[Personal] The Bear falls under the waves [Loreia-Theo]

[Loreia]

[Personal combat]

Loreia gives chase down a street to overtake Ser Maelor with a few soldiers from the Coldbrook Elite retinue. This brash move proves ineffective;
several men-at-arms fall upon the Coldbrook men and drive them back while surrounding her, simultaneously achieving the inverse of Loreia's intended result, each eager for a title they hope to be rewarded with for defeating her and defending their highborn betters. She will have to settle for clearing the street before anyone needs to come through.

Allies
Loreia Durant [url=Initiative - Velaryon Arrests][/url]: 4d6k3-2 14
Superior bastard sword, superior shield, extraordinary full plate
Badger [url=Initiative, cohort - Velaryon Arrests][/url]: 4d6k3-2 12
Ring barding
Theomore Tullison - yet to make an entrance

Opponents
Men at arms (six) [url=Initiative - Velaryon Arrests][/url]: 6#3d6-2 7 3 8 9 8 11
Athletics 3 (strength 1B). Awareness 3 (Notice 1B), Agility 3, Endurance 3, Fighting 4 (Pole-Arms 2B).
Breastplate, halberd, longsword, dagger
CD 7
AR 5
Health 9
Damage 7

Initiative
Loreia - 14
Badger - 12
M@A 1 - 11
M@A 2 - 9
M@A 3 - 8
M@A 4 - 8
M@A 5 - 7
M@A 6 - 3

[Waiting for Theomore's player. If no-show, knock off lowest two Men-at-Arms in Initiative]

[Loreia]

[Theo will join on Round 2.]

Men-at-arms surround the Shieldmaiden and her war hound, barring them from retreating unharmed.

Round 1

Mindful of her pet's safety, Loreia points at one of the guards and moves to attack, boxing Badger in to shield him from the bulk of the enemys' assault.

Loreia
Free: Speak (command cohort)
Lesser: Move (D8-->
B7)
Lesser: Divided Attack (roll incoming)
Badger
Lesser: Move (C8-->
A7)
Lesser: Standard Attack (roll incoming)

[Grid. Unfortunately, does not include a "
G"
for any mysterious fourth ally. That would just be perfect, huh? Does not coincide with the absence of a G column.]

Code:

| A | B | C | D |
---|---|---|---|---| M1 = M@A 1
1 | | | | | M2 = M@A 2
---|---|---|---|---| M3 = M@A 3
12 | | | | | M4 = M@A 4
---|---|---|---|---| M5 = M@A 5
3 | | | | | M6 = M@A 6
---|---|---|---|---|
4 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | | | M6| |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | M5| | | M4| L = Loreia
---|---|---|---|---| B = Badger
7 | B | L | | | T = Theomore
---|---|---|---|---|
8 | M3| | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 | | M1| | M2|
---|---|---|---|---|
11 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|

[Loreia]

Divided Attack results
[url=Divided Attack M5, Arrests Round 1][/url]: 4d6k3+1 13
M5 takes 5 damage
[url=Divided Attack M3, Arrests Round 1][/url]: 3d6k2 8
M3's AR negates damage

Badger's attack result
[url=Standard attack M3, Round 1][/url]: 3d6 13
Passive Athletics + 1B Strength: 13. Beaten(equaled).
M3 takes 1 damage and is Grabbed (trained Badger during offseason to obtain this quality for Bite)

Loreia
CD 10
AR 13
Health 15

Badger
CD 7
AR 4
Health 9

M5
CD 7
AR 5
Health 4

M3
CD 2
AR 5
Health 8
Other: can't move. Can only attack by Grabbing or Offhand(Offhand weapon must be Brawling or Short Blades).

[Loreia]

The taciturn men sworn to protect the Velaryon offenders swarm the new knight of House Coldbrook, taking their toll from her for decisively forcing herself between as many of them as possible and her faithful pet. As his recent bite target extricates himself from his jaws, another rushes in to tackle her with his weapon, pushing her down. Bracing her fall with her shield, she turns just as three others charge with the spikes of their hafts. One's axe grazes her as another's comes down on the mail she made Badger wear in case there was an incident in the throne room.

There was no mere incident. King Viserys had ordered that the Velaryon men of age, one half of the house arrayed against the other younger half in accusations of sharing no blood of theirs, have their tongues cut out. Daveth could have found a way to tiptoe around the issue if they'd thought to seek outside help instead of run right back to the dragon's mercies. They should have understood that the king's ultimatum was a mercy, and now her companion will die because of them.

[url=Test dice from knockdown, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 2#1d6 4 5

M@A 1
Move B8 + Knockdown Shieldmaiden
[url=M1 Knockdown, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 3d6+2 13
Success
M@A 2
Charge Shieldmaiden at C8
[url=M2 Charge, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 5d6k3 8
(Added missing Test Die from Knockdown: 12)
blocked by armor
M@A 3
Opposed Fighting.
[url=M3 Opposed Fighting, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 4d6 12
[url=Opposed Fighting, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 3d6 14
Opposed Fighting.
[url=M3 Opposed Fighting 2nd, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 4d6 14
[url=Opposed Fighting 2nd, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 3d6 12
M3 is free.
M@A 4
Charge Shieldmaiden at B6
[url=M4 Charge, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 5d6k3 12
(Added missing Test Die from Knockdown: 17)
18 - 13 AR = 5 dmg
M@A 5
Aim + Attack Dog
[url=M4 Aim+Attack Dog, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 6d6k4 14
14 dmg - AR = 10 dmg
M@A 6
Charge Shieldmaiden
[url=M6 Charge, Round 1 Arrests][/url]: 6d6k4 17
18 - 13 AR = 5 dmg

Loreia
CD 10
AR 13
Health 5
F/I/W 0/0/0

Badger
CD 7
AR 4
Health 2
F/I/W 0/1/0

[Theomore Tullison]

[I believe that at the beginning of round 2, things are looking like so:

Code:

| A | B | C | D |
---|---|---|---|---| M1 = M@A 1
1 | | | | | M2 = M@A 2
---|---|---|---|---| M3 = M@A 3
12 | | | | | M4 = M@A 4
---|---|---|---|---| M5 = M@A 5
3 | | | | | M6 = M@A 6
---|---|---|---|---|
4 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | M5| M4| M6| | L = Loreia
---|---|---|---|---| B = Badger
7 | B | L | | | T = Theomore
---|---|---|---|---|
8 | M3| M1| M2| |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
11 | | T| | |
---|---|---|---|---|

[url=Velaryon Iniative][/url]: 4d6k3-4 12, no need for re-rolling, iniative order is Loreia->
Badger->
Theo->
Dead Men.

]

At the sound of weapons clashing, Theomore wheels his Destrier around to get a view of the situation, no Velaryon knight..a pity, it would be fortuitous to slay one of those...but insisting on mounting up and not willing to trample down the smallfolk in order to reach the quarry first through the streets, a man must take what he gets, and if what he gets is a street full of footmen, and the shieldmaiden surrounded, well, something good could come out of that, too.

[Loreia]

[I'll take it. The initial setup was intended to make it difficult for you to reach me by bypassing enemies, but that was null when they moved to attack me, as is their wont.]

Round 2

Loreia pushes up from the ground and assaults the last man who attacked her, fueled by the bond she shares with her war dog. She hooks the halberd with her sword and pulls it aside, rams the enemy with her shield to throw his balance off, and jabs her sword well-centered through his neck. A keen eye may notice her frantic movements despite almost neatly concealed by her expert swordplay. Perhaps the one thing keeping her steady enough that they don't: sharing proximity with her beloved hound.

Using her shield as leverage, she jerks her weapon out of the collapsing body and returns it to her flank to guard against the three enemies opposite those who'd lost a nearby brother-in-arms. Only now does she notice the movement of a horse, at the moment - out of pressing concerns limiting the range of sight she dare risk lest she distract herself with unimportant details - unable to make out the mounted rider whom she feared was another enemy, more punishment for her ill-fated gamble at battle strategy.

Kicked off by his first attacker, Badger eyes a weaker target, the one Loreia had softened up. Weakened though he may be, he proves wary enough that Badger can't go for a perceived opening without being smacked away.

Loreia
[url=Acrobatics Stand TN9, Round 2 Arrests][/url]: 3d6 7
Greater: Stand
Fatigue: 1
Lesser: [url=Attack M6, Round 2 Arrests][/url]: 7d6k5 22
Man-at-Arms 6 is killed.

Badger
[url=Aim+Attack M5, Round 2 Arrests][/url]: 4d6k3-1 6
Attack fails.

[Theomore Tullison]

Attack the weak flank, words told to Theomore a long time ago, they had stuck. As a man on the right is felled, he spurs his black stallion into action, bigger and meaner than any bred in the Riverlands. His path straight through the foes, the one to the right barely managed to get out of the way, the one to the left was less fortunate, trampled underfoot. "
Yield if you want to live!"
the metal covering his face distorts the shout as Theomore has his destrier wheel around to face the two men on his left, though they might not know that they had already lost. if the man cut down by Loreia wasn't dead already, he surely would be now, as Theomore's steed steps on his head, quite deliberately it might appear, as if the horse shares the will and instinct of it's rider.

OOC:
CD: 10
AR: 10
Health 9/9

[url=Trample][/url]: 6d6k4 20 3 DoS (15 damage) against M1, 2 DoS (10 damage) against M2, since trample is resolved as normal attack, armor presumably applies, leaving M2 with 4 Health, and M1 dead. Theo ends up at C6.

And...let's see how suicidal these guys are: [url=Intimidate][/url]: 4d6 [url=BoA-reroll][/url]: 1d6 15

Will spend fatigue to negate AP if attacked (thus bringing his CD to 14)

Code:

| A | B | C | D |
---|---|---|---|---| M1 = M@A 1
1 | | | | | M2 = M@A 2
---|---|---|---|---| M3 = M@A 3
12 | | | | | M4 = M@A 4
---|---|---|---|---| M5 = M@A 5
3 | | | | | M6 = M@A 6
---|---|---|---|---|
4 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 | M5| M4| T| | L = Loreia
---|---|---|---|---| B = Badger
7 | B | L | | | T = Theomore
---|---|---|---|---|
8 | M3| | M2| |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|
11 | | | | |
---|---|---|---|---|

Dead men:
M2: 4/9
M3: 8/9
M4: 9/9
M5: 4/9

[Theomore Tullison]

[url=Knockdown Loreia (M2)][/url]: 3d6 10 Fails
[url=attack Loreia (M2)][/url]: 5d6k4 21 ouch, 3 DoS for 21 damage, 8 after AR.

[url=Knockdown Loreia (M3)][/url]: 3d6 11 Fails
[url=attack Loreia (M3)][/url]: 5d6k4 6 Fails

[url=Pull Theo from mount (M4)][/url]: 5d6k4 16 Fails

[url=Knockdown Badger (M5)][/url]: 3d6 9 Fails
[url=attack badger (M5)][/url]: 5d6k4 16 2 Dos for 14 damage, 10 after AR.

[Loreia]

"
No!"
Loreia retaliates against the continued attack on her dog, slicing the attacker's underarm and slashing his shoulder, and gives him a push as he falls. She then turns her attention toward the one flanking Badger and attempts to brute force him to the ground. The blow to her back through the plate took its toll though, weakening her assault and causing her to fall short.

"
Badger, stop!"
Her master's command finds its way easily to his ears in the wake of the bruise delivered through the many shiny round things that covered him. Stop. He waits, growling at his attacker, daring him to attack him like the other did, the other now lying in a heap on the ground. Master keeps me safe. Master hurt you if you try.

Loreia: CD 10, AR 13, Health 2 (Ftg 1, Inj 1, Wnd 0
[url=attack M5][/url]: 7d6k5-1 20
takes damage in excess of his health.
[url=knockdown M2][/url]: 4d6-2 8
fails

Badger: CD 7, AR 4, Health 2 (Ftg 0, Inj 1, Wnd 1)
Greater: Pass

M2: 4/9
M3: 8/9
M4: 9/9
M5: KO

[Theomore Tullison]

So much for the hound...though their ranks thinning. With a very subtly motion, Theomore spurs his horse to lunge forward, and horse and rider merges into a single being for a blink of an eye, and in that moment, as time slows down for him as he looks over the tip of his spear, guiding it straight into the eye of his enemy with all the weight of his black steed behind it. A blink of an eye is more than enough time to kill a man.

[url=reckless attack vs M4][/url]: 11d6k6+1 25, 4 DoS, 24 damage...very dead.

In desperation, almost at the point of a yield, the two remaining guardsmen exchange a look and a nod, then throw caution to the wind in a last ditch effort to maybe turn the tide.

[url=reckless attack vs Loreia (M2)][/url]: 6d6k5 25 4 DoS, 28 damage, 15 after AR.
[url=reckless attack vs Loreia (M3)][/url]: 6d6k5 19 2 DoS, 14 damage, 1 after AR.

[Loreia]

[url=aimed attack vs M2][/url]: 8d6k4-1 15
Takes damage in excess of health.

[url=reckless attack M3 (ignore wound)][/url]: 6d6k4-2 13
3 DoS
4 damage. Passive athletics equaled, Grabbed.

Loreia
Health 1
F/I/W: 1/1/1
Badger
Health 2
F/I/W: 1/1/1

The man-at-arms had seized an opportunity in her moment of weakness, burying his halberd in her chest. Her armor holds, but the blade of the axe cleaves through and sends a rattling shock to her rib cage. She summons strength to hack and slice at him, knocking the weapon away and striking his temple with the flat side of her sword.

Hearing his master cry out and seeing the bad men overwhelm her together makes him forget her command, and Badger springs upon the nearest one. He mauls his arm, mangling it while the bad man struggles, instinctively pulling back and only bringing more agony on himself.

Momentarily raising her gaze to meet that of her mystery rescuer, Loreia exhales heavily, a half sigh that catches on a labored groan as she grabs at her breastplate. She didn't recognize the raised voice she heard earlier, having never heard the one who yelled talk scarce louder than an appropriate indoor speaking voice. Gods, why did it have to be you. She almost mouths the words before she catches herself.

M2: Dead
M3: 4/9 Grabbed, CD 0
M5: KO

[Theomore Tullison]

Only one man left, Theomore guides his horse around Loreia, eyes only for the opening at the armpit that the hound left exposed...inviting the tip of his spear to thrust deep. He heard a faint voice of protest, familiar, yet not recognizable. Only as he pulled the spear out followed by a gush of blood that even Theomore knew meant that this man was well beyond the abilities of any maester to save did the words become clearer, they were the words of Arlyn, and for a brief moment the eyes of the man on the ground before him held the stern and disappointed gaze of the fat septon. Then they rolled up into the back of the skull, another life he could have spared, gone.

I charge you to be merciful....

Theomore's own men join the battle around them, hitting the remaining Velaryon men embroiled with the Coldbrook soldiers, hitting them where it hurts, from behind, he doesn't really pay attention to that, it is already over and his men are merely turning this into a slaughter, his men are very good at that particular part. He had a charge, a simple charge, and he failed to uphold it. And little else to do than show respect by closing the eyes of the dead man that could have been saved, perhaps given the choice of taking the black. Now he would join the others in the dreams, with little Joren's and his gaping chest, Ser Humphrey with his head in his hands, Ser Hugh with his bleeding eye-sockets...the burning man, always the burning man. All of them awaiting his arrival to the hall of the stranger to take the seat of honor reserved for him there.

[url=Willpower TN9][/url]: 4d6k3 8 Alas...poor man at arms.
[url=move and attack M&
A][/url]: 10d6k5 24 4 DoS for 16 damage, 11 after AR, another dead man.

[Loreia]

Badger sits hunched over, whining. As the soldiers fall upon the Velaryon loyalists, Loreia draws near to him, fighting the pulsing cleft in her chest. He growls with an intensity that makes her recoil, but she shushes him and gets on her knees to undo the straps keeping his barding fastened. He whimpers as the mail comes off, and she parts his fur to get a better look, ignoring the growl of warning. Bloodless, the affected area has turned red - violet in some areas, with some swelling. She risks a touch, causing her hound to cry out and bite her gauntlet. With a firm reprimand, she shakes him off and pulls back, grimacing at the feeling of her finger sinking into the flesh as she merely placed her finger there, the sight of the indentation remaining set even as she lifted her hand. When she orders him "
up"
, Badger obeys when repeated, still hunching over as he rises on his hind legs. Gods be good, what do I do with you now?

She turns her attention back to her rescuer, enduring the stiffness and pain in her back to stand upright, spurning the support of the archway. She considers the implications of his help, and whether she really needed it. She looks back down at her pet and finds an answer to one of her musings, which in turn determines her answer for the other.

"
I owe you thanks for coming to aid, Ser,"
she speaks up to him, her words faintly labored by the splitting pain caused by the blow that had simultaneously knocked the wind out of her. "
We were nearly on one of the Velaryon men before we got jumped ourselves."

[Theomore Tullison]

"
You are quite welcome my good Shieldmaiden"
Theomore turns his attention away from the dead man. "
Though many years ago, a man touched my shoulder with his sword and charged me to protect all women, and I try not to disappoint."
How exactly this most unlikely of outcomes came about to occur has him a bit lost for what to say, but that is what courtesies truly are, trained responses to uncomfortable situations. "
All women."
He adds with a nod that is something in between recognition for her ability and position and that he would give to the sort of lady Loreia quite definitely is not.

[Loreia]

She imagined he would be quick to lord this over her, to carry a serene smile to cover his smug satisfaction. Instead, she sees a genuine(?) respect for her that mayhaps supercedes his expectations for a woman as laid out in the Seven-Pointed Star. She thinks back to the look that Jon Roxton, bed-ridden by pain and injuries she had inflicted, had given her in the tent - like a wounded animal pretending not to be hurt but not so much able to restrain itself emotionally, for which Badger had just given her a baseline reading. And then there was Addam Tarly. And most faces in the crowd gathered to watch the grand melee at Riverrun two years ago. That Theomore, a man of the South, may tend toward practical thinking or tolerance thereof in this regard surprises her, but does not go unwelcome.

After this pause, she gives him a terse nod. "
We'll catch up with them at the harbor. We'll both have a better chance and a quicker time of makin' our way to them if we join up."
Or clear a path for others. And mayhaps we all forget my mistake.

[Theomore Tullison]

"
Quite so, Shieldmaiden"
Theomore agrees, but Just a scratch had killed more men walking away from battle than those who would never rise again from where they had been felled, but if she happened to be reckless enough to risk it, well, what should he care?

You have wrought enough ill with that sort of thinking. True. Enough people had died because of what he had done and had not done, and more would die still. This one? This one need not be one of them. "
But I know not if that is wise, few men would have remained standing after taking that blow, most men would be dead."
His words as polite and respectful as his many years of practice made them out to be without him even thinking about it, most men would take the suggestion of finding someone to look at one's injuries rather badly when there still were more fight to be had. A woman might have better sense. This woman seemed to have been born with the wrong set of parts though, so best not count on it.

[url=Willpower TN9][/url]: 4d6k3 17

[Loreia]

Loreia has more to consider than most. What it would mean for her to walk away, and what she risks by moving onward, and her competence to weigh against it. What she really wants, why she's pursuant of the Velaryon backbiters. She risks the life of her pet, and truthfully she's not of use in this state, even if she expects to live through the day.

The dampness beneath her plate spreads downward, and rises to her nostrils, filling them with a metallic odor. Charging them head-on down the Hook, even with Coldbrook elite soldiers, was a mistake. And besides, all the king's men and his loyal bannermen(including Lord Baelon, Walton the hulking young heir of Dulver, and Ser Jorah) could handle the Velaryon elite. She'd be of paltry use, and she only stands to get herself more hurt. Ser Theomore's concern - unexpected - compels her enough. Between her failure, the wounds she and Badger have suffered, Theo mounted on a horse and the new revelations of his character, she can't work up enough energy toward him to stay on, let alone do anything...rash.

"
Mayhaps not. I shall return to the great hall."
Her manner of speech changes, albeit with a few small hiccups* in between. Sword back at the ready and shield up. Remnants of the Velaryon guard may still be lurking about between here and the Red Keep. I've strayed too long from Daveth's side, and I can still keep him safe. "
Keep my men safe, Ser Theomore."
A parting warning...?

* - Not actual hiccups, metaphor.

[Theomore Tullison]

Of all the things he had expected when the day was young, this was not among them. Provoked by the rather predictable reaction by prince Daemon, and tempted by the riches of Driftmark for themselves and the belief that the greens held such sway in court that they might get away with it, Vaemond's brothers was blinded enough to not see that their cause was already lost. That it might make the streets of King's Landing run red with blood? Well, he did have his horse at the ready just for that eventuality, too. Theomore always liked being prepared, but he had given this matter a considerable amount of thought, ever since Vaemond spoke of taking his birthright from the Strongs at the tourney of Castamere.

He had even prepared his men for the eventuality of meeting Coldbrook troops, caution and respect was the words he had used, that and the threat that anyone not displaying those two qualities could try and find some other lord or knight to serve.

That the woman that two years ago had spoken of her desire to see him bleed in the grand melee, now asked him to keep Coldbrook men safe.....had he not worn worn his helmet, the illusion among his men that nothing fazed Ser Theomore Tullison would have been shattered. His voice, however, is as always, his to command, courtesy of a pause slightly longer than was usual for him before he replies.

"
As if they were my own, Shieldmaiden."
He nods, his sergeant already barking the command for marching formation to prepare to move towards the docks to mop up whatever resistance was left, the real battle must surely be over by the time they got there by his reckoning.

[Loreia]

[We didn't quite leave off on this officially. I finally found the time to write myself offstage, as it were.]

This isn't right. Her gut churns that statement out slowly, repeatedly. What disgust she may have unfurled from behind her eyes earlier, has diminished. But something still narrows her gaze. Loreia turns toward the opposite direction of the aftermath in the Hook and sound of marching feet, Theomore's horse to her left at a right angle, and walks.

What Lord Tomas will think when he hears she left his soldiers under his command. Recalling how he answered his father, Loreia distinctly remembers the way the resolve of their common ground resonated within the tent. But she led his men clumsily into failure, and got herself wounded, and Theomore needed to step in. It compounds her initial mistake, sure, but doesn't create a second failure. Furthermore, her brother and the heir, her personal charge, needs protection. Her rushing out here was her first mistake. She must make certain his safety.

Her hound demands more immediate care, though. She keeps pace with the injured animal trying to keep up, minding his pain. Putting everything else on hold.

[/scene for me]

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