Ale Stains and Honor (Imass)

by **Wrenmae** on October 18th, 2012, 4:53 am

Murdock danced around Imass, superior in speed to the lumbering creature in armor. At each junction of the path, he gathered more res into his hands. Imass would wear him down. All this leaping and dodging was exhausting.

If your purpose was mimicking a common squirrel, I applaud your flawless execution.

Any practical advice, you bubbling moron?

Sure. Stab him.

Any advice APPLICABLE

Yeah. Win.

Damnit Zan, Murdock growled, The knight is trying to KILL me.

I refuse to see where this concerns me

You die if I die

I said refuse to see, you don’t seem to grasp ‘refuse’.

Be prepared, I want you to exit my mouth and slither into his the next we’re close.

Awww, you want me to do your dirty work for you?

I want you to be mindful that I have to draw breath for you to continue being annoying.

Good to know you care.

Imass charged again, bringing his shield around toward Murdock’s face. Hissing, he brought his own shield around to intercept. Both clanged together with a rattling clash, but before Murdock could counter attack, Imass had grabbed the edge of his shield and was tearing it from his arm. Murdock choked, swayed on his feet, kept the grip as best he could as the stronger knight slowly pulled it off of him. Meanwhile, Zan had filled his mouth and as Imass hurled the shield away, Murdock leaned in and spit the familiar into Imass’ face, the creature immediately seeking his mouth, nose, any small way it could use to slither down his throat and block his air. So close together, the crowd did not see the familiar make its journey into the knight, but Murdock was not complete, out came his foot, desperately kicking the larger sword away, falling back with his left arm numb, a product of the painful removal of his shield, and leveled his right hand, blade first, out at Imass.

All the res he gathered converted at once into a blast of gale winds, taking advantage of the confusion Imass must have felt as sentient water began assaulting his face and the awkward path he had taken to rid Murdock of his shield. If his plan worked, the knight would be knocked off his feet, presenting the perfect method by which his blade could find a weak spot. The disadvantage of such heavy armor was how slow it was to rise in it.

The wind was almost certainly seen and the squires muttered harshly amid the Zeltivan cheers for the use of magic. Exhausted, Murdock’s narrow chest rose and feel with constricted force. He couldn’t hang on to this assault much longer. He had to hope the combination of ridding Imass of his air and his footing would do the knight in.

by **Imass** on October 24th, 2012, 10:17 pm

Ser Imass’ basic tactic to overpower his opponent worked exactly as planned. He punched at Murdock with the rim of his shield. Stepping forward with his leading foot, he pivoted his back foot ninety degrees, and used all the kinetic energy from his hips to produce the most powerful strike.

Murdock brought his shield across his body to cover himself. The impact was loud. The metal on metal contact of heavy shields reverberated through his arm and shoulder, sending a ringing sound into his ear. Imass did not hesitate; he threw in everything to this maneuver. If he failed then it would be a quick death for him.

Dropping his broadsword he shot his gauntleted hand out as fast as possible and grabbed the rim of Murdock’s shield. Sliding his left arm forward, he pushed the flat of his shield in-between Murdock’s dagger and his body. Twisting the shield counter clock wise, he pulled with all his might by leaning on his back foot. After a few tantalizing seconds, the Zeltivan yielded and removed his shield. The Zealot flung his shield whilst sliding backwards to avoid any blow.

That is when the foul magic hit him. Fate had locked the two combatant’s eyes together. The warrior’s life’s breath was taken from him and he could no longer breathe. He was winded from combat and he wanted to cough frantically. He saw his sword be kicked away as his body froze from the sudden sorcery. He didn’t know what to do, but swing again in desperation to kill him. That was the only way out.

Reaching for the Lakan at his belt, the zealous knight drew the weapon and lunged at Murdock. He was going to take him to the grave.

Then suddenly another wave of sorcery hit him like a blast of great wind and water. In his weakness, the Akalak got flung backwards off his feet and onto the hard floor. He had no breath.
The Zeltivan on-lookers cheered! One squire drew his blade and another lower the white-tree banner into a fighting stance; A third strung a bow and aimed it square on Murdock. The squires saw magic and assumed Imass was dead.

Slowly his vision became cloudy and his mind’s eye grew black. The blood pumping through his body was beginning to hurt violently. All went black.

by **Wrenmae** on October 27th, 2012, 6:35 am

Murdock wheeled back from the Akalak, clutching his wrenched arm. It burned where the shield had been torn from it. Beneath him and a ways across the cobblestone, Imass gasped and choked, twisting his blue hands up to a neck covered in armor, rolled, flailed, and then was still. Zan appeared in his mouth, welling water that floated across the distance between the two. Murdock reached out with his wounded arm and grasped the familiar, and it immediately hardened into a flask he put at his belt.

Imass would take a little time to awaken, and the squires around the circle had grown ready to charge in. Murdock glared at them, piercing each of their auras with sudden and acute terror. “Had your ‘noble’ knight struck me down, would you be so eager to leap in and right HIS wrongs?” Not a one moved, their eyes narrowed, fighting fear with righteous indignation. “Do not stain your Syliran honor with hypocrisy,” Murdock spat, “Your armored friend breathes yet.”

Murdock retrieved his shield, rebuckling it to his hanging arm. He sheathed the long dagger and crouched a ways from Imass, catching his breath. The armored giant would rise soon enough, but in the meantime he carefully nudged the lakan away from his hand and toward his other sword. If he awoke in an anger, it wouldn’t do to get caught up in his vindication.

The Akalak stirred.

“Welcome back,” Murdock growled, “Did you enjoy your nap?”

by **Imass** on October 27th, 2012, 3:03 pm

Imass suddenly opened his eyes and was back with the living. He remembered nothing of this darkness. One moment he dieing and the next he was lieing on the floor starring up at Murdock and the squires. Breathing felt so amazing, he did not care how loud or unprofessionally he heaved. A blank look on his face slowly followed his gaze until he recognized the Waveguard looking down at him.

A surge of righteous anger passed through his neck and face as his eyes met his opponent's. The Akalak was outraged and teeming with aggression. Ser Imass responded to his little jest in crude tukant slang, "KUKman-vi!" He slowly got to his feet; the full plate armor weighed down painfully on his dizzy body.

"Cowardly cat, he says," announced the squire with the banner, "KUKman-vi is right."

Ser Imass spat and looked at the scene. He was angrier than all the gods, but he wouldn't attack Murdock, nay, there was no point anymore. Imass had learned more than what was necessary from this man. It would be futile to fight again. Regardless though, he lost the duel and he would not dishonor himself or the Syliran Knights.

"The only way to have a conversation with another man or female is through the sword. One cannot lie about their true nature in a fight, Murdock," the Knight said in a loud, brooding voice. His face was grim and serious. He stared Murdock in the eyes, "After your cowardly show and use of magic at the moment of your defeat has proved to me you are not only dishonorable, but a liar as well! Congratulations, you won, but now everyone know what type of person you really are."

A squire backed up Imass, " Curs always lie! You all saw what he did, he is a liar and a cheat, just like the Witch Tock! He is no different! No honor!"

Imass raised a hand to quit down the squire, "Enough! Let Murdock the magician-coward speak. I plan to honor my pledge to negotiate."

by **Wrenmae** on October 27th, 2012, 8:12 pm

He doesn't seem to like you.

Losers rarely do.

Are all blue people so loud?

I'm not sure. I haven't seen their kind much before.

These Knight fellows, do you hate them?

No, Zan. I pity them. I pity anyone so blindly stubborn as to resist logic. Faith is all they have.

What do you have?

I have a free life. They? They might as well be the Ravokians they so despise.

Murdock smirked, casting a raised eyebrow at the squire, then back at Imass.

"Are all knights such children? Brash and loud before combat but pitiable and whining after? What rule did I break, Imass," he left out the ser pointedly, "That you set down as precedent? Look at you. Taller than me, stronger than me, better armored and better equipped. My blade could never breach your steel plating and yet you chose to ask me to duel? Was that your aim, then? Beat me and bend me to your will because I was not smart enough to know I was outmatched?" He pounded on his Waveguard uniform. Uniform and skin, nothing more. "You chose to allow me to duel you when our positions appeared unequal. You come to Zeltiva, you speak as though you have the right to tell us what to do, you challenge my position as an enforcer of law, and then you have the gall to call me coward because you lost?"

He turned to the Zeltivans and Sylirans, all eyes on him. "Witness, ye, Zeltivans. No foul play did I engage in. The Knight did not set terms to our duel. He only said he would speak with steel, but never asked what I would speak with. Should I be so castigated for his incomplete assessment of opponent?"

Back to Imass again, the murmuring of the crowd turned dark. Magic may not have been wholly accepted, but in Zeltiva, a place of learning, a Waveguard had been outmatched and utilized hidden abilities to his advantage. The larger, better armored knight had seemed a bully. The duel until that point had been wholly in his favor.

"When you face your opponent on the battlefield, will you so cower and cry out their cowardice if they use a skill you do not possess? Are you all such petching simpletons that you believe I would not try to survive this encounter? You swung with hard conviction, Ser Imass. Had I not blocked your sword, I would certainly be dead. A spar was never to the death where I learned it...and yet I let you live, granted you continued life, because I am not a criminal, and I am not a simpleton."

He held out his hands.

"I am a Zeltivan."

And they cheered.

by **Imass** on October 28th, 2012, 12:14 am

Murdock spoke and the young Akalak learned something new that day; no Zeltivan understood what it meant to be a Knight and a worshiper of the good gods. He spoke with HIS logic and HIS reasoning, but Murdock didn't understand the syliran's logic. He wasn't a true warrior, he was a magician. He didn't see how dirty his technique was, because he lacked moral values. He didn't realize his true nature, because he was so caught up in lies. Ser Imass didn't know this for sure, but one thing was for certain, Murdock was untrustworthy. Zeltiva was a city of dishonorable scumbags and Imass wanted nothing to do with it anymore.

"You have no honor. Everyone saw you use the dirty technique on me," Imass repeated like before, "What type of spars do you fight in? I haven't heard of spars where people use dirty techniques? You are no warrior, or else you would have known this. You are a magician at heart. You are a liar. Regardless of what you may say to me, you know your're a liar deep down inside. Ask yourself that."

Ser Imass stared Murdock in the eyes hard, he wanted to see exactly what he was feeling. The eyes are the window to the soul, and Imass wanted to see it for himself,
"If you are not a liar, then fight me in a fair spar. I am no coward. I will even fight to the death. I do not fear Lhex. If you will not fight in fair terms, speak your terms or I shall take my leave. I am not here to argue with you faithless, honor less cur."

by **Wrenmae** on October 28th, 2012, 10:41 pm

I think you'd have better luck convincing people not to breathe.

I'm beginning to see that.

Call it quits?

And let him win?

Is everything ALWAYS about winning?

In a way.

In WHAT way is this winning?

I want to knock him on his prideful ass.

I want to knock YOU on your prideful ass.

Free to try.

Because they reacted so well to me the first time I showed up.

I can't be held responsible for your choice of shape.

CHOICE?!

Murdock's eyes lanced back and forth in his head, moments of dialogue waged on the interior, strained on the outside. For a moment, his attention wasn't on Imass but something else beyond the sight of either of them. When they did focus on the knight, they were sly, narrowed in righteous indignation, but belying an inner sense of superiority.

"Is magic outlawed in Syliras? I'd heard rumors some knights practice magic of their own, but please tell me if I am mistaken." The squires stood their ground, but one looked at the ground pointedly, escaping Murdock's eyes. "Would you tell every knight who knew magic that they were 'dirty'? Would you have them abandon their strength simply because you cannot comprehend a defense to it? What you see as dirty, I see as ignorant. You never asked my talents, and you never set terms for our duel. There was no dirty fighting. I did not throw dirt into your eyes, I did not hit you on the ground. I shaped my own soul into energy and used it to surprise and defeat you. I fought with myself and only myself, just as you fought. If you are willing to strip your armor and fight me on equal terms. Shield for shield, weapon for weapon, skin for skin, I will fight you again."

There was a dull murmur in the crowd.

"Not here, not now. You had a complaint about a citizen, a certain Tock, I believe. I think I'll check into the matter personally and let you recover from your defeat. Know that as the years wind down, people will remember that the victor did so with his own self worth, and not with your percieved dirty tricks. You will learn to compensate for my abilities or you will lose every time, both here..." He paused, smiling, "And if we ever meet on the field of battle."

He turned on his heel stalking up to the squire who had agreed with Imass. At first, the man held his ground, holding the banner of Syliras high and proud. Murdock cast hypnotic emenations from his eyes, pure fear that resounded in the squire, made him step aside.

Murdock departed through that part in the crowd.

That was interesting.

With any luck, we won't deal with him again.

We going to see Tock?

No. I may not be a complete supporter, but I certainly give her more respect than that backwards fool.

by **Imass** on October 30th, 2012, 11:35 pm

Ser Imass stared as Murdock's eyes lanced back and forth throughout the crowd. It looked like the focus of his vision was constantly moving around very slightly. At time they would remain still enough for Imass to look deeper into his soul, but nothing changed. He was preoccupied at the fact, he could not keep his eyes still despite Imass' intense glare.

Scumbag. Knave. The Knight thought. He couldn't believe that a man could avoid eye contact and say the truth, muchless what Murdock was doing. Ser Imass didn't know what conclusions to draw from this strange attribute, but he took it as a bad omen none the less.

Ser Imass listened to his response. Aye you didn't throw dust in my eyes, but you took away my breath with evil magic. That is no different. How can't you see this? Why don't you understand! Imass thought to himself, but he did not speak. He just let Murdock talk; Imass could say nothing now to make the liar become honorable. The man proceeded to proclaim he would continue fighting with dirty magic despite the Knight's rebuke. He even rebuked Imass back and suggested he would be an enemy the next time they met on the battle field.

The Knight took a deep breath, "Very well. So be it. You may lie, but I shall hold you to your words regardless! Next time we meet in battle you will be my enemy. Prepare youself, for I shall prepare myself! I vow it!" Imass' primordeal half would not let go of this grudge. Die hard it would before the end.

Murdock left the scene quickly, pushing through his squire. Ser Imass retreived his weapons and left as well.

by **Cascade** on November 6th, 2012, 3:11 pm

Adventurer's Loot

Imass's Loot :

Wrenmae's Loot :

Lovely thread! It's splendid how you both are able to write a PvP thread so well. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!