A massive cataclysm has struck the universe, and destroyed most everything in its wake. The survivors are now trying to pick up the pieces, and figure out exactly what has befallen them. Gather together, lightsiders!! The darkness has shattered the peace and calm of the galaxy...and they will do anything to stop anyone from finding out exactly what has been done! This is our first sitewide RP plotline. Lightsiders, you are looking for the source of this massive event. Clues must be found, lackeys tracked down, and bits of memory discovered. Darksiders, you guys don't want that to happen....because of the one behind the whole thing is furthering his ultimate goal. Mandalorians, and non-force users, you guys can decide where you stand on this line....do you side with the Jedi, and try to discover the reasons behind the ruined universe, or will you side with the darkness, and protect those secrets. Will the secret of the cataclysmic reaping be kept under wraps? Or will the Jedi and their allies find out the truth? Your RP and writing will decide the outcome!
BATTLE ARENA
Welcome to The Saga Continues. We have a section called the Battle Arena. Here you can use your characters to fight other characters. Hone your skills and see what you are made of. Don't worry, anything that happens here, does not effect your characters in posts, so if your character dies, you can still use them over and over. Have fun and check it out!
The Saga Continues is the product of the mind of ADMIN ADI; all contents are copyright their original owners. All characters belong to their original creators, and may not be used or replicated without permission. All images are copyright their original owners. This skin Operation Mindcrime was made by pharaoh leap of Pixel Perfect and put together by ADMIN KRYSTAL
The two duelists find themselves in a massive hangar, the Main Hangar to be exact. Instead of a Lambda-class Shuttle, TIE Interceptors and TIE/D Defenders hang on racks, and boxes are moved about on turbolifts and repulsor carts. The smell of mechanical fluids linger in the air, and through the view port one can see the blackness of space drifting by.
Combatants, should you have any questions, your assigned judges are @ron and Chronicler Willie . Good luck, and may the best duelist win!
Four heavy thumps sounded down a shuttle ramp and onto the lack luster colored hangar floors. For a brief moment the droids within the hangar paused in their duties as if this new presence interrupted their work, as if they could feel something. Coincidence? Highly likely. Low growls sounded as the activities by the droids continued, the sound itself coming from the giant of a figure that now stood at directly by the ramp of the shuttle. He was big. Clad in armor and hulking in appearance the giant seemed to be waiting for something or maybe someone. Red eyes peered from within his helmet going back and forth once examining the room. Sensory acuity boomed, The giant could not only see what was going on around him but also feel it. A constant reminder that nothing was ever still.
" If you take any longer with those karking repairs. So help me I will rip out your soiled excuse of a spleen and carbon flush it." Kezeroth barked at a mechanic inside the shuttle. Cocking his LJ-50 concussion rifle, one of the many weapons on his being. The LJ-50 concussion rifle itself was slung around his armored torso via a sling and held in his hands. The armor he wore had to be Duraplast by the looks of it and judging by the thickness reinforced. The armor itself was weapon in its own right armed with a flamethrower and Gatling gauntlet, one on each arm. A belt heaved up grenades around the giants large waist. Clipped to it was also a large lightsaber. The hilt was rather plain but it still begged the question. Who was this giant? A bandolier held two pistol shaped weapons under his sides. One of the two looked to be larger than the other. The Gen'dai began emitting a tense sound of friction. Tooth rubbing against tooth. He was gritting his teeth.
Equipment listed in her bio; wrist rocket is the anti-vehicle variety. There was a lot Keira had learned to put up with in life, from being woken up in the ungodly hours of the morning to change a screaming infant, to leading a warrior people from the front lines. In forty-six years she’d seen a lot, dealt with a lot, and fought and killed all number of different beings. At this point in her life she figured nothing could surprise her.
Nine Hells, did she hate being proved wrong.
At present she was crouched on the catwalk that sat above the entrance to the hangar and granted her an overlook across the open expanse beneath her. From her vantage she had a clear view of the Lambda-class shuttle and the giant of a man that had disembarked - if he could even be called a man in any sense of the word. Squinting beneath her helmet, she let her hand fall on the greataxe that rested against the railing beside her.
This wouldn’t be easy, but nothing worth that many credits ever was. Shifting while still doing her best to remain in what little cover the railing of the catwalk provided, she activated her wrist rocket launcher with a shift of her eyes. Raising her arm, she primed the targeting systems with another blink, her target the front of the joint that connected the central wing to the rest of the shuttle.
Taking a breath, she steadied her arm, a twitch of her pupils removing the safety from the launcher.
A final exhale, and she braced herself for the recoil.
Another blink and a twitch of her eyes, and all hell broke loose.
If the anti-vehicle rocket impacted as intended, it would sent the central wing of the shuttle careening down on the cockpit, which would in turn compromise its structural integrity and cause both it and the wing to collapse on the giant that had positioned himself so near the ramp.
*Pop* It was more feeling than sound. Had his body been not of been attuned to the hourly routines of the hangar bay, He would of missed it. Its exact location eluded him. Given the chance it would only take seconds to find out its origin. In this case an attacker. Those precious seconds were filled with the sudden clank of metal hitting metal, Then the concussive force of a shockwave before fire errupted over the Lambda-class shuttle Kezeroth stood by. " Hmmmmm." a masked grin spread across the Gen'dais visage. Durasteel groaned twisting and turning in strain as if unable to support a greater extremity. Move now. Due only to his bodies own heightened perception and the familiar sense of danger the Force often screamed at the last second, This was enough for the Giant to move out from under the cockpit with haste. Clearing the cockpit as soon as it fell behind him Kezeroth braced himself as the top wing of the Lambda shuttle over shadowed his large frame, Swallowed by the piece of large metal as it fall flat over him.
*Crash!*
Underneath the armored Gen'dai lay with both hands pressed against the wing in a moment of pause. The pressure and weight of the wing would of been enough for any humanoid. Kezeroth was alien, very alien. Possessing no lungs to breathe in air and the physical strength to survive, The red giant began to feed on his own anger and search for the origin of this fickle attempt on his life. He wanted the scene to look as if it was over and done with! Now given the time the Gen'dai began to feel out the room with his enhanced perception.
Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump..
A heart beat. Afar from him but within the hangar. Knowing this his next move was to continue his game and wait pretending to be dead or suffering.
Mandalorians were a fiercely headstrong, independent people, but they were far from stupid, contrary to what some of the greater galaxy liked to believe. A warrior culture didn’t survive millenia on luck alone, nor were they about to start now. Keira knew what she was up against, more than enough to be aware that for as destructive as it had been, that single explosion was far from enough to bring an end to things.
The readings of her helmet told her as much as the scanners set to work, and it seemed that for the moment they were at an impasse. Neither wanted to move and give up their advantage, both content to wait for the other to slip up so they could exploit it.
Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t going to move too far.
From her initial look around the hangar she’d taken note of the racks of TIE fighters on the left and right walls respectively, and knew from past experience that they weren’t the sturdiest of contraptions holding the ships in place, as they had to give enough for the pilot to maneuver from the hangar.
Pulling her EE-3 from her back she pressed the stock back into her shoulder, sighting down the weapon at the fragile joints of the racks holding one particular TIE Defender in place and letting loose a three-round burst of semi-automatic fire that would be enough to compromise the stability of the TIE it held in place, causing it to careen down on top of the Gen’Dai where he lay beneath the wing.
And if that wasn’t enough, she would let out one more burst of fire to the rack holding the TIE just above that, hoping that if she wasn’t able to kill him there would at least be enough damage done to level the playing field.
The Lambda wing began to rise swiftly as the Gen'dai underneath pushed the wing up. There was a sudden crash. The neighboring TIE Defender fell atop with a crash reducing Kezeroths progression back to zero. Refusing to use the force the armored giant lay once again pinned underneath the weight of what felt like worlds. Crushing his armor and body. The pain was.. well not as bad as he thought it could be. The pressure was the part that annoyed him. Unrelenting it was and knew no end. This was a pickle.
Attempting to heave up the now added weight Kezeroth growled as the metal above him began to rise. This weight was at his limits. Once more the load fell atop of him. The illusion of him being trapped was gone and all that remained was the pride deep within. Eyes still shut the Gen'dai dug deep into his inner most fears and failures. For now he was as his prey once was when they faced him. A rat in a trap. Dark energies he knew within that tormented him so stirred.
The fact that he was still moving was a testament to both their wills, for most beings wouldn’t have been able to survive such a cataclysm, and similarly most hunters would have given up on pursuing a prey so resilient. But Keira was far from most hunters, and if she had her way this fight would end here and now.
Another six shots were unloaded on the TIE racks, dropping the final two fighters from the same vertical stack in an effort to pin the beast and keep him there. Prior dossiers had indicated some degree of Force-sensitivity, and she wasn’t on banking being able to keep him down for long before instinct kicked in and he returned the favor.
At the moment, she would take what she could get. This was just the beginning of the real fight.
In the seconds after the other two TIEs came crashing down she reached back with her left hand for her spare wrist rocket, not taking the time to reload and instead using her enhanced cybernetic strength to throw it downwards towards the Gen’Dai and all the twisted metal that surrounding him, gravity assisting in its trajectory. Just before it made impact she would fire again, and if her aim struck true the rocket would explode, in turn causing the engines of the TIEs to follow suit and release a cacophony of destruction.
Worms twisting and sliming like tendrils. Weaving paths through twisted metals. Pink and red vines of sinew and flesh. Escape. Creeping by with added weight and pressure ever so increasing. The flesh knew no limits outside its shell and suit it knew only as home. Protection and form. That was its purpose, to be exposed was an obvious sign of who he really was. Keeping the advantage was always a priority but... so to was survival and revenge. Several crashes piled onto the karking heap of metal and now salvage that lay in the hangar bay. Before such noise there was only the firing of blaster shots and the slip of a finger rubbing against a trigger. Precise and cool headed in aim. There was no wonder its target was found. An enclosed space was rather Claustrophobic for a whole solid form, but what about a rather flexible one unhinged and unrestricted in movement or size. Like Womprats the surge of tendrils raced for a opening out from underneath the wreckage. Lacing, looping and latching themselves around objects and through openings tight and large in size. Specifically it headed to what was Kezeroths right toward the middle of the Hangar and only slowing down in space when an anomaly was added to the atmosphere.
It was sensed and physically felt in the same manner as the heartbeat. Similar in hum and tune as it fell down. Kezeroth knew what this was, ah yes he knew it well now. Piled under what was little more than giant metal scraps the red giant locked onto the object with invisible hands, the rocket thrown would be seen only falling and then curving away with an unnatural accelerated speed poised directly to left 2 meters away. It would serve more as distraction than anything as the explosion would aid in Kezeroths continued escape and also compromise the metal scafolding the Mandalorian stood on.
It was rather agonizing to bend, stretch and contort ones own body through a maze of metal and sharp rivets. Through it all the journey never stopped in full, it couldn't! The pain only fueled the fire of the darkside. Reforming into a huddled mass of hulking muscle and nerves Kezeroth groaned with relief from his metal tomb. The texture of his body looked raw and wet. It was still moving. The plates of duraplast from his armor were scarcely left on his body. There were three in number. One cover where a heart would be, one directly behind it on the back and one on the right shoulder. Besides those what was left would be a naked Gen'dai with red glowing eyes behind a cracked and broken Duraplast face helmet and no weapons or equipment.
" Nice try... YOU KARKING SON OF A SITHSPAWN! KARKING WURM YIALETI'R!" he screamed. His rage palpable now.
Shit. That was her only thought as the explosive compromised the catwalk, sending her tumbling twelve feet to the hangar floor. Quick thinking was the only thing that saved her, and Keira rolled as she hit the ground, remaining prone for only a split second as she gathered her wits. As she pushed herself to her feet her shoulder screamed in protest, an injury she was forced to ignore for the present moment as she took off in a dead sprint towards the elevator - sending thanks to the powers-that-be that it was already headed down.
In order to cover distance faster she slid feet first to close those final feet, landing on the elevator platform with a metallic clang that more than startled the cargo worker now in there with her. Pushing past him she keyed the button for another hangar on the ship, one she knew where the Imperials kept their ground-assault weaponry - including heavy vehicles.
Rolling her shoulder, she winced and cursed quietly, realizing only then that she lost her rifle and greataxe both in the fall. The worker hurried out of the elevator once they reached the next bay, and she instantly thumbed the button to close the doors, anxious to reach her destination before her prey could put together the plan she had in mind.
The air around the giant blurred and waved in motion as his throbbing muscled body tensed and relaxed in anticipation. His gaze fell on his attacker as she fled for their life before him. It always turned into a situation similar to this. This was not the first attempt on his life and probably would not be the last. Maybe the assassins and hunters of the galaxy should take a hint and stop trying. His opponents movements through Kezeroth's own perception was drastically slown down. Where was she going to go now? Several possibilities came to mind but right now in the very heat of action and carnage they did not concern him too much. " Aaaaarrrrggghhhhhaaaahahahhhaa!" Two massive muscled arms slammed down on the hangar floor as the Gen'dai roared aloud a savage scream. Propelled forward with frightening speed and power, His body was akin to a raging Veermok charging out of the forest brush. All four limbs assisted his movements forward with ease.
Nothing that big should ever be able to move this fast. Movements that couldn't even be classified as sprinting or steps taken to close distance, instead they were leaps. Meters of space moved all due to his size. By this time the woman had already entered the Bay elevator but that would not stop him. Reaching out with his right arm, The Gen'dai reached out extending the muscles further that was humanly possible. The muscles and nerves stretched, bent and twisted in the hangar. Five densely tensed muscled tentacles spearheaded the extended flexed limb in the shape of a grasping damp hand. If Kezeroth could lift a Lambda wing off his body with no momentum then snatching a karking Nuna from its cornered room would be nothing.
Metal screamed aloud in agony with a crack! Bending back from the blunt impact of muscle and nerve over taking it. Its reach set for the Mandalorian inside.
Keira had to admit, she was surprised she’d made it this far. According to the dossier most hunters barely managed to land a hit on the beast, let alone the few solid ones she’d accomplished so far. And she wasn’t about to let her good fortune stop now, no matter what efforts he made to the contrary. When Mandalorians fought it was to win, and one way or the other that’s what would happen here.
With her tomahawk she hacked at the tendrils of nerve and muscle that attempted to ensnare her, her goal simply to cut enough away that she could break free on her own. Assuming it successful she would jerk her way out of his grasp, unable to pull her tomahawk from the mess along the way.
As the elevator descended to her destination she rolled off the platform before it could fully touch down, taking off in a dead sprint towards the E-Web roughly ten meters away. Her next goal was simple: arm the weapon and use it to tear her enemy apart piece-by-piece. Gen’Dai may have been able to regenerate any wound, but the key was to overwhelm them to the point that was impossible.
Pieces of muscle and nerves were rended and hacked as the Mandalorian seemed to frantically hack herself free. Grasping tentacles seemed to close and close around her. She was within Kezeroths grasp litterally. Moving forward and retracting his arm back with the flex of his arm the Gen'dai glanced at the tomahawk that lay implanted on his arm or hand. It was hard to tell which from his biology. The tomahawk looked like it was stuck in stone in till the muscles relaxed causing it to fall to the floor with a thud. Sprinting to the Elevator and jumping down Kezeroth's gaze fell on his fleeing prey as she ran towards a mounted E-Web turret close by. This was her plan? His reaction was immediate. Under no threat of danger the Gen'dai exploded into motion with a bull's charge. The E-Web was a short distance away through his perception and with his size and speed he could reach it before she did.
Reaching 1/4 the distance the red giant acted. To ensure control Kezeroths hulking arms extended. Stretching one toward the mandalorian before him and the other toward the E-Web cannon. Multipule branches of tentacles unraveling from his amassed limbs seeking to grab the armored Nuna. If he had his way with his grapple, Kezeroth would raise the woman up and slam her into the Hangar floor.
In order to avoid his second grab at her Keira dove forward, rolling around the E-Web as it immediately became a less than viable option given how quickly he was able to close the distance. Now that she knew how fast he was able to move, that changed things. She would have to plan around an enemy that could be where she was within seconds, if not less. If anything, this was certainly pushing her limits.
As soon as she hit her feet again she kept running, the three-hundred-sixty degree vision of her HUD allowing her to pinpoint the exact moment his grasp closed around the E-Web. In that same breath she drew her ripper-pistol from her hip, the automated targeting assistance in her helmet allowing her to fire off a three shots in quick succession towards its charge pack, ones that if they impacted would cause an explosion that would ideally blow off the majority of his arm - if the appendage could be called anything remotely close to that - to smithereens.
With the idea that yet another explosion would buy her time, she took off again in a run, her destination having changed yet again. This was far from the most ideal quarters to take on a being his size, but so long as she could keep some modicum of distance it wouldn’t end in disaster. Hopefully.
The most compelling part of the match between Kezeroth and Keira is its dynamics, which are both intense and deep. We are treated to the dynamics of ever-changing scenery, with TIE rubble accumulating and catwalk collapsing. We see dynamic strategies: Kezeroth spent almost half of the match stuck under debris, and then suddenly shifted to the relentless pursuer; Keira in turn spent as long as she could engaging from afar, and when it could no longer be sustained, switched to Parthian attacks. And perhaps most interestingly of all, we see the interpersonal dynamic when two fighters with wildly different physiques are pitted against each other.
You can both applaud yourselves on a match well-written that exhibits not only an excellent grasp on how to conduct yourselves in combat RP, but perhaps most importantly, demonstrates your thorough understanding of your respective characters and fidelity to them under difficult times. Your unique flavors are wonderfully contrasting and you should both be proud of what you've accomplished here. With a job well done, there are also some constructive criticisms to be made.
First, to Kezeroth: what we see in your approach to the duel is a hesitance to attack when you perceive no true threat to yourself. You spent the first two posts of battle underneath rubble, and the third emerging from it (we note that this was to deny explosions galore). In an untimed match, a defensive style like this can be rewarding. In a tournament setting, where there is a time limit, it can prove to be a double-edged sword, where we actually didn't get to see much of your fighting before time in the round ran out. Assuming that posting proceeds from both combatants at a reasonable pace, this shouldn't be an issue with three-week-long matches, but that might be too optimistic. Second, to Keira: your ability to conceive of uses of the environment is a great asset that not all duelists possess. What we critique is overuse. The environment should prove to be a useful supplement at opportune moments, but what you have done in this match is use your personal equipment as tools devoted entirely to realizing attacks from things existing in the environment. In addition, we are obligated to point out that your use of the elevator to access a secondary hangar, where there would be AT-ATs and AT-STs (while realistic), qualifies as "displacement from the main arena" as a criterion for defeat. It's a ring-out to move outside the bounds of what's described in the stage post. Because Kezeroth gave chase and kept the fight going with you in this case, and because you probably didn't see this in the rules, we are not going to count it against you here, but please be aware of it in future matches.
To both duelists, we understand that real-life must be prioritized over RP life. That being said, from Keira we had a 5-day lapse in posting followed by a 4-day abstain from Kezeroth, when previously both duelists were responding within 1-2 days. We would like to encourage both of you, as well as any 3rd parties reading this, in the importance of maintaining a consistent schedule as a courtesy to your opponent. We don't believe the following exploitation to be the case here, but historically we have seen abuse in the form of a duelist gaining an advantage in their duel and then failing to make any further posts in order to time out the match at a point where they are most likely to be declared the winner. This is behavior we must to try to curb.
The fighters wrapped up the duel in the opposite situation of how it began. At the start of the fight, Keira was clearly the aggressor, having dropped a shuttle and four TIEs on Kezeroth. Kezeroth denied the efficacy of this tactic, choosing only to take action when a chain reaction of engine explosions threatened him. Then he emerged, with scrapes and bruises and lost equipment, to face an opponent who also lost some equipment and suffered a minor shoulder injury and who sought to run away. And then Kezeroth became the aggressor, chasing Keira as she sought to deny the efficacy of his grappling-heavy tactics. We could speculate all we'd like on what would happen next, but the fact is that the judgment rests on what has taken place, not what is yet to come. What we've seen is that Keira made attacks that, while ineffectual at causing substantial damage to her opponent, appeared to succeed at keeping him restrained. In Kezeroth's turn to make attacks, Keira proved able to maneuver and counterattack, demonstrating an ability to be effective in seemingly desperate straits.
In consideration of all the above, we the judges declare Keira Verd to be the winner.
