2006 TOA R1: Cthulhu v. The Welsh Paddy

[LocoColt04]

OOC: Again, I apologize for the delay. Have a glance at the Information thread if you're curious about why. In any case, let's get things going. Though it goes without saying, be sure to double check the TOA rules and have another glance through the thread about what we look for when judging -- it should help you out. Since it's already after 6pm CST on the 15th, I will not close the threads in exactly ten days.

Instead, the thread will be closed sometime on 26 Jun 2006. Judging will occur as soon as possible and the quarterfinals will go up immediately afterward.

Keep your eyes on the Information thread; all important updates will continue to go into that thread. If there are any questions, feel free to PM or utilize the Q&A thread, which will remain open. But enough of the formalities.

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The night was calm, but overcast. The moon shone brightly through the thin layer of clouds, rising and fading as the gentle breeze moved southward. The courtyard was quiet. The thin trees loomed menacingly overhead, amplified by the eerie darkness about them. A pair of leaves danced beneath a stone bench.

Much of the ground was covered in stone. It was muggy, but not quite damp enough for dew to form. Each of the courtyard's four small gardens was home to a tree; each garden was located in one of the four corners. The rest of the space was open, aside from a bench here or a pile of leaves there. The only real obstruction was the oversized stone birdbath located in the exact center. (OOC: use this however you wish, but do not destroy it)

Each wall of the courtyard held four small torches. Despite the large, open area in the middle, the lighting was quite fair -- perhaps the full moon could be thanked for that. There were two entrances; one on the east wall, leading into the dining and kitchen areas, and one on the west wall, leading into one of the main living areas. All of the bedrooms were upstairs. The entire first level of the estate was filled with common rooms, furniture, and doors to the outer estate. (OOC: you can destroy whatever you want inside the house, so long as you don't burn the place down)

The wind grew calm. Three figures appeared in a window upstairs. The unknown men, assumed to be the hosts of this tournament, stood calmly, watching over the courtyard. A voice rang out from above. "BEGIN!"

Two fighters stepped into the courtyard; one from the east, and one from the west.

[The Welsh Paddy]

OOC: Good luck, Cthulhu. I've been reading some of your posts in the RPB forum already, and this should be a pretty damn good fight.

IC: Aoki entered from the east. There was no wind tonight, and it was really calm. She would have hoped for more "better" weather, but she was somewhat grateful for such conditions. It was night time, and though the moon provided enough light to see by, Aoki could still very well turn this to her advantage. The whole place was cast in a silver glow, with the exception of the house, where the flickering lights of torches could be seen. The young woman made her way defiantly into the great building, planning on meeting her opponent somewhere in the middle.

First room she came into, a kitchen. It was empty, but lit up. Not the most ideal of fighting places. Looking around, Aoki found a towel, which she could use to smother the flaming torches before moving on to the next room. She looked around with a brief smirk. Dining room. Again, she extinguished the torches, moving from one to the other swiftly and silently, smothering them as she had done in the other room. She acted quickly, for her opponent would have most likely noticed the torches being extinguished. The place was in complete darkness now, apart from by the door way, where some light came in from the other rooms.

Aoki pressed herself against the shadows and drew out her short bow. She swiftly notched an arrow, and fired it off into the kitchen. She hit her target, and there was a loud clatter as kitchen tools fell from their hooks.

She put her bow away quickly and drew out her two short swords, not daring to make a noise. Hopefully, the noise would attract her opponent to the kitchen, without realising she was actually in the dining room. As soon as her opponent came into view, she would suddenly leap at him, aiming to plunge one of her short swords into his back, while holding the other up to defend herself against a possible counter attack.

If her opponent was able to see the attack coming, and dodge it, Aoki would then slash towards her opponent's throat, while bringing up her other one ready to defend again. Hopefully, the unexpected attack would at least drive him back enough for Aoki to prepare herself for his counter attack, if not severely damage him, and possibly put an end to this fight already. The latter seemed highly unlikely, though. Aoki was never one for taking any chances in battle, so naturally she wouldn't play about. She would aim to finish the battle as soon as possible, by any means possible, regardless of "honour".

[Bryan]

((To fully understand grasp parts of this post, please read through Kana's story. Also, I am picturing a gap between the estate and the doors to the estate. That might make the first few sentences a bit more clear.))

The western gate quietly opened and Kana clamly walked through. Before entering the large estate in front of him, something caught his eye in the middle of the garden. His long, black hair blew gently in the passing night breeze as he walked toward the large stone bird bath. When he came within feet of it, he paused and gave a slight smile. Everything was still new to Kana as he had spent the majority of his life confined within a temple.

He calmly sat at the fountain as the cool night breeze swept through yet again. Kana placed his hand in the water at the base of the fountain and smiled as the water flowed gently between and around his fingers. His personality seemed very calm and polite as he sat and enjoyed such a simple act. Though he was quite aware of what was to come, he wanted to take the time to enjoy even the smallest of things for it could be the last chance he got.

Kana then spoke aloud to his opponent in a cheerful and polite tone.

"This water feels very refreshing tonight, you know. Though it is merely water passing between my fingers, it reminds me of something deeper. Let's say for the time being that this water represents life as a whole. My fingers represent us as people. The water will continue to pass my fingers if I keep them in place. It may slow down at times and it may speed up, but the flow is eternal. If we simply stand in place, it will continue to pass us again and again..."

Kana then began to move his hand along with the flow of the water.


"But if we move along with it, we will see everything that it has to offer. It can't be stopped, but we are more than capable of keeping up. If you prevail this night, never stop running. Don't let anything that life has to show you pass you by. You'll feel only regret as you age."

He took to his feet then, looking down at the reflection of the moon in the water. His face turned serious as he stared off. He spoke again, maintaining a gentle tone.

"You know, it's not right what happened to you, Aoki. Nobody could be this silent, yet, I know you are here still. I've heard stories of you from my master, Okita Souji. He was stationed with the Shinsengumi...in your hometown. He never knew why you were imprisoned at such a young age and he never approved of it. It made him sad to think about it at times, you know. For being such a skilled warrior, he had a soft spot for children. I know this, Aoki."

Kana took one last look at the moon's reflection, cupped a small handful of the cool water and headed into the estate. A faint sound came from the house, causing Kana to pause for a brief second. It sounded like the clashing of some sort of metal. He knew that she must have entered through the opposite doors and juding by the stories he had heard, he guessed that she had not moved too deep into the house. She was hiding somewhere...waiting.

Entering through the western door, he passed through a couple of smaller rooms and into a hallway. He took the next door, which was to his left. Kana found himself in a large living area. It seemed like a nice place to relax, he thought. However, this was not the time for relaxing. He silently moved to the eastern wall of the room. The walls were thin enough to easily break, so it would be a challenge to be undetected by sound. As he stood a few feet from the wall, Kana let the cool water slowly run out of his hand. He quickly placed his water-cooled hand to the wall and felt around for a moment.

He then felt a warm spot on the wall. Someone was on the other side and must have been very close to the wall. Kana then in one swift movement drew the katana that Okita had given him and sliced at the wall, cutting through to alert anyone on the other side.


Still in a polite and cheerful tone, Kana let out an innocent laugh and spoke into the darkness to Aoki.

"You sure aren't as talkative as I've heard you were...or once were at least!"

Kana laughed again and smiled in the darkness. He stood in a defensive position, waiting for a response, be it physical or verbal.

[The Welsh Paddy]

Aoki stood motionless, blanking out what her opponent had to say about her. This man obviously knew of her and seemed to use what knowledge he had of her to his advantage. Aoki couldn't afford to get all sentimental in this fight. It was rather difficult to blank out what the man was saying, though, especially from having to keep her ears pricked so she knew where he was. She heard him getting closer, until it seemed he was right behind her.

She moved a step or two away from the wall, not wanting to take the chance that her opponent wasn't so clever. She was lucky, it seemed, for her opponent suddenly slashed through the wall with a sword. Had she stayed there, she could very well have been hurt badly. She turned swiftly, and charged at the wall, leaping up and hurtling herself through it. Having been weakened by her opponent, the wall gave way quite easilly. Hopefully, her opponent wouldn't have expected such an attack, Aoki would have turned her leap into a speedy attack, crouching low as she landed, and sprinted at her opponent, thrusting both her short swords out to the side and swinging them both up towards her opponent's upper torso, and stomach.

Regardless of whether or not her attack would work, she would spin around and aim another multiple slash attack at her opponent's back before leaping back a few times, out of the dining room and into the living area. This time, she quickly sheathed her short swords and got out her bow and arrow again, notching an arrow and drawing the string back taught, and grasping another arrow in her teeth, for easier reach should her first shot miss.

She stepped in plain view of her opponent, with an arrow aimed directly at him, and a smirk on her face. "Not bad, warrior. But you're gonna need to do better," she said.

She thought rapidly about all the possibilities of such a situation. She could fire, and her opponent would most probably dodge the attack. No one would be foolish enough to stand directly in front of someone with an arrow aimed at them. However, it would also be foolish for the man to charge directly at her. So she took the opportunity to examine her opponent. So far, he shown himself to be cunning, and he didn't seem to be the slightest bit bothered about fighting fairly. She was alright with that. Though she had expected such a warrior would fight fairly, she doesn't. But still, she had many tricks up her sleeves, that could turn this battle to her advantage.

She hadn't expected such an attack from him, and she now knew to be a lot more careful. She would have to think of other methods of using stealth against him.

As these thoughts rushed through her head, she kept her bow fixed on the man who stood before her. Should he make the slightest move, she would launch an arrow at him. Depending on his reaction to the attack, she would fire off the other one. If he dodged the first shot, she wouldn't try again, at least not straight away. Instead, she would back away further into the living quarters, keeping out of range, and sight, and waiting for him to venture after her.

Already, the battle had started getting interesting, and Aoki knew she would have to put everything she had against this man in order to win. "Time to mess him around a bit," she thought. She waited for her opponent to show himself, and while she waited, she planned her next move. She thought about taking the fight into the upper levels, but wasn't entirely sure about that yet. Better off waiting to see what happens next.

[Bryan]

Just as quickly as Kana had slashed through the wall, he took several steps back in a haste, still in the defensive position with katana in hand. Aoki came slashing through the wall almost instantly. She threw the first attack at his upper torso and stomach. Kana defended himself from this attack by holding his katana straight down and against both of Aoki's short swords. If she were to follow through with the attack, Kana would have brought his katana up from the side, redirecting Aoki to his left.

Had this have happened, Kana would have been able to perform Okita's signature Sandanzuki attack, which would have ended the battle. The attack would have been from behind and a disgraceful victory, but if that's what it called for survival...

However, this was not the case and Aoki did not follow through with the attack. Instead, she quickly spun around to perform another series of attacks. Having incredible speed, Kana quickly turned and met her short swords with his katana, sending a shower of sparks into the air. In that quick moment, he finally saw his opponents face, or at least, what parts of it were exposed. It appeared as though she wore a mask that covered the lower half of her face.

Judging by her clothing, the remainder of the fight (if she were to hold distance from him) would more than likely be to her advantage. She seemed to rely on stealth and discard all traces of honor in her fighting skills. He also noticed that there was a bow attached to her back. He knew that he'd best be prepared if she were to use this in their battle. This was not the environment he was used to fighting in. He would have to rely on his wits in this battle if her were to prevail.

However, the quick encounter had broken any kind of stealth. Aoki would have to distance herself quite far and quickly in order to regain stealth. It would boil down to stamina if she was not able to get away from him in time. Before running after Aoki, Kana quickly grabbed the heavy metal fire pit cover, which rested in the middle of the table close to the dining room wall that was recently destroyed. She quickly darted into the living area. as Kana followed close behind.

Not wasting any time, Kana followed quickly behind Aoki, hearing every one of her footsteps. He held his katana down in one hand and in a deadly position, ready to strike immediately. Kana listened carefully as Aoki's footsteps darted around a corner. He then hid the medium sized metal pit cover behind his back in a fashion that it could not be noticed.

He continued to follow her into the living area. When Kana entered, he saw Aoki standing in the middle of the room, with an arrow point directly at him.

"Not bad, warrior. But you're gonna need to do better" he heard.

Kana gave a slight smirk and picked up speed, running at her as fast as he could, drawing his katana back for a fatal blow to his opponent. If she were to fire her arrow, he would bring the hidden metal pit cover around to deflect her arrow or at least dull the attack down to do very minor damage. She seemed to underestimate his speed, for if she were to reach for another arrow or leave herself open, Kana would notice and perform Sandanzuki. This attack appeared as though it was an optical illusion due to it's incredible speed. Three fatal attacks appeared as though they were being dealt in a single movement.

Yet, he would not perform this attack unless Aoki left herself open, even if it were for a mere few seconds. He held honor, which his opponent was not familiar with. Kana would not allow Aoki distance again.

[The Welsh Paddy]

Aoki didn't quite expect her opponent to suddenly charge at her. He seemed incredibly fast, which would make things more difficult for her to distance herself from him. But she kept her wits about herself, and didn't panic. She fired off her arrow, swiftly, as planned, and suddenly her opponent had a metal pit cover in her hand. Aoki smirked slightly as the arrow bounced off it with a loud clang and thudding into one of the walls. This man really did seem resourceful in battle, being able to make good use of various objects in battle. This seemed to only be a mere example of his capabilities in battle, but it was still giving Aoki a good idea of what to expect from her opponent at a later stage.

Her opponent still continued his charge, so Aoki dropped her bow and waited. A second later, her opponent had practically closed the gap between himself and Aoki, and she suddenly grasped the handle of her Katar. As she did so, she also ducked and spun around, unhooking her Katar and then coming back up, making an uppercut motion, aiming a slash with her Katar towards her opponent's face.

As she did that, she pushed herself up even further, spinning around and aiming a kick to the side of her opponent's head with enough force to at least send him staggering to the side, if not momentarilly dazing him. She would then take the opportunity to leap at her opponent, ducking down low and thrusting her Katar up towards his stomach.

If her stabbing attack was succesful, she would swing her blade sideways, tearing out of her opponent.

If the attack wasn't succesful, she would turn the lunging attack into a foreward roll. She would then get back up onto her feet quickly behind her opponent and spin around, attempting another slash at the shoulder of his sword arm, then duck down and aim a kick at his legs, regardless of whether her attack worked or not, and hopefully knock him off his feet, and then aim yet another attack with her Katar, towards his throat.

Right now Aoki wasn't too happy with the way she was having to fight, but she managed to cope with it, and was using her wit and cunning more than strength alone.

[Bryan]

Kana charged at Aoki with his katana in a deadly grip. As he came within striking range, Aoki ducked down and swung at him with her Katar in an upward motion. Before being able to counter it, she came around to to left side of his head with a swift kick. Remaining calm, Kana turned the sharpened edge of his blade to the left and quickly side stepped to the right, dodging both the katar and kick.

Aoki then rolled foward (behind Kana). He quickly turned around to face her again, this time meeting her katar with his katana, knocking the attack away from it's intended target. His opponent then dealt another attack, which he quickly responded to by jumping above the kick. She followed through with another attack with her katar, this time aimed for the throat. Kana met her katar with his katana, sending another shower of sparks into the air, causing the room to light up for a brief second. He noticed that her back was faced to the western door which he used to enter the estate.

Kana took a few quick steps back and lunged foward with a flurry of attacks, while continuing to move foward and to the door. Showing no signs of fatigue, he first swung in a horizontal motion at her throat. He then swung down and to the left, then upward. He followed through with a left horizontal slash at his opponent, then right. To end the series of attacks, he pushed the end of his katana directly foward at Aoki's stomach.

While attacking, Kana thought about the reflection of the moon that he saw in the bird bath outside. It reminded him of Aoki. Her past be related to the sense of mystery that the moon often gave off. From what little he knew about her, she appeared to cover all traces of her past, just as the clouds cover the moon. For the moon could be covered, but it would never go away. Traces of it would always show, no matter how deeply it was tucked in the dark clouds.

"You shouldn't spend all of your time inside this temple, Kana. It's not good for you. Come with me, I want to show you something..." said Okita with a smile.

Okita then walked out of the room in which Kana slept and down the hallway. Kana followed him toward the open door. He was able to see the sky from the hallway and the garden was lit up in a pale glow by the moon. He could see countless stars in the night sky as he followed behing Okita.

As the two approached the doorway to step outside, Kana's memory went completely white.

Kana narrowed his eyes and focused back on the battle at hand, pushing back the memory for a later time...

[The Welsh Paddy]

Aoki's attacks hadn't been as affective as she had hoped. Her opponent had dodged and parried all her attacks, and making it look easy, too. Wherever she attacked, all she met was his katana, or nothing but air. Her kick was also dodged, and when she rolled past him and turned around to attack from behind, he had also turned to meet her attack. She smirked at him. "I'm just getting warmed up," she said confidently before continuing her ferocious barrage of attacks, all of which her opponent had dodged and blocked simply.

After that, she broke off her attack and leaped backwards a little. Her opponent also backed off a little, taking the opportunity to prepare his own attack. Aoki remained stood where she was, keeping her eyes fixed on her opponent. She was tempted to back away from him and attempt to make use of the darkness again, but she doubted that would work. At least not yet, anyways. Her opponent had been constantly nipping at her heels in her previous attempts. She smirked. "That would not happen next time," she thought.

She had noticed she was stood with her back to the western door, and it seemed her opponent had noticed this as well, but what he was going to do about that, she had no idea. Still, she quickly sheathed her katar again and drew out her twin swords, and she waited, as if in preparation to meet this man in head to head combat. Not as though that would happen, but Aoki hoped that her opponent expected her to meet him head on now that she drew out her twin swords and waited for him to make his move. Then her opponent suddenly charged at her to attack. His attack consisted of a furious barrage of attacks, not unlike Aoki's previous set of attacks. First of all, he aimed for her throat, making a horizontal slash. Aoki leaped backwards, feeling the blade just scrape at the part of her mask, which covered her neck. Then she ducked and spun around, avoiding her opponent's diagonal slash. All the while, she moved backwards, as if she was pushed back by her opponent's attacks. She was going to bring this fight outside.

She stood up properly really quickly as her opponent brought his sword in an upwards slash. Aoki used one of her swords to guide the blade away from her, using minimal effort, while thrusting foreward with her other towards her opponent's stomach. If her attack failed, and her opponent chose to carry on with his attack, she would do a backwards roll out of the door, get back on her feet and leap upwards, grabbing hold of part of the roof just above her and pulling herself up onto it. If her attack worked, Aoki would aim another slash, but going for her opponent's sword arm to disarm him, while swinging her other sword up towards his throat and holding it there with the point barely touching his skin. She knew it was against the rules to kill her opponent in the earlier rounds, but would the man accept defeat? She hoped so, for his sake more than her own. If he didn't accept defeat, and continued to fight, she would have no choice but to end his life there and then, regardless of her being disqualified or not. She was not willing to take any chances with this man, so should he make any move that would threaten her, she would push her sword into his throat.

That's if her counter attack worked, that is.

(OOC: Sorry if this seems confusing, man. I'm now continuing on with what would happen if her counter attack DIDN'T work out.)

Without pausing, she moved swiftly along the roof until she was sure she was out of her opponent's range of attack. Usually, at this point, she would take the opportunity to ready her bow and arrow. That's when she remembered she dropped it down in order to meet her opponent's attack in the living area. She cursed herself for being so stupid. She began thinking about all the possibilities of what would happen next. Would her opponent follow her? Would he merely wait for her to make another attack?

She began forming a plan. She still had her throwing knives, so she could make full use of those...

But that would mean finding out exactly where her opponent was, and being able to get a good shot at him where he'd least expect it. She quietly sheathed one of her shortswords and brought out one of her throwing knives. It was a while since she had had to use these in battle, but she still had one hell of a throw with them. She smirked and took off her mask, placing it beside where she crouched. It felt nice to feel the breeze on her face, and for a few seconds, she relished it, closing her eyes in obvious pleasure. But then her eyes snapped back open again and she concentrated fully on the task that lay ahead. She had no idea of whether or not her opponent had followed her out. She put her throwing knife in her mouth, holding it with her teeth as she again moved noiselessly along the roof.

She stopped then, not far away from the door, which she had came out of. She decided to wait here before making any further attacks. What would happen next, depends on her opponent's next course of action. Aoki would have prefered to have her bow, and she still wasn't happy with herself for forgetting about it. But, there was no use in worrying about that now. She still had her throwing knives, at least, and she had made sure her opponent didn't know of her exact possition. So she stayed there, waiting to see what her opponent would do next.

[LocoColt04]

Okay, congratulations, everyone. These first rounds, overall, were quite impressive. Judgement will come within the next three days, and the second round will start at that time. So, if you would please, just keep an eye on your threads, and the second round will start later this week!


This was a tough call to make, but The Welsh Paddy has been disqualified for having multiple attack phases in a single post. It's one thing if you do a two-part attack (swing here, stab there, etc.), but in your last post, you have one distinct counter-attack followed by an OOC and a completely separate attack. It is unacceptible to have two attack phases -- that's not just against TOA rules, but RPB rules as well. You have one attack phase, and that's it. It explicitly states that your turn is over after your attack phase. In this case, your counter-attack, whether successful or not, served as that phase.

You are a good writer, though, so I hope this does not discourage you.


Hollow Point (formerly Cthulhu) will continue to the quarterfinals.