Howl of Northern Winds | Team 2 - Bronze Round
Arena starter for @diadic, @gradible, & @estians
Another dream. The last one was still fresh. The knight, the shifting landscapes, the blood that would not spill, the same starting place again and again and again. That one had been the product of an enchanted book, they said. This one, as far as Jeritza could tell, had sprung from the darkness of his own mind: a winter tundra as far as the eye could see. Glacial mountains made shadows against the night sky like giant spectators, screaming with the wind that blew from the north.
There were others with him this time. He glanced left and right, assessing whether they were friend or foe and finding that their visages fit holes in his vague memory. Two he knew were students. Nonthreatening. The third was a stranger, and wearing a mask like he did around the monastery. Had Jeritza been concerned with the secrets one kept, he might have suspected the other man of treachery from the start, but the bow he carried was not pointed at him, nor the students.
A roar suddenly shook the mountains all around them and pulled Jeritza’s attention to the northernmost line. The winds had begun to pick up, sending flurries of light snow skimming the flat, frozen earth. Through it padded a four-legged beast, neither wolf nor cougar nor any other animal Jeritza had met in waking life. Water seemed to stream from it, flowing into a crown of ice and hardening in patches along its vulnerable spots like armor. Lowering his stance, gloved fingers tightening around the hilt of the thin, blood-red rapier in his hand, he watched and waited. Then the creature thundered off at lightning speed, its massive claws hardly seeming to touch the ice underneath. It took everything Jeritza had simply to keep it in his line of sight.
As another howl shook the mountains, the beast skidded to a stop some distance away and the water that flowed from it began to cascade in waves across the tundra.
Aurora Beast uses Surging Waves! Gains +8 avoid for next round Jeritza takes -2HP Current HP: 8/10
Jeritza began to run. Head down, left arm raised to shield his face against the onslaught, he met the surge straight on simply to stay on his feet. The ocean had been a novel sight to him when he had been relocated to the coastal Hrym territory some years earlier, but he had become fascinated with the tremendous power of the sea. It was an entity that crushed and swept away anything too weak to stand before it. If one desired to conquer the waves, one had to be like the rocks that stood against them and churned the tides into white foam. A facet of nature worthy of his rarely-earned respect.
The wave crashed down over him, soaking him through from head to foot, but he emerged from it spitting water and running his hand through his hair. He noted dimly that he wasn’t cold - the excitement that had ignited in his veins held the hypothermia at bay for now - and kept wading forward. The beast was there, right in front of him, staring him down with wild eyes that glowed in the winter night. As the water retreated, he lunged out with his blade, cutting through the icy armor to make a shallow cut across its thinly-furred hide.
Jeritza barely hits with Crimson Rapier! Roll: 10 - 8 = 2 Aurora Beast takes -0.5HP Current HP: 9.5/10
It dashed away like the wind, then turned sharply back toward him again and threw its head back to cry for the stars.
Aurora Beast misses with Howling Wind! Roll: 3 - 2 = 1 Jeritza takes -0HP Current HP: 8/10
Jeritza jumped forward, landing on his shoulder and rolling as the last of the water condensed into an icicle and shattered against the ground behind him.
Next: @estians
