IC - The Great Pendragon Campaign (KAP 5e+)

[Mickadin]

Owaine watches on from across the yard, having already taken his leave of Lady Jenna and mounted his horse for the race to come. He smiles wryly as Garth flirts with Elisa.

"It is a beautiful thing."

The tall, blonde lad remarks to his fellow squires. In his eye there was a certain determination though. Something about his conversation with Jenna had gotten to the young man.

[dmarks]

"Upavon is truly a great distance, it must have taken you quite a ride to reach us," Garth replied genuinely surprised. Something about this lady was amiss, but despite he could not get her to expand further on her reasons for arriving.

"I am the heir to Steeple Langford. Well in truth, its master once I return. My father was the late Sir John."

It was a pleasure, my lady Elisa, I hope we meet again." And that next time you are less of an enigma.

Garth rejoined the squires, ignoring their jesting looks. He had acted properly around the woman, and conducted himself as a knight should.

[Hemnon]

The Horse Race

With the talks with the ladies, both the young and grown, over with; The squires returned to Sir Elad, on horse (your Charger unless stated otherwise) and ready for the expected Race.
It's by now High Noon and the sun peeking out behind the occasional cloud. The Race Track was open and the path was to circle the outline of it in full and cross the finishline back where you started. First to cross the line wins. Ties are possible.
"Alright, hope you're all ready for a nice ride, because I know I am. First to finish is the winner. Simple as that. Now line up and, on my go......" he said as you all got into line and readied yourselves.

______________________________________________

And this is the Horse Race!
For this, you will have to travel a relative range of 60. This means a basic 10 rounds of riding.
each round you all roll a Horsemanship Roll in the OOC and then I'll corrolate the results in an IC post, and then we go on to the next round.
It's a fully Opposed Roll between you all.
A success means you move your horse's speed +1 (in this case your character's speed is 8, for a total of 9).
A Crit means you race forth at DOUBLE your Character's normal speed for that round.
Failure means you only travel forth half the speed.
Fumble means you fall off your horse, take 1d6 damage from the speedy fall and needs you spend a whole turn getting back up on your horse, which means you do not get to move at all that round.

So, Round 1, ROLL (in the OOC)!

Osian: 0/60
Delwyn: 0/60
Moris: 0/60
Raimund: 0/60
Garth: 0/60
Owaine: 0/60

[Hemnon]

The Horse Race - Initial failure and sprints!

"5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... 1.... Go!" Sir Elad's voice boomed out... and in that exact same moment, 1/3 of the horses in the race got severely spooked by the crashing fall of a barrel from up on high nearby, and threw off their riders... right at the starting line...

Both Garth and Moris fell to the ground, HARD.
Osian's and Owaine's horses was severely spooked and got a late start.
Delwyn's Charger raced forth with good speed, but got overtaken slowly by Raimund's slightly faster Courser!

It was still early and the lead was CLOSE!

__________________________________

Osian: 4/60
Delwyn: 9/60
Moris: 0/60
Raimund: 10/60
Garth: 0/60
Owaine: 4/60


Still only first round, get back on that horse and race!
everyone that fell off their horse remounts it this turn and may roll for next round as well.

Next round begins now, so roll again!

(sheesh... so many of you fell off. It's literally a 5% chance to roll a 20 )

[Hemnon]

Having been jostled a bit by the poor start of almost everyone, and his own unsecure riding position, Osian made the corner too sharply and at a wrong speed and as his horse just, did not want to do as ordered just threw him off with a sudden halt. The crash to the ground was not as bad as it could have been, with Osian just getting some bruising from it.
Delwyn manages to keep a good control of her Charger, the speed at full sprint and close at the heels of Raimund.
Moris, having fallen off his horse at the start of the race have done the almost impossible... he's almost caught up on Delwyn and is right at the heels of Raimund! Some incredible horsemanship and taking all the corners in a sneaky manner have helped him catch up to an insanely strong lead. All the Courtier girls are cheering like crazy, even young Lady Jenna is looking impressed and cheering, and so is Lady Elisa.
Raimund and his special Courser kept up the lead with ease, the slightly faster horse being able to keep him in the lead even without a need to strain his own horse.
Garth manages to get up on his horse again and does a good attempt at catching up, but is still a good bit behind the Lead. At least he's managing to stay on his horse.
Owaine gets his Charger into a good pace and is beginning to catch up to Delwyn a bit, leaving Osian in the dust, and Garth a good bit behind himself.

__________________________________

Osian: 4/60
Delwyn: 18/60
Moris: 16/60
Raimund: 20/60
Garth: 9/60
Owaine: 13/60

------------

Osian fumbled and moves NO spaces and rolled 1 for damage. 2D8HP, remember to write this on your sheet as well. lower current HP to 26 and write '1' under wounds, followed by a comma, so you can record the damage of any further separate wounds.
Delwyn Succeeded and move forth 9.
Moris Crit'd and moved 16 spaces forth!
Raimund succeeded and moves 10 forward.
Owaine succeeded and moves forward 9.



Round 2 is over.... time for ROUND 3!!!!
Keep on rollin'!

[Ionbound]

Delwyn grunts in frustration as she strains her Charger to keep up with Rainmund, her face a rictus of effort and fury due to, in her mind, Raimund's cheating by using a special horse.

[2D8HP]

Terrified of the shameful possibilities,

Osian IC OOC

Renews his efforts

Saints! By all the blessings of the Cerne Abbas Giant, don't let me by last!

[Etherion]

Raimund is grinning as he notices how much trouble the rest are having with keeping up with his prized courser. He maintains his lead without much trouble, and the gap between him and the others slowly grows.

[Hemnon]

Being very far behind seemed to motivate Osian to just go High Ho Silver, Away! His Charger racing at full speed, quickly catching up a lot of that lost distance in what seemed like a flash of a second, although most likely it did take a few seconds to catch up to the leading horses.
Delwyn keeps up her good speed and full gallops away in an attempt to hopefully end up taking the lead from Raimund.
Moris, having have a rocky start feels his horse skitter around a bit from the shakiness of it's rider, causing him to loose some of that wellgained speed, allowing Osian to race up neck-by-neck with him.
Raimund just keeps on speeding forward on his faster Courser, increasing his lead inch by inch every single second.
With renewed determination, and a particularly stable patch of ground ridden over, Garth manages to nearly catch up to Delwyn and Raimund as he races past everyone else like a veteran knight charging the enemy, lance at the ready.
Owaine keeps a good speed and manage to catch up the the entire grouping, landing in a fight with the others for the good lands and solid patches of dirt to lead his Charger over as about half the circuit having been one, at least by Raimund in the lead.

The race is close as the halfway mark is about to be passed, nothing is yet certain.

__________________________________

Osian: 20/60
Delwyn: 27/60
Moris: 20/60
Raimund: 30/60
Garth: 25/60
Owaine: 22/60

------------

Osian Crit'd and doubled his distance gained that round, for a good 16 spaces.
Delwyn succeeded and goes forward 9 spaces.
Moris failed, so he only moved forward 4 spaces.
Raimund succeeded and goes forward 10 spaces... cuz he's got a Courser, that cheating bastard!
Garth Crit'd and doubled his distance gained that round, for a good 16 spaces.
Owaine succeeded and moved forward by 9 spaces.


That's it, on to round 4!

[Ionbound]

Delwyn shouts, "Hyah! Go!" as she urges her Charger forwards, filled with determination to overtake Raimund.

[Hemnon]

The Horse Race - Midpoint

Osian's speed only lower a little as the softer group patch he chose ensured a more smooth ride, but also made it just a slight bit of a slower patch to ride. nothing major, just enough to return his Charger's speed to a more average sprint. It did help him close in a bit more though to everyone else.
Delwyn's horse surges forward with some masterful riding, taking the lead from Raimund is a fast cut-off maneuver that forced him to slow a bit and let Delwyn take lead, or crash directly into her at neckbreaking riding speeds.
Moris does well and catches up a but from his rear position, closing up next to Osian still, neck-in-neck for last place.
Raimund, forced to cut back as Delwyn overtakes him from a wide-sprint, looses the lead, but manages to keep up well, slowly closing the gap caused by Delwyn's quick-thinking and daring gamble.
Garth keeps up with the speed of everyone else, comfortably staying in the middle of the race with some secure but fast riding.
Owaine keeps up his rear center-position, right behind the Garth and barely keeping Moris and Osian at bay and behind him.

__________________________________

Osian: 29/60
Delwyn: 43/60
Moris: 29/60
Raimund: 40/60
Garth: 34/60
Owaine: 31/60

------------

Osian Succeeded and moves 9 spaces.
Delwyn crit'd and moves a wooping 16 spaces forward and is now in the lead.
Moris succeeded and moves forward 9.
Raimund succeeded and moves forward 10 with his cheating choice of faster horse.
Garth also Succeeded and likewise with almost everyone else, moves forward 9 spaces.
Owaine succeeds also, and thusly moves forward by 9 spaces as well.

Gratz with the lead Delwyn! Time for round 5! Possibly the second-to-last round!

the winner is the one who ends the furthest beyond 60. so if one is 60, and the other is 61, then the 61 crosses the finishline JUST before the 60-spacer does.
We will continue until everyone have crossed the finishline though.

but anyways, onward to round 5!

[Hemnon]

The strain on trying to press his horse further seems to be taking a toll on Osian's Charger, it's speed slightly slowing.
Delwyn's Charger also seems to be suffering from being pressed to far and is sagging a bit in it's speed.
Same goes for Moris' Horse. The pressure of trying to catch up to the lead being too much for his horse as well, causing a slower speed on the crossing of the halfway point.
Garth, on the other hand, seems to have paced his horse much better than everyone else and have managed to almost catch up to the two in the lead!
Owaine also followed the same strategy of letting the others overstress their mounts, and thusly follows Garth right at the heals.

__________________________________

Osian: 33/60
Delwyn: 47/60
Moris: 33/60
Raimund: 45/60
Garth: 43/60
Owaine: 40/60

------------

Osian failed and only moves forward 4 spaces.
Delwyn Failed, moving forward only by 4 spaces.
Moris failed as well and moves only 4 spaces.
Raimund also failed. But since his horse is a Courser, and all halfs-and-above gets rounded up, his horse moves with a speed of 5 this turn.
Garth succeeded and will move at full speed +1, for a total of 9 spaces.
Owaine succeeded as well and moves forward 9 spaces as well.

This is actually getting quite close!
Time for round 6. It might be the final round by both Raimund and Delwyn, if either of them crit!

[Hemnon]

Osian keeps up a good speed and avoids straining his horse beyond it's capability, like earlier, and thus catches up to the lead a bit.
Delwyn's horse was getting tired, that much was clear, and the finish line was so close! The lowered speed meant that everyone else would have a bigger chance with catching up at this truely critical moment, so near the finishing line.
Having by now passed the halfway mark, Moris puts his horse into straight sprinting, thus managing to catch up to the lead a little bit, thus making him still being neck-in-neck with Osian.
At possibly the worst moment, Raimund's horse makes an unexpected jerk at with it's head, pulling Raimund straight off the horse. The landing was bad, and he got a bad bruise from it. With this, he looses his close fight for the lead with Delwyn.
Garth, passing close by Raimund, sees the poor squire go flying off his horse, passing by in a full-horse charge for the finishing line! He also rides up beside Delwyn, a few inches more.... and yes! He takes the lead!
Owaine's Charger gallops forth, passing by the fallen Raimund in the process and is by now right at the heels of Delywn and Garth, right at the final stretch!

__________________________________

Osian: 42/60
Delwyn: 51/60
Moris: 42/60
Raimund: 45/60
Garth: 52/60
Owaine: 49/60

------------

Osian Succeeded and moves 9 forward.
Delwyn Failed and only moves 4 spaces.
Moris Succeeded and moves 9 spaces forward.
Raimund Fumbled and does not move at all this round.
Garth Succeeded and moves a full 9 spaces forward, passing by Delwyn in the proccess and taking the lead!
Owaine Succeeded and moves 9 spaces forward.

Oh man, so close! Who will win? Well let's roll for Round 7 and see! unless we get major failures, this is it, the final round!

[Hemnon]

The Horse Race - The Final Stretch

Osian's tired mount seems to continue having trouble getting back into gear, causing Osian to fall behind even further.
Delwyn's horse seems to have likewise troubles with keeping up with the final stretch, the close run with Garth seeming lost as her Charger slows even further.
Moris' Charger is having the same problems as Osian and Delwyn, thus keeping himself and Osian still neck-in-neck for last place.
Raimund, at the final stretch, presses his Courser for all it's got, managing to catch up to Delwyn, even after having fallen from his horse and everything just prior.
Garth, still in the lead sees Delwyn and Raimund catch up to him, and in the final moments.... he pushes his Charger all he can and he crosses the finishline, finally!
Owaine, seeing Garth cross the finishline first and being unwilling to finish last, also races foward, catching up to the leads for second place, overtaking both Raimund and Delwyn!

__________________________________

Osian: 46/60
Delwyn: 55/60
Moris: 46/60
Raimund: 55/60
Garth: 61/60 - Wins the Race! (who will become second, third, etc?)
Owaine: 58/60

------------

Osian failed, and only moves 4 spaces forward.
Delwyn failed and also only moves 4 spaces.
Moris failed, so he only moves 4 spaces.
Raimund succeeded and moves forward a full 10.
Garth suceeded and thus moves forward 9. This means Garth is the winner of the race!
Owaine suceeded and moves foward 9 spaces, putting him in the lead for second place!

The race is technically over, but it's not DONE until everyone have crossed the finishline!
So onward to round 8!
Garth, feel free to show off a little to the fine young lady-courtiers up on the gazebo-lookout if you wish ^^ you've earned it after all.

[dmarks]

Garth mounted Guillam with a quite sense of confidence. He had been riding since he could walk, and had helped master Theodor break in the stallion. Still he could tell from a look that Raimund's courser would be swift footed, and Owaine sat his horse near as surely as Garth.

Perhaps it was these stray glances at his fellows that distracted him, for between the commotion of the start and an errant barrel falling nearby, Garth felt his horse skitter beneath him and then rear up, tossing the squire to the ground. The wind was nearly blown out of him by the fall, and though he could feel his cheeks already burning with shame, Garth rolled quickly and then sprang back astride his horse. He could do this, even from behind!

Goading Guillam onwards he quickly reached a good pace, yet the others were far ahead. Come on! He willed, and with the confidence that only experience could bring,he crouched low and forwards giving his charger the rein and urging him onwards, "Come on boy!" With the weight removed form his back, the charger gave a spirited prance before breaking into an even faster gallop, closing the ground between them at a rapid pace.

Steadying his horse, Garth took command once more, urging his steed onwards even as his fellows faltered around him. This time he didn't make the same mistake: focus just on me and Guillam, don't worry about the others, just focus on yourself. With iron discipline, Garth never once looked back till he was across the line!

As the others came in behind them, Garth nodded to each with a grin. He spared a glance at lady Elisa, but he was confused enough about her that he had no intention of heading back to the stands any time soon. He congratulated his fellows with genuine warmth, certain not to mention his earlier fall: it would be improper to boast like that.

[Hemnon]

The Horse Race - The race for second, third and fourth place!

With Garth having won, everyone else was fighting for the semi-glorious second place (and to avoid Last Place)

Osian's mount, tired but not yet out surged forward in a desperate final attempt to catch up to the rest, or at least leave Moris in the Dirt and 6th place.
Delwyn, neck-in-neck with Raimund at the final few feet.... and somehow managed to overtake Raimund and cross the finishline before him!
Moris followed Osian by every inch, remaining side-by-side with him, the finish line Right there in front of them both.
Raimund's mount almost fails him in the last stretch, costing him Third Place to Delwyn, although he DOES finish, at Fourth Place.
Owaine's Charger, tired like the rest, manages to keep up good speed and crosses the finish line before Raimund and Delwyn, rewarding him with an applause from the Ladies and a firm congratulation-nod from Sir Elad.
__________________________________

Osian: 55/60
Delwyn: 64/60 - Third Place.
Moris: 55/60
Raimund: 60/60 - Fourth Place.
Garth: First Place, Winner!
Owaine: 67/60 - Second Place.

------------

Osian Succeeded and moves 9 spaces forward.
Delwyn Succeeded and moves 9 space, netting her a nice Third Place.
Moris succeeded as well and also moves forward 9 spaces.
Raimund failed and only moves 5 spaces. Enough to cross the finish line, but only enough to get fourth place.
Garth Won last round. and is still the winner of First Place
Owaine Succeded and moves forward 9 spaces, winning him a nice Second Place.

And that's almost it. final round (hopefully) for Osian and Moris.
Who will get 5th place, and who will finish last?
Only the dice will tell us, onwards to round 9... hopefully the last one as well.
Only Osian and Moris will need to roll, the rest of you are free to RP out what you do, post-race. If unsure what to do, try rolling one of your Traits and see how the character split-second reacts to having won/not won, if his pride makes him or her brag about it, etc. etc. ^^
Not gonna force any rolls, so feel free to not do it if you're not interested in doing so.

[Etherion]

Enjoying his easy lead, Raimund doesn't even notice Delwyin gaining on him until the dust is kicked into his face. To retake the lead, he attempts a rather risky maneuver to cut her off, which backfires spectacularly. All he accomplishes is getting launched into the dirt as his horse tries to avoid the potential collision and recovering from the fall puts him solidly into fourth place.
Across the finish line, Raimund goes to shake Garth's hand

An exciting race, and well won! Congratulations.

[Mickadin]

Owaine had built into a steady gallop, without the headlong sprinting and resultant mishaps of several of the others. Horses were expensive and vital to the station to which he aspired. He never would have forgiven himself had he lamed his charger on a little race.

As he cruised past most of the others he gave a little laugh to see Garth sweeping ahead over the line, just in front of him. He drew up alongside the smaller lad once they'd finished and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, my friend. As always, you rode masterfully. Well done."

His words were cheery, but his eyes drifted to the spectators and he sighed. He was genuinely happy for Garth, but second place couldn't erase the sting of his earlier conversation fully.

[Hemnon]

With only Osian and Moris left to finish, the stakes are high.... and just in the last moment, Osian lightly falls behind, allowing Moris to cross the finish line just a micro-second before Osian himself.

The cheers are high (for a group of Lady Courtiers and a single experienced Knight), and the glory of doing well should of course go to the winner, and so it did. The Courtiers, with almost all of them being included here, were clapping and cheering for Garth. They are applauding Owaine almost as much, and even Delwyn got some approving claps and comments. As for the rest of you... well, the focus was mostly on the top 3 finishers.

Spoiler: Glory for the Victors!

Show

20 Glory to Garth for finishing at First Place.
10 Glory to Owaine for finishing at Second Place.
5 Glory to Delwyn for finishing at Third Place.

Everyone else, sorry but no glory is gained.

[2D8HP]

Osian IC OOC

Bows to the other Squires and shakes Moris's hand

Good show!

[Deadline]

Moris beams, flushed with the excitement of the race, and the sheer entertainment of the ride. He shakes Osian's hand and nods his head in respect and acknowledgement of Osian's generous gesture.

"Good show indeed! We may have come in last, but what an exciting race!"

Moris moves among his fellow squires and offers each a warm handshake, with an added "Congratulations, and well done!" to the top three.

[dmarks]

Garth dismounts and grins to the others, warmly clapping arms with them and congratulating as heartily as the next squire.

"I wish I'd known Elad planned to show us off today! Still it's been fun, right!"

[Mickadin]

"It has been, though I think the day has more in store for us yet. It is not long past noon."

The blonde squire glances toward the horizon and back. His eyes drift up to the gazebo.

"If we are lucky, we may get to eat in the hall for dinner, near the courtly guests. Then Osian can try to woo the ladies with his clever songs. The ones whom are not already smitten with Garth."

[Ionbound]

Delwyn pats her horse, her face a mixture of guilt and unhappiness as she nods to Garth and says, "Indeed it has. I'm afraid I pushed poor Cywirach too hard, though. He was definitely flagging in the last half of the race."

[Hemnon]

Sir Elad, good ol' Sir Elad, calls you all back to the training field. He is surely still knightly, but of course he's up in the years and rarely go riding anymore. Still, that doesn't mean he can't kick ass when needed.

In any case, Sir Elad calls you all back to him. "Alright Boys, and Girl, you may be wondering why the training today have been so... inclusive in terms of what was practiced. I can answer the question right here and now: We have need of your talents today, an I wanted to ensure I felt you all were up to it." He said somberly, having found a cane to support himself with while you were all off chatting and winding down from the race.
"I have found you all suitably able for this task. So will you take on a small task for the good of the county?" He asked out in a clear firm tone. This was a request. Not a demand. Otherwise he would have said it was all part of the training. This task seemed like it wasn't just training, but a genuine offer. He hadn't said what it would include, only if you felt up to aid with a small task.

[Mickadin]

Owaine straightens as Elad approaches and listens seriously before giving a crisp nod.

"Of course, my Lord. I eagerly offer my service to Salisbury."

[Ionbound]

Delwyn purses her lips nervously, concerned about being asked to volunteer without being told what she would be doing, but after a moment's hesitation, steps forwards, nods, and says, "Yes sir. It would be my honour."

[2D8HP]

Osian IC OOC

Of course!

[Etherion]

Raimund energetically responds "Absolutely! What would you have us do?"

[Deadline]

Moris nods along with the rest, "Aye Sir, ask of us what you will, we shall not fail you."