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 Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:31 pm
This banter had gone on long enough.
Her tempo had slowed down to about 90 BPM, which meant that in the same measure of a 140, she could do more movements. Her relative time slowed, which basically meant that she had less of a chance to slip up and lose the beat. The full explanation could get a little complicated, and would force the person on the other side of the table to know about rhythm-- the harder beats, the softer beats, the syncompation, insertion of ossia-- that kind of thing. The main thing to understand was that Descant had all the reason in the world to be confident. To call her unstoppable at this point would be bad, since "unstoppable" comes with all kinds of bad stigma. She wasn't a god, not by a long shot. Just damn good at what she did.
So yeah, Xevious was going to have a hell of a hard time stopping her. Descant knew this, and for it she was smiling and humming the old tune again.
"Okay~," she replied in sing-song to his declaration of intent.
It was incredibly easy to keep Xevious before her.. just a step, a small pivot, and that was all it took, so she of course kept the man at her fore. While waiting, she put her hands back in the air.
She actually waited for him to complete his movements and set up his positioning, before she attacked him... and that attack came by way of a outward flicking of her left foot, then a stomp. They were close, but not close enough that she had any hope to physically lay foot to face. Rather, it would be the building that would attack him, the stone ripping up and forward in a direct line with nowhere to go but his chest. The stomp that immediately followed made the line spread outward just around his position, and all stab inward. Just in case he had the wherewithall to dodge to any side whatsoever, you know?
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:54 pm
Xevious felt the magic flow from her, flaring in his vision, blinding him to the woman behind the rocks. He felt their energy spike out of the ground, and his first instinct was to move back, however that was before he felt the stomp, the energy ringing around him, blinding him to all things. Now would have been the ideal time to strike at Xevious, had his foe not surrounded him with a cage of stone. Xevious dropped down into a crouch, allowing the spikes to pass through the air, missing where he had been moments ago.
Xevious wasted no time in a response, and like his foe, the majority of his attack would be delivered with the building. Spell aside his vision cleared enough to put a fine location on his opponent. His arms flung in front of him, and the energy he had been building was released in a mighty push. A five foot area, with Descant at its centre was suddenly hit by a literal wall of energy, it would cause anything struck within it to go flying backwards. Unfortunately for her, Xevious had placed her between the building and himself, so the only thing she would strike would be the building, with a smackering of force.
If the building was still strong and sturdy, it would hold and she would simply smack against it, however if the building was weakened, cracked and decaying as one would expect them to be in ruins, she would most likely go through the wall, into whatever room was on the other side, along with any stones pebbles and small objects that were lying around close to her at the time the wall of psychic energy was pushed out.
Xevious wouldn't waste time seeing if his blow struck, he was confident that his foe wouldn't have much of a defense against such a strike. He swung his blades upwards towards the points of the rock, around the hole where Xevious would have been impaled, where they were thinnest and weakest, and smashed the stone apart on blade, it would damage the blade, but it would still cut through flesh fine enough for Xevious. As he struck up with his blades he also jumped up, and pulled himself through the gap at the top of the rock spikes, watching his foe for her next move.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:28 pm
Three zombies and a necromancer. One to the left and right of Alex, and one behind him; all facing him within arm's reach but otherwise doing nothing. The necromancer stared facelessly forward.
A slow, heaving breath from under the hood. Inhale, exhale.
He started forward, inhaling heavily once more. Once the hooded man got just within range for any physical attack Alex might consider with those kama in his hands, the necromancer would exhale. This time there'd be a grey jet of warm, damp smoke.
From the necromancer's face, to Alexander's. Not smoke exactly, but a cloud of powder and lingering particles warm and damp like hot breath. Within that desperate few feet that Alexander had allowed many dangers to wander into, the cloud was just a conical spray from the necromancer's mouth to the area Alexander was currently inhabiting.
Alexander had been doing a dangerous amount of standing around. He'd allowed himself to be surrounded on three sides by zombies and a cloud of dust two-and-a-half feet in diameter hovering around his face.
Understandably, Alexander was operating with the understanding that if he didn't move, no one would notice him. Which wasn't true. That's not to say the voices had been lying.
If he struggled, three zombies and a necromancer were ready to jump all over him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 6:34 pm
Alexander seems to be, in the great words of the late George Carlin, "********." He continues to stand there as the necromancer slowly approaches him, gripping his kama tightly, working through his head every possible option he has available to him at the moment.
The ominous voices he heard around him still rang about in his head, taking in their words and picking them apart as the necromancer draws closer. TO listen to creepy ominous voices or not to listen to creepy, ominous voices. That seems to be the question.
Seeing the "smoke" and particles spraying toward him looking much akin to the dusty breath of a freshly awoken mummy, he closes his eyes mostly, leaving just slits to see out of as he inhales deeply and holds his breath. If something didn't happen soon, he'd have to take action and it probably won't be the type of action he is keen on taking.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:22 pm
((Pretty sure by now we're on separate posts tracks.))
The cloud lingered yet. Particles too small to identify by looking at followed no set path and drifted lazily as tiny wisps all around Alexander's face. Collecting as a white residue on clothing and skin; finding purchase in threads of clothing, the moisture of one's lips, the minute amount of oil on one's skin and hair. Even as small amounts landed on Alexander, there was still plenty looking for a home, likewise limiting vision from his already squinting eyes by obscuring the air around him.
If one was privy to extensive knowledge or experience with fungus, one might liken the characteristics of these particulates to, naturally, spores.
Quick thinking for Alex to keep from breathing it in or letting it in his eyes.
The necromancer's hood shifted, apparently he tilted his head slightly to one side. Silence was broken by speech.
"Tell me why you stay. Tell me why you should not be killed." Dry, raspy, and coarse like sandpaper with gravel stuck to it. Puffs of the same powder fell in short drowsy arcs from the cowl with each word.
"Answer me or they will tear your response from your throat."
Pretty good questions, really. Alexander was probably already considering why he didn't get the ******** out of Dodge when he had the chance, and didn't need the death threat to get him talking. The mostly-undead audience was no doubt eager to hear why they weren't stuffing themselves full of living flesh.
The cloud hovered. The zombies stood. The necromancer waited.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:59 pm
The necromancers questions were, indeed, quite good. Why the ******** didn't he GTFO when he had the chance? With the imminent threat of becoming zombie fodder, he figures he might as well tell the truth since it'd probably be better then any lie he can come up with at the moment.
Alex now has to make a terrible decision: Risk breathing or risk being ripped in half by zombies. Personally, he likes the sound of the first one better then the whole 'being eaten alive bit.' So, he speaks.
"I stayed to assist in trying to remove the being who was destroying your home, though if I am unwelcome further, I shall respectfully leave," he says, using as little breath as possible, holding the rest in when he was done, not knowing how long the half-breath he has remaining will last him.
This is about the point he is very, very, VERY glad his father taught him how to swim and hold his breath longer as a child, though he hasn't done so in quite a number of years.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:24 pm
Quite a mouthful, and very like a bard. Even to his own disadvantage. It was unavoidable that a small amount would get in, especially with an opportunity like that. No real taste or smell, more of a sensation kin to licking a battery. Almost immediately his lips would go numb, followed by the light urge to sneeze. Nothing someone couldn't fight, but that tickle itself was unavoidable.
The spores seek out and stick to moisture, hoping by chance to land in some dark, warm place to start a colony. A person's mouth was rather ideal, in spite of saliva's defensive properties to invasive biology. In much the same manner as the human nose and sinuses. Body heat and moisture, sheltered by a body against the hostile elements.
Fungi typically existed for a single purpose and, through generation after generation of trial and error, were exceptionally well equipped to perform that purpose; reproduce. Sweat, moisture, and the many impurities of the human body were all the nutrients needed. Spores would blossom, and spread.
tap tap tap
...
tap tap tap
The necromancer gave a long moment to consider, tapping his shovel blade against the ground. By now the cloud would have dispersed to twice it's size and at a third the density and done little to obscure anyone's vision. Obvious traces of powder dusted Alexander's hair, skin, and clothing. Even the zombies were beginning to have spores stick in the black gross of putrid flesh and clotted blood about their faces and shoulders.
"You've done little to remove anyone." An observation, and only that; no further dust leap from his mouth.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:52 pm
The cloud is now gone but he feels a little more then disheartened at the slightly numbing sensation and slight need to sneeze. Whatever that powder was, it's definitely not a good thing, but at least it's no longer in her breathing vicinity.
"Alas, I seemed to have found myself at a slight disadvantage," he says as he continues to remain still in fear of either upsetting the necromancer up ticking off his zombies.
"Though I shall gladly remove myself for it seems your compatriot has the removal of that creature under control."
His eyes open again, glancing back to the naganaganaga and the other creature before returning to the necromancer, his face and body language quite impossible to read, even for a bard. He'll just have to keep playing it by ear and on the fly.
"Though your minions seem to be blocking my path to do so, if you would allow me."
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:53 pm
The Ruins weren't the most awesome, upscale, movin' on up to the east side, place, but one would hope that someone falling hard into it wouldn't make the walls cave in. But the power of Xevious' wall was noted, and let it be known that it was going to hurt. The sound of Descant's body hitting the building was pretty loud and if it was any weaker or she was larger in body, then she would've made cracks in the wall.
That is, if she was completely unprotected.
Just as he had done in response to her own forces, her response was quick and none too fancy... arms crossed her body and she pushed forward on her feet, as if trying to stomp again. Her stance had changed, as opposed to the time she actually did stomp, her body was much lower, bent at the waist. He'd only be able to see her for a short moment, since her robes were shifting their shape, revealing more folds and length as they came before her and created a crescent dome of black before her. So sturdy was the dome, that any flying debris ricocheted off with a ting. She was counting on her cloth taking on most of the force... she'd still be pushed back into the wall, but without all the through-to-the-other-side force that was intended.
If this all happened nicely, then she was going to still put her foot down with a hard rumble, though there would be no spikes emerging. Instead, she refocused on using syncopated beats to quickly regain her proper step. Two quick steps with the right foot, a delayed left, a triplet, and four quick pitter-patter steps... and she was back in 4-on-the-floor time with the cloth robe thing magically floating around her while still not revealing more of her body.
Still stepping and singing. She didn't seem to mind letting him take some time to get up and over, which is what she was actually taking so long to get on the beat.... two measures to get on was kind of pushing it. Though, with everything being about timing...
Xevious got up just in time for Descant to drag her left foot back and hop in a more elaborate step. The hard rake of the ground would send the spikes at his rear, the ones he'd just cleared, right into the small of his back quite a few dangerous inches. The landing from the short hop did nothing more than the normal rumbling.
She shouldn't have to do anything else, what with it happening behind him and decreasing his ability to dodge. Just in case, her hands were still up.
Summary! She blocks and waits for him to clear the spikes completely just to perform a magical spinal tap.
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:17 am
((How many spikes are we talking here? When you say totally clear do you mean I got out and could now be standing on the cage of rocks?))
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:13 pm
((The question really is... how many spikes did you climb over and your spatial relationship to the peaks and valleys curving inward. Going straightaway from my post, you will have one [1] stabbing you in the back. With all other spikes turning in the same direction, it's safe to assume that if you list any way to the side, you will be stabbed in the kidneys or chest, depending on how bad your luck is, since all of the other spikes [every time I see this post, I see seven spikes, so we'll go with seven in total] are coming to you. You only have three to worry about unless you jump backwards, at which point you'll meet the whole bed.
However, I can say that in full confidence that you won't.
Your moving to the side, or even knowing that you're finna get stabbed in the back shouldn't be a factor, what with it happening directly behind you. Of course, I don't know how your magic sense works, so I'm saying that like it has the "visual" range of eyesight.
That said, with it happening directly behind you, you were allowed to climb up and over, and place a foot on the not-cage ground. I thought I did say "up and over" to illustrate that; my apologies if I did not do so. My word and phrase choice seems to be lacking lately.
Have I sufficiently answered your question?))
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Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:00 am
Xevious had already clambered over the rock peaks, and was therefore not too concerned by the incoming counter attack. He saw the magic flare on his vision behind him, and pushing down on the rock he was standing on, he jumped out and away from the danger Descant had tried to place in his path, or rather behind him.
As the entity landed he immediately stepped forward and towards Descant, he swung his left hand blade towards Descant, aiming to slash across her belly with the outer edge of his twin scythe blade.
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Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:36 pm
He went on, kinda like the beat. The main difference was that she wasn't getting annoyed with her music's rodent-like scurrying.
Wouldn't jumping away from the danger mean jumping into Descant, or something like that? Pretty sure that's how it was going. So he was coming forward, and she moved to meet him with a sliiiiide of her right foot and a vocal hissssss, not unlike that of a brush sliding across a high hat. Or a snake. The rest of her body moved little, though; she stopped moving her legs for a beat (though the ball of her right foot tapped internal time and her left hand moved slowly CCW), and the tension was audible in the hissing getting louder as she further stretched.
Xevious was already moving his blade forward, and it looked like he was going to split her open. Indeed, he succeeded in swinging and she should have been cut with that strike. But just as happened with the debris, his sword was met with the robes under the influence of Animate the Silkworm, and met them with solid force enough to have the swing ricochet.
Parry.
Now, Descant didn't watch television and all those animu shows, but if she did, she'd wager this is where Xevious would have a moment of Zen, absolutely knowing that whatever was about to happen next would not be good for him. The world would slow down and he'd be free to wonder what her power level was, or whatever it was that overzealous, Saturday-morning evildoers worry about.
The Zen moment passed and Descant yanked her body forward, her head leading like a striking viper. Alongside her head was her right hand, slamming into the air as it met the left. The air distorted again, visible to the ghouls doing their thing around Alexander, as a wide but thinnish (~two feet thick, ~eight feet in diameter) wall of sound slamming into Xevious from all sides. To him, it'd sound as if a legion of drummers all slammed their mallets at the same time, with focus directed on his skull. Everyone else would hear and feel a subwoofer's distant throb.
Of course, this was happening immediately after Xevious' first slash, and she was attacking in a way that should interrupt or at least coincide with the possible right-hand slash... because beside the fact that she'd been waiting for exactly this, he'd find that unlike Treble Clef, this attack produced enough energy through sound to create a physical wall for the second it lasted.
People didn't stay conscious after point-blank Bass Clefs, seriously. They also tended not to hear anything when they came to, what with popped and bleeding ear drums. He'd been able to mouse his way out of everything else she'd thrown at him, because he had the space and time to do it... something he was now denied.
Her right foot lifted, and she was apparently ready to step backwards.
// Animate the Silkworm
// Song of Shields
// DeTerre
(You're free to roll your dice for the Bass Clef and Shields. Silkworm and DeTerre were active before the field.)
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