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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3550002" data-attributes="member: 3448">Well, since you asked... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />-------The Council gathered in a private chamber to watch the duel via a scrying.  Alistair and Kit clutched each other’s hands nervously as they waited the gamble that would determine whether Alistair lived or died.  Dame Brionna simply stared at the image, outwardly stoic but inwardly panicking about a threat to her liege that she could do nothing to stop.Lord Davion and the Master Unbidden discussed dispositions of bodies and then crossed to opposite sides of the field to begin.  They executed flawless salutes.  And then Lord Davion’s banner bearer called out the first form.  They both responded almost instantly, with their swords flashing as swiftly as lightning, but the drow was a hair’s breadth faster, raining blows upon Lord Davion’s armor.  Lord Davion’s armor glowed brightly as it blocked most of the attacks that made it past his guard, but blood flew from the handful that penetrated.  Lord Davion’s counterattack was every bit as vigorous, and he weaved a few more blows through than the Master Unbidden had managed, aided by the Master’s inability to charge his armor with psionic energy.Lord Davion overextended slightly on one blow.  A lesser swordsman would have risked catastrophe, but even Lord Davion suffered several trying blows before getting his guard back in position.  He also put rather more weight than he would have preferred on one foot.  If luck had been an issue, the ground might well have given ground, tumbling him down and making his defeat inevitable.  But with the Lady of Fate excluding all chance, his foot landed on a particularly firm patch of the field, and the ground held.They battled on, far longer than any true fight the Council had ever witnessed before, with Lord Davion’s herald calling each successive form.  They fought through stylized forms, following ancient rituals of dueling that were all but forgotten in this Age.  Both warriors suffered terribly.  Finally, a rapier snaked in completely past both defense and armor.  For a single protracted moment, all movement stopped, and then Lord Davion stepped back as the Master Unbidden fell.  Lord Davion very ceremoniously decapitated the Master Unbidden, and then announced, “Davion of the House of Aufaugauthala’rim declares on the behalf of Alistair, Archduke incipient of the Archduchy of Canberry, victory over the Order of the Black Tear, and an end to the feud with the Controller of Region 6, now and for all time.”  Even as he spoke, the body of the Master Unbidden became desiccated and withered.  With the battle over, Lord Davion cleaned and sheathed his blades, while his chaplain cast more healing spells than the Council would have imagined possible--heal after heal.</blockquote>

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