The Eternal Vigilance (The Maw)

[Exodus]

DUEL VERDICT

 

Sarna vs. Relmis

 

Spoiler

 

The most pleasant part of this process was that the two participants worked with one another throughout this entire endeavor, and not a whisper was heard from it. I personally did not hear a single complaint, and even though no situation is without their issues, it seems to me that the two of you have handled this situation better than any other I’ve seen. Hats off to the maturity between you two.

 

Now, the two of you will have to excuse me for the time that this took, but I really did my research on this and broke down every post, the situations before, and the situations that may come after, before digging into the duel itself. (Next time, request a judge before you get to the final round, they can trace the duel better. Lol)

 

Let’s dig in. First post was mostly uneventful, but did lead with Sarna evaluating her course of action, definitely justified in skipping the parlay due to the dire circumstances. She engages her target with a mixture of telekinetic force and readying her lightsaber for action. Kern immediately raises the ante in his first post, but in this, I found a few things that raised my eyebrows. Claims of immense power are highly questionable, while Kern may naturally be above his rank in wild power (for his time invested in this character and in the dark side), he had never surpassed his rank or absorbed training as a Lord level character (to my knowledge). Still, it is feasible that his powers are slightly augmented by the setting of both the Maw and the Necromantic auras exhibited by the Archivist on the EV (something that all parties have alluded to in the setting around the duel). I’ll return to this point.

 

The assault by Sarna is mostly halted by Kern exhibiting his own telekinetic ability (using considerable energy). With this he would attempt to slow Sarna’s momentum, and meet her blade with his own in a heavy riposte.Considerations here is that Kern is a foot taller than Sandy, and double her weight, so the narration is believable. Then, as momentum favored Kern, he employs what I assume to be an illusionary trick to attack his opponent from all angles. Back to the prior point, access to such a power is usually limited behind the training and instruction found in higher ranks, privileges and powers that this character hasn’t achieved unfortunately (especially with the amount of time you’ve had him here, which may be to no fault of your own. Find Exodus, he’ll get you there). This is a bit of an over-step, power usage unwarranted, in my opinion.

 

Kern re-engages with a flourish of lightsaber strikes and then pivots while in CQ to slam his knee into her midsection, punching her chest with enough force to crush ribs. I remember you from days of old Kern, and I’m not sure if you have been made aware, but auto-hits are now severely frowned upon and are ruled against in the form of duels;

 

- You should not post your opponent's actions in a duel AT ALL. This includes posting damage caused, movements and speech. The correct protocol is to post initiating an attack or attempting a maneuver, but refraining from posting how it affects one's opponent.- 2. Combat Rules, under Roleplaying Rules and Guidelines

 

Now with this, momentum turns, and both duelists have entered into their respective forms. Sarna centers herself, steadies herself and lashes out to engage all that has been thrown at her. Both duelists stuck to their guns and Sarna found herself crafting with telekinesis again. This assault overall must have been mis-read between the two of you, because as I saw it, she pulled for a steam of shards and fired them all at Kern. He acknowledges this in his post, but registers it differently than it seemed to be intended. He even mentions pulling the better part of the lance from his face and spitting it out. Letting the shards hit collectively like that, would be far more damaging to his face, granted the mask absorbed the initial impact. But his face would be in ruin from an attack that could have easily been avoided. (It was accepted on the pretense of allowing her to feel like she is winning, which is a hard gamble.)

 

Enjoyed that Kern really carried the emotion and momentum of the duel, and stuck to his mental assaults on the group at large. In your second post however, you’ve mismanaged the shards hitting your face and now a lightsaber strike that has punctured your body (inches from your heart). Kern is a powerful apprentice, but his power usage is scaled too high and now he is brutally battered beyond what you describe. I love his tenacity, but in ruling, he’s beating himself with auto-hits. (Which comes again at the end of the post: A slew of auto-hits and controlling the actions/reactions of the opponent. Elbow to the jaw, no chance to brace herself, brutal kick to midsection that sends her into a pile of heavy containers). 

 

Moving into the final act, Sarna acknowledges the exhaustion of battle, accepting the illegal auto-hits and writing the consequences of them into her actions. The auto-hits and controlling of her character actually plays in her favor, and you essentially make it harder on yourself each time it is done. She essentially sticks to her guns, and plays it dangerously safe, firing off more projectiles to Kern. I did not notice her igniting the vibroblades, or directing where it was intended to hit. So the one that buried itself into his shoulder could have been moved into his robotic limb. The damage there is questionable. 

 

This far, Sarna has played it smart, and Kern has played it aggressively. Momentum stayed in the hands of the apprentice, but the errors of duel decorum continued to eat at his progress. Sarna excelled at taking the illegal damage, and using it to separate herself from her foe and let him burn out with abilities and a usage perhaps beyond his control (even despite the reservoir of dark energy about the place). Sarna was careful in her executions, revealed her wear and tear, and remained centered in her focus despite the invariables sent her way. Creating distance between herself and her opponent was what stole that momentum from Kern, and isolated him in his grave injuries and continued force burn. The efforts of an experienced Knight, one such as Sandy Sarna should not be weighed lightly through narration just because the opponent believes her to be that way. Her speed and her control of usages of the force are not automatically inferior.

 

However, the final play of the duel was one that even caught me off guard, and had me digging deeper to see if it all was viable. The positioning, the planning, and getting Sarna exactly where you needed her to be, was in your cards the entire way through. This surprised me, because I thought you just pulled it out of your ass on the fly. You didn’t, and that was awesome. The second (and hidden) lightsaber, was mentioned before the duel had been close to a start, and the use of NPCs to keep all parties occupied in the landing bay (just as they came from the boarding tunnels), was commendable. 

 

Good duel to the both of you, but there can only be one.

The winner is Sandy Sarna, Jedi Knight.

 

All in all, Sarna ended her post on a note of mixed defense and offense (hoping that the barrage connected). And Kern, riddled with dire wounds, now makes a play to vacuum the landing bay. I will allow his last ditch effort to connect, SLOWLY opening the vessel up as the klaxons of the ship blare loudly. But the rest of the narration (concerning everyone else's characters, the debris, and anything else is up to how Sandy spells it out.) Sandy buried that vibroblade into your shoulder and Kern is failing physically to the grave wounds in his chest and face. Sandy Sarna has the first post, and control of what happens now. 

 

Here are now some thoughts surrounding the conclusion of this duel;

 

• Both ships that are connected to the docking tunnels, (one is supposed to be city-size?) had to be extremely careful in their positionings because of the neighboring black holes.
• You both have mentioned that this ship has no power, (or is acting in a low-powered state)
• It is an abandoned Jedi vessel, run by an NPC who is using dark necromantic power to action a work-force, essentially a crew of zombies..
• I personally don’t know how this ship has sat inside the Maw all this time, nor do I think it is justified by positioning alone when all the narration seems to imply that these black holes are extremely close and even the slightest miscalculation of ships trying to board this thing, can spell immediate danger.
• Can we see this EV become unhinged from it’s invincible positioning, and begin to get swallowed up by these powerful black holes, triggering an immediate evacuation event? This is just a suggestion on my end.

 

Well fought you two, I apologize for this wall of text but it had to be done. There is no real loser in this, and I do hope that we take the time to review some of the rules and freshen up on how these things are run. Kern really had an edge to start the match, but I would suggest pairing up with someone to get the character the advancement he needs so that he can truly unleash, and that you keep in mind that controlling the actions of others or posting auto-hits will severely dampen your chances of victory.

 

Hit me up if you guys want to discuss. Thanks!