DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 02/11/2020 Duedate: 03/09/2020
ILLIS ARENA
DM-59 TURN-373
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
FISHHOOK
ISLANDERS (247)
(59-2807) [22-26-2,108]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
FISHHOOK KAPPA VOLANTIS
ISLANDERS (247) VOLANS (326)
(59-2807) [22-26-2,108] (59-3133) [2-0-0,27]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
PEARL PILLOW FIGHT
ISLANDERS (247) BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
(59-2944) [13-11-0,61] (59-2993) [15-8-2,88]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
NEXUS 5 (324)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. ISLANDERS (247) 44
2. BASHAHOLICS ANON (297) 31 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
3. VOLANS (326) 14 Unchartered Team
4. BOOK OF THOMAS (317) -5
5. NEXUS 5 (324) -14 VOLANS (326)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 1*VOLANS (326) 2 1 0 66.7 1/ 2 NEXUS 5 (324) 7 3 0
2/ 0 BOOK OF THOMAS (317) 60 43 4 58.3 2/ 1 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297) 6 6 0
3/ 2 NEXUS 5 (324) 52 41 1 55.9 3/ 3 ISLANDERS (247) 6 9 0
4/ 3 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297) 180 203 7 47.0 4/ 4*VOLANS (326) 2 1 0
5/ 4 ISLANDERS (247) 483 618 19 43.9 5/ 0 BOOK OF THOMAS (317) 2 3 0
'*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn
(###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank
TEAM SPOTLIGHT
Dark Stoicism
The giant sword cut a furrow into the dirt. The night's light reflected from a few
patches on its slowly rusting blade, which rose out through an upturned mouth. The
ricasso head stretched past a crossguard of outstretched hands. The stylized fighter
handle stood on a pommel skull. Two beefy hands grasped the figure's body. The sword
was massive, like the warrior holding it, called Stoic. The sword was sleek and
battle-worn, the warrior was bloated and uncertain. Towering though he was, even under
plates of armor, fat rolls peeked out. One might wonder if the cook decided to go to
war while the soldiers stayed in the kitchen.
Stoic looked back. His manager, memory, had been there just a moment ago, but the tree
line had misted over, obscuring the entrance. He shrugged under the weight of the
armor and looked through his helmet. The moonlight was bright on a clearing in the
forest. All was deadly quiet, night mist roiling. His sollrets clunking through patchy
grass occasionally broke the silence. It would be serene, but he could feel eyes
everywhere and the promise of death. This was not a quiet forest and certainly not the
boisterous and sandy arena he normally fought in. This was the Dark Arena, final
resting spot of the failed gladiator.
* * *
"I can do better. I can! Please!" Stoic pleaded but memory was unmoved. "My decision
is final. You don't have the desire to live a life of war. You have not grown into the
gladiator name I gave you." Stoic was on his knees, begging, searching memory's
unseeing eyes for hope. Memory's mouth tightened as he let out an almost imperceptible
sigh. He pulled the hood of his tight black cloak over his head, turned, and drifted
away.
"Wyvern, please. Surely you can save me?" The trainer put a hand on his shoulder. With
Stoic on his knees, he and the diminutive trainer were eye to eye. An immortal warrior
with many years and many deaths behind her, she did not harbor his fear of the
unknown. "Today's fight is over. Tomorrow we will train for the next." She locked eyes
with him, passing on some of her inner resolve. "Come," she bade, as she led him from
the infirmary back to their training hall.
* * *
A biting pain seared through an exposed flap of skin on his stomach. His mind had
wandered away from the fight. His opponent, a Dark Arena champion, had entered
silently. An elf stood before him, two feet shorter, but standing tall and towering
above Stoic by confidence and bearing if not physical height. He might have been a
glimmering angel, moonbeams dancing on exquisite silver mail. The elf brought his
needle-thin sword up, hilt to face, blade skyward, in honorable warrior salute. He was
sure he had won, and everyone knew it. He had time to honor the walking dead.
* * *
Old Wyvern snaked a short spear under his guard, stopping just short of cutting. She
always used her deadly spear, even in training, such was her skill and control. He had
a greatsword, blunted for training, but massive. "I can barely move it. How can I
train or fight if it's too heavy?" He felt a familiar and painful whack from the blunt
end of Wyvern's spear. "Don't blame the sword. Desire victory and the sword will
move." She struck again and he moved to the side, not moving the sword so much as
standing it in the path of the attack. The parry was unorthodox but successful.
"That'll do. Now strike!"
* * *
Stoic tried to recall his training as the fight continued. It wasn't working. He was
bleeding profusely. He fell back on his reserves of strength and willpower. Slash,
cut, smash... the elf was striking every weak spot in his armor, inflicting damage at
will. Circle, stab, circle, slash, circle, cut. Stoic had been on the ground twice
before struggling to his feet, stumbling and throwing up defenses with little success.
He felt frustrated and clumsy but kept defending. Maybe the attacks were coming more
slowly...
* * *
The arena crowd was restless, only moderately attentive to the morning's rookie
warriors. The sand worked its way between his toes. He was just a boy. His parents did
not love their son so much as an arena bounty. Stoic was scared and slow and the man
in front of him wished him harm. And harm he did. Stoic cowered behind his shield,
without even a weapon. "It's better this way. Rely on your hands. I want to see what
you can do," memory had said. Stoic was bruised and bleeding. His opponent was more
tired than injured, exhausted, really. Under a slowly diminishing rain of blows, Stoic
heard calls from his teammates. "Now strike!" They were yelling frantically. He peered
over his shield to see his opponent, sweating, breathing heavily, grip loosening on
his sword. The attacking gladiator overextended above his head, ready to deliver
another hacking, unopposed blow. Stoic roared upward to his full height, at the same
time sending his shield through the surprised gladiator's face. Blood spattered, he
flipped once and landed face down with a thud, sword flying end over end to land ten
feet away. The crowd gasped for a moment then roared. His team roared. He looked to
see memory, gazing forward blindly as always, but clearly smiling at him.
* * *
Back in the night mist, he was tired and hurt. After a long fight, minutes under this
barrage. It must happen soon. Stoic knew he would die. But he wasn't dead yet. He saw
the elf circling, waiting for another attack. He saw the moonlight and the trees. He
felt the watching eyes. He felt memory and old Wyvern and his team. He knew they could
see. He felt his opponents and all the gladiators in him for this moment. He felt his
parents, who only saw in him a mouth to feed. He saw the high elf, still glistening,
now with sweat -- still looking down on Stoic -- looking down not with haughty
indignation as before, but the desperation of a man trying to chop down a stone tower
and just realizing his error. Stoic saw not confidence but desperation. For the first
time, resignation gave way to fury. "Strike Now," he heard in his mind.
The elf leapt forward, blade flashing. Stoic spun to his right, pulling the massive
blade in his wake. The elf and his blade shot through the spot Stoic had been, then
turned back in disbelief at the unexpected life in his easy quarry. "Strike Now,"
Stoic thought, as he continued his spin, continued his fury, pulling the blade full
circle, letting out a roar that called all the judging eyes to witness.
The blade felt warm in his hand. He struggled to catch his breath. The arc of the
blade had pulled him another half circle away from his opponent. He looked back at the
elf, ready for the next attack. The elf's body stood, head lying on its shoulder, neck
detached entirely where the blade had hewn through. The head's eyes were still open,
judging differently now, askew. Immortal these Dark Arena champions were, and
immortality makes death an odd thing. Stoic fell to his knees, sobbing. The fight was
over. And it might never end.
-- memory
DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.
Since you won, Higher Power, how come I'm stuck with writing something here?
-- Fishhook
SPY REPORT
Busy, busy, busy, lots of things happening in ILLIS this turn, and let's start
with a look at some of the teams. It seems the training can make the difference, as
BASHAHOLICS ANON is pushed out of top team by NEXUS 5, who came from 2nd with a 1-2-0
this turn. And let's see, NEED A FIX fought HULA MIA and gained 19 points and
contributed to BASHAHOLICS ANON's 2-0-0. HULA MIA has lost to NEED A FIX, falling 8
points, while helping make ISLANDERS a 3-2-0 turn. Defending his title for another
turn, FISHHOOK kept BOOK OF THOMAS' warrior, OCEAN SPRAY, from claiming the throne.
By the way, was that our Duelmaster that I saw last night, cramped under the table at
The Swinging Aardvark?
He who challenges well, fights well. He who avoids without cause, shall lose
for good reasons. My mama told me that one. BASHAHOLICS ANON has cause to stand
tall, as they were ILLIS' most avoided team. A smart manager knows this is a team to
beat. And guess who avoided BASHAHOLICS ANON stable the most? Believe it or not, it
was NEXUS 5. Anyone surprised? Well, sports fans, take notice that TIKI from
ISLANDERS was ILLIS' most challenged warrior this turn. I don't know about you, but
SINCLAIR challenging down 16 points to ISLANDERS' TIKI, is not really worthy of NEXUS
5. Well, surprise, surprise, SINCLAIR was beat by TIKI, and by the way, SINCLAIR now
has a recognition score of 71. KRYSMOPOMPAS of NEXUS 5 had better have a good reason
for challenging down 14 points in a challenge which he won. I thought KRYSMOPOMPAS
showed great skill and promise when he beat HARBOR SEAL. All right, so I slept
through it! Big deal!
A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man only once. Wise men know this to
be true. We'd like to remind certain teams not to rob the graves of their enemies.
You know who you are; and it's considered rude.
Thought for the day, a new sword shines bright, but the notched sword sings the
sweetest. Always good to rest in ILLIS, but never good to wear out my welcome. Look
for me in future turns. Until you see my quill in ILLIS again, farewell-- Alarond
the Scribe
DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
FISHHOOK 2807 22 26 2 108 ISLANDERS (247)
CHALLENGER CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
HIGHER POWER 3119 9 2 0 98 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297)
TIKI 2840 18 19 1 93 ISLANDERS (247)
SEA FOAM 2987 14 7 1 93 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
RIVER RAT 3014 10 6 0 93 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
CHAMPIONS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
PILLOW FIGHT 2993 15 8 2 88 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
OCEAN SPRAY 2988 15 8 0 83 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
SINCLAIR 3099 10 9 0 71 NEXUS 5 (324)
CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
-CLAYBORN 3117 5 3 0 62 NEXUS 5 (324)
PEARL 2944 13 11 0 61 ISLANDERS (247)
NEED A FIX 3141 5 3 0 59 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
KRYSMOPOMPAS 3140 5 4 0 55 NEXUS 5 (324)
HULA MIA 2947 14 9 0 51 ISLANDERS (247)
HELLPOP 3085 12 14 0 50 NEXUS 5 (324)
HARBOR SEAL 2954 7 14 0 35 ISLANDERS (247)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
KAPPA VOLANTIS 3133 2 0 0 27 VOLANS (326)
-WITHDRAWAL 3142 4 1 0 24 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
CURTAINCALLER 3111 1 1 0 14 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
FALLING STAR 1 3134 0 1 0 VOLANS 326 IRON JUDGEMENT 373 NONE
PERSONAL ADS
Sinclair -- I knew a guy named Sinclair once, he was into flying machines. Weird. --
Tiki
Hellpop -- Carbonated cayenne juice, right? Ick. -- Pearl, who likes things smooth
Krysmopompas -- I don't even know what you ARE, so how can I defeat you. -- Harbor
Seal
Higher Power -- I noticed. -- Fishhook
Need a Fix -- Duct tape, the ultimate fix. -- Hula Mia
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
FALLING STAR 1 was butchered by IRON JUDGEMENT in a 1 minute Dark Arena fight.
SINCLAIR was devastated by TIKI in a action packed 1 minute one-sided Challenge duel.
KRYSMOPOMPAS overpowered HARBOR SEAL in a 1 minute bloody mismatched Challenge duel.
HELLPOP was overpowered by PEARL in a 1 minute one-sided Challenge fight.
FISHHOOK devastated OCEAN SPRAY in a 1 minute uneven Title brawl.
SEA FOAM defeated KUNG-FU MASTER in a crowd pleasing 1 minute one-sided struggle.
PILLOW FIGHT was overcome by HIGHER POWER in a action packed 3 minute fight.
RIVER RAT vanquished VETERAN MERCENARY in a 1 minute uneven duel.
HULA MIA lost to NEED A FIX in a 2 minute fight.
KAPPA VOLANTIS vanquished CURTAINCALLER in a 1 minute one-sided duel.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|WALL OF STEEL 5 LUNGING ATTACK 7 - 3 - 0 70 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 4 WALL OF STEEL 34 - 20 - 0 63 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 3 TOTAL PARRY 6 - 5 - 0 55 |
|BASHING ATTACK 3 PARRY-LUNGE 1 - 1 - 0 50 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 1 AIMED BLOW 8 - 8 - 0 50 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 STRIKING ATTACK 14 - 17 - 0 45 |
|AIMED BLOW 0 SLASHING ATTACK 6 - 8 - 0 43 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 0 BASHING ATTACK 11 - 18 - 1 38 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 0 PARRY-RIPOSTE 3 - 7 - 0 30 |
|TOTAL PARRY 0 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 1 - 0 0 |
Turn 373 was great if you Not so great if you used The fighting styles of the
used the fighting styles: the fighting styles: top eleven warriors are:
SLASHING ATTACK 1 - 0 BASHING ATTACK 1 - 2 4 WALL OF STEEL
STRIKING ATTACK 2 - 1 AIMED BLOW 0 - 0 3 LUNGING ATTACK
WALL OF STEEL 3 - 2 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 0 2 STRIKING ATTACK
LUNGING ATTACK 2 - 2 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 0 1 SLASHING ATTACK
PARRY-RIPOSTE 0 - 1 1 BASHING ATTACK
TOTAL PARRY 0 - 0
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
WALL OF STEEL HIGHER POWER 3119 9 2 0 98 BASHAHOLICS ANON (297)
LUNGING ATTACK SEA FOAM 2987 14 7 1 93 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
BASHING ATTACK PILLOW FIGHT 2993 15 8 2 88 BOOK OF THOMAS (317)
STRIKING ATTACK PEARL 2944 13 11 0 61 ISLANDERS (247)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is PEARL 2944. The most popular warrior this turn was
PILLOW FIGHT 2993. The ten other most popular fighters were SEA FOAM 2987, TIKI
2840, KRYSMOPOMPAS 3140, PEARL 2944, HIGHER POWER 3119, NEED A FIX 3141, FISHHOOK
2807, RIVER RAT 3014, HULA MIA 2947, and SINCLAIR 3099.
The least popular fighter this week was CURTAINCALLER 3111. The other ten least
popular fighters were OCEAN SPRAY 2988, HELLPOP 3085, HARBOR SEAL 2954, FALLING STAR
1 3134, KAPPA VOLANTIS 3133, SINCLAIR 3099, HULA MIA 2947, RIVER RAT 3014, FISHHOOK
2807, and NEED A FIX 3141.