Stage 1: Duels
In order of submittal, first stage Trials are recorded here. These are to focus on the magii's use of Specialty and of their surroundings, and to include no instadamage or instakill spells. The winner of each will be highlighted in red at the bottom of each duel, having been judged victor in categories of Efficiency, Ingenuity, and Effectiveness, through no small difficulty by the judges. :
Jacko vs. Sehari
Jacko stands to one side of the beacon in the center of the room, flexing her fingers. With quick movements, she uses her fingernails to slice the palms of her hands, pumpkin juice dripping onto the floor. Throwing her hands outwards from her chest, thousands of pumpkin seeds pour out, rushing to fill and surround the beacon. They solidify, an arm with a hand at the end similar to Jacko's own appendage but larger, forming from the center. With a ghostly wind, the beacon spins and the fisted projection pummels the air. Sehari should move quickly, before she is blasted flat.
Sehari watches curiously, having always wondered what it would be like to duel a pumpkin..person. Her eyes widen as the spell forms into a fist, quickly realizing the precariousness of her situation and reaching instinctinvely into her pocket. A fistful of thread is extracted and with fingers flying faster than they ever have before, they're looped and knotted into a large jumble of what seems to be nothing more than a gnarled yarn square. With a final tug, she drops it to the floor before her and just in the nick of time, a net much the same constitution of the square shimmers into existence before her, bringing the knuckles to a halt. It doesn't stop there, however, for like a large trampoline the thready net gives and in moments, sends the armly spell back toward its maker, reflecting off each mirror in turn before heading straight for her.
Jacko narrows her eyes slightly as the fist is sent back at her, leaning down and grasping her ankles. Skin melts and she becomes a pumpkin. The tiny gourd snorts heartily, dust flying up its nose hole, and a fiery sneeze erupts from its flaming center. The seed hand becomes enflamed, small cries of agony heard from the magical beings. But the noise is brief as the seedlings realize this is ok with them. Jacko hacks orange goo at Sehari's feet and the flaming seed people flee toward it, intent on setting Sehari and her thread to flames. At the least, the thread net should be ash.
Sehari has to stifle a giggle while watching a pumpkin sneeze for the first time, though her mirth quickly dissipates as the flames swallow her conjured net with what could almost be called a loud slurp. The fiery army continues its steady path toward her, and barely even thinking, the elf plucks a strand of satin fiber from her dress, holding it in two fingers and allowing the wind summoned by Jacko earlier to tease it and bend it. Quickly a single knot is tied in the almost gossamer material, then another, until the effects of the simple spell become apparent. Small, shiny pieces of ice begin to magically appear on the roof overhead, and as the wind more violently tears at the thread, they shake and fall, one by one. Not only does it threaten to extinguish the fire should all of them come down, but the sheen of their sharp edges could spear several seed people in the process.
Jacko sighs as the ice falls, but its grin shines brightly as it is permanent. The small wizard inhales sharply, ceasing the ghostly wind instantly to prevent all of the icicles from falling. A few manage to break free and the flaming seeds running screaming in terror. However, they don't change their course. They attempt to seek shelter under Sehari's skirts, again threatening to turn the threadly mage into dust...on a ghostly wind...that Jacko would make again if her opponent combusts.
Sehari curses under her breath as some yarn emerges from another pocket, and the expert seamstress quickly ropes it around her arm. Quickly, she throws it over her head, letting it settle around her feet in a tight circle. In moments, her slippers completely disappear, then her ankles, then her shins, leaving the wizardess looking as though she's standing on absolutely nothing at all, and probably confusing the seed people. With another pale blue thread now in hand, she holds it gently, as if stroking it. When what used to be two inches of string grows until it's dangling about two feet, it's clear she was lengthening it all the while. Suddenly, in conjunction, the soft sound of ocean spray on the rocks below the lighthouse increases in volume, betraying exactly what it is the thread is pulling toward her. Foamy water spills up the stairway, completely extinguishing the flaming army and now circling Jacko as if to swallow her whole as, well, a pumpkin.
Jacko swivels on its base, glancing toward the stairs as the volume of the ocean increases. Instantly, Jacko stands up, the human form returned, and picks up her furry familiar. She stomps on the boards, the sound echoing through the area and up and down the beach. Such a hollow sound calls the Hollow Man. He is here, but invisible. Using his hollowness, the water is sucked up into a man hole, or a hole shaped like a man, and pours out back into the ocean. The water pulls the thread that is connected to it from Sehari's hand, so all threats are removed. Stroking her pet, Jacko smiles and nods to Sehari. "And we are done."
And the winner is... Sehari!!
Jaxom vs. Morganza
Jaxom ponders for a good long moment, since most of his first ideas are quite easily thwartable by Morganza's atmospherical magic. He pulls out four juggling balls and whips them in quick circles through the air as he ponders, until at last he has the greatest idea ever. He cracks open one of his juggling balls and pours out an adoring crowd. Quickly he launches into a dynamic juggling routine. The crowd, enthralled, begin throwing more objects for him to juggle. Bouys, gulls, and most importantly everything spherical. The crowd is moved to such heights of amazery that they actually remove the sphere from the atmosphere and throw it to Jaxom, who begins juggling it in an alternating rotation between an oar and a chainsaw. This leaves only Atmo surrounded the dueling pair, rather than any atmosphere. And Atmo, as we all know, is the nickname of Atlas's kid brother, who is also quite large. Morganza finds herself about to be displaced and potentially squished by Atmo the giant.
Morganza wipes her the beads of sweat from her forehead and gazes up at the gigantic Atlas. The crowd blinks and suddenly they see only Jaxom and.......and......and JAXOM! Jaxom looks and sees himself - a young, very tall, athlethic, swarthy, green-eyed, purple-haired, clean, long-armed, long-legged, male elf wearing a glowing, blue-stoned, MIF ring on his right finger, a dark-blue, hooded, MIF robe about his body, a neon-pink, hideously polka-dotted, desdamona cloak around his neck, brown, leather, Jesus sandals on his feet, and a blue, many-pouched, belt on his waist. Morganza is no where to be seen. JAXOM reverses the juggling of the items that Jaxom juggled, completely reversing the spell as if rewinding time itself. Atmo, the giant Atlas creature, shrinks away to become one with the Atmosphere again and the world is normal again as JAXOM releases the items he is juggling, one by one. The crowd and Jaxom blink again and there stands Morganza, smiling as everyone wonders just how she accomplished that illusion. In answer to Jaxom's attack, she places her index finger and thumb to her mouth and issues forth an inaudible whistle, something many have seen her do before. Right on time, Louie, her ever-faithful cloud from the east hustles over and scoops Morganza up. Louie carries her to the very edge of the atmosphere way up in the sky...(approx. 33,000 feet). The crowd wonders if she's disappeared altogether. But they don't wait long as she rides Louie back to the battle area and stops 20 feet above Jaxom's head. She leans over the side of her cloud and you can see that her hands are fisted. Suddenly, she opens her hands, releasing the most beautiful, celestial debris you've ever seen - stardust...fresh hot-out-the-atmosphere stardust. The stardust lazily falls towards Jaxom who must remember that, while ethereally beautiful, this stardust will burn Jaxom's skin to the bone if it should make contact.
Jaxom gazes up happily at the ethereally beautiful stardust and for a moment dances around in a little circle with his arms outstretched, then sticks out his tongue to catch some of the debris. The intense heat emenating from the tiny particles causes Jaxom to start sweating profusely, at which point he rethinks his strategy. He glances down at the pier, grabs his staff, and begins hastily drawing runes in a glowing blue light right onto the wood. He knows he needs a way to cool off that stardust before it hits him, and his first idea is to open a portal to one of the elemntal planes. Now this can be a very dangerous task even in a controlled laboratory setting, because the strength and power of hte portal itself increases exponentially the closer the portal is to a representative of the plane you're trying to reach. So, very carefully, Jaxom produces a small blob of spit and drops it into the center of the runes, then leaps back to the end of the pier as he shouts the command word to activate it. Of course, Jaxom can be a bit scatter-brained and his portal to the elemental plane of water is sitting directly over the ocean. The runes flare brightly and a hole through reality opens up in the pier. For a brief moment everythign hangs suspended, you can see a fish on the other side with a horrified expression on its face, as though it knows what is about to happen. Water sprays up into the stardust. A lot of water. Under a lot of pressure. Think like an upside-down waterfall more than a geyser. The stardust is cooled as the water is heated, and now the massive vertically-moving tidal wave of boiling hot water continues shooting upwards, straight at Morganza.
Morganza acks and gazes in wonder at the beauty and horror of the giant wave of water threatening to swamp her, Louie and everyone else. She stands up in Louie, raises her arms from her sides quickly, clapping her hands above her head in a thunderous, earth-shaking cacophony. Looking up, Jaxom can see a screaming meteor that Morganza has stolen from the very edges of the atomosphere and directed into the ocean next to which they stand. The violently-colored meteor hurls through the sky, trailing smoldering smoke and atmospheric particulates and crash lands into the ocean at what seems a safe distance. A larger wave created by the meteor's splash-landing quickly engulfs the tidal wave spawned by Jaxom while the sheer force of the landing was destructive enough to cause the opened portal to falter, waver and disappear. As the meteor bobs about momentarily in the ocean, an arid heat washes over Jaxom followed quickly by an arid cold. Jaxom gazes out at the meteor and sees that as the meteor sinks to the depths of the super-heated ocean, the very atmosphere around the battlefield has been inevitably altered. The very waves and ripples in the ocean freeze so fast, that the visage looks like an artists rendering. This new ice age is sucking the moisture out of the air, endangering Jaxom's ability to breath and threatening to freeze the elf forever or at least until the next thaw.
Jaxom steels himself with grim determination as the beloved sea that he has barely ever looked at turns to an ice field. He knows what he must do. He twists his staff in a very complicated manner, a sprin pops out of the bottom, along with a very small blade, while two footrests extend from its sides. He hops onto his bladed pogo staff and begins hopping in large circles aorund the frozen sea, to keep warm as best as possible. In the meantime he searches through his pouch, pulling out juggling balls and mostly flinging them over his shoulder. Finally he finds a small white ball and a much larger orange ball. He juggles them deftly, and a loud humming noise emenates from them. The orange ball bursts into flames, and he tosses it into the ice. The ball bursts apart and the fire spreads, covering a perfectly circular area marked out by nicks from Jaxom's bladed pogo staff. With at least the most immediate threat of freezing temporarily stalled until the fire goes out, Jaxom smashes the white ball against his forehead. He moves his hand away quickly, and the ball bounces back, unflattening and returning to a spherical shape. Oh but the fun don't stop there! It begins growing and elongating, turning into a large white cylinder, with the texture of granulated sugar. A massive marshmallow!. Then it's sides bulge outwards until finally it bursts, dozens of other small white juggling balls raining out of it toward hte fire. As they fall they each begin to grow, some of them popping to release even more marshmallow balls. Of course, even the dull diffuse heat of the firey circle is enough to melt these tasty treats into a large pile of goo, some parts burning into a hard crust and others remaining white and gooey. The goo continues to grow, however, like a pot boiling over. The edges reach up high into the sky where they cool, only to have more gooey marshmallow flow over them, creating a sort of dome. Whether by design or hte luckiest of coincidences, Morganza is on the inside of this dome. Quite suddenly the flames under the marshmallow cage spring to new life, rushing up the sides of Morganza's delicious prison. The outer shell turns brown, then black, creating what can only be described as a relatively impenetrable carapace of yummy. The noises of poppidy pop popping marshmallow balls can still be heard, and we can only assume that the dome is now expanding inside. Not only is Morganza trapped, but if she does not act quickly she may be consumed by the very marshmallowy goodness we all love to eat!
Morganza looks around inside her strange, tasty prison of goo. Louie carries her to the top of the marshmellow dome and she quickly tries to eat her way to the outside but the little elf can only gorge herself so much and gives up on the useless plan. Magic will have to be used against such creamy, fluffy goodness. She issues another silent whistle and you see Lester, the cloud from the south, Chester of the west and Fester from the north all converge above the white dome of doom. Morganza shouts in their tongue to them instructions on what to do. Chester, Fester and Lester unite into one ugly, ashen cloud that looks much like the ever-expanding dome. The super cloud boils and roils in the sky - Lester's warm, muggy air colliding with Fester's cold dry air. Chester's air is pretty neutral and only serves to add fuel to the ever-growing threat of a horrible storm. The cloud quits its gyrations suddenly. Morganza shouts, in English, "Hurry up you guys!" The super cloud issues forth a single gigantic, searing lightening bolt that blasts a hole into the top of the gooey dome. Morganza and Louie burst through with relief and Morganza instructs Louie to set her down on the ground and join the others. Louie gently lowers her to the ground and zips into the sky, hurling himself into the roiling, boiling mass above the dome. Morganza speaks in their tongue again and the cloud shudders and casts out a web of bolts, in the shape of the dome, instantly melting the dome and the spawning mellows beneath it. The entire dome collapses into a mess of goo on the pier. Morganza points to the ocean and the Chester/Fester/Lester/Louie creation hovers over the ocean collecting much-needed moisture. It then flies back to the pier to rinse the mess of marshmellow away. When they are done, they stand, still united, above the battlefield. Morganza shouts up more instructions to them in their language. The giant super cloud hovers over Jaxom and, quick as...well, quick as lightening, issue forth a series of bolts that form a box around Jaxom. The unusual thing about these bolts is that they do not flash and disappear. They flash and stay and become tangible, jaggered shapes. Jaxom is now imprisoned in a lightening bolt jail cell, complete with a lightening bolt roof. Does he dare touch these bolts that imprison him and risk being shocked to death? Only he can decide.
Jaxom giggles and pulls out a big red ball. He holds it in front of his face and waves his hand, covering it, then turns his hand around to show three smaller balls in between his fingers. He claps his hands together then brings them apart, now three balls in between each of his fingers on both hands. He sneezes twice, and two balls roll out of his nose, landing in the crook of his arm. He does a sommersault and kicks up to his feet, spread-eagle inches away from the closes lightning wall, dozens of small red balls stuck in every visible nook and cranny of his person. And maybe some invisible ones. He releases them all at once and they bounce madly against the walls. For a moment you can't even see Jaxom past the storm of red rubber balls, but that moment is all he needs. When the storm settles all you can see is one gigantic ball, filling almost all of the cage. It giggles, shakes, then rolls forward, knocking aside the bars in a well-insulated manner. It bounces once, high into the sky, and then Jaxom lands wearing a big red ball on the tip of his nose.
And the winner is... Jaxom!!
Cadence Vs. Tyrian
Tyrian stands uneasily on the sewer floor, not in the sewer of course, just on the flat ground 'round it. A quick grin, followed by a bow is offered to Cadence, and the vampire begins a slow walk, his feet bringing him to the ooze-covered wall nearby. A pale hand suddenly lifts, placing it palm first against the ooze; it is now that he closes his eyes, brow furrowing and lips parting to the song of pyromantic magics. Without any sort of warning, the ooze catches fire, and within momements, the entire room is wreathed in flame! It is of the blue variety though, giving off little heat, and oddly not singing himself or his opponent. The blue puddle where all the ooze seems to be congregating is a different story though, flames dancing and writhing across it. Then, slowly at first, but growing in speed, the ooze begins to rise, as if by its own will. The vicious, burning slime floats to the area far above Cadence's head, where it begins to coalesce into a single body, a rather large orb of flaming goo. Tyrian's words of magic then resume, and as his spell gradually progresses, the ball of ooze above the eternal's head begins to take on a white hue, and an almost waxy composistion. Abruptly then, everything stops. No longer does the ooze rise from the puddle, and the sphere simply hangs there in mid air, suspended by some unseen force as Tyrian's lips fall silent. Just as easily as this calm came though, it flees, as the waxy orb engulfed in flame begins to pulse, as if it were a beating heart. As it pulses, so it expands and grows, bulging and peeking, until it explodes! What goes up, must come down, of course, and so it does, and it becomes evident what it is: searing hot, melted wax! From anywhere and everywhere save Tyr's posistion it rains down, and the sheer heat is only confirmed by the several sizzling hisses of the first globs hitting the ground - one can only wonder how Cadence is faring.
Cadence watches the pretty blue fire in awe, seeking out the rhythm behind it. The little green Eternal of Rhythms has to pull himself back into reality, and remember that he's supposed to be using his new specialty. As he realizes what Tryian is doing, he quickly hides his book, not wanting it to get damaged. He spins in a circle and magically dons a large stack of caps on his head. He inadvertently calls out "Caps for sale!" before he can stop himself. The hot pieces of wax shower down on his stack of caps, ruining a few of them, but keeping his tender green skin protected. Suddenly hundreds of monkeys pop into thin air, hopping around on imaginary tree branches and stealing all of Cadence's caps. When they run out of caps to steal, they zero in on Tyrian. Each monkey wants something to steal, be it clothes, hair, limbs, skin, or random body parts, or anything they can get ahold of...the Wizard finds himself quickly in danger of being ripped to shreds by selfish monkeys.
Tyrian frowns as his rain of superheated wax really doesn't prove so effective, taking a few nervous steps backward. As the monkeys pop into view, the vampire simply blinks. Not very familiar with these crazy creatures, he's unsure of their intent, though he can only guess it's not a good one. His cautious retreat continues as they near, but he's not nearly as fast as these little buggers, and one lashes out at him, shredding right through his robe. A gasp parts the vampire's lips, and he foolishly goes still, which gives way to a lot more monkeys getting their grummy little paws on the wizard, beginning to shred his clothes mercilessly. Knowing that only his skin and a little bit of underclothes lie beneath, he begins a quick chant, again calling upon his control of fire. Calmly, but quickly, he lays his palms on his chest, closing his eyes; at this moment, Tyrian's entire body erupts in flame! It doesn't singe him though, being the master of these flames, but the monkeys give out startled cries, drawing away their singed hands and fleeing into the depths of the sewer. When the last of them are surely gone, Tyrian blows a single breath upon his hands, and the flames that engulfed his body are instantly extinguished. Just as they burnt the poor monkeys though, they also burnt the robes right off the vampire's body, leaving him a bit exposed, if not for his underwear and all. An embarassed gasp leaves his throat, and he spins on his heel to face Cadence, apparently a little irked. Reaching down, he grabs a clump of the now hardened wax/ooze that rained down just a minute ago, whispering a few choice words of magic to it, as if it could actually hear. When this seemingly pointless conversation ends, he tosses the ooze glob right at Cadence! It stops and hangs in mid air feet in front of his body though, but Tyrian doesn't stop, instead quickly gathering several other clumps and doing the same as he did with the first, until several uneven clumps of wax-like material are gathered around the green man. Then, gathering a deep breath, the wizard bellows a word of magic and power, and it seemingly drains him, as he drops to his knees. As if this were some sort of command - and it likely is - the globs around Cadence begin to grow together and expand, stretching out and over the eternal until they've formed a dome of hardened ooze. The pyromancer grins at this, and abruptly the entire dome becomes engulfed in flame. Light at first, though it slowly begins to ascend in intensity, it gives off quite an amount of heat. Just what is happening to Cadence, since he's sitting in the middle of this prison of flaming ooze? It's likely growing unbearably hot.
Cadence gets a brilliant idea as this ball of flaming death surrounds him. He reaches out and turns on the faucet for the shower, which sprays him with cold water. Unfortunately, his brilliant plan backfires and simply creates lots and lots of steam, making it harder to breathe. Grumbling, the little green man remembers a funny story about a little squirrel and an acorn. With a grin, he creates a little ice age inside of the sphere of fire. He is quickly engulfed in a block of ice, and for some strange reason, an acorn appears in the same block of ice, but just out of his reach. The fire reverses the ice age effect, creating a large splash that pushes the Cadencified block of ice through the wall of fire. The ice quickly melts as it goes through the heat, leaving Cadence shivering and just a touch singed around the edges. The acorn, as it is released by the ice block falls down a newly formed chasm, which grows quickly to cover a large area of the sewers. The ball of fire falls into its depths, shattering and growing into a huge river of molten lava. Strange sounds can be heard from something in the shadows, it sounds a bit like "myyyy preccciiouuusssssssss" and a very large, strange looking creature jumps out toward Tyrian, apparently mistaking him for a shiny gold ring. He is quickly followed by an immensely large hobbit who has a strange desire to throw Tyrian to the bottom of the newly formed pit. Perhaps the lava wouldn't hurt a Wizard of flame, but the fall might...and who knows what happens when lava mixes with strange blue ooze.
Tyrian pouts as the eternal evades any serious consequences of his well-thought out spell yet again. It takes the vampire a few moments to notice the ever-growing chasm, but once he does, he halts his pouting and gets to running, in the opposite direction of course. Then, as the unknown creature pops into existence, the pyromancer gives a startled cry, running as fast as his pale legs will allow him to go. He proves a little fast for this one, but the hobbit is another story, as he was too busy peeking over his shoulder and runs right into the arms, and at this moment he is tossed into the chasm! The vampire's crimson eyes widen in shock and suprise, though he remains as calm as possible for someone who's dropping several feet toward a lava pit - which isn't very. His eyes dart about for anything that could be of use, and somehow, the entire room catches his attention. The flames, though now giving off no heat, are still dancing to unheard tunes about the walls, and the falling wizard gives an awkward gesture to them, calling out to them as if they're subborn children. Somehow, someway, they respond, the flames racing one by one, carrying bits of ooze with them, to hastily converge in a small space between Tyrian and utter doom in the pool of lava. It gets there just and time, and Tyrian lands right into the makeshift platform, which proves..elastic, much like a trampoline, probably due to the blue ooze. Just as he fell, he's launched upward, and lands not-so-gracefully upon what's left of the sewer floor, a brief 'oomph' leaving his lips. Groaning in slight pain, the pyromancer makes to his knees, where he raises his gaze to Cadence. Heaving a sigh, he closes his eyes again, dropping his head down, trying to devise a new spell. He fires off several plans, all too cliche, though he eventually settles on one. Rising to his feet, he peers down into the pit, giving another signal to the flames there. As expected, the follow quickly, rising to his command and out of the chasm, blue ooze in tow. They come to rest in his hands, leaving him with another clump of flaming blue ooze. The vampire's hands begin to contort it like clay, until its much like a ball yet again. Not having much stamina left to conjure anything else, he tosses the thing at the green man. The flames, which so obediently formed it, direct its course - it seems to be moving as Cadence does, to avoid any kind of evasion, and is heading straight toward his mouth! What would happen were blue ooze ingested? We might find out, should it not be thwarted..
Cadence tries to dodge the ball of fiery ooze, but realizes very quickly that he can't. Instead, he opens his mouth as wide as he can and swallows the ball of fire, trying to touch as little as possible of it with the sensitive skin of his mouth. The little green man turns blue, and looks quite ill. For a moment you think he might spew, but instead he spontaneously combusts, scattering bits and pieces of stomach-acid covered ooze all over the place. Each little piece of ooze gurgles and squirms as it grows larger. The first piece of ooze you notice, takes the shape of a big bad wolf wanting to blow you down. The next one is also a wolf, but it seems to want to eat you up. Next there is a purple dragonified Malificent, then Jafar, Ursula, an evil stepmother, a scarred lion wanting to throw you back down the chasm, a giant thinkng you look mighty tasty, two siamese cats, Cruela who seems to want to skin you, and then you start to lose track. All of these various villains seem to want to damage or maim you in different ways. Before long you are completely surrounded by evil blue ooze characters. One little blue blob sits in the corner, very slowly forming back into a bluish tinted Cadence, who still looks like he's going to spew.
Tyrian 's eyes widen as Cadence combusts, hoping he hasn't put an end to an eternal. He knows that's not likely, however, and it's confirmed as the blobs of ooze form into all sorts of storybook villains. Tyrian, himself, isn't sure what to do, being a simple vampiric wizard, he does the only thing that comes to mind - running, as fast as his legs can carry him. His stamina isn't what it was at the beginning of this little duel though, and he only gets so far, before he runs chest to chest with the big bad wolf. The vampire cringes, turning on his heel, but only in time to hear the wolf drawing a massive breath. Before he can take so much as a step, the torrential breath is expelled with quite some force, sending the vampiric wizard off his feet! Airborne he goes, flying clear across the chasm and right into the arms of the other villains. Wickedly they grin and chuckle, as most dastardly storybook antagonists would do, Cruela's knife in particular coming in for a swipe. It slices cleanly across the vampire's side, issuing a gasp and rivulets of blood that stream down his pale skin, and he tries to crawl away desperately, looking about for a way out of this nightmare. Then, like so many other times, the ooze comes to mind, which is still under the influence of his trusty flames. Giving a helpless gesture and wordless cry to them, Tyrian begs they assist him again, and they do. Just as Jafar in particular grasps his leg, the flaming ooze begins to fly toward all of the villains in play, growing and wrapping around them with great haste. Shaking his foot to get it away, Tyrian inches away from it all, only watching at what becomes of each captured villain. They all are whisked to just above the chasm, where they're properly disposed of one by one, being dropped into the lava. Oddly, as they all hit, the chasm seems to refill to its normal state somehow, and the ooze begins to plant itself upon the walls again, the flames giving a low hiss as they touch the walls, dying out. When all is quiet, the room looks much like it did when they started - no flame covered room, just blue ooze, and a still bleeding Tyrian, and the seemingly ill Cadence.
And the winner is... Tyrian!!
Aelina vs. Nermal
Aelina perches herself on the left side of the bridge, up on the railing of course. She climbs down from Myliar's back, swatting the horsefly on the bum so that she flies off and away until needed. Her first spell comes quickly, tiny fingers pressing together at the tips as she speaks quickly. Her voice is high, and squeaks, as she's such a small creature, and most of what she says is in Sylvan, language of the Faye, no doubt. In an odd display of dancing, she pushes her left foot out, twirls around twice, and finishes the spell with her hands thrown up in the air, fingers wiggling. Just as she does so, a buzzing sound is heard. It's low at first, some distance away. But it's definately getting closer by the second. It grows louder, at least, to her, as she's so small just about anything is incredibly loud. Either way, the sound dips downwards, and then spreads out, the buzzing becoming all but silent, barely anything now heard on the wind. However, from behind Nermal, and underneath the bridge, a bunch of bees, looking to be about say, ten fuzzy black and yellow striped incects, come flying. There's something funny about these bees, though. They look like they're holding in magical little hands, daggers? And around their heads, they look like they're wearing little tiny black facemasks. Some more bees, from behind Aelina, and from Nermal's left and right both, head towards her. They look menacing, albeit it cute, and these assassin bees appear to believe Nermal is their latest kill...
Nermal 's eyes widen as such a vicious onslaught of assaasin bees surround her, and for a long moment stands paralyzed. This gives time for one of the tiny, dagger-wielding insects to stab her in the arm, and the little shapeshiftre squeaks and slaps at the insect. Finding herself horribly outnumbered, the little shapeshifter does the unthinkable! Up the railing of the bridge she climbs, and with little ceremony, jumps! Green light flickers about Nermal as she descends into the raging river. The light below the frothing waters is all that can be seen of the strange creature, as her spell commences, and the bees dive to their doom towards it. One after another, the flying assassins are swept away by the current, and an odd, but brief stillness lingers. A good sized geyser of water breaks this, and Nermal resurfaces! Or, what might be Nermal. It looks to be a literal flying fish! Scaly wings and gills beat in the wind, as she shoots high into the air, over the railing, and straight towards Aelina! Her mouth opens wide, and she fully intends to swallow the vulnerable Faye Queen!
Aelina pouts, mourning the death of her very adorable creations, as they are swept away by the river. A sigh is issued, and she watches, to see exactly what Nermal's plan at attack is. A squeal of surprise is issued forth, and her tiny eyes go wide at the sight of the fish. She does the first thing that comes to mind, muttering the Sylvan words of her spell quickly. There are no special movements to accompany this. Instead, Myliar sweeps downwards, scooping the tiny Magii upwards and out of the way. However, there is now a menacing group of bugs awaiting the arrival of Nermal. They are brown and yellow in color, eight legs like a spider. The front two legs, however, look to be oddly different. They have what look like pinchers! The flying fish that is Nermal, or may be Nermal, swallows those lovely crab spiders instead! Unfortunately for the transfiguration mage, those magical bugs instantly go to work. The four that it happened to swallow start pinching away at the insides of the fish, sure to be a hazard to the lovely creation! Whatever shall Nermal do?
Nermal gulps down one crab spider before she realizes it isn't Aelina, and flops to the ground, literally a fish out of water. She flips this way and that, more green light shimmering about her scaly body. Grayish skin soon replaces glimmering scales, and the fish's beautiful tail divides into a pair of heavy, stone legs, while the crabs pinch away. Nermal lets out a low, grumbling growl, and with a sweep of one stone hand, the golemifyed mage sweeps the irritating pests off of the bridge altogether, to join their relatives the bees in the river. With a grunt, the golem rises, immediately seeking Aelina. She eventually spots her, but instead of approaching, the golem opens her mouth and lets out a giant belch! How rude! Along with air, another object flies out of the creature's maw--what was formerly the swallowed crab spider. It is...oh no, an egg! Cracks appear along its shell, and a long, sinuous body breaks free. A snake, archenemy of insects everywhere, breaks free from the egg and darts through the air towards the faye. It will ensnare her if something isn't done soon!
Aelina screams in fear, the sound surprisingly loud for such a tiny creature. Anybody that's anybody knows that the snake is her most feared enemy of all! She nearly faints right then and there, except, she has a duel to finish! Amidst the hyperventilating, she orders Myliar to take her elsewhere, away from the snake. She knows that Myliar can only fly so fast, ands he can only avoid the creature for so long. And thusly, her creation of another bug is done. A sprinkle of Faye dust drops over the surface of the water, and the bug that she created, glows with an eery pink light for but a moment. And then, from the river, emerges the largest water bug anyone's ever seen. It's damned near the size of a dire creature! This large bug, it's abodomen filled with water, pushes it's wings outwards, flying up towards the unsuspsecting snake. In a quick movement, clawed limbs grab the snake, poisoned mouth biting hard on the snakes middle. And then, the bug drops back into the water, snake and all. Aelina cheers, from the back of Myliar, before calming in order to contemplate her next attack. She doesn't know many things that hurt stone objects, except, of course, other stones! She snaps her fingers, grinning at her newest idea. Her hands wave in front of her as she uses piece of Nermal's new image to create what's in her mind. And then! There's that annoying buzzing sound once more! From seemingly out of nowwhere, this swarm of flies comes. There's at least a hundred, if not two, they're so small! At first, they appear normal. But then, some of them start diving towards Nermal's stoney form, they're bodies all but going still. The others wait until they're over Nermal's golemfied form, before going motionless. And then, they drop, like rocks! These bonafide stone flies are very hard, like stone, and are intent on beating the golem right out of Nermal!
Nermal watches in dismay as her beloved creation is horribly maimed and swept away by the malicious insect. A single tear rolls down her cheek, and with a scowl the golemified mage of transfiguration stares at Aelina. Well, at first she stairs, until the tiny stone flies begin falling upon her. The golem lets out a roar of frustration, and begins swatting at the annoying, though unharmful creatures. Stone pelting stone accomplishes nothing other than mad arm flailing and cursing while she is continually pelted. The onslaught is so fierce that Nermal's concentration for her next spell is repeatedly broken. Green light again radiates around Nermal, howver this time it isn't her that changes, but the clinging insects. They let out tiny shrieks as they are swallowed, and thus transformed! Tiny bodies morph and grow, each turning into a very hungry hummingbird. The soft drone of these creatures fills the air, and they flee from drab Nermal to Aelina, who they seem to have mistaken for a very beautiful flower. Their sharp beaks are all aimed for various places on the Faye Queen's body, and they simaltaneously zoom her way. What's a poor faye to do?
Aelina practically breaks into tears as she hears the horrid shrieks that come from her beautiful flies. She covers her tiny ears, to hide the sounds, going wide-eyed at her bugs transformations. She squeals with delight, clapping her hands, until she sees they think she's their meal! She's got to think quick, and think quick she does! Another spell tumbles forth over tiny lips, Myliar's wings moving as fast as possible, to keep the tiny Queen away from danger. Finally, the spell is completed, and little colorful creations pop up everywhere, distracting the hummingbirds. They look at first, like regular, everyday flowers, but upon closer inspection, one would see they are moving, as if alive! Little petals dance in the wind, resembling the wings of a butterfly. In fact, they are butterflies! And these lovely creatures lead the hummingbirds on an intricate little chase, carrying both kinds of creatures away from Nermal and Aelina altogether. The little Faye removes herself from Myliar's back, landing back on the railing she started on, grinning.
And the winner is... Aelina!!
Altarial vs. Psyche
Altarial reaches into the small leather pouch she keeps tied at her waist and pinches a bit of dust between her thumb and forefinger. She looks to Psyche, standing on the opposite side of the bridge, and grins. She opens her mouth, sticks out her tongue, and rubs her thumb and forefinger together until a single spec of ash drops onto her tongue. Then, with a great hacking noise, she spits on the bridge, projecting the mass as far toward the center as she can get. The blob plops down with a sickening sound, but it does not look like one might expect a normal wad of spit to look like. It glows the bright reddish-orange of lava and congeals strangely. As it settles into a small pool, the liquid like fire seems to expand. The smell of burning wood wafts through the air as the expanding puddle burns its way through the bridge and toward where Psyche is standing, threatening to either incinerate her or the wood where she stands.
Psyche watches her opponent out of the corner of her eye as she takes out her small, hand-held dueling loom. It is already strung with threads vertically, so she quickly works a few more threads into it, forming a perfect picture of the bridge upon which she and Altarial are standing. Just as this depiction is finished, she catches sight of the revolting wad of glowing spit. Judging from the smell wafting through the air as the bridge burns, she quickly figures out what this gross attack is made of and withdraws a shimmering, icy-blue thread from her belt. She weaves it rapidly into the picture, covering the bridge with the glittering color. As she does this, the progress of the burning blob halts as it changes in color to match the thread in the loom... freezing over suddenly into solid ice. The woman continues her weaving, and the icy sheen spreads out across the bridge, covering it completely and making it dangerously slippery. She backs off the bridge slowly so that she is standing on the ground near its edge, then she flicks the side of her loom, causing the picture on it to vibrate. Simultaneously, the bridge gives a quiver and sways back and forth, as if a strong wind whipped around it. Given its current slippery condition, the volcanic warlock is in immediate danger of falling.
Altarial yelps loudly as her feet slide out from underneath her, and she skids across the bridge and toward the threatening fall below. At the last second, she manages to grab a hold of the frozen ropes as she slides through them, halting her fall with a jerk as her feet dangle in the air. In her tumble, she completely loses the remaining ash she had been holding, which flits around until landing in various places. Large amounts of smoke start to billow up from various places on the bridge where the ash comes into contact with the ice, melting it swiftly. The MIFer sputters and coughs as she is drenched with all the water flowing off the bridge. It seems, as this happens, that the influence of the particle of ash she had put in her mouth earlier is still in effect, because the steam suddenly multiplies a thousand fold as the water becomes super-heated. In fact, the air becomes so clouded with steam that it proves the perfect cover for the warlock as she climbs back onto the bridge and gets into her pouch again for another pinch of ash. Before she has a chance to use it, however, the smokescreen noticeably turns almost yellowish in color and takes on a hideous, sulfurous fume. Altarial then remembers that she had garlic bread at supper, so it must have turned into poisonous sulfiric gas when she sputtered earlier. However it happened, Psyche is about to be asphixiated if she doesn't figure something out soon.
Psyche leaps farther back away from the bridge when the melting water heats to a burning temperature. She pauses a moment to examine herself to see if she obtained any burns, but then chokes suddenly on the poisonous fumes now billowing around her. The first thing she can think of to is hold her loom up to her face and blow on it with all the breath she has left. A hot, breath-like wind blows through the gorge and wafts over the bridge, clearing the air of the fumes. This also reveals her opponent's position, and she gets a devious grin on her face as she decides for a more direct attack this time around. She takes out a clear thread and weaves it into the rope railing in her loom, leaving the end of the thread dangling out. She then gives that free end a little tug and wiggles it around a bit. As she does this, a portion of the rope on the real bridge snaps off and starts snaking about as if it were alive. It slighters on over to Altarial and starts coiling around her, hissing as if it were a snake. Its intent is clear... to strangle the life out of her.
Altarial screams like a little girl and starts to panic, because she really hates snakes! As the rope brushes across her skin, she realizes that it is not smooth and cool as a real snake would be, so she calms down enough to gather her wits. Her skin starts to radiate an orangish glow, and she cackles maniacally as the snake-rope blackens then burns on contact with her. It suddenly sparks into a flame and snaps away from her. The burning rope still seems to have some form of life in it as it whips around in a seeming frenzy. The bridge teeters dangerously from the movement and lack of support from its missing section of rope, but the volcanic Magii holds her place steadily. The crazy snake rope then turns toward Psyche and rushes her, spitting fire and causing a general menace, intent on incinerating her to a more or lesser degree.
Psyche blanches at this turn of events and quickly moves to rip out the threads on her small tapestry which portray the bridge. Unfortunately, she tugs a little too hard; and the entire picture unravels. The bridge blinks out of existence first, then the two cliff-faces it joined, then the sky, and finally the bottom of the gorge far below. What is left is a whole lot of nothingness. All around is a blank field of pristine white... almost as if the two were standing on a blank sheet of paper, only a multi-dimensional one. This state of affairs does not last long, however, as the wizardess wastes no time in re-stringing her loom to create a new picture. The ground pops into existence as a series of concentric rings, each of them red, yellow, or blue in color. Altarial seems to be standing in the very center of these rings on a small red dot. Then the weaver takes out a slate-gray thread and works it into the very simplified depiction. An enormous anvil appears overhead, falling... falling... falling... right toward the center of the giant bulls-eye.
Altarial takes one look skyward and up-ends her pouch of volcanic ash all over the center dot where she is standing. Quickly, as her time is running out, she grinds her heel into it, rubbing the substance deep within the ground. The bulls eye shudders. The ground quakes. The anvil, in its descent, is about two inches from smashing its target into a very attractive pancake when the red dot explodes, shooting a stream of molten lava straight up. In addition to incinerating the anvil, the lava flies everywhere, destroying the entire bulls eye and everything around it. Mass destruction occurs to the point that the whole picture just breaks apart and ceases to exist. In its place, the two combatants seem to have found themselves back on the bridge over the gorge as if nothing ever happened.
And the winner is... Altarial!!
Schnee_Gott vs. Skyefyre
Schnee_Gott isn't going to describe himself, because that is just downright vain, and also the powers that be told him to make it short and sweet. So, you know that rule in the common language that goes something along the lines of: "I before E except after C." Well, the E's don't like that rule at all. They almost always have to go second, and that kind of sucks. Still, they're a tough letter, and they don't mind being chivalrous for the I's to go first. That is, before Schnee Gott, with a wave of his rum bottle (and his brand new MIFly staff!), gets the letter E's quite drunk. Drunken things, as a rule, are never chivalrous. Worked into an uproar, the totally enraged E's stalk off the page, leaving the description for this room rather lacking. Well, don't you know, now SkyeFyre has no actual "surrounding" to use in her attack, which is going to make it suck. Haha, lets watch her try to use her surroundings now.
SkyeFyre describes herself in vivid detail. She describes everything in an obnoxious and long winded way using words from a thesaurus that don't quite make sense in context but still look pretty no matter how hard they are to read. Then she moves on, peering at the barren description of the room. She knows that there's stuff around her though she's not quite sure what, she knows that there's sky somewhere and it's dark somewhere else, and she knows that there's something running down walls. Hmmm... What could she possibly do? She decides that combining dark and sky might be her best option and grins as thick black clouds gather overhead. You know, inside the cav. Heavy drops of rain begin to fall. Sheets of water pelt the ston walls and the surface of the crystalclar lak but none of that is really important. What is important, however, is that the rain drops also seem to be spilling down into Schnee's rum bottle, threatening to severely dilute the magic substance within!
Schnee_Gott would be awed by the sheer intelligence of the attack, accept, he has a vision! And it says, "Put the lid on..." so he does. Whew, with that disaster averted, Schnee Gott looks once more to SkyeFyre. First though, after looking around, he gets the feeling that in some strange way this cave looks like another cave he has recently been to. He hates that feeling so much. He decides it would be a fairly wise plan to do the same thing to SkyeFyre. He waves his magical rum bottle, which continually emits a hazy brown aura, regardless of it being corked or not, and quite suddenly the magic hits SkyeFyre and clings to her like wet clothing. Or maybe that is just her clothing that is wet from swimming in the lake? Either way, she is overtaken by that feeling nagging in the back of her mind that demands she try to remember what she was just thinking about because she has right now forgotten it. The secret to Schnee Gott's plan? There is nothing to remember! She will spend eternity with an oversized desire to remember that thing on the tip of her brain, without actually having something there to remember! What a rouse!
SkyeFyre often feels this way, perhaps because of that pesky time travel thing, and so isn't terribly bothered by that nagging voice in her head since it's almost always on. She taps a finger to her temple a few times, brow furrowed in thought for a moment before she shrugs, "Ah well." she mutters, "I'll find it stuck somewhere in my bag eventually." And with that self assured statement she shoves her hand into that nifty container and pulls out a small lasso. Spinning the looped rope in the air a few times before she throws it in Schnee's direction. She misses or at least seems to miss before you realize that the mage himself wasn't her target but rather his magic rum bottle. The lasso pulls tight around the bottle then suddenly slips off pulling that hazy brown and whatever magic it might hold with it. She tucks the stolen color back into her bag with the rope and grins as the first bolt of light streaks down through the dark sky parting the space between the two combatants. Wet is never a good way to be when electricity is involved but Skye herself isn't too worried, having originally studied conductivity when she joined the magii.
Schnee_Gott glances at his rum bottle after SkyeFyre steals the brown aura usually surrounding it. Tricksy magii she is. It's a good thing for SG that he hasn't dueled SkyeFyre before, otherwise she'd know all his nifty secrets, like the fact that his rum bottle magically reproduces whatever liquid is inside of it so that it can never run dry, and only have the liquid changed through use of a special faucet. None of that is stated, however, and Schnee Gott simply gives his bottle a shake and the murky haze once again erupts from the glass. All is again happy in the drunken magii's world, though he is highly curious about what is going on inside SkyeFyre's bag, now that his own drunken magic is clinging to everything within. All of this passes in mere moments, and is lost ever after as Schnee Gott really takes notice of the lasso. With a flick of his wrist and bottle he is now in fashionable cowboy getup, and SkyeFyre, being a woman, is done up like a lady, bonnet and all. As we surely know, cowboys are always the good guys. Schnee Gott glances around, naturally looking for an outlaw to fight. Finding only the lightning about to streak down as his only antagonist, more of his drunken magic is cast to change the scene to his liking, and the energy mutates into a gigantic, hairy, outlaw type brute. Much better. The natural cowboy antics pick up, the Outlaw, whom we shall call Big Bad Billy, kidnaps the maiden, SkyeFyre, and takes off on his horse. Schnee Gott follows in close pursuit, the climactic scene ending with the view of SkyeFyre dangling over the lake, weights tied to her entire body! Just as Schnee Gott arrives, Big Bad Billy cuts the rope holding her aloft. Will Schnee Gott defeat Big Bad Billy and save the lady from certain peril, or will his sudden loss of interest in the whole affair due to drunken tendencies leave SkyeFyre to perish beneath the waves of the icy cold lake? Tune in to the next post to find out...
SkyeFyre doesn't scream like a lady would but instead takes a deep breath before plunging into the cold embrace of the lak. With puffed out cheeks, her dress billowing up around her, and her bonnet falling down over her eyes she ponders over her options. Not really coming up with anything good she mutters something then immediately eeps at the loss of air. Throwing her head back to move the bonnet out of her eyes she peers up at the surface of the lak realizing that the watr level has dropped considerably. The contents of the pool have no doubt been draining out during the entire duel through the e hole Schnee's first attack left. Unfortunately for our firstmage the watr level isn't quite low enough yet for her to be able to stand on the bottom of the lak and be able to breathe. Her face begins to turn blue as her mind works frantically trying to come up with something, anything that might get her out of this predicament. Only now noticing the glowing light she gasps... and sucks in a mouthful of watr then promptly passes out, but not before her little spell is set in motion. The light grows brighter and brighter, soon white hot, and the lake sizzles to nothing leaving a sputtering warlock squirming on the dry earth. The heat radiates through the cave, sucking the moisture from everything it touches. This includes but is not limited to the over hanging rain clouds, Schnee's magic bottle, and even Schnee himself. Luckily Skye seems to be protected from the fierce heat, perhaps thanks to her bloodline.
Schnee_Gott doesn't like this heat at all, and so he lathers up with some fifty proof sun lotion, to protect from skin cancer. FIFTY proof, said he. That stuff is so powerful, he is actually the colder for using it. The drunk grins and waves to SkyeFyre, his magic dissolving, leaving her as she normally would be. "Good duel, ma'am."
And the winner is... Skyefyre!!
Alastair vs. Aries
Alastair wiggles around a bit on the precarious branch, testing the balance. When he satisfied the tree will hold his weight, the Magii carefully hops down to some of the lower branches. He looks up towards his now higher opponent, and gives him a vigorous wave. For a moment he keeps doing this, his hand moving faster and faster until it suddenly erupts with whiteflames. Alastair giggles a bit, then sticks his flaming limb into what appears to be a squirrels nest inside the tree. After several moments, all kinds of shrieking animals and insects begin to climb out of the trunks interior. Some of them are disgusting, some of them are grotesque, some of them are... dear Karn, they look like Karaoke! These angry little buggers climb higher into the branches, trying to escape the fire. In their panic, who knows what devastation they might cause? From his lower limb Alastair watches to see how Aries will react, whilst simultaneously wondering exactly what Karaoke has been doing with this tree for the last twenty years.
Aries cackles madly as he watches the little critters bound their way up the tree. It takes a moment for Aries to realize that they are heading straight for him. He had no idea that Alastair was into animal cruelty. His hands pull free from his pockets, shaped like little guns. He focuses on the many creatures and begins pulling his fake triggers madly, dousing the little critters in what seems to be water. He calmly takes his seat on the branch and lets his legs hang freely, "That was not very nice at buddy."
Aries shakes his head. Aries still cant believe that Alastair sent a pack of angry critters at him. He thinks for a moment and motions a finger to all of the still angry creatures. Loud chattering can be heard as the critters surround Aries on his branch. It almost looks like a team huddle as their little arms rest on each shoulder. Aries claps his hands and points towards Alastair. His hands swirls in a swift motion, giving the little critters an added boost...rabies. He giggles as he watches the now rabid creatures bound their way back down the tree towards Alastair's perch.
Alastair shivers with trepidation as the diseased miniature Karaoke's chase after him. The way he sees it, two options exist. Either burn through the little bastards, or carefully get down out of the tree. Not being a person that like limited options, the Sorcerer instead jumps. Alastair knows he has to work quickly, the ground is getting terribly close. He remembers this story Cadence told him one time, and retrieves two items from his robe. An old, weathered hat he sticks on his forehead, the rope he ties into a knot and dangles it on his arm. Mere seconds before hitting the ground, Al clicks his sandals together and screams " BLOW ME TO BERMUDA! ". Whitefiery rockets issue forth from his footwear, and suddenly Alastair is flying upward in the opposite direction, spinning the rope round his head. As he passes just above Aries, the crazed albino lasso's his fellow Miffer around his waist. Alastair continues speeding upward, and if Aries doesn't do something fast, he will be coming along for the ride.
Aries shrieks as he is lassoed and wrestles around madly as he is whipped upwards. Now the Lycan only has two options....learn to fly or get the hell outta this. Thought of gnawing through the rope and meeting with the ground in a really painful manner. Then again, he has never been to Bermuda. He looks up the now frequent flyer worthy Alastair and shouts, "Bermuda it is."
Alastair shrugs and they rocket off towards their destination. He stops momentarily and says "Oh yea.." The Magii whispers a final incantation, creating a vortex of whiteflames beneath Karaoke and the Big Tree. Both of them, and all of their odd children quickly sink into the chasm. Alastair waves one last time, and they take off into the distance.
And the winner is... Alastair!!
Aliya vs. Beyla
Beyla wrings her trembling hands together, her entire four inch frame shaking from nervousness and a certain something about this house that gives her the heebie jeebies, willies, or creeps. She hovers at an average human's shoulder height, taking advantage of the fact her opponent awaits her attack. The pixie muses on something before exclaiming, "OOH! I nearly forgot! I'm supposed to tell you something!" A childish, sweet smile endears the sprite to spectators as she flits over to Aliya and hovers before her face. "Why do birds fly south? ... Because it's too far to walk!!! HAHAHAHA!" Tiny arms clutch her stomach as she turns onto her back, kicking her legs into the air and convulsing with laughter! A steady disparage of pixie dust beats off her iridiscent wings in all directions, including Aliya's face. Should the potent powder touch the other magii, poor Aliya will break out in hives, acne, boast chapped lips, and grow chin hair - EEW! "Do ya get it?!" She inches closer, her dust following her like a lavender cloud of ugly. "HUH?! DO YA?! WALK?! FLY?!" She leans her torso towards Aliya's nose, thrusting her arms out, which act like currents that shoot even more blemish inducing powder towards the comparatively huge countenance. "Alright, hehe, alright, I'll start the duel now."
Aliya watches the little pixie, listening amusedly to the joke, and having no idea of the pixie dust floating toward her. Luckily for her, the young defence mage?s magic is passive and just as effective when she does not know she is in danger. Suddenly the door to the house swings open with a bang as a large whirlwind dances into the room. Jumping with start, Aliya just barely escapes Beyla?s less than innocent grasp. The wind streaks straight toward Aliya, surrounding her, sending the pixie dust around and around further away from the confused young mage, and threatening to send the pixie on the ride of her life. Several smaller whirlwinds enter a few moments later, rushing through the house, lifting pewter dishes, and silver jugs, along with a variety of utensils into their clutch. The smaller whirlwinds zoom about, threatening to bang, poke, knock, cover, capture, or otherwise damage the pixie.
Beyla shrieks as the whirlwind takes her light frame. "WWHOOOAAA!!! WAAAOOOOO!!" The vocal pixie oofs as the blunt end of a fork drives into her abdomen! Thin slate arms cling onto the utensil and ride it into a nearby arm chair, the throngs becoming embedded within the padding. As soon as the fork anchors into the furniture the pixie's four inch figure grows exponentially, becoming five feet in height within a minute! Her newly gained weight, in all the proper places and proportions of course, pummels her towards the ground like a lead weight, a wooden spoon smacking against the back of her head to add insult to injury. "Ow-eeee" Fingertips rise to rub the sore spot but instead are put to better use deflecting a saucer unelegantly! Oh the irritation! Not only is this blasted wind ruining her perfect hair, but it's making everything UGLY!! Beyla completely loses control, throwing a childish tantrum, her lack of duel experience offering her nothing- hence why it lacks. She kicks and and screams, throwing her aggressive dust every which way in dangerous amounts! All objects that come within a two foot radius instantly disintegrate as their material naturally would due to age or pest. The whirlwind also picks up some of the dust, but not much cosmetic damage can be inflicted to wind. No, instead the whirlwinds carry the dust around Aliya though they never touch their unaware summoner. They don't need to, it seems, for the powder proves more effective than termites and begins to eat away at the wooden floor all around Aliya and eventually the floorboards will give way and sink into the cellar, splinters, magii, and all! Well, not Beyla of course, who hovers out of harms way against the ceiling, stil throwing her nasty fit.
Aliya looks down, realizing quickly what is happening. Looking around for an escape, she spots a new mini tornado just coming through the door. Lifting her arms, she sends the wind swirling around her upwards, clearing the air around her. The new small tornado sweeps in, picking up the young mage and twirling her around into its centre. The whirlwind lifts up into the rafters spreading Beyla?s destructive dust. Within a few moments the floor drops down into the cellar, shattering old bottles of wine and other goodies down there. A few moments later the rafters disintegrate, removing major support beams for the house. Aliya?s little tornado protects her by fending off falling debris and dust, but Beyla quickly finds herself between a falling roof, lots of broken glass and rubble, and a two story gap that?s quickly getting smaller.
Beyla is too involved in her tantrum to react quickly enough to change the dust from destructive to constructive. However, she does realize what is going on quickly enough to protect herself in the most blunt, and ugly, way possible! Her skin hardens to that of a dense, indestructible alloy as her body grows in size and curls into the fetal position. The house caves in, boards and furniture cracking over her indestructible spine, leaving splinters in her beautiful hair, or along her back side! Oh, this will not do for the aesthetically conscious pixie! As soon as the ceiling above her caves in and lies in rubble around her, or overlapping her figure, her wings flit out on either side of her with a new desntiy and consistency: like dual blades chopping through the floor boards and debris, freeing herself from her cocoon of wreckage. The pixie stands erect and furious, glaring at the other magii as she demands in her shrill voice, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME YOU SADDISTIC, UGLY, STUPID, VULGAR, DUMB, UNSKILLED WHORE?!?!" As she speaks, her shoulders curiously twitch, and the wings behind her seem to take on a different alignment. The joint connecting wings to spine resets itself, the make up of her skeleton allowing the wings to revolve as blades. Beyla hunches over and the wings begin to spin, lifting her up into a hover like a locust. She manuevers high above the whirlwind, and in it's open spout above turns on her back and free falls with the spinning razor-sharp blades aimed towards the protected mage inside. What a delightful blender!
Aliya stares wide-eyed at Beyla, completely taken by surprise at being called such horrible things by a fellow MIFer in a supposedly friendly duel. Granted, she?s certainly used to being called stupid, dumb, and unskilled, but sadistic, vulgar and whore are not words she?s ever heard in regards to herself before. For a moment she stops to wonder if someone who has never even had a kiss before can really be a whore, but then realizes that she should probably take care of the danger in front of her before taking the time to ponder such things. Aliya simply takes a step sideways, moving into the wall of her tornado. She?s quickly lifted up into the sky, past where the ceiling used to be. Beyla is left falling into the thick cement that makes up the floor of the basement. The tornado seems to close in to itself, the already small eye of the storm suddenly becoming the center of the action as the tornado collapses into the quickly shrinking haven around Beyla.
Beyla 's flesh maintains its consistency and density similar to steel. Her peripherals catch the shrinking walls of dangerous gust, and the pixie assumes the fetal position once more. She allow the wind to pick her up like a bowling ball and waits for the opportune moment in the whirlwind's exterior to use its own force coupled with her own boost to fly and propel herself out like a bullet of the barrel. With the walls of the first and second story of the house collapsed, the pixie has no obstacle, and plenty of room to come to an abrupt halt, hair askew and wings setting themselves back to their proper alignment. She turns towards Aliya angrily, inexperienced in battle and lacking the grace and poise of a good old compliment for her worthy foe. "You coulda killed me, you crazy human!"
And the winner is... Aliya!!