The Honor Circle Returns! (IC)

[Dekari]

Sitting at the table Dekari seemed almost lost in thought, his eyes scanning over the bar area.  When his eyes fell on the door that led outside, they stopped.  He sat there for a moment watching the door as though waiting for something to happen.  Closing his eyes with a sigh Dekari looked away from the door.  "I still do not have the courage to forgive you for what you did, I'm sorry."  He said to him self as he stood up and collected his things before walking off towards a darker part of the bar and vanishing from sight.

-----

The main door to the bar as what appeared to be a she-wolf Being walked in with white lower back length hair and wearing black lace corset street pants, an unbuttoned black steampunk military jacket with a red and black stripe halter corset underneath, and black leather short pirate boot.  She looked around the bar with a look almost resembling concern.   Her eyes slowly made their way to the table that Dekari had just been moments before as the look on her face changed to sadness.  "How can I begin to be forgiven for what I have done when the one I whish forgiveness from doesn't want to face me?"  She said to herself.

Azshanas looked back towards the bar and started to walk towards it when the sight of the wolf cubi resting upside-down against the bar caught her attention.  Not being the type that can resist a bit of humor, a small smile broke the sadness on her face as she playfully walked over.  "You know, I may not know how thing work around here here, but um..."  She paused as she bent over the wolf cubi.  "Where I'm from, that's not exactly how you sit at a bar.  Need a hand?"

[Cogidubnus]

 Laertes sang.

The celestial music lingered in the winter air, haunting, a spiritual chill that complemented the more physical cold. The incubus's tentacles wrapped around the angel, ensnaring him and attempting to drag him closer to the ground. He adjusted his grip, and wrapped his arms tightly around the offending appendages, even turning once to entangle himself in them more thoroughly.
The scythe did not seem to resist the tentacles, but neither did it move. It had been anchored, as though chained in place, or the curved blade buried in stone.

The angel closed his eyes, the golden radiance about him shimmering and flickering out. A soft, blue glow emanated through the closed lids, and two things happened.

His hands and forearms sheathed themselves in the same soft, blue glow. They sizzled where they touched Ed's tentacles, an acrid smell like burning flesh drifting up from them. He tightened his grip, his hands sinking into the tentacles before the glow dimmed, the Angel having formed his own handholds into the Incubus's appendages.
The golden radiance flickered, and then turned translucent and pale, forming a film on the Angel's bound wings, and then expanded outwards, until they were ten times that size. The ephemeral aura solidified, forming feathers and curves until a gigantic, translucent pair of angelic wings hovered behind him. They snapped outwards, audibly, and after ponderously rising, gave a titanic beat.

Wind knocked snow loose and flattened the area directly beneath the angel as the gigantic wings sought to lift him and his entangled prey into the air, removing it from it's hiding place in the snow.

[Arroyo Milori]

Arroyo puts his hand to his forehead, covering one eye in the process as a headwind starts to blow by. "Not around here, obviously. I'm a foreigner around these parts." He smiled casually, trying to retain a strong standing position on the platform he was on. 'Just where the hell are we?' He tried to look around at his surroundings but it was too dark to see. He can only assume he's on an aircraft or boat of some sort.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citrine watches Arroyo's match, she sighed in an annoyed way by the match so far. "What good is talking in a fight? It wouldn't be a real fight...more of a debate really..." She rubs the sweat off her face that was spawned by her previous fight.

[Boog]

I'd assumed. Nobody's FROM here, boy. But talk. We're the only company we both have until the fight's over and I'm a people person. Boog went on. The figure under the plane began approaching, feet audibly tapping across the metal surface of the carrier. Something slipped out of its sleeve, knocking against the ground with a 'Bang!' that echoed in the quiet.
And then vanished.
The Boogeyman stepped back into reality behind Arryo, grinning and already swinging the Slugger. Had he been there the whole time?

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace continued to roll a couple more times, to get well clear of Bas. She'd felt the shock of his parry slamming her club into the solid rock; her wrist would probably tingle for a little while from the force of the collision, but there was no serious damage. Sending the Demon's weapon flying was an unexpected bonus, but she wasn't going to rely on that giving her any great advantage. She was used to fighting Demons and other Creatures who only used their own natural weapons, where "disarming" wasn't so easy, but it was a little more... permanent.

The lioness rolled to her feet a bit closer than she liked to one corner of the platform. There was a drop of a couple of feet on one side, and a much deeper drop on the other into one of the water-filled pits. She looked back at her opponent just in time to see him launch his shield right at her. She realised immediately that parrying with her club could easily lead to at least one broken wrist; scratch that idea. She could have simply dodged again, but... no, it was time to let this shaggy-tailed mutt see a bit more of what he was up against in a Kithara adventurer.

Andrace waited a fraction of a second longer, a vicious grin spreading over her muzzle, and at the last moment she lunged sideways, reached up with her left hand and grabbed the edge of the shield as it sailed past her head. The recoil from the impact started her spinning, which she'd expected. But the shield was a good bit heavier and spinning a lot faster than she'd thought.

"Haaaiiieeaargh! Catch, puppy!" she yelled as she whirled completely around and tossed the shield right back where it had come from, putting all her strength into giving it as close as she could get to its original speed and spin. As she watched the return flight, the lioness punched her thigh with her tightly clenched fist, and muttered sulphurous oaths under her breath without repeating herself once. Better not try that again. Her shoulder, elbow and wrist all felt strained, she thought she might have wrenched a claw muscle, and there were a few smears of blood on the wide scrape across her palm-pad. Time to use her head — and not just to smash doors open, as her sister Irene was fond of saying. What was Bas likely to try next, perhaps a flying attack? And how could she best counter it and take the initiative? She had to start anticipating if she was going to have any chance of winning this fight.

[Lisky]

Bas was content with walking.  He could take to the skies, but no, that wouldn't be honorable unless the lioness made a move for her gun.  The firearm was something Bas rather despised, it's very creation was a blight, granting snipers the ability to kill from long distances with little warning.  It allowed the most depraved of beings to feel as if they had the skill to take down a creature, and the boost in confidence those with firearms tended to have often led to misunderstandings that resulted in the death of the wielder.

Suddenly, Bas's train of thought was derailed in the most abrupt and violent manner as he watched his shield suddenly alter course and begin to sail back towards him.  Thinking quickly, the demon lunged to the side, then rolled to his feet as the enormous disk continued to fly towards where he'd been standing.  While the shield was sailing away, Bas noted the dirt and grime collecting on his favorite tunic.  Brushing off a sleeve, he created a quick dispel spell, blinking away the shirt to a pocket dimension.  Flexing his lean body in the sun, the demon cringed a bit at the loudly audible *THWACK!* the shield made as it slammed into another nearby platform.

Holding his arms wide again, the axe he'd lost appeared back in his right, and the shield seemed to blink from existence, disappearing from it's resting place on the nearby platform, only to reappear on the demon's left arm, in a combat ready stance.  From behind the edge of the shield, that same dark, shimmering mist appeared.  With the spell prepared, the now shirtless demon began his agile, almost dance-like stalk towards Andrace.  His teeth shown in a very toothy grin.  "Are we done with the foreplay, kitty?  I think i'm ready to take this up a notch or two."

So saying, the demons pace seemed to increase, the demons wings still moved, but the flaps of flesh that covered them weren't moving as they had before... Bas was hardening his skin for this pass, and if one were watching, his claws, both hand and foot, seemed to be longer, and sharper as well.


*************

Ed hadn't expected to be lifted from the ground, his camouflage instantly removed as the snow-white feline was hoisted into the air with Laertes.  The cold and biting wind were quickly sapping his strength, even with the magic protection from the chill, he felt himself expelling far more energy than he could afford to if this fight continued to drag on.

The feline had already decided he had to fight quick and vicious, he was now about to add 'dirty' to that list as well.  several of the bladed tentacles suddenly grew tighter, sprouting long, vicious clawed fingers, looking more like narrow daggers than fingers.  One in particular kept Ed's focus, bringing it's tip up from between the angel's wings, around, over the top of the jackal's head, another came from under his chin.  The two tentacle hands attempting to grip the Jackal's muzzle in the razor sharp grasp, hopefully cutting off his song, and bringing the weather to a more preferable temperature

[Paladin Sheppard]

The main door to the bar as what appeared to be a she-wolf Being walked in with white lower back length hair and wearing black lace corset street pants, an unbuttoned black steampunk military jacket with a red and black stripe halter corset underneath, and black leather short pirate boot.  She looked around the bar with a look almost resembling concern.   Her eyes slowly made their way to the table that Dekari had just been moments before as the look on her face changed to sadness.  "How can I begin to be forgiven for what I have done when the one I whish forgiveness from doesn't want to face me?"  She said to herself.

Azshanas looked back towards the bar and started to walk towards it when the sight of the wolf cubi resting upside-down against the bar caught her attention.  Not being the type that can resist a bit of humor, a small smile broke the sadness on her face as she playfully walked over.  "You know, I may not know how thing work around here here, but um..."  She paused as she bent over the wolf cubi.  "Where I'm from, that's not exactly how you sit at a bar.  Need a hand?"

Paladin watched the being walk over to his current sprawled in location. "Nay Lass, I just seem to be having a small problem with the rings here, the last one didn't like me or my opponent much." He said through his helmet speakers. "And I doubt ye're able to lift half a ton either."

Using his wings the armored incubus maneuvered himself back onto his feet, then stuck out a gauntlet-ed hand as the other detached the Helmet, and placed it back on his belt. "Thanks for ye offer, I'm Paladin."

[Dekari]

"No matter where you go, you always seem to enjoy your self more when you meet the polite ones first, right?"  Azshanas said as she shook Paladins hand.  "I'm Azshanas.  Nice suit, I would almost say it seems a little out of place here but," she paused as she looked around the bar once more, "it would seem just about everything and everyone is a little out of place here."  She finished as she walked over to a nearby empty stool and sat down with her back leaning against the bar.  "You seem to have some experience with this place, what is it?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace couldn't suppress laying her ears back and lashing her tail in annoyance at the way Bas so easily retrieved his axe and shield. She'd been watching him closely, though, and he did seem to have been a little bit rattled by the way she'd tossed his shield back. Maybe there was something there she could work with...

The Demon's snide comment as he began to advance again drew a grin and a snicker from her, neither of them containing an iota of innocence. "Hey, puppy," she called back, "y' got any other big impressive weapons? Th' one y' wavin' around there totally ain't hittin' on this little kitten — well, not so's I'd notice..." While she was exchanging pleasantries, the lioness hadn't missed noticing the change that had come over Bas's wings and claws. She knew it meant the canine Demon — who, she had to admit, looked pleasantly decorative under that shirt — had at least partly armoured himself. Definitely time to bring the action up a notch or two.

With one hand, she swung her club down and dropped it, giving it a nudge with a paw to roll it into a corner against a taller section of platform. Her other hand rose over her shoulder and drew her sword. The long, slender blade had no mystic runes engraved on it, or any feeling of magic about it, but it did look superbly made out of top-quality steel, and expertly sharpened. The lioness strode forward to meet Bas, holding the sword one-handed. For a moment she appeared to stumble, her free hand swinging out, then she took a two-handed grip on the hilt. All traces of amusement were gone from her expression now; she looked straight at the Demon with a flat, calm stare that seemed to be fixed on the blood vessels inside his throat.

The "stumble" was no such thing. Andrace's magical talent might not amount to much compared to many of her family, and it was tiny compared to her sister Despina's, but she'd been thoroughly trained in ways to get surprising things out of what little she could do. The insignificant little spell she'd cast and tossed in a high arc when her arm swung about was so underpowered it could barely be detected at arm's length — she'd tested this with Despina's help, her sister wearing a pair of welders' goggles as a precaution. If her aim was good, and she'd accurately predicted Bas's line of advance, the spell should hurtle down, split into two and detonate in a heatless pulse like a pair of flashbulbs, each just one inch in front of the Demon's eyeballs.

Now. The lioness abruptly lunged forward to meet Bas, her paws skipping from level to level of the platforms, a low growl rumbling from deep in her chest. With most of her attention fixed on the Demon in case he made an unexpected move, her sword began to rise in a diagonal stroke aimed at his axe-hand. With those claws, a manicure was difinitely in order. She blinked quickly at the precise moment the flash spell should go off.

plink

[Lisky]

Bas continued his leaps, hops and bounds as the distance closed.  He watched as she replaced her large beating stick with something a bit more dangerous.  The large blade in the lioness's hands was far more threatening than the club had been, and as such, when they were getting closer, the demon intentionally interposed the shield about a half-second before the two would be in striking range.  The reaction most likely saved the pain of reattaching several fingers with a powerful healing spell.

The blinding like worked as it should have, catching the demon completely off balance as he dropped the axe to raise his hand in an attempt to shield his eyes, while the shield carrying hand continued to cover the majority of his body from attack.  He felt himself thrown heavily off-balance as a massive impact slammed the shield, and he released the concussion spell he'd readied earlier, hoping the blast and shockwave would buy him enough time for his eyes to recover.

[SpottedKitty]

In hindsight, Andrace realised she needed to work on her timing a bit more for the next time she tried the flashbulb trick. She opened her eyes after the flash just in time to watch her sword skitter loudly and harmlessly over Bas's shield. The lioness was still running forward, so she was the next thing to bounce off the shield, except this collision was much softer. Still she'd hit hard enough to have the wind knocked out of her by the shield's metal centre boss poking her in the stomach. She snarled and raised her sword-arm to take another whack at the Demon, who looked properly dazzled —

WHAM

There was no spectacular flash, and not much of a bang, but something hit Andrace harder than anyone had managed for some time. She wasn't — quite — knocked out, so she had the dubious pleasure of feeling a hammering impact on her chest and stomach, then she tumbled backwards, somehow keeping a firm grip on her sword. She remembered afterwards seeing the sky whirl past under her paws at least once, then she landed with a terrific belly-flop into a pool of chilly water.

Make that chilly water full of seaweed and a few over-curious critters, she corrected herself, as she concentrated on keeping her snout above the surface and restarting her breathing. Something with too many legs had just crawled along her tail, and something else with none at all slithered down the back of her neck. The water wasn't deep, she could feel her toes brushing the weed-encrusted bottom now and then. Andrace pushed thoughts of little wrigglers to the back of her mind and hoped nothing in this pool was poisonous.

Making as little noise as possible, the dazed lioness got her paws under her at last and stood up, in water that was little more than waist deep. Nothing felt broken, and a glance down revealed she might have lost a little fur, but she wasn't bleeding anywhere. It also revealed half of her shirt had been ripped off, fortunately the bottom half rather than the front half: some of her concealed weapons that she'd hoped would be effective against a Demon were inside and behind her collar. She could safely ignore the loss, then, she had spares in her backpack for the tools that had been hidden in the missing chunk of fabric. She wasn't worried about her gun, it could still fire if it was wet, but she'd need to dry and clean it thoroughly after this fight.

Now, where was Bas? Andrace looked up: the edge of the platform she'd fallen off was maybe five or six feet over her head. She could jump high enough to grab the edge, even standing in water this deep, but that would leave her exposed while the Demon could attack at his leisure. Stay down here a moment longer, then. The lioness grinned fiercely. Could she hear footsteps up above? If Bas was stupid enough to poke his snout over the edge looking for her, well, her sword blade could add a good bit to her reach if she jumped straight up.

She sloshed quietly through the water until she was under the point where she'd fallen in, and flattened herself against the wall. The moment anything showed over the edge, she'd leap and thrust her sword up over her head. Just in case Bas had the sense to stay standing when he looked into the watery pit, she fished inside one of her sleeve pockets and pulled out a small throwing dagger. Idly she wondered what a Demon's tonsils looked like...

[Paladin Sheppard]

"No matter where you go, you always seem to enjoy your self more when you meet the polite ones first, right?"  Azshanas said as she shook Paladins hand.  "I'm Azshanas.  Nice suit, I would almost say it seems a little out of place here but," she paused as she looked around the bar once more, "it would seem just about everything and everyone is a little out of place here."  She finished as she walked over to a nearby empty stool and sat down with her back leaning against the bar.  "You seem to have some experience with this place, what is it?"

Sitting down on a stool next to Azshanas, Pal looked around for The Boogyman, but not seeing him assumed he was not around must be off somewhere.

"A Bar that seems to be stuck in some sort of dimensional bubble it seems, with an interesting take on Bar Fights." The wolf grabbed a few peanuts from a bowl while a tentacle reached over the bar, opened the beer fridge and extracted a couple of bottles, while another left a pair of coins in payment. After opening the bottles he handed one to Azshanas.

[Angel]

She watched as he blinked out, and reappeared where he was. She didn't know how, and she didn't care. All she knew was that his getaway strategy wasn't there to help him anymore, and that her blade was cutting deeper and deeper into his neck. She didn't stop, not when they were suddenly in the woods, not when he became a creature more horrific than death, taxes, and boredom combined, not when the woman's face appeared...

And then, silence. Dani Sanders was alone in the circle, with the book, which shut itself, a torn-out page, and Big Bad's gun. Spoils of battle. She'd won.

".........YES!" she cheered, jumping up once and grinning madly again. She was back to her old self as well, it seemed. "I fucking DID IT! I beat the first nightmare! IN! YOUR! FACE!" she yelled at the page, and laughed wildly, doing a small victory dance on the spot. She finally calmed down when she remembered that people could see her, and leaned down to pick up revolver, page, and book.

-----

Sylvie felt her friend's excitement as well as saw it. She had fought for her life and made it, with very few injuries and no sleep spells. Both of them had reason to celebrate. She ran up, and neither of them felt any embarrassment as they hugged and squealed in excitement ("That was so cool!" "I know! I thought I was gonna die!" "I know!"). But after maybe a minute, Dani pushed Sylvie away and took a look at her.

"Why did you change your outfit?" she asked. "And where's Tall, Dark, and Scary?" Then she noticed the dried tears on her friend's face, and her own marked visage grew stony. "Where is that bastard? Did he hurt you?"

"Yes, but I hurt him too, and now he's gone," Sylvie said quickly. "So leave it be."

Dani sighed. "I hate to say I sensed it coming, but...I did. What did he do to you?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does."
"You're not going to find his world and kill him."
"Yes I am."
"I said no! It's done! We're moving on! Now leave it be!"
"...Coward."
"Reactionary."
"Palm tree."
"Candy cane."

There was silence for a moment.

"...I'm sorry, Syl."
"...Me too."
"...Ice cream?"
"You're buying."

The rest of the bar would never know how much of the conversation was a joke and how much wasn't, but it ended with both girls walking up to the bar and ordering ice cream with smiles on their faces.

[Lisky]

Bas blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted from the blinding light.  It was a good thing it hadn't been in a dark room, or he'd have been effectively blind for much longer.  The being had performed a dirty trick, and by all accounts he should respond in kind.  Her trick had meant to bring her a momentary advantage, and hand only failed due to the large shield still mounted on the demon's arm.  The fresh nick on the rim of the large buckler was all the more testament to just how much damage he'd been saved from.

Bas tapped the edge of the shield, then looked at his hand.  Sloshing from the pool below was all the more incentive the demon needed to get moving.  He lifted a smoking, misting fist in the air, then opened his hand, as if to imitate an explosion.  The thick black, and light-devouring mist as he'd done in the bar, encompassed the area.  Bas clicked a toe claw on one of the pads, then started heading for the edge of his pillar.  He very silently leaned over the edge, careful to hold his breath, making no discernible noise to his ears.  Seeing the lioness waiting for him, he could have tried to make lunge, he could have tried to cause some damage... but that would neither be fun, nor honorable.

Crouching low, Bas lauched himself high and far, thanks to a single massive wing-beat added to his already powerful jump,  A deep whoomp, and a long screeching as the toe-claws peeled back from the rock, as if someone had drawn sharp steel across a slate board.  The black fog seemed to lift lightly, spread out from the force of the wing-beat, and should Andrace be looking in line with the sun, she could clearly see a demon silhouette as he crossed the path, then disappearing back into the mist.  He landed some 15 feet away at the far side of the pool with a loud splash and some sloshing. Digging his toe-claws into the water-softened rock to gain better footing.  Bas blinked his shield and axe away, favoring claws for this type of fight.  Ripples of water, and more sloshing were sent Andrace's way, as Bas began closing the distance in the thigh deep pool at more of a stalk then his previous running dance.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's ears turned in small, twitching movements. Had she really heard footsteps up there? Bas wouldn't be dazzled for long, that flash spell was only supposed to give a few seconds advantage, and she'd already lost that. Under the water, she could feel something that might possibly have teeth begin to nibble gently on her tail —

Quietly, without any fuss, the light went out. The lioness froze for a moment. Could this be the darkness spell the Circle-created fake Demon had used during Despina's fight with Witt? If so, she couldn't do anything about it except wait it out. The sound of wings, footsteps, and claws on rock instantly caught her attention. The darkness swirled like thick treacle, and she saw for a moment a Bas-sized winged shape soaring overhead. Just before it vanished from sight she tossed the knife in her left hand, and immediately pulled another from her sleeve. Had she hit anything? No sound of a scream, or the thud (or splash) of a suddenly uncontrolled body plummeting from the air, not even a quiet splatter of falling blood drops. Probably not, then, or maybe she'd hit his shield.

The loud splash a few seconds later at the other end of the pool was encouraging, but... no, that sounded like a controlled landing. Andrace threw her second knife as accurately as she could towards the splash, then she reached down to the hidden sheath on her left thigh and drew one of the longer knives she'd used in the fight with Kaela. It might not be much against that axe, nearly as big as the monster her baby sister Eugenia wielded, but she'd need something to parry with if this fight was going to close quarters. Her tail lifted out of the water and brushed against the wall behind her, to keep her aware of which way round she was standing: she had to keep that wall at her back.

Andrace forced herself to calm down and slow her breathing. This was just like the blindfold-fighting exercises Aunt Berenike had put her through. Don't try to see — hear, and scent, and touch. As the lioness listened to Bas splashing through the water towards her, she crouched slightly and held her sword and knife in a ready position. From his duplicate's behaviour earlier, she knew he had to be able to see through this mess. Charging blindly — literally — would be dangerous, maybe suicidal. Despite what the bar-thing had said, she hadn't seen anyone killed in a Circle bout yet, and she had no ambition to be the first. Her ears and whiskers perking alertly forwards, she closed her eyes and waited for her quarry to come to her.

[Lisky]

As Bas closed the distance he started to raise his left arm when he noticed a sharp, pinching, pain.  His left hand balled into a fist as he very slowly removed a small knife sticking out, almost perfectly perpendicular to his arm, buried a good 2 inches into his flesh.

As Andrace moved to flick the second knife, Bas hardened his skin to it's maximum protection and moved his right claws into it's path, the steel on steel *ping* echoed for a few moments, followed by the *plink* of the knife bouncing harmlessly into the water.

His injured arm felt weaker than usual, however, the demon felt he needed to press his advantage now. A series of wincing snorts would help Andrace predict Bas's distance, which, while disadvantageous to a stealth approach.  The snorts, which came every time he moved his injured arm, were completely negated as he moved in closer still.  At about 10 feet out, his right flung out, firing a warning spell to Andrace's left, a very loud, howling push spell screamed by, aimed a few feet to the lioness's left, followed by a move similar to what he'd used in the bar brawl.  His right wing moved with his body, in a spin, it's hardened tip aimed for the lioness's head.  Continuing the spin, his left wing was tucked in tight as he took a step inwards, while back-swiping with his left towards where he last saw the lioness's midsection, hoping to deliver grazing wounds, as she'd seemed to be at the very maximum of his reach.

His right hand moved around to his left should, fingers splayed to cover his head and neck.  He was prepared to perry any blow the lioness should deliver with those long, brutal looking knives, or so he thought.

[Dekari]

Azshanas looked at Pal as she accepted the bottle from him.  "Oh, thank you."  She took a drawn out sip from the bottle as she thought about what Pal had said.  "So, basically this is just some random place that, changing your words a bit, exists outside of normal reality?"  She asked as she spun around on the stool to face the bar.  She placed the bottle on the bar as she dropped her with a sigh and covered her eyes with her hand.  "Oh god, it's Far Reach all over again.  Paging Dr. McSplain!"  She exclaimed as she righted herself with a kind of laugh that should be heard from someone who is either in a straight jacket or severally drunk.  "Oh man, you want to talk about someone crazy, that guy takes the cake....hell, he made the damn cake."  Azshanas continued to snicker to herself.

After a few moments, Azshanas was able to calm down.  "Now what's this about bar fights?  I hope we are not all expected to fight, I've never been a very good fighter..."  She seemed to stop mid sentence as she glanced at Pal out of the corner of her eye and continued in thought to herself, at least that's what she expected....or did she as a sadistic grin quickly streaked unseen across her face.  'And from the looks of everyone here I'd be at a severe disadvantage.  Hell, I bet even against this guy without his suit it would only barely start to resemble a fair fight.'

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace smiled grimly as her sensitive ears picked up grunting or snorting noises over the sound of Bas coming towards her through the water. "I can heeeaaar youuuu," she said in a cheerful singsong voice. "Aww, did th' poor puppy get a bit o' choppity-chop?" She couldn't smell blood yet, so one or the other of her throwing knives couldn't have given him a serious injury, but if it hurt the Demon enough to make a noise like that, it was good enough.

The rock walls caused a lot of sharp echoes down here, but it sounded like Bas wasn't very far away now, maybe almost close enough to... Aw crud, his wings! the lioness thought suddenly, a moment before the Demon's spell screamed past, making her flatten her ears, and slammed into the wall behind her. Endlessly drilled training took over her movements. When you're given an obvious warning shot, don't flinch away. Go where you're not expected. Strike back. The lioness lunged sideways, towards where the spell had hit.

She heard a change in the sloshing noises Bas made. Now, what did that sound like...? A whisper of disturbed air was the only warning she got, and she twitched her head back almost far enough. The scything wingtip just nicked the edge of her right ear, and it felt like a few of her whiskers were now slightly shorter than they'd been a moment ago. She bared her fangs in a silent snarl, then she heard the second wingtip whisper towards her. She twisted her body quickly out of the way, but still felt a sharp sting run diagonally across the right side of her bare stomach. She snarled audibly this time, and pressed the back of one hand to the wound. Some blood, she could feel, but not a lot.

Now, while he's recoverin' from twirlin' round like that, strike! She intended just the one quick jab, then pull back and listen for the Demon's next attack. Her nicked ear stung, dripping blood into her hair, but that wasn't serious. The stomach wound might be something to worry about if it was deep, but as long as her guts weren't falling out, she could deal with it. Andrace dug her claws into the thick matting of weed covering the pool bottom, held her knife in a guarding posture, leaned forward and performed a quick jabbing lunge with her sword, aiming at just above waist height. A vicious snarl like ripping cloth came from her throat. The extra reach of the lunge, plus the length of her arm, gave her a range of maybe seven or eight feet from her back paw to the tip of her blade, as several surprised opponents had discovered. Briefly.

[Lisky]

Bas felt contact, his right wing brushing against something soft, his left wing missing completely, and his middle claw on his left hand grazing across the lionesses belly, drawing the bittersweet smell of blood.  He'd done exactly as he'd planned, left enough of a mark that she'd watch her back next time, while making sure to keep things friendly enough to draw out the fight.

The swinging-spin had moved Bas in and out of the lioness's own reach, and to the left of his previous position.  The lionesses lunge came just as the demon  was squaring his stance with hers.  He hadn't caught the flicker of movement, and the lunge caught him completely off-balance.  Bas may have been a skilled fighter, but not even he could out-race the pace of the blade,  He back-stepped, while bringing his left claws down to try and deflect the blade, and started to harden his skin.  All were too little too late as the point of the blade sunk a few inches into the demon's lower-right belly.  He'd screwed up and he felt ashamed of it.

He felt the blade stop, then retract, a hot sticky feeling running down his side.  A look and feeling of surprise overcame the demon for a brief moment.  That was quickly snapped away by a rush of pain.  A roar, and very real anger that bordered on rage replaced the previous surprise and disbelief.  While the wound brought pain with every move, he couldn't heal here. Not this close.  It would take several minutes of undivided attention to close the wound he had, heal, seal and remove signs of scarred tissue.  The latter being quite important to him, as he enjoyed keeping his appearance immaculate.

All the thoughts were pushed aside as he cast a very powerful, wide area push spell, meant to slam the lioness against the rocks.  He followed the swath carved in the water by re-summoning his shield and axe, and charging straight towards the lioness, shield first in an attempt at either bulling her over, or slamming her against the rocks (possibly again).  His movements were a bit more sluggish than usual, and the grunts he'd managed to suppress from his arm were back again, as he felt then wincing pain force air from his lungs with every impeded step.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Paladin grinned in a predatory manner before his grin be came more of a friendly smile as he laughed. "Nay Lass, any fighting is strictly voluntary I assure ye." Pal pointed to a few of the monitors and the windows leading outside.

"There are several 'Rings' which can be set to recreate almost any situation ye can think of. It levels the battlefield if used properly." He said before taking a swig on his beer. "So what brings ye here?"

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace gave a satisfied grunt as she felt the slight hesitation in her thrust that she knew meant her sword had hit flesh. She was a bit surprised not to hit Bas's shield instead, though: if the Demon had been trying some fancy ploy, it had backfired on him badly, and painfully, judging from his scream. She pulled her sword-arm straight back as she recovered from her lunge, instead of her usual twist-and-wrench disengagement. A stab in the belly was all very well, but she felt it impolite and spoiled the mood of a friendly bout when someone had to pause to pick their guts up off the ground.

The lioness had just got back to a ready stance when the second hammer spell came out of nowhere and slammed her clean off her paws. Her angry yowl was chopped short into a breathless uff! as she crashed into the wall with a huge splash. Her dense fur protected her back from any worse than severe bruising and a few cuts, but the rough surface of the rock was a bit too much for her shirt: seams parted in a couple of places, and several jagged rips opened up across her shoulderblades. Before she could collect her scattered wits, she heard more splashing — Bas charging towards her once more. The pattern of his pace, as near as she could tell through her dizziness, didn't sound right for winding up to swing his axe, it was more likely the Demon planned to crush her back against the wall again with his shield. He seemed to like using it more than his axe: something to remember.

A determined, if slightly cross-eyed, scowl came across Andrace's face. She realised she'd dropped her sword at the same moment she felt its hilt under her right paw-pad. One knife, or two if she had the time to draw the one in her other thigh sheath, wouldn't be enough against a tough opponent like this. She just needed to keep Bas away for a few moments while she fished the sword out. She decided instantly. If she was wrong about him using his shield, this would likely be horribly painful and Despina would laugh her silly head off. She leaned back, laying her arms flat against the wall, drew her knees quickly up to her chest, and before she could fall on her tail, the lioness grunted with the effort of kicking out with both paws, using every bit of strength she could scrape together in her powerful legs and back. If he was planning another shield slam, she was determined to ram it back down the canine Demon's gullet. If not... well, she'd aimed her kick high, and her claws were sharp.

[Lisky]

Peering over the edge of his shield, Bas felt the satisfaction as his spell hit home, knocking the lioness off balance, and, more importantly, the long blade from her hand.  His charge should have been unimpeded, or so he'd thought.  Adrenaline flooded his system, and things seemed to slow down.  He was still a few steps off, seeming to still be recovering from the spell, when Andrace seemed to explode into the air, catching herself on the wall, then launching off, using her own body as some type of massive blunt instrument.

Acting more on instinct than thought, his mind told him to duck in the few milliseconds before impact.  Hoping avoid another blow that would drain his already dwindling reserves, thanks to the energy sapping effects of blood loss.  He ducked his head, reinforced the shield with his knee and other arm, and hoped he'd positioned the shield high enough... otherwise, he might find himself with an angry, clawed lioness attached to his head... and the means of connection would probably leave her even angrier.

[Dekari]

"Well," Azshanas started as she took another drink.  "I'll give you the short version.  I had been living at Far Reach for the past year or two under the watch of Dr. Dresden McSplain.  Had a bit of an issue I needed to work through, and no, it's not something I really care to go into with someone I just barely met...even though that someone just bought me a drink.  Anyway, about a month ago I get word from home that a bit of trouble is brewing and that Dekari just suddenly up and left with out a word.  So, I left Far Reach against Dresdens warnings and have been searching for him untill I somehow ended up here."  Azshanas paused in her story and looked over at the empty table that Dekari had been sitting at moments before she entered.  "However it apperently seems that he doesn't want to be found just yet, or at least not by me."

Azshanas sighed as she looked back at Paladin.  "With all that said, I guess you could say my schedule is open.  Got any suggestions?"  She asked with an inquisitive look in her odd colored eyes.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt shrugged, expressively. "Don't know who's spell, nor how, but it's part of how here works. If you want details, ask the oddball behind the bar; he seems to come with the place."

At the mention of celebrating, he perked up. "Right you are - can't get in the way of a decent drink." He spun on one heel, back towards the bar, settled the picklehaube, and proffered his elbow to her politely, if a little on the low side for someone of her height. He waved his other hand at the door, a little extravagantly. "Shall we?"

[SpottedKitty]

Despina gave Witt an intensely interested look, with her ears perked forward and the end of her tail curled around her left hock. "Th' guy's a perm'nent fixture in th' place? Yeah, now I really want t' ask 'im a few questions. Might learn a few new tricks while I'm here." She waved back to Andrace as her sister walked into another of the rune-marked circles, along with some sort of Demon-looking canine. She grinned at Witt, looped her arm — cautiously — in his, and headed back inside. There was a drink with her name on it waiting in a bottle somewhere, and her big sister could look after herself.

Andrace just had time to think a particularly blasphemous, immoral and physiologically unlikely oath to herself as her paws slammed hard into Bas's shield. She'd aimed maybe a bit high, so as the top half of the shield flipped back, her legs bounced up. A line of white-hot agony ran across her left paw-pad as she kicked the sharp tip of one of the Demon's horns, which she'd completely forgotten about. Had the idiot ducked, or something? Fortunately she was already beginning to fall back into the water after her kick, otherwise Bas could have been left with a very unusual (and very PO'd) dangling horn ornament. The hiss of pain she let out between tightly clenched fangs turned to a gurgle when her head went under the water. Ah, crud, she thought as she realised she hadn't taken a deep breath, that was a friggin' stupid thing t' do.

She'd have to be even more careful now. Until her sister could heal what felt like a deep gash across her paw-pad, much more than her own meagre healing ability could deal with, her options for action would be limited. No need to let Bas know that, though. After a nerve-wracking few moments fumbling about on the weedy bottom of the pool, her hand finally closed on her dropped sword. By the ricasso, fortunately, rather than the razor sharp cutting edge. The lioness took a proper grip on the hilt, got her good paw under her, and abruptly surged back up, water (plus a couple of fetching strands of seaweed) streaming out of her fur and hair, to an only slightly lopsided standing position.

"Well, puppy, that was a fun warm-up," she lied with a toothy grin as she turned her head to face the sound of Bas moving around. "Are y' ready t' start this fight properly, then?" Andrace held her sword and knife at the ready and hoped desperately the Demon wouldn't notice how much of that was bluff and bluster. She still had a lot of fight left in her, but even Kithara training and attitudes had limits. Her left paw was in agony, she couldn't put much weight on it. She must have strained her stomach wound with that kick, she could feel blood trickling down inside her trousers. Her body ached with bruises from ears to paws. And she still couldn't see a thing through the darkness spell: how much longer would the damn' thing last?

[Lisky]

Baseel felt the heavy impact, barely keeping his own balance as the lioness's foot came into the edge the slid up and over his horn.  He hoped she wasn't too badly hurt, after all, this was a friendly spar and if injuries carried over once they left this circle, well, the only gentlemanly thing to do would be to heal both her and himself up.  These were the thoughts going through his head as the lioness seemed to fall in slow motion into the water.

Bas took a few steps back as the lioness sloshed into the water, he took the time to scale the near by rock formation, getting out of the salt-water.  Although it was a dull pain, the more literal than he'd like, rubbing salt in an open wound, was wearing on the large demon.  He stood above and to the side of the lioness as she emerged from the water.  He couldn't tell from his current vantage point weather she was showing bravado or bluff as she made her comment.  'not bad at all... strong enough to tangle with a demon, by herself no less... quite impressive Ms. Andrace, quite impressive indeed... Especially for a being.'

Bas chuckled in response, a throaty, somewhat sinister laugh, "A good warm-up and wake up indeed.  Though if you're ready to take this up a notch, i do hope you brought some better magic protection than that shirt on your back..."
Raising his right hand to shoulder height, he placed his middle-finger and thumb together, and then applied a bit more pressure.  His fingers created an echoing snap in the little stone-enclosed pond Andrace was standing in.  In the blink of an eye, the blinding cloud vanished.  

"I do hope you're ready m'dear, because i'm not going to be holding back much anymore."  
His voice icy-calm and level.  His poise was only slightly relaxed as he held the shield between himself and the lioness.  His empty right hand shimmered for a moment, then exploded forward with fingers outstretched.  A smallish ball of darkness cast forth.  The jet black ball trailing a dark, glistening, inky cloud.  The ball came like a raging beast, the inky cloud obscuring Bas's view as it ravaged forth towards the Lioness.  

Most of the spell was illusion, it was a push-concussion spell, designed specifically to clear the water out of the hole they'd been fighting in... but, he figured he'd use it as a test before hopping back down to her level.

[SpottedKitty]

Andrace's ears swivelled quickly, and she splashed around and looked — well, faced — up towards the edge of the pool. A sneaky move, she hadn't heard Bas get out of the water, but she'd been submerged herself and a bit distracted at the time. She heard something like fingers snapping, and the lioness blinked, slightly dazzled, when the darkness abruptly lifted. After a moment she realised the spell hadn't gradually faded like last time, it had been deliberately dispelled. What was the Demon up to? His comment about not holding back, though, really had to be answered. "You, holdin' back?" she said with a smirk and a healthy dollop of scorn in her voice. "Looked t' me like y' were strainin' like y' guts was corked up. If y' want me t' stop goin' easy on y', though, just say th' word..."

When Bas raised his free hand, a shimmering distortion surrounding his fist, she knew exactly what to do: get out of this hole. Ignoring her injuries as much as she could, Andrace launched herself across the pool to a point she'd noticed earlier before the darkness came down, where the adjoining rock platform was a bit lower than the one she'd fallen from. Her weapons clattered on the rock as she tossed them up, then she gave herself a one-legged boost out of the water, grabbed the edge and scrambled up onto dry — well, dry-ish — land. She grabbed her sword and knife, and was just about to roll quickly away from the edge when the spell Bas had launched slammed into the water right behind her.

[Lisky]

Bas hadn't stayed at the rim, as soon as he cast the spell, the demon quick-stepped away from the rim, then inched further back on his own platform.  His back steps were a bit uneasy, and, as he watched the lioness start to scramble  he crouched low, behind the shield.  He removed the shield, sliding his left hand over the wound.  He first charged his right hand over his head, creating a thin magic shell over his head, the slightly fogged, inky, yet translucent dome  covered the demon completely.

He then rested the wooden and metal shield against his body, as he unhooked the loop from his arm, and pressed his left hand over the stab-wound on his belly.  Bas felt the itchy tingle of his tissue, particularly blood-vessel walls, begin to regrow.  From his point of a view, a sudden geyser of water, coincided with a titanic boom as a plume of water jetted close to 50 feet in the air.  The pond, below, was completely drained.

He didn't have time to fully heal the wound, each subtle move still sent ripples of agony through Baseel's entire body, but, at least the warm trickle of blood had stopped.  He quickly added a cleaning spell, causing the blood on his body and pants to seemingly evaporate in a fine, red mist.  Leaving his body and floating into the wind.  With the bleeding stopped for now, he redonned the shield and began hunting for the lioness, the downfall of water had been blocked by the dome, but the surrounding rocks were soaked, and slippery...

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Lass I'm fairly new to the place myself, not sure I've seen or met everyone here yet. So sadly I can't advise ye, but I plan on finishing this bottle and maybe a few more." The armored wolf said as he took another slug of the beer.

[Dekari]

Azshanas's eyes narrowed as a look of frustration settled on her face.  She then looked back at her own drink, grabbed it, and quickly downed it.  "Fine then.  I will leave you alone to your drinking."  Azshanas said slamming her bottle back down on the counter as she got up from her stool and started walking away.  However she turned back towards Paladin not five paces away and looked at him with a slight grin and a bit of a sway in her stance.  "You know, I have slowly become interested in how these rings work.  If your not too busy drinking, perhaps you could show me what the deal is?"  She said in an almost taunting fashion.  "I'll even give you something to shoot for, loser buys next round?"