Discussion: Dueling Roulette: jet (Makintab) vs. osu (Buckley)

[Osu]

I'm so excited! This is my first duel, so please be patient with me! I understand we need setting, time of day, who's good/evil/neutral, who's going to win, and what all is going to happen during the fight. Right? Right.

For setting, I can place my boy just about anywhere as long as I can plausibly say the Long Patrol would send him there. As for time of day, what about early evening to start and then, as it gets darker, the characters are forced to fight in the darkness, or something to that effect?

I propose we turn the entirety of the duel into the climax of a story, where the characters have some kind of long history together and this duel is the culmination of years and years of -- of, I don't know, rivalry/hatred/jealousy/good-natured fighting/whatever. What do you think?

[Jetthebinturong]

Well Makintab is a very honourable man so I would say good-natured fighting. Evening sounds fine to me as it's my favourite time of day. I have no idea for a setting yet. Perhaps they could be in a tower and slowly making their way up? Then again there would need to be a reason. Maybe they're both looking for a warlord in this tower and then mistake each other for them, not knowing their description, that would get rid of the culmination thing though. If we do do it in a tower I'm imagining the roof to be like Orthanc

[Osu]

A tower sounds like fun, you're referring to the orthanc of Lord of the Rings, right? How about they start at the bottom, duel their way to the top, and then when they reach the top there's a full moon and a lot of wind, making getting pushed or slipping off the edge of the tower a big part of their combat and defense strategies?

Let's ditch the culmination thing in favor of meeting unexpectedly and thinking the other is a bad guy. It'd be easy enough for Buckley to assume Makintab is a bad guy in a gloomy twilight (or something), I think the Patrol sent him there as a special, secret mission to investigate some vermin activity in the area. Should it be dark enough for Makintab to assume bad guy on Buckley, or maybe Buckley attacks and Makintab is like "wait what are you doing stoooop!" .....and then they run into some kind of epic vermin bad guy halfway up the tower, who leads them to the top, and then all three of them battle to the death! And Buckley and Makintab realize they're on the same side and defeat the big bad guy together by THROWING HIM OFF THE EDGE OF THE TOWER?

Sorry, got a little excited there. Ahem. Something like that sound good to you? Whatever we do, I also think we should plan out what's going to go into our posts before we begin, too, such as introductions, who sees who first, when the big bad guy comes in (if we're doing that), and so on. If we have a structured schedule-type idea, writing the posts might be easier. Just an idea! What do you think?

[Jetthebinturong]

I like it 

I think Buckley should see Makintab and attack him first. As cats are considered as vermin that would fit in well with Long Patrol mentality

The bad guy could either be already on the roof or a few floors below. Do you want to make him or should I

Yes I am referring to Saruman's tower from LotR

[Osu]

Let's make the bad guy together, since we'll both be fighting him. What manner of creature should he be, a greatrat, maybe, or a wearet, or some kind of giant lizard? What has he done that both the long patrol and Makintab are after his blood? What's his fighting style? If Buckley uses a short sabre and Makintab uses dirks/knives/his fists, perhaps a bad guy with a longer reach as regards combat would be more challenging? If he's fighting two experienced warriors at the same time he's probably one heck of a swordsbeast, I'm sure. Also, if we control him jointly, it'll give him more depth as each character perceives/he perceives each character in every post.

When should Buckley and Makintab realize they're on the same side, and how? Before they reach the bad guy, after they're in the tower -- and then they finish stalking the bad guy together, or maybe after they've already engaged the bad guy? Ideas?

For the RP as a whole, what do you say we try to shape it up like any other story? Meaning there's an exposition (introduction posts, who the characters are, what they're doing, etc.), rising action (Buckley and Makintab meet and duel?), climax (Buckley, Makintab, and the bad guy fight to the death!), and resolution (big bad guy goes parachuting off the tower without a parachute and Buckley and Makintab part as unlikely friends! Or something.) Something like that? It would make the thread as a whole more exciting, I think, and keep us from getting sidetracked as we write our posts. It would also help us shape the duels themselves, how long they should be, how many posts they should be if we have the time to plot that far, and so on. If we apply the graph to our characters as well, it'll give them added depth and interest if they learn lessons and leave changed etc.



Sorry I keep hitting you will text walls, haha.

[Jetthebinturong]

I was thinking maybe a weasel or a pine marten, I don't know why but they seem to be the most sinister and intelligent out of those though I'd say a lizard. Makintab uses a rapier mostly but he does also use dirks and fists. I would say the bad guy should use a longsword or a broadsword or two swords.

I think they should realize that they're on the same side when they meet the bad guy or maybe some of his minions?

Yes that is how I normally do things

[Osu]

Ooh, a duel-wielding pine marten sounds good to me. That way he can beat off both characters at the same time. Perhaps he had a horde that was recently defeated and he escaped to the tower with his remaining minions, and Buckley/Makintab are there to assassinate him?

As far as realizing they're on the same side, how about they meet some of his minions half way up the tower, defeat them, and talk it out like civilized beasts? Then they can continue up the tower, beating back vermin as needed, and meet mister pine marten near the top -- who basically goes "lol nope" and runs for the top where he thinks he'll push a hare and a cat off the side -- and we all duke it out from there?

As far as plotting out the thread, why don't we go ahead and put up our intro posts for now? The first poster can give background information on the setting and time of day, and the second poster can fill in the readers on the bad guy and why anybeast would be there to get at him. Then two follow up posts on setting/bad guy from the other character's point of view, then Buck/Mak meet in the fifth post? Either Makintab can bump into him, maybe, or just spots him or something, or Buckley sees him first and CHAAAAAARGE. Whatever the case, I think it should be Makintab who initially leads the fight into the tower and up some stairs to get the plot rolling along in that aspect. What do you think? Do you have any preference for who posts first?

[Jetthebinturong]

I would rather you posted first, that gives me time to write up a draft and get ideas.

Well here's my idea for what the bad guy should be (He has no name yet)

Name: Any ideas?
Species: Pine marten
Gender: Male
Weapons: Dual swords (Which type? I think scimitars would be pretty cool)
Training/Skills: Uh any ideas?
Description: He wears a patch over one eye, wears a black tunic and cloak. The tunic is belted by a brown belt with a gold buckle. He also wears silver shoulder plates and wrist guards.

[Osu]

Awesome, how does this sound for the first six posts?
osu: setting+time/meet Buckley
jet: about the bad guy/why bad guy needs to die/meet Makintab
osu: comment on bad guy from Buck's point of view/arriving at the tower
jet: comment on setting+time from Mak's point of view/arriving at the tower
osu: Buck attacks Mak, mistakenly assuming he is with the baddie
jet: Mak defends himself + leads/forces/whatever Buck into the tower/we begin climbing stairs while fighting

For the initial combat between Buck/Mak, let's make them evenly matched without any lasting injuries. Then we can have more exciting combat with animals getting stabbed and stuff (if you want) when we get to the big baddie. Sound about right, do you think?

For the bad guy, here are my ideas as well. It's another text wall, sorry! D:

Name: Uhhh... Hemlock? Deathclaw? Cassava? Ruti the Scimitar? Aconite? Deathcamas? Snakefang? Atropa? Laburnum? Hrmm, I'll have to think about this one....
Species: Pine marten
Gender: Male
Weapons: Dual scimitars, both long + curved and really wicked-looking?
Training/Skills: A master of dual-handed weaponry, scimitars of course, but he can kick butt with anything as long as he's got a weapon in each paw? Strategy for fighting two beasts at once: possibly his initial strategy is to keep them together so as to try and trip them up, that sort of thing, then tries to separate them so he has time to kick one off the tower, then the other? His major weakness might be his eye patch/only has the use of one eye, so enemies have a better chance of getting at him from his blind side?
Description: He wears a patch over one eye, wears a black tunic and cloak. The tunic is belted by a brown belt with a gold buckle. He also wears silver shoulder plates and wrist guards. And shin guards! For the eye hidden by the patch, perhaps there's a long scar running through that eye and across his face?
Personality: is he an evil planner who leads from behind, or maybe a crazy-head berserker? Ideas?

[Jetthebinturong]

Sounds good

Yeah that sounds about right the name seems to be giving us the most trouble

[Osu]

I'll get a start on that first post. We could always leave him nameless, like a He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named type deal.

[Osu]

Double-post, shame on me! First post has been posted and whoa golly gee dang that took forever. I, uh, think maybe we should try to condense our posts as much as possible if we want to finish up by the end of December. >.>;

[Jetthebinturong]

Posted

[Osu]

Posted! And feel free to use any of my duel posts here in a fanfic, I'd be honored. <3 After your next post is when Buckley is gonna attack, I'm thinking. Any ideas on how many posts it should take us to get to the near-top of the tower? How do you think they should meet the bad guy, do they bump into him or is he already aware they're there? I think all the sword fighting noises would probably alert him.

Speaking of that final battle on the roof, I know wind and a full moon was the original plan, but how about switching it up to a lightning storm? Since they're so high it's 100000% more dangerous for everybeast with lightning and rain, and since it's night they won't be able to see very well except when the lightning flashes. Pouring rain would make the whole battleground slippery, so falling off the tower would still be a major concern. What do you think?

[Jetthebinturong]

Sounds awesome