Darne smiles and gives a bit of a sigh. "No rest for the wicked it seems. Ser Weyland, are you feeling well enough to move quickly? As much as the last round hurt...I don't think I want to see how a round would be without your armor protecting me. Perhaps the blessings the seven laid upon you in your duel, may they extend the same unto me." he said as he put a hand on Ser Weyland's shoulder.
Weyland smiles back, "Let's go and get you re-fitted for the armor Darne. Perhaps, I shall say my prayers over you before you begin. If you win, Ser Bejnen may be right that I should have taken the cloth"
High in the Saddle +2
Passive Ride: 13
Health: 9
AR: 5
It took Darne up until the very last moment to get the armor on and strapped down. Thankfully he had memorized the synching numbers needed to do this in a hurry. He mounted Onyx and hurried him out onto the field, picking up his tourney lance and shield as they made their way onto the field.
He was a sight to see, the armor and shield coated with a bit of the blood from the duel Ser Weyland had just endured. There simply was no time to wipe it away and he felt that it was a small pittance to pay for the honor the knight had done him. He looked Jaime Mallister in the eyes and gave a slight bow of his head and a salute with his lance before he waited for the signal and spurred his horse on.
Ser Jaime Mallister
The heir of House Mallister and very young knight, he shows up riding a beautiful courser wearing his House colors and plate and mail armor with his shield bearing the Mallister crest.
Ser Jaime acknowledges Darne and exchange the bow and raising his lance and they both spur they mounts to clash for the audience and their honor.
Maneuver: Standard
Passive Ride: 12
Health: 9
AR: 7
Keep 3 16
Lord Mallister almost chokes when he sees his son fall on his first tilt, unlucky to be sure, but humiliating either way.
Darne took the hit, rolling his shoulder with the blow causing him to drop the lance. He looked back to see the man having fallen tragically to his blow. He rode up beside him and dismounted quickly.
He walked over to him coaxing his horse towards the stables and reaching down to offer the man a hand in getting up.
"My apologies Ser Jaime, that was quite the nasty fall. Do you require any assistance off the field?" he said trying to be a humble winner.
Maneuver: Defensive (-2)
HP:11/11
Armor: 6
Ride Def: 18
- keep 3 (13)
keep 4 (16)
Marcus does his normal routine before each jousting, polishing his armour as well weapon and taking sure the well being of Belita. Soon, riding again in front of the people Marcus politely greet everyone and bows toward royalty.
Eyeing his opponent and deciding to take it more in defensive side at first before deciding his next strategy
Matthias rides onto the field using the same plafrey as before. Thia time, he has the ahield he earned with his victory in the pageant. As he rides past Lord Naelareon he raises his lance in salute. Continuing on he pauses before House Keath, locking eyes on Lady Sosan, giving her a slow bow before cantering off to salute the Queen, Princess, and Lord and Lady Tully.
Passive Animal Handling: 11 (13-2 for Aggressive)
9/9HP
Keep 3 [22]
Keep 3 [15]
As he launches his mount forward he quickly sets his lance. As the day before, at the last moment he thrusts his lance forward adding an extra measure of force to the blow.
Ser Jaime stands hurting more from the fall than the broken lance "Nay, lord Darne, the only thing hurt is my pride, I rode overconfident and this is the price" he smiles dusting himself off, but injured waving at the crowd and walking out the tourney field.
The Knight of Stones shows himself encased in half-plate of dulled colors with a shield stylized like a rock, but it's just elaborate paint work, his last opponent was sent flying, his face not visible only nods and salutes the crowd
Standard
Passive Ride: 16+5 Anointed = 21
Health: 12
AC: 9
keep 3 15
Both men break their lances on each other to no effect, finally a jousting match that might go to 3 tilts.
Ser Medrick the Flea with a small palfrey, making him look even smaller, probably were he gained his nickname, raises his lance in defiance and saluting, normal bravado for a hedge knight trying to show himself capable, before spurring his horse onward toward his enemy.
High in the Saddle +2
Passive Ride: 14
Health: 9
AC: 6
keep 3 15 - 1 DoS
keep 3 16
1 DoS = 9 Damage
Tilt 2
Grasping the capability of his opponent and determining a need for a higher chance of hitting, Marcus slowly rises a bit up, as he spurs his horse on faster speed before colliding again with "Knight of Stones"
Maneuver: High in the Saddle
keep 3 (18)
keep 4 (18)
HP:11/11
Armor: 6
Ride Def: 18
Ser Meddrick is unable to control his horse and take the hit falling from it and taking some small injuries "Well done Ser Matthias, it was an honor, will give you my ransom later today"
Tilt 2
Getting back he receives another lance turning his mount to face his opponent once again, spurring his mount to greater speeds.
Aggresive +2
Passive Ride: 16-2=14
Health: 12
AC: 9
keep 3 20 - 1 DoS
Keep 4 - 14
1 DoS - Damage 8
Marcus
Awareness TN 9
Matthias lets out a grunt as Ser Meddrick's lance shatters on his shield, rocking a bit in his saddle, but still maintaining control. Wheeling about, he sees Ser Meddrick pick himself up off the ground as he canters back to him.
The honor was mine Ser Meddrick. Matthias responds. He then turns, holding up his lance in salute, first to Lord Naelareon, then the Queen, Princess, and Lord and Lady Tully. He rides past the Keaths on the way, waving to Lady Sosan, her favor plainly visible in his hand.
Leaving the field, he allows Gileon to perform his duties. As he does, Have you participated in a joust yet? Or will this tourney be your first?
Gileon takes Ser Matthias broken lance and helps him of his horse, doing his squire duties, bringing Matthias some water and tending to his horse "Yes Ser Matthias it is my first time doing it, but I had some practice with rings and straw men before, but never the real thing" he is very nimble and has some speed of hand, not to mention he moves quietly, almost blending in the background, if you weren't talking directly to him, you probably wouldn't pay him attention as he would be just another squire in the background.
Drinking the water down quickly, Matthias responds in a voice that sounds as though he is reciting a passage, Celebrate your victory, but do so with humility and honor. Be gracious in loss and you will never know defeat.
Standing, Words to live by. Now let us prepare you for your joust.
Tilt 3rd
As Marcus passes his opponent, he hears something he would not have though, which distracts him and takes a hit from his lance but shrugs it off although feeling a bit sore after it.
Frowning and turning his horse as he picks another lance only to look carefully at his jousting opponent. This time Marcus is taking more an aggressive stance, wanting to confirm his suspicion
keep 3 (16)
keep 4 (16)
HP: 9/11
Armor: 6
Ride Def: 18-2 (16)
Darne waved to the crowd and left the field himself, trotting after his horse. Once he caught up with the horse and off the field he petted the horse gently and took him to the stables tipping one of the stable hands a stag to give him a good scrub down.
He stepped out to watch the others curious to see his possible competition for tomorrow. He honestly has been feeling a bit lucky with how the competition has gone so far but he knew that his luck would run out soon as those with pure skill were becoming the only ones left.
He rubbed his chin, he had earned enough to buy himself some proper armor of his own and still have enough left over to pay for his eventual loss. He would talk to the others about what kind of armor might best suit him and offer better protection than the leathers he normally wore.
The Knight of Stones tilt hurt, but he remain adamant in besting Ser Marcus, grabbing another lance and spurring his horse onward getting confident and riding high to try and dismount Ser Marcus.
keep 3 15
keep 4 10
High in the Saddle +2
Passive Ride: 16
Health: 12
AC: 9
The Knight of Stones almost fell from risking such a maneuver and the solid hit Ser Marcus got in, but the Knight of Stones rewarded Ser Marcus with one of it's own that by the looks of it, had no impact on him.
By the rules no jouster was unhorsed so it goes to lord Tully to decide the victor. After deliberating with the judged "The winner of this great showmanship of skill is Ser Marcus Naelareon!" many applaud the Ser Marcus as the knight bows to him, but refuses to reveal his identity spurring his mount of the tourney fields.
He watched the Jousts with great interest. Ser Marcus's was of particular fun to watch as his went the full three. But what made him raise his brows the most was that the knight who lost did not show their face. Now that, that make him curious.
He took off eagerly towards the stables on the Knight of Stones side of the Jousting lanes and when he got close he slowed down and began to carefully move about trying to keep himself hidden from view. He wanted to get a good look at the knight under the armor, he did not like the idea of one of the knights of his house being screwed out of the honor they deserved for a job well done.
He slipped into the stall nearest to the knight's and watched with curiosity.
The knight of stones leaves his palfrey in the stables gives him some coins and goes to check on the horse one last time and suddenly you lose sight of him among the crowd
Darne sees the knight disappear into the crowd and he looks around aggressively trying to find some sign of him. He curses and spits on the ground in disgust at losing track of them.
He hurries back to the stables and rounds upon the stable boy that they had handed the coins to.
He cornered him and looked him dead in the eyes "Tell me what you know of the knight who just paid you!!! Do not test my ire boy" he said trying to cow the worker into giving up the information.
Stable boy drops to his knees crying "m'lord I don't know" pointing some direction as to avoid your fury anymore.
Darne spits in anger and bends low placing a hand on the poor boy's shoulder. "I apologize, I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you lad. Show yourself to my tent by night's end and you may find yourself well rewarded...if that is you wish to be" he said before heading out in the direction the boy pointed.
Indeed Darne's luck improves as he is able to notice the Knight of Stones going towards the outskirts of Riverrun near the pavilions.
The Knight has gained considerable distance and it's not going to be easy to maintain pace if continuing to sneak around.
Darne grinned as it seemed that luck was indeed with him today at least. But that luck did not include being close enough to stay so hidden. He abandoned his hiding for now, doing his best to still move with the crowd but making ground quickly on the Knight.
Keep 3 10
Knight of stones cannot tell if Darne is following him or just going the same way but either or he speeds up.
The Knight of Stones continues to move as fast as he cans towards the forest in the outskirts, once he breaks through the crowd and can run for it.
Darne whilst following the Knight is utterly surprised when he seems to speed up. He curses a bit under his breath and picks up the pace, he hoped that in his leathers he would be able to outrun the poor knight in their heavier armor.
He breaks free of the crowd the second he can as soon as the knight sped up and chased after aggressively.
Knight is a bit tired, but to both your surprise and his he draws his sword and begins to slow down, as your sight looks for a reason you can see a small group of men coming from the woods.
Darne sees the sword being drawn and his eyes widen. He banishes his own spear and tries to move in carefully. He knew that he was seen by the Knight, but maybe he could at least be unseen by the men and see an opportunity he could to sneak an attack of his own in when the men were offguard...that is if it turns out this Knight was noble.
The knight keeps moving slowly point his sword towards the new arrivals
"Well Ser" with a mocking greeting "Would you happen to have some coin with you we could "borrow" or your armor and sword would be more than fine too"
Knights of Stones has no answer for them
"Well, I love me some excitement in the afternoon, get it boys" says their leader.
Brigands
Brigand Leader
Keep 3 13
Knight of Stones
Brigand Leader
Health: 9
CD: 9
AR: 4
Brigands x4
Health: 9
CD: 7
AR: 3
Brigand Leader "Trip'm and then pin'm, his heavy armor will keep'm in his arse and I'll put'm to sleep real nice"
The rest laugh and begin to surround the Knight that moves to put his back to a tree, to avoid being hit in the back. Finally strapping his shield on.
"Like that's gonna save you" says one brigand.
Knight of stones taps his shield with his sword in defiance
Darne carefully and silently makes his way to another tree off to the side. He could rush in if needed but he had a ploy to try as he would rather not catch a blade if he could keep from it.
Once he was well hidden from view he waited for the commotion to begin.
Once the clashing of weapons and everything began he cleared his throat and tried to sound as gruff as possible.
"Oy, did you hear that. Boy go get the guard, knights your with me...I'll not let someone ruin the festivities with a bout a violence if I can help it."
He said trying his best to scare the group into running before they do too much harm to the poor knight.
"Quick!, f@!+ the knight, throw something at him or we won't have a chance to run for it so his knights guard him"
1 DoS - Damage 3
Daggers, hand axes and a spear are thrown, almost got him in more than one time but the hand axe got Darne in the chest, but his armor was enough to soak most of the damage.
The Knight of Stone is not so forgiving as he charges his enemies and cuts deep into one of them with a downward arc.
Keep 4 13 - 2 DoS
Damage 12 - 3 = 9 Brigand Ko.
Seeing one of their own fall so easy misjudging the knight skill they run faster and more vigorously.
Darne groaned a bit as he stepped out from behind his hiding spot, He pulled the hand axe out of his chest and spoke to the knight. "Please forgive me for chasing you earlier, but if it were not for my deception just know...I don't know how many you would have taken down before you would have fallen yourself. Tell me, why did you hide your face...you are quite the skilled Knight, and almost any House would be happy to have you given your Jousting ability."
"I wish to remain so, I will have your knight paid, let me be lord Darne" sword remains out but not pointed at Darne, but makes sure to let you know he will not change his mind regardless.
Darne looked a bit annoyed by this answer. "I spilled my own blood to see that your own was not, surely your honor as a knight owes me a name or something for my troubles..." he said trying to appeal to knight's sense of honor.
Darne dropped his spear for now, hoping that the knight was indeed honorable and would not attack someone who was unarmed and recently an ally.
"I am the Knight of Stones" if you could see his smile it would be rather big "I have honored your request, now let me be my lord" with a small bow of the head and walking away from you.
Darne let the knight go, he would figure this out before the end of the celebration if he could help it. If he saw the face Darne had when he turned about and left then the Knight would've probably had quite the good laugh.
He bent down picking up the hand axe and slipping it into his belt before grabbing up his own spear and heading back to the tents.
The squire joust was filled with awkward moments at times, as some squires were to young but were made to participates, while others well doing surprisingly well, Ser Weyland son made it to the final four, Gileon fell at the final eight, but there was a couple of questions of how he got so far, but they are squires so not much attention was given.
Darne didn't have too much interest in the squire joust. He wasn't a knight and he really did not know any of the knights. He sat stewing in the main tent of House Naelareon.
He was watching and waiting for Ser Marcus to get back, the knight that he had faced had bothered him and he wanted to know if Marcus had noticed anything odd or out of place about the man as well.
Marcus moves at some point to Stables, only to find that his coins were there. Frowning because of this kind of behaviour and his own suspecions, but in the end just waving it away and collecting what is his.
As time passes, Marcus finally decides it is time to move to meet Household Knights and other loyals of House Naelareon regarding the matter of seven combatants. Visiting first Corrad Daerros and after him Manrel Veleris in the evening and bringing with him his own personal wine
"Good evening Ser Corrad. I apologize for such a late meeting, but I have most important topic to discuss with you. I would like to ask you about the possible participation as one of the combatants of seven. It is a matter regarding House Naelareon and Faith Militant" Marcus begins
Seeing that Darne was waiting for him in the main tent, Marcus blinked his eyes but then, it was normal considering that he was after all the Castellan of House Naelareon "Greetings, my lord. How may I help you? I am currently on my way to meet with other Household Knights to discuss the matter of seven, but if you need something then I will be glad to answer"
I really don't know enough about this lad. His knack for going unnoticed makes him seem more like a thief than a squire. Now questions about him getting so deep in the joust. I will have to look into his background further. Something is off and I will not have him be my ruin, nor that of House Naelareon. Matthias' troubling thoughts show plainly on his face as he walks to meet Gileon off the jousting field.
You did well for your first joust. It speaks well of the Knight who trained you. Which begs the question of who the good Knight was that you served prior to myself? I would like to speak with the good Ser. Matthias words are a bit terse as he speaks to Gileon.
Darne looked up as Marcus entered. He thumbed the handaxe for a moment before setting it down on a table. "Did you have any trouble collecting your bounty?That knight seemed rather odd in his mannerisms." he asked curiously.
Thinking for a moment before answering to Darne's question "I... would say he was quite odd one, even more so if my ears did not fail me. His whole posture was.... quite feminine..." fighting in his head with the idea if it was possible but deciding it was better to speak it out "During our 2nd tilting, I heard a quite feminine voice. I could swear that he sounded like a woman but... well, it would explain his nondesire for not speaking or revealing his face. After all, I am sure that there will be something to be revealed later"
Darne listened carefully and nodded. "That would give a bit more credence to my own encounter with the knight. I followed them after your last tilt, intent on making sure that you got the honors you deserved from them. I must've not been careful enough as at some point they felt they were being followed and broke into a run for the woods. Even after an encounter with bandits trying to rob them and a bit of quick thinking on my part scaring them off...they still would not offer up a name or a face. Quite...interesting indeed." he said before standing up slowly.
"I'll leave you to your business then, I have a Maester to find to see about this axe wound. If you have the time, send a small detachment to the edge of the woods and recover the bandit's body to see if we can find out more about the group." he said before disappearing out of the tent.
Ser Corrad takes a seat with you "Explain to me the situation, I've already heard of the kidnap, which I will do my best to help my lord, but what is your stake in this?" more curious to know what that seven thing is than anything.
Gileon looks down "Well he won't be saying much Ser Matthias, he died at Castle Greenward by Coldbrook steel" shame mark his words, but remains standing tall and honest.
"Ah, this business with a seven. Shortly, its a group of seven people from our side fighting seven people from the enemy side, one-on-one duels so to say. These Faith Militant bastards most likely will not honor the "duel" and bring troops along the way but we will be doing the same." Marcus tries to answer to Ser Corrad question shortly and keeping it compact
"So far the participants from our side are me, Ser Weyland, Lord Naelareon. There is still need to recruit for 4 more people and I thought to contact you to ask, if you were interested and would like to help or maybe recommend someone from your servive"
Fell to the Coldbrook steel? Who was this good Ser? Matthias softwns his tone just a bit. We will visit the sept and say a prayer for his service.