Wanderers Clash(Tier up)

Snow coated the normally green lands of Endaron, and a frosty wind tore through the stone circles of Carnakem, anchient initiation grounds of the eternal watch. Rowan sat across from Yavanna, as they prepared to be sworn in to the watch. They had been sent here to spend a week in near isolation, left with no food or drink and expected to find the means to sustain themselves in the heart of winter. Eternal Watch members were expected to travel far and quickly, and proving you could stick it out in harsh conditions was required. They had already been there three days without a problem. Rowan had learned to hunt years before, and had shown Yavanna everything he'd learned not long after they met. They were both proficient with a bow. Honestly, Rowan considered the trial to be a bit of a joke. Then again, he was quite partial to the cold.

There was little else to do than train and hunt. There was no one around for miles, not that Rowan minded the quiet. He'd been staring at nothing for a while, when he caught a bizarre scent on the wind. He looked up, his eyes seeking the source of the scent, and spotted a black cloaked figure striding through the snow towards them. They carried a sword at they're hip, eldari in make, but their form was obscured by the cloak, and they didn't smell like one. Rowan stood up, pointing the figure out to Yavanna. The stranger stopped twenty feet from them, and drew their sword. He got a better look as the cloak shifted and gold hair fell loose around a feminine face. Rowan drew his weapon. "Who are you? What do you want?" The Stranger pointed her sword at Yavanna, and gestured for her to come at her.

Whatever this was, it was between the Stranger and Yavanna. Rowan looked at his friend, before driving the point of Rising sun into the ground, to watch what came next.

She watched the woman stand up and notice her. When She pointed her sword, the Eldari saw her challenge and accepted. As expected, the man stepped back, and left the Wanderer to fight her mark. His turn would come. Such a strange one, this woman. She wasn't strong or fast, but the Wanderer could see the skill in her as she stepped forwards and opened up with a series of slashes. With an agile flurry the Wanderer countered her attacks as she backed away slightly, drawing the woman forward, trying to create and opening by forcing her to over extend.

The wanderer returned the woman's attacks with a quick flurry of her own, Left to right Diaganal cut upwards, following into a smooth two handed downwards swing. She stepped forward, closing the distance and turned the blade back, driving the pommel forwards towards the gut and flicking out to follow with a close horizontal slash. She followed through, extending out and bringing the blade around in a smooth motion to finish with a Right to left downward diagonal cut. Not fast, not powerful, but practiced, fluid motions. The wanderer sensed already that she would enjoy this fight.

The Eldari dealt well with her attacks, dodging and weaving around them. It was a testament to her skill that she managed to keep one step ahead of The Wanderer, but then, things were just starting to warm up. The Eldari returned a flurry of attacks starting with a thrust. The Wanderer preformed a pirouette out of the path of the blade, and followed it with a backwards handspring as the Eldari swept low. The Eldari leapt after her, coming down with a two handed Diagonal strike, and the wanderer used this to create an opening.

She drove her blade up, angled to deflect the strike further to the left. Then as the woman came down, the Wanderer drove her knee up, aiming for the ribs the inflict a blow backed by the womans own momentum. The woman back flipped out of range after, but The Wanderer didn't wait patiently for her to attack again. She followed, stopping a short distance away to fire a wind snare, which would pull the woman towards her if it hit. If it did, she was ready to follow it up with a two handed Horizontal strike. If the woman Avoided the wind snare, she would instead raise her palm and fire a rapid burst of 5 Mana bolts which would deal very weak damage on impact.

Her strike missed as the woman slide under it. The wanderer spun around, blade twirling as the woman's form split into three. The Wanderer's blade moved as she tried to parry the thrust and slash for the arm while also dodging the sweeping attack. She failed to do any however, and found that the blades of the first two attackers passed through her harmlessly, while the sweep took out her feet. The Wanderer ended up flat on her back, The woman's blade pointed towards her, telling her to stand down. "I do not yield, Yavanna Elbereth." She said, rolling out of reach of the blade. As she leapt to her feet, her form split into three, a copy of the illusion ability the woman had used on her.

The three duplicates weaved around each other as they advanced on the woman, and then suddenly split, the real Wanderer moved to Yavanna's right while another went to her left and the other charged her straight on with a two handed downward cut. The left one zipped in and tried to draw the woman's eye with spinning slash to the side. The real Wanderer hit from the right, her own attack aimed to strike the hilt of Yavanna's blade and knock it free from her hand. She would then spring back as the two copies vanished. The Wanderer held out the palm of her hand, and unleashed a spray of 20 manabolts across the area, peppering the area around Yavanna with very weak attacks.

The woman reacted quickly and well to the Wanderer's trap, using floating swords to block her attack, but had trouble dealing with The Wanderer's Mana Spray. However, she recovered quickly and returned fire with a trio of energy slashes. The Wanderer danced between the two Vertical slashes but was caught across the midriff by the third one, then Yavanna charged her and attacked with a horizontal slash followed by cross diagonal slashes. The wanderer raised and angled her blade to block or deflect each attack as it came in, and  countered with her own. She expected the floating blades to block, but attempted several slashes just to see if she could make it past the woman's ability.

The woman jumped back out of range, but the Wanderer wasn't going to let her retreat so easily. She cast Gale, trying to hit the woman in the back with a strong gust of wind that would push her towards the Wanderer, and followed it quickly by raising her palm and firing a compact ball of fire that would explode for average damage on contact towards her. She followed the attack by dashing forward and attempting a horizontal slash at the woman's midriff.

The wanderer nodded in satisfaction as Yavanna was hit from behind by the wind ability but managed to react quickly and block the incoming fire attack with a shield of fire of her own. Her strange blades blocked the incoming attack, and she countered with a thrust to the belly. The Wanderer sidestepped and parried the blade the opposite way. Yavanna spun low, sweeping with her sword and the Wanderer cartwheeled over it, coming up as Yavanna brought her sword down. The Wanderer swung up with a two handed grip to parry, and followed Yavanna as she retreated, striking down in a mirrored two handed diagonal slash.

As the wanderer finished the strike, she activated tempest blade. Her blade took on a coat of stone, doubling in weight, spikes of ice formed over, and lightning and fire bagan to swarm violently. The increased weight was permanent, but the blade had a chance of leaving a coating of ice, shocking the opponent or burning them for very weak damage on each hit. The Wanderer moved into a two handed uppercut, then followed up with a double spinning strike the blade going aiming to cut across the ribs and gut on the first strike, with a slight jump to gain a bit more height and forced behind the follow up that aimed for the neck and upper torso.

She let the momentum carry her into a low sweep with her foot in an attempt to trip the woman. If she knocked her down, she would demand Yavanna yield, in a mimicry of the woman's earlier words. However, she hoped she would decline.

(I've seen enough from Yavanna. R-1 Achieved.)

The Wanderer took Yavanna down but the woman refused to relent, and sprang up, locking eyes with her. She changed stance to an old style the Wanderer hadn't witnessed in a good few years. She smiled and matched the the stance. Yavanna Struck high and the Wanderer parried it, then she swept low with a spin. The Wanderer matched the spin and dropped low to parry the blade away, then back to catch the counter, and rose as Yavanna did. The woman moved faster that the Wanderer expected and caught her across the chest with the blade. The Wanderer staggered back as blood spilled from the wound that stretched from her ribs up to the opposite shoulder. She steadied herself and smiled. "I'm a bit Rusty in that form." She said. Then she bowed as the wound began nitting itself back together. "Well Faught, Yavanna Elbereth." She said, then turned to point her sword at Rowan.


Rowan had watched the entire thing in silence, and needless to say he was impressed both with this fighter and Yavanna. He could tell the stranger was a bit faster and stronger, but Yavanna still managed to land a solid, potentially fatal hit. He was suprised for a moment, but even more so when the stranger simply bowed and complimented her. She turned to him, blood soaking her clothing and pointed her sword. "You should let me take a look at that wound first." Rowan said. There was no malice in this stranger. They clearly just wanted a fight. He had started to think this was part of their test set out by the Watch, but he was again unsure. The stranger shook her head, her weapon growning in size to match his. "I am fine, Rowan Aratris. Step forward." So he did.

She had faught like Yavanna, using skill over power. Rowan was well used to that, and while it was no walk in the park for him to defeat Yavanna, or her him, this stranger probably didn't know him as well. He drew his sword, taking a high twohanded stance, and charged forward. He lowered the blade behind him, and charged it with cold energy to deliver a single horizontal strike imbued with weak damage. He let the momentum carry the blade around and spun to bring the blade up overhead and down into a vertical cut.

Rowan's attack was met with a sword equal to the size of his own, as the stranger themselves seemed to grow in size. He was sure for a moment that he was imagining things, until the stranger blocked his overheard, pushing Rowan back before removing their hood to reveal they were suddenly male. Rowan's eyes widened in amazement, for what he was seeing was something insane. Not only was the stranger now male, their wounds had healed, and they seemed no more tired than before.

The stranger suddenly attacked back, using Rowan's own ability and copying his attack move for move. Rowan slashed down into the horizantal to counter it, and brought his own sword up to block the downward cut, quickly following it up with a forward kick to the gut. Rowan pressed in, driving the Pommel of his sword forward to strike the stranger in the head, sliding his left hand up the back of the blade to brace it and as he slashed in tight quarters. He used the chopping slash to build momentum as he spun, sliding his hand back down to the handle and preformed another overhead slash at a diagonal angle, cutting a gauge through the earth as the blade came down. He turned it back, and slashed upwards, and kept in proximity to the Stranger as he prepared to defend.

Rowan's attacks were blocked, but then he expected that. The stranger was extremely skilled, as he'd witnessed when the shifter faught Yavanna. Before Rowan could continue, the stranger hit him with some sort of shockwave, staggering Rowan slightly. And delivered a challange. Rowan grinned. "We'll see." He said, raising Rising Sun. The blade started to glow at the handle, the energy extending up the sword and down his arms. The enchantment would grant him greater strength, speed and agility for a time, just enough to match the stranger. He didn't need long.

The Stranger attacked with a diagonal slash and Rowan side stepped it, spinning his blade to catch the incoming Horizontal attack. The Stranger followed up quickly with a blow to the gut with the pommel that connected, but Rowan managed to witstand, and tried to catch Rowan with a following uppercut. Rowan slammed his blade, blocking it and locking the blades together. "Come on, Show me something more impressive." Rowan said with a grin, quickly releasing the lock to try and catch the Stranger with a diagonal uppercut. He brought his blade flat against his shoulder and tried to shoulder slam the Stranger in an attempt to knock him back. If he managed to unsettled the Stranger's footing, he would follow with a low sweep of the back of the blade to try and trip, then retreat.

If the stranger didn't budge, he would step back and preform a retreating slash. Eitherway, he would follow up with a charging horizontal slash, using his speed to circle around and strike a follow up diagonal strike. He finished by repositioning one more time and dropping a heavy overhead Vertical slash.

Rowan grinned fiercely as ice coated the Stranger's blade. Rowan activated his own ice blade, and blocked the incoming strike that hit with awesome force. Rowan slid back in the snow but dug his feet in and countered the downward swing by swinging his own blade. Steel clashed the sound reverberating throughout the snow filled landscape as the Stranger's blade was deflected, hit the ground nad followed straight into an uppercut that nearly caught Rowan under the chin. He was thrown off balance slightly and was forced to dodge the horizontal slash that cut across his side as he backed off.

Rowan took a few steps back, blood dripping into the snow and grinned. He charged back in, blade trailing behind and swung an uppercut that gauged through the snow and earth, and threw fresh white powder into the air between them. Rowan moved into a set of spinning uppercuts, blade rising, momentum carrying it up and over his shoulder and down for an even more powerful uppercut, finishing with a third that stopped at the peak, before Rowan slammed it back down in a deadly chop. With his ice blade active, a single touch would leave ice on the Stranger, restricting their movement.

The Stranger managed to dodge out of the way of Rowan's barrage of uppercuts, and after dodging back from the downward strike, hit back with a horizontal slash of his own, forcing Rowan to halt and allow him to retreat. The Stranger raised a hand and sent out a barrage of mana bolts, the generic spells he often witnessed Eldari magi using. Rowan's sword glowed brighter as he used his rapid deflection ability to deflect away the mana bolts as they came in and  bounce them back in the general direction of the Stranger.

The Stranger followed up with a charging thrust, giving little space between his mana bolts and the attack. Rowan spun his blade rapidly, clashing it into the side of the thrust and knocking the Stranger's blade aside. The stranger used the deflection to sweep low, forcing Rowan to jump, which nearly caught him off guard as the stranger's blade came in high. Rowan blocked and was knocked aside. He landed with a tumble and blocked as the stranger finished with a diagonal cut.

The stranger tried to retreat, but Rowan was having none of that pussy footing around, and surged after him, left hand reaching out to try and catch a hold of his clothing. If he succeeded, he would pull the Stranger towards him will bringing the pommel of his blade forward, attempting to slam it into the stranger's teeth. If he missed the grab, he would swing his great sword forwards one handed, chopping towards the ankles. After the display of healing he'd witnessed earlier, Rowan wasn't concerned with accidentally killing the man. He followed the chop towards the ankle up by grabbing his blade with his other hand and bringing it up for a rapid double diagonal cut, one from either direction.

Rowan's hand was knocked away, and the Stranger dodged around his diagonal slices, then activated the strange ability that was all of the Eldari's blade skills in one. The Stranger unleashed a pair of daigonal uppercuts, the blade swirling with energy. Rowan dodged reflexively, and was caught along the forearm by the blade. The length of his forearm froze over. The Stranger followed up with a horizontal slash that Rowan ducked, then a massive downward backed by all of his strength. Rowan dropped low, blade stabbed into the ground and angled to deflect the Stranger's down its length into the ground then rose, hopefully opening the stranger up for quick one handed slash to chest.

Rowan stabbed his sword into the ground, and smashed the ice from his forearm with a closed fist. He grabbed the handle, spinning the blade so tip pointed towards the Stranger, the edge pointing up. The blade glowed with energy as he infused it with cold energy, and Rowan charged forward, unleashing a left to right horizontal slash that followed into spinning downward diagonal cut and around again into a vertical slash, each slash carrying weak cold damage. Rowan took a single step back, blade raising into a defensive stance as the Stranger answered his attacks.

The stranger didn't give Rowan an inch as he stepped back, charging in with a thrust towards the thigh. Rowan twisted his blade down and parried the incoming strike. The extra strength his sword granted, vanishing with the aura that extended down his arms. He was now weaker than the stranger again, not by much, but it was enough to force him onto the defensive as the stranger preformed a Horizontal slash the Rowan backstepped. The stranger followed up with a returning horizontal slash and Rowan was forced back again. The final strike came down as a diagonal slash. Rowan dodged to the stranger's left, the blade close enough to shear away a few hairs, and launched into a rising diagonal slash at the stranger's exposed side.

Rowan needed to end the fight soon, as the continuous ferocious fighting was going to start taking it's tole on him. Rowan followed up his lash with an overhead downwards strike, attempting to cleave the stranger down the center. Assuming the stranger would dodge, he followed that up with several rapid left to right slashes, and finished with a sweeping kick. If he managed to trip the stranger, Rowan would lunge forward blade poised to thrust forward and finish things, and wait to see if the stranger surrendered. If not, he would prepare to keep fighting.