Completed The Harvest Festival (Part 1)

[Garland]

Garland snapped out of it as best he could when his name was called. He had fought before, but never in a contest or sparring competition. He got up from his seat, grabbing his blunted bastard sword and a shield. He looked over to the audience, seeing his three friends, he waved at them hoping that he could win with them cheering him on.

He took a deep breath, calming himself down, when he fought before, he would always go into a sort of rage fit, relentless attack after attack, but since he joined the knighthood, he's been trying to keep it under control. Though there has been an incident with a fellow squire, a Pycon no less, where he would have been killed if Sera Catherine didn't stop him. Having a very thin, very strong wire wrapped around your neck and then pulling the other fighter in an attempt to fight a losing battle was just plain stupid and dangerous.

He made his way towards the fighting area. He tried to remember how the stance Sera Catherine taught him. Alright... Left leg forward, shield raised to chest level, sword held low with the thumb, middle finger, index finger held on tight while the other two are loose for more maneuverability... He did the things he listed off his head, flexing his fingers to relax his muscles.

He took another deep breath, and then looked forward, waiting for his opponent to join in the ring. His heart was pounding faster than normal, but not by much. There were no hard feelings on the battlefield, it was just business... And a bit of pleasure. He smirked loosening up his limbs and continued to wait.

[Bakar]

NPC-Bennatra

Garland Versus Bennatra!

The young girl stepped out into the ring, eyeing her opponent. She let off an air of insecurity, trying to throw off him off. She walked towards the center, looking around like she was nervous, footwork shoddy, clumsy. She tripped over her feet, falling to her face. The crowd let out a laugh.

Yeah, laugh it up. We'll see who's laughing in the end. She thought to herself. All this was an act to get this Garland fellow off guard, make him think this'll be an easy fight. She hastily stood, and turned to face Garland, a look of 'embarrassment' on her face.

As the match was called to start she was holding her short sword and shield clumsily, but as soon as he went for the offensive she would raise and counter attack. She had to make it count, because once she revealed she knew what she was doing, her ruse would be up. Go for the head. She thought, waiting, out of position, until she had her chance to strike.

[Garland]

Of course to Garland, chivalry was not dead. He was about to help her up when she fell, but he saw that she moved rather quickly for someone looking so nervous. She didn't fit in with the crowd. He stood ready, he was told to always be on guard. Looks could have been deceiving, he learned that all too well in his earlier spar with a squirrelly Pycon squire.

3... 2... 1... Fight!

The fight was on. Garland lunged right his opponent, attacking with a quickly diagonal slash, his opponent however blocked it with ease, though the force he put into his attack was enough to make anyone cringe. He was left open for a thrust of his enemy's weapon, but before am she could react he raised his shield up, and gave a strong bash with it, in hopes to knock down his opponent.

He didn't hit as hard as people would think, he was trying to control his breathing, his heart and his movement. This was much a battle with himself as this was a battle with Bennatra.

The crowd cheered for the seemingly strong move Garland had done, it would have left him in the open if his attack failed. He dug his feet into the ground for support, this girl wasn't as weak as the crowd thought she was. If he wasn't careful, she could get an early lead if she could manage to knock Garland down.

[Bakar]

NPC-Bennatra

Garland had fallen for her ploy, at least she thought before he pushed her with his shield immediately after his attack. She inwardly cursed herself as she stumbled, but maintained her footing. Outwardly, however she gave Garland a cocky grin and regained her footing, taking a proper stance now, wielding her gear on a higher skill level. She flicked her head to the side, swinging her hair out of her face.

There wasn't a lot of time for circling, she needed to act if she wanted to get the lead. She took a step forward and swung her sword upwards, but changed at the last moment, pulling away and swing horizontally, catching him on the upper arm. She jumped back and smiled again, getting cocky. They exchanged blows for a while after that, Bennatra trying to stay on the defensive, but was still not taking Garland too seriously, and left herself open most of the time.

She liked to act high and mighty, but Bennatra wasn't all that skilled, and prone to panic. Now losing, she wanted to get ahead again. As she went in for another attack she got overzealous and missed Garland, nearly dropping her sword, actually stumbling this time. She tried to recover, but in her panic slipped and fell to the ground. Rolling to the side to avoid the surely incoming attack, she lost her sense of direction and ended up rolling right into Garland's legs. She looked up at him and smiled innocently, giving a small wave with her now empty shield hand.

[Garland]

"Hi there." He replied and hopped back, giving a horizontal slash as he jumped back. He went with a powerful bash to the head, he usually wasn't looking to win, but he wanted to fight Saede, especially since she did so well in her match.

He was starting to lose his cool though, each attack he did, each attack that connected, his attacks got faster and a little bit stronger.

He swung his sword high, stroking her shoulder hard, then quickly going in for a back hand attack, striking the other shoulder and then tackling her with his shield, knocking her down on the ground.

He was about to go in for the finishing blow right after his flurry of attacks, but he slowed down and stepped back. "Oh no... Umm... You alright there?" He didn't know how badly he had hurt her but he eased up a lot, jumping back and breaking away from the fight, he gave her time to recover, but the time was nearing the end, there was no chance for her to recover and fight back. It seemed rather guilty about this fight. Then again, it was fun.

The bell had rung and the fight was over, and then he dropped his weapons and offered her a hand to help her out.

[Sayana]

OOC: This thread is now complete. It is continued with Part 2 on a new thread.

[Aoren]

Riddled With Rewards Sayana Experience Skill XP Earned Dancing + 2 EXP Socialization + 5 EXP Persuasion + 1 EXP Rhetoric +3 EXP Stealth +1 EXP Lores • Lore Earned • The Harvest Festival, 514 AV • Garland: A Syliran Squire • Garland: A Very Poor Dancer • Bakar: Cold Doesn’t Bother Him • Bakar: He Is From Sunberth • Bakar: His Life In Syliras • Bakar: Works At Li Muata • Saede: A Decent Fighter Garland Experience Skill XP Earned Socialization + 4 EXP Observation + 2 EXP Dancing + 4 EXP Persuasion +1 EXP Bastard Sword +2 EXP Shield +1 EXP Lores • Lore Earned • The Harvest Festival, 514 AV • Sayana: Seductive Eypharian Dancer • Saede: Brief Dance Partner • Saede: She Is From Avanthal • Sayana: Playful And Attractive • Bastard Sword: Forward Slash Saede Experience Skill XP Earned Dancing + 3 EXP Socialization + 4 EXP Persuasion + 2 EXP Tactics +1 EXP Unarmed Combat +1 EXP Lores • Lore Earned • The Harvest Festival, 514 AV • Garland: He Is From Sunberth • Garland: Raised As An Orphan • Garland: A Syliran Squire • Garland: His Life In Syliras • Syliras: Much Nicer Than Sunberth • Sayana: The Girl’s Got Guts Bakar Experience Skill XP Earned Observation + 5 EXP Socialization + 5 EXP Storytelling + 3 EXP Lores • Lore Earned • The Harvest Festival, 514 AV • Garland: A Bad, Very Bad, Dancer • Sayana: Eypharian From Eyktol • Sayana: Recent Arrived To Syliras • Sayana: From The City of Ahnatep • Saede: From The City of Avanthal • Storytelling: How I Met Garland Notes : Wow! This thread was a bit of a doozy. I’m would just like to take the time to strongly advise that in the future you break up such lengthily planned threads into multiple ones. Especially if you’re only writing posts that are roughly 200 words long or less for the majority of the thread. For instance, the sparring match could have immediately been broken off into a new thread from the get go. If you have comments, questions or concerns please approach me at your earliest convenience. Don't forget to edit/delete your request in the request thread!