Imperial Gauntlet: Team CHRN, Trial 2

[The Gatekeeper]

The wall of bone was covered in an invisible barrier, courtesy of the Dark Side. The sight looked macabre, yet in effect it made a perfectly square battlefield for the duelists. The two Champions, Ryder and Halmo'de, would be put to the test against each other in a fight using whatever they had on them and what skills they possessed. Even now the Empress was watching, so they had better perform well. It didn't seem like the Darkness wanted them to take an lives, yet it wasn't adverse to seeing brutality, either. It waited hungrily for the fun to begin.

((OOC: This fight will be PVP, but death disabled. Serious injury and the like, however, ARE enabled. The fight ends when one opponent forfeits or is knocked out. Have fun!)

@Malon @Gian Greydragon

 

[Ryder Varek]

Ryder's first move wasn't really a move at all. He was on the side of the bone-arena nearest the door they had entered from during the previous round and was facing his opponent. His lightsaber was tightly gripped in his right hand. With a thumb movement, he activated it, bringing its crossguard blade to life and illuminating the dark chamber with crimson light. He stretched his left hand and began to draw the Force to him—a precautionary measure.

For now, he wouldn't move. He simply stretched out with his feelings to get a sense of his opponent's intentions. He kept his eyes peeled for any sudden movements and, as a result, would be ready at the faintest sign of danger from either his opponent or his immediate surroundings. Varek knew nothing about this Sith save that he was an obstacle that stood int he way of his own goals and ambitions. An obstacle he could not allow to stand. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de's skin nearly mirrored the white bone walls that now surrounded the two Sith. He stood for a moment glaring hungrily at the Sith who had plucked the trophy from just beyond his grasp. It honestly angered him to see it gone again after all that had transpired.

The tension mounted again as it became obvious that they were meant to fight each other now. A smile cracked across his face, as he took his primary lightsaber's hilt in his right hand and igniting it, allowing to to ignite at a standard length, then extending to a full 2 meter length blade. He gripped the hilt with his other hand and held it at waist height, at a 45 degree angle. As he gathered the Force around him, while his opponent did the same, he studied his opponent. His armor was heavy, and cumbersome, which meant Hal was just a bit faster than his enemy. His crossguarded lightsaber gave him more defensive and counter-offenskve capability, so he would have to keep himself from locking blades with him. He had seen his strength and knew how inventive he could be with the use of the the Force, so that was a factor as well. Halmo'de's serious expression cracked into a grin as he dug into his stance.

@Malon

 

[Ryder Varek]

Varek didn't give a hint of what he was planning. This was his first battle with a true Sith. He had fought abominations and Mandalorians before, but Sith Masters were a different beast. Varek was pleased at the challenge.

The Sith Master's left fingers twitched. With that simple motion, he used the Force he had gathered to him to reach out for the dust and the air around his opponent. Both components — dust and air — began to violently whirl around the target in an impressive Force whirlwind. The maneuver was not intended to be damaging, but distracting: the gusting winds would make it difficult to see, and the dust particles in the air could potentially get in his foes eyes, causing a similar problem. At the very least, it would be a distraction.

Whatever the case, the moment the Sith Master was entrapped in the Force whirlwind, Varek would cross the distance between them. As he came within range of Halmo'de, he would step slightly to his right; this would ensure that his blade was between his opponent and himself, in case of any surprises. He would then take up the hilt of his blade in both hands, and swing at his entrapped opponent—from left shoulder to right hip. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de looked on, with murderous intent, as he felt the air around him twist. He clenched his fist, to use his own reserved Force energy to dispel the whirlwind by creating a counter current around him, dispelling the whirlwind and blasting the dust away from his eyes.

If his opponent continued forward with his attempted attack, he would hunker down, and bring his hilt overhead, and at an angle to deflect the attack, using the last 1/3 of his blade to keep the Sith at a safe distance, parrying upward and to the left, an equal opposite movement that would expose his side.

Stepping immediately to the left, he countered with an attack similar to his opponent's own downward, diagonal strike.
@Malon

 

[Ryder Varek]

Ryder's eyes and senses were sharp. As he had expected, the other Sith Master used the Force energy he had built up to dispel the Force whirlwind, and so Ryder did not follow up with the lightsaber maneuver that he had planned, and which was predicated on his opponent being caught in the distraction. But there was still an opportunity to be seized here. One the former Mandalorian sought to capitalize on before the moment passed.

Halmo'de had used the Force to blast the whirlwind apart, and the dust from his eyes, but the rather sizable dust cloud from the ancient tomb was still in the air and ripe for manipulation. Ryder's next use of the Force was quick and simple, requiring less focus and preparation. He clenched his left fist, reaching with a mental command out to the air around Halmo'de, and, at the same time, began to move towards his opponent. The Force responded to his gesture and the dust particles were drawn in, and would snap around Halmo'de's head like a curtain snapping shut. The action would be fast, but, aside from its purpose as a distraction and irritant, it would be virtually harmless.

This time, Ryder would follow up the attack whether or not his maneuver hit home; as, whether Halmo'de used the Force again to defend himself, or was indeed struck by the ploy, he would need to deal with that before Ryder's oncoming attack. Already in motion, Ryder would step to his right, and take up the hilt of his weapon in both hands. He would then aim a diagonal slash — from Halmo'de's left hip to his right shoulder — at the enemy Sith Master.

The slash would also be well-positioned to bat away Halmo'de's lightsaber in the event that he did respond fast enough to counter. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

The dust particles slammed into his face, as if he had had a handful of pepper thrown at him, however, he was not harmed by the particles of dust. Reacting naturally to debris colliding with his face, he shut his eyes, keeping the majority out of his eyes. Through the Force, he recreated the landscape of the battle - his point of view of the of the fight before closing his eyes. With his sense of hearing honed in on his enemy, he was able to determine an appropriate reaction. After opening his eyes, just a split second later, he felt the burn of the dust that had gotten through, but through the blur, he could vaguely follow the glow of Ryder's lightsaber, as he moved right, changing his footwork to accommodate a two handed grip, and wind back for an upward diagonal strike.

Halmo'de reacted first by stepping to his right, and back, mirroring his opponent, and keeping a safe distance away from the incoming blade. Having not needed to change his stance from before, he still maintained a middle guard, with his hilt held close to his hips. Due to his movements, he was able to maintain equal standing, and keep the blade at a safe distance, using his own to gauge distance.

As Ryder uncoiled the strike, Halmo'de simply leapt back, and countered the attack with one that mirrored his own, a strike at his right hip to left shoulder, as Ryder's blade passed by well out of range of reach of Halmo'de, arcing all the way through the strike as Hal countered with an equal and opposite strike, aiming at Ryder's right hip, to his left shoulder.

@Malon

 

[Ryder Varek]

Varek smirked underneath his helmet. His ploy had worked brilliantly and now he was seeing the fruits of his effort. Though the enemy Sith had managed to jump out of range of Varek's strike — either because of the dust in his eyes or by sheer miscalculation — he had also made it so that Varek was outside the range of his own attack. In essence, Varek didn't have to do anything to dodge or avoid the enemy Sith's strike because he had done nothing to re-enter attacking range.

Instead, taking his left hand off of his own lightsaber hilt, Varek would wait for his opponent to nearly complete the upward stroke of his blade (so that it was away from his face, and unable to interefere in his plans) before aiming at Halmo'de's now-exposed face with and unleashing a powerful blast of Force lightning. Still in motion from his own missed swing, and with both hands on his lightsaber, the enemy Sith Master would have no way of protecting his face from a full dosage of Force lightning.

In the meantime, in his right hand, Varek would his have his lightsaber pointed out towards Halmo'de and slightly to his side, ready to intercept any potential counterattacks that the Sith Master might have should he somehow manage to recover from receiving a full dosage of Force lightning to the face. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

"FOOL!" he heard from the back of his mind, "You rely too much on the length of your weapon!" his inner voice shouted at him, as the blade hit nothing, not even a lightsaber blade. More dust must have gotten in his eyes than his pride allowed him to believe. So much for that...

Halmo'de had by this point recovered his eyesight completely, if not a bit teary eyed, and had taken notice that the heavily armored Sith Master before him had taken no steps toward him, and had to make a big movement to throw his hand out to cast the bolt of lightning. Although he was in mid-swing, he was a lightsaber specialist, having spent an untold amount of time behind one, particularly those of his own making. With the shift of his weight in his heels, and bending his knees, and moving his elbows and wrists in tandem to manipulate his blade, into a guard from above his head, similarly to how a longsword fencer would switch between offense and defense, with quickened ease, at the added bonus of being lighter armored than his adversary, and having a weapon with a virtually weightless blade, holding the saber in front of him and absorbing the lightning with his blade, saving his his from charring more than he'd already done to himself.

With the flick of a switch, he shortened the blade of his saber to that of a standard length blade, though doing nothing more, than holding his ground as lightning collided with the blade of his lightsaber. He now essentially stood in what would considered a Djem So/Shien opening stance modified by holding the blade dead center of his mass from above his head, and held in tight, favoring a defensive response to an extended lightning barrage, or lightsaber strikes, should his enemy dart forward and try to attack him in melee.

@Malon

 

[Ryder Varek]

Halmo'de was more skilled than Varek had given him credit, but Varek still had him completely on the defense. The moment his opponent switched his tactic and blocked the initial barrage of lightning, Varek ceased releasing the stream. Instead, with his hand still pointed towards Halmo'de, he switched to a stream of Force fire, which could not be blocked by a lightsaber. The flames emerged as a short, fast, burst, meant to engulf the unarmored Sith Master or force him to make a move.

In the meantime, he kept his own lightsaber in the same position as before, just in case the enemy Sith Master attempted to make a desperate ploy of his own. He also kept his eyes on Halmo'de for any sudden movements. If his opponent made a move, he would be ready for him. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de dipped to the left immediately after the stream of lightning broke off, stepping to the side of the gout of flame now coming toward him. Having been a practitioner of Pyrokinesis, himself since he was but an Exile, he knew that it was not something so easily blocked, or created for that matter. Felt the heat from the flame, but all the same, it was the sensation of burning that excited the darkness within him.

As the Flame passed, it was right for the picking for the skilled pyromancer, as he sought control over the flame that hadn't died down after the short burst, drawing it in, toward him where he seemingly fanned the flame from an ember, to a medium sized ball of flame, before casting it back at the Sith's center of mass.

From there, Halmo'de capitalized on his counter attack, gripping his secondary lightsaber hilt, but not igniting it just yet, and moving inward toward him, his primary blade at the ready. With swift fotlotwork, he closed the gap between himself and his adversary, swinging with an off centered uppercut strike aimed at his outstretched sword arm's wrist. He kept his wits about him as his opponent was obviously proficient with the Force in similar ways that Hal had learned to use it, although, Halmo'de focused more heavily on physical augmentation. In his left hand, he remained ready to employ the Force or a lightsaber where they were applicable.

@Malon

 

[Ryder Varek]

All too easy. As his enemy moved, Varek tracked him and turned to face him fully; and, when Halmo'de manipulated his own attack against him, Varek simply held out the same hand as he had earlier, coating it with the Force, and bounced the flame-ball right back at his opponent's own center of mass—a rather simple maneuver that required virtually no stamina whatsoever to preform—taking advantage of the fact that his opponent had committed to closing the gap between them, which would almost guarantee a rather painful hit.

But Varek wasn't one to put all of his eggs in one basket. At the same time as he was bouncing the fire ball back at his charging opponent, he was also backpedaling out of his opponent's range, which would put him out of reach of his opponent's potential uppercut. Should all of this come to pass, he would then move to Halmo'de's right, bring both hands to his lightsaber hilt, and swing horizontally into Halmo'de's exposed right side. @Gian Greydragon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

Halmo'de quickly dispelled the flame using a technique similar to Ryder's own, but at the cost of the losing his charge. The Sith Master now had nothing between him and his opponent, save his opponent's own lightsaber, which was now swinging horizontally at his right side.

With his left hand, he ignited his lightsaber, at a shoto-length lightsaber blade to catch his opponent's weapon's blade. Keeping mindful of the the crossguards, he stepped back with his right leg, allowing his left leg to take the lead, and put distance between his lightly armored gut, and the prongs of plasma at the base of his enemy's weapon, as he brought his primary lightsaber down from it's current overhead position as his previous strike had missed it's target entirely, all the while pressing outward with his left hand, keeping those crossguards away from his body.

The strike from overhead was not a dedicated slash, and was more of a chopping strike meant to recoil back as he stepped backwards, but would certainly do damage to Ryder's right arm, while not completely severing the limb. Whether or not it made contact with the his enemy, he would step back, ready to respond to Ryder's next move.

@Malon

 

[Halmo'de Torobah]

The blade collided along the Sith's armored arm, wrecking that armorpiece and gravely burning him between his shoulder and elbow. Halmo'de shoved away, as the Sith before him would undoubtedly recoil in pain to get himself out of the entanglement of his own limbs. The last attack was tricky to say the least with a great risk of cleaving his own hand off. He gave only a split moment of reprieve to the armored man, before extending his shoto length lightsaber to scissor strike his enemy, symbolizing a killing blow. If the warrior made no move to defend himself, he would stop short of decapitating him.

@Malon

 

[The Gatekeeper]

As the loser fell to the ground, the air seemed to ripple around the victorious Champion. The ground burst forth with tendrils of pure darkness, wrapping around the victor until he was taken from sight, though there were no one else around to see him at this point anyway. It was time for the last leg of the Gauntlet, something that the surviving contestants would need to work together in order to defeat. Or not, it would be their choice. Perhaps they would think themselves powerful enough on their own to face the creature they were on their way towards, an echo of a confrontation that had shaken the very core of the world it had happened on. Regardless, the Empress was still watching. She had yet to decide on the winners yet.

((OOC: The last thread of the Gauntlet will take the winners from each fight to put them against one final foe. I'll have that thread up soon.))