19. Forth day of the Festival

T.M.O.L.: Campaign Notes: Chapter 5

The forth morning dawns cloudy again, but this does not dampen the spirits the parade in honour of the Passions Thystonius and Mynbruje. The parade flows smoothly, with many of the men and boys from the town walking along trying to look impressive and strong. They chant battle songs, make lots of noise, and basically enjoy themselves immensely. Around the stage in the central square the people congregate to watch the highlight of the day, the armed combat competition. To reduce serious injuries and avoid unsightly blood, combatants are armed with a suit of padded armour, a shield, and a sturdy wooden version of their favorite weapon, be it a sword, axe, club, or other weapon. The combatants can do almost anything they want, although there is an unspoken agreement not to cause unnecessary harm, and the round is over once someone surrenders or is knocked to the ground. Being a day also in honour of Mynbruje, the Passion of Truth and Justice, nobody would dare to cheat.

Broatal, the champion from last year and the favourite for this year, stands up in the ring to point attention to the list of fights on the side, and to tell everyone the rules. In the meantime bet-takers go through the crowd, calling out odds and collecting bags of coins from those who are placing bets.

Thorum walks over to Krolmar after checking the paper with the order of fights. He grins at the ork, and says, "Looks like we got the short straws and get to start if off. So, you're feeling up to a fight, Krolmar?"

"Ready as I will ever be," Krolmar replies. "Yourself?"

"Sure am," replies Thorum.

As he dons the padded armour over his clothes, Thorum says to Krolmar, "You know, I try every year to get Kragen to enter this competition, and every year he says that he is too busy, or too old, or some other excuse. Actually, I think he's just scared of getting beaten by an Adept half his Circle, or even worse, by a non-Adept. But I don't care if I get beaten. In fact, I get beaten every year. Two years back when I was no more skilled than Brashak there I faced Broatal in the final fight and almost had him, but then he got me."

Krolmar hands his sword to Sole. "Guard it with your life," he says with distinct purpose.

Sole grins and bows deeply, "I shalt guard it with mine life noble Krolmar."

"No hard feelings when I beat you, right?" Thorum laughs and claps his friend on the back. "Of course I want to win, but if you do, I'll be cheering for you all the way, Krolmar."

Isabelle comes up to Thorum as he picks up his two handed wooden warhammer for the fight. She wispers something in his ear, and he grins and kisses her before climbing up the stairs.

Broatal stands in the centre of the ring, to announce the fight. "Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the first fight of our annual competition. I trust that it will be a fair and safe competition, like last year and may be the best man win."

"Now, we have Thorum Dul, the Breaker, a Weaponsmith of some skill and handy with that hammer, too. This is the dwarf, a longstanding member of our town, who led the Tunnelguard against the Shriners and thier creatures, and who fearlessly faced even a Horror and helped defeat it." Thorum does some moves with his hammer, spinning it above his head and bringing it down with a crash on the floor. The crowd cheers loudly and whistles, and Thorum waves to Peetyr up on Brashak's shoulders. "And facing him is Krolmar the Ork, a Warrior who is certainly worth watching in the future. He fought against the Horror also, and is said to have bested a skilled Swordmaster in single combat. So, this should be a fight certainly worth watching."

The large ork walks to the ring, gathers his weapon of choice and steps over the ropes. He swings the weapon for weight and places the point of the sword between his splayed legs. There he stands, hands resting on the hilt, in silence. There is a full throated cheer from the townfolk as they cheer for an ork that they have almost accepted as one of their own. Kragen stands next to the ring with his arms folded, studying Krolmar with a slight frown on his face as he concentrates. Sole cheers for Krolmar, and he is joined by the booming troll voice of Brashak.

"Fight!" yells Broatal, as he steps over the ropes and jumps down onto the ground.

Thorum advances towards Krolmar, as the ork uses his Acrobatic Strike to slash at him and jump away. Unprepared for the tactic, the Weaponsmith ducks away and follows. Timing a strike beautifully as the ork lands, he knocks him sideways. Krolmar staggers but catches himself on the ropes, slashing Thorum hard as he Air Dances away for a better position. Thorum steadies himself with his hammer on the ground, and the crowd gasps as he sways.

Krolmar pauses for a moment to study his opponent, and then rushes forward agressively. Thorum, again totally unprepared for the tactic, stumbles backwards to avoid him. Krolmar smashes the dwarf with a mighty blow, and Thorum drops like a rock. A roar erupts from the crowd as they cheer. Krolmar is very solemn in his victory, acknowledging the thanks of the crowd by a simple tip of his head.

Broatal jumps up into the ring to check Thorum as the crowd goes wild with cheering for the ork. After a few seconds, Thorum shakes his head clear and climbs to his feet with Broatal's help. He grins at Krolmar as he massages the side of his head. "Woah, you sure do hit hard, Krolmar." Thorum shakes Krolmar's hand, and walks down the steps as Broatal raises Krolmar's hand in victory. Much money passes hands among the audience, and many people congratulate both Thorum and Krolmar on the fight.

The second fight has Kundt facing Greldik, two of the Tunnelguard. The other Tunnelguard are divided about who do cheer for the most, so they cheer wildly for both, starting up a drum beat and chant. Kundt, the second in charge of the Tunnelguard who is the favorite to win the round, wields a wooden halberd, while Greldik wields a dwarf sword and shield.

The fight progresses evenly, with Greldik defending himself adequately with the shield but unable to get enough force behind his wooden dwarf sword to knock his opponent to the ground. Eventually Kundt goes for an all out attack, but Greldik ducks and sweeps out his legs from under him. The crowd cheers and the drum beating starts up again, and the stage is cleared for the next bout.

"This third fight of the day should be an interesting one," says Broatal in a loud voice. "We have the troll Brashak, whom you all remember from Tori Thunderfist's story. He's big, he's heavy, and he's a Weaponsmith, but is it enough?"

Delivering the best show that he can, Brashak demonstrates the Weaponsmith's approach to combat, becoming one with the weapon, through a series of blindingly quick swings and whirling motions with the wooden battle axe he chose for the match. He does, however, seem somewhat uncomfortable with the unusual weapon. Having just recently arrived in town, he does not expect the crowd to cheer for him and drops into a ready stance, awaiting the start of the match. There are a moderate amount of cheers from the crowd, enough to make him feel welcome even though not many people know him.

Krolmar studies the two. "Come on Brashak, show me what you are made of!" he yells. Sole cheers for Barashak, showing his typical Throalic enthusiasm for a public spectacle.

"And facing him we have Honto, Captain of the Tunnelguard. Although he may look small, this dwarf has spirit. He's been in the Tunnelguard for almost five years now, and this is not the first time we've seen him in the ring." Honto climbs up the stairs, carrying his shield and practicing swinging his wooden dwarf sword. The crowd cheers loudly, especially the Tunnelguard who start up drumming on their drums again.

"Fight!" yells Broatal as he jumps off the stage.

Honto advances quickly ducking low to sweep out the legs of the troll towering over him. Expecting such a tactic, the troll blocks with his axe and attacks back, catching the dwarf unaware. Honto makes a desperate dive and ducks under the wooden axehead as it swings over where he was standing.

Brashak aggressively takes the offensive, meeting the charging dwarf head on. The troll brings down his wooden axe in a beautiful overhead swing, which Honto avoids by diving and rolling to the side at the last second. Standing up behind the troll, he spins around and slashes. Brashak tries to dodge forward out of the way, but trips. He takes a nasty hit across the back of the legs and sprawls forward face first on the ground.

A cheer breaks out from the crowd as Broatal runs into the ring and helps Brashak to his feet. "Too bad, Brashak. I really thought you had him there, twice."

"Yeah, me too. He was just to damn fast for me," Brashak replies, shaking his head to clear it.

The Tunnelguard cheer wildly and chant to the drums as Broatal raises Honto's arm in victory. Sole sighs in sympathy with Brashak but cheers for the winner anyway. Brashak walks over to shake Honto's hand. "Good fight. You're quick on you feet," Brashak says with a smile.

The Krolmar chuckles. "Ha ha ha, maybe next year Brashak, take some heart though, is isn't a real fight."

Once the ring is cleared and the cheering dies down, Broatal addresses the crowd again. "This last fight of the first round has special significance for me. Timobald, the mighty Warrior, has decided to enter this competition for the first time in three years. We've all been itching to see him in action, and now we get a chance to see." Timobald limps up the stairs on his broken leg which never healed properly, broadsword and shield in hand. The crowd cheers as one, happy to see him come out from his self-imposed reclusion. He makes a few practice moves and then stands still staring at Broatal with a slight smile on his face.

"And as fate would have it, the worthy opponent chosen to face him is. . . me!" Broatal reaches down to collect his padded armour from an assitant, and quickly slips it over his head. He also collects his weapons -- a matched wooden broadsword and shortsword. The crowd cheers again, eager to see a spectacular fight like never before. Broatal is always spectacular, but seeing him matching up against Timobald has caught the interest of even those who do not normally watch the fights.

Broatal swishes his swords around in the air, creating a blur of motion. "So Timobald. . . you want this do you?" He fingers the medallion hanging around his neck which is the trophy of the competition. "As if a Warrior could ever take it off me!" he taunts. "Fight!"

Timobald's anger is raised by the slight on his Discipline, but he controls himself somewhat and advances defensively so as not to show any weakness. The Warrior studies his opponent, and then springs to attack, missing wildly. Broatal laughs, flicking his sword aside. He backs away defensively also, slashing his opponent with both weapons in a brilliant display of swordsmanship. Not even trying to cause damage yet, the swords barely bruise Timobald through his armour but they do tear the padded leather badly. Some of the crowd cheers for Broatal and his brilliant swordplay, while some shout for Timobald to finish off the pansy.

Broatal follows Timobald as he breaks away defensively, but Timobald fends him off successfully. As soon as the Warrior attempts a half-hearted attack, the Swordmaster flicks it away and stabs his own sword through the opening, striking him again.

Having gotten over the taunts of his opponent, Timobald turns and attacks hard, trying to knock Broatal down and finish the fight. Broatal easily ripostes the attack, hacking Timobald's armour into useless shreds. He maneuvers around the ring, looking for a good opening, but Broatal Air Dances after him, attempting to knock him down again. Broatal avoids the attack by leaping over the swing to land behind him.

Timobald spins around to attack, but Broatal ripostes by blocking with his broadsword and delivering a punishing thrust with his short sword. Timobald staggers backwards from the blow and falls to the ground, winded.

The crowd cheers and claps as Broatal bows and then runs over to help Timobald to his feet. They exchange words, shake hands, and Timobald walks down to renewed cheering from the crowd.

Krolmar looks at Sole. "Great. We have a proficient Swordmaster in our midst."

Broatal pauses to catch his breath, and then addresses the crowd. "There will be a one hour break until the next round of fights, to give the contestants a chance to recover. Contestants are not permitted to use magical healing aids. Krolmar will fight Greldik, and then Honto will fight myself." Broatal steps down, and the crowd erupts in chatter about the previous fights and about the odds for the betting on the upcoming fights.

During the intervening hour between fights, Timobald comes over to talk to Krolmar. "Well done on your fight, although I can't say the same about mine. You should have no problems beating Greldik, just watch out for his sweep attacks, since he is much smaller than you. Apart from that, he probably can't hit hard enough with that dwarf sword to hurt you much."

"Broatal will walk through Honto, which means that chances are that you will end up fighting him in the final. I wish I could tell you how to beat him, but he has all the advantages, and you are nowhere near as skilled as him. It doesn't matter how many times I tell myself not to get angry from his taunts, there's something about it that you can't resist. And then you'll find that you can't concentrate properly to use your magic to attack, and you'll be useless."

The crippled Warrior continues, "He does have one weakness, though. He loves a long drawn out fight, not a quick decisive win. What you have to concentrate on is winning, not how stylish it looks. When he taunts you, he knows that you are next to useless, so he won't try to finish you off until you've gotten over it. It's against his principles. So don't worry about him until then, even if he does humiliate you for the first half of the fight. But after that. . . I don't know what you should do. Whenever I tried to attack, he just flicked it aside and hit me back with no effort at all, it seems. Maybe you could try chucking the sword and wrestle him, but I don't know if that is within the rules or not. And since Broatal is basically the one who made the rules. . ."

"Anyway, I wish you luck with your next fight, and I hope you get through to give Broatal a thrashing." Timobald limps off to find a seat from which to watch the fights.

Meanwhile Thorum approaches Brashak, with his arm around his wife, Isabelle. "Now I know why Kragen never enters the competition," he says. "I knew that Warriors were tough, but I didn't think that Krolmar would have that much advantage over me, since he is not even a very high Circle yet. I'm not too surprised about Honto beat you, to be honest. He's had years of experience, and is excellent at avoiding getting hit."

"I'm not too surprised either. I have been neglecting my combat training somewhat in favour of some of the other aspects of our Discipline. I was just in it for the practice and the heck of it anyway," Brashak adds with a smile.

"Still, it was fun, if painful. Just give me my Hammer for a fight and some proper armour, and I'd do much better. We Weaponsmiths are better at making the weapons that the Warriors use, I suppose. How is your weapon going for the judging tomorrow, by the way?"

"It's going fine. I still need to work on it though, but given the amount of skilled Weaponsmiths that seem to be living here in New Lebensraum, I don't give myself too many chances in that competetion either. Still, it's nice to take some time out to really work on a blade, instead of just rushing through it."

"Kragen usually takes the individual's Circle in the Discipline into account, so that everyone has an equal chance. It is sort of a competition against yourself rather than against anyone else."

The second round of fights starts with the orkish Warrior Krolmar facing up against Greldik, the dwarven Tunnelguard. Greldik looks quite small in comparison, with a very small weapon compared to Krolmar's large wooden sword. Greldik does not appear to have recovered fully from his previous fight, but he is still eager to fight. The crowd cheer about equally for both contestants, depending on where they have placed their money.

As soon as Broatal starts the fight and jumps out of the ring, both combatants advance towards each other. Krolmar uses his quick acrobatic movements to try to attack around the dwarf's shield, while the dwarf attacks normally, testing out his opponent. The Warrior stays out of reach of the stabbing dwarf sword with his leaps and jumps, while slashing Greldik weakly.

Using his Air Dance effectively, Krolmar glides rapidly around the ring, slashing back at Greldik's legs on the way past. The dwarf's legs fly up into the air, and he lands with a convincing thud flat on his back. Krolmar glides to a halt as the crowd erupts in a cheer and Greldik climbs to his feet.

"Next time, Krolmar, next time," says Greldik as they walk together off the stage. The crowd seems a little disappointed at how quickly the fight was finished, but most of the people seem happy that Krolmar won, since they bet the most amount of money on him winning.

"Bah, I think there is more luck in it than most people like to admit Greldik," Krolmar says as they leave the ring.

In the second bout of the second round, Broatal faces up against Honto. Despite the overwhelming support for the underdog, Honto achieves very little other than to be humiliated repeatedly until Broatal finally sweeps his legs out from under him. Honto still comes out a hero in the eyes of the Tunnelguard, since he stayed in the ring for so long.

Timobald congratulates Krolmar on the fight against Greldik. "That's what I like to see. None of those stupid flashy moves, just get in there and take them down. Don't worry about the crowd wanting a long fight, you want to win, not keep them happy."

"I agree. . . though it may be a little longer than that one though."

"Did you watch Broatal carefully during his fight with Honto?" asks the seasoned Warrior. "He started the fight defensively again, and pulled his shots so that he didn't cause any real damage until he'd had some fun first. Also, he finished the fight with his favorite move, the sweep with the shortsword. But just before he did that, he did his fancy maneuvering around the ring. So if you see him do that, get ready for the sweep."

"I shall definitely watch for that," Krolmar says, the ork pauses. "Hey Timobald, thanks, heh".

"Anything to help you beat that cocky Swordmaster," says Timobald with a grin.

While they are standing around waiting for the final round of the competition, Tori's brother Shem says to her, "So, what chance do you think that Krolmar has against Broatal? You travelled with him to Hollow and back, so what do you think of him?"

"I don't know. Probably not much chance of beating Broatal," says Tori noncommitally.

"Shady Jo is offering ten to one odds that Krolmar wins, and a hundred to one that he wins in the first half a minute. I don't think anyone is offering odds on Broatal winning, though. I figure I might as well put a few silvers on Krolmar, since I'm not loosing much, and could get a whole pile of silver if he wins."

As the time for the final round of the armed combat competition draws closer, the activity and buzz of voices in the central square raises to a feverish pitch. People are talking about how the fights were lost and how they could have been won, and offering their expert advice on how they would have done it. There is a large controversy about whether the ork has a chance of beating the Council member for Defense, but nobody is taking bets that Broatal wins. The odds for Krolmar winning range from five to one to twenty to one, depending on who you ask. There are all sorts of other bets going on about how long Krolmar will stay on his feet, and whether Broatal will even get hit at all.

Finally Broatal climbs the stairs into the ring again, and the crowd hushes almost immediately. "Good people of New Lebensraum, we have reached the grand final of this competition, to see who is the greatest swordsman this year. We have all seen Krolmar these last months that he has been here, how he has used his great strength in defence of and in service to our town, even though he is not one of us. He has fought admirably in his first two bouts, so let us see if he can claim the trophy for this year. Krolmar?"

The crowd cheers wildly for Krolmar as he enters the ring, and the Tunnelguard start up the chanting and beating generally reserved for other Tunnelguard.

Broatal, Council member for Defence and Champion of New Lebensraum, spins his twin swords in an impressive display. He stops and pauses in a ready stance, to the cheering of the crowd. "So Krolmar, you think you can do better than a Warrior with twice your experience? I'd like to see that!" taunts Broatal. "Fight!"

Krolmar feels the anger rising inside him despite his best efforts to ignore such a weak insult. Broatal advances quickly to engage, but then falls back into a defensive stance. Krolmar, anticipating such a tactic, easily blocks the weak attacks and responds by hardly even bothering to attack back, knowing that he is ineffective at the moment. The two combatants parry in the centre, looking for any weaknesses.

Feeling his anger subsiding, Krolmar renews his Air Dance and feels the magic flowing strong through him. He leaps forward in a stylish aggressive attack, determined to take out the Swordmaster before he has a chance to react. Broatal ties himself in knots trying to riposte the attack, but Krolmar slips through and strikes him with a devastating blow. Broatal flies backwards against the ropes, almost catches himself, and stumbles to his knees.

There is stunned silence from the crowd, and then Timobald leaps to his feet, yelling, "KROLMAR!!" The crowd erupts into a cheer not heard in years, setting the windows rattling. The cheering goes on and on, and the Tunnelguard start up a chant to the beating of their drums: "Krolmar, Krolmar!" Sole cheers wildly for his companion and joins in the chant, "Krolmar! Krolmar!" Brashak is right in there, chanting with the crowd.

Krolmar modestly acknowledges the crowd in the raising of his head, still keeping an eye on Broatal. Broatal pulls himself to his feet, trying to maintain as much composure as possible. He holds up his hands to the crowd, and they eventually quieten down to hear what his response to being beaten will be. The Council member for Defense turns to the ork and says in a humble voice, "I must admit I underestimated you there, and you beat me fair and square." Broatal slowly removes the silver medallion from around his neck, and reaches up to place it around Krolmar's neck.

"A battle well fought Broatal." Krolmar extends his hand to the dwarf and shakes it firmly.

"We have a winner!" Broatal holds up Krolmar's arm in victory, and the crowd erupts into renewed frenzied cheering.

As Krolmar comes down from the stage most of the crowd flocks over to crowd around him yelling congratulations or clamouring for attention. Broatal stands alone up in the ring, practicing his blocks and feints against an imaginary opponent. Timobald limps up the steps, grinning from ear to ear, to exchange words with him and clap him on the back. Timobald points over at part of the crowd, where angry dwarves are crowding around a bookie unable to pay the huge odds he promised. Broatal grins and jumps over the ropes and heads over to intervene before it gets serious.

In the celebrations the parade in honour of the element of Fire is almost forgotten, until the sun comes out from behind some clouds to fill the streets with warm rays. The parade starts up, with people running through the streets dressed in bright red and yellow clothes, basking in the warmth. It is a time to remember the various helpful uses of fire, from warmth and light to cooking and making weapons and pottery. It is also a time to remember the dangers of fire, and the damage it can cause to plants and Namegivers alike if allowed to get out of control. After this, some representatives meet together to judge pieces of pottery and other clay articles which have been fired in the large community kiln over the past two days.

Several people approach Krolmar to ask him to share the evening meal with them, including Timobald, Thorum, and Grandpa Sappla. Burno of course offers him free food and drink in the Golden Oak, eager for the extra patronage which will likely follow. The ork is some what humbled by the whole experience and very much over awed with the attention he is getting.

Krolmar gratefully accepts Thorum's invitation, and regretfully declines the invitation of others, not wishing to cause offence he mentions politely that maybe another time may me more suitable, though he does mention to Burno that he will drop by to the Oak after tea.

After the combat competition Brashak takes some time out until the evening meal to continue working on his sword, hoping that he can get it finished for the judging the next day.

The foot and a half steel blade of the shortsword has the classical shape coming to a sharp point for poking and piercing. On both sides of the blade Brashak is planning on engraving a stylized mining shaft, with jagged lines representing the walls, and short legged figures, representing dwarven workers. Near the the base of the blade is engraved the symbol for fire on one side and the symbol for earth on the other. The guard is little more than a metal ring, half an inch thick, extending from around the top of the hilt. The metal used fot the guard is bronze, to contrast with the steel blade. The hilt is slightly longer than usual, in order for it to also be wielded comfortably by Trolls and Obsidimen. He has prepared a strip of cured leather to be wound around it to allow a sure grip, and a rounded piece of bronze is attached at the bottom of the hilt for aesthetic reasons and to keep the leather in place.

As he is working, along with most of the other smiths, he thinks that he hears a faint voice muttering incomprehensibe warnings. Seeing nothing, and seeing that none of the other smiths appear to have heard anything, he turns back to his work. Just minutes later, he accidentally hits the blade at the wrong angle, bending it irrepairably out of shape.

Kragen hears the awful noise, and surprises Brashak by leaving his own work to come over and have a look. He shakes his head, and says, "Apart from needing much more experience, I think you attempted something beyond your skill here. Slow and steady, gradually build up. There's no need to hurry towards great and marvelous weapons. But weapons are always difficult to make well. There is just something about the metal that always seems to resist being crafted into a tool of war. I don't know. I just don't know." Kragen walks off back to his own sword, shaking his head.

Brashak eats the evening meal with Thorum and his family as usual, and they are joined by Krolmar, the most recent hero in New Lebensraum. Thorum does not dwell long on the fights, but chats about other things which have happened during the Festival. Thorum gives his sympathy about Brashak's ruined sword, but says that it still happens even to Kragen every now and again. Isabelle mentions that she feels a bit sorry for Broatal being beaten by a newcomer, since he is the Council member for Defense and all, and highly respected. Peetyr is still all excited by the fights and chatters incessantly, but Gloria is more interested in the sights and colours of the Festival.

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