Knights of Tezoth

But players don't wish for the judge to die of cancer and don't cast curses for diarrhea.

I'm looking at the fight of the tens, and tears are welling up. The Northerners got crits, tiny dodge chances, and 10% for a double turn on a hit, and minor evasion. But the Capital Knights only got a crit from Bib.

No, actually, statistically it all comes out even. As I already said, Ambrose had not just a low crit chance, but a low chance of even hitting Rezare. And even hitting Lorican (let alone critting) had little chance. Not to mention Axel, who consistently hit with his bow at 51% accuracy. At the same time, Alaria with 65% accuracy missed Ambrose both times. Yashchur can confirm that the RNG here played without any bias in either direction.

Even Inspiration, in general, is a deceptive thing. It procced twice. 10% is rolled every turn, and there are three turns per round. Over 14+ turns, the chances of it triggering twice are very good, and we had more than 14. We were lucky it triggered at the right moment — no argument there. But the fact that it triggered at all, based on facts and statistics, is not surprising at all.

The very fact that Lester didn't hit the horse at the start, and Ambrose with the magatama missed without accounting for the block roll and only killed after Yin's encouragement speaks in favor of slightly more luck for the Northerners.

Still, I won't argue with one point — I would 100% not want to fight you in tactics.

40% miss chance is quite a lot. More than most northern attacks have.

05.03.297 — a clash between the knights of Deus and the Northerners in honor of Deus Mariarnelia's birthday

A mini-battle that was not on the event program. It arose from a sudden expression of will by Deus Mariarnelia during casual conversations with one of her knights after the tournament. Not all of the announced participants looked pleased, but no one dared to refuse.

Deus's side:

1. Axel Von Himmel, Knight of the Gloomy Sky

2. Ambrose Turbon, Knight of Hegemony

3. Lester Vargas, Knight of Dawn Steel

4. Yin, Knight of Serene Bliss

All four are capital knights. Sir Yin formally led the team, while most of the instructions were given by his deputy, Sir Axel Von Himmel.

The Northern side:

1. Rezara Sanjore, Knight of the Scarlet Blade from Sordgard

2. Lorican Daleoside, Knight of Perfection from Sordgard

3. Gingkink Ardelisot, Knight of the Crushing Blow from Sordgard

4. Alaria Doran, Knight of Catharsis from Silverdan

The commander of this team was Sir Gingkink Ardelisot, but he delegated most of the battle decisions to Lady Alaria Doran.

Judge — Emilia Lane, Knight of Justice from Florenzan

Force deployment: the capital fighters stood on the northern side of the arena, while the Northern team took the southern side. The arrangement of Deus's knights from left to right: Lester, Axel (not on a wyvern), Ambrose (on horseback), Yin; the Northerners: Lorican, Gingkink (on horseback), Rezara, Alaria.

To avoid an incomprehensible mess on the arena and to allow everyone to follow the action, Lady Emilia announced a division into rounds with breaks for short rests. The gong was struck not too often, only so that the judge could keep track of who was doing what and not miss any important detail. This also allowed the doctors to collect fallen fighters for treatment in time.

Round 1

As soon as Lady Emilia announced the start of the battle, Axel grabbed his bow and shot towards Lorican. Unsuccessfully.

At the same time, Lester, following his usual tactic, disappeared into the shadows. Sir Ambrose charged forward on his horse.

Without waiting for the next attack to come his way, Lorican moved forward, assuming a defensive stance. At the same time, Alaria also assumed some strange stance. She looked as if she was ready to withstand a nearly fatal blow. Meanwhile, Rezara and Gingkink went on the offensive without any unusual movements.

Only Yin did not attempt to advance. Instead, he made some strange gesture, understandable only to him and the other knights of Deus. It seemed the instruction was primarily addressed to Lester, as Yin's eyes darted around chaotically. Perhaps he was worried that the message would not reach the main recipient.

Round 2

Lester appeared out of nowhere behind Gingkink and attacked his horse. The horse dodged two knife strikes, but the third one landed.

The Northerners perceived the action of the Knight of Dawn Steel as a gift, as they all surrounded him. Rezara struck first, delivering a strong and precise attack that caused Lester to start bleeding heavily. Gingkink swung his sword with all his might but missed and decided to retreat. This maneuver allowed Alaria to heal his horse, named Faithful. Only Lorican ran forward, unable to do anything before the gong sounded.

Meanwhile, Ambrose continued his advance. Axel was waiting for something. Yin made a gesture, after which Axel whistled to Lester and pointed towards the horse. The Knight of Dawn Steel nodded and, despite the obvious pain in his body, finished off Gingkink's horse with two strikes. After that, he drank a dose of healing potion.

Round 3

Axel successfully shot Rezara. Lester, despite the bleeding, managed to hide in the shadows, leaving no traces on the arena.

Essentially, no one else did anything until the gong sounded. Everyone followed their chosen routes, taking advantageous positions. Except that the Knight of the Scarlet Blade took a sip from a flask. And Yin, unlike the others, instead of advancing, decided to retreat to the farthest part of the arena to give instructions from a safe distance.

Round 4

Being the only one who hadn't moved from his spot, Axel once again easily aimed and shot at Rezara. Lester leaped out of the shadows and wounded Gingkink in the arm, nearly causing him to drop his sword. Meanwhile, the Knight of Dawn Steel's bleeding only intensified, significantly weakening him. Perhaps because of this, his two usually fast and precise strikes were feeble and missed.

Catching sight of Lester, Lorican struck him with his sword, not only damaging his health but also paralyzing his opponent. The success and praise from Gingkink inspired him so much that he rushed towards Axel, successfully attacking the wyvern. For some reason, he did not finish off Lester.

Seeing what the Knight of Perfection had done to his comrades, Ambrose attacked him. However, luck smiled on Lorican again, and he easily dodged the lance.

Alaria successfully threw a knife at the wyvern and, encouraged by Gingkink's kind words, attempted a strong sword strike to break through Ambrose. But the Knight of Hegemony managed to dodge.

Rezara, seeing Lester bleeding profusely, struck him again. The man barely stayed on his feet, but it was clear that after the gong, he would need medical attention; he already looked very bad.

Seeing that the Knight of Dawn Steel would fall even without his help, Gingkink moved away from him towards the other capital knights, taking a sip from his flask along the way.

Yin made a gesture again, but this time directed it at Ambrose. He nodded and struck Lorican with all his might to even the odds.

Gong — one knight from each side, accompanied by the gloomy looks of their comrades, headed to the infirmary. And six remained.

Round 5

Axel, together with his wyvern, attacked Rezara. While the beast missed the Knight of the Scarlet Blade, Axel managed to graze her with his sword. Ambrose also attacked her, but the girl once again showed wonders of agility. She not only dodged but also struck the Knight of Hegemony with her blade, causing him to bleed.

Alaria, running forward, hit the wyvern with a dagger again. And Gingkink, following her nod, chose the Knight of the Gloomy Sky himself as his target, striking him with a blow of immense power. Another of Deus's warriors fell, shaking the morale of his comrades.

Nevertheless, Yin pulled himself together and made another gesture towards Ambrose. He nodded again, but instead of the expected strike, he picked up a book and galloped forward, just as he had done earlier in the tournament in his fight with Lester.

Before the stunned Northerners and the Knight of Serene Bliss could recover from such a maneuver, the gong sounded again. And five remained.

Round 6

The bleeding Ambrose, without slowing down, closed the book, sharply turned around, and lethally struck Rezara with his lance. And four remained.

Whether from the loss of a battle comrade or from the unpredictability of the Knight of Hegemony's actions, the Northerners became a little disheartened, but quickly pulled themselves together.

Alaria tried to attack Ambrose with her sword, but whether due to bad luck or her emotional state, she missed. However, nothing prevented Gingkink from striking the Knight of Hegemony with all his might, knocking him out of the arena.

Yin's morale dropped; he did nothing until the gong. And three remained.

Round 7.

Yin waited for the opponents to come closer, trying to break through Alaria's barrier. She, in turn, firmly gripped her sword and, turning the Knight of Serene Bliss's momentum to her advantage, struck him powerfully, leaving him no chance.

And two remained. And they were Warriors of the North, having prevailed over their capital colleagues.

Actually, per RP, she turned Yin's own momentum from his charge against him. That was in the post...

😱

Would you like to be in his place?

I haven't had a chance to read this mega-canvas yet, I'll take a look now and make edits.

Well, instead of her weight, I played his weight. Fixed it.

I'll write the second fight either in the evening or tomorrow.

Revan, why didn't Yashchur even get reputation bonuses for judging these two big battles?

Yashchur definitely got reputation bonuses in the control panel... And Emilia will get hers later.

"This will be a valuable experience for me, milady." The defeated giant's reply was laconic. "Thank you for the duel."

"That lanky one seems more from Ravnland than Cortina," Luciferia says quietly to her mistress. "A Knight of what was she, Invisible Treachery, was it? If you wish, we could clip her wings... Hehe, just kidding))... Or am I?"

"I don't get this joke about killing animals," Quick Arrow continued to pester Onslaught. "Some kind of animal cruelty tournament."

"That was truly inspiring," concluded the Knight of Valor. "Especially the battle between the two northerners."

"I suspect our neighbor still has aces up his sleeve," said Adalard, apparently to Stefania.

"Magnificent!" Deus's voice marked the end of the impromptu competition. "The prologue of the Bughurt has more than succeeded; accept my praise, O Knights of Tezoth! And may the victor not be denied her reward!"

One of the servants hands Katharis a pouch of 50 gold coins.

Stephania improves her existing skill:

Bow+
The character can use a bow. Attacks cause a bleeding effect.

05.03.297 — a clash of four Northerners in honor of Deus Mariarnelia's birthday

Watching the outcome of the battle against the capital's knights, Deus congratulated the mighty warriors of the North, and then announced:

Now the recent comrades-in-arms were to fight each other. Once again, discontent could be read on some faces, but no one dared to object.

On the arena, the knights positioned themselves as follows: Gingkink top left, Lorican top right, Alaria bottom left, Rezara bottom right.

The battle promised to be short, but by the judge's will it was again split into rounds. However, this fight had room for unexpected twists, and the round system had to be abolished.

Round 1

Lorican, it seemed, rushed toward the middle of the arena, taking a defensive stance along the way. Alaria charged forward. She looked extremely fierce and furious. About the same bloodthirstiness could be read in her eyes during the battle against the capital's knights.

Rezara and Gingkink also headed toward the center, but unlike the first two knights, they took no additional stances. The gong sounded before anyone managed to land a blow. Whether it was a matter of time limits, or the judge decided to give each fighter a chance to think and determine whom to strike first.

Round 2

The arena turned out to be too large for four participants. Again everyone took positions without managing to pounce on one another. If any of the participants had decided to pick up a bow, they would have already taken a shot, and such a quick gong would have made sense. Here it was more like simply stretching out the proceedings. But the judge, it seemed, found it very important to record the position of each fighter. Perhaps this allowed her to cut off potential injustices, for there were quite a lot of people in the arena.

Round 3

Alaria, Lorican, and Rezara again went on the offensive but failed to land a hit on anyone. The Knight of Perfection, at most, took a defensive stance. But Gingkink managed to catch up with the Knight of the Crimson Blade and struck her down with a single swing.

Immediately after that, Emilia struck the gong. Rezara was taken away by the medics. And there were three of them left.

Round 4

Alaria demonstrated a behavior pattern atypical by my observations — she hid in the shadows, much like Sir Lester Vargas used to do. What is this — high-quality learning ability or a cunning tactic that the Knight of Catharsis had been concealing all this time?

Lorican, meanwhile, unable to attack due to the great distance and the disappearance of his nearest opponent, again took a defensive stance.

But Gingkink, thanks to Verny, calmly caught up with the Knight of Perfection but failed to land a hit on him. He wanted to try striking again, but the gong did not allow him to do so.

Round 5

Lorican, instead of striking, remained in impenetrable defense. Either he was counting on fending off a possible sudden attack from Alaria this way, or he hoped she would attack Gingkink.

But since no actions from the Knight of Catharsis were visible, she was clearly adhering to some other tactic. Most likely, Alaria was counting on waiting until the Swordgard knights killed each other off themselves.

Meanwhile, Gingkink tried to overcome Lorican but missed again. By all calculations, the gong should have sounded by then. But no.

Alaria's actions turned what was happening into a duel of the type held at the tournament. And, it seems, the judge had already decided not to waste time on unnecessary breaks. Especially since keeping track of two fighters at once is much easier than keeping track of three or more.

Realizing that the Knight of Catharsis was not planning to appear yet, Lorican decided to attack Gingkink's horse. His first strike landed, but the second missed. However, the man also managed to dodge two attacks from the Knight of the Crushing Blow.

Lorican struck Verny again, temporarily immobilizing him and causing bleeding. Then Perfection dodged an attack and delivered the final blow to the horse, which, combined with the bleeding, finally took the steed out of the battle and straight into the medics' hands.

Now the agile Lorican struck Gingkink directly, although his hits were laughable against the opponent's armor. The Knight of the Crushing Blow, in turn, finally broke through the impenetrable defense of the Knight of Perfection and struck him so hard that he damaged, though not broke, his armor.

Lorican had to retreat to heal, blocking the opponent's blows along the way. Gingkink, meanwhile, continued attacking until he took a fairly powerful blow from the Knight of Perfection.

That did not make him retreat. On the contrary, the Knight of the Crushing Blow kept attacking unsuccessfully until he took two strong hits himself. The first attack literally immobilized him; he recovered from the second and finally decided to retreat to drink some potions.

Feeling a surge of strength, Gingkink continued his offensive. Together with his colleague from Swordgard, they exchanged a couple of failed strikes until the Knight of the Crushing Blow landed another hit on the Knight of Perfection.

Lorican lowered his guard to drink a potion, which immediately cost him another hit. Several times he tried to strike back, but instead Gingkink landed another blow on him. The Knight of Perfection took another sip from his flask, but that only delayed the inevitable. The Knight of the Crushing Blow, taking advantage of yet another pause, swung his sword with all his might. There was no dodging it.

The thoroughly sweating Gingkink exhaled wearily, watching the medics carry Lorican out. But he forgot the main thing. While he and the Knight of Perfection exchanged attacks again and again, somewhere in her hiding spot Alaria was literally resting, now preparing to strike. And there were two of them left.

As soon as the medics left the arena, the Knight of Catharsis leaped out from behind cover. At that moment, her eyes, just like her blade, were literally blazing. The girl delivered a strike that was perhaps weak but setting things ablaze. In response, Gingkink slashed at Alaria with all his might.

Anyone else would have certainly fallen from such a blow. But the Knight of Catharsis merely dropped to one knee, then pulled herself together and, with her last strength, rose to her feet. The girl needed to retreat to patch up her health. Along the way, her eyes blazed again, and she was ready at any second to resume that stance which had just saved her from defeat.

At the same time, the burning Gingkink, who was trying to catch up with her, also grabbed his flask, which cost him a hit. Alaria drove her sword into his arm but failed to knock the weapon out or weaken his grip. For that she was punished — the Knight of the Crushing Blow swung his blade again with such force that the girl was saved by nothing short of divine intervention.

Realizing that close-quarters tactics were not working at all, Alaria broke into a run, taking gulps from her flask along the way. Taking advantage of how exhausted Gingkink was from his duel with Lorican, not to mention the fact that his body was literally burning, the Knight of Catharsis took to flight. Along the way, she hurled throwing knives at him, of which she had a great many in reserve.

For a while, the Knight of the Crushing Blow tried to catch her, but to no avail. Continuing to burn, he increasingly resembled a pincushion for knives. In the end, Gingkink fell, making Alaria the victor of this battle.