[Spring Tournament, Round 2] Lucas vs. Etrius

[Lucas Arias]

Lucas didn’t mind the rain. He also didn’t mind that it was getting darker with every passing second. On the contrary, he had already come up with ways to use the less than ideal weather to his advantage. He was small. He was fast. He’d have a much easier time than the tall warriors in their bulky armor that frequently showed up at events such as this one. If he slipped, he’d probably be able to get up again very quickly while his opponent would stay down and flail around helplessly like a turtle that had been placed on its back.

So he strutted into the arena – in his mind he called the Warfield an arena despite the fact that it looked more like some kind of labyrinth – with his head held high and a huge grin on his face. His win against the much taller, magic using monk Jett had increased his confidence tenfold. He was convinced that nothing could go wrong anymore. He even waved a little in case somebody happened to be watching, as if he already were a champion.

And then he disappeared around a corner. When Etrius entered the Warfield a few moments later, all he would be able to hear was a voice. „Are you impressed, chupra? I made it rain. I can make it thunder if I want to. I won a fight against a mage who kept throwing gigantic rocks at me. Do you dare to find me and attack me or do you want to give up right now and spare yourself the embarrassment?“

The words were followed by laughter.

[Etrius]

Etrius entered the Warfield, already soaked with rain. His usual cockiness had all but disappeared from his expression and he frowned at the emptiness of the entrance to the maze. Was he early or was his opponent late? They were supposed to meet at the entrance right? He looked around, perplexed, until a voice rang out from within the maze. He growled at the challenge, ready for a full fight, not ever wanting to give up. "Consider yourself beaten!" he yelled "For I am far more powerful than any you've ever faced!" 

Now Etrius was not the brightest man in the world, but he knew a little about magic. No one was strong enough to create and control entire storms... were they? Even if he doubted the voice's words it was still best to be cautious, especially if it was telling the truth. His fire would be of no use in all this rain and his scythe was far to big and bulky to swing around within the confines of the maze. That left him with only one weapon; his gauntlet. He tossed his scythe to the side. It clanged off the stone wall and fell to the muddy ground with a splash. "Here I come!" With that, he turned around and began walking as silently as he could along the stone wall, away from the entrance. 

If anything he was sure his opponent must be waiting for him to turn the corner so he could get in a free hit. Etrius was not about to let that happen. When he figured he had moved far enough away from the entrance, he jumped and grabbed the edge of the top of the stone wall. The rain made the rock very slippery, but he dug in with the claws on his gauntlet and used his forearm to help hoist himself up. After a good amount of struggling, he managed to wiggle his way up to sit on the top of the wall. He dropped down, making plenty of noise as his feet splashed into the ground below. He still did not know where exactly his opponent was, but he thought he had a pretty good idea. He turned with a smile and attempted to poke fun at him. "Watch your flank!

[Lucas Arias]

Lucas rolled his eyes as Etrius yelled something about how he was far more powerful than anybody he’d ever faced before. From personal experience he knew that such people were usually the first to go down. As far as he was concerned Etrius was full of hot air, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, to back up those words.

And how loud he was! Lucas just couldn’t figure out why the man thought it was such a good idea to scream around and betray exactly where he was and where he was going. He had created the perfect opportunity for both of them to sneak up on each other and end the fight before too long, but did Etrius take that opportunity? No …

Etrius was so loud that the failed squire and self proclaimed master of magic could hear him despite the sound of the rain that was beginning to fall more heavily now. By the time that Etrius announced that he should watch his flank, Lucas was already somewhere else.

Unlike his opponent he moved very quietly, on his tiptoes, and he also kept his mouth shut now. Countless attempts to sneak out of his dorm in Syliras in the middle of the night to get drunk had taught him exactly how to move in order to avoid getting caught.

He intended to approach Etrius from behind. The constant patter of the rain and the sounds of the spectators should mask his footsteps sufficiently.

„Boo!“ he made as he was behind Etrius, hoping that the man would at least flinch a little and look scared.

Despite everything, Lucas didn’t think it right to stab somebody in the back. Thus Etrius had about a second to react before the failed squire thrust his sword towards his torso, raising his shield at the same time in case of a possible counter attack.

[Etrius]

Etrius frowned at the empty space in front of him. With all the ruckus he caused just to find himself standing in an empty battleground; he must have looked like a fool. He was sure that the voice had come from right there, unless the maze messed with sounds and made them sound louder that they were. The sudden voice behind him made his body react on instinct, even before his mind could think. He dove forward and rolled as he hit the ground. He let his momentum bring him back to his feet and took and took two more running steps to distance himself further, before planting his feet and turning around, sliding in the mud as he did so.

The man in front of him - well less of a man and more of a boy - was crouched low, holding a sword and shield. He cringed. All he had was the gauntlet on his arm, and that could only reach as far as he himself could. He'd need to get close, too close for Lucas to use his sword, and try to get past the shield from there. Etrius was big, but he was not weighed down by any armor as Lucas had expected, so he was more mobile that the swordsman thought he would have been. Even then, this small boy was probably faster than him. 

Etrius could not help but grin. Now the two fighters were facing each other. No game of cat and mouse, no running, no hiding. These were the rules that Etrius had imposed in himself to force himself to fight fair, and it looked like Lucas was up for a fair fight as well. This was going to be fun.

Etrius brought his gauntlet up, holding his forearm in front of his face, using it as both sword and shield, and charged. With the gauntlet in front of him, he would attempt to block Lucas's sword as he swung it, slam his elbow into Lucas's shield to try and knock him off balance, and follow up by using his other hand to punch at the boy's gut. There was no more time for talk. Battles were won, not by words, but by fist and steel.

[Lucas Arias]

As he saw what his opponent’s weapon was, Lucas couldn’t help but laugh. He also couldn’t help but question the sanity of those that had organized the tournament. Why in Kelwyn’s name had they decided to pair a guy with some weird kind of gauntlet with a Syliras trained swordsman? Maybe they had been drunk. Yes, that had to be it.

Satisfied that he had found an explanation for their highly illogical decision, he prepared himself for Etrius‘ counter attack. The man had somehow managed to block his attack (although his arm would probably be quite sore for a while), so he needed to make some changes to his plan. Countless training sessions with the knights in Syliras had taught him how important the correct stance was, so he spread his legs until his feet were shoulder width apart.

And then he raised his shield some more. He felt the impact as Etrius slammed his elbow into his shield, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), the attack didn’t knock him off balance. „Sorry“, he apologized somewhat sarcastically. „I have no interest in ending the fight just yet!“

He made another step towards his opponent and raised his sword, aiming for Etrius‘ shoulder. If he managed to wound his arm, Etrius would have trouble fighting with that gauntlet of his effectively.

[Etrius]

Shyke! Etrius pushed himself away from Lucas and threw his arm out to his side in an attempt to keep it from the sword's path. A mistake. The blade of the sword caught his shoulder right in the space where his gauntlet stopped covering him. He was able to push himself far enough away to avoid having the sword dig into his collarbone but it slashed into his flesh nonetheless. He put a hand on his new wound and looked at it for a moment, then looked back at Lucas with a large grin. "Good, cuz I have none either." 

Perhaps he should have brought his scythe in with him. It would certainly have been useful against a sword and shield. Could he run back and get it? No, he had left it outside; going back and retrieving it might be seen as a form of weakness. But still... He could not think about it any longer, though. He needed to move before Lucas attacked again. The cut hurt when he moved his arm, but that only meant he would have to fight through the pain. Just like any other enemy, pain could be defeated. Lucas wanted to play with sharp objects? Fine! Etrius would play with sharp objects too. He turned his gauntlet so that the blade faced Lucas and opened his hand, revealing the steel claws attached to the gauntlet's fingertips. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could disarm or wound Lucas without using his scythe. 

He began slowly backing up toward the entrance of the maze and started pushing res into his right arm. If Lucas really had defeated a mage who could throw stones, then he could probably beat Etrius. But Etrius could control fire. The mage that Lucas fought could control earth. Fire was much harder to block than rocks. Etrius let the golden, shimmery liquid form a ball in his palm, trying his best to hide it from the squire. When he figure he had gathered enough without gathering too much, he ignited it, and flung it at the squire. Without staying to see if the small ball of flame hit the squire or not, Etrius turned tail and ran to the entrance of the maze with a shout. "Be back in a sec!" 

Etrius thought Lucas must have been confused, or at least he thought Etrius was a coward, but a small hit to the ego was nothing compared to losing the fight. He rounded the corner, ran to the scythe leaning against the outer wall, grabbed it, and ran back. As he rounded the corner again, he swung the scythe so that the blade protruded into the maze before Etrius ever got there, then he re-entered the maze. It hurt his arm to swing the clumsy former farming too around, but he tried his best to ignore the pain. Even then, with his amount of experience with the oddly blades weapon, he might as well be swinging a heavy stick at Lucas but if a heavy stick would help him win then he would use a heavy stick to fight. "Sorry" he said half apologetically. He wielded the scythe as one would wield a spear, holding it out towards Lucas. "Now let's get on with it!"

[Lucas Arias]

As Etrius moved towards the entrance, Lucas immediately followed him. He had no intention of letting the man get away. He raised his sword, about to make another attack, when he noticed … was that a fireball? The failed squire’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he abruptly raised his shield. It was made of metal. It should block the fireball rather than burn. After a few moments he tentatively lowered the shield a bit and made sure that no more fireballs were coming his way. It was then that he saw Etrius run. He frowned.

„Hey!“ he screamed. „What are you doing?“ Was his opponent trying to escape? Was he going to leave the maze? Was that even allowed? „He’s breaking the rules!“ he called out to whatever people were watching the fight. Actually he wasn’t sure if Etrius was doing something that was against the rules, but it would probably make the man nervous, and that was always good. If he was nervous, he would probably make mistakes.

„Nice scythe“, he remarked as Etrius showed up again. „But did you ask them if bring more than one weapon is okay?“ He eyed the scythe warily. He had absolutely no idea how to fight somebody with a scythe. He had just never learned it, so he did what he always did. He began to taunt Etrius so that he would attack first which would allow him to find out how he handled his weapon. Maybe that would give him an idea how to fight him.

„Come on, attack me! Or does your arm hurt? Why are you fighting with a scythe anyway? Are you a farmer?“

[Etrius]

Etrius's smile widened and he shrugged playfully. "They didn't say I couldn't." There was no rule against it that he was aware of. Besides, Lucas carried a sword and shield. Surely that had to count for two weapons. He jabbed the scythe forward, not far enough to hit Lucas with the blunt end of it, but enough so that he could step forward if the squire flinched. He jabbed at Lucas again. And again. And again, carefully watching his every move, waiting to see if the squire would take a chance to attack him instead.

His mind began to wander. How long could he last? The wound on his shoulder was not bleeding profusely, but it hurt like hell. Especially when he jerked his arm. This fight would have to be finished quickly and, whether he was the last man standing or not, he was sure that it would be.

Then he drew the scythe upward, took a big step forward, and swung the curved blade downward at Lucas with all his might. His swing was wide and slow, but powerful. He was confident that the squire could block his attack, being as unskilled with a schthe as he was, but such an attack would surely knock him off balance this time. Etrius mentally bashed himself for his stupidity. He was making a dangerous gamble, putting all his faith into this one attack. If Lucas was able to dodge instead of blocking, Etrius was not sure if he could bring his arm up in time to block a counterattack.

[Lucas Arias]

„In that case you should have informed yourself better“, Lucas replied. „What you are doing is definitely illegal!“

He stood completely still as Etrius jabbed at him, as if he were some kind of statue. He was well aware that the man was only pretending to attack him, so he didn’t feel the need to be scared or raise his shield or anything.

After the third or fourth jab he yawned though and began to reconsider his decision to wait for Etrius‘ attack and study the man a bit.

The only thing he had learned so far was that Etrius was uncreative, stupid, naive and seemed to prefer fake attacks to real ones.

Lucas was bored! He wanted action, and he wanted it now!

So he smiled all over his face as Etrius finally stepped forward and attacked for real. His swing was slow and seemed a little sloppy to the failed squire though – another disappointment.

Since Etrius‘ attack was so slow, he decided not to try and block with his shield this time, but quickly moved out of the scythe’s range, spun around and then came at Etrius from the side. He was aiming for the man’s torso again which was the best target in his opinion.

[Liar]

EXPERIENCE AWARD Lucas Arias Skill Points Intimidation 2 Long Sword 2 Shield 2 Stealth 1 Lore Preempting the Unseen Notes Lucas never fails to entertain! Imitation for the various taunts. Let me know if you have any questions. Etrius Skill Points Acrobatics 2 Gauntlet 2 Intimidation 1 Reimancy 1 Scythe 1 Lore Fighting Injured Notes Good job. :) Hope to see you back some time.