Round 1 - Thavan versus Lukas

[Kender Bard]

Thavan stood, a bit nervously. His Beastland winter garb (woefully inadequate this far north) marked him immediately as something exotic. His nervousness caused the "hair" on his head to rise very slightly but other than that he composed himself well. The young man had a bow in hand with a quiver full of his special sparring arrows, approved by the Gamesmaster. The tips were cloth covered in a chalky substance so the one hit by the arrow would be marked. Since he was aware that ranged combat would not last long here, he also had a small wooden staff. He was by no means proficient with it, but it was more durable than using his bow in combat so he had it as well. The staff sat in a sling against his back, for now. He nodded towards Lukas.

"Ready?" the judge of their match inquired.

[tuo]

Lukas stood ready with his left hand on the handle of his practice sword and carefully studied Thavan and considered how best to respond to whatever sort of threat he might make.

At the judge's question he gives a short nod to him without taking his eyes off of Thavan. "I am ready."

[Kender Bard]

"Ready," Thavan confirmed.

"Begin!" the judge cried.

Moving as swiftly as he could, Thavan snatched an arrow from his quiver and knocked it in one smooth, fluid movement. He only took a few moments to sight and then the arrow fly. As soon as he had released the first arrow, he began reaching for a second. After all, if Lukas closed quickly, he would be lucky to get a second shot off. Of course if the first arrow happened to strike Lukas in a fatal spot, he'd win anyway.

[tuo]

Lukas quickly darted to the side to avoid the arrow and drew his sword as he rushed in at Thaven, tilting his head to help activate the mind sign on his neck in order to try and teleport the arrow Thavan is holding out of his grasp to clatter to the ground.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan pulls back and then-

His bow twanged, emptily. He blinked, wondering where his arrow went, but seeing Lukas rushing towards him, he stops thinking about it. Dropping his bow, he pulled his quarterstaff out of its sling and brought it to bear just in time to put up a guard. "You're a Mind!" he gasped, making the connection and spotting the sign.

[tuo]

"Correct." Lukas confirmed before shoving against Thavan to unbalance him slightly. Lukas took a step back and held his sword in a defensive stance, worried somewhat at having to fight against a staff user in close combat.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan allowed himself to be pushed back slightly. He let go of his quarterstaff with one hand and touched the water sign on his shoulder, muttering a quick chant. Energized, he surged forward again, throwing a punch towards Lukas but nowhere near close enough for it to connect. Rather, he loosed a compact blast of water towards Lukas's gut with great force - a sword wouldn't be able to deflect all of it!

[tuo]

Lukas tried to block with his sword but was, as predicted unable to stop it all and stumbles back, the breath knocked out of him momentarily. He quickly touches his mind sign on his neck again while catching his breath to mutter a quick chant as well.

Reaching out with his mind, Lukas tries to instill a thought or instinct that he is going to attack Thavan's legs while in reality he makes a swing for Thavan's arm holding the staff.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan fell right for Lukas's ploy, manuevering his staff to protect his legs. When the practice sword hit Thavan's arm, he cursed loudly and backed away.

"Penalty to Thavan!" the judge declared. "Right arm now disabled!"

Gritting his teeth, Thavan shifted his quarterstaff to his left hand and let the right one hang uselessly at his side. If he was allowed to do more lethal force he could have put his Beast sign to better use. This was very frustrating. He stayed well back from Lukas, defensive, lowering his right arm so his fingertips limply touched the water sign on his shin, and chanted again as he pointed his quarterstaff at the other man and used it to aim a powerful stream of continuous water towards Lukas.

[tuo]

Lukas grinned and began to get a little overconfident as he began to circle around Thavan slowly. Before he could move in for another strike however, he was hit by the stream of water and knocked back and stumbles to his knees.

Thinking quickly he attempts to touch the mind sign on his arm while trying to shield his face and chants quickly to teleport to the other side of the arena behind Thavan, however he drops his sword in the process...

[Kender Bard]

Thavan was a bit torn between grabbing his bow again but with his right arm disabled, it wouldn't have been useful. He sprinted to Lukas as fast as he could, trying to put his path between the sword Lukas had dropped and the other man. He swung his quarterstaff once in range, aiming for Lukas's head - he wouldn't connect, of course, he had only to either tap him or stop just short of hitting him.

[tuo]

Lukas' eyes widened and he actually dashed towards Thavan, throwing himself at the Beast(and water) warrior's midsection in hopes of avoiding his swing and also knocking him to the ground in a grapple, relying on the fact he won't be able to use one of his arms to his advantage.

[Kender Bard]

Thavan went down hard, grunting. But at least now he had an advantage. He let go of his staff and moved his left hand to the back of his neck (awkward, and dangerous), activating his sign. As the hair/quills on his arm stiffened and stood up, he brought that arm back around, pointing them at Lukas and being terribly careful to not actually stick the man. It wasn't lethal if he did... but Thavan didn't want to risk disqualification because he was sloppy.

"Get off," he warned, the quills on his head now starting to stand up as well.

[tuo]

As Thavan's quills began to stiffen, Lukas quickly rolls off of him even as he grabs for the quarterstaff and stands up, holding it awkwardly in a threatening manner. "Thanks, now perhaps you should stay down?"

[Kender Bard]

Bastard took my staff! Thavan thought indignantly as he flattened his quills and rolled quickly to the right and onto one knee, now in a kneeling position. His hand was already up and outstretched to try and catch the staff if Lukas swung at him.