WMAT A3 Chronicler vs. Elza Lengar

WMAT A3 Chronicler vs. Elza Lengar
Date of Scene:	23 July 2014
Location:	WMAT Arena - Diablo Desert
Synopsis:	The thrilling battle between the Chronicler (Ainsley) and Elza Lengar (Elise Leroy), in the third round of Bracket A!
Cast of Characters:	62, 151, 152

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Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The Diablo Desert, a sweltering environment full of desert creatures and problematic terrain, made only worse by the hour which the fight was scheduled. While most creatures would be overheating in this weather, Ainsley stands ready in the powerful heat, complete with robes covering most of her body. Her red eyes are half-lidded thanks to the vibrant sunlight beating down on her face. She has her long sword with her, and her Armor Journal on her back.
    She got here pretty early, and waited for her opponent to arrive. She had been excited to begin ever since her narrow victory over Theo in the last round. She did a bit of research on Elza's previous fights, and found that she may actually have to hold back a smidgen so she isn't overpowering her opponent. Which is fine, she understands the need for a fair fight. She picked a nice flat area of baked earth where they were unlikely to tumble into any environmental hazards during the course of the fight.
    The slight breeze is the only reprieve for any warm-blooded creatures who roam this area, aside from the giant mushroom trees that dot the landscape.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Sweat. That's a thing that happens. Especially to warm-blooded creatures. Elza is one such specimen, and as she strides up in her tactical vest and equipment, one can see the sweat glistening from her exposed skin. Across her back is slung her weapons, the daemonic Hellfire Hammer, and the much more mundane Sniper Rifle. Her right thigh is home to a .45calibur pistol, and her left houses a combat knife. She approaches Ainsley and gives a nod of her head in greeting, "I will give you a friendly word of advice." she says. "Do not let yourself be struck by my hammer."

    The human then steps back, unslings her weapon and holds it ready, the hammer settled easily in her grasp.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja Senra is dressed in light robes, given the climate, and has a nice comfy commentator's box at that to keep him cool. Still, he frowns a touch. He's never been one for such contests, but if his love needs a commentator, then how could he deny her? It certainly took a bit of ear-twisting though!

Steadying himself, the rat takes up the microphone as the two enter on their opposite sides.

Faruja coughs, sputterings, and squeaks amidst an errant sip of tea. Blast it. "Ahem! Hail, and Faram's blessings, oh fighting fans and afficionados of honorable duels, struggles, and contests of arms, magery, faith and fire! Inquisitor Faruja Senra of the Holy Church of Saint Ajora Glabados here, welcoming sinners, saints, and all in between to tune in to channel 900.3, whereupon our two contestants shall battle valiantly for fame, glory, and riches beyond compare in this round of the World Martial Arts Tournament!"

"First, we hath the intelligent, the lovely, the scholary mage Ainsley, whom last wrested victory from the jaws of defeat! And her opponent, the wandering mercenary, the mysterious, the brave and cold Elza Lengar! From whence doth she hail? What trials hath she overcome to possess such skill? None but she and the good Lord know! Once again, that is channel 900.3, and may the bravest, most honorable, most cunning and skillful of our two contests win this day! May Faram bless ye both, and keep ye during this tournament! Amen!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The nod from Elza gets a nod in return. Ainsley reaches to draw the longsword from its sheath, very careful about it. The blade glimmers in the light. She carefully rests it at her side in one hand, in her left hand, the blade tip touching the ground. She considers her opponent's stance and the Hellfire Hammer. She frowns at the weapon, feeling like it might be more than a little painful. "This would not be a proper match if I /let/ you hit me," she tells Elza, smiling at her with a bit of dark humor in her expression. She knows it's going to hit her at least once, and she has a feeling her enchanted tome will only do so much to stop it.
    Figuring that her opponent is more than ready, the lizard girl advances suddenly, and swipes that longsword horizontally at Elza, hoping that the woman knows, at least, how to avoid getting bisected by her opponents. She lets out a startling kiai to accompany her strike, her shout echoing across the desert landscape and muffled by the incredible heat.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza is a little slow on the pick-up, and Ainsley's speed catches her by surprise too. She lifts her hammer to block the sword strike, only barely turning it to stab into her shoulder with a tearing of fabric and the wet shlucking of flesh being rended. Her left shoulder currently out of action, Elza drops the hammer, and draws her pistol, whipping it out like a bludgeon to start with, attempting to smash it against Ainsley's cheek. She then hefts a heavy boot to attempt to shove her opponent back, searching for some space.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Siiiip. Faruja shivers at the sight of that hammer. He definitely doesn't like the look of it. Still, he remains professional, even /if/ there's a proud smile on his face as Ainsley so valiant rushes Elza.

"And so it begins! With a great war-cry, the graceful scholar Ainsley seeks to make the mysterious warrior Elza half-again the mystery! But, 'lo! Elza's great hammer saves her life! It seems as though she shan't be using /that/ weapon this fight, given that wound. Right in the shoulder, poor dear, know how /that/ feels."

"However, the Mysterious Warrior is not to be outdone! How /brutal/! With a mighty swing, Elza uses her firearm as a bludgeon! And a boot to the body at that! How mercenary! How cruel! How /strong/! Can Ainsley avoid such heavy blows?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The pistol whipping gets Ainsley stunned for a second, the blunt strike dazing her, and then she's shoved backward and stumbles away from her opponent. Bruising is bound to occur from both strikes, as Elise can tell this diminutive woman does not possess any sort of secret armor ability. She nearly crumples when the boot strikes her in the middle like that! But she managed to avoid getting hit too firmly, somehow, despite not visibly noticing the approach of both hits.
    This is where things get weird. Instead of turning to face her opponent, she smoothly recoils forward as if she didn't need direct visibility, the sword stabbing forward in a few quick strikes at a rising angle with both hands. It's like fighting a drunken boxer, in a way, the way she struck from the side. It's a trick to throw off people who are used to fighting people by reading facial cues.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza grunts a bit, hopping back.. and ending up with a sword right in the side. This is highly inconvenient, as it leaves her open to the following strikes, especially as they're from her left side which is currently undefended.

    She recovers well enough, dancing away with blood streaming out of various cuts and stabs... but wait, are her wounds regenerating on their own? It's not rapid regeneration, but noticeable. "Fancy footwork. Lets see you dance." she says, bringing up her pistol to fire at her opponent, using her training to target non-vital areas.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"My, my, my, it seems dear Ainsley may be graceful, however, Elza's great power and skill proves greater still! But the Lady is yet upon her feet! Someone ready an icepack, methinks there shall be far more brutal blows than /that/ throughout this contest! Hah haaaah!" Hams up Faruja, the rodent sipping more tea. For once, it's not spiked.

"Oh my, such a fighting stance! Never in my life hath I seen such a seemingly disorganized and chaotic style!"

Faruja takes a breath. His tail flicks. "And once more, Elza is scored! Mayhaps the old addage about bringing a blade to a firearms fight is less than true! Yet it barely seems to phase the mysterious warrior! My! Even her wounds seem to be closing! Methinks it shall take more than a few light blows to lay low this woman!"

Wince. Faruja's ears fall back as the sounds of a pistol firing a salvo goes off. "It seems Lady Elza hath had quite enough of a melee duel! Such accurate shots, even while amidst hard-fought melee! What shall the great Scholar do to save herself from this marvel of skill, and the powers of technology and powder!?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley notes the sight of regenerating wounds. She gets the visual in stunning detail due to her visual abilities, making her a bit queasy. She's still not used to how strange that is. The blood from her opponent drips off of her longsword. She is pleased that she's not easily going to kill this person, however, if she skewers Elise.
    Ainsley moves in a way that makes the pistol shot graze her flesh instead of getting a hole through her middle or a bullet lodged in her limbs, but it's still a painful sensation that sears flesh and leaves a nasty bleeding gash across her side, limiting her mobility. She growls in a very dinosaur-like way behind the pain, the change in stakes forcing her to decide to mix things up to keep up with her opponent. She surges with white energy, and then points a finger at Elise, firing off a burst of lightning at her opponent!
    Boy, that is /loud/!

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza hates electricity. She sees the charge building, and leaps aside, getting struck mid leap by a grazing hit, that still sends several hundred thousand bolts surging through her. She lands and shudders from the current, grunting in pain. She then shoves herself up, forcing her limbs to still from their palsey-like shaking. She then does something that might make Ainsley worry... she rolls her left shoulder, then runs for her hammer, diving for it then bringing it around in a wide arc. She's too far away for a hit, but that doesn't seem to be her intention.

    Elza slams the hammer down into the ground with a sharp shout, making the ground quake harshly, and a great fissure open to spew forth fel flames.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"It seems the Lord is on Ainsley's side, as Elza's bullets barely miss turning her into scaley swiss cheese! That seems quite the powerful firearm! Nasty, nasty things, bullets! How shall Ainsley respond to /this/!?" Mmm, cheese. Faruja's suddenly hungry.

"And there it is, Sers and Dames, Ladies and Lords, Commoners, brigands, sellswords and pious alike! Magic! My, my, this hath truly proven to be a diverse match! Blade, spell, hammer, and bullet! Shall Elza avoid the fury of the storm, and ride out the lightning? Will the mysterious warrior shut down her magic with her pistol? Only time shall tell, oh listeners!"

Wince. "...Oh dear! A direct hit! Elza is sent flying! Will this be the end?"

"No! She is up, Sers and Dames! Such endurance! Such willpower! She's up and going for her hammer once more! With a mighty, glorious swing she...CRACKS OPEN THE VERY EARTH ITSELF! What fell weapon doth this woman possess!? Hang on tight, oh viewers in the stands! If ye art not careful, ye may well be swallowed and burnt by such abyssal flame! Nevermind what may happen to Ains.." Crash!

"Oh bloody abyss, my teacup!"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Lightning hits her opponent, and Ainsley can feel the course of the lightning through the poor soldier's body. She scrunches her brow at the way Elza seems to be able to power through the muscle spasms that come from the electrocution. When Elza raises the hammer to retaliate, the lizard girl isn't quite sure what to expect. And then it hits the ground and out spews fire!
    She reaches to tear off the outer layer of her robes, revealing the set of leather armor she wears beneath. Blood has stained one of her sides from the bullet strike. She doesn't have the ability to regenerate, so it seeps a little if she moves wrong, getting a wince out of her! The burning cloth smolders off to the side, and the lizard girl pats embers out on top of her head, frowning at the painful sensation of burns on her arms and face.
    A shiver climbs through her body.
    Then she grabs the hilt of the longsword with both hands, measuring Elza's stance. The lizard girl advances, and uses a pulse of magic to boost herself forward and over the gap, electricity trailing behind her! Then she swipes as she tries to pass Elza, either impacting hard if Elza tries to parry, or slicing true into the self-mending flesh of her opponent, if she can land her strike!

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza brings that heavy hammer up, using the metal haft to deflect that blade, then lets herself fall backwards, flipping Ainsley over her with the momentum. She then hops up, twirls around, and brings that hammer around for an overhead strike. She's feeling that impact though, wincing with the effort of that mighty swing.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"Once again, Ainsley avoids death at the hands of such dark fire! A pity for those robes, however, it seems she shall hath a shopping trip after this fight mine friends! Oh, and the headfeathers as well!" Bemoans the rat dramatically.

"And with a boost of electricity, she is as a flying javelin! Elza must act quickly to avoid the flying warrior-magess! What shall the valiant, strong, Mysterious Warrior of the Fell Darkness do!?"

"Such a weapon, this hammer! Ainsley's blow is knocked aside, as insignificant as a child's slap! And with a powerful folllow-through, she swings! My, my, shall this end as a game of Earth's baseball, and Ainsley knocked out of the park!? Or shall the mage manage to survive!?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is bodily thrown! She tumbles and lands, sheathing the sword. She's already preparing her defenses when she spots the hammer coming in toward her, the Armor Journal swinging about to meet the hammer! A shockwave of light projects off of it, and the lizard girl is forced down to a kneeling position from the force of the blow! She shouts from the pain of the blow, though she thanks her lucky stars that she didn't get any bones snapped from it!
    And then the book is slung back across her back, and her hand reaches down to grasp at a dagger on her belt. The moment she rests her fingers on it, she seems to gain a boost in speed! And then the second dagger is grabbed, lightning quick, and she advances into Elza's inner field, making it prohibitively difficult to get a proper hammer blow on her again. Taking advantage of the close range, she begins a quick series of stabs and swipes aiming for limbs to try and slow her opponent down even if only for a moment! The enchantment on her daggers certainly makes it easier to make rapid strikes!

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza grunts in satisfaction. Even though she didn't feel anything give through that strike. She reels back for another one... and then she's suddenly struck from many sides at seemingly once. Legs are slashed, arms are stabbed, and she gets a nice slash across her stomach. The mercenary falls to the ground, grunting in pain as red fluid stains the sand.

    But she forces herself, ragged breathing, bleeding wounded... back to her feet. The wounds slowly knit together on the surface, though the inside remains angry red. She pants heavily, then heaves that hammer up once more. She doesn't bring it down on the lizard girl. No, she strikes the ground again, making the ground shake violently and more fire belch forth from the fissure it creates.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"And with a swift motion, 'tis Ainsley's journal that saves her life! Such a strong tome, 'tis more than mere words in that one, ye can be assured, oh faithful listeners! Oh, my, amazing we art not treated to te sounds of broken bones! The Mysterious and Dark Warrior is hardly one to be taken lightly, and especially not her weapon!"

"Abandoning her journal, it seems Ainsley shall take a page from Lower Burmecia! A pair of right daggers those art, ready to cut and jab! My, my, my, reminds me of home! Can Elza fight using such a massive weapon in such close quarters? Doth the Mysterious Warrior possess other tricks up her cunning sleeves!?"

"Oh, my, and down the Mysterious Warrior of Darkness falls! And not even a good night's drink to claim for it! 'Tis not over just yet, however! Again her great maul rises, and rends the ground asunder! Fires from the Abyss leap forth! What now, oh Scholar!? Can ye truly survive this hellish flame from the wandering Dark Knight!?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The lizard girl hops back, twirling one of the daggers expertly on her palm to hold it underhanded. She doesn't seem to be concerned about the amount of damage she put into her opponent, and due to her proximity, it's not just her own blood that has caked against her armor at that point. Ainsley considers how much faster she's gotten thanks to how often she's been put through the wringer, while she waits for her opponent to stand again.
    She takes note of the wounds. Looks like the regeneration has its limits. She doesn't have long to assess the damage on herself, though, before another burst of flames cooks her before she can completely avoid it! She yelps from the sensation, and her tail snaps once or twice to put out the flames on the tip of her tail, the smoldering feathers fluttering in the breeze as they crack and fly off. She's covered in scorch marks by this point!
    She moves in for another blow, but this time she doesn't do several dagger strikes. She tries to touch her fist against Elza's middle, and release a pulse of electricity point-blank, a spell that can propel lesser beings several feet backward with the deceptively light touch and the following surge of magic. A shockwave of lightning soaks into the ground at her feet afterwards!

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elza blinks as Ainsley surges in under her guard... then her world kind of turns end over end, until she finds a sudden stop and a hard thud against the ground. She slides back from the impulse imparted, gouging out a small furrow in the sand. Her hammer fell at some point, landing heavily in the sand and sticking haft up like some angry gesture at the world.
    Elza doesn't get up, but subtle movements mark that rifle being moved into position. The huge weapon, easily .50caliber, levels with a malevolent glint on the barrel, as the sniper falls into her natural element, sighting down range on an opponent. The bolt racks with a resonant clunk-clack, then the resounding report of that slug being unleashed echos across the desert, a plume of sand kicking up from the bullets passing.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley has a split second to react, following the prone status of her opponent. She doesn't keep her eye off of Elza even for a moment, because she knows that believing her foe is beaten until there is no doubt in her mind is a fool's act. And so she catches the sight of the barrel pointed toward her just in time. The gunshot goes off, and there's a sound of the huge round slicing through her armor with a loud PAFF!!
    But she somehow, by the very skin of her teeth, avoided the round. Not a single of droplet of blood fell, but she did have to rip the sleeve of her leather armor off immediately after. It reveals the reddened burns in her black scales where the fire had licked at her armor, but not a single trace of the bullet touching her flesh. She breathes a shaky sigh after that, and smoothly pointed her fingers toward Elza.
    And then lifted her hand in a violent swipe, fire that had accumulated around the battlefield bursting up in a pillar of flame, trying to catch the prone sniper with this precise spell or catch her in the flow of the fire as it races to the center of the pillar!

Faruja (152) has posed:
"'Tis to be a dish of the desert, oh fair listeners, as Ainsley is fried and sizzled upon the frying pan of the Diablo Desert! Not to mention Elza's flames! Luckily our /dear/ and skilled medical staff shall nay doubt take care of those forthwith, once this great battle is through! Now what shall...ahh, my tea, excellent. Siiiip." The rat pauses a moment, devouring tea, before continuing.

"Ahem! Yes! And in rushes Ainsley, aiming a powerful punch laced with great magic! Right to the gut, that one! Oh, my, Ainsley, hath ye been bar brawling and not told me! Hah hah haaaah!" Laughs the rat, getting into the role.

"Oomph! That looked quite unpleasant! Down goes Elza once again, price paid for her Fell strike! Nor doth she rise! 'Tis to be...oh dear Lord that is one bloody huge firearm! Run, run, run Ainsley! The great Warrior of Darkness is hunting, and she hath thee in her sights!"

"Oh, so close! 'Tis but a grazing blow, and Ainsley once more escapes eath! Flame of her own rises forth, and seeks to devour Elza amidst purifying flame!"

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    A scream. A cry of sheer impossible agony. Elza is engulfed in the flame pillar. Her armour charrs and burns away, flesh begins to singe... but somehow, Elza manages to haul herself, rolling across the sand, out of the flames. Her weapons are melted and useless, her armour almost completely gone, and several nasty burns mar her exposed flesh.

    There's an utterance, as the warrior fails to rise. "I yield. The battle is yours."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley considers Elza's state, following the conclusion of the spell. She blinks once, slowly, and then she carefully sheaths the two daggers back home. She puffs a shaky breath, and touches a few of her wounds, considering the damage, then approaches Elise at a slow pace. She pauses before the woman.

    "Thank you, for showing me your strength," she says, gently, "I look forward to seeing you in the next tournament, if you choose to participate." She does a slightly shaky curtsey motion, and then calls in some medics for the both of them over the radio, now that the battle is over.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"Elza manages to roll from the burning funeral pyre that Ainsley hath offered her! 'Tis official mine friends, Elza, Mysterious Warrior of the Darkness, yields to the Magnificent Scholar Ainsley! Such sportsmanship, such skill, such pure warrior spirit within these two! Everyone! Give both of our contestants today a rousing round of applause for their valor, and honor this day! Ainsley, Elza, I salute ye both, for ye art both worthy indeed!"

A great cheer rises up from the crowd, carrying over the desert and the broadcast alike!