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Post by Vaklu on Dec 12, 2014 23:35:24 GMT
The Final event of the Grand Tournament would take place in a large fenced in field outside the city. Great stands had been built to hold the wealthy and highborn. All around the edges crowds of people had come to watch and cheer for their favorite Champions. While single combat was the most prestigious event in the tournament it was generally agreed that the grand melee was the most dangerous and daunting. A mass of swinging weapons and warriors intent on bringing their foes to the ground. This was where the greatest number of injuries occurd in any tournament. Each of the sixteen champions were palced roughly equidistant from each other in a great circle. When the Vizier gave the signal a great horn was blown and the field descended into the chaos of a pitched battle.
-- Every player posts once no particular order is required, but every post should include a concise, general strategy as well as the arms and armor of the fighter. (Strong armor is recommended. Though tournament weapons are blunted, severe hits can cause serious bruising and fractures. Some can even kill).
-- Giants are restricted to one handed weapons.
-- Non-giants may choose to fight either mounted or on foot.
-- Once every player has posted, the event will end with one modmark.
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Post by ravigen on Dec 13, 2014 5:42:24 GMT
The Ikegami trio donned their helmets, and checked their horses, they were wearing heavier armor and each carried a Naginata alongside their katana. In addition they were carrying bolas to tie down heavier and taller opponents like the giants. All three of them were mounted and had agreed to work together till the point where it became no longer necessary.
They also had a tentative agreement with the Elonese to take down the others before fighting each other, their first target would be Titanhand, the Tovenaar-akur giant would be hit hard and fast and hopefully before he could react properly they would have him on the ground.
Naozumi was taking the front with Masateru and Sayoko flanking the giant mage, then the Jotun would be next and so on and so on as needed. Then if they still stood they would fight the Elonese to the conclusion of the melee. |
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Post by missmilkmaid on Dec 13, 2014 8:48:54 GMT
Leading up to the Grand Melee, Azlyn had been carefully strategizing his plans and rounding up allies.
It'd been difficult to confront his cousin. Alan had been bitter at him ever since the duel between Gudrik and Alan's father and the anger had been made quite clear during the jousting. Alan had been the only opponent to beat Azlyn and his cousin had done so with steely intent. All the same, Azlyn had gone to him the day afterwards and the two had talked for some time. Azlyn had been startled by how serious and sober Alan had become, but he was at least willing to listen. Though Azlyn knew he and Alan were unlikely to ever be as close a friends as they'd been before, Alan agreed to work together for the Grand Melee.
Brosyn Alistair was much easier to convince. Azlyn hadn't known the man well, since It'd been Chello who had requested that the man be given land and tittle. However, once they began talking, Azlyn found him friendly, sincere and practical. Bron readily agreed to work with him in the melee and recommended talking to the Ikegami, which turned out to be an excellent plan.
The evening before the Grand Melee, the three Elonese met with the three Ikegami contestants. Together Azlyn and Masateru planed a coordinated strategy and they all made a pact to remain allies until the rest of the contestants were eliminated. In the field Masateru would lead them, with Azlyn second in command. They practiced a few moves, and worked out a good collaborative style.
Azlyn, Alan and Bron were all mounted and Azlyn and Alan both had on half-plate and chain mail. Bron still only had his studded leather and hide armor, though he'd strapped a study buckler of iron and wood on his back.
Lances were tied to the side of Azlyn and Alan's saddles, ready to be grabbed up for a charge and they had longswords in their scabbard's on their belts. With a shield in their left hands they had their right hands free to whiled their lances. Azlyn also had a net rolled up and waiting on the back of his saddle. He intended to use their to snare Beora's wings, if she came at him from above, or if that opportunity never arose, to trip up the feet or weapons of some other opponent.
He was looking forward to this. He'd always liked combat that evolved working with groups, since it gave him the opportunity to use tactics and coordination. Also, he was glad they'd been allowed to fight mounted. It played well to his strength as a rider. He knew how to mount and dismount in single fluid actions and, how to rear and attack with his steeds hooves and heavy weight and even how to use his horse as cover, sliding to the side, or turning quickly and rearing to block an attack. Of course, if he had to, Azlyn would be willing to dismount and fight in closer combat if the situation required it. Flexibility and adjusting to circumstances was an important part of strategic fighting.
He was ready for this. The plan was for Azlyn, Alan and Naozumi to begin by attacking the Titanhand in a frontal charge, distracting him while Bron, Sayoko and Masateru circled around to attack from the flank and the rear. Azlyn was good friends with Haakon and felt a little bad for teaming up against him, but the giants were the biggest threat and attacking the Jotun would be more difficult since the brothers and Wulfric would likely be working together at the beginning of the melee. Nonetheless, once they had defeated the giant of giants, they would focus on the Jotun, surrounding them and working as a team.
Despite his excitement, however, Azlyn was also aware of how dangerous this sport was. Whatever happened the last thing he wanted was for anyone to get killed or siriously wounded by his hand. He'd be careful, avoid hitting anyone in the head very hard, or truly trampling anyone under Rasselas's hooves. Luckily, the stallion was an excellent jumper and maneuvered well. Azlyn wanted this to be a fun and fair game.
--
Alan sat atop his horse and eyed all the other combatants critically, making note of the various weapons each one had. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be allied with Azlyn and the elves, but he saw the practicality in it. If he was going to have a chance at taking down the Jotun, he'd need to be working with others.
He'd wanted to go straight for Gudrik, pointing out that he was the probably the biggest threat on the field, but Azlyna and Masa-what's-his-name had agreed on Haakon as the first target. Alen would go along with it. As angry as he was with Azlyn and the Jotun, he wouldn't be winning back any family honor by breaking alliances, even if it was just for a silly tournament game. However, when they did finally go against the Jotun, Alan intended to hit Gudrik and his kin with all he had.
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Bron was starting off mounted like the rest, but if the time came when he really needed to close with anyone, he intended to dismount. He'd have better reflexes and maneuverability on his own two feet. Unlike Azlan and Alan, Bron carried a scythe rather than a lance. He'd never been trained in the rather elitist traditions of jousting and figured he'd have better luck tripping opponents or hooking a mounted rider and pull him or her from the saddle. He also had two short blades, two nets and had picked up a couple handful of dust and gravel to throw in his opponents' eyes. Since he didn't have as heavy armor as most of the other fighters, he wanted to have something unexpected to pull out, so he could try to dodge out of reach, when things looked like they were about to go hairy.
His plan was to try to take advantage of the chaos and his allies to avoid attention and frontal attacks, catching opponents off guard and only moving in close when their attention wasn't focused completely on him. Bron was certainly willing to throw up sand into others eyes, or use any other dirty trick to slip out of reach, or gain an advantage.
They'd be starting out going after the extremely tall giant from the church. The king, Sayoko's father and Lord Sarvo would hopefully keep him fully occupied, allowing Bron and the others to catch him Titanhand off guard with their pole-arms and nets. However, Bron also knew that focusing solely on one opponent may leave the group open to other attacks, so he intended to also be on guard, ready to warn them of anyone else who my try attacking the group. The point having allies was to have people to watch your back for you after all.
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Post by aspenivan on Dec 13, 2014 23:26:53 GMT
General Stae Pjjokhat was happy to be home: Atop an armored horse in a large field of warriors. He himself had gone for heavy armor as well, but in the Khaitis style of lamellar and plated mail, which allowed for greater mobility than full plate. Of course, the Survaekom general intended to stay on his horse as long as was feasible, making good use of the speed and the high vantage point it would give him. Not to mention the extra power of downward strikes. Pjjokhat had chosen his weapons carefully. The first, tied to the side of his saddle, was a remarkably long lance. It was a relatively modern innovation in the Khaitis Knights' equipment, designed to outmatch many types of pike and therefore avoid catastrophes such as Hraen's Charge (an episode in the Raethonite Wars where thousands of Khaitis Knights died in a river-crossing charge). It would serve best against the giants, hopefully enough that he could best their natural reach while still hitting extremely hard.  The lance, of course, would certainly break at some point. Even if it didn't, doubtless Pjjokhat would find himself in a situation where he would need to drop it. So, as a closer-quarters weapon, he had chosen a long, traditional Khaitis saber. The positioning of the handle and the slight curve of the blade made the blade versatile enough to both hack and stab effectively in a melee, but still suited to its primary role of slashing from horseback.  Finally, the general carried a standard round cavalry shield, natural companion to lance and saber alike. He would fight in the style of his people, the Khaitis, as he had trained his mind and body to for decades in both drill and battle. As before, he had no qualms about hurting his opponents, though he would not actively seek to. True to his soldierly Duty, he would go after the best opening wherever he found it. Pjjokhat would seek to dispatch his opponents with neither excessive honor nor open cruelty, but rather with brutal efficiency. |
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Post by Vaklu on Dec 14, 2014 4:50:47 GMT
The Jotun warriors had all donned half-plate for the Grand Melee. They would work together until the end of they were the last standing then they would fight it out. A tenuous alliance had be spoken of with King Aeron and Gudrik seemed to send a personal signal to General Pjjokhat.
Gudrik and Wulfric both had chosen to fight with sword and shield, while Tholarg carried a one handed warhammer in each hand. Each had a shortsword on their hip as a secondary weapon. A shield was slung over the Jarl's shoulder in case of dire need.
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Post by zurajai on Dec 14, 2014 5:07:31 GMT
Haakon slid the slit-eyed helm over his head, pulling it down snugly before tying the straps together. He stood in the partial plate of a Tovenaar-Akur, the heavy metal armor donned over traditional Tovenaar battle robes with the loose cloth tied tightly just above his joints to give him full freedom of movement. In his powerful hands he held the same short spear he carried in the single-combat duels with the other baring a heavy tower shield. Belted at his hips was a bearded ax, a sidearm for the possibility of his spear being shattered or, though unlikely, pulled from his grasp.
As for allies, he had heard nothing from Azlyn of any possible alliances and as such had to look to others for such safety in numbers. His next best choice was Gudrik, whom seemed perfectly agreeable to the terms of alliance in the arena, would be his ally till such a time where they'd fight against each other. He would immediately make for Gudrik with whom he'd hold position with, keeping to Gudrik's back for both the giant's safety.
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Post by talis on Dec 14, 2014 5:45:21 GMT
Garlog and Carok grinned and shook hands once more before donning their shields and blades. Once they passed through the gate they would be enemies in competition. True, they could have formed some alliance, planned some stratagem for defeating their enemies and gaining victory, but any such tactics would have been dishonorable. The rules of the Grand Melee were for a free-for-all, and that's what they'd get. Not that it would stop Garlog from going straight for Wulfric - he was still bitter about his defeat during the Singles finale.
Carok was a more cautious fighter, and fully intended to skirt the edges of the arena, picking out targets of opportunity from those who were distracted, tired, or wounded while preserving his own strength. It was quite difficult to topple a shielded fighter with a wall behind him, and if he managed to last until late his freshness would be a huge advantage against whomever was left.
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Post by Vaklu on Dec 14, 2014 6:09:24 GMT
The Grand Melee lasted a full hour. The Clash of arms ringing without rest the entire time. The first fifteen minutes would find the number of contestants reduced by almost half. With the young Lord Sarvo having been unable to contain him self and charging strait for his father's killer only to find himself swept off his horse with a single backhand strike. Ikegami Sayoko found her charge on the Titanhand intercepted by General Pjjokhat. The ensueing exchange ended with both riders on the ground and out of the tournament.
While in the end the Ikegami/Elon alliance would bring down Hakkon it would cost them dearly after forty-five minutes of fighting they'd be reduced to only King Azlyn and General Masateru. Against them stood Thane Gudrik and Chief Garlog, fresh from avenging his loss in the finals. When the allaince charged the lone giant they turned their backs to the orc chieftain, which was quickly capitalized upon. Masateru was brought low with a strike across the shoulder blades he wasn't prepared to take and Azlyn found him-self sandwiched between to fearsome foes. A counter strike when Garolg was over extended left him with only the Jotun Thane between himself and victory.
Their battle last almost a full quarter of an hour. in the end Gudrik held only his longsword, his shield lost in an earlier skirmish. Azlyn's armor was dented and he would later find that a blacksmith would be required to remove one of his gaunlets. The match was decided when Gudrik landed a punch. Not to Azlyn, but to his horse. The beast reared and dropped it rider, who found himself checked before he had time to recover. According to the imperal historians this would be the tamest Grand Melee in living memory, since not single contestant was either maimed or killed in the proceedings.
-- Ikegami Masateru wins Honorable Mention Brooch
-- Chief Garlog Whiteshot wins Third Place Medallion
-- King Azlyn Christallo wins Second Place Medallion.
-- Thane Gudrik the Blood Dancer wins FIRST PLACE MEDALLION!
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