Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lord_Gareth 04-21-07, 09:24 PM	Welcome to the third ever Sorcen's Baator Battle Event. Some of you may well be saying, "Wait, I've never heard of these." This is because I coined the term only recently. The first Event was the Battle Against Caben Duur. The second is the Tournament. This is a one-shot battle between Diedre Shadowsoul, the former Darklord of the Ravenloft domain of Levulia (which I invented) and Lyra Argent, an escapee from the universe on the other side of every mirror. We openly invite and encourage people to watch and place bets on this battle. You have 24 hours from this post before the actual battle starts up. Make sure you place all your bets before then and get some characters to watch, because this is going to be a fight to remember. Enjoy. Diedre picks herself up, brushing the dirt off of her chain mail as she looked over at Lyra. Her expression is scrutinizing, not grateful, predatory, not compassionate. When she speaks, her voice is the low, dangerous tone of someone with nothing to lose, not the awed, hushed tones of freedom she had so recently spoken. "I am grateful for the hand you had in my escape from that hell. But I'm afraid I cannot allow you to live." The woman's slim, chain-covered hand comes up, palm facing upward at her shoulder level. With a look of idle boredom, power gathers around the woman, and then siphons away as countless mirrors, millions of mirrors, appear and lay themselves down, interlocking until they cover the entire floor of the Arena, and then stacking themselves into walls, floors, buildings and mazes, forming an entire spiraling city out of reflective glass, reflections reflecting themselves and reflecting yet again until the audience is unable to differentiate between the image and the reality as the structures continue to climb into the hellish sky. Deidre simply looks at Lyra idly, confident, assured, taunting with nothing more than her gaze.
LostMage 04-21-07, 09:37 PM	Nice intro, Gareth. And now for a word from our sponsers: "If'n yer lookin' teh place a bet on this match, come ta the Betting Winder at the Baator... this promises to be a show, so when it starts, I'm closin' the window ter watch, so hurry and bet!" Lyra extends a slim hand, palm up at the same time as Diedre. Then, struggling, she forces it back to her side. She surveys Diedre imperially: "I'm afriad, Diedre, that I've no intention of dying, now that I'm almost free of the Emporer's Curse. Do you know what's behind the mirrors that you conjure?"
Gideon_Gideonson 04-22-07, 03:55 AM	--Cut for now--
LostMage 04-22-07, 01:56 PM	Well, since the post this is a reply to no longer has any text, also cut.
Gideon_Gideonson 04-22-07, 03:02 PM	--Cut for now--
Lord_Gareth 04-22-07, 03:16 PM	I said give them 24 hours, damn it! Wait, people, wait!
Lord_Gareth 04-22-07, 09:25 PM	"Do I know what is behind those mirrors? You DARE to ask me that question? I've spent the last four centuries behind these mirrors, trapped in my own personal hell. The last four centuries filled with misery and anger and hate, railing at the bars of my jail without hope or even satisfaction, and you DARE ask me if I know what's on the other side of these mirrors?" Her tone drops from indignant to dangerously calm, a kind of perfect control that is chilling to hear as her eyes darken to a steely gray. "I will enjoy your death." Slowly, almost lazily, the woman raises her arms at her sides until her fingers lightly brush the outsides of the two mirror buildings nearest her. Lyra can feel the surge of dark energy crash into the mirror and penetrate beyond, through the gate, into the realm she had so recently escaped from. The mirrors shatter, and the two buildings groan as their insane architecture leans wildly. Diedre begins walking slowly, lazily, towards her opponent, mirrors shattering under her feet and at the lightest brush of her hands, fragments not hitting the ground but rather raising into the air, spiralling about her in an ever-growing column of reflective shards and powdered glass as the tinkling crashes of glass continue. The space between the two of them seems to enlongate the longer Diedre walks, and it soon becomes apparant why - Lyra is being pushed back subtly, the mirrors sliding under her to allow the display to continue. As the cyclone of whirling glass becomes nearly opaque, shapes begin to take form within it. Diedre and Lyra both stop moving as the spiralling glass finally coalesces into three hulking creatures of reflective glass. Mirror golems. More shards of glass are still forming behind Diedre, but her slim, taunting smile says that she isn't going to wait. Her hands fall back to her sides, the left one resting easily on her longsword hilt, as she gives a slight nod of her head. Tinkling and crashing as they crack mirrors under their feet, the golems rush forward, bodies of jagged, reflective glass bearing down on Lyra.
LostMage 04-22-07, 09:34 PM	Lyra closes her eyes as Diedre prepares her onslaught. As if entranced, she, too, raises her arms, gently placing a hand on one of the empty mirrors, and soon, it's form shifts, not shattering, but sculpting itself into the shape of a giant, sleek humanoid. It steps infront of Lyra, bending it's smooth knees into a ready position, checking the first of the mirror golems, glass fracturing and cracking. With a mighty shove, the creature pushes back the opposing golem back towards it's fellows. "Clearly, you're no history student. I've been trapped behind the mirrors for aeons. There is more there than you could ever know. Do not speak of torment beyond the mirror: my people have had ages of it."
Lord_Gareth 04-22-07, 09:42 PM	I find it highly appropriate that this song is playing while I type this - Just Like You (http://youtube.com/watch?v=FE3pD6V4krg&playnext=1) The first golem grinds its feet into the ground, glass shards groaning as they fuse together from pressure and the continuing magic of their construction. The other two move as if to barrel around it, only to place their hands on its back and shove forward mightily, combining their strength to shove Lyra's creation back. Diedre's eyes flash with anger and what is left of the cyclone, still clawing its way impressively into the air as more and more of the buildings crash into each other and send shards spraying into it, stops, hanging in the air in perfect stillness. "Your people," she says cruelly, "Are nothing. I cannot possibly make you comprehend what has been done to me, so I will step up my intent and make you feel it out of your flesh. Scream for me, nice and loud." From perfect stillness, the shards and powdered glass fly straight at Lyra, bullet-fast as they slash through the air. Those that miss whirl about to give another pass until a whirlwind of glass is shredding the area around Diedre's opponent. And behind the woman, the other construct is still forming, already towering above the remains of some of the buildings and still growing.
LostMage 04-22-07, 09:51 PM	But Lyra is not to be found in the maelstorm of glass. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to go in and out of mirrors here, miss." Lyra's voice comes from a mirror next to Diedre, for within it, Lyra stands next to the reflected woman. The mirror bursts outward, flinging razors of broken glass and silver at Diedre, a small-scale mockery of the cyclone set for Lyra. "Nothing? Wait until your reflection is freed. You do not carry the shape of a stranger, do you?" Ooh, theme music. I can't listen to it now, unfortunatly, but I'll need to make a point of reading this over again with that in the backround.
Lord_Gareth 04-22-07, 09:58 PM	Well, see also Diedre's personal theme song, Animal I Have Become (http://youtube.com/watch?v=bGFXKYvH39I) As the shards of glass go flying towards Diedre, she raises her hand calmly. In the air, they halt, then spin slowly in place until they face Lyra. "Yes, I do. Do you know how much control I have here? Your parlor tricks and cheap imitations won't stop me. I've been looking in the mirror too long to let a copy beat me." The maelstrom halts, and each individual shard ripples like liquid before enlongating, each individual fragment extending farther, wider, than it has matter, until innumerable mirrored swords float in the air. They float to Diedre's side in a tight tower and then lay themselves horizontally as they begin to orbit her in unison, faster and faster, moving slowly outward and picking up speed. And behind her, the construct continues to build itself, untouched by the slashing blades. "If you want to wound me, you will have to come and claim me, girl."
LostMage 04-22-07, 10:04 PM	Lyra holds out a hand, and one of the mirror-blades leaps into her palm. "Then I'm sure you know that your reflection can do anything that you can." Lyra flicks her blade up to deflect the first sword to come within reach. "Your reflexes are good," she parries another sword, "But remember this: when I break the Curse, I will be no mere reflection." She ducks the next blade, and thrusts at Diedre with uncanny speed...
Lord_Gareth 04-23-07, 03:34 PM	Diedre doesn't even move as the thrust comes at her, her expression one of utter unconcern. Of total control. Three blades call themselves out of the pattern to the defense of their mistress, parrying the thrust and locking the blade in place. The mirror-mistress's right hand lazily bestows the gentlest of touches on Lyra's blade, and the mirror-blade shatters. The others follow suit, the shards coming together as more mirrors conjure themselves, reforming the city around them as Diedre regards her opponent boredly. "I grow tired of your mimicry. I've already noticed that you cast no reflection of your own. Maybe it's time I gave you a mirror to look into." Like a viper, her right hand lashes out, barely brushing Lyra's cheek with one finger. Lyra's mind suddenly fills with an image - a mirror, one that she is standing in front of. As she watches, a reflection begins to form in it. Lyra's own. The image, without warning or hesitation, leaps out of the mirror, seeking to destroy its double. Back in Ravenloft, you didn't get a save against this. Outside of it, the power is weaker - if Lyra can kill her mental double, her mind remains intact. If not, another personality forms, and she becomes like Diedre in that they change control once a month. She'll know it's always there, waiting to get out, waiting to consume her mind in any way it can. It. Hates. Her.
LostMage 04-23-07, 07:02 PM	"Impossible!" she gasps, as the twin pins her to the misty ground of her mind. It places a hand on Lyra, squeezing slowly and firmly..."No. I won't allow myself... to be slave... to another double!" she wheezes, and without warning, slams her small fist into her foe's cheek. It loosens it's grip in surprise, enough time for Lyra to push it into the mirror from whence it came... For a few seconds, Lyra stands transfixed, eyes unfocussed. She sways unsteadily, strikes at the air, and it would appear that it struck back at her: a bruise blossoms on her cheek, indentical to that of her mental reflection. She gasps suddenly as her eyes snap back into focus, and she looks at Diedre. Her eyes narrow as she rubs the side of her face "I understand the pain of a reflection: why don't I share it with one of yours?" Lyra leans on one of the mirrors, and, glass rippling like water, Diedre's reflection steps out to meet her...
Lord_Gareth 04-23-07, 09:26 PM	I'm going to assume that's as a Mirror of Opposition, because Diedre already HAS a split personality. Both double and original regard each other coldly, calculatingly. As one, their right hands come up, conjuring a ring of spinning mirror around Lyra. "To insure you don't interfere," they say in unison. As they regard each other, more mirrors conjure out of thin air, shadowing each other's movements exactly. There is a tense air between the two of them as the cold stares continue boring into each other's eyes, the air of two people who believe themselves to be in total control of their environment. The tension grows, until the atmosphere seems about to snap, to plunge itself into chaos and anarchy. And it does. All at once, the mirrors lash out at each other, glass extending and warping as they reach for their targets and intercept each other in a crash of shattering glass. The two Diedre's begin moving towards each other, unbelieveably fast, longswords clearing sheaths in a split second to crash into each other. Their right hands, free of swords, reach to their belts to pull daggers. The two leap back, circling each other warily before meeting again in a crash of steel and hate, each one mirroring the other's movements. They know each other, know the perfect counter to their moves and to the counters, and as the fight continues, it becomes hard to determine which is the reflection and which the original. Eventually, all pretense of self-defense is given up, both fighters attacking in a surge of fury. But even as the wounds are inflicted, they heal, the cuts doing nothing more than paint their bodies red temporarily. "Enough!" one of them cries out, leaping back. The other goes to press its advantage, moving forward, only to have a spear of glass plant itself through its chest. It flickers out, its existence ended. Diedre turns to the wheel of mirrors, letting them shatter and fall to the ground, breathing hard and staring with eyes full of hate. "Now you have my interest. You will wish you did not." She blinks out, becoming one of the many reflections of herself, before appearing underneath Lyra, her sword exiting the mirror in a vicious slash before she retreats, only to strike from a wall. The bladed assault continues from impossible angles, mirrors sometimes appearing from thin air to allow the attack to scythe in from a different angle as Diedre seeks to whittle away the mimic.
LostMage 04-23-07, 10:00 PM	Not what I had in mind, but yeah, Mirror of Oppostion works :D . Lyra watches carefully as the two Diedre's face off. Each move they make, every slash and counter, is reflected in the mirror on Lyra's pendant. When Diedre presses an attack on Lyra, each stab or thrust is met with the perfect counter, each attack meeting air as Lyra twists sinuously to evade. Finally, however, tiny cuts start to form, blood beading on Lyra's bare arms and cheeks. For a second, she stands still, waiting. When Diedre jumps from the mirror, she remains still, letting the weapon cut into her abdomen. And as soon as Diedre retreats, Lyra puts her hand on the mirror, and the entire circle of them shatter, blasting silvered glass out in all directions, blasting the reflections of Diedre with them. "Scream for me, nice and loud."
Lord_Gareth 04-26-07, 07:22 PM	Diedre flies out of the shards of glass, razor fragments slashing her skin open and tearing through her chain mail like it was paper. Mirror shards should not be able to do this, but, somehow, they are. The woman's scream of pain is ear-splitting as she hits the ground, sliding on the glass-covered ground before coming to a halt, blood smeared all over the mirrors behind her. Slowly, she stands up, shards of silvered glass already tearing themselves out of her body. Her sword is glowing strangely - and it is soon apparant why. Lyra feels an incredible drain on her life force - with every cut, every slash that went through, the swords was draining her, drinking her. The dark energy flows from the blade and down Diedre's arm, and the many wounds begin to seal, though not completely. The incredible healing she demonstrated fighting her reflection is gone. She glares at Lyra wildly, angrily, her control gone and her cool broken. The woman sucks in a breath as though to shout - What comes out is a sound beyond pain, beyond agony, beyond the greatest tortures that sentient beings have ever inflicted. It speaks of sin and suffering for which there is no name, scrapes angrily against the very core of every listener's being, shatters glass before it in a storm of shards flying straight at Lyra even as the wail assaults her mentally, physically, and spiritually. This is what happened when Diedre's song was stolen from her. It. Is. Highly. Painful.
LostMage 04-27-07, 04:30 PM	Lyra's wail is one to match: but in agony. She falls down on her knees, vainly covering her ears with her hands as the shriek tears through her. It calls to mind the ageless torment of servitude, the dreamlike haze of copying every action of another, of being denied even a unique appeareance. Nearly fainting, she falls back into a mirror to escape the noise that is clawing at her heart. That do justice to it?
Gideon_Gideonson 04-29-07, 12:29 AM	The earth trembles, sending shards of glass flying through the air, and the arena floor splits open. A young blonde man in a white suit rises up from the ground, and immediately hits the ground as shards of broken mirrors whirr about him. "Sh*t! Bad timing...let's try this again..." Coin crawls to the relative safety of a overhang and dissolves into a mushy liquid, which evaporates quickly. Sorry to interupt, but it's for the Nexus. Coin's in a hurry, and got more careless than usual :D
Lord_Gareth 05-03-07, 09:12 PM	The wailing is finally brought to a halt as Diedre looks at the devastation around her. Fury is inscribed onto her face, anger in her movements as she casts about, slamming her fist into any mirror still whole in search of her opponent. "FACE ME! COME FACE ME! SEE WHAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME TO? DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU HAVE MADE ME DO? COME OUT AND FACE ME, COWARD!"
LostMage 05-04-07, 05:55 PM	Lyra steps forward from a mirror directly behind Diedre. She stands tall, gritting her teeth from the effort. Most of her dress is stained red from the wound in her side, yet her eyes shine with inner strength. "Turn around, then." Lyra takes a step forward. "Your dirge calls to mind how my imprisonment began," she beckons with both hands, and from the shards of mirrors, two elegant longswords form, jumping into her waitng palms,"And thanks to you, I remember what I was... before." She adopts a ready stance with her mirrored blades, her pendant reflects the rage-filled visage of Diedre.
Lord_Gareth 05-12-07, 10:37 AM	Diedre whips around to face her opponent, and the shards of the mirrors whip up, whirling in an angry storm. The woman no longer cares about controlling her attack - she is being slashed just as much as Lyra - she only wants to see her enemy die. Her longsword scrapes out of its sheath, gibbering wickedly in anticipation. With a bloodlusty roar, Deidre charges, blade swinging high and low and dancing back only to crash forward, hammering down and retreating like a phantom in the whirling shards of glass.
LostMage 05-12-07, 03:40 PM	Lyra parries with one blade held high, and thrusts with the other, only to get slashed by the whirling glass for her trouble. Wincing, she steels herself, and leaps into the shards of glass, slashing with both blades, whipping them away from one another like opening scissors.
Lord_Gareth 05-12-07, 10:04 PM	Diedre's single blade catches one of the blades, and then a shard parries the other for her. The mirror queen grabs the shard in her hand and it shifts and melds into a mirror-blade not unlike Lyra's. Amid the storm of whirling glass flecked with the crimson of both women's blood, there is another storm - of blood and bladed glass, between Diedre and Lyra, the bell-like ring of steel on unyielding glass and the sound that makes no sound - the sound of hate and desperation, of fear and panic, the sound made by someone with everything to lose and heard only by those with everything to gain. And still, the construct is building.
LostMage 05-13-07, 05:22 PM	Both weapons caught, Lyra lowers her guard for a second to disengage the weapons, takes a step back. The blades in her hand begin to glow brightly from within, becoming transparent: instead of reflecting the light, it shines forth from them. She walks towards Diedre again, her arms moving deftly and precisely, flicking away the mirrored shards that come near her, and spinning around, whirls her two swords towards Diedre's head.
Lord_Gareth 05-22-07, 05:50 PM	The mirror-queen whips her head backwards with surprising speed, leaping back and landing on a widening shard of mirror. The whirling shards of glass lay themselves horizontally and widen into platforms, floating about seemingly at random. Leaping backwards without word or expression now, her emotions under control, Diedre beckons, daring her opponent to follow her.
LostMage 05-25-07, 05:16 PM	Lyra sweeps her arms around imperiously, and calls from the broken glass on the ground, her own path of mirrors to run parallel to that of Diedre's. Next to her, she jumps across Diedre's path with a twin slice from her weapons, and mirrored silver shards rush up to catch her as she crosses Diedre.
Lord_Gareth 06-06-07, 06:52 PM	The Mirror Queen parries, staying on a full defensive while moving steadily towards her construct. Then a sound, a huge shifting and tinkling that makes the glass ripple with the sheer sonic force of it, makes her smile. It is moving. The head streatches out and brilliant wings spread wide. With a roar, the mirror-dragon, looming huge over the crashing glass city around it, turns its baleful gaze on Lyra. It opens its mouth, and simoultaenouesly, its tail opens as well. It only takes a few seconds for the light to reflect up to its mouth into a huge beam of pure, unfiltered photons that blasts towards Lyra and Diedre. And as it does, the Darklady shatters the mirrors around her. "No escape," she growls, "Not for you, not for me. Die!" The longsword comes scything in, the former ruler of Levulia determined to see her opponent slain one way or another.
LostMage 06-07-07, 08:58 PM	The light connects, surrounding both women with it's terrible brilliance. A long, dark shadow extends from Lyra's slight frame, and it starts to shift, as if it belonged to a taller person. The light parts, two streams of it shifting to either side of Lyra. Only, hanging in midair is a different person entirely: she seems to push the light aside with her dark hands, and an elegant navy dress hangs down past her feet, billowing in the wind with her long, dark hair. Looking at her, she seems a contradiction of terms: both too unearthly, yet painfully real. As the light surges past her, she looks haughtily at Diedre - "No reflections. No mimicry. Thanks to your song, the Emperor's curse is lifted. I am no copy, Diedre. Not now, not ever again!" She flings her long, slim arms towards Diedre, releasing the light from her control to fling a burst of rich, indigo stars hurtle towards Diedre, towards the mirror golem, exploding in purple sparks. As the projectiles leave her, her strength seems to fail. "Ailuve l'for elurd ehsi in ifsi ti" She is surrounded by a corona of light, then faints. Bleeding, lying spread-eagled on the ground of the arena, is Lyra Argent, again an imitation. A copy. Alright, that was my last post. Ready for judging, Gideon! Nice match, Gareth. Diedre & Lyra ought to meet again sometime, story potential there, I think.
Gideon_Gideonson 06-11-07, 05:36 PM	A great wave of light strikes the mirror-city, and the entire construction shatters as if before a tidal surge. Shards of glass and silver are thrown into the air, where they circle and dance on the wind. The shining fragments leap out of the sky, fountaining down to form a shimmering figure of glass and crystal. As the figure steps forward, the glass falls lightly to the ground, leaving behind nothing but reflected light. Why must our children fight amongst themselves? Why must you strive to kill one another? The figure pauses, the glare of what could be eyes passing over each of the women. We see you do not know us. We are Lyra Argent. We are also Diedre Shadowsoul. But you may both call us Uther Utrius, Lord of The Other Side. You have more in common than you suspect, and yet, like the reflections in a mirror, you pull in opposite directions, seeking conflict where you should work as one. Our children, we am disappointed in you both. And yet we find ourselves forced to choose a victor, so that this pointless feud may end and you may each take your place in the world. But do not try to return...you have abused our realm in ways we never intended, and you are not forgiven. Diedre Shadowsoul, for what little good it does you, we proclaim you the victor of this madness. But now cast aside your differences...you are both looking in a mirror, yet refusing to accept that what you see is your reflection. Do not be so blind. With that, the ghostly figure breaks apart into beams of light, which vanish into the mirrored city and fade from sight.
Gideon_Gideonson 06-15-07, 09:28 AM	Wonderful job to both of you. It was an EXTREMELY difficult decision. However, there was a single post that assured my choice, although it took me two read-throughs to be sure of it. Gareth: the post where Diedre fights and defeats herself was AMAZINGLY well done. That switched the balance in your favor...although it was still very close. LostMage: Even though I didn't rule you the victor, it wasn't by much that you lost. Excellent job, especially against Gareth!
Lord_Gareth 06-15-07, 09:50 AM	Diedre stands there, panting in rage with white knuckles gripping her longsword. Blood - her own - drips off of her armor in tiny drops, one after another, staining the dust beneath her feet. Her entire body trembles with fury as she glares at the still-limp form of Lyra Argent. The longsword comes up, blazing down in a wicked arc - and richochets off a mirror harder than steel. She tries again, only to fail, and finally gives up with a scream of anger. Turning, her cuts beginning to heal, Diedre Shadowsoul walks off of the Arena floor. "You'll die yet," she whispers harshly.