Test

[Titan]

I'm looking for a scuffle to test how well I can use Tanis in battle. Anyone is free to join, even multiple people if more than one of you wants to get in on this.
There is one rule: Don't get your ass kicked.

Upon the ground I knelt, sitting on my booted-feet, hands upon my knees, eyes closed. My back was straight while I blindly stared out at the blackness my lids provided for them; even so I knew where I was. Directly ahead, some fifty paces away, was a great cliff face that dropped almost a full one-hundred eighty degrees down, returning to level ground five-hundred feet below. To my left and right was the softly hilled ground that turned into the cliff before me, my hair cast back by the fifteen mile an hour wind that sent the trees twenty-feet to my back swaying. These gusts had thrown back the scattered leaves that once covered the ground one which I sat, though now only small twigs lay there.

It was warm for night time, some thirty minutes before the sun rose into the sky, so I wore no other clothing but my wind-breaker pants, though of course my cerulean hued stone dangled about my throat as it always would. Right next to me laid my pack, rightside pouch unzipped and left open to the darkness of the world. I was unsure of how one might reach me at this spot, but even so with every-other beat of my rapidly pulsing heart I wished for something.

"A fight. A fight. A fight. A fight." Let conflict come to me; I welcomed it.

[Shin]

In the darkness that existed before the sun rose Drakketh could have been standing there the whole time, his ability to blend in with the shadows was only enhanced by his Piwafi, a magicl cloak thats sole purpose was to blend the wearier into the shadows.

He remained perfectly still and as silent as the very darkness he used for cover. Stealth was a skill Drakketh was exceptionaly good at, capable of hiding from his own people when he wished. Which was not small task, for Drakketh was a Drow, a race of elf native to the underdark a race that lived in a darkness so absolute that one could not see the hand infront of their face. On the surface, though it was dark by human standards, Drakketh could see as well as a normal human and he stared straight at Tanis.

With the cliff to his back, and only several feet away, he let his presence be known only after his keen hearing easily picked out the mans words. His eyes, naturally red, began to glow red as his eyes shifted to see things in the heat spectrum. It lasted for but a moment, long enough to grab the boys attention. Then shifted back to 'normal' vision.

Ebon black hands pulled back the cowl of his Piwafi and almost instantly his form was seem to 'appear' out of the darkness as the magic of the cloak ceased. He stood from his crouched position, eyes locked onto Tanis.

"Your wish is granted." He said mockingly in a voice that betrayed his cold existance, it was soft like velvet and held but a grain of arrogance. He bowed low, his short white locks of hair danced just infront of his eyes, eyes he never took off Tanis.

[Titan]

Not once did I open my eyes to ackowledge the presence of this other individual; thus I could not see as his own ignited with a crimson fury. Instead, because of my focus I heard him when he pulled the hood of his cloak down, even so simple and quiet a movement revealing himself to me. In a blink I was standing tall, left arm extended as if I were pointing at him. Of course, I had actually just made an attack.

An unwary eye would doubtfully have caught the quick spin of a dagger around my index finger, which I performed while rising, that gave it the momentum to dice its way through the air towards the drow's left thigh. I made sure its trajectory was properly set so that even should he avoid the knife it wouldn't go sailing over the cliff's edge. After this opening attack I readied the second blade I'd taken from the pouch of my pack.

If Drakketh didn't avoid it, then unless he wore some form of armor greater than leather he would know the feel of wraithbone sinking into his flesh. In the flight-time my stance reset to a neutral one, both arms lax at my sides and feet a bit less than shoulder-width. It was an open stance meant to distract an opponent and leave them uncertain of the future. I mean, what man would not take even a defensive stance at the start of a battle, especially when his eyes were still closed?

[Shin]

The dagger came only a moment after Drakketh pulled the cowl of his cloak back, meaning he had only just began to rise from his kneeling position. Caught half way between standing and kneeling Drakketh was forced to kick off with his right leg, headed left into a side long roll to avoid the dagger.

Drakketh came up with a longsword in his left hand and a dagger of his own in his right hand. No time had been wasted in the first attacking. The way he liked it, no warm up, straight to buisness.

Drakketh came running in with his left arm held out in front of him and across his body with his right arm held just back a bit. As he closed the gap he would bring his left blade to bear, bringing it across in a strong slash at Tanis's gut. Smiling wickidly as he made his attack, there was nothing like the thrill of battle to get ones blood pumping.

[Titan]

There was no sight; there was sound. He moved; I reacted. By the sound of snapping twigs he'd rolled to his left, my right, then came at me wielding a sharp-edged weapon. There was no blade; there was wind. With that swipe of his blade to cut me from left to right I moved with the sword rather than against it. To my right I shifted, keeping my left foot rooted so it would make me crouch as I set to avoid the strike.

This position not only afforded me greater time with which to defend myself from his strike, but my now free left hand could also move to intercept his, using force to prevent the strike from reaching full completion. It also gave my knife-hand the opening needed to stab him in the kidney. Our stance would similarly make it difficult for him to bring over his own right-handed dagger for either defense or offense.

Looking to the future was important, making sure an attack could be made with little hope for the enemy escaping unharmed or managing to counter. So long as this remained a contest of physical skill, I held a confidence that I could outmaneuver this man I'd yet to lay eyes upon. Indeed the passive look that had settled across my features during my meditation had not changed in the slightest, as if my face were truly just a mask.

[Shin]

Instinct guided Drakkeths blades, skills that had been tested countless times in battle. He acted as his opponent acted, his right arm pumped forward as Tanis shifted his form to the right, Drakkeths left. The result would be the dagger in his right hand be thrown at near point-blank range, his target was Tanis's throat. Not a large target, but one that would could be easily hit at such a close range.

He didn't resist his sword arm be grabbed and halted by Tanis, instead he focused the dark magic, warlock magic, his master had granted him. He wasn't very skilled with it yet, not yet skilled enough to fire projectiles, but skilled enough to focus the magic into his weapons to emulate an element or make the stronger. For the time being he began to horde said magic.

Tanis's blade would strike right where he aimed but the small dagger would not penetrate the enchanted mithril shirt that Drakketh wore under his normal clothing. The force of the strike made Drakketh a bit winded and would no doubt bruise later but he would survive.

[Titan]

The man should watch his aim and steel his stance. A shift of his body preluded the movement of his right arm being put to use; luckily for me I'd caught the man's handle-wielding hand. His own forearm would act as a guard for me against his thrown weapon. My fingers, like spiders' legs, would move to encircle instead his wrist rather than maintaining hold of his hand so I'd have a better degree of control over him. Now is when proper positioning would reveal itself to the both of us.

Bringing around my left leg in a counter-clockwise spin, as my right knee passed behind his left its proximity would apply pressure to the joint and likely bring him dropping to at least that knee. The hold on his wrist would complicate matters by enabling me to drag his balance off enough to send him flat on his face. From here, with right-knee still bent to aid in my own balance, I could jerk his right arm against the stalwart limb and break his elbow.

In this sense, after a one-hundred and eighty degree spin to throw him off balance, I was seeking to either end the fight or greatly hinder his efforts to win. Regardless, the moonlight's light could be deceptive; were the heaven's merely reflecting off of my dagger, or had it begun to develop a faint aura of its own? This I kept by my right throughout the transition, held rib-high.