Drifting Pollen

Superheroics 101

Sweet post from Skillshot there :)

Anyways, now we have an aging gangster and a homeless inventor with a monkey. Can't wait to hear from them!

Black Mountain Tournament: Iolanthe vs Sigurd

You'd think so, but usually when someone writes something they write it because they're certain it will work. So confronting someone on something they're sure of is pretty difficult, it's like how often do you think you've managed to debate someone successfully enough to change their opinion on something? It's hard as hell. Judging from a third party is just fairer and takes the bite out of OOC arguments and whatnot.

@MelonHead

Then how do so many fights in the Arena proceed without a judge's intervention?

How did Doc Doctor and DJAtomika finish their fight without ever needing me to step in?

How have I myself been able to work out differences with my opponents in similarly technical and competitive fights?

As I said, I understand it is helpful to have a third party around to decide things sometimes. But you should at least freaking try to understand where the opponent is coming from, and cite what is written in the fight (or in outside sources) if you feel they may need convincing.

If you insist

This entire action required Iolanthe continue pivoting her right leg behind her left, so that once again, she fully lead with her hoplon. She leaned back a bit, to give the side of her shield closest to her head room to thrust up, and would begin ducking under her shield afterwards.

@Chimera

There's the shield.

"a straight double-edged blade of around 85 to 110 cm (33 to 43 in)" - Wikipedia page on longswords.

2 feet of space is between Iolanthe and Sigurd, roughly. The span of Iolanthe's body is another 1-2 feet, once she pivots so that her spear-held arm is practically withdrawing behind her.

@Chimera

Sigurd's arm will take up some of the two feet between them, and assuming the sword is average length for a longsword, that would put it at over three feet long. The pivot, no matter how fast, probably wouldn't get Iolanthe's forearm out of reach.

And 15 lbs is a reasonable weight, Melon agrees that it's heavy. No problem there.

As for the trade-off, I already said it seems pretty fair, based on the ruling and circumstances. Dunno if Chimera will take issue with it or not, but honestly I don't see anything wrong there...

Black Mountain Tournament: Iolanthe vs Sigurd

@Chimera I'm going to have to ask you two to work those details out between yourselves, if you can? I'm fine with stepping in when you get stuck on a major disagreement, but I'm not here to referee every minuscule detail of the fight.

@MelonHead Seems fair enough to me. As I mentioned above, though, Chimera's the one you'd want to work things out with.

Tldr; I'm here if you need me, but honestly a lot of this stuff should be fairly simple for both of you to figure out and/or compromise on.

Black Mountain Tournament: Nicoli D'Angelo vs Trixi Hex

As far as I can tell, they'd both hit.

Nicoli's jab was a very fast, stable move. On the other hand, Trixi's response (to drop to one knee) would likely be slower, not getting her quite out of the way on time. The stab might not hit exactly where Nicoli wanted it to, but would still likely end up landing. It's unlikely that a stab wound like that would completely disable the arm, but it would cause a lot of bleeding and make it painful/difficult to move (probably would disable an ordinary person's, but that'd be mostly from the pain/shock, which wouldn't apply so much here).

As for Trixi's attack, Shiden is right about it taking less than two seconds. Nicoli's knife was faster than this attack, however, he did virtually nothing to avoid it, assuming his armor would take the hit. Trixi's drop is likely an unexpected move, and even with its slower speed compared to Nicoli's stab, it would still be fairly quick. The stab itself is too high up the arm to entirely stop the attack (even if it did disable the limb and stop the upper arm in its tracks, momentum alone would carry the baton to its target, which would be within reach already), and even if Nicoli were to see it coming and step back, if he's close enough to get her with a dagger then he's too close to step back away from a 16-inch baton on time, especially not when he was focused on his own attack.

The electrical shock would not apply immediately upon contact due to timing (she should have charged it up beforehand), but it's still a pretty strong hit even with just the baton. Nicoli's Spider Step might keep him stuck in place, but that would just make the impact on his knee even more jarring, definitely enough to make it painful to put his weight on it after that. Also, having charged the shock, Trixi now has the option of deploying it in future posts.

In short, pretty nasty strikes on both sides. This is probably to be expected in a close-range fight between lightly armored opponents... indeed, most ancient duels did not last long. Unless someone decides to pull a retreat, this could end in the next couple moves. Good stuff so far!

Black Mountain Tournament: Nicoli D'Angelo vs Trixi Hex

I could step in and make a judgement if needed (MelonHead and Chimera had already made me do that twice), but I'm not sure it's really necessary here? It looks like you two are just making sure things are clear, and while there have been some different points brought up, there's been no disagreement so far. So I see no reason not to just get on with posting... some details may not be precisely worked out, but they may not need to be.

IDK. If you two really would rather I step in, I can, but I find it's usually best when players resolve things themselves.

Superheroics 101

Well, we'll find out how it goes when we actually get going with the missions...

I think @Foxxie is the only one who still needs to post? Unless we're waiting for more characters.

Black Mountain Tournament [Scarifar Vs Vordak]

Should be okay. The second version is better, if anything, since it makes it more clear what the effect is. Basically pretty similar, though (I freaking hate breathing in smoke :P )

Superheroics 101

Maybe this team does stand a chance!

@Turnaround Amy

*adjusts glasses* Approximate probability of success is one in five hundred and sixty-nine million, three hundred and four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one. Technically, this does qualify as a "chance."

Black Mountain Tournament: Iolanthe vs Sigurd

Is the ruling really that Iolanthe must lose a hand? I'd figure bashing his funny bone would be enough. The full length of his sword shouldn't even be getting close.

I say this because - he's wielding the sword in his right arm, and the shield is in Iolanthe's left. He's leading with his right, she's leading with her left. The closest points between them are Iolanthe's shield, and Sigurd's sword. I don't see her defense faltering here, it's just so simple...

@Chimera

Not so simple as that. Also, as I said, you might not lose the hand.

If you'll recall, when I last left you two, Sigurd's swordpoint was left somewhere just over Iolanthe's right shoulder. It's effectively already past the shield. Additionally, the arm is pretty flexible, and a smack like that simply wouldn't be enough to stop it, especially not with the angles you described... might have been better to just try and get it in the way of his sword.

Sword is not so close. She freaking bashed it out of the way.

EDIT: Look, I didn't budge for Melon, and I won't budge here either. I've been through the posts with as fine a comb as I can muster, spent ages double-checking details on the characters and weapons, and literally acted out the scenarios to make sure the positioning was possible.

Maybe you see things differently, and maybe from your point of view, I am wrong. However, these fights ultimately come down to writing. As an impartial observer, I read carefully over both the posts, and came to the conclusions I did, led there only by what I read. If my interpretation differed from yours, perhaps it would be best to make sure you're expressing yourself clearly.

Tldr; I'm working based on what both players wrote IC, not on arguments made here.

Black Mountain Tournament: Iolanthe vs Sigurd

Yeah, I'd honestly have to go with Melon here...

His sword is long enough that he wouldn't even have to hold his arm out at this range, and even if he were, it wouldn't be particularly near the hoplon. Unless he was doing something crazy like raising the sword all the way over his head (which wasn't the impression I was getting), it'd be difficult to stop initially. On top of this, Sigurd is stepping forwards with the blow, adding momentum and making it more difficult to stop with the shield. Of course, even with this, the pivot combined with the shield getting in the way would be enough to get her arm out of his blade's path... except her arm has a massive freaking spear in tow, and is trying to maneuver it. Sigurd's arm would likely end up glancing off the shield, but even if it did, it would still be able to swing down far enough to get that long blade down on her forearm. I actually took the time to act out both sides of this as carefully as I could, and from what I can tell the shield hitting the arm as described simply wouldn't hinder its swing enough. Not sure it'd straight-up chop her arm off, since it'd be hard to get the angle of the blade right while practically everything involved is moving, but it'd definitely get through and do some damage, all things considered.

As for the sweep... at first, I was wondering what the issue was, since it seemed like a pretty simple move. On the other hand, upon reviewing Iolanthe's character profile, it's clear what the problem is. Hyperion is a big, long, and likely quite heavy weapon, and using it to make quick slashes at the legs is definitely not an easy feat... it's possible, yes, based on the positioning, to get it under the shield and make a quick strike at the leg, but to do that you'd need to literally drag its point across the ground, and then getting it up to the freaking thigh after that is... I guess it's possible, considering Iolanthe knows her weapon well, but it'd be carrying too little momentum by the time it made contact to really do much. Might cut in a little, and it'd certainly hurt because of the heat, but Sigurd wouldn't be getting much more than a graze/burn from that.

That make sense to you both?