2006 TOA R1: Griffith v. Odin

[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.

[Angantyr]

Rising from the shadows in the West the twirling leave’s started to rise higher into the air, the breeze turned into a gust blowing the leaves across the courtyard and 1 leaf feel into the bird bath. From out of the fog Dai approached with a bird perched on her finger, she smiled and raised her hand high into the air letting it glide away. She looked around examining the courtyard; she strolled around taking in as much detail as she could.

Dai made her way to the birdbath and when she got close to it she looked inside it to see her reflection but the leaf had no disappeared. Her face was very white from the cold and her lips were a pale purple colour. Her hair fell from her shoulders and dipped into the water by mistake. Giggling she reached grabbed her hair and rung it round removing as much water as she could leaving it damp. Taking two small stick’s from her side she used them to twirl her hair around to keep it from falling in her face. She didn’t think this would be the best idea but she didn’t have anything else to hold it up at that time.

Dai started to continue to look around as she started to think about how she got there. ‘Why the hell do I have to do this? Providing I had more time to practice then I would be prepared, But no! They expect me to do this straight away? Kami just wants to see me suffer… men!’. Dai started to get angry and pulled out her Wakizashi and started swinging it through the air “Arghh! You want to play dirty with me? I’ll make you dirty”. She then twirled around cutting the air.

As the breeze started to calm down it went silent, she put the Wakizashi back and opened her eyes wide in anticipation of the battle. The rain slowly started to fall and she could hear the sounds of it flowing down from the walls. She etched backwards to the corner she came from as she heard a noise coming from the East.

[Grizzly]

The clouds above had been giving off shadows of their own over the entire land, upon where the moon would shine brightly then fade away from its piercing gaze. No one could really tell they were dark clouds, of course, but the scent of rain water lightly misted this place of beauty and future destruction before finally beginning to drop small droplets. The wind was slowly picking up at fast pace while this strengthen the speed of the rain itself.

From the distance there was a fading ember of light that was quite small, emitting a glow upon the eyes of a man leaning against a tree and apparently smoking a pipe. His eyes glanced upwards when the rain began to fall, his conical hat acting as a shield, so that the pipes ember would stay hot. He had delightfully stood there against the tree, closing his eyes and just listening to the sound of water hit each leaf in a constant pattern of music to his ears. He slowly took one more deep breath from both his pipe and the cold, yet comforting wind and pushed himself off the tree, beginning to walk forward as a large object lie itself upon his shoulders.

The light that would pierce through the trees above, every so often seemed to show the image of the man walking forward from the east. When the light faded he became nothing, but a shadow.

Clicking metal against stone echoed in the distance from the eastern gate, but it was not from any weapon. In a rhythm of walking did this sound catch itself reaching every ear within fifty feet did one notice, it was not a sword or weapon, but shoes. Finally, the eastern gate pushed itself open as the cherry blossom petals rushed forward into the large estate like a squall. A man lowered his arm he used to open the gates, standing still as the last fraction of light ran over his appearance. He tipped up his conical hat to reveal his golden eyes, finding himself staring at a young girl who stood next to a bird bath.

He took slow steps forward and the reflection of the blade upon his naginata twitched in the distance, bouncing as he calmly walked toward this girl who gave off an enthusiastic energy. He stopped only six feet away, taking the pipe out of his mouth and blowing one last cloud of smoke before tapping it upon the sheathe of his katana to pop out the ember inside, then placing it inside his kimono. “Good evening. I assume you’re my first opponent? Well, with such short notice we should begin. Good luck.” He said, but just as he finished his sentence he did not give room for thought and nearly at the crack of lightning, he had grabbed his naginata with both hands and swung the weapon at the girl’s left shoulder, horizontally. He knew, though, it wasn’t entirely difficult to dodge the attack and if she had dodged it, Arashi would immediately change stances and thrust from the swing, jousting towards her left side of her chest.

After the thrust he would then strongly pound his left foot down and back away slightly incase of any counters of any kind.

For a man with a large weapon and short body, his speed was uncanny.

[Angantyr]

Lost in the glare of the water she feels the sudden swoop of his Naginata smack into her shoulder pads which givers her a fright so she gasps, then takes a step back and back flips aiming at his jaw. She watches his reaction then pouts as she looks at the pad. Pulling it off, she looks at it to see no real damage to both the shoulder pad and only a tiny scratch… ‘No real harm, which was close’ and places it back on.

She then raises her eyes and gawks at him “What the hell? Nobody ever warns me!” she circled around him watching the gleam from his eyes. She then kicks a stone into the wall which rebounds as she aims it at his neck. “Tee-hee, that gleam in your eyes, I swear I have seen it somewhere before… why is it you choose to fight?” she then placed her hands on the bath and looked at the water rippling with her reflection.

In a quiet tone she closed her eyes then opened them again starting to speak as she watched her lips move in the reflection. “Death whispered to me, a fight must take place in order to stop the screaming inside of my head”. She then Raised her head looked at him and with an angry expression on her face she screamed out “I am willing to die for this!!!”.

Circling him she stretched her right arm back and her left arm down low as she smirked at him “Yarrr!” she hit him in the gut with her right arm then smacked him in the face with her right fist. She then jumped back and got down on her legs and side kicked him in attempt to trip him up. Without waiting to see what is going on she runs to past him and inside to enter the Entrance room.

Looking around she sees the room she is in is huge, a large stairway directing to the upstairs, underneath the large ledge a door way leads to what looks like a Hallway. She can barely see a glimpse of what is up there but on the right side there is a kitchen, she looked around and there is a large living area with a huge fire place. ‘I better stay in the kitchen’ thinking, she looks around and thinks what she is about to do next.

((OCC - I am aware that is past the fifteen minutes and I can't change my post, bassically I f*cked up as I had nobody to practise with to get use to the rules. My fault but I thought I would just let you guys know)

[Grizzly]

(OOC: Short, yes I know. But since Odin will probably accept this I thought I would end it quickly so we can move on. Don't blame him though, this is his first time RPBing.)

Arashi did not stop his assault as the girl did not seem effected by the first blow, but as she back-flipped to aim towards his face the distance between the two was a far bit too great. Her foot barely even tipped his conical hat as she went backwards and he finally rushed forward a second after, just as she was half-way through with the back-flip. Before her feet touched the ground though, he gave a strong thrust of his naginata at the center of her chest. If successful, he would then run forward, stop, and kick at her stomach to push her off the blade, but into a wall.

After all that he would immediately set back in a defensive position with the naginata held from both hands and in a stance more like a scorpion.

If she continued her attack he would then jump back at the same time he pushed her forearm forward and then twirl swinging the blunt end of his weapon with one hand, at the side of her neck and then to complete the twirl, pull out his saw blade katana, using his open hand, to strike at her waist if the his first attack was blocked or dodged.

[LocoColt04]

OOC: Normally I don't interrupt a thread in the middle of the fight to say stuff like this, but even though Griffith has won by disqualification, by all means, continue through the rest of the round. There's no better way to learn than to keep on writing, right? Odin, your writing thus far is actually pretty nice, so I think you'd make the adjustment to RPB rather easily with a little more practice. When the round is over, send me a PM, and maybe you and I can discuss a few things, okay? (I know of a certain someone who is looking for another off-site RPB and would be willing to help train you.)

[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!


Though the winner of this match has already been decided, I was hoping to see some more posts from Odin. Either way, congratulations to Griffith. You shall continue to the quarterfinals.