the Rift


closer to the prize at the end of the rope

Erebos Posts: 474
Aurora Basin General atk: 7.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.1hh :: Four HP: 75.5 | Buff: DANCE
Orsino :: Plain Kitsune :: Dark Illusions & Enyo :: Common Griffon :: Draining Clutch Heather
#1
EREBOS
They blended seamlessly into the artificial evening, a perfected cacophony of demonic, infidel intrigue and nefarious exploits – because they were bored, because they were restless, because something plagued at them, gnarled, combing through their veins in matched, Machiavellian savagery. The pair, foxy, cunning and incensed, preyed and skulked, slithered and wandered, purely for the sake of hunting, glancing amidst the thick columns of bloody leaves and beckoning pools, enticed by everything all at once. One wanted to delve into the murky waters and claim the treasure rumored to reside in its ghostly, horrifying wake, and the other wanted to simply loom, a large, powerful force on the brink of sinister incantations and gallant interludes, and when neither agreed, they merely remained, fastened together in the sinister silence.
 
Then there was more, stored and lodged in the boy’s brain, sparking off a roll of confidence and intention – for power lurked in the great, grand halls, where gods had screamed and fallen, where dragons were supposed to have crashed, landed, decayed and burned, where the earth made everyone mortal. Would he be able to conquer something, someone, an unknown entity, if he challenged it’s sanctity? If he grasped and held the opportunity, the chance, to stoke the flames of his avariciousness, of his need, of his thirst, to triumph over the rest of the earth? Would they remember his name when he relished victory in the heart of the bleeding mountains? Or would he be one more claimed by its savage whims, where everyone was exploited, where every soul became a beast, christened and crowned in ichor?
 
He’d never know until he tried.
 
A challenging invitation split from his lips, and he listened to Orsino chuckle through it, as if his leering eyes had become the warrior’s too, and they burned together, too greedy, too allured, too beguiled by the stretches, by the reaches, of treacheries and deceptions. “Is there anyone out there willing to spar?” He asked the clustered twilight, with its crimson branches and brambles, with its haunting avenues, with its eldritch capriciousness simmering on his bellows. Someone would come. They always did. There would always be another like him, waiting in the wings, yearning for the rapture, the reverie, of violence and disaster.
 
He’d wait for them, with his companion blended into the background, with his undulating muscles poised, ready, and eager for the fervency, for the frenzy, of bloodshed and devastation. 

[0/3. 403 words. Training spar with Ru.
Setting: Blood Falls; artificial evening. Early Orangemoon, so relatively cool. Erebos is standing in a clearing, somewhat close to the pool.
You may have first move!]

Image Credit


@Ru

Teaching Notes:
 
Yikes! Sorry this took so long!
 
To Think About: Since the spar hasn’t actually started yet, I can only give you bits and pieces of advice.
 
* Surroundings: Really incorporate the scenery into your character’s movements and thoughts. How is this artificial light going to hinder or help her? Can she see Erebos well? How will this impact her as she goes along?
* Build: Mull over how your character’s figure may impact the upcoming fight – is she bigger? Is she slower? Is she faster? Check the stats out for both of them. ;D This will help you later when determining attacks.
* First Attack: How are you going to go about it? Think of proper mechanics, including what’s feasible, and directions please, I beg of you.
* Emotions: What does Ru think of when she spars? Why does she want to?
 
Good luck! Thank you for doing this with me, and I apologize again for the wait!

Ru Posts: 130
World's Edge Captain atk: 7.0 | def: 9.5 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16.1h :: 3 [Tallsun] HP: 60.5 | Buff: Novice
Mar
#2
If you’re listening, I’m alright.

I’m okay.


It was hard to break the silence first. In that head space, casting out the line between the living and the dead, surreal without a voice trailing behind it. Perchance the dead could read the living’s thoughts, the emotions they barred from awakening past a cold and calculated mask. Mother was there, somewhere, whether in blood or in spirit, but as Ru gazed further into the sky – hopeful for a returning answer – the lull of wind pressed back in response, eager to toss against the hum of living flesh. Careless, uninvited; reminding the girl that the world continued to carry on regardless. What was she expecting?

Uncertain if her thoughts made the ache any less noticeable, the youth managed to cradle it carefully within – tucking it close and deep into those forbidden recesses of one’s soul. Not entirely forgotten, forever thriving with its unforgiving light. And on she went with a start to her legs, unfurling those wings, and sprinting forwards into the sky. Ru could feel her eyes fill with tears, but with a heavy roar from her lungs – she fought against it as she spear headed into the air.

Fire lit her insides, embers cracked at her heels. The pools of her eyes hardened, attempting to restrict the pieces of her that wanted to give up – just once, just this time, and crumple up – let go. Without any true coarse to her abrupt departure from the earth, she huffed vehemently through those nostrils. Never. She swallowed the fire inside of her, brewing, its metaphorical pain made her body shudder against the restless, cool wind.

The inferno was raging as a voice captured the girl’s attention. It followed an initial call, weak, from where she hovered far from the ground. The evening sun dwindled in this odd and darkened part of Helovia. The trees below absorbed whatever light dined to reach their surfaces, swallowed whole into the blackness down below. She snorted incredulously, casting out her breath in disbelief. Would it be wise to submit to the forest again? To the darkness, and the oppressive cage awaiting down below? Ru recalls her last spar, among similar conditions, and the thought sends her skin recoiling with contempt.

She doesn’t want to, initially. She can feel her previous wounds – healed – ache in remembrance. Though, it only takes a moment for the thoughts to cast their way into her soul. Adding fuel to the restless, wild throes of an angry child with the knife held firmly in her hands. She wants to do well; she wants to be stronger than her demons. Ru realizes there is no room for fear to enter her heart. And just before she dives down into the small clearing, red waters glistening down below, she answers with a harsh, wild cry from creaking jowls. Riding along the wind, shaking her throat – driving away all hesitancy from her being.

Young and foolish, her wings hug close to her body as she plummets. Making out the form, barely recognizable by the dark shades of his coat, and exhales as she punches her wings out to maneuver the tight space. Her entry is one that comes across the crimson pools, her target on the other side of the pool.

Ru’s eyes just make out the nasty thing poking out his head, just as she aims to crash into his side. Instinctively she pulls her limbs up, should that pointed edge aim for the more tender areas beneath her belly. It all happens so very quickly, and the lack of light enjoys the play on the eyes. For now she can’t make out how slender he truly is amongst the shadow, just how tall by the slight glimmer of red that bounces of their shoulders, or the reflection of ruby that brightens their horn. Leering in the midst of that soul-devouring forest.

Another demon for the pickings – it would appear.

Let the hunting begin!

[word count: 660]
[1/3]


Image Credits

@Erebos    yay, thanks for this Heather! Also, I'm so slow so don't worry about. XP

summary: hears the call and answers with a cry of her own. Swoops down and aims to hit him during her landing from across the pool.
Please Tag
Permision to use any violence/harm; nothing that would cause immediate death

Erebos Posts: 474
Aurora Basin General atk: 7.5 | def: 11.5 | dam: 6.5
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16.1hh :: Four HP: 75.5 | Buff: DANCE
Orsino :: Plain Kitsune :: Dark Illusions & Enyo :: Common Griffon :: Draining Clutch Heather
#3
EREBOS
The prince was used to the unknown. He savored it, he relished it, and he stalked it with an impatient air – always intending to savor it before he swallowed and consumed the next tender enigma. He thrived on danger and mysteries, when the knives plunged and rattled, when shields were thrown and primordial assaults became the most menacing of blows. The little beast had survived on pieces of treachery and deceit, on analyzing and pretenses, and believed this moment, this excursion, would just be one more blink into the other unfamiliar threads of Helovia.
 
He didn’t have long to wait. The bloody shadows offered him a gift with a response – an unrelenting, vicious wave of a battle cry – and he had to wonder if he’d made a mistake, if he’d summoned one more monster from the hellish region and it’d be too much this time (again, his mind warped and whispered). Perhaps it was a God who would not fall. Perhaps it was a cretin far too large, far too powerful, far too much more than himself, and he’d be forced to realize his weaknesses, his frailties, once more.
 
But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.
 
He shuddered and shivered in the autumn air, part apprehension, part ferocity. The notions and sentiments mingled through his veins until they were a scorching contortion of flesh and heartlessness, determined not to care about who or what answered his call. They were both here for a purpose: to grow stronger, mightier, better than anyone else. He’d share his munitions just as they proffered theirs.
 
The warrior’s eyes narrowed, speculating, trying to examine what was coming for him through the murky darkness. The scenery and surroundings made it too difficult to tell, but he presumed, rather dimly, that it would be a feral thing riding across the fields and pools, barbaric and bestial, ready to cut him open and flay his insides. He hadn’t expected it to arrive on the wind or through the skies.
 
Thankfully, Orsino, curled amidst fronds and ferns, had spotted the plummeting creature before it torpedoed into Erebos. Pegasus! Pegasus! Move, fool! he uttered and hissed through their bond, trying to cause the youth to act, to maneuver away from the incoming assailment.
 
The soldier had fought them before – down in the labyrinth’s regions, where they’d been lost and soulless, asking for fights in a continuing, ridiculous pattern of might and brutality. Erebos had always admired the species for their ability to fly into the heavens, to escape the earth, to wander and wander from cliff to cliff, from sea to sea. One, a mare, had been too kind, too compassionate, but brave. He expected no less from this infidel, even if he intended to unleash savagery and strikes upon their entity.
 
But their assaults came first.
 
He lifted his eyes to the false stars and fabricated evening, and attempted to grind into the earth, fast, swift, and agile, to avoid the keen force careening his way. The scion twisted to the right, scraping against loam and soil, but it wasn’t enough. Moments later, the beast hurtled into the left side of his crest, and in between the flashes of pain and the mutinous, unrelenting aches driving into his bones, all he saw were wings and feathers.
 
The boy nearly groaned aloud, and struggled to hold in the reeling torment, grasping, gasping for air and sanctity. But there was no sanctuary, no balms, no remedies to be found for a poorly timed defense, and so carefully, hastily, he tried to overcome the gnawing, biting misery toiling along his neck. He twisted back to the left (and it felt like forever), and as the remaining portion of her wingspan appeared to glide over, he drew his skull upwards, attempting to rip apart plumes or flesh from the flier’s right side. No advantages, his skull boomed with sinister, seditious thoughts.
 
Orsino didn’t say anything at all. 

[1/3. 654 words.
* As Ru comes careening towards him, Orsino gives Erebos a warning. He tries to swerve around to the right, but she still manages to knock a massive bruise into his the left side of his crest.
* Despite his pain, Erebos tries to twist back to the left, drawing his skull upwards in hopes of catching some of her wings or flesh with his horn as the right side of her glides over.]

Image Credit



Teaching Notes:
 
What Went Well:
 
* Emotions: First of all, your writing is lovely. It has enough poise, prose, and details to cover what Ru is feeling prior to the fight, including her motivations. I really liked this part: Fire lit her insides, embers cracked at her heels. The pools of her eyes hardened, attempting to restrict the pieces of her that wanted to give up – just once, just this time, and crumple up – let go. Without any true coarse to her abrupt departure from the earth, she huffed vehemently through those nostrils. Never. She swallowed the fire inside of her, brewing, its metaphorical pain made her body shudder against the restless, cool wind. because we know she’s a girl who isn’t going to give up. She’s going to try her hardest to overcome whatever is pulling her down, and that’s always an admirable trait. Keep utilizing these thoughts and feelings throughout the spar!
 
* Surroundings: I thought you did well with bringing the difficult portions of the scenery into your post. It’s hard to see, and its difficult to discern/make out her opponent. This portion: The trees below absorbed whatever light dined to reach their surfaces, swallowed whole into the blackness down below. She snorted incredulously, casting out her breath in disbelief. Would it be wise to submit to the forest again? To the darkness, and the oppressive cage awaiting down below? Ru recalls her last spar, among similar conditions, and the thought sends her skin recoiling with contempt. was a clever way to impart her notions on the matter, and what she’s seen in the past.
 
To Work On:
 
* Attacks/Directions: The attack itself was good. I liked the torpedo assault, with her trying to dive-bomb him, but I never got a clear direction. I’m a huge proponent on giving directions in spars, because then the other writer has the chance to envision where your character is in space, and respond accordingly. Its not powerplaying or godmoding, especially since you will always include attempting or trying to ensure the other roleplayer has an option, but its giving a much clearer picture of the action going on around you.
 
For instance, in this sentence: Ru’s eyes just make out the nasty thing poking out his head, just as she aims to crash into his side. you could have easily included either right or left, and I would’ve known exactly where you intended to put her. It could’ve become: Ru’s eyes just make out the nasty thing poking out his head, just as she aims to crash into his right/left side.
 
Because you didn’t include a direction, it meant I had to decide for both of us. I also didn’t know where she was after launching into Erebos, so I had to opt for trying to attack her while she was still in flight (rendering my timing kinda funky :P).
 
To Think About:
 
* Build: Now that they’re closer together, and likely able to discern one another better despite the darkness, you can focus on the characteristics of your opponent. Take a look at their corresponding stats and line up who is faster, who can endure more, who appears to be more powerful. This can help when you’re deciding on attacks, defenses, and responding to pain/attacks made by Erebos.
 
* Pain/Damage: Damage is always an interesting challenge, depending on the outcome of the roll. If you do end up receiving any, you do not have to take damage simply from your opponent’s attack. You can be creative. Ru could stumble on landing. She could trip over a rock. She could scrape herself on a tree, etc.
 
Overall, I thought this was a fabulous way to start the spar! Keep up the good work and I’m still sorry I take fifty years.

@Ru

Blu the Bootyful Posts: 443
Administrator atk: 99 | def: 99 | dam: 99
Mare :: Other :: 5'7" :: 25 HP: 99999 | Buff: TWERK
Blu
#4
Ru has exceeded the time limit and defaults to Erebos. Erebos earns 0.5 VP + 1 EXP for 1 teaching post
 HP: 1100

Helovia Hard Mode


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