Drifting Pollen

Dark god Darko welcomes challangers

This was no wagon. Nor was it a cart, carriage, caravan or chariot, or even a simple automobile or Animated Transport Unit. Eleanor couldn't feel any of the right vibrations as the rumbled its rickety way down the rambling roads, and the faint sound of its engine was definitely not something so simple as the puffing, clattering mechanisms she was used to. What was it, then? After some consideration, she decided that she couldn't possibly tell. Unlike her stuffy elder brother, Eleanor had no room in her head for all those clicky, sparky, infinitely complicated machines, all the excess toil and knowledge required for an inefficient means of manipulating the deeper energies of the universe.

Its confounding complexity aside, however, the disguised box-on-wheels did make for a very smooth ride. Eleanor sat quietly inside, hands on her lap, silently staring off into space while trying to ignore the man in black armor and his strange doings. So steady was the journey and so absentminded the girl that she barely noticed when the former finally came to an end, the woods a barrier blocking the ways forwards. It took her a moment to register the sudden end of motion, but after that she was quick to step out, into cold air thick with the scent of blood and dark magic.

She quickly shied away from the others, careful not to get in their way. A small, bony waif of a young woman, Eleanor certainly looked frail enough to be knocked down by an accidental collision. A large pair of dark goggles covered her eyes completely, making an already long face look almost otherworldly. Her clothes were a mix of leather and cloth and burlap, dull brown and clinging tight to her slim form, the sort of simple but elegant getup that might have accentuated her curves, if she'd had any. Gloves, boots, a thick belt holding up several pouches, dark hair tied back in a messy ponytail- all fairly common features, things might find on any peasant girl who so happened to live near this desolate land. The only particularly strange characteristics about her were the gold pocketwatch she clutched tightly in one hand, and the clearly visible scar that ran all the way around her neck in a neat circle, a mark left over from when her head had been sown back on.

"It's cold."

Her voice was quiet and airy, nervous as the reclusive chimney sweep declaring her love for a handsome prince. A faint rasp in it, as well. "And this place doesn't like us."

The words were soon proven true, as rain began to pour and screams rang out, animals died and dark things crept about. Eleanor shivered, and glanced at Satori. "That... and it smells bad. Thank you for the opportunity, Miss, I have no further worries." With that, she stepped forwards, heading into the woods. "Off we go..."

Wars of Fandom.

This sounds like it could be fun, in a ridiculous kind of way.

Yeah, 40k and stuff would utterly wreck Percy Jackson's earth and probably everything Earthbound has in a semi-realistic fight, but I reckon the only way to pull off a crossover as insane as this would be to throw the rules out the window and just go with whatever seems awesome. Instead of trying to ruthlessly beat each other, we try to have a cool battle with as many explosions as possible!

Anyways, if this thing ends up getting started somehow, then what the heck, I'll stand for the Homestuck fandom. That pretty much ensures ridiculousness!

Arena Chat Thread

How do you mount an attack in a high level swordfight without just being dodged and countered? (not complaining about my current battle btw) I'm just curious.

@Dynamo Frokane

Having done some myself... the best way is to launch an attack, anticipate how they will counter it, then come up with a counter for their counter that they can't re-counter because their counter put them in a position that makes it impossible for them to counter your counter to their counter.

Which is about as easy as it sounds.

What it probably comes down to, however, is paying attention to detail. I was in one really long and technical swordfight a while back, with crazy counters flying back and forth, and I ended up winning because my opponent apparently forgot what had been written about footing in the previous few posts, and ended up making an attack that put him right in front of my blade's point. I was using a rapier, so that was that!

Another thing to remember is to use your surroundings, and maybe have some other tricks up your sleeve. My rapier fencer character doesn't just try to stab people: over the course of his fights, he's snuck around and ambushed a challenger, thrown his hat at an enemy as a distraction, tried to push an opponent down a staircase, and flung a cloak at someone to blind them. There's no guarantee this sort of thing will work, but it adds some nice variety and fun to a tricky swordfight.

im drunk you dookie eating poopsnuffing pulitzer prizewinners

had some bruskies man, an im feelin no pain. rolling rock is the good stuff.

@Doc Doctor

Good for you! Hope you have a happy Easter :)

Arena Chat Thread

How does the hit-manning fit into the whole non-lethal format of the league though? :P

@Vordak

He's aiming for an alternative lifestyle, one that would let him use his talents while still living a comfortable life (without having to worry about getting found out and having to go on the run). His abilities actually work well for winning non-lethally, so long as he's not using guns.

Arena Chat Thread

What does your character do Pollen? Don't suppose they might be hired to investigate some unsavoury characters appearing out of no-where?

@MelonHead

My character is a hit man... so he'd probably be hired to kill them.

On the other hand, he's also the type who'd turn on his employers if he saw a better opportunity.

Arena Chat Thread

Doesn't quite seem like this is going to work out - at least, i'm out of ideas. But its not too big of a deal in the end, since the league is an 'every man for himself' event.

@Vordak

True. I was gonna mess you up either way, so it's not like a hypothetical prior encounter would have changed much :P

Arena Chat Thread

Here's another question though: by the looks of it, Melon's character comes from an Earth where magic is existent; my character (surprisingly) does too. What about Pollen's though? Would that be a common point, or does their character come from a more mundane version of the exact same planet, without magic?

@Vordak

My character doesn't really use 'magic' (his powers are pretty mundane, mostly biological enhancements), but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to have it exist in his world. Even if it didn't, he'd have to have gone wandering a bit to reach the GCL in the first place, so he could easily have ended up running into an alternate Earth or something by accident.

EDIT: sounds like it fits in better with Melon's... so maybe it'd work best for Vordak to be the one who ends up happening upon the Melon/Pollen Earth.

Arena Chat Thread

Just climb into a TARDIS. Problem solved.

@Darth

IDK. Maybe we could do something like Looper, where Vordak's character gets sent to the past for my character to kill him, except he ends up going too far back and meeting Melon's character instead...

Arena Chat Thread

@Vordak Definitely sounds like you've cooked up an interesting fighter...

Though as Melon said, linking them would have to involve weird time-shenanigans. Mine's from present-day Earth (or thereabouts).