of the arrow is negated, the electricity though flows through Rizadoman. It hurts. Still with a force of will that only one as stubborn as a lizardman could be he doesn't stop. Instead he breaks apart his shield back to it's dual blades form as Rizadoman moves in, still electrified and as he cuts away at Shiruba, he is doing his best to return the electricity to the sender. It is only proper manners to share after all, even status effects.

Now that she has had some time to analyze Rizadoman in combat as an opponent rather than an ally Shiruba starts putting some more elaborate tactics into place. It starts with conjuring up some of that obscuring mist again, making her harder to aim at.

But then the winds start, catching and flicking her ponytail around as it does. The winds howl and wail at her command, whipping around the combatants, drawing in some of the haze into a swirling cone of movement. It's smaller than a real tornado, but just as furious, ripping up some debris from the ground and bombarding deep digging shrapnel at Rizardoman from multiple angles.

    Rizadoman blinks in surprise at the mastery of the weather, he had not realized that SHiruba had such abilities. As the tornado rushes into him, he can only stand there with his shield raied, muscles tensed and clawed feet gripping the ground beneath him. The tornado unfortunately rips up one of Shiruba's arrow though and launches it into him as he winces in pain. "That is an unpleasant feeling." As the wind dies down Rizadoman doesn't wait he rushes right in toward Shiruba and tries to close the distance as he rips the arrow out of his side and attempts to plant it in shiruba's side. The wound in the lizard's side is already knitting itself closed as he releases the arrow he is using to attack. "I love being a lizard."

When Rizadoman tries to charge back at Shiruba he gets an unpleasant surprise as Windburn dives down upon him, getting up in his face with beating wings and shrieking cries. The attempt to use the arrow as a weapon grazes the bird's side, but her determination to assist her master is a powerful force in its own right. True, the defensive move still puts some ding in Shiruba's overall health as the two share aspects as adventurer and companion animal, but not getting the assault directly in her face gives Shiruba the time she needs to prep another shot, firing a high speed electrified arrow at Rizadomon while he's in a way getting literally flipped the bird.

    The bird would not leave Rizadoman be,and Rizadoman could not bring himself to harm the bird, so all he could do was wave his shield around and block windburn as best he could while keeping an eye on Shiruba and it's good that he did. Rizadoman catches sight of the bow string, the taste of static in the air. Without a doubt he knew what was coming. The red aura enhances his shield as he catches the brunt of the arrow that contained the power of a storm. For a moment it felt like Rizadoman would be unable to defend against it as windburn scratches up his face again. Finally he relents on his own morals a bit as he redirects some of the power of the storm directly into windburn, sending some of the backlash Shiruba's direction.

     Taking a deep breath as he mimics wiping blood off his lip before he charges in and as the shield turns back to blades for the offense he slashes out three times , no longer caring about a pattern so much as actually claiming damage. Rizadoman was slowly feeling the fatigue and he needed to speed things up.

The unorthadox defense actually works. Redirecting some of the wind force forces the falcon to break off before she's blasted out of the air. In an odd bit of irony Shiruba braces herself by igniting a similar red glow of defense even as she's buffeted by the blowback. Again she's ready for Rizadoman's attack to deflect the weapons, but the tickle of status effect he's keeping up is wearing into her. Along with the strain of the duel. She may have potent output but she's not really built for prolonged conflict.

Deciding it's time to step it up a bit more she draws some of that lingering elemental storm energy back to herself, channeling it into her bow. Instead of a physical arrow it fires a projectile made purely of that torrental energy, manifesting in a bolt of swirling white and yellow.

    The fact that their is no physical manifestation of the attacks makes it harder for Rizadoman to deal with, as he draws his blades back into their shield form he catches the brunt of it before the wind itself lifts him off the ground and tosses him backward as he lands with a thud against the arena wall. Taking a deep breath Rizadoman stands up slowly as he gathers himself, and takes a break. Gathering strengths into his muscles he charges forward , this time as he gets close his shields remains a shield, and the lizardman leaps up and brings the sturdy shield down towards Shiruba as hard as he can. Perhaps Shiruba will stay down.

Shiruba is a hunter and explorer. She is doing her best to try and adapt, despite this not being the type of fight she's typically engaging in. She can draw a few comparisons in her mind, but another Adventurer is proving to be a different experience from beasts and monsters and dungeon bosses. But she's not giving up. If anything, the challenge is stoking her to keep going, and make this the proper display of prowess the people are here to see.

Again the minature tornado is whipping up, even as Shiruba tries to maneuver. But this time it isn't enough on it's own to hold Rizadoman at bay, and even in the whipping winds he crashes into her, sending the Hunter reeling backwards. It takes her a moment to recover and actually send the small whirlwind after him, but the damage was already done.

    Rizadoman is grabbed by the wind of the tornado and moved back across the arena and he is forced to dig his shield into the ground to slow himself enough to manage to plant his feet. Slowly he gets to his feet under the tornado winds and his shield collapses into the two blades. Keeping this pace up would only prove beneficial for Shiruba, the heavier attacks slowly eating his defenses. Instead, he needed to try to shift the rhythm more his way. Taking a deep breath as he is battered by the end he begins to spew fire from his maw. The tornado carries the fire around him as he raises his swords into the air and continues to spraty fire. The heated tornado raises the first into the air over the blades as Rizadoman manages to twist the tornado into his own giant blade of fire. " I highly request you don't die." Rizadoman politely shouts before he drops the large blade of flames down toward Shiruba.

Shiruba is being forced into a more defensive game, which she really does not like. She's not made for extended conflicts, in class or combat style. But she is doing the best she can. She pushes more storm back into the twister, redirecting it back towards Rizadoman a second time, while drawing more defensive magic to herself. The combination is solid, but it's not enough to completely hold the reptilian warrior at bay when he comes charging her with a big burning blade. It's a fiery blow that sends her reeling for a second time, wheezing hard. Or she'd probably make some crack about the Duel system wouldn't allow her to. Plus he probably wouldn't hear her over the tornado still roaring around him, either.

    Rizadoman is caught in that damn wind, his blades glowing red hot still from the previous attack so he can't even manage to return to a defensive state. Instead all he can do is let go and let the wind carry him, as it tosses him out to the ground away from shiruba with a thud. Rolling back to his feet Rizadoman is breathing a bit heavy as he takes his flaming blades as he charges in and begins a reckless barrage of slashes here and there with out hesitation. It seems for some reason Rizadoman is trying to end this quickly, and to do that Rizadoman is definately stepping up the aggression.

The more agressive tactics are proving to be the most effective after wearing the Hunter down. Though to her credit Shiruba isn't making it easy by a long shot. She's just not experienced in a long game like this, most of her strategies have already gone into play, and now Rizadoman is tearing into her relentlessly. More than a forward defensive move and some Light magic can contend with, leaving her looking the worst for wear by the time she finally manages to break apart from him, multiple red 'damage' lines visible.

But she is not finished yet. The wolfgirl gets back to her feet, grits her teeth with a small (and cute despite the situation) growl, and fires an extremely narrow high speed projectile at Rizadomon. Following it up with one of those fire arrows. Because it's the only other option she has at the moment... But precisely what she made the ignition arrows for, as they don't use magic, and right now her mana is starting to dwindle.

Shiruba may be in rough shape but she's not giving up. That would look worse than losing, since it was the show of fighting prowess they were here for. She twists her body, shifting her feet to keep away from the directness of Rizadoman's strike, turning what could of been a lethal claw swipe into another graizing but painful wound. A few steps back, a few panting briefs (no dog jokes needed)... Being tired hasn't dampered her archery prowess as much though, as she fires off another combination with one of her electrified ice blasts and high speed projectiles.

    Rizadoman is tiring, his magic is weakening and he is starting to make mistakes. A good sign of this is his leg slipping as he protected himself from Shiruba's retaliation and takes sevveral of the high speed projectiles in the chest. They hurt, and the fact that the storm magic made them ice cold just made them drain a little more from stamina. Still Rizadoman carries on, as he charges forward and raises his fist and just tries to slug Shiruba.

When Rizadoman advances on Shiruba, something grabs onto one of his feet. It almost feels like a bite, but that's definitely not a creature. When she dropped a trap on the field no one can say for certain, but it was likely during all the tornado debris and he only happend to step on it now.

At this point it is mostly for show though. A reminder that you can't underestimate a skilled hunter even when they appear beat. The combination of a blinding fireblast and a good old fashioned haymaker is more than enough to knock the wolfgirl back hard. "OWROO!" and then flat on her back on the ground.

    Rizadoman feels something clamp onto his foot but it doesn't stop him. He can't stop for now, instead he powers through and gives Shiruba that final punch. As Shiruba goes down Rizadoman looks at her for a moment before he just drops to the ground and takes a seat. "Shiruba you fought well. " From his inventory he takes out pair of waterskins, tossing one towards Shiruba, landing just in her reach. The crowd is cheering but Rizadoman cam

    Rizadoman feels something clamp onto his foot but it doesn't stop him. He can't stop for now, instead he powers through and gives Shiruba that final punch. As Shiruba goes down Rizadoman looks at her for a moment before he just drops to the ground and takes a seat. "Shiruba you fought well. " From his inventory he takes out pair of waterskins, tossing one towards Shiruba, landing just in her reach. The crowd is cheering but Rizadoman can't hear them over the adrenaline pounding of his heart, still a bit shocked he won. In the end the real important fact of it all though was that it was a good fight.

Fortunately the Duel System only makes it a knockout blow and not a literal knockout. So after a moment Shiruba sits up, her head ringing a bit but a brief smile across her features. "As did you. Your ancestors would be proud." She picks up the waterskin, holding it up as one would a toast... and then gulps it down. She doesn't have a lot left in mana either, which is just a reminder she needs to work on more techniques like the fire arrows and steel traps don't require magic.