| “ | A leader is a dealer in hope
— Napoleon Bonaparte
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” |
This battle originally came from a group vs. group battle between I had planned between the Officer's of the Chain of Acheron and Bruno's Team. However, I quickly realized that while interesting in concept, the fight was one sided to the extreme. However, a fight between just King and Bruno, the respective leaders of both groups, was much more balanced.
Bruno and King are both the leaders of their respective crews, along with being the best tacticians, and arguably the most powerful. Both have great aspirations and goals for the future, and have formed a rivalry with powerful overlords, with Bruno being opposed to Diavolo, and King being opposed to Ajax the Invincible.
King[]
| “ | You may think “Ajax can’t be beaten”. Three days ago, I might have agreed with you. But there is only one explanation for why he’s chased us across the timescape. He fears us. He fears us because he thinks we can win. And now, so do I.
— King
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” |
King was a Higaran Cleric and Commander of Chain of Acheron following their crushing defeat at Black Bottom.
Coming from the land of Higara, far to the east, little is known about the man who would be given the name King before he joined the Chain of Acheron. Beyond his fine clothes and quiet nature, few know the true story of who King was before he joined the chain. Originally acting as chronicler and the personal retainer to the Chain's original commander, Red, King would serve loyally as a member of the Chain, having served with them for years, crossing the timescape and fighting in several realms.
King would be present at the city of Black Bottom during the fall of the Chain. Having been hired to assassinate Mortum, the archwizard of Ajax the Invincible, by Kenway of Dalrath and Lady Sariel. The assassination was ultimately botched, having possibly been set up by Sariel to draw out Ajax, who arrived briefly after Mortum was attacked.
The following battle was catastrophic, with Commander Red being killed by the Demon Relg, Lady Sariel apparently being slain by Ajax, and the Chain being shattered and cast to the wind as Black Bottom was leveled. What remained of the Chain would flee by sea, being chased across both the physical and astral seas' by Ajax's forces. In this time, the new Commander Sweet, along with the Staff Sorcerer Nails would both die, leaving King as the only suitable Commander.
Rising to the position, King would help the Chain survive their journey through the astral sea, arriving in Capital, the greatest city in this or any age. Here, King would work with a single goal, to build up the Chain again as a force capable of opposing Ajax. Red and Sweet signed a contract to kill Mortum, and King was intent of fulfilling that contract, no matter the cost.
Abilities[]
Zeal Cleric: King was a Cleric of the Zeal Domain. Cleric's are people who draw magical power from powerful gods and entities, channeling their imparted powers to perform supernatural abilities in combat. As a Cleric of Zeal, King focused heavily on the realms of combat and offense based spells.
- Spellcastings: As a Cleric, King is gifted the ability to cast divine spells by his gods. These spells varied in power based on a numerical list ranging from 0 to 9, with King being able to cast spells as high as 4th level. Spells were naturally very powerful, but were a limited recourse, burning a set pool of magical essence within King.
- Sacred Flame: A simple blasts of radiant fire. This blast of sacred fire can be thrown at a range of 60 feet. As a cantrip, Sacred flame uses no spell slots, and could be used at will.
- Cure Wounds: The most classic of all healing spells. Cure wounds was a powerful healing spell, being able to mend broken bones, stop severe bleeding, and close gaping wounds. However, the spell required physical contact to work.
- Searing Smite: A melee oriented spell which ignites King's sword. While the smite is active, it deals extra fire damage, along lighting the target on fire, causing them to take more damage. However, the spell is concentration, and will end of King casts another concentration a bad enough hit.
- Thunderous Smite: A melee oriented spell which affects King's sword. While the smite is active, the sword's impact increased by a thunderous blast, creating a deafening sound, and potentially throwing and enemy up to 10 feet back. However, the spell is concentration, and will end of King casts another concentration a bad enough hit.
- Magic Weapon: A spell which affects King's weapons, turning his sword into a +1 magical sword. While active, King's sword functions as a normal magical sword, allowing King to overcome standard damage resistances and immunities, and allowing him to damage incorporeal creatures. However, the spell is concentration, and will end of King casts another concentration a bad enough hit.
- Shatter: A spell which creates a explosion of concussive sound energy capable of shattering solid physical objects. The spell had a range of 60 feet, and had a 10 foot blast radius.
- Haste: A support spell capable of making King more mobile in combat. While active, the spell heightened King's reflexes, increased his movement speed by 10 feet, and increased his attack speed. However, the spell is concentration, and will end of King casts another concentration a bad enough hit.
- Fireball: The D&D equivalent to a grenade launcher. The spell could be cast at a range of 150 feet, created a 20 foot radius blast of fire, and dealt massive amounts of damage, being able to disintegrate a grown adult with ease.
- Fire Shield (heat shield exclusively): A protective barrier of fire. While active, when an attacker lands a hit a against, the shield flares out and engulfs them in flames. This spell naturally lasts 10 minutes.
- Freedom of Movement: A spell which augments King's movement capabilities. While active, King can more easily traverse rough or difficult terrain, can easily escape being restrained by either an enemy or an object, and can't be slowed be slowed down by magical means.
- Zeal Cleric abilities: Beyond just casting spells, King was imparted with several magical features, all of which made his spells and melee combat capabilities more impressive.
- Priest of Zeal: A gift from the god which grants King an burst of energy in combat, temporarily doubling his attack volume. This ability could only be used four times per battle.
- Consuming Fervor: A specialized channel divinity power, which makes' King's thunder based spells more deadly. When used after a successful hit, the thunder spells damage deals the maximum possible damage. However, once used, the Ferver can't be used again during that battle.
- Resounding Strike: Whenever King deals thunder damage (Thunderous smite and Shatter) with a spell, the target is thrown back 10 feet.
Superhuman physicality: While it is generally quite hard to determine the physical capabilities from D&D, we do have enough information about King's physical stats and several in game feats to help fill in the gaps. He has a 15 in strength, meaning he could lift up to 450 pounds. His dexterity was a 13, giving him advanced, but ultimately not very impressively reflexes. In terms of hardiness, we've seen King take severe hits and keep on fighting, ranging from getting impaled by mundane bladed weapons, to being immolated and smacked around by automatons.
Swordsmanship: While preferring spellcasting in combat, King was still a very capable swordsman. He fought primarily sword and board, primarily using a longsword in tandem with a shield, and has been seen taking part in fights with creatures like the automaton urchins' and Duergar Spider Riders. He's survived some pretty bad scraps despite melee combat not being his specialty.
Weapons[]
- Longsword: King's primary weapon was his longsword. The sword was of traditional Higaran design, having a grip comfortable for both a one hand two handed grip, a small but stout cross guard, and a double edged cut and thrust blade. The sword was around 3 feet long.
- +1 Shield and armor: During his time with the chain, king acquired a magical shield. This shield was fairly standard in design, having a simple round design. However, as a magical shield, it was unbreakable. He also wore a basic set of armor, being composed of smaller individual plates, keeping him well protected with weighing himself down.
Bruno Bucciarati[]
| “ | I only did what I thought was right. I have no regrets. Even in this rotten world, I still want to walk down a path I can believe in!
— Bruno Bucciarati
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” |
Bruno Bucciarati was a rogue Passione Capo who lead a small but ultimately successful coup against the Passione's boss Diavolo.
Bucciarati's parents divorced when he was seven years old, with Bucciarati choosing to stay with his father as he believed he would stay alone forever. After his father accidentally stumbled upon a drug deal, getting shot multiple times and ended up in a critical condition in hospital. When the gangsters came to finish him off, the then twelve-year-old Bucciarati ambushed and killed them. Knowing the police wouldn't be able top protect him and his family he joined Passione in exchange for protection.
Working under Polpo in Naples Bruno began to gain a reputation for himself and began building up his own gang within Passione loyally serving Diavolo. Five years later, Bucciarati's father died of complications during his surgery, but Bucciarati knew the gang was involved with the operation and that they were trying to separate him and his father and found out about the Passione's durg deals, shattering the trust he had in Diavolo.
One day, while investigating the murder of a fellow gangster he encountered Giorno Giovanna whom, after a brief fight, he accepted into his gang as he believed in Giorno's vision of taking over Passione and stopping the drug trade. Not long after this his direct superior Polpo died under mysterious circumstances and he was made Capo in his place and given the mission of protecting the Boss' daughter Trish Una and deliver her to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Bucciarati and his gang were successful but ultimately found out that Diavolo was trying to murder Trish and rushed to her defense. Though he died, Bucciarati was revived by Giorno's Stand Golden Experience, turning him into an undead shell. He continued to lead his gang against Diavolo and was ultimately successful, though as his body finally died and his soul was lifted up to heaven.
Abilities[]
Sticky Fingers: Bruno could use a called Sticky finger's in battle. A Stand is a manifestation of a person's warrior spirit, protecting a sort of incorporeal entity which seeks and Bruno's will. Sticky fingers is a classic humanoid punch ghost type stand, but also had several special abilities.
- Superhuman strength and speed: Sticky Finger's had an impressive level of physical output in combat, boasting a level of strength and speed beyond what most humans could attain. Its attacks moved fast enough that they appeared almost like blurs, and it as strong enough to send grown adults flying back with enough force to deform steel paneling.
- Object bypassing: As a Stand, Sticky Finger's could selectively choose to be physically insubstantial. This allows it to effectively move through physical objects, and even phase into other people and interact with their internal organs.
- Invulnerability: As a Stand, Sticky Finger's was immune to any non-Stand based attack, with damage from mundane attack dealing no damage to the stand itself. The only thing which can damage a stand is another stand (and possibly some types of magic).
- Invisible: As a Stand, Sticky Finger's was invisible to any non-stand users.
- Zippers: Sticky Fingers could create zippers on any physical surface which either it or Bruno has touched. These Zipper's could be used in a variety of ways in combat.
- Deconstruction: Sticky Finger's primary combat ability with zipper's is the apply of zippers to an enemies body before unzipping them, allowing Bruno to deconstruct parts of a person or object with a single touch. While unzipped, Bruno could keep the person's body alive, with people like Zucchero surviving as just a disembodied head for a prolonged time. However, in several cases, these physical deconstructions could be fatal, as seen in his fight with Pecci, where he divided the Pecci into bleeding chunks. Bruno has also used these deconstructions for defensives purposes by unzipping parts of his body and pull them away, allowing him to perform impossible dodges by just having a piece of his head or torso fall off. He's even deconstructed his own arm and held it on by a zipped up thread, effectively turning his arm into a long range projectile harpoon arm.
- Reattaching: In the same way that Bruno could Deconstruct a person or object with his zippers, Sticky fingers could also bond objects back together again by zipping them back up. We've seen him close up the zippers he applied to an enemy, effectively piecing them back together. However, he has also done this to unzipped objects, and even made active booby traps out of these objects by having the zippers pull themselves closed around someone stuck inside it.
- Pocket Dimension Storage: When Sticky Finger's open's a zipper on an object of suitable depth and size, it could create a pocket dimension only accessible by Sticky Fingers. These pocket dimensions varied in size, and could be put into anything, even Bruno's own body, allowing him to hide weapons and tools inside himself. When zipped up, these pocket dimensions can't be accessed by anyone and can't be seen. An alternative usage for one of these pocket dimension was to act as cover, as Bruno could jump inside and close it behind him, allowing him to briefly hide inside an object, though this object would need to be of appropriate size.
- Travel: For more utility based purposes, Bruno has used the Zipper's for travel purposes. He has used Zipper's to completely bypass barriers like walls by slapping a zipper on it and just walking through. More impressively, Bruno has been able to travel at high speeds while underground by repeatedly creating zippers in the earth in front of him, clearing a path. He's also created zippers of flat surfaces, and used the handle of the zipper as a hand hold.
- Medical use: While not a dedicated healer stand, Bruno has used Sticky Finger's in a pinch for medical purposes. We've seen him close large injuries by slapping a zipper onto a wound and closing it, effectively shutting the cut. He's even effectively reattached limbs, using a zipper to put Trish Una's hand back of after it was amputated.
Superhuman physicality: Like many characters in JoJo, Bruno was highly physically superhuman. In terms of raw strength, Bruno could kick a grown man hard enough to send them flying though a train wall hard to visibly damage. He was agile enough to dodge incoming attacks from Secco, even when he was attack Bruno from under the ground, speaking to an impressive amount of split second reflex speed. Most impressive, Bruno could take an inhuman amount of damage, even continuing to fight near peak levels after getting a fist driven through his abdomen.
Unarmed combat: Bruno was a very talented hand to hand fighter. His personal style was very simple, using straight forward attacks aimed at good points to apply a zipper. interestingly, Bruno has consistently been seen using unarmed combat in battle, even while Sticky Finger's is in action, giving him extra avenues of attack.
X-Factors[]
- Physical fitness: King 77/Bruno 82
Due to the nature of D&D combat, King's list of feats are a little hard to gauge, but we do have his physical attributes listed on his official character sheet. While King is quite impressive in his own right, he is ultimately rather mundane when compared to his companions. While Bruno comes from a more mundane world, his feats speak to a higher level of physical might. While I'd be willing to say that King's feats of durability are comparable of Bruno's, in terms of actual physical strength and reflexes, Bruno seemingly outclasses King in every major way.
- Experience: King 94/Bruno 76
Both King and Bruno are seasoned men in violent professions, with King being a mercenary and Bruno being a gangster. However, while Bruno certainly took part in his fair share of violent crimes and fights, these events were comparatively rare. King's job was to fight, and despite his job as chronicler, took part in a lot of extremely bloody battles. Even in terms of the variety of opponents, King has Bruno beat. While Bruno has faced a wide variety of Stand users with a variety of powerful abilities, King has went into battle against creatures from outside of this plane of existence, ranging from mind annihilating aberrational horror, to space aliens, to shape shifters, to automatons, to elementals, and far more.
- Tactics: King 87/Bruno 95
Both King and Bruno are arguably the best tactician's among their groups, but for different reasons. King is perceptive and insightful, being able to intuit his enemies actions, come up with the best solution to counter this action, and do the most effective thing he can do. Bruno skill comes from his creativity, being able to use what tools he has to their greatest effect against the threat being thrown against him. While both of their methods are highly effective, Bruno does generally seem to have feats putting him at a higher level of competency. The upper limit of his improvisations is truly awesome, with his first fight with Diavolo showing his ability to adapt and almost win against an enemy who had power's he didn't even have a chance to learn about. King was still extremely talented, but Bruno's greater level of combat improvisation, and his ability to use his ability list to its absolute fullest so easily are just more impressive.
Scenario[]
Bruno has recently been instructed to find and capture King. King seeks to avoid capture, obviously.
The fight will take place in an ancient library in a desert town, around 6:00 pm. Both will start at a range of 60 feet.
For this battle, I will be going under the assumption that the elemental damage caused by King's spell will not be able to damage Sticky Fingers. In D&D, these summoned elements aren't stated to overcome the damage resistance of creature with noted damage immunities, including other incorporeal creatures. However, just because they won't damage sticky fingers, they could still damage Bruno, with the AOE spells being especially useful.
Since Magical Weapon actively transforms King's sword into a magical +1 sword, a weapon which itself can deal full damage to incorporeal creatures with stated resistances/immunities to mundane, I am going under the assumption that as hit from said empowered sword could damage Sticky Fingers, unless an argument can good argument can be given saying otherwise.
Prologue[]
Bruno stood outside of the the library of Alexandretta, the ancient sand stone steps leading up to the towering iron doors. Bruno ascended the steps and pushed past the door, walking into library's large atrium. He looked on in wide eyed amazement at the majesty of the building, the great vaulted stealing being covered in frescos depicting battles between gods.
"Do you need anything, sir?" an elderly attendant asked.
"Yes, in fact I do." Bruno said, a polite smile on his face. "I am looking for a friend, we agreed we'd meet here. He's a little shorter than me, likely has some arms and armor, and would be carrying around a large tome on his belt."
The Librarian nodded softly, his neck clicking as he did so. "I do know who you're talking about." he said. "He came here about an hour ago. He's up stairs, in the ancient history section. Would you like me to take you to him?"
"Of course I would." Bruno said. He followed the Librarian up the stairs. He'd have to wait to see if this man was his true target, but he was already prepared for if it was. He summoned Sticky Fingers, letting it drift just behind him.
...
King sat at a writing desk, flipping through a tome with one eye, with scanning his surroundings with the other. He took a draft from a mug of ale, finishing it as he continued to wait. He knew he wasn't safe, but he just had to wait an hour longer for the Somnium to arrive. Then he'd be free.
King read quiet for another moment, when he heard foot steps approaching, along with the tinny voice of the Librarian talking to someone else, someone he didn't recognize. He looked up from his book, pulled up his hood and adjusted his sword belt. He watched for a moment, hearing the footsteps and voices grow closer.
"Your friend should be just around the corner." he heard the Librarian say. King kept the book open, making it seem as if he was really not paying attention, though with his off hand he slid his straight sword part way out of its scabbard.
Finally, he saw the Librarian come around the corner, with a strangely dressed man only a few feet behind him. The Librarian pointed at directly at him before saying "He's right over there."
"Thank you." The other man said, before handing the Librarian a small bill. The Librarian walked away, and the new man moved slowly closer.
...
Both Bruno and King caught each others eye once the Librarian was out of eye shot. King stood up and glared at Bruno, while Bruno looked glared right back. There was a moment where both just looked at each other, the seconds ticking by.
Fight[]
Suddenly, King thrust his hand forwards and a crack of thunder sounded. An explosion of sound rang out from Bruno, causing the ground to crack and shattering nearby furniture into pieces. Bruno fell to his knees, blood spilling from his mouth. His ears were ringed, and his vision blurred in and out for a moment.
He staggered to his feet, before seeing the ends of King's robes whipping around the corner. He made chase, running as fast as he could after his prey.
King could hear Bruno coming around the corner after him, having recovered quicker than he expected. He cursed under his breath as he picked up the speed.
Despite his injuries, Bruno was still running faster than King could hope to move on his own. Calling forth his power, King gathered the opalescent energies of haste into his hand before diffusing it into himself.
Bruno suddenly saw King gain a burst of speed, making his target take off like a bullet. Bruno pushed himself, but felt the pain in his damaged limbs stop him from pushing his limits. King quickly vanished around the corner.
“Damnit!” Bruno said. He stopped moving, before turning to the walls of bookshelves to his right. He took a deep breath before punching the wall. A zipper opened on it, allowing him to pass through. He did the same again, over and over, moving through bookshelf after bookshelf.
King kept on moving, turning another corner. He’d managed to lose Bruno for now, but needed to escape the building before his would-be captor caught up. However, an exit was in sight. Ahead of him, he could see the stairway down.
He bolted, but before he could clear the distance, one of the bookshelves to his right unzipped and opened up. He stopped as he saw Bruno step out of the gap.
Bruno looked at him with cold eyes. “The chase is over.” Bruno said, stepping forwards, Stinky Fingers ready to attack. “You can either give up, or I’ll be dragging out of here. You decide.”
King began to move back, all while still facing Bruno. With a sigh, Bruno jabbed his arm forwards, unzipping it at the elbow and sending it flying forwards like a javelin.
King brought up his shield to block, but felt the force of the strike send him flying off his feet. He landed on his back. He looked at his shield, and found that it had been sliced in perfectly in two, the top half falling away.
Bruno moved forwards, his arm zipping back into the socket. King got to his feet, discarding the ruined remains of his shield. The hit had broken his concentration of haste, leaving him vulnerable.
With another incantation, King called forward more power, calling upon the power of Fire shield. His body was bathed in a thin outline of red flames. He drew his sword and held it two handed.
Bruno shook his head with disappointment. He then ran forwards, Sticky Fingers and the ready. King held his ground, ready to strike back.
As Bruno closed in, King brought his blade back to strike, but suddenly felt a surge of pain in his upper arm. The flame shield exploded, engulfing the outside of Sticky Fingers in flames. Bruno winced from the sudden blast or fire, while King fell back.
As he moved to get himself back on his feet, King leaned on his left arm, only to find that it wasn’t there. Just like his shield, his arm had become severed from his body. He looked at the stump, confused. The wound didn’t bleed, but the arm had been removed perfectly.
King turned to see Bruno regaining his bearings and moving in. King faced his attack, but continued to back away.
“Save yourself the pain.” Bruno said. “Just give up.”
King glared at Bruno, before calling upon more power. He summoned a marble of fire into his hand, when he then lobbed at Bruno. Bruno braced up behind Sticky Fingers, prepared for the strike. However, the orb whipped past and stopped ten feet behind him.
Bruno only had a moment to turn before the Fireball expanded out, the edges of the blast engulfing him. The blast rattled the chamber, causing the many bookshelves to wobble, as dust drifted down from the ceiling.
King gritted his teeth and ran through, moving around where he’d last seen Bruno and into the smoke.
Bruno slowly got to his feet, his skin blacked with ash. He got to his feet and began looking around. He could see the black robes of King whipping through the smoke, causing him to run after.
As he exited the cloud, he could see King running down the stairs. He ran full tilt, powering through the pain wracking his body. He wasn't going to let King escape.
King made it to the bottom, the exit of the library in sight. However, he could feel Bruno coming up behind him, getting closer with each moment.
King pushed himself as he ran, adjusting his sword grip to hold it standard. He cast the spell Magic Weapon, using some of his last magics to make the blade glow bright white.
Bruno quickly closed the gap, now only a few feet from King. However, just before he could command Sticky Fingers to attack, King turned to face him. His sword thrust into Sticky Fingers’ torso. However, instead of stopping as a mundane blade should, the glowing white blade ripped into it's torso, causing a similar wound to appear on Bruno's belly.
Bruno tensed with pain, but powered through it, having Sticky Fingers throw a flurry of punches.
“ARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARI!” Sticky Fingers cried, as it laid into King. With every punch, a new zipper appeared on King’s body. With one final punch to King's throat, Bruno looked him in the eyes coldly.
“Arrivederci.”
All the zippers opened at once, slicing King into dozens of smaller pieces. His head was the biggest part of him left, his face contorted in horror as he bounced on the floor.
Bruno dropped to a knee, feeling at the new open wound. He quickly applied a zipper to the injury, stopping the bleeding.
He then walked over and picked up King's head. His face was contorted in horror at his new predicament. “I did tell you to give up.” Bruno said, before beginning to walk away. “Unluckily for you, the boss only needs your head to get answers.”
Bruno exited the library and into the night.
Conclusion[]
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