Halloween Bash 2012 - The Werewolf Arena

Kilet saw it.

"One who walks the shadows!" He mouthed excitedly, watching Leon disappear from the stands. The strategy from that point on got immensely easier, now that he knew how exactly his opponent moved about. If it were anything like blinking, the Carver would have a much harder time taking on such a foe. But, since this was a shadow walking vampire, the simplest solution is to fly to the highest point of the arena - the hole where the light came through - and avoid the shadows. If this were half the vampire he though it would be, an aerial battle would be forced. And, as any good lorekeeper would know, vampires only use flight as a method of travel, not combat.

The broomstick ascended quickly to the center, unwittingly avoiding the vampire with this action, until he was almost to the opening. Assumed that going through the opening was a big no-no, so he stayed a good yard underneath that and surveyed the area, gesturing for the skeletons to gather where his shadow was now cast. Now all that was to be done was to wait. He observed the limited degree of vision, twisting the broom slightly so he could turn.

 

"Dammit." Leon cursed in his mind as Kilet rose above him and avoided the surprise attack. Being in the air was pointless and simply continuing to glide would bring him to the other end of seating area. Leon then dropped down towards the group of three skeletons, aiming for the one that was in the back of the pack. He landed on the skeleton, being sure to completely break it upon impact. Naturally the noise would immediately alert Kilet and the remaining skeletons to Leon's position.

The moment the skeleton was shattered Leon grabbed the weapons the skeleton was using; the two broken rapiers. He quickly moved to destroy the remaining two skeletons, shattering both their spines and the rapiers with the attack. With the skeletons destroyed Leon picked up the remaining tomahawk the skeleton had and moved towards the deeper shadows. Kilet may have moved outside of his normal range, but the shadows still afforded Leon the advantage of movement and stealth.

 

Kilet was about to respond to the assault on the skeletons, but the skirmish was over before it even started.

"On their own, the shambling handful are no match for a master of the night," He observed, a new idea forming in his head. Reaching into his mantle, he pulled out two rolls of bandages. Bandages on their own weren't magical. They weren't special. They really had no special attributes. That is, until he starts bleeding.

The Carver wrapped his less thickly-covered portions of his body, taking time to carefully wrap his shoulders, clavicle and neck, as well as his arms and legs, taking his tights off to put on the thin fabric, then putting his clothes back on. All completely silhouetted by the moonlight. It was all quite impressive, really, considering he did all of this while maintaining stability on a broom. Finally, when it was all over and his handiwork was successfully finished and recovered by his tights, shirt, and mantle, he began to list slowly downward, taking the time to look like he was being careful.
His projected path would be into the center of the "spotlight," where all the skeletons were re-killed.

 

Back in the safety of the shadows, Leon took aim at Kilet. That damn broomstick was making it that much harder to hit Kilet. As Kilet was busy wrapping himself up with the bandages Leon threw the dull tomahawk at him. Either destroy the broomstick with the tomahawk or injure Kilet and place his focus on the injuries.

Leon moved to the highest part of the seating again, ready to try and drop down on Kilet again. He climbed up the wall again and kicked off it again, gliding towards Kilet.

 

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Since Leon was not at the highest point when he threw the tomahawk, it had to fight gravity most of the way to the Carver, causing the tomahawk to sail just too low and miss. Kilet continued his descent, however, until the his feet brushed the ground, at which point, he dropped the broomstick entirely and set his right foot upon it, as if to keep it from flying away. A large and elaborate mirror found it's way under his left, equally distributed in length between his front and back. One pumpkin club was held downwards in a reverse-grip, the possessing arm just hanging off of Kilet's shoulder limply. The second mace was held out front, but looking at the ground, it seemed. The pumpkin faces just smiled upside down, as if to say, "Yeah, we're watchin' your back for you, bro!" which was entirely inappropriate for the genre, but could still make it as a line in a bad slasher flick.

And he just waited. He just eerily waited.

 

The mirror reflected the moonlight and illuminated much of the crypt. Not all of the crypt was illuminated, and even then it wasn't insanely bright, but still plenty of Leon's faster movement would be hindered by a sudden lack of shadows. Unless Kilet knew to look in the air for Leon, he still wouldn't immediately find him.

Leon's glide finally reached directly above Kilet. This was made immediately known by the fact that Leon's body was between the hole in the ceiling and Kilet. His shadow covered the mirror and darkened the crypt again, making it obvious that there was something above Kilet. And then Leon simply dropped. His body plummeted down face first towards Kilet. He planned a few different routes to go for when Kilet would move to counter this very obvious move but the important part was to do something unexpected this time around.

 

There was no movement. There was no reaction. Kilet's eys stared off, following the line of the quickly shrinking shadow, but his body was stiller than a statue. If he recoognized what was happening, he gave no notice. Indeed, his hat didn't even flicker in the light breeze coming down through the opening in the ceiling.

No movement.

Only a moment and a half before Leon made contact, the downward facing mace fired two chilled shots, the deadly ice rebounding off of the mirror and going directly upwards. In the opposing hand, flame spewed forth, the Carver using that to propel himself into a spin. Bone arrows, proper instruments that were just formed of bone, ejaculated from the ground, aimed for the vampire. The arrows, some simply heated, some ignited by the circular arc of fire that Kilet loosed, came at a five-per-second rate. If the cannonballs didn't get the vampire, the fire would.

No words were spoken. The Carver simply grinned a grin.

 

Kilet waited too long to attack. Leon already had his hands on Kilet's shoulder by the time Kilet began. Using Kilet's body to move himself around, Leon twisted and spun his body around to dodge the two icy cannonballs, Kilet's own spinning only helping Leon's dodge. The moment the cannonballs missed, Leon began his own sort of attack. While still balancing on Kilet's body Leon lowered his head and bit Kilet. His teeth ripped through the gauze and drew blood.

It was at that time that the bone arrows reached Leon. The first five, all reaching him at the same time, harmlessly passed through his body as though he weren't even there. Using Kilet's spinning to throw Kilet off balance, Leon swung his body down and hit Kilet's legs. Even as Leon's own legs were burned while doing that, both the burns and the shoulder wound from earlier were healed with Kilet's blood.

The next wave of bone arrows were already at Leon again by this time. Not counting on them passing through him harmlessly again, Leon's body turned into a swarm of bats and they all flew off in different direction. Some bats were hit by the bone arrows, but the majority of them reached some of the darker shadows in the crypt.

 

I have one minor response to form, if I may. The bandages, the moment the blood was drawn, would seal over the wound. Thereby sealing Leon's teeth. Mummy's gift you see. Kilet would ignite his foe, since his mouth would be stuck - ergo, stuck behind Kilet, which is why one of the maces was angled backwards. You may deem whatever case appropriate, Mr. Judgeman.

 

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The body of a restabilized Kilet Jan focused into existence, starting as a blur then clearing itself up, upon the highest point of the temple. He still wore the bandages of the previous battle upon his person, though the ones on his neck were replaced.

"Vampires are the most dangerous foe," He remarked, forgoing any sort of riddle or mysterious wisdom like he normally spouts at regular intervals. "But now I duel the one who replaced my prior victory. What manner of madness am I to be faced with?"

His form was silhouetted by the moon, once again carrying both maces in one hand while a broom rested in the opposite. His back arched as he surveyed the battlefield, awaiting his next foe.

 

Keiko flew low to the ground on her broom, weaving in and out of broken walls and sections of the temple. When she finally got to the edge of the place, she slowly began to fly a bit higher to gain a vantage point on the temple. Standing atop the highest point of the temple was a lean silhouette, fairly easy to spot.

Well, that's rather forward, Keiko thought to herself as she descended back below a wall, hoping that she was yet unseen. She pulled out the scroll that listed the opponent's information as well as acted as her summons to the match. Kilet Jan, Pumpkin Carver...

Keiko replaced the scroll and drew out her notebook. She bit open the skin on her pointer finger and drew three Jirai symbols on separate pieces of paper. She then put her notebook away and looked out from the wall. Eyeing a patch of stone near Kilet, Keiko outstretched her hand and used her Golem Familiar. The stone near the carver twisted and shaped into a vaguely human form. Giving the Golem a silent "Kill" command, Keiko flew up toward the platform that the carver was on, using the guise of night as cover.

The Golem lunged at Kilet, loudly and obviously, as it attempted to smash both of it's fists down on him. Hoping that the carver's attention would be drawn to the Golem, Keiko flew upward, level to the platform but still off of it, withdrawing her notebook. She quickly drew a Kiru symbol and sent several vertical waves of purple aura hurtling toward the opponent for what she hoped would be a surprise attack.

 

Kilet heard the golem's stone feet grinding upon the masonry of the temple, and he prepared as such. As the giant drew closer, Kilet dropped backwards between the trunks that served as legs to the creation, using the broom to lift himself just enough so that he did not hit the steps on his way down. During this, he summoned a Pumpkin Aegis about one and a half times the size of a large dinner plate onto his left arm. His "flight" finally picked up once he cleared the golem's body, just in time to completely avoid the aura, thanks to the bulk of the large magical construct.

Once the wave was over, he pulled himself up and sat side-saddle on the broom, grinning to the skies.

"The summoning of a lumbering beast is naught but a distraction for the bigger assault!" Kilet announced, looking to the direction of the spell cast and spotting the witch. He rejoined both maces into one staff, saying, "Luck will play a large role in our engagement, but it will not control my action!"

He fired two chilled shots, one for each pumpkin face on his staff, at the witch while preparing to fly out on a moment's notice. The game was on.

 

"Hmph," Keiko quietly scoffed as the Carver dodged her attacks. She pulled out her notebook and readied herself for anything. As it turned out, anything manifested itself in the form of two icy cannonballs that shot out of the Carver's pumpkin rods. Keiko analyzed the situation and decided that a Nankan Seal would be the best way to deal with the situation. She quickly jotted the seal into her notebook as the magical attacks flew closer. Just before the balls of ice collided with the girl, a cylindrical barrier of purple aura rose in between them. The barrier absorbed one of the shots and deflected the other, sending the latter flying downward into the ruin. The barrier then dissipated. Keiko rocked a bit on her broomstick, a sign that meant the barrier was barely able to handle neutralizing both effects.

Keiko looked up at the carver. She decided to fly upward to level herself out with her opponent. While they still maintained a fair amount of distance, they were now at the same altitude.

"Kilet Jan..." Keiko began. "You seem like a powerful Warlock. Pity you were chosen as my opponent, and pity that my sense of mercy died ages ago." Keiko summoned a Shadow Weapon in the form of a javelin. She then used her other hand to draw an Amaya symbol on her forearm. Several sheets of purple aura needles rained down from atop Kilet. At the same time, Keiko quickly flew to his flank and hurled the shadow javelin at her opponent. She continued her flight to try and put some distance between them.

 

Warlock. Such an old-fashioned term. It was one that appealed to the Carver's sense of nostalgia. Her words spoke more than she would realize, and Kilet took advantage of that.

"Poor little witch, all alone. Lost her beloved, lost her home!" He cackled. His response to her top-down attack was instantaneous, as nobody would fly above somebody else without doing something. He ceased his broom's magic and simply plummeted towards the ground, reactivating the broom before he hit the dirt. From that point, it was a simple matter of using his aegis to block the needles like an umbrella blocks rain. Because he fell so quickly, the javelin missed its mark widely.

From his new position, the Carver worked quickly, simultaneously summoning four skeletons armed with bows and a pile of bone arrows for them to draw munitions from, while also ripping an extravagant mirror from the ground and hooking it to the front of his broom.

Kilet prepared for a rapid ascent - he assumed the witch would try something tricky again.

 

Keiko simply watched, motionless on her broom, as the Carver danced to avoid or avert her attacks. She was slightly surprised when the Carver landed and summoned skeletal warriors out of the ground, but not nearly as surprised as when he pulled out a mirror. She flew lazily, watching the Carver as he simply waited for her next move.

He's waiting for me to react rather than attacking... She thought. Curious.

Keiko pointed her hand down toward the ground next to the Carver and created another Golem Familiar. The living construction formed itself out of dirt and rubble from the temple. Simultaneously, Keiko flew as fast as she could downward, landing on the other side of Kilet and the skeletons. She summoned a Shadow Weapon in the form of a one-handed sword. Then, still mounted on the broom, Keiko flew forward in a burst of speed. She un-summoned the broom in mid-dash, propelling herself toward the first skeleton as she attempted to pierce it's eye socket with her blade. Whether the attack hit or not, the momentum carried her past the skeleton and into a forward roll, from which she sprung up in front of a second skeleton. She made a quick horizontal slash right above the skeleton's ribcage, attempting to slice it in two.

As Keiko was dispatching of one-half of the skeletons, the Golem was hard at work with the other half. It ran at the two skeletons, fairly fast for it's size, and made large sweeping motions with its arms to try and break the undead into piles of bones. At the end of it's path was Keiko, and when both were done with their assaults they ended back to back, ready for whatever the Carver would try to throw at them

 

"Maybe a brother? Sister?" Kilet inquiried, his tell-tale madness sinking its tendrils into this stabilized persona and his smile thereof. "Or, perhaps, it was her parents? Oh, definitely parents."

The skeletons did their best, but they were hardly a match for the witch and her familiar. The two decimated the four quickly, giving Kilet enough time to manuver in front of Keiko*. No sooner had she finished than did he emit his Banshee Echo, something far more potent than his Banshee Shriek but more localized. Sound doesn't work like standard magic, so he hoped it would surpass any standard barrier that the witch could pull. To add insult to injury, several boneshrapnel cannonballs fired from the soft ground, aimed at his opponent's torso. Heads were a risky bet, so the torso made a better and squishier target.

*So if directional keys showed which way things were facing, then <golem<>Keiko> - - - - - - - <Kilet<