If both duelists involved would kindly let me know that they are ready, this duel can begin. If one of the dueling parties does not report in (ready or otherwise) before Wednesday [1/9/2013], they will forfeit the match. If neither report in, both will forfeit.

Whether you are ready or not, please make it known in an ((OOC)) post here in this thread.

This duel was concluded [1/14/2013] with ShadowBro as the victor by majority vote.

((Ready to go, but I'll be in class from 6-10 PM today. I'd like to formally request the ability to submit an in character action/reaction post after 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time OR before 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time for today only, if applicable.))

Storm Blitz checked his gear one last time, making sure he had everything he needed. His wife, Wind Spark, had arrived yesterday to watch, but he'd sent her off to do recon on some of the more interesting fights. He'd be fine here on his own.

Lofty takes a seat in the stands an waits patiently for both of the fighters to reveal themselves. It's not that he likes either of them, in fact he hates True Path, but if he wins his fight he'll have to go up against the winner of this one. In short, he was just just being diligent.

601530 ((I am ready and present, though I am currently in the process of finding a judge.))

((Edit: list isn't up yet, I'll return at 10 EST so i can meet with shadowbro and commence if possible))

601606, 602842
((I am opening this duel. You may now fight one another. Please follow this link to see the list of judges.

You must conclude your duel, either by killing blow (judge's rule), forfeit, or voting decision. A vote will be held by default in the event that the duel is not completed by 12:00 a.m. [-5:00 GMT] on Saturday [1/12/2013].

Fight with honor!))

Aurus rose from his seat suddenly, drawing a hush over the crowd and ready combatants alike. His smile was one of excitement, and it was clear from the tone that ventured forth from his throat that he was just as eager as those in the stands who were barely repressing their words to hear him speak.

"It is clear that you are all excited to see this match, and I an right there with you! Lets not delay, and commence the battle, one which I am sure will be monumental. This duel between Storm Blitz and True Path should not be taken lightly. Not now, or ever in the future, as this will be a moment of history to be remembered gloriously for ages to come!"

The crowd roared in excitement, stilling once more for Aurus' final words before the unleashing of this once-in-a-lifetime event.

"Begin the match!"

The deafening roars that followed drowned out the trailing of even his mighty voice, and any hope that the clash of steel or a blast of magic had to be heard.

602842
((Hey, I'm back. Sorry for the wait, you still up for competition or do you want to delay to tomorrow?))

603857
((Tartarus no! Let's own some face! Who's face, I leave to fate to decide!))
((Errr, that is to say, I am up for dueling.))

603864
((Badass. Here is a number generator:

http://www.random.org/

Whoever gets the higher number wins and goes first? Use between 1 and 100 as your settings. My number is 87.))

603871
(( 83. It seems is the curse of Xcom is strong tonight. I'm just standing there in the arena, as I forgot to do an introductory flavor post ))

603894
((Awesome. Ima find someone to send my opening attack too.))

603894
((Okay, serious question: Where are you IN the arena. Are you just chilling in the shadows or are you standing in an open area?))

603934

((Did razorbeam ever describe the arena? I don't actually know what it looks like.))

603940

603942 ((I'd be chilling out as close as possible to one of those rock outcroppings. Probably the three just to the left, if we're taking this literally. Assuming I'm free to stand anywhere in the arena prior to the match.

I really must do a flavor post next time ))

603957
((Cool, thanks!))

603957
At Aurus' cry, Storm Blitz... blitzed into the air. Picking up speed with powerful strokes of his wings ((agility: S)), Storm bounced like a pinball across the various bits of standing stone to barrel down upon True Path much the same way a lion would charge upon a gazelle. The terrain didn't allow for a massive amount of polearm work, but by bounding off a boulder and ricocheting off the top of a craggy bit of stone, Storm got enough altitude to plunge towards True Path, pointy end of his polearm extended, with startling velocity.

((Approvers: Crafter, Chainlinc3))
((Note also that Chainlinc3 says there should be an attack bonus, but we're hashing out the endurance hit I take.))

604003

True Path watched the pegasus blitz into the air, already prepared for an attack. Pegasai, always hotheaded. ((Former guard)) He reflexively deferred to the defense he'd planned beforehand ((Int: S)): If it was ranged, shield, if it was physical... He gripped his staff in a telekinetic grip, and focused all his energy into making it spin. Revving it up into a glinting blur of metal, he placed it directly in the path of the oncoming pegasus. Best of all, the move would not only deflect the polearm, but batter the pegasus as well as he barreled into it.

((Approved by: Crafter, with ruling by chainlinc3.))
((Also, just realized that I airplane-engined you. Something of an ironic fate for a pegasus ))

604106
((Chainlinc actually sent me a PM, saying that I should get back to him/her in the morning with any counterarguments. But Crafter is still online. Do you think we should go ahead with just Crafter?))

604146 ((Yeah. Nothing personal to Chain, but if we're both here and crafter is, why not? I mean, the point of having so many judges was to be able to rotate them as they came and left.))

604155
((That makes a lot of sense. On the internet no less! I trust Crafter to enact fair judgment too, so I think it'll be okay.))

604155
((Although actually, I'm going to see if Medicshy can give us a ruling...))

604160 (( I just got an update from chainlinc3, so I'm reverse editing my post to reflect that.))

604167 ((Edit completed. Sorry if this is sloppy, there's not really an established format for these rulings yet XD))

604185
((Yeah.... my problem with that is that I believe I can dodge that with some fancy maneuvering and my S-level agility....))

604192 ((I dunno, i agree with Chainlin3. You were coming at me full speed, full power. Excellent against a static defense, but crap against an active counterattack. Besides, I have the advantage of only having to guard myself. You would have to manuver around the staff, then back on target, before I could move my staff to compensate. That's work for a dagger, not a polearm.))

604200
((Aha, but there are other things at hand, like using my wings appropriately! Also, Youtube videos of European Martial Arts Enthusiasts seem you indicate that such maneuvers would be... possible, if require a LARGE stamina investment.))

((Okay, but in all seriousness, I've got _Medicshy and Crafter both saying that my move should be legit. I recognize your point, however, and do feel that it could be valid. The Judges can talk it out, but I'm going to post my move. -7% stamina so far, by the way, so I've got 92% of it remaining.))

[Reaction]
[Agility S, again] Storm Blitz slammed his wings out and angled them so that his forward motion whirled into a flat spin, rotating at the same rate and in the same direction as the spinning staff, cutting his forward momentum significantly while allowing him to....
[Attack]
...flash his polearm out, letting it slide just behind one end of the staff and hopefully sweep the unicorn off his feet.

604210 ((Hmmm, it is irksome that the ruling was overruled, though I protest more on the grounds of fuzzy authority than any illegitimacy of your act. I'll be bouncing my reply along to Crafter and _Medicshy shortly.

And I've no real idea of my stats right now, as my stats were based upon chainlinc3's ruling.))

604235
((Yeah, I know what you mean. It's a little troublesome, but it does save us from getting into long chains of bickering. I'm going to go to bed in 8 minutes though, but will be available tomorrow from 11:10 AM to 11:45 AM, 1:30 to 2:45 PM, or any time after 5:30 PM up to midnight.))

604253 ((I can probably swing by most of those times, though, up until 5:30 it'll probably only be enough for one back and forth))

604264
((That's cool. See you later then!))

604274 ((Have a good one!))

((Post deleted due to retconning, then undeleted due to retrospect. Records and all. Not relevant anymore, anyway.))

604210

True's eyes shrink to points as he realizes what Storm is doing. "Son of a-!" He reflexively flashes a barrier up between himself and the polearm, but instead of conjuring it to catch the polearm head on, he conjurs it at an angle, the curved disk of golden light sloping down towards the ground. Though this costs it something in coverage, it allows it to take blows edge on, deflecting blows that might be too strong to block. Basic guardspony defense 101.

((Approved: Crafter, _Medicshy))

604345
((Okay, when you get this, I need to know if he's dropped the staff, or if he's maintaining its rotation. Also, if True Path has altered his stance in any way.))

604879 ((Sorry, tons of drama over here, so I was forced to stay offline and keep the phone lines open. But I think he would drop the staff in this case. Normally, he could maintain the staff and a spell at the same time, but in this case it's a knee-jerk reaction, and there's really no point to investing in the staff anyway.))

((Oh, and I'm on and free for the next four hours.))

605792
((You BEAUTIFUL INDIVIDUAL, you've returned!. Is your drama okay? I hope it wasn't too horrific.... Me being happy that you've returned to the interwebs aside, that's really good to know. Thanks!))

605796 ((Hah! Happy to see me? And the drama is... survivable. Just frustrating in the way it's cutting into my dueling time. But given that i have the standard four straight hours (i'll see if I can't weasel more later tonight), I can't complain too much. So yeah, carry on posting))

((Shadowbro: this is a warning for a godmodding post. You have four strikes remaining for this round.))

605807
((I AM happy to see you. I've been fretting all day over what my next move should be and I FINALLY have a viable plan!

Unfortunately, this post is also serving to let you know that I have to leave in about 15 minutes, and I may not be able to respond until 8:15 PM, Eastern Standard Time.))

605912 ((That actually works out well for my phone capitalizing hell over here. I'll get off now, and check back then, as I'm free to go until 1:00 AM EST))

605924
((Awwwwwwwweeeeeesoommmmmmmmmmmeeeeeee...))
[Reaction] Letting his polearm be deflected, Storm Blitz maintained the spin. The polearm was deflected when Storm was exactly facing True Path. If his spin was diagramed, Storm Blitz then kicked the dropped staff away into the shrubbery with his hindhoof as he passed through the Nine O'clock position on a clock. Continuing the spin, he rummaged by feel in his combat saddle (essentially a medium sized equipment pack) for....

[Attack]...a salt grenade. As he spun back to 12 O'clock (facing True Path), he let it fly while pushing off with his hindhooves, leaping into the air ((Agility: S)), then quickly gaining altitude in a 75 degree climb to escape what he hoped would be a fairly large and dense cloud of salt that would irritate the eyes, nose, and throat of his opponent.

((Approver: Chainlinc3))

605924
((I hear you're around))

606341

((Uhh, weren't you coming at me at a low angle? When your pole arm got knocked down, you'd basically be turned into an automatic pole-vault as it hit the dirt...))

606389
((Ahh... there seems to have been some miscommunication?

My original plan was:
Spin parallel to the ground, meshing my polearm into your spinning staff like two gears. The polearm then sweeps parallel to the ground, whacking into your legs at about shin level, causing you to fall over.

What I thought you did in response:
Dropped the staff in a kneejerk reaction and deflected my polearm up and to the side with your shield, presumably ducking to avoid the weapon.

My response to your response:
Let my polearm sail high and use the momentum to kick your staff away, then throw a salt grenade at your face, before flying up and away.

Questions or concerns?))

606414

((Okay, serious miscommunication here. Okay, first, my staff was spinning perpindicular to both the ground and myself, so it was as though it was a wheel and I was staring through the axle.

Now, I thought that you began to spin along the axis of the axle, so that to your point of view, the staff would be standing still, spinning with you. In essence, you were spinning around your polearm. In peppy's words, you were doing a barrel roll.

In response to this, I conjured a shield that was angled down, with the top closer to you, and the bottom closer to me. This way, when you struck the shield, your polearm would hit the dirt, and you'd either crash or be pole vaulted, depending on the durability of your polearm.

HOWEVER, now that you tried spinning parallel to the ground, I have to debate the ruling, as literally nothing that flies can do that, to say nothing of attempting to do that with six feet of steel tipped polearm extending from you.))

606459
((Aha, that's a bit of a snag, eh? In my defense, flat spins ARE possible with aircraft. Indeed, test pilots regularly throw their planes into said flat spins in order to test the recovery ability of the aircraft. It takes some skilled aileron and rudder control, but it's possible and done quite often. It's also possible to force the spin by landing at speed and digging one of my hooves into the ground, using the other to stabilize the polearm and bracing the end of the weapon against the back of my planted hoof. By crouching and flaring my wings for balance, I could theoretically use centripetal force to turn in a circle. ))

((ALSO, can you CopyPaste Chainlinc's ruling into here? I can't find it in my inbox.))

((Nevermind, found it.))

606484

((True points, but you're neglecting two things. First, controlled spins and recoveries are done to practice escape from stall condition, and are done at high altitude. Coming at me that close to the ground, you'd crash without any help from me .
Now, grounding yourself to turn, that I could believe, though you have the problem of having to stop, convert all your forward momentum into rotational motion, starting from pointing at me. This means you'd have to complete a full circle swing, within six feet of me, which would leave you almost laughably open. Also, in order to do this through the staff, you'd have to do it in range of the staff, and out of range of me, as the staff is held in front of me. You might be able to drift the needed foot or two to close that distance in the spin, but again, the move is still incredibly slow and easy to block.))

606515
((Ahaha, okay then! These are things worth considering that I kinda derped on.

IN THAT CASE, I'm going to go with the original ruling from Chainlinc, but with some modifications. Namely forseeing the oncoming crash and tucking into a ball. Going to get that rejudged then....))

606526 ((Okay! Well, at least we got that cleared up! Maybe we should be drawing diagrams I guess we'll just delete the posts after the post in question))

606560
((This is a very good idea. Do you has deviantArt?))