SWC The Official SWC Dueling Thread

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

The Ongree maintained a cautious defense, as he recoiled his blade.
He saw Liuna prepare to kick at him once again and was prepare, as she spun her back leg the Ongree shuffled backwards, raising his open left hand, calling on the force to pull the limb in an upward motion, so as to off balance her.

Simultaneously he flurried his blade in his right hand, attempting to create a mark of contact on the leg itself.

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

The upward Force pull threatened to throw off her balance, so she reacted quickly. Both lightsaber blades extinguished, her hands met the floor-- both an instinctive reaction to a loss of balance and a useful one-- and she pushed off, letting the strength of her own body, enhanced with the power of the Force, guide her through a full forward flip and land on her feet some paces away. As soon as she stood again, Liuna turned, having landed with her back to her opponent, and re-entered a ready stance, feet shoulder-width apart and knees bent. She re-lit only one blade, in a forward right handed grip, and took a slow breath, opening herself to the power of the Force and gathering strength from it. This blade was new, and didn't yet have the familiarity that her old one did, an extension of her own presence that she wasn't quite used to yet, but the Force was brimming in the two crystals, a sort of soundless song only she could hear.

She lit the second blade and swung the dualsaber around, the bright cyan blue flashing in front and beside her. Then she used the Force to leap towards him again, spinning a full jung su ma rotation from her preferred Form IV. As she spun, she used that motion to add strength to her downward strike towards Semajj's shoulder, followed by a quick but less strong reverse strike from the lower blade, moving upwards towards his hip.

TAG: ConservativeJedi321

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

He caught her strike on the edge of her blade, pushing it away from him safely, in a second he twirled his blade again catching the lighter one with ease.
The blades clashed for a second, and Semajj held their blades together, before swiftly sliding his green sword down her cyan one aiming for her nearby hand's.

Rebecca_Daniels

 

IC: Ananta Chetan
GoL - Advanced Knight Trials
Training Courtyard
Temple of Light

Pouring three cups of dragonwell, I lean forward in my seat momentarily to get a better view from the observation box while minutely studying the movement and flow of the duel below. As the steam slowly rises from the jade colored liquid, I place them before the vacant seats nearby of my two Jedi Master companions whom I intuitively feel are soon to arrive.

Some Friendly OOC Feedback…
While on the surface the lightsaber duel is of course a form of combat, at a deeper level it serves as a sort of metaphor to reveal to where and how far one has advanced. For example, the particular strengths and weaknesses of one’s character class wielding a blade, inner reflections and dialogue in the moment and via mental flashbacks, camaraderie illuminating the previous shared experiences between the characters, all can potentially give us a deeper insight into each Knight’s long experience on the path.

Also, the willingness to accurately portray vulnerability in your character is an invaluable skill and creative asset. Such courage not only provides one with opportunities for unique character development for the future and during the course of the duel, it also allows for us and your audience to empathize with your journey and growth as a Jedi as you potentially approach Masterhood. Even depicting one’s small missteps and internal character reflections provide a window into the maturity process of one’s wisdom and skill.

Good bout thus far.


TAG Rebecca_Daniels ConservativeJedi321
Council TAGS Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Hochner Trevalus
GoL - Advanced Knight Trials
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light - Seridona Prime

Lightly stepping around the back of his chair he nodded to his fellow Master already present, not to mention fellow Council member, as he hand vaulted over the arm of his chair to land with Force cushioned drop into his seat. Trunk curling into a broad smile he buzzed happily as he nodded before sniffing his drink. The steam was inviting this time of year, although he still reached into a pocket and grabbed a small trio of snack packs that he handed over and set another next to his missing Master's chair with a well aimed flick of his wrist. Of course only his own was the famed Kubindi Grub Chub, with eight distinct flavors. For his Fellow Masters, merely popped kernals of something known as 'corn'.

"We got holo's? What did I miss?" he whispered over to Ananta.

TAG: Rebecca_Daniels, ConservativeJedi321,
Council TAGS: Ananta Chetan, Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

The arrival of the three Masters, while not sudden, drew her attention for a moment, and Liuna found herself glancing off to the side towards where they watched. Extra eyes on her actions was not necessarily a feeling she relished, being used to operating in the dark, on her own, but it was one she grew more used to in her time since returning to the Temple of Light. It had taken some time after her return before she'd realised that they were not there to criticise, but to support and help her and her fellow Jedi grow, and that learning required confronting and growing from weaknesses. And even she had places to grow, skills to hone and renew, and she'd dedicated herself to that growth after returning; learning new lightsaber forms was just one of those areas she'd chosen to focus on for the moment.

She felt rather than saw the shift in balance of her opponent and, with her attention divided, Liuna stepped back to avoid the oncoming attack. Redirecting her focus away from their audience, she repositioned her lightsaber in a diagonal guard across and beside her body, and slid forward again, attacking quickly high from the left and then twisting the other blade up to strike high again but on the right.

TAG: ConservativeJedi321 (Ananta Chetan Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron)

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

As his opponent retreated, the Ongree chose not to follow.
Instead he fell back on a defensive foot, panting ever so slightly after the last couple rounds of passes. He had been far more aggressive than he was use to during this dual, and for each pass he made at his opponent, he felt his energy reserves dwindle subtly.
His practice with Form V had made it more natural for him to go on the offense, but they had not made it his preferred tactic, his practice in the form had hardly increased his stamina at all.
He had to be careful if he didn't want to overexert himself.

He sensed the Masters observing from above, but did not turn to acknowledge them immediately.
Liuna was on the attack again, allowing Semajj to stay in the more comfortable defensive patterns he had been practicing since his earliest days has an apprentice.
He paced his breathing as he caught the high strike above him, before twirling his wrists to block the attack from the opposite angle.

These sequences felt natural to him, he could do them blindfolded if he had too. But he resisted the urge to blindly fall back into his old habits of pure defense.
There was no point in studying form V if he wasn't going to practice it as well. As he saw her cyan blade bounce safely away after he blocked it, he offered a measured overhand strike towards her head.

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan, Mitth_Fisto, Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

Years ago, when still training with her Master, Knight Sandstrider, they'd often spoken of their differences in technique, and how they'd both grown within their own forms to face one another. Her first duel, her newly-learned Ataru against his honed Makashi, had been quite the learning experience for her as an undisciplined Padawan. She'd held her own fairly well, but ultimately the precise form had taken its toll and caught her out of step. But years of training, of exercise and discipline and simple practice had helped close those gaps. And that training had led her to hunt in the dark places around the galaxy, take them on and emerge triumphant. It wasn't always easy, it had led to injuries and pain and suffering... but those, too, had made her stronger-- and more willing to fight dirty.

She lifted her lightsaber to intercept his and smiled a little, a twinkle in her eye the only warning of her coming actions. Keeping their blades locked together, up high, she sidestepped out of the blade's path and deactivated the blade that held his in the air, swiftly slashing the other blade towards his side in a feint. Before she came near contact with that strike, she spun and struck backwards as she went, aiming the tip of her lightsaber towards Semajj's midsection as she completed the full rotation, using the spin yet again to add strength to the attack.

TAG: ConservativeJedi321 (Ananta Chetan Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron)

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

Jedi Iotasi's trick had caught him off guard, as her blade deactivated he stumbled back, briefly disoriented.

But her feint gave him the crucial moment he needed to get his blade moving again, his defensive wall was back up in time to force her real strike up at an angle, thankfully he caught it.
His heart was beating out of his chest as he thought back, realizing just how close he had come to allowing her a mark of contact.

But looking back would do him no good, he had to think forward, he had to determine his next move.
With that in mind he pushed her blade to the side hard, and jumped backwards creating space between them. Room for him to think.
"Nice move." He smiled with a nod, as he began circling to the side, attempting to move back to the center of the court yard.

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan, Adalia-Durron, Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Ananta Chetan
GoL - Advanced Knight Trials
Training Courtyard
Temple of Light

Ever since his padawan days, Ananta had experienced a particular resonance and fascination with Mirialans. What little there was available about their private and often closed-off to the outside galaxy culture he had read several times over in the library. Observing Liuna's ease and graceful agility coupled with the conditioning from her society's deep seeded self-control presented a warrior of a nearly incomparable skill set. Every movement was poetic and precise to witness.

Though he was far less familiar with the ways of the Ongrees, Semaj had been a trusted companion and ally on many occasion on and off the battlefield since calling the Temple his home. His commitment to the light had served as a beacon for the Guardians and helped to usher in many new potentials. True to his species, his eye stalks gave him more than a unique vision behind a blade, it also reflected his innate ability to see and examine a situation from a multitude of angles, both mentally and in the physical realm, and it was apparent in his skill as a swordsman.

Accepting the gracious offer of tasty popped kernels from his Kubaz brother, he took a moment and rewound the holo device to give Master Hochner an opportunity to view the highlights of the match thus far. Looking over at Master Tehanis he couldn't help but emit a tiny grin as the Akrianian finally completed her multitasking and began to sip her tea peacefully.


TAGS Rebecca_Daniels ConservativeJedi321
Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

 

Ananta: Is it in their nature to make us wait this long?

Mitthy: I sense an unusual amount of DRL for something as make-believe as this Knight duel.

Addie: *out of frame slurping liquid chocolate*



Rebecca_Daniels ConservativeJedi321
Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

She let Semajj retreat, nodding her acknowledgement of his words. "Not bad yourself." Liuna didn't fear being cornered as her form allowed her more options to move than some of the others. Many Jedi chose not to focus on the acrobatics that Ataru had ingrained into the Form but she'd found it essential for her type of work: a leap could be a quick getaway when outmatched, the three points of rotation added strength when her own flagged, and she could easily reposition herself. Drawing on the Force like that, to move beyond the limitations of her body, could be tiring when sustained, but simply being back in the Temple gave her strength-- and she had no concerns about overextending herself. Maybe she'd feel this tomorrow, deep in her muscles, but for now it was a good workout, one she'd enjoy stretching out later.

Stretching her shoulders, bringing them up and back to roll out the tension that had settled there, dropping her two-handed grip on her lightsaber until it was by her hips, re-lighting the second blade. This had been a good test of the lightsaber; she often used the lightsaber's ability to turn on and off to throw off an opponent, and not all blades responded well to that sort of stress.

Staying where she was, Liuna let Semajj gain some distance. He was likely preparing his defense, and she'd have to be more careful with his use of Soresu, to break past it. On the other hand...

Liuna grasped her lightsaber and ran a couple steps, pushing off into a jung su ma spinning jump, not very high off the ground but focused on the spin itself. As she landed, she flowed immediately into three quick but not very powerful strikes, once with her left side blade and twice with the right. Finishing the sequence, she pushed out with the Force in all directions, not really a shove in strength so much as an unbalancing. She didn't want Semajj to go anywhere, just to see if his defense could be knocked off-balance.

TAG: ConservativeJedi321 Ananta Chetan Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

OOC: I'm still going to be busy the next few days so might still be slow until Friday, sorry.

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

The brief lull in the fight gave Semajj time to contemplate his strategy going forward. As far as he could tell he had one major advantage over his opponent, while she had practiced two very offensive forms; as evidenced by their first few passes, and the study he had done before hand, the Ongree had practiced both an offensive and defensive form. While his study of Form V was nowhere near mastery, he felt it gave him an ever so subtle leg up. It was a risky move relying on his newly developed offensive abilities instead of his long honed defensive walls, but he knew if lacked the initiative to go on the attack Liuna would whittle away at his defenses until he made a mistake, he only had to make one. If he forced her into onto the defensive there was a chance she would slip up before him, as her chosen forms must have allotted her little room to strengthen her defenses maneuvers. It was only logical.
Yet if he wore himself out before she cracked then it all would have been for nothing, and he would only have hastened his defeat.

As she leapt on the attack he blocked the first of her strikes, deflected the second, and dodged the third by leaping out of its range.

But instead of waiting for the next volley of attacks as his long crafted patience usually mandated, he leaped forward with a powerful overhand strike.
It was one of the more basic sequences of Shien, the first one he had learned when he began studying the form. If this trick was going to work he couldn't stray to far out on the limb with sequences he wasn't sure he had mastered.

It took him only the briefest second to switch between forms, and in that second his overhand strike came down hard, four times towards her neck and shoulders in his first attempt to break through her defenses.

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan, Adalia-Durron, Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

It was freeing to have no repercussions for this duel. The only consequences to be considered were the opinions of her fellow Jedi, and those were not to be feared. There was no risk of death at a lapse in judgement or loss of limb if the slightest mistake was made-- unlike when facing a Sith. No, here she could trust that her opponent would hold back enough to not cause harm, just as she would do the same for him. One lost arm was enough for her, it was that mistake that had led her back to the Temple to train, to study, to work until her weaknesses became strengths. Before deciding on her current forms she'd studied as many as the training masters could teach her, adding elements to her technique to fill those gaps. She'd never be a precision fighter, a defensive master, but misdirection was her game.

Semajj took to the attack, leaping towards her with a repeated strike. She met the first one with a high guard, then used the time between each to put some distance between them. Her arms were feeling the strain but she set that aside for the moment. She leaped up, a tight somersaulting flip overhead that brought her to Semajj's back where she immediately slid around his side and drove her blade up and diagonally from below.

TAG: ConservativeJedi321 Ananta Chetan Adalia-Durron Mitth_Fisto

 

*Approaches the courtyard from a distance, noticing the hard work displayed by his contemporaries.*

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

She blocked his strikes, but he recognized an inelegance about it. She wasn't hesitant, nor fearful as she shouldn't be considering the nature of this dual. But she lacked the fine tuning he had put into his defensive sequences. Still, the blocks were slightly smoother than he expected, resulting in him taking a step back in contemplation; just in time for him to see her leap over him. Taking precautions the Ongree flew himself to the side just as her blade passed upward in the direction he had been a moment ago.

As he fell back he recoiled his blade arm, sending his lightsaber flying from his grip in an arc towards his opponent. He maintained a mental grip on his blade even as landed rougher than he expected on his back, rolling so as to land back on his feet, stretching his hand so as to recall the green laser sword after it completed it's arc.

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan, Adalia-Durron, Mitth_Fisto

OOC: Sorry about the delay.

 

So this is the SWC Dueling Thread

 

Advanced Knight Trials

OOC: As the match has been going on for a good duration and there has been ample opportunity to display your new forms and wisdom, you both are free to mutually decide whenever you wish to end the duel. One of us may respond following its competition to offer our commentary. Well done.

TAG Rebecca_Daniels ConservativeJedi321 Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Liuna Iotasi
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

Her blade passed through air as Semajj avoided her attack, and she had to quickly pull back to rebalance as the energy of her attack pulled her forward. Slightly out of position, Liuna didn't have a chance to capitalize on her opponent's fall. Even so, he wasn't letting up, and she sensed the flight of his blade with only the barest of time to react, spinning her own blades to deflect it back towards its owner.

The physical exertion was truly starting to hit, and Liuna dragged in heavy breaths as she still held herself lightsaber defensively. After a moment, she glanced up to the watching Masters, and extinguished both blades. With her breathing still heavy but under control, she placed her hands on her thighs, like at the beginning of their duel, and bowed to her opponent.

"Thank you," she said, "this has been quite the learning experience." She quirked a bit of a smile. "I know I will be spending some time with the training masters after that, I've been given some new ideas..."

TAG: ConservativeJedi321 Ananta Chetan Mitth_Fisto Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Semajj Nosrep
Training Courtyard, Temple of Light

As the Match was called, the adrenaline that was keeping the Ongree going faded, and he fell to his knees panting, the lightsaber he had been telekentically holding a moment before clattered to the floor in front of him, and he finally took notice of the beads of sweat that dotted his chin. He wasn't sure how much longer he would have lasted, or even if he would have fallen before if not for said adrenaline.

After a moment he caught his breath. "It was a good fight..."
He smiled projecting a sense of calm to cover the pounding of his heart which he suspected even the others could hear by this point. Or perhaps he was just being melodramatic.

"I will be spending some time with my cot, contemplating some dreams of my own." There was a sparkle in Semajj's eye at his joke. Finally he scooped the silver handle of his lightsaber off the floor, and stood up; offering a brief bow to Liuna. "May the force be with you in your studies."

Rebecca_Daniels, Ananta Chetan, Mitth_Fisto, Adalia-Durron

 

*Slowly stands and sets aside his now empty cup of tea before beginning to clap*

"You both have done very well. Some might give a blow by blow recount and evaluation of your duel, and I will if asked for it, but will merely state the obvious. You both are very skilled. A jack of all trades always has the element of surprise if they do not settle on one path for long, you showed the strength where most only see weakness Knight Iotasi." With a bow of his own to her he then turned to Knight kneeling on the floor.

"You are the dual blade, your chosen paths were well displayed and showed the good tempering that you have honed into your skills Knight Nosrep." With another bow to the Knight his trunk curled in a smile. "My best regards to your cot, may you bed it well."

Ananta Chetan, Adalia-Durron, ConservativeJedi321, Rebecca_Daniels