Crimson Throne Arena - 100 yard diameter circular fighting ground. Sixty years of death has resulted in the arena being littered with thousands of cracked teeth and bone chips, easily identifiable to one who'd examine a handful of the blood tinted sand.

Battle Theme:

@Doc Doctor Post is up. Sorry about the wait, had a busy day.

@Doc Doctor Forgot to tag you earlier. Post is up.

@Doc Doctor Post is up.

@Liliya

The timing is a bit off.
Zande hadn't turned with ill perception, he'd have done so when it was comfortable to him to initiate his actions as intended. He'd not have fired the second shot before she'd been four feet from him, and the initial shot took place earlier enough for him to have been moved fully around before she was in the range she had initially intended to attack from. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm a bit hazy with the details, but they did start around thirty feet away from each other, with Zande moving away? He'd have plenty of time to estimate the date of interception. He'd not have had poor footing at all at the apex of the clash. He'd have turned and appropriated his footing, axe raised, before she had attacked, which I'd mentioned. What I'm basically saying is he wouldn't have misjudged the timing he needed to turn and properly meet an opponent unless they had altered their speed significantly at an inopportune moment, which Abby hadn't. He'd not awkwardly turn at the last second and trip over his own feet, utterly out of synch with his axe to the point of not being able to deflect an attack, if that makes sense.

Keep in mind his sparth axe likely weighs about as much as her entire polearm, and they are both wielding the large weapons one-handed. I'd like to say that Zande is objectively the physically stronger, and though Abby has the superior leverage with her chambered strike, Zande has the raw power of a full swing. If the weapons did clash, I should debate that the (sort of) perpendicular force of Zande's axe whacking into the side of the polearm as it extends would result in it being deflected off course, as there is little to no sideways force to oppose it. Her forwards momentum does lend power to her blow, but still, it's linear power that's subject to being forced off course.

That being said, it does seem like her polearm can block the venom if she swings the broad at Zande's face. He's taller, so for her to do that it'd wind up breaking her line of sight with his blowpipe, thus saving her eyes.

Just making sure we're on the same page, if you have any conflicting opinions, I'll hear 'em! I just don't want to commit to a post under the wrong assumptions.

That being said, don't change anything in your post after you've read this. Tell me your thoughts first. I do have a few solutions to the predicament you've given me that I might want to try out regardless.

P.S-
Could you show me a picture that closely resembles Abby's polearm? If it's not too much trouble.

@Doc Doctor Absolutely.



That, but steel axe/spear/pick and a bronze haft (presumably a two piece weapon riveted together, but I didn’t think ahead far enough to specify that in the sheet. The pick itself would be thinner and not conical like the above, more similar to the below picture).

Sorry about the wait, but I wanted to be absolutely sure that I wasn't missing something so I went back over everything and ran it through on paper, in my head and irl a few times.

I absolutely think Zande could get the weapon deflected off the line, he’s the physically superior opponent and besides, a hundred pound trained fighter can deflect a blow with a strike to the correct angle, but I'm a bit confused as to where you think the weapon is being deflected to. Directly stopping the blow from a standstill against a charging opponent seems unlikely to me, and I ran it through in a kata/scripted fight all Hollywood Dojo style earlier to make sure I wasn’t missing anything obvious, but if you think Zande could do it I'll totally give it to you. To my thinking it's a terrible position for him, though.

My timeline is that Aibhilin moved toward him and covered the thirty feet or so, giving him ample time to draw and load his blowgun and the secondary pouch of venom (super cool idea by the way, I've never seen that in a fight before) before she could reach him. As she was still moving he turned and fired, the dart hitting the broadside of her halberd's axehead. She then stepped to the opposite direction he had turned (you said counter-clockwise, and he was facing away from her so I take that to mean left) to which she stepped opposite (now Aibhilin's right, his left) to put the maximum distance between herself and his dart gun while swinging with her polearm and, at this point she was most open to the spit attack which I'm assuming occurred simultaneously with her strike. If it did not he'd be spitting, not using a hose or water gun, spitting a little ball of liquid eight to six feet at best at an opponent who had not yet struck with her axe and would still have been holding it over her face and most of her eyes, head tucked and moving, which I consider to be an impossible hit.

Assuming he spit as she stepped and began the slash he'd have to fire across his entire body or step to the side to square off with her (which if he's swinging with any intent with his right arm toward her blow I assume he would want to stay planted rather than try and step in time with his swing into a blow he didn't necessarily see coming). If that's all correct then her left eye would be mostly visible to his perspective, but if he's swinging right as she is swinging from his right (she is physically to his left side and forward of him, but the halberd is held at three quarters of the length in her left hand, thus the strike at a tucked elbow length would still be to his right traveling left). The problem is that if he is actually doing that while holding a blowgun at his mouth in his left hand and firing the spit attack to my thinking, and what seemed to be backed up when I ran through it is the deflection is actually sending her blade into Zande's left arm, currently crossed over his left side and gripping a blowgun at his mouth.

There are two problems here. First Zande is traveling directly in front of his blowgun as it's pointed toward Aibhilin's face with his axe if he blocks from the right, which would absolutely mean the spit attack would land on Zande's right arm, axe, Aibhilin's weapon, her left arm, and helm with almost no chance of landing in her eyes through all the traffic (it's a little ball of venom after all, this isn't a fire hose that has equal water pressure over a large surface area) and in addition to this Zande is actually deflecting the blow into his own arm while holding a blowgun. This isn't a strong enough blow to do much to Zande’s steel mask beyond knocking some teeth out from the kinetic energy of the strike and maybe knock him on his butt, but to my thinking if that went into his forearm it would go through it, and then through the bicep behind it, and the fight would just be over. I can't see Zande making that choice.

Otherwise he could loop under the blow and try to deflect it up, which would be a much longer journey then Aibhilin's straight lined slash and she has the advantage of proactively rather than re-actively striking or blocking, or loop up and then slash downward to try and tank it into his breastplate, the safest option I could see running through it but still a longer journey then her strike. The second issue I noticed is that because he pivots to fire, he’s almost certainly too planted to get off the line enough to entirely deflect the blow away from himself. Unless he pivoted and side stepped directly away from Aibhilin which wasn’t mentioned but is of course doable, in which case from his perspective he would now be facing her axe head or, if he really jumped backward, her spear point, both of which would be easily reacted to by her as she moved either into Zande’s right leaning momentum or completely (in the case of his having moved backwards entirely) geared toward a simple lunge/thrust and place Zande’s momentum either going into her strike or backward, which would mean that he’d now be facing down a spear point while going backwards and totally able to deflect it but not without being caught by the thick of the pick (or axe if she twisted the haft with the thrust in the Chinese fashion) while moving backward, almost certainly putting him on the ground and very open to a follow up.

I mean, I’m just doing this for fun, so if you want to say the spit landed, or missed, and Zande deflected the blow and just reset from there I’m totally game for that, but in any realistic fighting sense I think turning your back on an opponent with a halberd who then runs at you and swings, to which you respond with spitting in their eyes through a blowgun while trying to deflect the blow from a standstill and toward a strike at the same level as your head (keeping in mind the strike, and your blowgun are both at Zande’s head level so there isn’t any difference in strike zone as there would be if you were striking at the shorter Aibhilin’s head or she was firing and holding the blowgun) is a zero chance of survival situation. Mostly I just wouldn’t turn my back on someone with a halberd, but again, I’m doing this for fun. If you want to say Zande legitimately sidestepped while firing and blocking against a strike whose angle he couldn’t have predicted and reacted to quickly enough to outpace a proactive and aggressing opponent all accurately and simultaneously I’d just as happily go from there, especially because otherwise I think the fight is going to end quickly and who wants that? I’m here to cross some blades and bleed while making him bleed after all. If I’m missing something by all means let me know, but I ran it out a few times and I’m pretty sure it’s just an unwinnable position except through the acceptance of it just went good for Zande through a turn of fate type of deal, which I am open to and highly recommend.

Just let me know where you want them positioned and whether the spit hit or missed, and if the halberd was deflected and in what direction relative to Aibhilin's position when we pick it back up.

@Liliya

It's fine, I couldn't possibly accept a handicap or suggestions, even for my own good in a shits and giggles fun fight. I love to experiment with various gambits and moves, the least I can do is play through even if I'm being a dumbass. You can ask @RiDaku. I've fought players one armed, with my back permanently turned, unarmed, with arms crossed, with an opponent two feet in front of me and one two feet behind me, blindfolded, bent double between my own legs like a hermit crab, and whilst from a face down on the ground starting position, I shit you not. Has it always worked out? No, nononono, NO. But hey, that's how you learn to handle tough spots. At any rate, like I said I have a few ideas on what to do and don't need a post change. I mostly wanted to be clear that Zande's stance was solid and he was ready. By the way, he'd only have carried on with a set course of action if he'd have blinded her.

I'll post after I get some sleep, just finished a shift.

P.S-

It'd not be a ball of liquid at all, but a spray like when you puff water out a jumbo straw, not that I find it too important though as her axe would be well in the way.

P.S.S-

Just one more question. How far again is her grip from the head of her polearm, and have you an idea of approximately how far her torso would be from Zande at the moment her blow was expected to land? I don't usually beggar details, but it looks like this is an exception considering how many vital factors there are. Also, how fast is she moving and which foot is leading? Zande's lead foot is his left, given the direction he turned.

@Doc Doctor I didn't see any question above, "Just one more question," but her hand would be at three quarters of the length (so I'd say two feet between the tip of the spear and her hand, and about a foot and four inches from her hand to the tip of the axehead) and the length of a forearm (around seventeen inches sounds right to me for a five foot ten woman) so I'd say Zande is three feet and five inches from her left flank, and the rest of her torso minus bust is around fifteen/sixteen inches to the opposite flank, so anywhere between three feet and five inches to her leftmost and closest to Zande point of, "torso," and four feet eight/nine inches to her furthest away, "torso," from Zande's perspective, if that makes any sense. Her left foot is leading and across her right in the Chinese style (picture below) not because she was taught to fight that way, but because she was still working to keep her left flank opposite from Zande's face/blowgun and it felt like the most natural stance/stepping point when I worked through it. So her left foot has just planted, and her right is couched behind, though not flat so that she could still step back and around or launch a spinning donkey kick or something (not that she'd have the background to think about doing that) So technically her right foot is closest to Zande, but her left is leading (she side-stepped so it isn't as straight forward here as lead foot is closest). She isn't much of a sprinter, so I'd say that she's hitting around fifteen miles per hour at top 100m dash kinda sprint which is super standard for an athletic woman below thirty five (for reference the London Olympic Women's qualifying 100m speed was 19.8mph.

The feet would be like this, but standing higher/taller at the legs and hips and obviously raised higher at the arms and shoulders as Aibhilin is swinging for Zande's head and not trying to whack his leg. Also her torso is quite far forward, Aibhilin's would be tucking into the blow and bent slightly at the right hip while thrusting it forward and into the hit.

@Liliya

Here are two other angles from old pictures that show his pauldron spikes in better detail.

@Doc Doctor The kinetic energy from the blow would still be a major hit to the shoulder, the pauldron spikes are of course not going to take noticeable damage but the reverberation would probably echo through the steel, into the hauberk and padding and break the shoulder, but I'll give it to you and Zande that he's a bad ass and just tanked it without the shoulder being meaningfully injured and with the wherewithal to grip and hold a halberd with the hand of the same arm. Moving left is probably not actually enough to get out of the way of her punch dagger, but he knew she was up to something with the right hand so I'll assume he really bolted back and outside to overcompensate and get into range to use the halberd as a range-control tool against a presumably small thrusting weapon like her punch dagger, which left me only one real option. I hope you're up for round two of Doc Doctor vs. Liliya: Wrestling Edition.

@Doc Doctor I saw the post, but it's too late for me to start on another until tomorrow.

@Liliya

I've been editing it quite a bit before I realized you'd already scoped it out, so take another look when you can. Mostly grammar fixes and replacing words with shit that sounds better.

Furthermore, think of how I perceived it. Abbey's blow had been described originally as a teeth-knocker-outer, but now I should assume it can break the shoulder of a strong man through a pauldron much more secure than his steel mask. I know a halberd can easily fuck someone up through armor, but I was basing that off of with how much power the attack was described to have. If it could break his shoulder, then it ought to have been able to break his face outright.
Also, I didn't quite say so summarily that he 'moved left'. He stepped back onto his left foot. The idea was he step away from Abbey and put her in his center line, not move towards or oddly adjacent to her.

I'm actually a little confused about /exactly/ where she is relative to him, whether it be nearer his flank or still out in front of him a step to the side, me, my , mo. Again, I shoulda asked earlier

What's going on I think, is I have my own idea of where she is, and you have your own idea, and we initially thought we were on the same page, but we aren't.

That aside, it's good you wanted this fun fight, I must say. It's giving me the chance to figure out ways to improve past these little difficulties (knock on wood).

@Doc Doctor Been out all night, totally too tired to write a proper response. I'll have it up tomorrow, sorry.

@Doc Doctor Post is up. Sorry about the wait, I was way too out of it to even try and attempt to get anything out last night. I think we were on two different pages, but I assume we aren't any more, right? Seeing as the position has changed to the ground and there isn't as much wiggle room to have on where they are. The distances are basically touching at this point and the angles and threat ranges are easier to ascertain because of it.

On mutually agreed upon hold due to general confusion and because Ewoks vs. Predator seemed like more fun.