[AFG Arena] Korgar vs William Danton

[Adder]

Space soon opened up on the pit as the two men who'd been sparring finished their session, one wiping blood from a cut over his right eye. At a nod from Emit a man leapt over the rope and into the ring. He walked into the centre and raised both arms to the crowd as he turned round, fist clenched. He echoed the cheers and taunts that came from the crowd. Clearly he was a popular fighter and he bantered with those who sat closest to the ring, challenging them to come and take him on.

His bare chest was broad for his build which wasn't heavy and the brown leather trousers clung to him like a second skin, soft and supple, long worn past the stiffness that might slow him down.

Emit nodded at Korgar. "Well, there is your chance. William is a fair fighter, more than can be said of some. He likes a good scrap."

Emit put his hands to his mouth and yelled down to the pit. "I've got a challenger for you here William, reckons you're going soft in your old age he does!" Emit grinned and winked at Korgar while the crowd turned and focused on the dwarf, staring and then baiting him as they had William, who in his turn now made guestures at the dwarf which could not be interpreted in any other way but as being impolite.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

The dwarf winced as he spotted the fighter with the gash over his eye –a battle scar that Korgar did not currently possess. Sucking in his breath and tightening the belt around his waist, the young Kinslammer dwarf released an elongated sigh as he meticulously tucked the tip of his uneven beard into the front of his pants. The jeering crowd naturally summoned his attention, and an enormous grin soon edged its way across the dwarf’s hairy face. If only Draegar could see him now!

Korgar’s grin faded, however, as he was introduced to his soon-to-be opponent. Noting William’s tightly muscled torso and chiseled abdomen with masked envy, the dwarf straightened his shoulders to present himself as formidably as possible. Sure, he knew next to nothing about arena fighting, but he was one hundred percent Kinslammer dwarf and that had to count for something! –at least, he hoped so.

Alighting into the sand arena, the dwarf frowned as William began taunting him; however, that frown was shortly replaced by a mirthful expression as the noise of the crowd filled his hairy ears. Pumping his fists up excitedly, the dwarf cackled to himself and flexed his biceps, his smile widening as both lumps of muscle rose beneath his sleeves like small hills. “Yea! Yea! Grr!” He cheered, clearly as exhilarated by the bystanders as he was at the prospect of his first arena fight.

And then he spun around, his dark eyes locking upon the heavily muscled William as the duel readied to commence. Punching his knuckles together readily, the dwarf decided to separate his feet to keep a wide base. That much he’d learned from axe training with his father. And if he remembered correctly, Draegar always emphasized the importance of keeping one’s balance in a fight. Korgar wasn’t sure how he was going to do that while flailing his arms wildly at the same time, but he supposed that it wouldn’t take too long to learn –at least, not once William started swinging at him at full force!.

At any rate, the eager Kinslammer dwarf lowered his center of gravity and prepared for the road of glory -or shame- ahead.

[Adder]

William was one of the arena's newer fighters himself, but he'd made his mark and beaten many of the more experienced fighters. As a relative newcomer he had a lot of confidence but also a degree of caution because dwarfes were not at all like fighting humans as he'd grown up doing. His experienced eye soon read the lack of skill in his opponent, but he'd seen the signal given by the pit boss so he knew that this was a test as much as anything else. Test or not, the audience had paid to be there and they expected blood, more than what was already drying on the sand at any rate.

He lowered his arms, taking his attention off the audience and putting it on the dwarf. He came up on his toes and started to shift around, testing how Korgar would react, he darted in and laid a quick but very light succession of blows, blows that the dwarf could barely feel, but which caused a howl of anticipation in the crowd and a new flurry of bets.

William grinned and motioned to the dwarf. "Come on then, give me what you've got, if you can!" He continued to dance on his toes, his left fist flicking out to tease Korgar.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

Unbeknownst to Korgar, William Danton was not exerting himself fully –had he done so then the duel would probably have ended prematurely. Nevertheless, the young dwarf of Clan Kinslammer was no pushover (at least he liked to believe so), and he put forth one hundred percent in everything that he did. Not to mention, with the noise of the enthusiastic crowd surrounding him, the dwarf had no intentions of disappointing.

Fortunately, Draegar, Korgar’s father, had oftentimes circled Korgar during their axe training. Subsequently, the young dwarf was accustomed to keeping his opponents in front of him, and William was no exception. Moving on the balls of his feet to face the stocky human, Korgar braced himself with the muscular fighter charged in at him with a flurry of punches.

“Alright ye asked fer it!” Korgar screamed, as much of a battle cry if he ever had any. Backing away, the dwarf waited for William’s last punch to recoil before he barreled in, hairy fists flailing in front of him as he rained punch after punch at the patronizing human. Despite the torrent of swings, Korgar’s jabs were aimed mostly for William’s face and his stomach. As Draegar always said, it was better to be on the offensive than on the defensive -or was it the other way around? Korgar grimaced. He would have to think about that later.

[Adder]

An aggressive dwarf was something that no one faced with equanimity, not even a seasoned fighter like William, and he hadn't yet had the measure of the young dwarf who faced him. He certainly wasn't going to fall into some devious trap where the dwarf made a show of inexpertise and then floored him with a sucker punch once William had dropped his guard.

The crowd bounced to their feet as the dwarf made his move, a veritable wall of sound rolling over the two combatants as the yells of delight by those who had bet on the dwarf were matched by those who were now trying to find a new partner for their betting.

William kept on the move, using his speed to dodge and block the punches that were coming in, though one got past a block that he'd not put the effort into and he paid for the mistake with a blow that snapped his head back and caused a dribble of blood to flow from his left eyebrow.

He danced back shaking his head to clear it and then stepped in, adrenaline pumping into his body and allowing him to shake off the hit, he dodged the incoming blows and stepped in with a right hook deep into the dwarfs stomach.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

He wasn’t as fast an elf; he wasn’t as nimble as a cether; but he was far stronger than any of the civilized races on Telath. Leading with a flurry of wild jabs and swings, Korgar’s battle cry was harmonized by the sounds of the cheering crowd, many of which, he realized, were shouting his name. The Zerdargian would have smiled had it not meant revealing his teeth and making a target of them, but the noise of the coliseum invigorated him nevertheless.

And his single punch, colliding against Danton’s eyebrow and drawing first blood, urged him onwards.

Howling from his enormous lungs, Korgar had little time to celebrate as the human responded with nifty footwork and a right hook that buried into his gut. The punch felt as if Danton was driving a war hammer into his stomach, and the air was forced from the dwarf’s lungs. Trying to absorb a portion of the blow by sucking in his belly, Korgar realized that he was in a dangerous situation.

The best defense was a good offense. It seemed that this maxim was proving correctly in every one of his recent fights.

The human was probably the better fighter; after all, he’d likely been doing this for a much longer time. But Korgar was still young, and as the adrenaline pulsed through his veins, he was reminded that he was the son of a laird, one of the mightiest dwarves in all of Zerdargia. He came from a legacy of wrestlers and brawlers; he was not about to disappoint –not without a real fight at least. For his ancestors’ sakes…

Grappling onto Danton’s right fist before he could retract it, Korgar pulled it low into his stomach to secure it, and he bent at his knees to pull the arm downwards and subsequently lure Danton’s weight forward. It was then that he launched from his powerful legs, aiming his thick head underneath Danton’s own. It wasn’t the most graceful of attacks, but a dwarf had to do what a dwarf had to do. And a dwarven skull, catapulted by the muscles in his tree trunk-like legs, was possibly one of the strongest weapons he had.

[Adder]

The move was a tricky one and just the sort of thing that William was justified to be cautious about. It felt as though he'd got his hand caught in the the main gate of the city and the stronger dwarf pulled him down.

But William was far too experienced and canny a fighter to be caught quite so easily. As he was pulled, instead of trying to fight it, he launched forward, taking the butt on his left shoulder, a blow which left his left arm numb for a few moments but a fair trade from having a rock hard dwarf skull smashing into his own. His weight served to push the dwarf off balance and backwards.

As the two bodies crashed down, William rolled and used his own weight to pull his hand free of the dwarfs grip. He rolled over onto his right shoulder and back onto his feet, taking a moment to flex his left hand and try to get some feeling back into the shoulder. He'd wait until the dwarf was back onto his feet before coming in again. The crowd was behind the dwarf at the moment and William loved to play the crowd. Kicking him when he was down might have been tempting but it wasn't the sort of trick that the crowd loved him for and love meant money and company.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

Korgar was at a disadvantage. William was too experienced a fighter to fall for the dwarf’s rudimentary tactics, and what more, he was strong enough to match the Zerdargian pound for pound. Although the young Kinslammer was not a seasoned brawler, he was (surprisingly) intelligent enough to know when he was outmatched. There was no way that he could win this match with the knowledge that he had because, truth be told, there was little to work with. Aside the interrmittent beatings that he’d received from his father, Korgar wasn’t much of a hand-to-hand fighter.

But what he lacked in skill, he hoped that he could compensate with pure perserverance and raw strength.

The dwarf’s vision blurred as his skull rammed into William’s shoulder, driving into him like a nail pounded by a hammer. “Gosh durn it!” He cursed, his jaws clamping together as he tried to reorient himself. To Korgar’s dismay, though, William was the quicker reactor and the dwarf found himself lured to the ground where he suffered a few scrapes on the knees. “Dun think ye got away!” He grumbled, quickly straggering to his feet to recover from the previous incident.

The noise of the coliseum continued to fill his ears, rejuvenating him with adrenline and energy. He enjoyed the cheers from the crowd, enough so that a wide smile spread from side of his face to the other. Korgar was somewhat surprised that William had let him return to his feet; Korgar definitely wouldn’t have given him that option. In any case, what was done was done, and the dwarf became mildly irritated, believing that William was mocking him.

He’d shown that darned human!

William rushed in again, and the dwarf squared his shoulders readily. A moment before he came into striking distance, Korgar step-sided quickly (well, as quick as a dwarf could be) and launched an uppercut towards the lower half of William’s stomach. Regardless of his success, he would then barrel into William, grappling him around the near leg to lift it and hopefully drive him to the ground again. If he could somehow get atop William and start punching, he was sure that the human would have a great load of trouble getting him off.

[Bobbity Thornberry]

Would pure perserverance and raw strength compensate for what was lacked in skill? Time would tell, it would indeed.

Korgar quickly staggering to his feet to recover from the previous incident.
He felt rejuvenated as he enjoyed the cheers from the crowd. His opponent was sufficiently confident to let the Dwarf get up without being attacked while he was at a disadvantage.

William did not rush in, it was not his style. He was not about to initiate getting in close where Korgar's strength would be used advantageously. If the Dwarf wanted to get close, it would be he who would need to to do the advancing. The human closed in just to the point where he could use his longer reach to pepper the Dwarf's nose with repeating jabs until Korgar's nose bled freely.

The human stood on his toes ready to dance back or to the side, should his opponent charge in. Being head butted once caught William's attention. He did not want to invite another one, nor did he want to grapple with a stronger opponent.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

William was smart. He knew how to use the ring size to his advantage, and he knew how to nullify an opponent’s advantages. Korgar’s primary advantage was in his strength which he could not, unfortunately, use so long as William kept a significant distance between them. If the dwarf had any hope of winning, he knew that he needed to get close enough to his adversary to deliver the finishing blows.

But that was the hard part.

Glancing at William’s feet, Korgar studied them, wondering if there was a pattern to his shifting movements. Unlike William, the Zerdargian didn’t have any fancy footwork, and thus he resorted to constantly turning to keep William in front of him. Clamping his jaws together firmly, the dwarf punched his knuckles together loudly.

At least he had the crowd on his side.

Barreling towards William like a hairy cannonball, the dwarf led with an uppercut at William’s chin. He assumed that an experienced fighter like William would see the attack coming from meters away, but that was not the purpose of the dwarf’s hasty assault. Whether William parried, blocked, or evaded, the dwarf retrieved his ascending arm and instead launched himself in an aerial tackle at William. Both of his arms opened wide to catch the man and to prevent him from escaping.

There was little that one could do against a compact two-hundred and fifty pound dwarf!

If he managed to bring William to the floor and straddle him, Korgar would waste no time pounding away, elbowing, and kneeing with abandon. His was a dirty fighting style, but a dwarf had to do what a dwarf had to do.

[Bobbity Thornberry]

When Korgar glancing at William’s feet, studying them, he did not detect a pattern. William simply kept on his toes and danced around nimbly, able to keep his distance sufficiently to avoid retaliatory punches.

When the Dwarf barreled towards William like a hairy cannonball, and led with an uppercut at William’s chin, the more experienced fighter danced to the side avoiding the punch. When the dwarf retrieved his ascending arm and launched himself in an aerial tackle at William, the human spun around flatfooted and put his body weight into a punch to the back of Korgar's head. At the same time one of the Dwarf's arms forcefully struck the man's belly.

William fell back against the ropes, leaning forward and gasping for breath. Korgar fell to the floor again. He was knocked down by the downward force of William's punch in addition to being in a daze from getting his head rattled.

The crowd gasped, both fighters were hurt and for the moment neither was able to take advantage of the situation.

William leaned back against the ropes deliberately, trying to restore normal breathing. Were is not for the ropes, the Human would have been been down as well. The Dwarf was momentarily confused but he knew he was in a fight and he had better get up. If he got up too soon, he would simply be a standing target. If he stayed down much longer, he would be declared the loser because his opponent was standing, although barely so.

It was a desparate situation for Korgar.

[Korgar Kinslammer]

The dwarf’s vision blurred as William’s fist found the back of his head, a blow that sent an explosion of light across his peripheral sight. Dazed, Korgar shook his head violently. He was on the ground for some reason, and it didn’t take him long to figure out what had previously happened. Despite the success of his aerial assault, the Zerdargian had not been without his own wounds in return.

Nevertheless, William was against the ropes, struggling to catch his breath.

The strength was steadily fading from the dwarf’s arms and legs. For as much as he wanted to return to his feet, he felt as if the energy had been stolen from his limbs. “Grrrrr!” Roaring through gritted teeth to invigorate himself, Korgar slowly and laboriously struggled to his hands and knees.

He needed to get up, and he only had a few seconds to do it. William would be on him the moment he recomposed himself, and judging from the seasoned fighter’s calm disposition, Korgar suspected that it wouldn’t be too long before that happened.

Not desiring to disappoint the crowd (or himself for that matter), the dwarf forced himself to his feet. He was initially wobbly as he tried to regain his balance, but after hunching over and positioning his hands on his knees for support, Korgar returned to his stance.

And he had every intention of finishing the fight.

Not wasting any time, he lumbered towards William with all of the energy that he could muster. He led with a flurry of vicious jabs, hoping to keep his adversary tight against the ropes. When it seemed that William’s hands were high enough if he parried, Korgar would send a sharp, high-rising knee at the man’s hopefully unguarded gut. It was one of the hardest parts of the dwarf's body, and hopefully it would be enough to wind the formidable man.

[Masamune]

OOC: Given that Bobbity hasn't been on for a while, I'll take this thread back over if you wished to continue/finish it.


William waited, letting the dwarf regain his feet, and as Korgar came on the offensive, William stepped forward to gain some distance from the ropes, blocking each and every move that came. Jab after jab were carefully deflected away from the dwarf's opponent, the human's lips curling up. He was tempted to fire off a biting remark, but held back to see if there was anything waiting in surprise. Good thing, too, because indeed there was. As his guard came high enough to live a gap in his midsection, the dwarf pulled his knee high in an attempt to penetrate the gap in the new fighter's guard. The human saw it coming and didn't have time to shift is hands down or his weight to sidestep, so he did the only thing he could thing of to keep that dangerous knee from finding its way to his inner parts.

He twisted his body and let his own left elbow fall and collide with the Dwarf's knee, curling his lanky (by the dwarf's standards) form around it to try and bleed off as much of the impact as possible. In a contest of density between a dwarven knee and a human elbow, let it be said that the dwarven bones would win every time. Such was the case here as well, as with a sickening crack William felt his elbow shatter, the break running all the way up the length of his forearm. His left arm was now useless lest his forearm shatter entirely and become useless, so he let it dangle limply as he backpedaled, bouncing off the ropes and sliding to the side to get out of the corner Korgar was driving him into.

The only thing he could do that was stupider was get into a grappling contest with the dwarf, but sadly he was running low on options with his left arm out of comission--better than an internal organ, by his count--and so he ran through the options in his head. No, best to stick to his advantage, which was his long limbs, and outdistance his opponent. The trick was to do it without getting too timid or leaving too many openings. Shifting his body so his right side faced Korgar--thus able to use his one capable arm for offense and defense--he took a sliding step inwards and fired off a side kick to Korgar's face.

Take the bait, William pleaded internally, Please take the opening...

[Korgar Kinslammer]

The dwarf was tough, tougher than anything found in a typical smithy –well, not exactly, but he was tough enough. It took more than a few punches and kicks to down the sturdy dwarf, and even then, it required a little more than that to keep him on the ground. As the son of Draegar Kinslammer, Laird of Zerdargia’s Clan Kinslammer, the dwarf may have lacked the ordinary intellect that blessed humankind, but whatever he lacked in brainpower, he more than compensated with pure brawn.

Thrusting his knee at William’s lower half, the dwarf was mildly astonished by the crack that resulted –it wasn’t the sound of knee and gut colliding. No, it was the noise of William’s shattered elbow; it was the noise of a failed attempt to ward off the dwarf’s devastating blow. Unfortunately for the dwarf, though, the parry was not without its advantageous repercussions. The tip of the human’s elbow nevertheless found its mark, and Korgar gritted his teeth as a surge of pain born of the block’s aftershock reverberated down his thick leg. He would definitely feel that later.

Still, the advantage was his. William’s left arm was seemingly useless, and that was the lead Korgar needed to seize victory.

His keen obsidian eyes discerned the angle of William’s kick as it flashed through the air, and he wisely stepped back to avoid it. Parrying high kicks was not the dwarf’s forte, especially as an ordinary person’s mid-leveled kick was usually high enough to catch him in the face or in the neck. Ever the patient fighter, Korgar waited for the human’s foot to return to the ground. Once it did, he charged in, fists held mid-level in the event that William followed through with another attack. Hoping to beat him to it, Korgar launched a jab with his right hand followed by another and another. When and if William’s good arm came up to block, he would twist at his hips and shoot a left hook in hopes of connecting with the man’s wounded arm.

He would need to exploit that weakness if he intended on winning this fight.

OOC:thanks masa!

[Masamune]

As the dwarf sidestepped the attack, William was surprised to find that Korgar hadn't taken advantage of the human's wide-open sides. As the his foot touched ground he saw the smithy move, and as he did so he felt his eyes close for an instant.

Dammit...I really hate having to use this...

As Korgar's jab flew forward the human's open-palmed hand re-directed the blow away from his body completely by altering the flow of Korgar's movements. As the dwarf replied by twisting his hips to fire off a left hook, the amateur fighter stutter-stepped back and leaned backwards, the fist missing his face by inches, before following up. The dangerous part of a one-two combo like Korgar's was the quick shifting of weight and balance left one momentarily unguarded after the second blow.

A quick low kick to the back of Korgar's knee had his leg buckling involuntarily, folding on itself as would be natural. With his body twisted out of alignment and his balance completely off, a frightfully fast reverse-spin-hook-kick fired off at a low level allowed the heel of Willam's foot to connect with Korgar's face, the success of the blow could be heard with a resounding crack. The power behind it was earned by the momentum of the spin, which was all that was needed to finish throwing the dwarf off balance completely, and he crashed backwards. One knee tucked under his body, his head having contacted the ground solidly, and blood pouring from his obviously broken nose.

Though the playing field was hardly fair, William had proven that even handicapped as he was, he was still a dangerous fighter. It was up to Korgar on if he wished to try again to prey on his opponent's weakness, or if he did what dwarves weren't known for doing and gave up.