Tournament of the Blade Round One: Ordo vs Darth Ayra

[Ashin Varanin]

Rules: No armor. No Force (you're on Myrkr). No tech. No lightsabers, vibroblades, extra weapons -- nothing but a sword or two of good metal, in whatever reasonable shape and size you prefer.

Participants are strongly encouraged to read this, this and this.

The Setting: An open clearing in the forest, ten metres wide. Two metres back in the trees, a ring of sonic fence emplacements -- brought to you by Iron Crown Productions! -- keeps the native vornskrs at bay. The clearing is level apart from a recent, flat stump, a metre wide and half a metre tall; the stump is at the north end of the round clearing. It's midnight and it's raining.

[member="Ordo"] [member="Alicia Drey"]

 

[Ordo]

The dark cloudy midnight sky stared down at the clearing. Its rain filled billows blotting out the stars like a blanket as he stood near the center of the clearing. Rain struck the militarily cut brown hair of his head and made rivulets down his face and neck. The soft ground already began to squelch lightly beneath his black jungle boots as he shifted his feet.

The force was absent here, a relief that he didn't know he longed for until it was gone. The pressure of knowing, feeling, being was removed and he welcomed it. His simple black tee shirt and cargo utility trousers had begun to be soaked through but the warm jungle rain was not as daunting as he had experienced on other worlds.

Ordo lifted the simple knife from its sheath and held it in a standard grip with the blade facing out. The six inch black durasteel blade was perhaps no impressive thing beside what others would have chosen but he had his reasons, the most important of which was experience. He had trained with fighting knives for years, long before he had learned he could touch the force he had been a simple commando and the knife he held had saved him more than once. He bore no ill will to his opponent who ever tjey were and in the darkness it made little difference anyway. He said nothing, words would mean little. He merely took a deep breath and reveled in the smell of the mineral rich soil beneath him that maybe one day would be his final home.

[member="Alicia Drey"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

Rain pelted on her petite frame, matting her blonde hair to the back of her neck and arms, in a messy display. Dirt was on her elbows, arms, hands and face, from where she had made her way through the jungle. The Force was not with her, but the dark side, in a round about way. The unadulterated way the Sith Lord felt in her core from her early days in life gripped her as she made her way forwards towards the Mandalorian.

All she had on her person was the steel capped, black combat boots she wore with the equally as dark combat trousers and vest shirt. The holster that normally carried a combat knife was replaced with a Shikkar, which was attached to her foot and hidden beneath the trouser legging. The other Shikkar was in her hand, held in a reversed angle for slashing.

The forest cleared and Darth Ayra emerged from the foliage before the beast of a man. Her yellow eyes locked gaze upon the Mandalorian and tilted to the side, like a predator to prey. Slowly she began to circle around the man. Her words were plain, confident and simple. "I can't lose."

And she spoke it like it was the God's honest truth.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

Ordo watched the shadow in the darkness close the gap. His eyes only able to make out the small frame as she spoke. A small shrug was his only reply as he placed his left foot forward and bent his knees slightly. His left hand made a loose fist and moved up to eye level, while his right gripped his knife and drew down to about waist hight near his right hip.

He slowly turned shifting his feet as she circled him. Her outline and the sound of her small feet in the mud all her knew of her position and posture. He blew rain up off his lips before taking a shuffle step toward her, his left foot stretching forward a step before the right followed to keep his stance. He leaned forward slightly his muscles tightened as he anticipated the slash or lunge that was a common first strike. He knew this dance well and his father's warning to "never go into a knife fight unless you plan on getting cut" rang in his ears and he was.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

Darth Ayra knew two hand to hand combat forms. The first was Hijkata and the second was K'tara. Her arms and body didn't display an open stance to Ordo. In fact, the small, yet toned woman had her arms at her side, with the Force imbued glass blade held in her left hand. What made the Shikkar such a deadly weapon was the users ability to break the hilt off the glass, when it was stabbed into the victims body. The glass would then splinter and break inside, making it difficult to pull out, if at all. Because of it being Force imbued, it was also tough enough to clash against the metal blade that the Mandalorian was wielding.

She made the most simplistic and basic of movements to attack the Mandalorian, to the point that he might of been surprised by it. Wasn't he meant to be fighting someone worthy of his skill set? It was a slap, right towards his jaw. Easy to catch or deflect. Hell, he might even lift up his blade and slice a couple of fingers off, if he felt like it.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"] (sorry for the delay pudding)

The smell of wet soil and detritus filled the air as the silence was pierced by the howls of Vornskyr in the distance. Pale glow from the distant stars shown briefly through heavy clouds as the dance began. Combat was more than his bread and butter. It was his life. The air he breathed was war. It was the marrow of his very bones. He knew well that anyone could win a fight and anyone could lose. "Time and unforseen occurance befall us all." As the saying went. The woman moved with a predatory grace that said regardless of what he knew his life was in as much danger as if he faced any army.

As the slender right hand of the woman shot up to slap his face his body reacted almost before his thoughts. There was no time to contemplate motive or tactics only to move. He lowered his body on bent knees as he stepped forward with his left foot. His left lead hand moved forward aimed at the outside of the woman's elbow with the intent of pushing the limb to continue its arc and set her off balance while his right hand stabbed the knife forward at her exposed right side near the bottom of her rib cage. This was the dance. The clash of bone and sinew. This was combat.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

[OOC: That's okay sugar muffin.]

Darth Ayra saw it. The intended slap to his face was to make him do something. Some say: he who strikes first, wins. She disagreed. Fights were about learning what you opponent could do, then drawing him into a mistake and capitalizing. The Sith Lord intended to do the same.

Her eyes followed Ordo's movements. Saw him deflect the slap with his hand, then use it to pull her body into a position to expose her side, where he lifted his combat knife to stab. Darth Ayra was familiar with the technique of drawing your enemy one way to make an opening at another. This was effectively what Makashi, a Lightsaber form the Sith Lord had mastered, did in the heat of a Lightsaber duel. Not that this was a Lightsaber duel. That would be crazy.

As her eyes followed, what the Sith did was lowered the same hand onto Ordo's shoulder as he deflected it, then lift her feet up into the warm rain that was crashing down upon them. She was also a master practitioner of Ataru, a Lightsaber form that heavily involved acrobatics and so here the Sith Lord showed her acrobatic skills. Mud sprayed up with her, hitting the clothes of Ordo. Nothing that would hinder him, just a spray from her legs and feet moving up into the air with the jump.

As she rose, she felt a sharp sting in her leg. He had caught her with his blade as she had gone up. It wasn't his intended target, but a credit to the Mandalorian's own reflexes, that he caught her as she rose up. Maybe he did strike first did win. It was a flesh wound, then bled out almost immediately. Pain gripped the Sith Lord. But she was a Sith. The longer the fight grew, the more pain she felt; and the more pain she felt, the stronger she got. She could not utilize the dark side, yet it was always with her, in her core, making her more powerful than anyone in the galaxy.

In theory.

Darth Ayra landed in a squat. The Shikkar was flung into the air, not towards Ordo, but up, so she could use both hands. Her hands then rolled her body into an acrobatic motion similar to someone break dancing. Her legs swung around and towards the Mandalorian's leg. It was a sweeping maneuver to trip him over and down into the floor.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

Ordo brought his right knife hand back quickly to sit near his hip arm bent at a ninety degree angle. The blade had bit. He felt the slice of fabric and flesh as she jumped. He wasn't familiar with the fighting technique that used a straight vertical jump but as she landed and dropped to a squat he saw his chance. As she put her hands on the ground she would find a size 13 closing quickly with her forehead as Ordo brought his right back foot forward in a front kick. She had tried acrobatics and flourishes against a very practical man and he would use it against her.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

Leg upon leg crashed as the Mandalorian lifted one to kick her in the head and her own met it as she tried to sweep him off his feet. The effect was that Darth Ayra fell over onto her back, her arms crumbling beneath her own weight. As the rain assaulted her, her legs fell in a loud thud, kicking up mud and dirt onto her body. As rose quickly and rolled along her knees in a kneeling position. It was timed to catch the Shikaar thrown in the air, which then followed a practical movement of her own.

As hopped up, jumped, put two fit out and aimed to drop kick Ordo back into Earth.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

The boot connected with dull thud as he had intended but the woman managed to keep her legs swinging and willed them to collide with his own. He tucked his chin and spread his arms to the sides in an effort to help lessen the impact. As the woman caught the floating knife Ordo rolled to his left onto his stomach and pushed up to a kneeling position. His right knee soaked in too wet black soil as the woman stood and jumped to drop kick him. As her feet drew near he swiped his open left hand and the knife's blade at her feet to push her off course. With the focus on pushing more than cutting he doubted he would find any real solid purchase with the weapon but one could hope.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

The knife caught the back of her sole. She felt her feet get wetter than before, as water and mud began to slide in through the crevice in her boot. Mud splashed up around Ayra, as she landed back onto the mud. Instantly, she flipped up onto her feet and held her hands out, ready for the next round.

K'tara was a martial art that relied on the user making movements that couldn't be heard. With that in mind, the Sith Lord moved towards Ordo and lifted a hand towards his neck. It swung out in a chopping motion, powerful enough to snap bones.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

She was a nimble lil thing that was for sure. Ordo watched her outline as she sprung to her feet and moved at him. He was still on his knee as the hand moved toward his neck which would mean the chop would have to strike down at him even if she was not too tall.

He let his right supporting knee fold under him and swung his left at where the side of her knee might be hoping that without the force the joint would be broken or injured. Sweat mixed with mud and blood as he lashed out hoping his kick would slow the woman down enough to take back momentum in the fight.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

She buckled. The boot caught her knee as her hand swung to his neck. The motions forced her forward, tripping her as her upper body pulled her back down over his body, as the leg swung off her knee. Pain gripped her, but the heat of the duel had caught her. Made her focus. As she buckled over his body, she lifted her other leg up, converting the buckle into a swan dive. Her arms locked around Ordo and pulled him down on top of her.

"Is this how you treat all your girls?" Ayra asked, arms wrapped around his right arm. Both legs lifted and tried to wrap around his neck. It was a submission maneuver, to wear him down. The type of things you see in a wrestling match.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

A triangle choke when applied properly was a deadly thing if one didn't get out quickly. If not applied correctly it was still a poor position to be in. In this case it was evident he was dealing with a professional and that meant he had little time. He grabbed for the front of her shirt as he would try to stand his right knife hand would either be on her chest or under her arm depending on how she had wrapped his arm. Relying on his heavier body and natural strength he would try to angle the knife toward her body, an easy feat if behind her and less likely if on her chest, if he would then attemp to slam her body against the ground in an attempt to jar her loose and use the force to bury his blade in her back or chest again depending on how she had wrapped his arm.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Ordo"] |

The blade sank underneath into the Sith Lord's shoulder blade. Her back was slammed against the mud. Her vice grip still remained. Pain now coursed through her veins like wild fire, with froth and spit coming from her mouth at the rage she felt; and it was that, with the release of endorphins and adrenaline circulating through her body, coupled with her immense strength and stature, that Darth Ayra remained locked onto Ordo like her life depended on it.

She was in position now. The Shikaar was in her right hand. She was hung on Ordo's back, arm held in the triangle, pressure applied to the shoulder blade. Her was on top of her, as the two of them laid on the floor. Blood was appearing from beneath the Sith Lord's fresh wound, near her arm it. Using all her strength, precision and the type of venom behind it typical of a Sith, Ayra span the Force imbued glass blade up around behind Ordo and up into his jugular. The stab was aimed to break the hilts handle at the same time, so as soon as the blade touched his neck, the glass would splinter and break inside the wound.

That is if she managed to stab him. Her blade was in her good arm. This meant that the triangle lock had begun to slacken with her now bad arm, due to the stabbing.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The first round of the tournament ended one hour ago, at 6PM EST. Judges [member="Matsu Xiangu"] and [member="Reverance"] are requested to ignore any posts after 6PM EST, unless for purposes of evaluating sportsmanship. Round One is now complete.

 

[Reverance]

[member="Ordo"] | [member="Alicia Drey"] | [member="Shule Windspeaker"]​

​

[member="Matsu Xiangu"] and I have reviewed this fight and the winner is...​

​

Ordo​

​

Now, I know what you all are thinking..."Rev said he would take amount of time between posts into consideration." Well, we did, and two days isn't enough to sway our opinion one way or another. So, without that sort of thing biasing our point of view on the fight, all I have to say is...ugh.

Why couldn't you two fight each other later? You both were really good. You didn't get caught up in extensive detail, everything was short and to the point, and it flowed really well. Both of you were gracious in your hit taking, both of you discussed the environment and had good intro posts, and you both worked really well with each other. The main deciding point was visuals for the fight. Ordo's responses were natural and easy to interpret, except for that last post (post # 14). You both linked to your weapons for visuals, both had really good techniques, and Alicia had a good deal of creativity to overcome the mentioned size difference. However, with that creativity, we lost a bit of specifics in which hand was punching/slapping where for Alicia. While you often described the hand holding your weapon, the disconnect and having to go back and read that in order to determine which was slapping led to a semi-jarring experience.

Overall, very nice job guys. Congratulations Ordo and I look forward to reading more of both of your writing.