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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 6, 2016 20:18:17 GMT
Edmure looked at Violet with concern. Whether her coughing fit was feigned or not, he didn't know.
"You dolts!" he snarled at Tom and Lommy. "Help your Lord's sister."
[Persuasion: 63]
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The Gambler
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 6, 2016 20:52:50 GMT
(As Violet elected not to warn anyone, only she will get an agility roll against the ranged attacks. Best of luck, folks.)
Brandon smacked Edmure on the back of the head with his gauntlet.
"Give me another order and you'll be walking the rest of the way to the Wall," he threatened, hand lingering near a cudgel at his belt.
Nonetheless, Tom turned his head to look back at Violet, the common lad clearly concerned, naive enough to believe the ruse.
"Are you alright, Lady Vio-" he was cut off as the black feathers of an arrow's raven fletching replaced his right eye with a wet thunk. He slumped forward in the saddle, death grip still clutching Violet's reins.
One of the guardsmen beside Brandon took an arrow in the back and fell off his horse to die in the dirt. Edmure took an arrow to the left bicep, ironically the arm Belric had threatened to cut off, passing clean through the muscle and out the other side. An arrow whizzed by Violet's face, passing close enough that she could feel the breeze in her long hair. Lommy takes an arrow to the knee with a scream of pain and surprise. Brandon looks about in alarm, searching in vain for where the shots are coming from. If only someone had warned them...
(There were 6 guards. 2 Guardsmen dead, one takes a medium wound, Edmure takes a medium wound.)
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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 6, 2016 21:07:13 GMT
Edmure grunted in pain as the arrow hit him but his knightly training kicked in. He immediately went for his sword and shield in the saddlebag on the horse near him. No time to don any armor, but his shield might offer some protection against any further flights of arrows.
"Move, Violet! Get out of here." he screamed at her.
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Post by Tim of Raventree on Nov 6, 2016 21:12:35 GMT
Violet wrenched her bridle free from Tom's fingers.
"Run!" She yelled. She urged her horse to a gallop.
Horsemanship 20 if necessary
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 1:29:36 GMT
Brandon swatted Edmure's hand away when he attempted to reacquire the weapons hanging from the guardsman's saddlebags. For a moment the veteran thought he could salvage the situation. He thought they could pull back out of bow range. He thought how he could send Violet back to Harrenhal with the report of the attack. He thought how he could take the long way around, possibly book a ship to the Wall as Violet had suggested or ironically take a detour to Lord Harroway's Town and ride a ferry across to the other side of the Trident. He thought of how hard he was going to hug his daughter when he got home. Then his faced turned pale. He had planned, and the Gods had laughed.
No more arrows came out of the copse, but the bows were the least of their worries. As the malicious crow took flight, five knights rode out of the treeline. Each wore a full set of plate and sat atop a mighty destrier in fine barding, hardened ash war lances couched as they charged in a wedge formation towards the remnants of the party. Brandon felt dread in that moment, the sensation every peasant levy had felt in any battle at the sight of an armored vanguard's charge into their disorganized lines. Death had a sound and it was the thundering of hooves.
Lommy! Sam! Get Lady Violet back to Harrenhal!" he bellowed, before turning to Edmure and the remaining uninjured guard, tossing the ex-castellan his sword and shield. It didn't matter now. He would not make the same mistake he had cursed the knights of Harrenhal for. He would not forget his duty. "We'll slow them down. Better way to go than freezing to death at the Wall."
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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 7, 2016 1:59:10 GMT
Edmure grabbed his sword and shield as Brandon tossed them to him. He had seen the impact of a knights' charge, so knew the damage they would do when they crashed into the less trained and less armored guardsmen, of which there were only four left. Meeting their charge was futile. His armor hung uselessly from the pack horse's saddle.
If he was going to die, he would go out a free man at the very least.
Still yelling at Violet to flee and save herself, he aimed an almighty cut at Brandon. The man would die either way and before they both went into the dark at least he would have the satisfaction of avenging some of the slights directed his way since they had left Harrenhal.
Sword: 81 (+ 5) = 86. Shield: 20 (if it counts)
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The Gambler
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 2:33:53 GMT
Shock and pain crossed Brandon's features as Edmure sunk the blade into his gut, coughing up blood as the knight buried it nearly to the hilt. He had no words for the man, likely unable to believe anyone would be so selfish as to kill a man for a few slights when they faced true foes. Not after he had offered in the same breath to sacrifice himself to save Edmure's siste. Not when every moment they slowed the outlaws down was a moment more Violet had to flee. Not when he had offered the man a chance to die with honor. He didn't say any of this. He didn't call Edmure a false knight. He didn't say that between Violet not warning them of the bandits and Edmure's team killing, he had been better off under the Lothstons. He didn't even mention the bear attack. What he did do was spit a glob of blood directly in Edmure's face and weakly raise his cudgel to swing at the man. As the other uninjured guardsman looks back, equally bewildered, the point of a lance sprouts out his chest in a shower of gore, knocking him off his horse, dead before he hit the ground, though that did not stop the outlaw knights from trampling his corpse into a pulp. The knight at the point of the wedge releases his viscera-covered lance and draws a sinister looking morningstar.
(Brandon takes a Heavy Wound. The other guardsman is killed. As this was my first time rolling a lance charge, I just want to take a moment to say they are absolutely brutal in the new system. He got the deathblow with a heavy wound to spare against the poor guard.)
Violet spurred her horse, flanked on either side by the injured Lommy and uninjured Sam. At a signal from their leader, clearly the one with the morningstar, two of the outlaw knights break off to chase her down.
(This chase will be decided with horsemanship rolls, so thanks for posting your stats. Because Edmure decided to fight Brandon rather than slow down the knights, you won't have the round to two head start bonus you would have otherwise.)
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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 7, 2016 4:34:33 GMT
Edmure swung his sword at Brandon again, looking to give the man, at the very least a quick death. Otherwise he felt no pity for a man who was complicit in sending him to a slow, living death at The Wall. Better to die quickly at the end of a sword or lance was his feeling.
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The Gambler
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 5:27:28 GMT
The blade nearly cleaved Brandon's head in two, even as Edmure's cracked ribs screamed out in protest, the dutiful guardsman dying it seemed for following orders and trying to provide for his family. It was likely his wife and little girl would starve now, or be forced to whore themselves out. So it goes.
The leader of the rogue knights, flanked by the two compatriots who had not pursued Violet, were nearly upon him now.
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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 7, 2016 6:55:55 GMT
Edmure turned to meet the knights, his sword and shield raised. Three onto one and himself unarmored. Not the best odds he thought grimly.
"Who are you and what do you want? " he bellowed at the top of his lungs, in his best commander's voice. A question that probably wouldn't be answered to his satisfaction, as it seemed clear that what was wanted was their deaths.
"I was a prisoner bound for The Wall! I have little that you would need or want from me!"
[Persuasion 58 + 5 = 63; Sword: 81 + 5 = 86; Horsemenship: 20 + 5 = 25; Command: 85 + 5 = 90] No idea if the last skill is any use at all in this situation. I'd be guessing not.
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 7:09:27 GMT
(Considering their disposition is currently hostile, persuasion doesn't do you much good. Command can't be used for social rolls, just leading armies, so that's moot as well. Coin of Doom flip to decide if they go for you or your horse. Result: Heads)
At a gesture from the morningstar armed leader, the knight on the right flank lowers his lance at the last instant, driving it between the eyes of Edmure's steed. The horse collapses, throwing Edmure from the saddle to the ground, dazed as his ribs fractured for a third time. The knight's leader dismounted and looked down at the former castellan, blotting out the sun as he leaned over him, the fat crow swooping down to perch upon his shoulder, its black beady eyes seeming to measure Edmure and find him unworthy.
"That is where you are mistaken, Ser Edmure Blackfort. You have exactly what I want," the leader claimed, prying the cudgel from Brandon's death grip and cracking Edmure across the skull with it, into unconsciousness.
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Post by Edwyn Blackfort on Nov 7, 2016 7:18:40 GMT
Edmure went into a sweet, sweet dream. Sally Candle figured largely in it where she once again made a bad boy out of him. A very bad boy.
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 14:30:50 GMT
(Alright the way the horse chase is going to work is that Violet gets 3 rounds to escape and it will work a bit like combat but with horsemanship rolls. She will need to deal a heavy wound to escape. Wounds dealt to her pursuers in prior rounds will carry over but wounds dealt to Violet will not, as the two guardsmen break off to protect her. If she has not dealt a heavy wound or the equivalent of one by the end of the 3rd round, she will be caught.)
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Post by The Gambler on Nov 7, 2016 17:39:44 GMT
Violet can hear the pounding of her heart, nearly deafening, matched only by the thundering of armored horses on her tail, the muscle-bound war beasts closing the gap at an alarming rate. The knights behind her were not men that had viewed their spurs as mere ornamentation, it seemed. Whereas the young woman had passing knowledge of horsemaship, these outlaws held the bearing of men who had fought, eaten, slept, and lived in the saddle during years of war. Sam turns to slow them down and received a lance to the gut for his troubles, the hardened ash tangling in his entrails as he fell screaming off his horse. The knight who had slain him drew a castle-forged longsword without slowing his pursuit in the slightest. (Round 1: No Success. Sam Dies)
The injured Lommy digs into the saddlebags, figuring the dead weight was slowing them down, and wheels his horse around to hurl their provisions at Violet's pursuers. The hardtack and salted beef bounce harmlessly off the armor, but when he begins throwing the winter clothing, it has some effect. A heavy fur coat envelopes a knight's greathelm, the man cursing and veering off course as he tries to remove the obstruction to his narrow field of vision. Violet pulls ahead, around a bend in the road, her protector and two pursuers left behind. Any elation is short-lived as Lommy's scream carries over the pounding of her heart. (Round 2: Pursuers suffer a "medium wound". Lommy dies. +3 horsemanship for Violet)
On the horizon Violet sees Harrenhal, the silhouette of its warped towers unmistakable on the horizon, the symbol of dread and foreboding suddenly one of hope and salvation for the terrified young woman, even though the massive keep was still a half day's ride away. Then her old nag slowed, frothing at the mouth, not built for such chases. Just like that it was over, the two knights gaining ground and riding up on either side of her, both carrying longswords now, one drenched in Lommy's blood and the other with the remnants of one of the thrown furs stubbornly clinging to the crest of his help, flapping like a war banner in the wind. It would have been comical in a different situation. The latter sheathed his sword and scooped her off her horse, as the former took the reins of her exhausted horse, returning back to the unconscious Edmure and rogue knights. She had left as a trio and returned as one, no worse for wear. (Round 3: Violet is captured)
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Post by Tim of Raventree on Nov 7, 2016 18:29:17 GMT
Violet was, understandably, feeling wretched from exhaustion and fear, yet the anger she had felt towards Brandon and his men still simmered within her, now directed at the men who had taken her prisoner.
"Let me go!" She cried. She tried to kick the man holding her.
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