Monster Melee 2-Lifeless VS Midnight Essence (Battle Scene Posted)

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Time for the second installment of Monster Melee!
 
This time, it's going to be the fighting dead of Nalthis, the Lifeless, against the mysterious enigma of Roshar's Midnight Essence. 
 Lifeless

 Lifeless
 
Midnight Essence
 
For this battle, we are going to assume for one that the Lifeless were average warriors before being awakened. 
 
I also want to explore a group battle in this one. Dalinar, as a very experienced warrior, was able to take out two Midnight Essence with a fire poker, but he was injured, almost critically, in the process. From this basis, I'm going to make the assumption that they would be slightly more apt in combat for the lifeless, and I'm going to pit five lifeless against three Midnight Essence. 
 
This is open to discussion, as well as how heavily armed the Lifeless are. To start, I think it would make it a fair fight to have two lifeless armed with swords, and the rest either unarmed, or blunt weapons. 

I'm personally withholding my vote until after we finalize battle parameters.
 
As with last time, I'll write up a battle scene when the dust settles and it seems like discussion is over with a clear winner in the polls. I'll also try to include some of the battle mechanics we discuss, and I've got a fun theme that I'm going t try to expand on from last time. 
 
Edit: Can anyone teach me what I'm doing wrong to get these links to work? At this point I'm just so very confused as to why I can't get them to work. I'm trying to link the wiki pages to here. 

Edited May 4, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Left]

They work for me, and I voted M.E. This is another pretty fair fight but I think the agility of the me tilts it in favor for them. Although is this day or night because I think that would make a difference.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

They work for me, and I voted M.E. This is another pretty fair fight but I think the agility of the me tilts it in favor for them. Although is this day or night because I think that would make a difference.

 

Is it giving just the title, instead of the whole link with the commands? I'm seeing the BBCode commands, the hyperlink, and the title I'm trying to give them. My computer does funky things though.

 

As for the time of day, how about twilight? It sounds more poetic   (as long as you don't associate it with Vampires)

Edited April 30, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Left]

Twilight sounds good, as for the other stuff, I don't really know how it works I just know that both links worked when I clicked on them. If you mean does it look nice and pretty, no it doesn't. This is what I'm seeing.

 

 [post=http://coppermind.net/wiki/Lifeless]Lifeless[/post]

[Shaggai]

Midnight Essence. They can smash through walls. Lifeless are probably more squishy than barn walls.

[ccstat]

The more I think about it the less sure I am, but I think the advantage is still ME.

The 5-on-3 team up does make it a bit better, though to give the lifeless a good chance I think they all need edged weapons. 

 

Both will continue to attack until completely disabled, but I agree that ME have an agility advantage. In addition, unless there is a human commander present to direct the lifeless, I don't see them working together very intelligently, while the ME seemed to operate at least loosely as a pack. 

 

(Also, the links should fix if you change "post" to "url")

Edited April 30, 2014 by ccstat

[Fifth of Daybreak]

The more I think about it the less sure I am, but I think the advantage is still ME.

The 5-on-3 team up does make it a bit better, though to give the lifeless a good chance I think they all need edged weapons. 

 

Both will continue to attack until completely disabled, but I agree that ME have an agility advantage. In addition, unless there is a human commander present to direct the lifeless, I don't see them working together very intelligently, while the ME seemed to operate at least loosely as a pack. 

 

(Also, the links should fix if you change "post" to "url")

 

Unless anyone objects, let's change it to all Lifeless have edged weapons. I was hesitant to give them blunt weaponry at first anyways, as it would limit them to the point of uselessness. 

You can assume that for this fight, they do have a commander, one that cannot assist in the actually fighting. 

 

(I had tried that before, that leaves the title, but it doesn't link it to the pages, as you can see from the edit I just made.)

[Shaggai]

Unless anyone objects, let's change it to all Lifeless have edged weapons. I was hesitant to give them blunt weaponry at first anyways, as it would limit them to the point of uselessness. 

You can assume that for this fight, they do have a commander, one that cannot assist in the actually fighting. 

 

(I had tried that before, that leaves the title, but it doesn't link it to the pages, as you can see from the edit I just made.)

Use this: [ url = your URL]Text[/url]

Take out the spaces and it should work.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Shaggai

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Use this: [ url = your URL]Text[/url]

Take out the spaces and it should work.

 

Argh! Super mega confused. That's exactly how I had them. Still not working. I appreciate the help though. 

[Shaggai]

Argh! Super mega confused. That's exactly how I had them. Still not working. I appreciate the help though.

Let me try.

Lifeless

Midnight Essence

There. That works.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Shaggai

[ccstat]

Unless anyone objects, let's change it to all Lifeless have edged weapons. I was hesitant to give them blunt weaponry at first anyways, as it would limit them to the point of uselessness. 

You can assume that for this fight, they do have a commander, one that cannot assist in the actually fighting. 

 

Hmm. I know those were my suggestions, but after incorporating both I'm now worried that we may have swung things too far in the lifeless squad's favor. As you mention, Dalinar takes out a bunch all by himself with mad skills and a fire poker. Seems like a well coordinated team of 5 undead soldiers with edged weapons could take on a lot more than 3 bag-of-smoke monsters. 

 

What makes more sense? Take away some of these new advantages or change the team size? 

[Numb]

Dalinar is/was one of the most skilled fighters in all of Alethi though. An average person may have a much more difficult time.

[name_here]

I'm inclined to favor the Lifeless. Dalinar is a very skilled warrior, but he was also fighting with a poker. The Lifeless don't have to worry about blood loss, so it would take a pretty solid hit to bring one down, and swords are longer than claws. If the Lifeless are directed to strike at limbs until the Midnight Essences are crippled, they'd probably win.

[traceria]

Wow, this is a tough one. My only thought right now is that if the ME group was able to immobilize the Lifeless, then the fight would be over. I'm still debating how easy (or not) that might be for them to accomplish.

Edited May 1, 2014 by traceria

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Hmm. I know those were my suggestions, but after incorporating both I'm now worried that we may have swung things too far in the lifeless squad's favor. As you mention, Dalinar takes out a bunch all by himself with mad skills and a fire poker. Seems like a well coordinated team of 5 undead soldiers with edged weapons could take on a lot more than 3 bag-of-smoke monsters. 

 

What makes more sense? Take away some of these new advantages or change the team size?

 

Judging by the poll, Lifeless need all the help they can get.

[Patrick Star]

As for the time of day, how about twilight? It sounds more poetic   (as long as you don't associate it with Vampires)

 

I'm perfectly OK with no vampires.  Seriously, even "Vampires Suck" sucked...

 

I'm voting Midnight Essence... because of reasons (actually, I'm picking them for agility).

[kaellok]

Edged weapons, a commander directing them, and a numbers advantage puts the advantage to the Lifeless, I'd say.  The ME seemed differently dangerous than, say, a warg or whitespine--but not really more dangerous

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Here is the end result to the second Monster Melee! And, I'm proud to officially announce, in the spirit of light heartedness and shenanigans (in the form of abusing a much hated character) that the narrative section of the thread will now have an unofficial title "The Ballad of Roshone's Revenge." Please enjoy the second installment.

Roshone limped across the plains; his peg slipping clumsily on the rockbud vines retreating against his advance. Providence had provided to him again. Somewhere out in the area surrounding Hearthstone, he had again stumbled on creatures unknown to him. They were human . . . almost. Their skin grey and dull, their eyes vacant. They were all armed with swords, and had immediately followed his leadership. They even seemed capable warriors, at least a few of them.

They plodded along behind him, Roshone narrowing his eyes to squint towards the horizon, searching out his foe. Never mind the silversmiths, never mind the surgeon, never mind storming Dalinar Kholin for sending me here, I will have that Whitespine’s head. The evening sun was hiding from the sky, darkness and light meeting playfully to illuminate the sky in a cascade of flowing color. Roshone ignored it. His eyes were only for the cursed beast.

It was in that backdrop, purple spinning into orange fading to green sliding into blue that swirled back into the purple, that it arrived. Roshone eyes fell directly on him, standing proud, erect, majestic in the twilight. He felt a primal surge of fear run through him, and purple fearspren exploded from the ground, more numerous than he had ever seen before. But the moment passed, and Roshone collected himself. He noted that the lifeless did not react to the spren, they kept staring forward, blank.

He turned back towards the hued skyline, and he made out not one, but four shapes moving towards his group of six. They were smaller than the Whitespine, perhaps the size of large axehound, maybe bigger. They seemed to blend into the landscape; Roshone never would have seen them if they had not been moving. The kaleidoscope sky casting strange refractions against their oily skin. They seemed to have six legs, but they didn’t seem right for the things body.

They were still a ways away, even though both parties had seen each other, they did quicken their pace. By the time they within a short distance of each other, the last rays of twilight had vanished, and Salas’s steady purple light filled the sky, and bathed the soon to be battlefield. The creatures didn’t have familiar facial features, at least none that Roshone could see they did however, occasionally lift their heads up in the air. Roshone didn’t know what to make of them. Roshone gave his creatures their instructions, and then hung back, not wanting to risk himself again.

As he stared the short distance away, he was displeased to see the Whitespine, also, seemed to be holding itself from the battle. What in Kelek’s tongue, is the storming thing smiling? Roshone had no idea that sort of emotion could show on the reptilian’s features, but he thought he could make out joy. Are those anticipationspren? Roshone shook his head, and turned back to the battle.

His instructions had been simple. Two go for the Whitespine, one for each of those strange beasts. They lumbered in distinct groups, their targets visible from their direction of travel. The Whitespine looked at them, and started to circle around the fight, moving itself to be behind the melee from the two. Roshone cursed softly, hobbling towards them to give orders. That’s when the first one struck.

One of the lifeless had reached its intended prey, and had raised its sword to strike, but the thing was too fast. It leapt forward, mauling the lifeless with its dagger like legs. The lifeless exploded, bits of gore flying in all directions. A bit of intestines smacked against Roshone’s shoulder with a sickening squish.

The other lifeless had managed to score a hit on its target, and the thing seemed to be, not bleeding, but leaking smoke. It lunged again, scoring a hit on the face. The disturbing creature recoiled, and oozed smoke, seeming to shrink and shrivel as it died, a horrible hissing noise escaping from it.

The third creature was already bleeding smoke from a few small gashed, but the lifeless was also showing signs of battle, ichor leaking from an abdominal wound. It thrust again, and the essence jumped out of the way, as the first creature joined the battle, hitting it from behind, ripping into its flesh. Soon, it stopped moving, they both turned towards the first.

Roshone had manage to limp as close to the battlefield as he dared. He yelled instructions to the one that had killed its target, and tried to limp towards the other two, meaning to redirect them to support their lone companion. By the time he arrived and looked back, it was already disabled. He barked a few commands, and clumped away, hoping his peg would find purchase on the uneven ground.

The Whitespine was laying down, Roshone noticed. It seemed bored now. It had kept the battle between itself and the two the whole time, rendering them useless for support. Roshone felt like a fool. Did this creature just outsmart me? He brushed away the thought. It was a fluke. This thing wasn’t intelligent after all, just especially evil. It did find these creatures though . . . How? He turned back to the battle.

Both of the midnight essence were bleeding heavily from wounds, smoke pouring out, and their bodies sagging. The lifeless were in worse shape. One of the two was missing an entire arm. The other was barely holding back one of the beasts that continued to pounce and wary him. The first lifeless had reclaimed its sword from its fallen arm, but was clearly terrible with its off arm. It fell quickly to the beast it was facing off with.

In a short time, both of them had made short work of the remaining lifeless. Their nightmare teeth slicing through flesh and bone together. The human like creature was soon completely dismembered, and Roshone stalked away. None of them made an attempt to follow him. He turned back to the Whitespine for one last look, and saw it staring directly at him. Roshone shivered, and continued his disgraced walk back to his carriage.

Edited May 5, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Kobold King]

Once again, Roshone fills his admirable purpose as the Cosmere's punching bag. And we get a fine show out of it.

 

Though now there is an intriguing story arc. What is wrong with that Whitespine? Is it as clever as it seems to be? Is Roshone slipping further and further into madness and hallucinating it all?

[Patrick Star]

Once again, Roshone fills his admirable purpose as the Cosmere's punching bag. And we get a fine show out of it.

 

Though now there is an intriguing story arc. What is wrong with that Whitespine? Is it as clever as it seems to be? Is Roshone slipping further and further into madness and hallucinating it all?

 

He needs to fulfill a greater roll.  He must no longer be just a punching bag.  He must be made to handle all kinds of abuses from any and all sources from across the cosmere!

 

The whitespine isn't as clever as it seems to be.  It's just more clever than Roshone.  Not much of an accomplishment though...

[Kobold King]

The whitespine isn't as clever as it seems to be.  It's just more clever than Roshone.  Not much of an accomplishment though...

 

Thus putting it on an intellectual level equal to some rockbuds.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Thus putting it on an intellectual level equal to some rockbuds.

Dont insult my rockbuds.

[ccstat]

Excellent, and I highly approve of the Ballad of Roshone's Revenge theme.

 

he was displeased to see the Warg, also, seemed to be holding itself from the battle. What in Kelek’s tongue, is the storming thing smiling? Roshone had no idea that sort of emotion could show on the reptilian’s features, but he thought he could make out joy. 

 

I'm not quite sure what the Warg was doing in this scene, but at least it has reptilian features now 

Nice use of Rosharan profanity, too. 

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Excellent, and I highly approve of the Ballad of Roshone's Revenge theme.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what the Warg was doing in this scene, but at least it has reptilian features now 

Nice use of Rosharan profanity, too.

Whoopsie! Maybe it was wearing the warg's face as a mask? Fixing it now thanks.