You send a runner with word to your father requesting the honor of a seat at his side, a request that is readily accepted. Some members of your entourage playfully beg you to stay with them to watch the melee, and in return you equally play off resigning yourself to dull discourse with your father.
Arriving with your squire Elwer you discover that included in the King's party is his concubine the lady Arelar, who hangs on his arm grinning, your sisters Catherine and Mary, a noble boy you don't remember ever seeing and a pair of the King's Knights of the crown. Mary seems intent on the melee field, enraptured by the preparations of the fighters, while the Knights flanking the king both seem sorely displeased, possibly because they are missing out on the opportunity to win glory in the melee.
Your father rises to greet you, grinning and waves a hand to a pillowed seat beside him, opposite of the Lady Arelar. "So it seems your champion won glory from mine, perhaps i should be more careful about who i grant the service of skilled warriors to." Lorin laughs as you take a seat. "Gerald has not been beaten in one on one combat since before you were born, i don't think he'll take his defeat lightly. "
Your fathers grin is contagious and you can't help but share in it. "I guess he was simply due for a little humility then." At that the Lady Arelar laughs, and you can't help but be made uncomfortable. For a moment as you take your seat you share equally in displeasure and joy. "I'm sure Gerald will comport himself well in the melee."
Lorins grin fades and he nods thoughtfully. "I certainly think so too. He had better at least, Penrod has already stolen two of the events from us, we can't let him have a third." You open your mouth to press for details but at that a trumpet sounds and cuts off your readied words.
The melee is about to begin, and Barick is giving a few swings of his warhammer to warm up. A tournament official, voice made loud with enchantment explains the rules one last time. When a fighter falls they have three seconds to get up or meet defeat. When a fighter yields or avoids other combatants for a time greater than half a minute they are defeated. Enchantments are laid upon the field and all participants to mitigate injury, but it is still possible. Pain will be felt by combatants if they receive a blow, again delivered by magic rather than real injury. After the first ten second of combat a pause will be called to remove those participants who have been struck down.
With that, the trumpet sounds three clear notes, and a steady drumbeat around the field begins. Your attention is fixed upon your champion as the combat begins. Warhammer in one hand, shortsword in the other he confronts a young knight positioned beside him, with one swipe of his hammer the boys sword is wrenched from his hands, a second swipe bashes into the Sir's helm and crumples him to the ground. Spinning around he meets the attacks of two equally young nobles eager to prove themselves against the prince's champion. With his shortsword he catches one blade, with his warhammer barick crushes the hand of the other boy, and he falls to the ground gasping in agony. Barick and the remaining boy exchange a few blows, nothing connecting, before the trumpet sounds calling a pause.
Well over half of the combatants are moved from the field, leaving much more room for those who remain. Sir Gerald himself stands out in a rather empty part of the field. Clearly having downed a number of opponents. The king points this out "Our champions comport themselves well, but mine has downed twice as any opponents as yours has."
Speedily the melee begins again. Barick defeats the boy he was fighting before rather speedily, but not before suffering a blow on his shoulder from the boy, and another in the back by a new opponent. Barick whirls around to the new assailant bringing his hammer to bear as he does so. This new opponent -a knight of the sail you vaguely recognise- is no match for the raw power of your champion and falls before his assault.
During this the dynamic of the field has changed significantly. No longer is the melee a chaos of opponents striking eachother down, for two groups have rallied together and against one another. One side has as it's core a number of the knights of the crown, rallying with calls for the king, the other side led by Penrod's knights. With this development the nature of the tournament becomes clear, it's your fathers effort to humble penrod, to show him who is more powerful. The King and Penrod both are showboating.
Barick stays out of the thick of the fighting, he and a number of apparently neutral fighters dance around the two groups picking off others hovering on the edges of the field. Barick defeats three of these opponents, all country knights with little stake in the battle for dominance before a figure makes his way towards him. One of Penrod's knights, the man who's been eyeing your bodygaurd so carefully is confronting him. They seem to share a few words before joining in battle. You wish that their helms did not obscure their faces, you have no idea what was said between them.
The Adalbertian Knight makes the first strokes his own, a series of aggressive and vicious attacks. Barick holds his ground against the opponent and replies with a few swings of his own warhammer, though he's much more measured and careful with where he places his blows. Barick starts off strong but the balance of the fight begins to shift. He takes a blow upon his left hand and loses hold of his sword, and despite his aggressive fighting the opposing knight ensures that his shield is always kept between himself and the powerful swings of Barick's hammer-hand.
Taking a gambit Barick grabs the shield and attempts to wrench it lose from his opponents arm, taking a blow in the process, soon the two are locked together in a grapple, both large men attempting to use brute power to overwhelm the opponent. Unexpectedly your brother Eric arrives on the scene to wrench away victory from either of these men. Taking advantage of their awkward balance he trips first Barick and then his opponent, and he and a fellow Knight of the crown batter both of them into submission.
Soon barely a dozen fighters remain, all Analyssian Knights. All of which politely pair off and fight one another. This last part of the competition is rather boring in comparison to the chaos of the earlier fighting and in the end Gerald easily dispatches any and all of his comrades before being named the winner of the Grand Melee and being awarded a quite grand suit of armor.
Just as the competition ends a servant comes to tell you that a young lady is requesting your presence and that she claims it is urgent. You had planned on fetching Barick once the melee was done but perhaps this is worth delaying that.
Author
Topic: Prince: of Lords and Sorcerers (Read 63783 times)