A Fight in Three Rounds

A FIGHT IN THREE ROUNDS

The Mail and the Reach

Fydor is a baron’s man, in mail to the knee under a helm, with a shield on his arm and a mace in his fist. Freyja wears a byrnie and a helm and carries a shield, and a spear long enough to keep him off her. Neither is stronger or quicker than the other. What they carry is the whole difference between them.

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FREYJASpear, Reach 2, Lethality 2 · byrnie, helm and shield · Resilience 5 · Health 10

FYDORMace, Reach 1, Lethality 3 · mail hauberk, helm and shield · Resilience 7 · Health 8

Both: Melee Skill Mod. +1, Prowess Mod. +2, Toughness Mod. +1, fighting Balanced.

ROUND ONE · THE CLASH

She keeps the point between them and makes him come to it. He comes on behind the shield, and the spear is there first, and it stays there.

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FREYJA6 + 2 = 8 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +2 Reach13

FYDOR4 + 3 = 7 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +1 Reach11

Freyja holds Momentum. Only she may press this round.

Reach applies only to the Clash. Once Momentum is settled it is spent, and it adds nothing to the press or the damage.

FREYJA 10/10 · Fatigue 0 · ◆ MOMENTUMFYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 0

ROUND ONE · THE PRESS

She drives it in under the rim of his shield and finds the mail, and the mail holds. He does not bleed. He is breathing harder than he was.

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FREYJAattack5 + 4 = 9 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod.12

FYDORdefense4 + 2 = 6 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +2 Shield11

The press lands. Margin on the dice 9 − 6 = 3, +2 Lethality, +2 Prowess Mod., for a Damage Total of 7 against Resilience 7. No Health lost; one point of Fatigue at the Aftermath.

In her byrnie, the same blow would have cost 2 Health.

FREYJA 10/10 · Fatigue 0 · ◆ MOMENTUMFYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 1

ROUND TWO · THE PRESS TURNED

She still has him, and she presses again. He knows what another blow on the mail will cost him, cut or not. He takes this one on the shield and shoves the spear wide, and for the first time since it began, neither of them has the better of the other.

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FREYJAattack4 + 2 = 6 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod.9

FYDORdefense5 + 5 = 10 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +2 Shield −1 Fatigue14

No Clash this round: Freyja carried Momentum out of round one, so she goes straight to the press.

The press fails, and Momentum collapses. Both are Neutral. No one is hit, and no one takes Fatigue.

FREYJA 10/10 · Fatigue 0FYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 1

ROUND THREE · THE CLASH

Neutral again, he is free to change how he fights, and he gives up his guard to get inside the reach. It is a bet. He leans the shield into the shaft and walks it off line, and now the spear is too long.

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FREYJA5 + 3 = 8 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +2 Reach13

FYDOR6 + 4 = 10 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +1 Reach +1 Lunging −1 Fatigue14

Fydor takes the Lunging Form: +1 in the Clash, −1 on Momentum Defense. A Form changes only while Neutral.

Fydor holds Momentum. In Balanced he would have tied, and a tie gives no one anything.

Her Reach counts for 2 here. In the press that follows it counts for nothing.

FREYJA 10/10 · Fatigue 0FYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 1 · ◆ MOMENTUM

ROUND THREE · THE PRESS

The mace comes over the top of her shield and finds the helm, and the shoulder under it. A byrnie was never meant for that. She stays on her feet.

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FREYJAdefense4 + 2 = 6 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. +2 Shield11

FYDORattack6 + 5 = 11 +1 Melee Skill Mod. +2 Prowess Mod. −1 Fatigue13

The press lands. Margin on the dice 11 − 6 = 5, +3 Lethality, +2 Prowess Mod., for a Damage Total of 10 against Resilience 5. Freyja loses 5 Health, 10 to 5. At half she is Wounded, and she takes a point of Fatigue at the Aftermath.

Against his mail, the same blow would have cost 3.

FREYJA 5/10 · Fatigue 1 · WOUNDEDFYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 1 · ◆ MOMENTUM

WHERE IT LEAVES THEM

He has not been cut once. She has, and it will cost her a little more every round until someone binds it, and no one is coming to bind it. Now she is the one answering instead of asking.

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FREYJAFatigue 1, so −1 on every roll. Wounded: a point of Fatigue every round from here until the wound is bound. Under his Momentum she cannot press, cannot disengage and cannot change Form; she has to beat his press to break the hold.

FYDORFatigue 1, so −1 on every roll. He holds Momentum, so round four goes straight to his press. Lunging costs him only if she takes control back.

FREYJA 5/10 · Fatigue 1 · WOUNDEDFYDOR 8/8 · Fatigue 1 · ◆ MOMENTUM