I already have blak's answer so don't repost it here, blak. I wanna keep this as unanimous as I can. Besides, if it's happening, I'm reshuffling teh bracket so he goes after The Strongest and Lobo takes on Error to prevent early clashes.

Well aint Hewwy a little ball of cunning

Oh wellz~ I promise that if Blak goes on, I will not comment on how well (or bad) I feel like I would have done XD

Quote from ErrorBlender

How did we tie? O_o The scoring was put up.

Anyways, I'll be ready for another battle with you again someday. Until then, reverse-catbug.

Points in that round alone were the same, of course you had more overall, but for JUST our round they were the same =P

EDIT:

I gotta say I do hold mixed feelings about the situation. I am a friend to, despite my jousting at, Blak and I think I know what he'd want...but I really want to see Chamel up there.

Don't get me wrong, I would so love to fight Blak (in this tournament, i know I can fight him whenever) if he goes on, and I believe he can make it all the way because he's got the talent.

But there's always been a sort of...something in Chamel's writing that makes me feel like he could just be amazing. He's like Gene Forrester as he runs around the track at the end of "A Seperate Peace": he needs to keep going until his body (his writing talent) just says "Fine! You want more! Here!" and he matures into what is there.
I want to see the talent like i see it in Blak, not just get a sense of it.
His character's personality was given such a life force when I first read it, and i want to see more of that.
I just want to see the little bastard to really push himself. To want to win this. Because even if he doesn't, that want could make him such a better writer if he were to really take himself seriously.

EDIT:

Also what are you talking about at the beginning with hacks? This is all new to me O.o
And were you saying "save your shit" literally, or figuratively, like "don't lose your shit [mind] over the phat licks i be about to drop on ya!"

I'm cool with it. Even if it does mean I lose my chance to take on Observer Protocol's leader immediately. Going head-to-head with the person who bested the one who first brought me here sounds like it could be fun, too.

I don't think I'm terribly fond of Chamel's motivation to drop, however. It strikes me as somewhat "meh" to throw away one's chance in the tournament because you don't think that you earned it. The important thing is that, deserving or not, you're the one in the spot. Of course, I'm an absolute sucker for systems, so my first instinct is generally to support the system (unless I think it's a broken one, which I don't think this one is). The way I see it, you can choose to deserve that spot if you feel like it.

On the other hand, BirtDog's quoting A Separate Peace to have Chamel stay, and I don't want to have my arguments associated with that piece of literature..even if it's kind of the same as what he said, now that I'm reading it. And it's not like the tournament is the only thing that exists to make him push himself.

Anyways, bottom line: If all involved parties are cool with it, I'm cool with it.

EDIT: I've been wondering, actually, why this tournament uses both a bracket system and an overall points system at the same time.

Who brought you here The Strongest? Azure? I haven't beaten the dude. O_O

Truthfully speaking, I'd want Chamel to go for it. Chances like these are somewhat rare and letting opportunities slide are something I'd prefer not to allow.

blakphoenix beat Azure Kite in the first round. If blakphoenix does take Chamel's spot, then you face Lobotomizer and I face blakphoenix.

Quote from The Strongest

EDIT: I've been wondering, actually, why this tournament uses both a bracket system and an overall points system at the same time.

Well the overall points is just for bragging rights. Mostly. It's just another way to cummulatively bring out the best in someone by breaking their abilities down. You for example, clearly stomped the competition by winning votes over the traditional way and you've never CNC'd. Whilst others did the latter and won that way. Antes were put in place to prevent wins by popularity so the Pts Breakdown would showcase that as well, like how Loboto took a risk with a Hard Ante and almost failed to win because of it despite his votes, whether or not they are popular.


I've made my decision on the matter: Chamel stays. End of story.

So...we can go for the Semis? The site went up for reset.

Righty-ho hoes~

Let's get this thing started :D (srsly... Y u no put it up yet?)

Perhaps Hewitt was purged a second time.

Don't be silleh.

Chamel, I did put it up ages ago but a site reset forced another rollback because of more hacking.

Rather than post the semifinal immediately again, I decided to just enjoy my weekend because I feared another rollback would destroy the semifinals AGAIN.



SO. Let's just all wait a couple more hours (im not at home) until I can repost the semifinals and we'll get this thing on the road. I'll just post it here instead of making a thread since theres only 4 of your left.

Welp, shit happens. Enjoy your weekend (FOR IT WILL BE YOUR LAST) and get it up whenever :D

I've enjoyed the silence...and can i tip my hat in FAVOR of getting a thread made again. It's easier to navigate to on a phone =P

Alright, I decided to just post the Semi-final here instead of making a new thread. I waited for awhile cos I was afraid of another hack as I mentioned. With the Loser's Bracket resolved for the moment I can release this. I apologize but I must once again ask all those who acknowledged in the past to do so again. I will append this post if anyone has further clarifying questions and for Ante's that are being asked for.

Anyways let's do this:




The podium rose on the central platform, taking the spoiled survivors atop the insiduous maze. As the stone platform reached its apex, the maze itself began getting darker and darker as the only source of light; the Maze's entrance sealed the loser's fates, trapping them forever.

"This...is madness. They won't survive down there. We have to go back for them!" Walden remarked.

"They'll be fine." The Host sneered, obviously transparent about the entire affair. "I didn't expect more than half of you to make it though, so this is entirely problematic."

Without a word, Kalena lunged at The Host, as closest as she has ever been and grabbed him by the collar. Despite everything she still had the strength to lift him precariously over the dark maze, with the ceiling almost certain to crush his head if she didn't pull away. Everyone else was quick to console but not stop her from her misdeeds. The Host himself could only smile.

"I like your moxie, Miss Eirwen!" His forced words barely escaping his choked lips. "But I would save it for the Rubber Room. All that pent up rage requires a more...sophisticated target."

And as if the world played tricks on her, a single blink disapparated all four competitors and the world went to black.

A single solitary dirty cell was their only companion. Well that and a plus one to join them.






Recap: the Scoring System
The Scoring System remains unchanged, with the exception of the Judge's Blessing. Although I loved the competitiveness of the Ante system so much, I'm making it a default rule for this round as well:

Votals - Natch. In every voting period after both entries are submitted, every vote is worth FIVE POINTS.

Ante - These are "miniwagers" you can take on if you think you're losing just because of popularity power. For this round, we'll be going back to the First Round's "add a random element" nature of Antes, with the added staple now that both can take the SAME Ante. I liked the result it produced last round that I'm sticking with it now. If two people take the same-difficulty Ante, only one of them will win the points! The scoring remains the same: you take an Ante you have to work with and bet 5/10/15 points. If you fail to achieve it, you'll lose that much. If you succeed, you'll get 10/20/30 points in return! There will still be three categories: Easy/Medium/Hard.

Bonus Wins - In addition to the current objective of the Round, there will be an extra Bonus Win condition that is constant for all the Rounds. Points for this Bonus element will always be constant: TWENTY POINTS.

CNC Benefits - Competitors will get TEN EXTRA POINTS for every battle in this tournament they CNC. They must both vote AND comment why they voted for that person. It could be as simple as just liking some specific thing. CNC Points will not count if the comment is vague or unhelpful and you can only CNC a maximum of THREE times. Moreso, if the cnc is extremely detailed, explaining more than just one thing, the cnc-er will get an EXTRA FIVE POINTS.

Judge's Favor - This time around, there will only be one judge doing the favoring (it will be unanimous). Not only that, but we WILL be judging someone. Meaning, at least 2 of the 4 competitors this round will be getting a blessing from us: TWENTY POINTS



Theme
Every Round will have their own common theme by which all participants should adhere. It could be anything: a special element, a unique win condition, a debilitating or strengthening modifier for either competitor. Anything. For this Round, the theme is called Blow by Blow. Details are as follows:


Quality Over Quantity
For the past two rounds, you guys have been handed brutal requirements that took weeks to prepare for. I mean honestly, the number of words in some of the entries are just ridiculous sometimes. Today, we're going to turn that formula on its head. Instead of spending weeks drumming up the perfectly pitched tale for your fighters, the time limit this time around has been significantly reduced to a mere THREE days. Gasp. What is the meaning of this?! Well simply put, The two paired fighters are going to go at it back and forth until the end of the brawl. Instead of meticulously drafting and editing your work, this round will test your ability to write fast but smart, and to give much needed detail to perhaps some of the more technical aspects of a fight.


Spar of the Century
As soon as the battle thread starts, both opponents will have two weeks to 'spar'. That is, they must take turns posting in an attempt to beat the living shit out of each other. They will have a time limit of THREE days for their 'turn' to post. One post is similar to 10 to 20 seconds in-universe. With the exception of the Starter, their post must consist of 2 things: a) Their reaction to the opponent's action. and b) Their counterblow. This will go on until 2 irl weeks have passed OR a total of SIXTEEN posts have been made (8 on both sides), whichever comes first. By the way, when I mean 'beating the living daylights out of each other' I'm talking about using every one of your abilities to do so. For the past two rounds, your abilities have been held back in some way. Not the case now. This time, the gloves are off. Fight to your fullest!


Setting: The Rubber Room
The Host has pitted both pairs of fighters in what can only be described as "a dirty cell". From here, it is up to you how you're going to describe it as. It can be a padded cell in an abandoned sanitarium, a steel cage hanging over nothing around a live audience, or even an enpty apartment room. The only thing you should be wary about is that there is nothing in the environment to use against your opponent. Yes, ramming them against the walls and floors is allowed. Busting them open and going through them is ok. But you can't use weapons or anything lying around or conditions happening outside the room to affect the battle itself.


Rules of Fight Club
I'm sure the little gears in your head have begun to turn. A sparring match for a semi-finals...surely that holds certain implications:

a) The Golden Rule is that every Action has an Equal or Opposite Reaction. Meaning, if you make or take a move, you have to lose something in return. Realize that we each have fatigue, emotional fallout, psychological fallout, or just good ol' HP. The Room offers no room (lol) to run away and strategize. It's attack or be attacked plain and simple.

b) You CANNOT kill your opponent. In fact, you have no control over his actions. You can only describe what the opponent has already given you. If he says that his lip's busted, you can only use that. Don't say his bones are broken beyond repair. It is okay however to speculate. For those, we judges will decide if it is a proper call.

c) Let's lay down the obvious taboos:
- NO Godmodding (invincibility and invulnerability to the attacks you recieve. Even defending properly can cause fatique somehow.)
- NO Puppeting (as mentioned, you can't control your opponent or manuever them into a position advantageous to you)
- NO OP-Attacks (unstoppable, little-to-no-tradeoff attacks that leave the other guy with little to work with in terms of a counter)
- NO Speeding (getting ahead of yourself and posting a move that obviously took more than 10-20 seconds. So yeah, you can't charge attacks or set traps in advance unless a 'trap' was using a detail your opponent ignored previously)
- NO Ninja-ing (100% evasion an attack. Refer to the Golden Rule. You can evade something, but it cannot be 100% accurate.)

d) Also to the watchers, please don't post until their brawl is over.



Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
I have a manuever that my opponent should know OOC. Can I telll him in advance before his next post?
- Yes you can. It's necessary. What isn't allowed however, is spending all your time choreographing the entire battle. It's admirable but wastes too much time and doesn't produce results in the longrun. You can also talk in OOC using this tag ---> ##


What exactly will the judges be looking out for?
- Mainly The ff:
a) Realism - Following the Golden Rule, your character should be worn out as it attempts to counter the enemy fighter with everything they've got. A debilitating attack should be met with equally debilitating consequences, for example. A jeer in your direction, should goad your into getting pissed or amused.
b) Detail - Now that the word limit is significantly lessened and limited, we'll be looking at how you describe actions and thoughts in general.
c) Creativity - Natch. We'd very much love to see how you'll react to things not just on a physical level but in the minds of your characters as well.
d) Consistency - Not only must you fight a good fight, but you must also do it while balancing other elements such as potential character development, dialogue, and flair.


If the opponent is only making the attacks, how can I be certain how strong they are to react to them and vice versa?
- Good question. And even moreso, this is why I mentioned that Detail is one of the key elements in this round. Consider the ff attacks from the same guy:

a) He took a step, unsheathed his sword, and drew a cut at his opponent.
b) Harrison spun around, twisting on a dime with only his toes touching the ground. His entire body cringed under one singular force, as his arms flailed and whipped in the direction of his torque. The snapping effect unbuckled his sabre as he gripped it on cue and wasted no energy in making a furious slash towards his opponent's abdomen.

Now which one of the above do you think makes the better impact? If you guessed B then you're smarter than we think. A poster coming at you with a post from option A, could easily be parried by playing it off as a weak attack. With second one however, it is discerably more dangerous and will most definitely hit you where it hurts. The challenge is to recieve and give with equal ferocity in no more than Three Days.


How long can a post be if the timeframe is 10-20 seconds?
- There is no limit. As long as the time frame is implied. If it goes over, then we'll take that into consideration.




What do I do?
1. On the bottom of this post you will find this round's bracket.

2. You must first post here as a sign that you are still alive and active with the following:Until you make the acknowledgement, you can still ask questions for clarification. But until then, I will consider your Rounds to begin as soon as the other guy acknowledges as well.

3. As soon as both have acknowledged, I will be making the threads myself. The losing seed (in this case Chamel and Error) will have the privilege of choosing whether or not they'd like to go first. Then the posting ensues.

4. Both competitors will have 3 Days tops to post their next move. They still actually have to post, but pts will be deducted accordingly after the Round is over for every late entry. This will go on until a total of 16 posts (8 each) have been made, or the deadline of 2.5 weeks has passed.

5. Aaaand that's it. You have until two and a half weeks from now AKA November 2, 2013 to post all your entries. The deadlines for the polls themselves will be a week from whence they are posted.

6. When both entries have finished, I will modify the thread to include a poll, and voting/cnc-ing will happen right then and there for a week.


"Rubber Room Brawl" Bracket for The Semi-Finals:

Kalena vs Chance

Lobotomizer has initiated a Hard Ante: By the end of your battle...Corvon must suffer a fatal demise...from Kalena's hand.
vs
Chamel has initiated a Medium Ante: Everytime you recieve an attack, you must suffer clothing damage as well.



Bl.An.C. vs Walden

ErrorBlender has initiated a Medium Ante: In the moments leading to and in your penultimate or final post, create a "twist ending". This ending CANNOT be about the result of the battle itself. For example: the most cliche'd kind of twist ending is that it was all just a dream. I can provide another example if you ask for it but you won't be able to use it anymore.
vs
The Strongest has initiated a Hard Ante: Intersperse every or every other post you make with a Flashback, fleshing out your Character's Past.




Bonus Condition
As rounds go by, each Bonus Condition has been getting incredibly harder. For this Semi-Final Round, only ONE of you will be getting the bonus point. And that is to the one who can write the most realistically portrayed Permanent Injury. Here is the catch however: If you're planning to do this Bonus Condition, regardless of if you acquire these points or not, you MUST carry your Permanent Injury into the Finals. Will you risk it?




Now get ready to rumble!!!



AS BEFORE: If you have any inquiries or clarifications, feel free to ask them in this thread for both the benefit of me and your opponent.

Congratz to the final four.