One moment, he was standing there--in a poor fighting stance, pondering what "they weren't tactics" might possibly mean. It didn't occur to him that anything had been haphazard or accidental; everyone he'd ever fought had been well-trained.

So when his leg was suddenly yoinked out forward in a violent, abrupt motion despite nothing touching it, he went over like potatoes: arcing backward, slamming hard into the ground back-first and then staring up for a beat, blinking blankly.

It occurred to him that this must be magic: in the next instant he rolled, doing his best to avoid another yank of Dewberry's invisible power. Even as he did so, he was marvelling. What a wonderful strength that must be: the ability to engage in combat without ever touching the opponent-?

Round: 4/5
Attempt: Attempt to roll away from further magical attack
Defense: engaging in evasive maneuvers
Injuries: --

@Dewberry

The Sentinel hit the ground, and Dewberry's face twitched in a snake's version of a wince. That looked like it might've hurt - and she should know; she'd just been thrown onto the ground with the exact same magic.

Go for his halberd next! she told herself, grasping for the tall weapon. But she'd hesitated a moment too long; the Sentinel was already rolling away, and she couldn't keep up with his movements, disoriented as she was from the fall she'd taken. Plan B, then. And if she'd never had a plan B in the first place, she'd just have to make one up now.

The Sentinel's roll had kept her from following up with magic while he was vulnerable, which seemed like a smart idea. Dewberry could do an evasive maneuver, too, or at least try. It wasn't so much a "maneuver" as simply backing away from the direction the Sentinel was moving in, but Dewberry wasn't being picky about words right now.

If wrenching the halberd out of his grip seemed a little far-fetched now, what about a rock? There were plenty of those around. She could get herself a weapon, too. Dewberry seized a vibrant blue crystal nearby. It was not very big, but that was just fine with her. She wouldn't be the one to drop a boulder on someone in a friendly fight. She chucked it at the Sentinel, aiming for - the side? The side was good. Away from the head, where the sensitive things were.

@The Sentinel

Round 5/5
Attempt: hit him with a rock (anywhere but the head)
Defense: don't be near him
Injuries: bruised and dizzy from aerial acrobatics

As he came to his feet, he found a--crystal?--sailing toward his flank. He winced, pure reflex bringing his halberd up in an attempt to block its impact. He felt the clang as it struck, and the power of it jarring down his arms; he flinched, at this, taking a swift step back.

His mind was struggling to take quick notes. But he could not quite keep up with the pace of the fight, along with thinking, so he called out.

"Wait," he requested, though whether Dewberry would halt he could not tell. "The Sentinel wishes to... learn of this... magic?"

It was magic, right-? This ability to fling things around, with invisible arms?

Round: 5/5
Attempt: bunt the incoming rock with the halberd
Defense: --
Injuries: a li'l dazed

@Dewberry

Dewberry was in the process of reaching for a second crystal when the Sentinel spoke. She froze immediately, a moss-covered rock hovering a few meters away. It tumbled back to the ground moments later, the magic's hold on it released.

The little snake sagged with relief when the Sentinel only asked to learn about her magic. Dewberry wasn't quite sure what else she'd been expecting - what else could he possibly have said, anyway? - but a question was a good outcome. I like questions better than fighting, she decided, even if it meant talking about the series of failures before. She liked answering questions better than seeing the Sentinel trip and fall, even if the latter had meant her magic was finally working properly.

"Uh, yeah, that. I move things with my mind - my magic. That … series of backflips, just then … wasn't what I wanted, but it was also a spell." Her bruises seemed to hurt just thinking about it. "It does that sometimes, when it fails. I guess it's like when one of you - Gembound with legs, I mean - trips, or something. What else do you want to know?"

@The Sentinel

This was fascinating, and for once, the Sentinel's absolute and full attention remained firmly on the snake. No drifting to listen to the whispers that his halberd constantly murmured in his ears; no mind half-wandering through philosophical musings.

She could move things with her magic.

"That is powerful," the Sentinel observed, thoughtfully. "What is its weakness?" A blunt question, perhaps, but he was here to learn, after all.

He turned toward the mossy rock that Dewberry had dropped, and gestured his own clawed hand outward, attempting to impart his mental will onto it. Was he capable of such things-?

Nothing came of it, and for a moment he simply stood there, hand uncurled, staring at the rock. He then looked at Dewberry. "The Sentinel is incapable," he informed her, his rasping voice holding vague disappointment.

@Dewberry

Character: Dewberry Age: +30 (30 Cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +6 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +1 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +2 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +11 Penalties: - Total: 67

Character: The Sentinel Age: +3 (3 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler) ROUND 1 Attempt: +14 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +19 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +2 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +10 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +8 Penalties: - Total: 59

WINNER: Dewberry

Weaknesses? "As far as I know, I can only move things when they are close to me. I need to see them for my magic to take hold." Was that something that could be improved on with practice? She could try it and find out, Dewberry supposed. "And sometimes it doesn't take hold anyway, and nothing happens. I could practice that away, probably." And sometimes the spell succeeded, but not quite in the way she'd wanted it to, grasping something other than the intended target. Like herself, just minutes earlier. She was about to say it, but—

Wait.

What was she doing, telling all the weaknesses of her magic to a complete stranger? A stranger who'd straight up told her he was going around the caves to fight people, no less. And he'd been sent by someone— by whom? He was called the Sentinel, but of what?

All questions she'd neglected to ask, either because she was distracted and hadn't been paying much attention, or because she hadn't felt the need to ask them earlier. But the wariness was seeping back into her, and she bit back the rest of her words. She hadn't thought of him as a possible enemy, hadn't really even considered the possibility that much. He'd looked scary, but he hadn't attacked her outright like the lizard had attacked Father so she'd just assumed—

But try as she might, she could not stay silent. The way the Sentinel looked, staring at the rock… well, maybe it was the way he always looked while staring at anything, but his voice at least sounded disappointed, which wasn't really fair. It was his first time trying such a spell, and Dewberry had certainly had her fair share of failures. "It's all right," she said awkwardly, trying to channel her sister as best she could. Azure was good at helping people feel better. She thought. She felt better with Azure around, anyway.

"What kind of spells are you used to casting? — If you learned magic, as well as fighting with that." Dewberry nodded toward the halberd. And maybe a few more questions while she was at it, the ones she really wanted to ask now, to make up for not asking them before. "Who sent you to fight? What are you the Sentinel of?"

@The Sentinel

He listened in silence, committing this to memory. And when Dewberry asked her questions, he had no reason not to answer in turn.

"It is the Sentinel of Draco, and the Chaos Forge." Again a moment of silence, as the Sentinel had a rare moment of empathetic insight: she probably wouldn't have a clue what that was. "Where the Masters form new creations," he explained.

The halberd was lifted more upright, standing haft-butt against the ground, the Sentinel leaning weight on it. He thought, for a moment, about her other question--about his magic.

"There are two," he rasped, at last. "The power of flight. And the magic of Draco. But the Master has commanded combat to be its path." 'Magic is fickle,' Vargas always told him; 'rely only on your own body and its capabilities.'

He'd found it true, though that could perhaps have been down to a lack of practice; whatever the case, his magic was not all that reliable. Still, perhaps he could demonstrate-?

The Sentinel focused, for a long moment, but all that happened was that the shadows shrouding him briefly thickened, darkened. They did nothing like what he intended, and the effect had reverted in seconds, so that he offered a faintly disappointed grunt. "It has done nothing," he informed, "but--when it comes to the Sentinel's call--it is darkness."

@Dewberry

Unfortunately, the Sentinel's clarification did little to actually improve Dewberry's understanding. She had not heard of the Masters, either, and had no idea what they created other than chaos. Dip had a forge, too, and she assumed that the Masters had made this one's halberd in their forge. But why pick a name as sinister as Chaos Forge?

Dewberry watched closely as the shadows around the Sentinel flickered and became darker, but nothing further came of it. The spell had slipped from the Sentinel's grasp, as her own magic sometimes slipped from hers. But the glimpse of the magic, along with the Sentinel's explanation, was enough for her to get an idea of what 'the magic of Draco' was like. It was darkness that would encroach despite the warmth of the orb-light; it was shadow that would swallow her up and leave her vulnerable to all manner of monsters.

She considered the way the Sentinel spoke, referring to itself - himself? itself? - in the third person and speaking of the Master (Draco? Was that the Master's name?) as one who commanded rather than one who loved. But the Sentinel wasn't a monster, was he? Why should he serve the Masters who forged chaos and darkness? "Who are the Masters? Why - who do they want to fight, and why should they command you to fight for them?"

@The Sentinel

Dewberry was asking Sentinel to explain concepts that he hardly understood himself. His was an obedient mind, a hound's mind, one to accept was he was told without question. He knew the what, but not always the why or the how, and he found himself puzzling a little over Dewberry's questions.

"The Masters are Master Vargas. And Master Nemean. And Master Astraea. And Master Totum." Those were the names he knew; that was the "who," then, covered (in his mind). He paused, mulling the list over, trying to remember if he had forgotten anyone. "There are others," he settled on, at last, remembering dimly something about a Tenz-something in a water cave.

"I am commanded, as I was created to serve. Master Vargas has formed me to watch, and thus I watch." For days on end. He did not mind.

As for who they wanted to fight, and why? "The Sentinel has never asked these questions," he answered, at last, a little more slowly.

@Dewberry