The Games (IG-RO) - Teu, Jade, Dralin

“The stadium was packed full, brimming with eager, blood-thirsty fans. Antei’s newly refurbished Coliseum bristled with raw emotion. The Independence Games were underway and the audience wanted to see carnage. They wanted to see death. Most of all, they wanted to see victory.

Three combatants entered the arena from the ground-level entrances from different directions. Before them lay the great expanse of the sandy field of battle; already littered with stains of the defeated and departed. Broken weapons, and various traps and obstacles dotted the terrain. The three took their first steps into the Arena; the crash of heavy gates overtook them as their means of escaped vanished. Clad only in minimal leather armor, they would find ancient weapons scattered about the field. Three entered. Only one would leave.

Standing from his ornate throne in the special suite reserved for the Dark Lord alone, the Lion of Tarthos raised his hands signaling for the crowd to grow quite. With a powerful and steady voice he announced, “Dark Citizens, I welcome you! Let the match commence!”

OOC: Each participant will have three posts, one in each round. A round is concluded when all three participants have posted. You will have assigned posting orders in each round listed below

Teu will post first in Round 1, second in Round 2, and third in Round 3.
Jade will post second in Round 1, third in Round 2, and first in Round 3.
Dralin will post third in Round 1, first in Round 2, and second in Round 3.

Each participant has 24hrs to post or they forfeit that round and lose all participation points for this event, though they will still score in Grammar and Contribution categories. Participants may post the moment the person before them fails to post in time. All edits must be made before the next post is up and cannot be made once they are.

The First round begins with Teu. Good luck.

Teu felt adrenaline surge through her body as the Dark Lord spoke, his voice caused the Prelate to shiver slightly, as the battle was called to a start. She ran a hand over the armor she was given for this battle, she would have preferred her own clothes, the leather armor was not something the Prelate had worn recently, the last time had been under Jade’s tutelage learning different fighting styles. Teu’s eyes darted around the arena. The three of them darted forward, each after a weapon of their own taste.

Jade followed closely on Teu’s heels; she too wanted the bladed weapon that was closest to the three. She was an average looking woman on anyone standards, the only thing that really set her apart from the other woman was her violet eyes. The two ran swiftly, neither called out to the force quite yet, reserving that for later in the battle.

Dralin watched as the two women went after the vibroblade, he himself had seen several daggers opposite of where the Sadowian’s were heading. He smiled as he ran, his eyes moved quickly to spot any traps before they hindered his chance in this battle.
“Mine” Teu growled at her former teacher, her eyes flickered slightly in the light as she pushed ahead. She caught glimpse of something metal glinting in the light, she called on the Force and somersaulted over the item, she landed with her legs bent. She rushed forward again.

Jade looked ahead, her eyes scanned the ground. She saw the glint to late, she tripped over the wire that was buried barely under the surface of the sand. With ease she righted herself before she resumed her pursuit of her former student.

Dralin grabbed the two daggers. He slipped one into the belt of his clothes the other he kept in his hand. His eyes tracked the two female carefully, they were near equal in everything though Teu had the edge in speed.

Teu reached down, she bent to scoop the weapon into her grasp. However Jade was not going to her former student the edge. As she came up behind the Prelate she kicked out her right leg, catching Teu behind the knee.

Teu groaned as she dropped to one knee, she still held the weapon in her hand. She threw her elbow back. A sickening crunch was heard by both combatants as Teu broke the others nose, blood fell freely.

Jade used the force to heal the broken the nose, it was a nothing wound. She really didn’t care for the viboblade, she loved daggers and always had them but the vibroblade, though interesting to cut so many times with one stroke, just seemed like a cheat weapon. She would rather use the real deal, a cold blade and nothing but the force and her bare hands to get the job done. Laughing, she extended a hand to Teu and helped her up. It was going to be interesting fighting with Teu, the girl had anger for sure, misunderstandings aside. Dralin she hadn’t had the pleasure of working with yet or really getting to know, but could sense he was more than prepared to fight and get the party started.

Jade headed over to another glinting mix, picking up a Ryyk Blade, and placing another dagger into the small of her back, while her eyes scanned for any more weapons or nearby traps.

Dralin seemed to be biding his time, the tension between the two girls, strong, stronger still from Teu. If he played his cards right he wouldn’t have to worry about fighting them both, just keep his strength up to fight the victor of the two and have the advantage. But he wasn’t sure about Jade. She seemed more at peace, more at ease and ready to fight, not really caring about the tension that was more then emanating off of Teu.

The voices of the crowd roared with determination to have a bloody battle before them, a few of them so drunk they tried to throw their glasses of partially filled alcohol into the arena, but none of the cups really made it. The either bounced off of the levels below the thrower or started fights as they hit the head of another spectator.

Jade looked at Dralin as a fist fight broke out in the front row just above him, one of the spectators nearly tossed over into the arena before security came and beat the two as they dragged them off. The spectators came to see the bloody battle in the arena, not the ones of drunken fools. Dralin shrugged and looked over at Teu who frowned and shook her head. Like the other two, it was going to be an interesting battle, but she didn’t see the need for the senseless fist fights. Least the three of them were willing to fight hand to hand and respected each other for their strengths and weaknesses, where those two were just full of hormones, alcohol, and trying to impress their friends.

Using the momentary distraction provided by the overenthusiastic audience, Jade turned to her former apprentice and felt the dark side of the Force well up within her. While Jade may not have been too skilled with the specific application, Teu could do little to resist the insidious tendrils of fear that her one-time master began to weave. Dralin, catching onto the exchange between his opponents, took advantage of the opportunity to enhance what Jade had already begun. Where Jade had sewn the seeds of irrational fear, Dralin watered by twisting Teu's mind, creating a living image of that fear; Teu's own mind would create the horror for her, powered by the artificial fear and Dralin's own skill with illusions.

While Teu faced her own personal demons, Dralin and Jade faced each other, knives at ready. The more experienced Krath struck out with her dagger, but the quicker Obelisk backpedaled out of the way, sand kicking up behind him as he skittered across the surface. The crowd roared as Dralin lunged forward, the tip of his own dagger finding purchase in the leather covering Jade's forearm, adding a superficial nick in the armor. The Arconan had been trained in techniques such as these by Telona Murrage, the last Krath High Priestess, and he would do well to live up to her name. Where Jade held a love affair for daggers and knives, she was but a dilettante to Dralin's virtuoso. A game of back-and-forth developed between them, as Jade's Kartranin duelist training met Dralin's ruthless K'tara, and the crowd watched raptly as their daggers whistled through the air, following every near miss. However, Dralin was simply quicker and better trained, before long he opened up an angry red line along the inside of Jade's forearm, where the armor didn't protect entirely. The Krath hissed as she drew back, and she began to channel the rage she felt, that some nobody Arconan could dare injure her. Jade snarled as she extended her hand, and a jolt of lightning issued forth, blasting the dagger out of Dralin's hand and causing him to cry out and grasp his stunned hand.

A sudden uproar from the crowd was all the warning Jade had before she was jumped from behind by Teu. The Sadowan Quaestor had broken free from her mental prison, and had decided to retaliate in a more physical manner. Wrestling her former mentor to the ground, Teu knelt on Jade's stomach, using her superior speed and strength and overpower the Krath. With a grimace, Teu struck out with a balled fist, pouring her rage into a blow to Jade's tentatively-healed nose. A broken nose was no simple injury, and the Force had simply held together what it could from the previous blow. Teu undid this, causing blood to bubble from Jade's nose after a sickening crunch. The pain was nauseating, and it was all Jade could do to retreat mentally as Teu continued to beat upon her unmercifully.

While Teu and Jade struggled in the dirt of the coliseum floor, Dralin waited for his hand and forearm to stop buzzing. He watched as Teu rained blows down upon Jade's head, and pulled his second dagger from his belt as the Archpriestess kicked straight up, catching Teu in the back of the head and launching her over Jade in a somersault. Moving with a speed that only the Force could grant, Dralin stabbed with his dagger in backwards grip, pinning Teu's hand to the ground like a flesh-colored insect. The Sadowan Quaestor let out a bellow of anger and pain, and swung her other hand around, using her rage to power her backhand. As Dralin flew through the air, Teu grasped the dagger and pulled it out, shuddering at the excruciating pain.

As Dralin landed on the hard-packed sand, his breath exploded out of his lungs. Coughing hard, he tried to sit up, only to find a bloody Jade filling his field of vision. With a snarl, she held up a pinched thumb and forefinger, and Dralin scarcely had any time to inhale before his throat closed of its own volition. The Arconan's face began to darken as blood rushed to the surface, and the failing attempts to drawn breath caused enough strain to begin bursting blood vessels in his face. Dralin's vision blurred as his eyes began to roll up into his head, and all he could hear was the pounding of his own blood in his ears. A sudden explosion of air filled his lungs as he gasped, and it took several blinks and coughs before the Aedile could see why Jade hadn't finished him off.

Clearing his eyes, Dralin took in the gruesome scene before him. Teu, ignoring the immense pain in her hand, had forced Jade into a powerful headlock, blood flowing down her hand as Jade's face began turning a shade that had colored Dralin's visage previously. The Templar used the moment's respite to catch his breath and try to recover as best as he could, but he simply wasn't built for this kind of combat. Teu forced Jade to her knees while tightening her grip on her former master's neck, while Jade reached out with a weakening hand. Her dagger dragged itself across the sand, speeding up until it finally jumped into her grasp. Her face began turning a beet-red color as she stabbed down viciously, punching the dagger through Teu's foot and gasping for breath as her throat was released.

Teu growled slightly as the dagger stuck in her foot, she release Jade. She pulled the weapon out of her foot and threw it across the stadium. She turned back to Jade, she extended her hand. A wave of force energy flew and expanded.

The wave struck the Archpriest in the chest, it flung her back, and she landed on the ground, hard. Jade’s breath was forced from her body with great force, several ribs were cracked. She lay there dazed, gasping for air, painfully her lungs expanded for the much needed air.

Teu turned to look at the Aedile, her eyes narrowed slightly; she closed the space between the two quickly. “You will now leave this place.”

“We’ll see about that” Dralin spit back. He decided to act first, without warning he kicked out his right foot, hitting the Prelate in the stomach. He quickly followed through with a sound punch to her nose as she doubled over from the kick.

Teu felt the cartilage in her nose break, blood poured from her nose. However she remained up, she quickly reacted. With her bad foot she swept Dralin off of his feet, he rolled backwards towards he stood back up, his eyes locked on his opponent.

Jade stood back up, her eyes watched the two Obelisks for a moment. She moved quickly, her ribs protested with every step. She called onto the Force, allowing it to heal the cracked ribs. As the dark side went to work she grimaced in pain, the pain of growing bone and other body material was incredible. She managed heal the bones enough to no longer cause pain. She increased her speed to get back to the fight.

Teu launched herself at Dralin, who quickly dove to the side with the help of the Force. Teu landed on the ground, hard. She quickly rolled onto her back and flipped onto her feet. She glared at the man, she wished for her lightsaber. Hand to Hand was not one of her favorite styles of fighting even if she was proficient.

Teu saw someone moving closer to her and Dralin; she glared at her former Master with open hatred. Dralin took the moment of distraction to use the dagger he tucked into his belt. He stuck the weapon into the Prelates stomach and quickly pulled the weapon back out. The wound while not deep was still painful; it would slow Teu down a bit. Teu back handed the Templar, she grabbed his arm, the one with the dagger. With the aide of the Force she added to her strength and broke the Templars wrist, causing him to drop the weapon with a howl. Teu chuckled slightly.

Dralin screamed in pain and anger as the bones and muscles, cracked and twisted, finally breaking under Teu’s pressure. The dagger he had been holding, forcibly fell to the sandy floor of the arena causing a small dust cloud. One Dralin would have used in any other situation had he not been occupied with the sudden pain shooting up his arm. Teus chuckle hit his hears as he gasped for breath from screaming his lungs out. Anger filled him deep at the sound, and burned in his eyes as he looked up at the Sadowian. He saw Jade moving in closer from the side of his vision and feeling the anger surge through the woman holding him down, he used his good hand to grab a fist full of the sand and throw it up into Teus face. As the grains mixed with her eyes Jade came up from behind and hit Teu between her shoulder blades, and close to the base of her neck, with a rock. The force caused Teu to roll head over heels across Dralins’ shoulder, her back landing flat on the ground, and her head rolling to the side as she momentarily blacked out.

The pain in Dralin’s arm intensified as Teus’ weight concentrated on his shoulder and mixed with his broken wrist. The man was quick though and used the force to push back on his heels and spring up from the ground. But as he righted himself Jade took the opportunity to bring her leg up and around, kicking him in the chest, knocking him back to the ground. Dralin landed on his side, just remembering about the broken wrist before he placed his full weight on it. Directing his body through the force he rolled on his side and brought his hand into his chest, blocking it from too much pressure. Using the force he began to dull the pain and knit the bones back together. He would need his wrist for the fight.

Jade rolled across the ground towards Teu as Dralin brought his other hand up and twisting it in circles used the force to buy him time by causing a small dust devil. The cloud of dust circled like a mini tornado. Jade didn’t want to get caught in the mass of dust, it would be too much of a distraction and even though the leather armour would prevent much of the sand from doing too much damage it would still whip across her face and the few exposed bits of skin. As she rolled she landed next to Teu and saw the vibro dagger on the womans’ side. Smirking she grabbed the hilt of the dagger and gave the girl a salute as she rolled away. “Thanks.”

Dralin stood up, the dust devil suddenly dying. Jade moved in from behind him but the force shivered up Dralins’ skin and pushed him to turn around. His fist came out swiftly, hitting Jade in the sterum, forcing her to take a few steps back. He jumped, and summer saluted in the air, his legs aiming right for Jade, but she didn’t have time to move, the heel of his boot made contact with the lower half of her chest armour. Jade was nearly overwhelmed with the urge to meet her lunch from only a few hours ago, but managed to bring up the vibro dagger and leave a gaping wound in Dralin’s left calve muscle, the dagger cutting through the leather which was thinner on the legs. As Jade used the force to keep from landing on her rear, she kneeled in the sand and looked at the dagger. It was a better weapon then she thought it would be.

She turned towards where Teu had been laying, but the woman’s body was gone. Looking over to Dralin who was preparing to lunge at Jade, Teu came running up from the side, her foot injury, and pain from the dagger in her stomach, slowing her down but still giving her enough speed to tackle the man to the ground. Jade watched as Teu reached for the vibro dagger to make true on her words and cause Dralin to leave in a more permeate way, but found the dagger was gone from where she had placed it. She glared up at Jade who gave her another salute with the weapon. The pain from Dralins kick to the soft area of her stomach finally subsiding and allowing her stand up once more.

Dralin looked at Teu. Grabbing the dagger he had hidden he brought it up and moved in for another strike at Teu, but the woman was more prepared and ducked, rolling off of him. The two Dark Jedi stood facing each other.

“As I said before, Dralin, you will now leave this place.” Teus voice was dark and full of promise.

Dralin just laughed. “You want a piece of me, bring it on.” Jade had a sudden impression he was about to imply that Teu couldn’t do it simply because she was a woman, and was half tempted to jump in and fight alongside her former apprentice.

As the two stood across from each other Jade bode her time. Striking then would be ok to get one of them but would leave it open for an easy retaliation by the other one.

Dralin kicked out at Teu, the woman catching his foot and twisting, causing the Arcoanean to spin in midair and land on the ground. Teu smirked as the man quickly rolled to the side to get out of the way of another attack. Jade took a dagger and tossed it in Teus direction, the blade of the dagger, hitting the woman in the shoulder and pinning her to the arena wall. Teu screamed in pain and anger. As Jade watched Teu against the wall, Jades dagger pinning her there, Dralin came up behind her and crouched low, spinning and bringing out his leg, swiping it behind the Krath and connected with her ankles, causing her to fall to the ground. Dralin grabbed his dagger as he moved to straddle Jade just above her hips, and come in for the kill. He swung the dagger in a downwards J stroke motion. Jade brought up her arms to block the blade from digging into her chest. The metal cut through the leather, slicing the skin of her forearms underneath, but the momentum of the cut was deflected as she had hoped. Dralin brought the dagger up for another strike, Jade moved her hips, causing Dralin to buck upwards slightly, and give her enough momentum to bring her legs up and wrap them around his chest. Crossing her ankles over his sternum, she pushed downwards. Dralin was pinned to the ground, the arches of her boots pressing against his cheeks. Jade twisted, pulling her ankles away from each other and pushed up on Dralins arm pits. The man slid back slightly as did Jade.

A scream behind her had Jade look and see Teu come running up, blood dripping down from her shoulder and stomach wound, and her foot injury causing her to limp slightly as she ran. The woman’s battle cry echoed in the arena. Jade rolled away as Teu came close, but although the woman had anger towards Jade, her sights were on finishing a promise and getting revenge for her stomach wound first. With Dralin on the ground Teu moved in and brought the dagger that had held her to the wall of the arena and brought it down swift and hard, the metal blade slicing as if through hot butter into Dralins abdomen. The man screamed bloody murder.

Teu left the dagger in Dralins stomach and turned towards Jade, the man currently not a threat, as he squirmed on the ground to catch his breath and redirect the blood flow so as not to bleed out. Jade looked at Teu, the two standing similar as to when Dralin and Teu had been at each other’s throats.

A knife-wound to the stomach is a slow death. Dralin coughed up blood, and watched it fall to the sand, where it became a macabre form of mud. The crowd nearest to where he lay jeered and insulted him, and insult was added to injury as the front row threw empty bottles and packets of snacks at him. As he lay there, pelted with food and garbage, Dralin looked up to see Teu and Jade square off.

Even you would have had the decency to finish me off quickly, Teu, he thought to himself. Give her hell...

Pain wracked his body as blood gurgled from his mouth, mixing with the sanguine mud that was pooling beneath him. The Arconan curled into a ball as he felt his stomach acid eating away at his internal organs. His only consolation was that he would soon be dead; dead men can't feel pain. He was dimly aware of Jade lunging for Teu, and of Teu knocking her former mentor down to the ground, a repeat of the tactic she had used earlier to great effect.

Dralin drew upon the Force one last time, gather all his remaining energy for his final minute of existence. The fickle crowd began to cheer for the formerly despised Arconan, and their urging drove him to crawl forward, his blood leaving a trail across the dirt floor. Teu continued to beat down upon Jade's face as Dralin slowly made his way toward them, and he felt what was left of his very self ebbing away into the darkness of oblivion. Teu looked up at him as he reached the fighting Sadowans, and even as he died, he could feel the shock emanating from her. They had worked together when House Naga Sadow had come to Tarentum's aid during the Rakghoul Plague, and they had worked to help each other. This did not seem to be a fitting end for Dralin, from either of their perspectives.

Dralin pushed himself up as his arms shook, and the strain of it nearly finished him then and there. The Arconan Aedile leaned over the Archpriestess, and her eyes widened as he took a deep breath. Dralin spit at Jade, covering her face in what was left of his lifeblood, drawing a loud roar from the audience at this final display of contempt. Collapsing next to the Sadowans, Dralin took clutched at his stomach, and the last thing anyone would hear from him was the death rattle escaping between his clenched teeth.