2973/WMAT B1 Target Sparktail vs Staren

WMAT B1 Target Sparktail vs Staren
Date of Scene:	06 September 2015
Location:	WMAT Arena - Devil's Hand
Synopsis:	Target and Staren have their showdown in the castle located at the Devil's Hand!
Cast of Characters:	Staren, 770
Tinyplot:	WMAT 2015

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Staren has posed:
    Staren waves to the audience after walking out of the warpgate, suited up in his powered armor as usual.

    Staren and Target Sparktail agreed that it would probably be a more interesting match if they went to the castle and searched for eachother. Some form of transport is provided -- before they split up to go to opposite ends of the castle, Staren turns to Target and nods, holding out his hand to shake. "Good luck. I look forward to pitting my skills against yours."

    Staren's dropped off at one of the castle, and starts heading pretty much as directly as he can towards the other side. Once he thinks he's maybe about a quarter of the way across, he reaches into his protoabstractum bag and pulls out camera drones -- coconut-sized, hovering metal spheres with antennae and lenses on one side -- tossing them into the air and letting them head down different hallways, mapping the area. That's Staren's major trick for fighting in this environment. He wonders what Target Sparktail has...

    Staren's getting a bit tense. Any moment now they might run into eachother. Staren's wanderings have brought him, perhaps subconsciously, to the site of his climactic confrontation with Fate last year. Where a hallway runs off from the back of the throne room, with a section of collapsed ceiling (and matching pile of rubble) exposing the next floor up, and holes in the walls, blasted away to reveal the courtyard. Staren tries to sneak over the pile of rubble quietly, but accidentally dislodges a chunk of stone, causing several more to roll to the floor and tumble loudly. He winces and looks around. Where is Sparktail?

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Upon his arrival, the Brimsteel VEX Ranger gives a friendly wave to the crowds that have gathered. Once again, he has a fight to pick at the Devil's Hand. This time, though the castle was going to be their stomping grounds. The kobold was certain that the WMAT had cameras all through the castle, so putting on a show for the crowd shouldn't be hard. The sound of buzzing camera drones, however, puts him on edge and sets him to the darker corners of the castle.

    Being a kobold, and smaller than your average multiversal denizen. Thanks to this, he starts to move here and there through the smaller passages that many wouldn't be able to use, all the while searching for Staren. From one room to the next, one hall to the next, he manages to keep quiet, even keeping his VEX clockwork from making a lot of noise. It's only when he hears the disturbed stones he makes a beeline for the same area. Once he's in the throne room, he very -carefully- moves into the hallway behind it. Not feeling like making an ambush, since it's the WMAT, the kobold calls out, "FOUND YA!" before firing off a shot from one of his revolvers.

Staren has posed:
    WHo actually shouts before starting an ambush? But, it IS the WMAT. Staren jumps slightly as Target makes his presence known, turning to look from the rubble to the ranger, but stumbling so the the bullet's off-target -- but it does glance off the edge of his forcefield, which is suddenly visible as a multilayered, transparent amber sphere before it fades. He takes a wild return shot which blows a small chunk out of the surface of the wall, then LEAPS up, orange energy wings manifesting for a split second to allow him to reach the next floor. Staren crouches and leans over the broken edge of the floor to snap off another shot at Sparktail before shifting back behind the cover of the floor.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Missed! It doesn't really upset Target, at least. The crowd would be able to enjoy everything just a little bit longer! "C'mon, Staren! Takes two ta tango, right?!" he calls before hearing the shot. His body twists, the bullet puts a hole in his coat, but he's left unharmed. "Goin' up then? Be right witcha!" he hollars before lunging for the same hole. Small, light weight, the Ranger surges upward, passing up for the next floor, "Hi there!" he calls before firing off another shot at Staren.

Staren has posed:
    Staren steps back upon hearing that, but suddenly the kobold is there. He's fast! And at this range, he's able to shoot inside the forcefield. The shot hits one of the forcefield projector discs, which goes out in a shower of sparks and smoke. A hollow sphere of sparks appears around Staren and falls to the ground as a whole layer collapses all at once. Damn! Staren's not just standing there though. "Rrrngh..." he growls in annoyance as he pulls his right fist back, steps forward, and tries to knock Target back into the hole with a power punch! The armor isn't car-throwing super strong or anything, but it has the power of a strongman and the resiliance of advanced alloys rather than fragile flesh and bone.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    After his leaping entrance, and the shot is fired, the spray of sparks brings a satisfied smirk to the ranger's features. "Sorry if that was somethin' important, Staren!" he offers as he lands, starting forward toward his opponent only to have a punch thrown at him. While it doesn't send Target back down into the hallway but it does catch his shoulder hard, spinning him around with a yelp. Turning into the momentum, the kobold uses this to his advantage, trying to come around with a kick instead.

Staren has posed:
    Melee! Kind of Staren's weakness At least Ziv is too small to grab and throw him, probably. On the other hand, he might be able to latch on and tear things up. That would be bad. "Eh. Armor's job is to take hits."

    The spin kick hits Staren in the side. Armor crunches slightly. Staren's left hand snaps out to try and grab his leg, while his right pulls the (temporarily set to stun) beam saber off its clip at his waist, activates it, and tries to stab Sparktail in one smooth motion!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Catching Target's ankle puts the kobold off balance. The stab that follows does its damage, causing a howl to rush out of him. Yep. That -hurt-. "Ah.. Ow, Gyah Staren, that one hurt a lil' bit," he compliments through a wince before reaching back for something with one hand. Point blank? Shotgun? That could hurt. "Lemme repay yer kindness!" Trigger pull!

Staren has posed:
    Staren's energy weapons have, at least, been modified to inflict pain and a bit of stun when encountering flesh, rather than just burning it away, although there might be a slight burn. The shotgun blast hits Staren's abdomen plate, making him drop Sparktail and stumble backward, before he can figure out the most painful thing to do with the sword. The paint's blasted clean off, and it's a bit warped and dented, some of the bits of shot left embedded in the metal. "Oof! Nngh..." Recovering, he lunges forward, slashing his beam saber at... the shotgun!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
"Now that's just dirty!" Target calls out when he ends up blocking the attack with his shotgun, which causes it to get sliced in half with a bit of the momentum left to catch the kobold's left shoulder. He backpedals, dropping the remnants of the gun before drawing both pistols, "I got more though!" he yells, firing off a bunch of shots as he tries to put some space between himself and Staren.

Staren has posed:
    Staren shrugs. "Sorry!" he sounds flippant though. "I gotta fix my armor every time, though..." Target backs up outside of the field, so his bullets hit it again, glancing off at angles and leaving little pockmarks.

    Target wants distance? Staren will give him distance! Staren reaches into his bag, pulls out a high-explosive minimissile, and lobs it at Sparktail as an improvised airburst grenade then immediately dives away and hits the deck!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    "Is that a missile?!" Target yells, sounding as shocked as he looks. As he backed up toward the whole he hopped out of, the kobold dives away, and back down to the level below to try and avoid the explosion. It works, in part, but the blast causes him to land on his chest, hard, instead of on his feet. "Ghh.." a light wince, then he pushes himself up, glancing up through the opening again. Taking a quick moment to reload, the Kobold aims up and ... wishes he had his shotgun. "Ah, damnitall," he mutters before hopping up to grab the edge of the opening. He pulls himself up and then fires a few shots, half hanging, before climbing the rest of the way up before trying to get a fair distance away from the hole.

Staren has posed:
    "Yeah?" Staren's not sure what's so surprising about missiles. Mini-missiles are relatively small, maybe a foot long and an inch wide or thereabouts.

    Target's shots are more on-target this time, their full energy being transferred to the forcefield. Chunks of the second layer shatter into sparks, and finally the field layer collapses in a shower of sparks, another of the discs on Staren's chestplate popping and letting out some smoke.

    "Hmph. We can't stay in this room all day you know, defeats the point of the environment!" Staren says, sweeping his arm back and forth and firing even tinier missiles that were hidden in the armor behind the wrists, about magic marker-size, which jam themselves into the floor. Staren's micromissiles are designed to pierce a target and explode inside. It's hard to make them nonlethal, but they can do something else: Embed themselves in the floor and blow it apart. If Ziv isn't able to avoid falling, Staren activates his wings and flies over the hole, looking for the most advantageous place to launch his next attack from...

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    The VEX system did have a flight form, but if Target was to swap into it right now he'd be stuck in it for the next minute or two while the clockwork rewound itself. SO. "AH HELL!" The missiles explode, the floor drops, and Target finds himself thunking... into the throne below. It hurt, sure, but he can't help but be amused by where he found himself sitting. "Ha! Staren! Ya kinged me! Why didn'tcha say we were playin' checkers?!" he hollars before aiming the revolover with bullets still left in it. "Come down'n join me why don'tcha?!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren chuckles at the comment about kinging. Target's bullets blow another layer of forcefield to shreds -- it's smaller and a lot thinner than it was before, now -- and unsteady his movement. "Hmm... Nope, better idea!" His wings buzz and he flies into the hallway.

    Less than a second later, a missile looking like the one he threw flies into the room through one of the holes in the wall, exploding over the throne. This one makes some kind of wide-area energy explosion, modified with the same conceptual 'nonlethal' pain/stun effect!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    "Aw, C'mon! Another one?!" Target complains before diving out of the throne, again forced painfully into the floor by another blast. The nonlethal energy certainly has a kick to it, but, Target still doesn't seem to be out of the fight! Not yet. A cough slips from him, he takes a moment on the ground to reload his revolvers, but then he pulls himself up and chases after Staren. After using so many bullets, the ranger seems intent on catching up with, and lunging at, the man. Target? Wings. The enhanced strength of his VEX will certainly help with the assault. "Time to bring you down to my level!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren flies along the hallway. The missile launchers on his shoulder are in firing position now -- They pretty clearly have a capacity of 3 minimissiles each. He glances back, thinking about firing another... and his eyes widen as he sees Target come zooming down the hallway. Wow! Staren doesn't know that the duster makes Ziv stronger and faster. Staren tries to swerve out of the leap, but gets tackled from behind. The wings are disrupted and they tumble to the floor, the kobold able too claw and tear into the armor a bit. "Hey!" Staren turns this way and that, but it's hard to attack a small guy on your back! "Get off me!" Suddenly he gets an idea though. His beam saber suddenly duplicates in two, and he stabs himself in the back as if backscratching.

    Sensors in the beam sabers will make them automatically shorten or shut off if they would hit his armor, but Target Sparktail has no such protection!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Claw claw claw, drop! The kobold ducks away after the wings are removed and, lucky for him, he avoids the saber as a result! "There! Even footing!" Target calls out before charing forward again. Claws? Guns? No. He just wants to turn a shoulder and prove that despite his size, he can still slam into a person and it'll hurt!

Staren has posed:
    Staren gets free of his blasted passenger, and then... Is the kobold /charging/? Staren tries to get out of the way, but is intercepted. Right in the gut too, where the shotgun already damaged his armor... "Oof!" Staren cries out, and grunts in pain as he's shoved back, stumbles, and falls on his butt. The left-hand saber disappears and Staren holds the left hand over his gut. That /hurt/, and now he has mental dented into him. That's not good! Staren tries to sit up, pointing his right arm at Sparktail and blasting with the twin beam cannons to keep him back. The left hand's gauntlet suddenly detaches, and he holds his left forearm as perpendicular to his gut as he can, silvery lines of some sort spreading from his wrist to attach to the armor around it and the dented belly-armor. Is he trying to fix it?

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Struck at point blank, the kobold goes sailing backward and crashes onto his back with a thud. "aaaaagh... Jeez, Staren, ya gotta hit so hard?" Target asks, slowly sitting up, a clear mark from the weapon across his chest. "Gh.." after another moment he's on his feet again. "Eh, s'a good hit! Lets give the folks a good finish, one way or another!" he insists before scrambling for the man again. Once he's close enough, a balled fist would be aimed for Staren's jaw, and then three more would come racing in behind them!

Staren has posed:
    A moment is what Staren needs. The silvery threads connect, Staren /pulls/, and the dent pops out. Staren groans in relief... but then a kobold runs up to him beats on his jaw. Fortunately, his helmet was undamaged, but that changes now. Staren's head is pounded back against the floor repeatedly. The helmet cracks and dents in places. Disoriented, Staren drops his beam saber (it deactivates automatically for safety) and fumbles blindly in his bag. Fortunately, it has the conceptual property of always having what you reached in for ready. Now, Staren doesn't want to kill Target, of course, but as the kobold was charging him, he noticed that the duster, like his own labcoat, was more than it initially seemed. Staren pulls out an oversized revolver, pointing it at Target's side and fires. Two mad-science-empowered bullets fly out, one behind the other. Unable to brace himself at all in this position, Staren's elbow slams into the floor, cracking and chipping the floor and the armor. Staren follows it up with more shots if he can, aiming to do as much damage to (what he doesn't know is) the VEX as possible!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Pummel! Pound! Maim! Then bullets. A pair of bullets, sure, but considering who made them and what they're probably capable of doing, the kobold actually shouts out in pain and rolls off of the scientist, "GYAH that SMARTS," he howls, writhing for just a second before rolling a bit further away. "Guess... Nnhgh, I gotta get somethin' special out for ya," he says through a clenched jaw. A revolver is produced, the bullets in it are dumped out, unused, before a single, violet, glowing round, is shoved into the weapon. It's then cocked and pointed at Staren, "I really hate blowin up mah guns," he snarls before pulling the trigger. The blast of purple energy that -explodes- from the gun sends the kobold sailing back, however, the blast of the pulsarium ammo may leave Staren worse off than Target!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren gets some breathing room and drops the Annihilator to slip his gauntlet back on, then grabs the gun and stands up with a groan. Gut, head, elbow... he's gonna feel this fight in the morning.

    Target produces a glowing violet round. That's ominous. "What is THAT?" Staren asks as he takes aim, and then everything goes explosion.

    A second later, he finds himself on the floor of the castle hallway. He hadn't been sent flying as far as Target, as a matter of relative mass, but when he tries to sit up, he finds his armor's response is sluggish and weak. There's a mechanical straining sound, and his right arm doesn't move at all. As soon as he looks down at himself, it's clear why: The front of the armor has been mostly blasted away. Here and there a scrap of circuit or wiring or some now-unrecognizeable internal component remains. The last layer before, well, /him/ is scorched and blackened and burnt away in places, especially around the gut. The right arm of his armor is in especially bad shape, with more burned away and more exposed areas, because of how it was positioned.

    And then he realizes why he didn't see this immediately: his visor is scorched and cracked, and his HUD isn't working.

    Yeah, he can't fight like this. "You win. Good game." He says, transmitting it over his radio for emphasis.

    Then he starts activating what emergency releases are still working and extricating himself from the wreck that was his armor.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    "Ah heh, heh, yeah, good one," Target calls from the opposite wall, offering a little wave with one hand. Same one is holding a very -destroyed- revolver which he just tosses aside. "Gotta go get another one, I guess," he mutters before calling on the radio to the WMAT medics. Time to get heals.