the Rift


Test your mettle

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#1
With a fire in my bones and the sweet taste of kerosene


The lack of a fight on the Riptide Isles left Ampere restless and with many disorganized emotions she needed to sort through. Patrols and flight only did so much, she needed a fight. So it was she woke with the dawn, carefully watching it's track on the horizon as its first golden glow pierced over the heavens and flitted upon the earth. The sands seemed to glow with it.

Nodding in approval Ampere took to her wings, stretching them out and shaking the sleep from her body with sharp twists and turns. Excitedly she unleashed a challenging whistle, summoning anyone who would be up for a spar. She had just enough time to fit one in before patrol, and though she'd take anyone, she hoped to see one of her warriors picking up their duties - especially at this hour. If anyone was smart though, this was the ideal time given the season. Though the heat never fully went away in the Throat during Tallsun, this was one of the coldest periods, and with the comfortable air came a mild breeze. Grinning, Ampere circled the arena.

As the dawn shifted to a more crimson hue, the metal brambles and trees of the arena glinted with an almost deadly allure. In anticipation, Ampere landed among the sands within, wings loose and ready while her legs continued to keep her in motion.

"C'mon then, let's have a little bit of pre-breakfast battle."



Spar int he Dragons' Throat arena, right with dawn during Tallsun. Not too insufferable of heat and mild wind, but very bright rising sun to the east. Open to anyone in the Throat! Normal timeline, companions and magic okay by me.

I would love to do a teaching spar if anyone's up for it :D



A M P E R E
DREAMING OF _R E V E L R Y

bronzehalo.deviantart.com

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Nephele Posts: 82
Dragon's Throat Guardian atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 7.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16.3 :: 7 HP: 64.0 | Buff: NOVICE
Atreus :: Lammergeier :: None Nova
#2
Nephele

The first licks of sunlight had began to lure Neph from her nights rest, blue and gold eyes hazily cracking open to observe the sands coming alive under the suns emergence. She had returned briefly to the Dragon's Throat for respite, before returning to her vigil on the isles, the ritual calm before the storm.

It was the whistle however, that made her ears perk forward and haul herself to her feet. It sounded like a shrill call of a hawk to her ears, beckoning would-be challengers to it's territory. Large wings stretched in an arc above her body, while the muscled frame itself shook loose the final sands of sleep and wayward specs of dust off of her obsidian pelt. For such a call, it was a perfect time she noted, the sun had yet to cast his hottest heat on the never ending dunes and the lady wind cast a pleasant breeze through her fur and mane; her only gripe was the blinding light to the east, surely that would be a hindrance to any waking and making their way about.

Nostrils vibrating from one last snorted breath — feathered limbs already working to carry their master to her destination. Gliding over the arena branches, careful to avoid the metallic trees and their dangerous allure, she landed with more grace than one would expect from such a tall mare, compact with lean muscle and broad neck. Shaking herself one again, she stood tall and cast her unusual eyes towards the smaller mare opposite her, nodding in acknowledgement of her presence. She looked every ounce a proud warrior, in the very motion of her perfect element and no doubt she ranked higher than most outside the arena walls.


"You rang?" A tone of light-hearted mirth lacing her words, it had been a long while since she had sparred on Helovian soil — she could do with the practice and to sweep away the rust that had settled somewhat over her fighting bones. The excitement rippled through her body and responded by bouncing her front hooves in place before giving a wide side step in the direction of the blue birds left.

____________________________________________

ooc; please teach me your ways~
She has no companions or magic as of yet, so this will be somewhat of a vanilla spar I think? Unless you want to make her work under pressure of being zapped.


Image Credit


@Ampere

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.” 

― Terry Pratchett
Please tag Neph in all replies!
Force & violence permitted with the exception of maiming & death

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#3
With a fire in my bones and the sweet taste of kerosene


She recognized the bold mare from the meeting just the other day. It brought a wild grin to her lips. A fight was excitement enough, but one of her ranks doing their job, well that was utterly thrilling! "What's your name warrior?" Ampere asked as she continued to move around the arena. The sand kicked up easily around her hooves, the top layer encouraged to such loose freedom beneath the blazing season of their lord.

Maybe Ampere wasn't good with names, but she was pretty decent at recognizing character. Nephele had the guts to stake a claim in her role, attempting to fulfill her duty and bring honor to the title she bore when others were content to dawdle around with an empty title. Takes more than guts though, Ampere thought as her eyes traced the taller mare and her noticeably battle-ready form. Battle ready, but Ampere wasn't so sure about tested or worn. She certainly had an age to her that all the younger soldiers couldn't boast, but age hardly meant a damn if there was no experience to go hand in hand with it.

Well she said she wanted this, and she seemed built for it - all that was left was to test it.

A smirk slipped into place on Ampere's lips. There was little more that brought her to life than the competition of her own strength against another's. For all the words that whipped around her, all the moments she spent watching the sea and the sand in eternal war, all the ethics she struggled to obtain among this selfish world - it was this that kept her grounded. This was something tangible she could take in her teeth and bite on, channeling all her rage, all her weakness, all her inabilities into something she could physically master (or at least be mastered by). 

Looking anything but, Ampere was the sanest when she fought.

Seconds passed, woven into a moment that fell into place on the timeline of their lives. Ampere breathed out as her hooves sunk into sand, skin taut as it pulled over her warmed and readied muscles. Her head inclined just the slightest bit as she looked closer at Nephele, and then she turned.

It had not been more than a couple minutes since Nephele entered, a couple seconds since Ampere spoke, that she was now turning and charging towards the dark mare. She purposefully waited until her warm-up circle set the rising sun at her back, and then she made her move, ideally forcing Nephele to look into the blinding face of their Sun if she also wished to watch for Ampere's tactic. That's all it was though, tactic.

The blue mare raced towards, then past Nephele, daring to breeze close by the mares body like a taunt. Hit me if you can, because Ampere was fast, and she knew it. Her running wasn't just for show though, it granted her the momentum and speed she needed to get airborne, leaping up and off the metal tines of the arena's borders as she went to give her extra lift. Her wings snapped out from her sides as she threw herself into the air, as always relying on the strong grip of the wind to catch her and hold her up, but it had never failed her yet.

Tilting her tail feathers as Ampere banked left to circle back around, she peered out at Nephele, grin still firmly in place. Opting to forgo her typical tactics of knife throwing and lightning lashing, Ampere decided to really make this test personal, combating flesh against flesh only. She needed the practice too - if her fights with the gods had taught her anything it was that one could not always rely on what the dieties had granted you, sometimes all you had was your mortality - sometimes that was enough. 

(Mostly it wasn't...)

Diving down Ampere aimed to harry Nephele by swooping in just above her head, hooves dropped down to lazily drag across the mare's skull if she wasn't smart enough to move it out of the way. Her wings pumped afterwards, her momentum cut down by the attack and her strength required to keep her aloft instead. Still, she laughed, because this was love.


A: 1/3
D: 0/1
W: 715/800

We can do vanilla :) no companions or magic! Also sorry for my delay D: life at me up but I should get better now <3 I'll starting the teaching next post since there's not much to say about openings as they don't count for judging ;)



A M P E R E
DREAMING OF _R E V E L R Y

bronzehalo.deviantart.com


@Nephele

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Nephele Posts: 82
Dragon's Throat Guardian atk: 4.5 | def: 8.5 | dam: 7.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16.3 :: 7 HP: 64.0 | Buff: NOVICE
Atreus :: Lammergeier :: None Nova
#4
Nephele the Everburning

everything I touch turns to ash


To finally find home, it was only natural for the warrior to want to defend and do her duty. She had gone from wanderer on the winds to a woman with purpose, it was only right that she gave her all to the herd that opened their wings so warmly to her.

"Nephele." She responded, "but most call me Neph." Her name had often been mispronounced, and so usually she gave her shortened name first, but Ampere deserved to know her name. Know the name of the Warrior that wanted to prove herself able and ready to take the next step.
She moved light on her feet, never letting her hooves rest for more than a fleeting moment in the golden expanse beneath her while the sun warmed her ebony pelt — wings momentarily released from her sides to let the suns rays work on them as well. She knew she was not as fast as the smaller, blue marked mare she had challenged, it didn't take the wisest horse to figure that out. Her best bet was her mountainous bulk paired with well timed strikes and presented opportunity.

Odd eyes followed Ampere until she was on the cusp of the sunlight, but she didn't follow any further. To blind herself so early on was foolish, and could cost her greatly, she tore her eyes away and prepared instead. Chin pressing against her neck as her body squared for whatever the blue mare would throw at her, she could take a hit, for the sake of not stumbling around blinking sun spots. She hadn't particularly spared a thought to the fact Ampere could be bluffing.

She charged past her without so much as ruffling a feather on her wings, and Nephele's teeth followed with a snap aimed at her back, or rump — whatever she could possibly reach in retaliation to being played with. A challengers fire erupted in her chest and she turned to follow the blue maiden, taking powerful strides to try and catch up with Ampere. It was futile, as she only ended up sliding across the sands in a sharp rear when she escaped her grasp.

An exasperated snort escaped her velvet muzzle, the heat of tarnished pride rose in her face and her eyes snapped to follow the thunder mare. If she had to remain calm, collected and not to let the tactic rile her up. She needed to get into the air, and fast. If she stayed on the ground she'd be a sitting duck. Her eyes met Ampere's, and the fizzling humiliation and annoyance shifted and changed when she spotted the grin on her lips and her own smirk began to play, this was suppose to be a test. There was no humiliation at play here, no wounding of prides, no cheap shots.

Great, blackened and tarnished gold sails extended out from her sides as she threw herself into a headlong gallop, their great wingspan casting great shadows across the heated sand. She would get into the air, and she would show Ampere that she too, had a thing or two hidden beneath her feathers. Nephele had no gifts from the Gods to weild like a great titan upon a mountain, and no weapons that would unfurl from her feathers to strike true. She had nothing but her teeth and her hooves, and her great mass.


Her wings beat in broad strokes, easing her further and further off the ground with each passing second, a shadow descended in the final moments and she looked up. The hard cast of hooves aimed towards her head caused her to veer, throwing her head to the side and allowing her neck to take the brunt of it — banking left with the sudden momentum. They scraped cruelly against her flesh and a pained grunt escaped the pegasus' blackened lips. It rumbled deep in her chest as the pain pricked at her senses. Already, she felt the blood pool at the wound and seep over — matting her fur and tangling into her long locks. Staining the warpaint she had so tirelessly worked to gain.


She bit deep into her own grit and finally pulled herself up and away from the arena floor and into the sky, gaining back the lost momentum from avoiding a swift kick in the skull. Putting herself to the sun, her wings held her firm as she focused back on the task at hand, watching like a hawk for the right moment and then she dove. Using the sun as her shield just like Ampere had, her head extended and teeth bared in the descent towards the mare's back. Only at the last moment did her wings outstretch to catch her as teeth and back hooves aimed for neck and back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A: 1/3
D: 0/1
WC: 799/800

Nephele veers sharply to avoid taking Ampere's hooves to the head and instead her neck takes the brunt of it, leaving a deep cut. She then ascends into the sky and uses the sun to shield her from Ampere's vision and then dive for her back, aiming to strike with her hooves at her rump & teeth at her neck.
I apologize in advance if this is a huge mess, first time ever doing something like this ><


Image Credit



@Ampere

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.” 

― Terry Pratchett
Please tag Neph in all replies!
Force & violence permitted with the exception of maiming & death

Ampere The Mother of Companions Posts: 719
Dragon's Throat Sultana atk: 9 | def: 11 | dam: 4.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14 hh :: 6 years HP: 73 | Buff: DANCE
Kygo :: Green Cheek Conure :: None Blu
#5
With a fire in my bones and the sweet taste of kerosene

Guts, Ampere decided, the mare definitely had. Intelligence however, she wasn't so sure of. Nephele simply stood there as Ampere charged directly at her. She practically closed her eyes to avoid seeing anything, and hadn't the nerve to even move. Stillness could be death on a battlefield, something Ampere ought to tell Maren next time the diviner ushered her to meditate, and Ampere had half a mind to tell Nephele now with a swift kick to her standing legs. Ampere's path was already set though, and when that thought crossed her mind she was already too far, her speed and Nephele's sun-blocked sight granting Ampere freedom from those nipping teeth the warrior set after her.

Guts, Ampere grunted as she drew aloft, to chase an ass with a mouth after standing stock still. Or maybe, Ampere's thoughts wondered as she banked, she figures she's that much stronger? There was no denying the obvious height difference between them, and though Ampere utilized her short stature to her advantage with her speed and lower center of gravity, she also knew she would never be able to match the raw power of some of the larger horses. Maybe she could duck around most of their attacks, but one good one would set her back - was that Nephele's strategy, or was Ampere giving the untrained fighter too much credit?

Such thoughts caused Ampere to add perhaps more punch than was necessary in her desire to prove her prowess, because though she succeeded in dealing a heavy blow, the extra force burned up her reserves of momentum. In the air one required strength to stay aloft, or something to push off of to gain initial speed, especially so low to the ground where wind thermals couldn't support you. Ampere didn't have the strength, and instead of bouncing off Nephele she had purposefully shoved all her might into the mare. So it was the Gladiator practiced guided falling, her short stature and determination the only thing keeping her from dropping into the sand.

Sweat broke out in visible beads along her coat as she strained, grunting at the taxing work of fighting gravity. The edge of the arena came in close and quick. Ampere could do little else but jerk her head up. Her body collided with a metallic thwang into the iron brambles. The force of the impact winded her and a soreness stretched taut along her chest and her underside where bruises were quickly forming; blood bursting beneath the black skin, making it sensitive and swollen. Gasping for ragged breaths Ampere sat for a moment, stunned, before disentangling herself from the stupid thing she had decided was a great idea. Movement revealed additional injuries of bloodied cuts against her girth and neck, but though they looked worse they were more superficial than the extensive contusion across her chest, the exact area she depended on for flying. It would slow her considerably. She wrestled herself a perch on the fence line, already preparing to return to the skies, well aware she'd wasted too much time dawdling with her foolishness.

I let her get the better of me and all she had to do was stand there, Ampere's thoughts were scathing as she shot off the arena with her ass and a heave of her wings - that a few feathers were left behind in the metal went unnoticed beneath the ache that thumped in her breast with each wing stroke. The added momentum from the shove was all that enabled her to twist out of Nephele's way, alerted to the impending assault only by the shadow that fell before the mare. Startled, because Ampere hadn't seen her with the backdrop of sun (and had been a bit too preoccupied to pay attention otherwise), she instinctively tilted to safety, but not without wincing at the expense on her body. She couldn't afford another heavy injury, but she could avoid them hurt as she already was? Here's where her lightning or her knives would serve her well, but she was more determined than ever to rely upon herself. Her tools had made her soft, it seemed.

Gritting her teeth Ampere surged after Nephele, hoping to follow in the wake of the mare's attack while she would fumble for her own return of momentum. The task of turning to follow her burned time, but that's where Ampere's size helped. Blue eyes flashed challengingly as her teeth chased Nephele, seeking anything she could reach. Jerking back quickly to keep her face safe, Ampere's wings strained to lift her; needing something to help her climb Ampere kicked her back feet forward. She attempted to press them on Nephele's body, perhaps her rump was closest, and force the mare down to push herself up.



W: 799/800
A: 2/3
D: 0/1


A M P E R E
DREAMING OF _R E V E L R Y

bronzehalo.deviantart.com


You're off to a really great start! You had some great tactics, like utilizing the sun which is good way to incorporate the terrain and make the scene feel more real - too often fighters never describe, much less use, the settings and so it just seems like they're fighting in this void of nothing, but scenery plays a huge role on how certain attacks succeed or fail. You also gave some mention tot heir stat differences which is very helpful too :D the judges do count a difference between a mention and a use though, so just saying "Nephele is stronger than Ampere" is a mention, but saying "Nephele is stronger than Ampere, which is why she chose to wait until the mare was close enough to kick out" is a use, because you're saying their stat difference is this, but it helps/hinders because of this.

For your attacks, it was very uncharacteristic for a horse, much less a fighter, to just stand there as they knew their opponent was running right at them. You knew that Ampere didn't have an attack coming there, but Nephele couldn't have known, and just instinct alone should have made her want to protect herself in some way, whether by moving away or retaliating defensively, but instead you just stood there (unable to see no less!). Now realism is a funny thing here because so much of what our horses do is already unrealistic, but there's certain natural laws we always want to take into consideration - like the instinct of any living thing to try and avoid pain and preserve its life. What you can do to help justify what would normally be unrealistic, is to explain why it's realistic, because each character is different. Maybe if Nephele was setting up her own trap for Ampere would explain why she stood still, or maybe if she said she really doubted Ampere could do much damage it'd make emotional sense why Nephele stood still, unfazed by the direct charge, but as it was you just said she stood there and was herself shocked to not be attacked, so this just read as unlikely to me. I did however like how that realization seemed to anger Nephele and drew a wounded sort of pride from her which was a great way to display emotion. I always try to figure out how my character feels about a certain attack/defense/strategy and then why they feel that way. So seeing Nephele grow from confused, to angry/hurt, to then realizing this was a test when she saw Ampere's smile was really really good!

You also do a great job of explaining everything Nephele does. Sometimes in a fight it's so easy for you to visualize what your character is doing that you assume it's easy for everyone else too, but it's important to take the time to expand on what you're doing because that's what helps make it realistic. So when you explained in several sentences Nephele getting airborne, and how she had to run and struggle to do it, I really liked that.

You had a good defense as well, avoiding the sensitive area of Nephele's head and instead taking it to her well muscled neck, which is within close proximity so a reasonable place to redirect the damage. When taking injuries it's always best to avoid injuring critical areas like your face, your joints, your senses etc. because any injure you take you really need to remember and have it affect your character the whole fight, so when you get injured somewhere very valuable, that realistically limits your character's options for future attacks/evasions. Of course, you can't just redirect damage to somewhere safe if it doesn't make sense, but usually you can figure out a way to describe how the aim switched to somewhere more forgiving, because with fights even a slight change in your body can alter aim.
On the topic of injury though, you could do with explaining it a bit more, especially on how it will affect Nephele. you had her take Ampere's kick to her neck, which was good, but you don't really describe bruising or muscle stiffness, you just say it hurts and it bleeds, but hooves are not really sharp, they're mostly blunt bashing instruments that cause deeper tissue damage like bruising or bone problems (not advised to fracture or break bones, just saying hooves can). If they did manage to snag and tear skin, it would be very very minimal - teeth could do a bit more bloody damage, but are also rather blunt and not ripping like predatory animal's nails and teeth. So I didn't really find that injury realistic for the attack that Nephele took. I assume because I rolled a 5 damage you were trying to up the gore to fit that damage, but remember you can dole out damage from more than one source, so you could have just said Ampere's kick strained and bruised Nephele's neck, but her quick evasion also pulled a muscle elsewhere etc. Taking multiple bruises can be just as justifiable for a 5 as one bloody spot, especially if that bloody spot isn't realistic.

Again though you have already a great eye for tying in those extra details that make the fight more real, like surrounding and stat differences. your writing was very good, just a few typos or lacking command and such that I saw that I always struggle with too, even when I proof read @.@ You have a good eye for attacks, defenses, and injury, just consider more closely what would actually be realistic - sometimes studying real horses fighting can help with that! keep at it though you'll be a kick ass fighter in no time :D

p.s. sorry I talk a lot when I teach.

Tag me only if starting a new thread.
Magic or force permitted any time, aside from death.

Blu the Bootyful Posts: 443
Administrator atk: 99 | def: 99 | dam: 99
Mare :: Other :: 5'7" :: 25 HP: 99999 | Buff: TWERK
Blu
#6
Nephele defaults to Ampere. Ampere earns 0.5 VP + 1 EXP teaching bonus.
 HP: 1100

Helovia Hard Mode


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