An Inevitable Clash (Annalisa)

[Tallis]

oocI totally forgot what spells I was going to have Tallis cast, so I had to improvise… Tallis’ taunts hadn’t worked and Anna had managed to keep her cool, sending two spheres flying at him to test him rather than starting with a strong attack. He took this as an indication that the professor would approach this duel defensively. He had expected her to go in for an all-out assault. Tallis knew that it wasn’t safe for both mages to waste time testing each other, it was a waste of djed and res. And a waste of djed could lead to overgiving, something that Tallis would make sure he avoided. If Anna wanted to see Tallis attack, she would get it. He would have to push past her defenses. He pushed his arms forward into the wall of res he had built up, allowing the magical substance to engulf both his arms. With a concentrated effort, he split the res in half, forming two cones around his fore-arms. The bases of the cones started at his elbow and tapered out to a point about half a foot away from his hands. Sending the res spinning rapidly, he transmuted a thin outer layer of it to sand. The sand stayed attached to the underlying current of res, creating two cyclones around his arms. As the projectiles exited Anna’s zone of control and sped towards him he took a quick leap to the side. He wasn’t acrobatic enough to fully dodge both of the projectiles, but the one that would’ve grazed him was easily deflected by the cyclone on his left arm. The spinning vortexes around his arm would repel most projectiles up to the size of an egg. Any larger though, and the projectiles were liable to push straight through them. Of course, if he even grazed Anna with a cyclone, the rapidly moving grains of sand were bound to leave a cut on her arm. Circling around the clearing, Tallis began closing the gap between him and his opponent. It was a fact that most magic practitioners, especially reimancers, were more comfortable fighting from far away. Tallis was pushing Anna into close range, getting into her zone of control. Of course, he was also pushing Anna into his zone of control, mutually increasing the dangers of the fight. He was banking on his previous battle experience to give him the edge in closer quarters. If Anna wasn’t used to fighting with an opponent this close, she was bound to make more mistakes. But a cornered animal was also a desperate and dangerous animal. It was a risky gamble, but Tallis was going to take it.

[Annalisa Marin]

OOCQuite alright Tallis, my last reply was a little short because I myself was drawing a blank for Anna's actions. Anna's eyes widened by a fraction as she noted Tallis creating two cyclones around his arms, an ability that no doubt required some skill in regards to reimancy. The young woman set her jaw as her projectiles were defeated rather easily, this defensive move presented a challenge for her. A large enough earthen projectile could possibly do the trick in defeating his cyclones. That and maintaining those cyclones was likely taking up a bit of Djed and concentration, hence her generating more res from the bottoms of her feet. Her concentration was nearly shaken as she noted Tallis drawing closer to her, getting closer to her zone of control. This was extremely alarming as those cyclones could likely win the battle for him. Anna refused to simply allow this to happen, she was not going to lose to some fool who controlled a bit of wind magic. Desperation was evident on her face as she place a large amount of her generated res to the ground and focused on drawing it up. The action was extremely taxing in terms of Djed usage, pushing her further closer to overgiving territory and producing an irresistible desire to cast even more. A single large spike rose up from the ground before her and shot up at Tallis quickly. Anna could feel the urge surging in her mind as she jumped back away from her opponent and began to draw yet more res into her hands and give it shape. The two larger balls of liquid took on a spike like shape and were sent flying towards Tallis, the action nearly exhausting her entirely. She transmuted the res to earth as they exited her zone of control, creating earthen spikes. Even a glancing blow from these was likely to cut him. Due to her desperate and fast casting she was near her limits in terms of Djed expenditure. She could perhaps manage one final effective spell before she was pushed into overgiving, she needed to make it count if she had failed to injure Tallis. Anna jumped back further, displaying some light acrobatics in the form of her tactical retreat. It was difficult and highly uncomfortable to make such sudden movements due to the waves of exhaustion she was feeling at the moment. She needed to stay alert and ready for a last ditch effort.

[Tallis]

Closing in on Anna had caused her to panic. Her defenses had been quickly forgotten and she had moved onto the offensive to try and push Tallis back. As he got close enough to launch an attack, a spike of earth shot out of the ground, pointed straight at him. He was forced to take an awkward leap backwards to dodge the attack. Luckily the spike wasn’t too large and Tallis was easily out of its range. The spike was a complex spell requiring a vast amount of mental focus. Clearly the desperation of being pressured in closer quarters had caused Anna’s concentration to shift entirely towards spell-casting. There was no more planning and strategizing of next moves. The battle had become one of intuition and instinct. As Anna sent two earth spikes flying at him, Tallis let loose the cyclone on his right arm, sending it flying in her direction. Now he needed to get back into close range to use his remaining cyclone. Pulling on his reserves of djed, Tallis sent the esoteric essence shooting into his legs. Powered with flux, his legs were able to move with much more speed and power. As the cyclone and the two spikes crossed paths, Tallis took a flux powered leap forwards and to the left, dodging the projectiles. Tallis was a bit surprised by the power of his leap, and he landed awkwardly in a squatting position using his free hand to support him. Luckily, he had landed exactly where he wanted to: right beside Anna. With one cyclone flying towards her from the front and Tallis ready to confront her on her side, she was locked into a checkmate. Lunging forward, he aimed the remaining cyclone on his left arm at Anna. Unless the runes painted on her arms allowed her to pull off a spell with superhuman speed, Tallis’ attack could be the one to end the fight.

[Annalisa Marin]

The fight was lost, Anna knew as soon as Tallis had landed next to her with a series of quick leaps that seemed to defy the laws of reality. It seemed almost magical in its execution like some kind of magic that affected the functions and abilities of the body itself. Her eyes had widened and it took her body a moment to register a command to try and leap back away from him. Through the fatigue of too much heavy and hasty casting and the sheer surprise that Tallis had managed to get so close to her so quickly Anna's reactions were sluggish. Anna jumped back from Tallis on instinct and hissed slightly as one of the cyclones tore at her arm, producing a light cut with a tiny trickle of blood. It was over then, she had lost this fight due to her own stupidity if nothing else. She had panicked and lost control and that had cost her this match to an opponent that should have been her inferior. The young professor looked at her arm and glared at the cut, as though the blood tricking out from it had betrayed her in some way. There was of course the fact that she had indeed used far more than she had anticipated needing, the splitting headache now and the irresistible whispers in her brain were only the tip of the iceberg as the waves of consequences became apparent to her. Chills were sent through her legs, cold sweat was thick upon her body. The taste of steel was fresh upon her lips, and she could swear a trickle of blood was coming from her nose. Her eyes were also cracked and red. She looked absolutely horrible from this extensive session of casting, gods she wanted to die. The pain wracking her body was nearly unbearable and she had now doubt things would only get worse from here. Her glare at Tallis softened to a cold stare as she leveled her narrow grey eyes on Tallis. He had defeated her, a University Professor and one marked by Rhysol himself, truly this was one of the lowest moments in her life. Her breath was heavy and a light sheen of sweat had formed on her brow from her exertions. Anna wanted to curse him, to put Rhysol's blessing to use for this insult but she held the tempting desire in check. She was not the most graceful loser in existence but strength was something that she respected, as well as magical ability. "So it would appear you know more than just reimancy. How could you possibly move at such speeds? What magic do you possess, Tallis?" The defeated professor demanded. Anna was arrogant but her arrogance was always tempered when presented with new magic or a power that was possible to harness. She was definitely enraged by her defeat however knowledge came even before pride.

[Tallis]

Tallis watched in eager anticipation as the first droplets of blood exited the small cut on Anna’s arm. He had won. Standing up and dispelling the cyclone around his forearm, a small pile of sand suddenly fell to the forest floor. At the same Tallis felt his knees buckle and he almost toppled over. The beneficial effects of using Flux had worn off, and he had to cope with the consequences now. Magic was all about balance and Tallis was, quite frankly, finding it hard to keep himself physicall. Falling flat onto his backside, Tallis sat on the forest floor and started massaging his legs. He could feel his knees shaking underneath his palms as his muscles quivered and struggled with the strain that had been placed on them. There was no doubt in his mind that his legs would burn like fire in the next few days. There was good news though. After the initial pain, his muscles would be stronger than before. Panting and gasping for air, Tallis managed to sputter out his reply. “I just… used Flux… *gasp*… to get in close.” Taking a deep breath, he managed to slow his breathing down to a more tolerable rhythm before countering the professor’s questions with his own. “How did you… cast that spike… so quickly? Is it the tattoos?” His brow was furrowed with strain and stress. He really needed to take better care of his body if he wanted to use flux safely. It would go onto his list of things to do that summer. Standing up on his shaky legs, Tallis offered his hand to Annalisa. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, shaking the opponent’s hand. It was his way of showing the he acknowledged her and wanted to thank her for the duel. “Say, professor, can you teach me that thing with the symbols on your arms and legs? I could teach you how I pulled off that last move in return.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna noted Tallis' own exhaustion with some interest, it spoke volumes about his abilities more than what she had already seen in the fight. He was certainly skilled, there was no denying that but he was not so far beyond her own abilities if he was tired after this skirmish. The fact that he did not know glyphing was another point to her theory as to his skills, he was not so knowledgeable it appeared when it came to a basic discipline of magic. Anna considered answering his question at first, initially tossing aside the notion. He had managed to best her in combat, that marked him as a threat in her opinion. His suggestion of exchange after he offered his hand for a shake made her quickly reevaluate that stance. That power he had just displayed was certainly potent, it out did any possible defense she could have possibly summoned up. It was a power she would not mind having for herself, and if the price for learning was teaching a bit of glyphing then it seemed a small price. Yes, this so called "Flux" could be very useful to her as she continued on her path. The ability to achieve things physically that were not normally possible? Oh yes that was something she wanted dearly now that it was being offered to her in an exchange. Anna pointedly ignore Tallis' offer of a hand shake, and instead focused on recovering her strength and composure. The young professor saw no point in being friendly with the man before her, especially if they were to carry out what amounted to a business transaction. She fixed him with the finest imperious scowl she could manage at the moment, feeling more and more like herself through the throbbing headache tearing through her brain. "You are suggesting an equivalent exchange of sorts? I teach you glyphing and you teach me to harness this so called flux?" She asked rhetorically, pretending to muse over it for a moment. "I would say that it sounds like and adequate deal, so long as you live up to your end of the bargain." The young professor said with an affirmative nod.

[Lullaby]

Here is your reward!

Tallis :

Experience

• Observation: +3
• Rhetoric: +1
• Reimancy: +2
• Acrobatics: +2
• Flux: +1

Lores

• The Nostalgia of the Wright Library
• Connecting Through Student Reimancy Book
• Accidentally Insulting a Professor
• Challenging Professor Marin to a Reimancy Battle
• Turning a Challenge into a Lesson
• Planning the Rules of Engagement
• Letting the Lady Go First: Battle Tactic
• Getting Close to Set Opponent Off
• Flux: Unbalanced landings
• Reimancy: Sand Cyclones
• Winning Against Professor Marin
• How Quickly Djed Goes in Battle
• Teaching Flux, in Exchange for Learning Glyphing

Other

• Burning Pain in Legs: Lasts one day, and fades over three. Mild aching in ankles and knees for four days
• Overall Tiredness: Lasts one day

Notes

• Watch the use of asterisks to display actions while talking
  
  Awesome thread, this was really great to read. Since you are only a few points away from Master, it is hard to gain experience, though I saw Tallis not only blended two of his elements, but also in a new spell, so I awarded for that.

Annalisa :

Experience

• Glyphing:+2
• Reimancy: +2
• Acrobatics: +1

Lores

• "Azelth's Dissertation on the Safe Practices of Reimancy": Checking Your Limits
• Insult of Being Called a Student
• Challenged to a Reimancy Battle
• Smaller Pathway Runes Increase Res Generation
• Pride Keeping You in Line
• How Quickly Djed Goes in Battle
• Reimancy: Earth Needles From Ground
• Tallis Using Flux to Win
• Losing to Tallis
• Teaching Glyphing in Exchange for Learning Flux

Other

• Mild Overgiving Effects: Lasts one day, fades over two.
• Shallow cut on arm: Heals fully in seven days, closes in two

Notes

Awesome writing, and good playing within your skill level. It was great to see Annalisa riled up and ready to fight in this thread, and offered an interesting lead-on to whatever threads might occur in the future!

A quiet song to soothe the heart

Terribly sorry about the long wait with this one guys, great job! If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.