SABRE DUEL- Kuylen vs. Gundark

THE SET-UP: Venerable Jedi Master Gundark, after receiving a vision, persuaded the Council to divert a Jedi expedition to the troubled world of Damagran to its smaller neighbour, Jaglon Beta. SInce arriving there Gundark has become more certain that something is greatly awry; something beyond the massive pirate presence there. To try and get some answers, she has ascended to the top of the main settlement if the planet, a secure area where the people in charge of the pirate operation is. She has found one answer sooner than she expected.

Dark Jedi leader Kuylen (controlled by me) has been determined to face the Master ever since the Dark Side players spotted the Jedi on their world a little while back, and has simply been waiting forn the Master to make it up to the top. His servant Edna spotted the means via which Gundark was ascending, and Kuylen had the place prepared for her arrival. The main concourse they have met on has been cleared; there is no-one to disturb them.

Upon meeting Gundark, Kuylen wastes little time in removing his outer clothing, drawing his sabre and attacking.

HOW THIS WORKS: Same way as always; go check the first ever thread for the full rules. Each player takes it in turns to attack and defend; the player who does best (a combination of random factor, quality of post and skill of the character) scores a point; first to five points wins so long as you win by two clear points; margin by which you win is how badly you hurt your opponent. Either player may try to flee at any time.

ANALYSIS: Gundark is a fully-trained Jedi Master with decades of experience; the elite of the elite. She has not been active in the Galaxy for some time, so her skills aren't quite at their peak, and also her body is ageing so she is not as fast as she was, but few people in the Galaxy would want to meet her in a fight.

Kuylen is an unknown quantity. But ALL the other Dark side Jedi fear him greatly.

Kuylen is the attacker (which makes it 3 out of 3 attacks for the Dark Side. Good! As it should be.) He will strike first. Gundark wil type her defence, one or the other scores and then the two will swap.

Score: Kuylen- 0 Gundark- 0. Kuylen to attack (post to follow)

Gundark, Kuylen moves quickly towards you but you have more than enough time to draw your own sabre and defend yourself.

His first blow is a lightning fast jab aimed slightly upwards; the speed of which surprises you. You block the blow and are surprised at the force of it; this man is stronger than he looks and he is damn fast as well!

He slides his next blow to the right and you move to defend and only JUST in time do you realise this is a feint; he is actually going for your centre again. You block again and Kuylen disengages, taking a step back to look you over.

He... he's testing you. Trying to get a feel of your style... this is all wrong; he's treating you like something in a practice arena!

Kuylen's next attack is for real. He moves in quickly towards you, and then suddenly drops down to his left side and stabs his sabre forwards towards your exposed side...

Your move!

Gundark swung her sabre upward from below and blocked Kuylen's stab, forcing his sabre upward toward his shoulder. Hard sparks crackled between the crossed blades. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest and forced herself to channel all her energies into the duel.

You block Kuylen's stab, but as you try to bring your blade upwards Kuylen holds his blade in place with an unbreakable gaurd. The look on his face is one of purely focussed control; you feel a wave of powered emotion... anger... flowingg from him.

His mind! Like iron! Like nothing you have ever felt before!

The sabres whine and flash as the two of you hold your blades together, but Kuylen is too strong for you to hold the position; he would slowly drive the sabres back into your body. You have to slip out the guard and step back.

Score: Kuylen- 1, Gundark- 0. Gundark to attack.

(All yours)

Gundark feinted a second step backward and instead quickly spun and brought her blade downward towards Kuylen's left wrist, as he appeared to be right handed, hoping to loosen his grip on his sabre. His power was staggering and she used the Force to layer her strength so as not to expend herself at this early stage of the battle. But she had not reached this point in her life without leaving many of the dark side dead at her feet.

Kuylen moves WITH the motion of your blade, bring his sabre down and aloowing you to drive it into the ground, bending his legs as he moves down with it. Then, he shoots himself back up to full height, and forces your sabre back up again before sliding his sabre forward; a blow desinged not so much to kil, you but to froce you to move away.

Score: Kuylen- 2 Gundark- 0. Kuylen to attack.

He's good, Gundark. DAMN good. Certainly better than you have ever fought; better than any Fallen-without support, without friends, without further training- should ever be.

This one could be your match.

Kuylen begins a rapid series of feints, strikes and slashes. He fights in a classical style; fast but not flashy; disciplined but not predictable. He seems to want to see your response to each move until he can find your weakness; you know for certain that were you not a master of the blade he would have found one long before now.

This man is a walking deathtrap for Jedi. He will kill any Knight he meets, you are sure of it.

The concourse is wide, and you have plenty of room to give ground and think, and watch for his next attempt to kill you. It comes with a disguised feint; a move only seen between Masters as he begins what looks like a feint, judigng by what he did earlier, but is actually a genuine blow! The quick jab is aimed at your midriff.

Gundark used gravity and brought her sabre left and down to block the jab, and Force flipped her body over Kuylen's head and several meters up the corridor. It expended precious strength but she had to draw back, throwing off her robe as she did. A tiny fear crept into the back of her mind that this man could actually deal her a fatal blow that she could not prevent. Faced with her own mortality, she knew the fear would be the death of her first. She put the fear away, calmly, and gripped her sabre more firmly.

Your flip is perfectly executed; it displays an agility you had kept hidden in the fight so far. His wasted feint goes nowhere and for a moment you think you have blindsided him but Kuylen spins with INCREDIBLE speed to bring himself to safety and meet your next blow.

Score: Kuylen- 2. Gundark- 1. Gundark to attack.

Now free of her robe, Gundark feinted a wider swing of her sabre than before, then brought it in check before completed the arc. She cut the air downwards toward Kuylen's knees, hoping to at least wound him in the leg area and take him down. As her sabre moved, she Force-pulled an overhead power coupling that she had seen inside an exposed ceiling panel down toward Kuylen's head. Gundark was totally determined to survive this battle, wounded if she had to, but this monster would not defeat her...

(Small pause here, I am afraid, Gundy, as we wait for Queeq and yerssot to get further in their fight; it is taking place at the same time as this one and they must not get too far ouyt of sync.

BTW, fair warning, this fight (and all others being foguht at this time) is time-limited to prevent fatalities; after this, all the main players should be used to the system we use, and we can move onto the finale, with a few scores to be settled, with any luck....

Oh, I will be busy for a couple of days. Sorry.)

(Ok, here we go...)

Kuylen jumps neatly to one side away from the panel, but is quickly forced on the defensive as you strike low. He walsk backwards, giving ground as you take the chance to give HIM some blows...

Score: Kuylen- 2 Gundark-2. Kuylen to attack

Kuylen waits his moment, and at a point where your sabres clash low he simply elbows you in the face, giving a grunt of exertion as he does so! He then starts to slam his sabre blade into yours with amazing force! Hatred radiates from his mind like a shining beacon as he starts to foce your blade aside, and while powerful his blows remain short and controlled...

Meanwhile, the 'peace' of the room is disturbed. Pirate security guards start to file into the concourse, on the level you are on and all three balconies! This leaves the cable car as your only means of escape; not likely while you are in a duel!

Taking the sudden appearance of security forces as fear on Kuylen's part, fear that he may loose the duel, Gundark knew she had the upper hand. Kuylen's short but repeated blows with his sabre were designed to wear her down, she knew, but at the same time Kuylen was expending himself.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and her face throbbed where he had struck her, but Gundark summoned her strength and forced Kuylen's blade back with a mighty heave of her sabre. At the same time she flung out her foot and caught the back of Kuylen's right leg, pulling him to the deck trying to quickly get back to avoid his weaving sword. Security was pouring in. If she could not kill him, she had to get out of here. Now.

As hre goes down, Kuylen adopts a crouching position. Suddenly, he slides forwards on his legs, clashing his sabre against yours and narly bowling you straight over He hops back onto his feet and starts another set of weaving blows.

He is pushing you back, now. Kuylen advances towards you almst in a casual stroll. His blows become faster and faster. His feints and counter-feints are the cleverest you have ever seen and without your finely honed Force sense of the future you would NEVER know where his blows were coming from. As it is, you have to take step aftet step backwards to give yourself time to react even WITH your future sense. You know wou will have to take a chance soon or this fight is lost... if only you were younger!

Who taught this man? His style reminds you of no-one you have ever seen. How has he reamined unnoticed for so long? How is he so STRONG?

Score: Kuylen- 3, Gundark- 2. Gundark to attack.

BTW, as guards continue to file into the room, you sense not triumph from your opponent but... surprise?

Gundark was aware Kuylen was pushing her further down the corridor and away from the concourse. Which, as far as she could see, was her only means of escape. Parting the sea of security guards wouldn't be difficult, but she still had Kuylen to deal with. His blows were relentless and his strength with the Dark side of the Force unwavering. Kuylen's core was foul and corrupt, fueled by a hatred and an anger the source of which she could not begin to guess. They had yet to exchange one word, yet he spoke volumes with his blade.

Again, she summoned all her strength, swung her sabre wide and undercut one of his pounding blows, forcing his arm back and up. She then threw both legs up this time and Force-kicked him with both boots, hard, in the chest. She leapt to her feet and spun in the same instance and brought her sabre down with mindless speed, intending to take Kuylen's head off and end this thing.

It's no good. This one is too strong, he takes your kick with a little more than a grunt; falls back with the impact and your blow cuts inches wide of his throat. With a poweful blow, Kuylen knocks your sabre out of postion leaving you with an exposed middle.

Score: Kuylen- 4, Gundark- 2.

Suddenly, Kuylen stops. The whole area is now filled with security guards, and just come through the main concourse doors is a heavily armed, girzzled looking man accompnaied by many equally well-armed bodyguards. In the sudden silence, you can make out the sounds of a abttle in the room beyond, the distinctive hum of a sabre and deflected bolts.

The man is Hade, the base security chief, that several players have had dealings with.

"Kill them both," says Hade, and the many guards open fire on both fo you...

And this, as warned, prematurely ends this fight! Fret not, Gundy, for even winning a single round when solo against Kuylen is a mighty achievement!

A new post will be made by me in the Light Side area for you to contunue from