Jedi Dueling Tournament! Feanor V Camlenn

[Coren Starchaser]

It was the day, Jedi were coming in from all across the galaxy for the dueling tournament. While a good number signed up, many more were showing up for the networking and rest-and-relaxation that such a tournament would provide for such an event. Setting up a number of arenas around the Temples on (Praxeum World), the Jedi Praxeum was hosting Jedi from all walks to duel for eternal glory.

Or bragging rights and whatever the Jedi Artisans could cook up in their labs. Coren Starchaser, one of the figureheads of the galaxy’s Jedi, was, almost obviously, at the center of the tournament’s idea, but would only be stepping in as an alternate. He had pieced together groups into brackets based on Jedi rank and not necessarily skill levels.

What he had were several rings set up for Masters, Knights, and Padawans to go toe-to-toe. Rules were simple, compete for the time allowed, and anyone who gets knocked down is out. Step to the side, and let the contest continue as others advanced. There would be a benefit for all who participated by the end, but those who rose to the top would earn a few items.

What was happening before the tournaments, was ensuring that armors were removed, any imbued items were removed, and general sparring outfits were granted. From bodysuits, to robes, to other workout gear. Rows of training melee weapons were set up. If someone had a preferred melee weapon? They’d find the mundane, training variant here. Jedi Sentinels from Starchaser’s influence were approaching of the outdoor combat zones. Each were set up to provide enough room to spar, but no real environmental challenge.

[OOC: This thread is is for the Match with [member="Alexandra Feanor"] versus [member="Amilthi Camlenn"]]

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi did not pride herself in her lightsaber skills in a way that would have made her want to show it off to others - but to engage in an activity one excelled in was enjoyable to human beings, and Amilthi was no different. And so it was a natural thing for her to participate in a tournament that the loose association of Jedi she had fallen in with was organising.

This little-known and largely inhospitable planet had something magical about it and was a perfect place for contemplation, and Amilthi liked it rather more than Deneba. She also appreciated the simplicity of the housing, built as it was by hand. It all seemed more genuine than the last time she had found a vaguely similar group, which eventually failed to overcome its awkward ties to Commenor and disbanded. Perhaps this would be the time for her to leave her solitary peregrinations behind and form closer ties with the familiar faces she had found here, or new ones, as chance would have it.

It also gave her an occasion to let others benefit from the discoveries she had made over the past decade. While not eager to take on an apprentice of her own, she was less reluctant than before and had soon, even while she was still something of a stranger here, taken up teaching classes of youngling, instructing them in the manifold practice of meditation that would strengthen them and help to conquer their childish impulses - not always entirely to her subjects' delight. But they would come to appreciate the lessons in time.

Having studied much from records and practiced in solitude, Amilthi couldn't say that she was in any sense of a member of a lineage of a school of lightsaber fighting. Many of her techniques were hundreds or even thousands of years old and might have gone out of fashion for all she knew, their spirit locked in holocrons that gathered dust in libraries. It was an interesting aspect of this event, to which Jedi from many places in the galaxy had been invited, to compare traditions.

The master she had been paired with for this first round was one such individual from a far-away tradition - none other than the grandmaster of the Jedi who resided in the same region of space as the New Republic and had taken it under their wing as its protectors.

The duel was to be held on a pleasant clearing in the forest not far from the main Praxeum building, the trees providing a natural enough limitation of the space to be used. Amilthi entered it with light steps, enjoying a little gust of wind that descended from the crowns of the trees. It carried with it just the smallest hint of the chills that held the vast majority of this planet in their grip. But it was pleasant, and Amilthi was in a good, a fine, happy smile on her lips. She bowed politely to her opponent, then reached for the lightsaber on her belt.

As her own lightsaber lacked a training setting, she had been obliged to borrow one from the Praxeum's armory, where a supply of spare lightsabers created by the resident artisans was held. The training weapons, in particular, were often practice pieces. As such the weapon didn't feel as comfortable and familiar in her hand, but it would do and the sensation was easily enough ignored.

With her plain black tunic and trousers and pale skin, the subtle red of her hair, and later the light blue of the lightsaber, were the only patches of colour. There was something ethereal, unnatural about the look, different from those Jedi who wore the earthy browns that appeared natural in this environment.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]

Alexandra had come in her own specific appearance, breathing in as the now red-haired master walked into the area with silver colored robes covering her, moving and casting the light to the side as she smiled and looked at the woman she faced. Alexandra had her hair resting on her shoulders, pushed back and behind her ears, her face calm and a bit joyful at the occasion for the day. She was holding onto a staff as she walked, it was simple and was not made with any special material. She did collapse it down into a short rod though, placing that inside of her robes before she focused back on Amilthi and inspected the woman.

Alexandra had not had the chance to meet this woman before and she would enjoy conversing with the woman after but for now, she had to study the woman intently to make sure she had a handle on the woman's possible powers. The blue saber told her a small bit, though the connection between one's specialty and their saber's color was a bit of an outdated practice. Alexandra was cautious about it though as it did give her a small hint towards a more offensive focused individual.

So Alexandra breathed in, feeling the world radiate and flow around her as strands of light flickered to life, seeming to connect Alexandra to the sky for a few seconds as her eyes grew dull and dim, cutting her sight from the physical world and leaving her blind. Her body slowly had those stands of light then wrap around her muscle structure, laying over them like a thin layer of skin that resided under her own. She breathed in and then her breath held for a few long moments before she finally let it go and her eyes opened. She looked in Amilthi's direction, relaxed now.

It was now that she would further inspect the woman who she stood against in this contest, looking through the force and seeing her as the collection of her spirit. Looking towards her intentions, emotions, and base reactions that shifted with the force. She needed to know this woman before she committed to the fight completely.

It was when Amilthi bowed, that Alexandra did the same. She waited though after, assuming no stance, and making no movement to strike first. Instead, she began to draw the force to her as she acted like a funnel for it, leaving herself open to its influence and waiting for what was to come. She would need to throw Amilthi of in some manner and she had a few strong ideas. The first being what she chose to do now.

Slowly two roots would crawl from the ground, reaching up and rolling over the top of Amilthi's shoes, careful not to come in contact with them and to get her some room so that she would move her foot, only to find the root waiting.

Alexandra waited now, seeing the reaction from her opponent.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

No lightsaber, but a strange staff, and that one put away - what an unusual approach to the tournament it was. But unless her opponent was being quite duplicitous, it revealed much. In at least one particular way, she was probably the opposite of Amilthi: focussed not inwards, but outwards, connected to the world and manipulating it through the Force rather than shielding herself from it.

Neither of the two was in a hurry to spring into action. Amilthi experienced a certain internal aimlessness, uncertain which mental state to snap into. The inner cold that filled her in a real battle was not rising, and she was not finding the right trigger point to conjure it - not to speak of the fact that doing so might not have been fully appropriate.

The distance between them needed to be overcome without Amilthi exposing herself to being put off balance. A jump of even too careless a step might have been a mistake. Unhurriedly and deliberately she moved her backwards foot - and found its path blocked. Had she been rasher and paying less attention to her movements, she might have found it difficult to steady herself on one foot, as she now did. She looked down to see what was impeding her path, for she had felt a physical resistance against her foot, and was rather surprised to find roots protruding from the ground that had not been here a moment before. Almost automatically, her lightsaber circled by in front of her and then to her side, just short of cutting her own feet, in two quick motions that would have swept aside the hindrance if only it had been a real weapon rather than a training saber. To prevent accidents, this particular instrument was not even one with dual settings - its power could not be increased.

This was irksome, and with a twinge of annoyance Amilthi took a step backwards, extracting her feet from the roots, and directed her attention back to her opponent, who she had briefly lost sight of...

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]


Alexandra smiled and was in no rush to get into combat with Amilthi, knowing it was better to unbalance and make the Jedi become rash with her actions. So Alexandra continued her little game of unsettling and messing with her opponent rather than striking, this would be done as those same roots would move to try and grab at her foot. And just as they moved for her feet from behind, another rose from the ground behind her and provided a bit of a barrier if she were to back up once more, intending for Amilthi to find it in her path and fall on her rear end.

Alexandra in the mean time allowed herself a seat, some of the very same roots constructing themselves into a makeshift bench so that she may sit on them. She was curious to see if the jedi would be able to keep her cool or become irritated by the somewhat childish way to use the force in a duel, but this was how Alexandra fought and this was in a place where she was connected to the forest around her like back at her home.

She decided though, that the roots were not quite enough and would allow the air neat Amilthi to shift, light being twisted and used in the same manner that she would in creating the illusions she used. Only, rather than an illusion, she allowed the light to be twisted and shined at Amilthi's face, twisting it in a manner to temporarily blind the woman and see how she reacted to such a underhanded use of the ability.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Just as she raised her eyes, Amilthi found her foot colliding with roots at an awkward angle before it reached the floor, and lost her balance. But her reflexes kicked in before she fell on her backside. She arched her back and pushed herself off the ground with her other foot in a backwards salto. Unable to reach sufficient height to complete it, she dropped her lightsaber mid-air and pushed herself off the ground again with her hands, her feet shooting upward. The roots that were now sprouting from the ground all around her wrapped around her hands and strove to crawl up her underarms, but this time the force of Amilthi's movement was enough to simply rip them out of the ground.

By the time Amilthi landed securely on her feet again, the lightsaber had fizzled out and dropped to the ground between the roots, which were already constricting around it. The Jedi frowned, but didn't get much further before her thoughts were violently derailed by an onslaught against her senses, a bright, burning light that overwhelmed her eyes.

Amilthi had spent much time in her life examining the input of all her senses, so many more than were customarily counted, in great detail and had learnt to manipulate them, or at least the way she related to them - she could zoom in on details of the highest level of granularity, could dissolve her perceptions into a sequence of unconnected events, and could disconnect from them in part or even entirely. Sometimes she liked to think of herself as giving her senses a stern look to make them normalise - for whenever one of them acted up, sustained strong attention to it caused it to go away or morph in the way she desired.

This was such an occasion, as the perception of intense light was obviously nonsensical. Confronted with this fact, it took her mind a moment or two to recognise it in full and then adapt accordingly.

A clear path opened before her: to put an end to this nonsense. To have to deal with roots that a training saber could not cut was simply ridiculous. With a definitive intention formed, her annoyance dissolved into clarity. Her countenance coolly expressionless, she looked to the side where her real lightsaber lay and held out her hand. After only the briefest hesitation, the weapon obeyed its master and flung itself into her hand. The turquoise blade sprung into action as it was already in motion, spun to sweep along the ground, leaving a trail of smoldering remains of the impudently overgrowing roots and in the process freeing also the training weapon she was supposed to be using.

Amilthi looked somehow sternly, but calmly at her opponent, deactivating her lightsaber.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]


Alexandra smiled when Amilthi's saber was returned to her hands and she cut the training saber free. She wondered if the woman would turn it back over to those at the edge of the forest and wanted to see what Amilthi could do with the real weapon. So Alexandra stood and waived the others off with a smile and a stretch. She pulled her arms up over he head, walking towards the center of the clearing before lowering them back down and now twisting her head until a nice crack sounded in the area.

"Much better... would have been boring if you only had that glowstick for a weapon. Lets have some real fun." Alexandra grinned widely and took a step back, raising the staff over her shoulder and calmly watching Amilthi. Her other hand held out and level with the ground before she suddenly drew it upwards, allowing roots on the sides and behind Amilthi to climb up around her, creating a shed or dome like area around her.

But one side would be open, one side that now left Amilthi with only one direction to charge in, and only one target to focus on. That very same target that had hefted a metal rod that was 5 feet long over her shoulder and now held it like a javalin thrower waiting for the ok.

Without missing a beat of the heart, Alexandra's right foot stepped forward and she threw the same arm that held the spear forward. The Metal rod launching from her hand and aimed at Amilthi's chest as it was flung over the ground towards her. And had Amilthi done nothing about the roots, she would be left there, standing with only one direction to go. Towards the staff turned Javalin.

From there, Alexandra would wait, curious to see where this would continue and what Amilthi would do now. Alexandra had not shouted about Amilthi having her saber being unfair, more than willing to allow the weapon to be used if it did not disqualify Amilthi. It meant there was a bit more danger on Alexandra's part and that was one thing she immensely enjoyed, wanting to actually get her heart pumping.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

When roots began to grow around her again, Amilthi did nothing at first but look at Alexandra with a puzzled and somehow reproachful expression. This was getting quite absurd, and while it was plain that the other was doing it merely to annoy her, she wondered if it wasn't missing the point a little. It was putting them at an impasse - Amilthi couldn't attack her with her own lightsaber, but she couldn't use the training saber because of that impossible plant growth that Alexandra apparently somehow succeeded in fostering through the Force. What was one to make of this?

The plant growth showed no signs of stopping and Amilthi ignited her turquoise blade again. She did not move it immediately, but it pierced the weave of wood as it was and burnt a hole in it. Eventually she twirled it almost idly, cutting the cage around herself to pieces without resistance. But before she had finished, a spear had already been launched at her. Without moving from her position, she brought her blade up in a sweeping motion to fling aside the elongated projectile.

Instead, she had two pieces of metal impact her chest rather forcefully and painfully, but non-fatally, in an undesirable location. She winced, automatically looking down at the source of the pain, but soon enough raised her head again, though slouching slightly, and regarded Alexandra incredulously. For someone to be using, under these circumstances, a metal weapon which would perhaps have been damaged and bent even from sustained contact with a training lightsaber was really quite absurd, and as far as Amilthi could tell, her opponent had no other weapon now. A voice in Amilthi's mind protested that this entire arrangement was simply preposterous and that one could not proceed before events made sense again and a meaningful goal was established. "Now what?" she said dryly.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]

Would find Alexandra's brow simply raising slightly and the young looking woman laughing at the woman saying 'Now What'. Alexandra enjoyed the woman's confusion and cracked her hands before shifting in her stance. The Force changed its flow instantly as Alexandra breathed in again, a large concentration of energy being pulled towards her and she used it to strengthen her body as she let Amilthi realize that Alexandra was going to charge the other woman.

Alexandra was looking for a good fight now that she had tossed away her weapon, her feet shifting slightly and her breath held as she started to walk towards Amilthi. The walk started to pick up pace as Alexandra let out a breath and soon she seemed to jog slightly as the robes on her pulled against her body. She would continue the jog until finally, she was within a few meters of Amilthi.

Then nothing.

The force continued to swirl around Alexandra, clearly being applied to her in some way bit that way was not quite obvious for now and instead, Alexandra just smiled at her opponent. Then, with a slow hand she pointed at her left side with her right hand, the left arm being raised. She spoke up and invited Amilthi to make the first strike with a calm tone, one that suggested no fear or worry.

"If you would kindly make your strike right here, that would be much preferred. Less nerves in that spot you see, wont hurt as much." Alexandra waited, seeing how Amilthi would react to the request and how Alexandra was approaching the fight now as she once more took a different tone to the fight.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

When that botanical nonsense showed no sign of repetition and finally Alexandra began to approach her, Amilthi kneeled quickly to put her lightsaber down and take up the training weapon. As she straightened up again, a wave of energy erupted within her and swept through her, washing away the residues of the pain in her chest, dissolving it until it was no more noticeable than a drop of blood in an ocean.

To be able to fight unarmed was one thing. To prefer it, as this Jedi apparently did, was quite another - but it was interesting, and that Alexandra finally seemed to seek some sort of engagement made at least somewhat more sense.

It didn't last long. From whichever angle one viewed it, her behaviour and words made no sense. As posturing, they were improbable. As a trap, they were obvious. The only explanation was that they were meant to be nonsensical - to confuse.

Amilthi looked at Alexandra quizzically for a moment, and then just shrugged. She still had a lightsaber, and there was little to do but to use it and see what would happen. She stepped forward and did the improbably obvious: she brought down her lightsaber in a diagonal cut towards the spot Alexandra had indicated - but in the last moment suddenly flipped its vertical momentum upwards and then pulled sideways to hit her opponent's neck or head.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Amilthi"]


Alexandra’s brow rose as the blade actually came for her, though there was some disappointment considering that the woman was using a training saber once more. But, this was not one of her dueling rings where weapons were a bit more volatile in their effects. No this was a Jedi tournament and Alexandra would come to understand that without too much trouble. The blade traveled and then Amilthi shifted her stance, grip, and her muscles followed suit.

A feint?

Alexandra’s smile grew and she leaned forward, her feet moving with her weight as she got closer to Amilthi. Her arm that had been raised lowered and the sleeve of her robes fell and wrapped around the blade of the saber. She smiled as her body closed what distance remained, her robes shifting almost like they were made of air or water, the sleeve around the training saber showed no sign of burning, only a discolored light shining through it.

Imbuement, when used on weapons in a more temporary manner for combat was called Force weapon by the masters and texts, but why would a Jedi choose a weapon to strengthen. No, the Jedi was a shield, it’s robes a symbol and for Alexandra, that symbol was the shield she represented as her robes shifted once more and a hand came out of the other sleeve to strike Amilthi in the chest.

She could withdraw and escape the strike, but could she remove the saber from Alexandra’s grasp? It was possible, or her even stopping Alexandra’s strike with her own hand. Alexandra consider both options and wanted to know how this woman reacted to a possibly surprising use of the force, to come less than a foot between them and to hold onto her saber, forcing her to show a bit more.

“Don’t hold back, you won’t harm me, just as I can’t harm you. Try to enjoy this and have some fun.” Would leave Alex’s lips, inviting Amilthi to focus and relax, to fight as if it were real.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

When Amilthi began to intuit that her strike was not connecting as intended, she took a step to her right, towards the side from which she had attacked. It was a natural manoeuvre to put her to her opponent's side, away from her free hand - and just quick enough to escape a strike of that same hand. She made a swift step back, or wanted to, as she felt some resistance to withdrawing her lightsabre from the folds of impenetrable cloth. Instead of pulling on it more strongly, she simply deactivated the weapon and completed the step, putting her opponent again at a more comfortable distance.

Now that was an interesting technique Amilthi had never seen before. She knew that some Jedi had driven the mastery of Tutaminis to a point where they could resist a lightsabre, and though she would not dare to try with a real lightsabre, she could perhaps have done the same with a training sabre. She wondered briefly whether what was at play here was a variant of this, an extension of it beyond the body - but that simply didn't seem to make any sense conceptually, and what was more it didn't fit her observation. The lightsabre's blade had not been absorbed by the cloth, it had met with physical resistance.

The other woman's dispositions made the setup really rather meaningless. Just like the rapid plant growth she had fuelled was almost irrelevant to the proficient wielder of a real lightsabre, but a fatal impediment otherwise, there was no telling whether she could have resisted the deadly weapon with the same ease, or would be able to repeat it as often.

The only avenue Amilthi could see was to capitalise on the fact that this technique created physical resistance and simply beat her opponent into submission with strength alone. That was a doubtful prospect and not nearly as fun as Alexandra's words would suggest. And the fundamental problem was that she simply didn't feel like it. Hopefully Coren had a provision for a draw in his tournament rules.

If this was to lead anywhere, she would have to get into a different mindset. Provided Alexandra would leave her be for a few seconds, she could perhaps get somewhere using her latent frustration at the futility of the whole situation as a hook. That frustration, after all, had its ultimate source in the quite deliberate actions of her opponent, and the only way to end it was to knock that woman out of her position. And why, indeed, not - there was no reason to think that this was beyond what Amilthi could do. The Force would lend her what strength her body did not possess on its own, and the reach of her lightsaber, when properly used, would give her an advantage.

She raised her lightsaber above her head in the way often seen in practitioners of Djem so. And as her arms went up, and activating energy rose within her, from her feet through her legs and eventually into the tip of her fingers. A moment later, the energised tension released itself in a forward movement and a downward strike.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra breathed out and stepped once more towards her, not holding back and thinking about what Amilthi had planned.such would only slow her down.

So like a silver shade coming to take life from its target, Alexandra’s body followed Amilthi step for step, hands ready and held in position as the force moved through her body. She would deal with the woman quickly as she felt it was time to get moving and when the blade came upwards, Alexandra’s body would shrink away, lowering herself closer to the ground and just as before roots would rise up and over Alexandra’s body to meet the blade.

Alexandra would be quick to shift from her protected position, pushing out and straightening up as she aimed another strike at Amilthi’s gut. Her hand would not be sped up with the force though, instead the force focused into her palm and she would wait before following up the strike at the woman’s gut to real ease that build up of energy.

And when that second hand came forward, the air would ripple as her second strike would be one filled by the force and taking shape as a telekinetic force aimed for center mass. Aim small, hit big, the strike focused into a fist sized concentration of energy and intending to send her off her feet. This was Alexandra’s life, combat and integration of the force into such. She enjoyed seeing how people reacted, and enjoyed it more when they could respond and land a blow. Would Amilthi?

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

The roots cracked under the impact of Amilthi's strike, but showed enough resistance still to block her lightsabre's path. It would have taken another strike to cut through them cleanly, and they were reinforcing themselves even now. This unexpected slowdown and distraction gave Alexandra quite enough time to lunge forward and close the distance for an attack of her own.

The Force flowing through her as it was, Amilthi might easily have absorbed the force of the punch of any normal human - or near-human with bushy tail, for that matter. But now it took all her concentrated strength to shield herself from injury, with little left to keep her balance. Alexandra’s telekinetic assault swept her off her feet and threw her backwards through the air several metres. Her concentration lapsing as it was, the remnants of broken roots scraped her hand painfully as she hit the ground.

Without getting up immediately, Amilthi considered her situation. It was utterly impossible. Without a real lightsabre, this plant growth was an unrealistic impediment, and no matter what confidence the other woman might have in herself, she was not going to use her real lightsabre, powered, no less, by a krayt dragon pearl, and risk causing mortal injury.

Suddenly, she realised what the only solution within the bounds of the tournament could be: to persuade the woman to change her attitude and stop sabotaging it. That, however, was a challenge she was not up to. And so only one course of action was left: to transcend the problem altogether. To turn her back on it and walk away. That insight was liberating, and all of a sudden, Anilthi felt quite different.

She picked herself up from the ground and clipped the training lightsabre, still in her hand, onto her belt. Then she looked at Alexandra. “You win”, she said simply. For some reason, she was smiling. And with that, she turned away, leisurely walking over to the spot on the ground where she had dropped her real lightsabre to bend down and pick it up.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]​