Duelling at the pass

The challenge had been issued it was only a matter of time for House Wyl to respond, who they would send Darron didn't know but he prepared either way. This wouldn't be his first duel but it was his first on such a grand scale. This battle did have a personal tinge to Darron, these were the people who supplied that blasted green flame that could have nearly ended him, they had to answer for that and Darron was willing to pay the iron price for it.

Ser Ayll reclined on a boulder, looking over the entrance to the pass.
"So you are the one they send to fight me, a little squid-boy?"
He flips himself off the boulder, landing on the ground gracefully.
"It will do, I suppose. Come," he says, hefting his spear. "I wish to see if a squid will squeal as much as a stag when I stick it."

---

[OOC: Darron, you've got throwing weapons, right? 6 yards sound like a fair compromise distance? It's charge distance rather than our typical move distance start, but gives you the option to back away for greater distance if you win initiative]

Secondary Character
Ser Ayll Sand, a renwoned Dornish raider who has troubled the Dornish Marches for many years and slew a Baratheon cousin in battle.
Agility 4 (Quickness 1B, Acrobatics 1B)
Athletics 4
Awareness 2
Cunning 4
Endurance 4
Fighting 4 Spears 3B
Status 3
Will 3

CD 9 in armour (11 inc shield)
AR 5
Attack 7d6k4+2
Damage 5 per DOS

Talented - Fighting
Weapon Master (Fighting)
Superior Breastplate
Superior Spear
Dirk

Darron approaches ready for the duel.

"Yes and they send me a bastard snake who seems to only have venom to spit. Come lets get this over with."

Darron Greyjoy
12/12 H
0 W
0 I
CD 6 (12 Shield)
AR 11

Fast
Berserker
Armour Mastery

Superior tower shield
Superior battle axe
Hand axe

Duelling at the pass: Initiative: 4d6k3-4 9

[I currently only have one hand axe so I don't think i'm gonna throw away my other main weapon lol. The normal 3 yards is fine thanks.]

Ser Ayll nods - not so much a salute, but an indicator that the fight was commencing - and a hairsbreadth of time before Darron can start moving, the Dornishman has launched forward, the essence of speed personified. His spear whistles through the air, darting forward and back, side to side, at least seemingly randomly.

The haft of the spear catches in the joining of the plate at the Ironborn's knee, causing his leg to buckle. Somehow almost simultaneously, the spear comes forward again, catching the plate-clad seaman as he falls.

---

Intiative: 5d6k4-1 10

Lesser Action: move
Lesser Action: Knockdown, +2 for moving: 4d6+2 13 barely beats Darron's passive agility of 12
Take fatigue for additional lesser action
Lesser Action: Attack +1D (Knockdown): 8d6k5+2 26-1 fatigue, 25 vs CD 12, 3 DoS, 15-11AR = 4 damage

Ser Ayll Sand
CD 11, AR 5
12/12 health
F/I: 1/0

Duelling at the pass: Aim + attack: 10d6k5+1 23

Duelling at the pass: Lesser to get up Agility TN 9: 3d6-2 8

Darron takes aim with his axe at the Dornish mans leg hoping to take it out from under him. The axe catches his leg cutting into it.

He tries to get off the ground but this new armour is heavier than what he is used to and only manages to stay on the ground.

Taking fatigue for lesser action and to remove armour penalty

23 vs 11, 3 Dos 15 - 5 = 10 damage

Darron Greyjoy
CD 16 AR 11
8/12 health
F/I/W 2/0/0

The spear blade, swift as as serpent strikes toward Darron's face arms, groin, feet - never quite committing to a full attack, but the feints are convincing enough to make it hard to determine which will be the real strike.

Ser Ayll shifts his grip back on the spear - it's out of balance, but the extra haft length makes it harder for his foe's axe to connect again - that first hit was fierce, and he did not want to take another like it.

---

Lesser Action: Distract: 4d6 15-1 fatigue = 14 beats a Will 3 or less; if successful Darron's awareness does not apply to his CD until the end of his turn or until he is attacked... which is now.
Lesser Action: Cautious Attack w/ KD: 8d6k4+2-1 17 terrible roll - unlikely to be even 2 DoS, never mind the 3 needed to get past Darron's AR.

Ser Ayll Sand
CD 14, AR 5
2/12 health
F/I: 1/0

Duelling at the pass: Aim + attack: 10d6k5-1 21

Darron again takes his time to line up his hit aiming again to cut the leg off the cocky cunt with his fancy spear.

21 vs 14, 2 DoS 10 - 5 = 5 damage has to take injury to continue.

Conditional fatigue if I get attacked to negate AP bringing CD to 16.

Darron Greyjoy

CD 12 AR 11
8/12 health
F/I/W 2/0/0

Darron's axe bites into Ser Ayll's leg, causing a bright red rivulet to come gushing forth.

Again Ser Ayll tries to confuse his foe with the rapid pseudo-strikes, but the assault is slower, more predictable - the Ironborn's fierce assault is wearing him down, and fast.
The spear blade skitters off of the steel pauldron of Derron's jack of plates, causing little more than a scuff on the metal.

---

Takes an injury to reduce damage to 1.
Lesser Action: R3 Distract: 4d6-2 11 I'm guessing that's a fail.
Lesser Action: R3 Cautious Attack: 8d6k4+2-2 20 better, but not good enough. 1 DoS, 0 damage after AR.

Ser Ayll Sand
CD 14, AR 5
1/12 health
F/I: 1/1

Duelling at the pass: Aim + attack: 10d6k5-2 22

While now would have been a good time to finally get up the Dornish man was on the defensive and was clearly hurting in the hopes of finishing him off Darron does as he has done before aiming before he struck. Not as good a strike as he wished but enough to cause damage.

22 v 14 2 DoS 10 - 5 = 5 damage has to take two injury's to continue

Not spending fatigue

Darron Greyjoy

CD 12 AR 11
8/12 health
F/I/W 3/0/0

[Passive will 12 and he got 1 DoS.]

Ser Ayll growls, half-way howls, in frustration and pain. The next blow would likely end him, and he had scarcely touched his foe. That damnable shield and plate were nigh impenetrable. But not quite.... and if he were going to die, as sure as wine was sour he would leave a mark for the ironborn to remember him by.

---

Takes 2 injuries to reduce damage to 0.
Take a fatigue to ignore injury penalties until the start of his next turn.
Greater Action: Reckless Attack: 9d6k6+2-2 29 vs CD 12, 4 DoS, 20 - 11AR = 9 Damage, forcing an injury.

Ser Ayll Sand
CD 6, AR 5
1/12 health
F/I: 2/3

Berserker hit will likely end this, if not, the attack on your turn surely will.
Tower shield.... definitely getting Baelon one of those.

Duelling at the pass: Berserker: 5d6-2 16

3 DoS 15 - 5 = 10 damage assuming wound then defeat due to out of injury and health

Consequence: death

The snake had made his mark injuring the Ironborn for the first time in the fight. He didn't get a squeal he got a roar as the Ironborn dug his axe in the man's breatplate cutting through it dragging him down to the ground.

"Im no fucking stag bastard snake and you'll get no squealing from me."

He says before bring his axe one final time down on the neck of the Dornish man severing his head. Finally getting up he spits on the dead mans body before picking up the mans head. It will look nice on a spike to inspire the men or as a nice warning what the others of house Wyl can expect from the Ironborn for nearly taking his life.

[/Scene? Tower shields pretty good just got to be careful of the bulk for combats. Darron has fast which negates it somewhat. Any tips for things I might have done better?]

ooc
make more use of other options such as knockdown and maneuver

[OOC the injury would have reduced that hit to 15, just shy of 3 DoS, ser Ayll would have taken his last 2 injuries to reduce it to 0 - we can call that beheading your next round attack though, any damage done would be enough to defeat him - as a secondary NC he can't take wounds.

The biggest limiter on the tower shield is actually the training penalty, not the bulk - once in bulk 3 armor the difference between a 1 bulk large shield and a 2 bulk tower shield is more or less meaningless. Taking a -1D to all attacks for not having 2b in shields is much more significant, though in some cases it would be worth it.

For a more typical fight, I would agree with Ser Jorah abut knockdowns - getting that +1D can make a world of difference. In this fight though I think aim was the better choice - Ser Ayll had high agility, light armor, and an acrobatics bonus die. A lucky roll could have knocked him down, but even with a few penalties he would not have had difficulty standing as a free action - Agility(Acrobatics) TN 9 in light armor.

Maneuver on the other hand is kind of the reverse - it would have been effective agaisnt Ser Ayll because he only had Fighting 4, but it would not be effective against most opponents. With the house rule that weapon bonus dice do not apply to maneuvers, 5d6 against a passive fighting of 20 is just not great odds.... and given that you have decent defenses to begin with, I think you'd be better off with aim and a cautious attack if you feel the need for higher defense. It cuts into your offense more than a standard attack and a maneuver, but you get guaranteed defensive results as opposed to a ~30% chance of making a Maneuver work.

Given that you could just lay there and take the hits as you did, I think you had the right strategy. Against a more skilled foe, or one with better armor, you might have been better off with other tactics. Against someone like Ser Crispin Velaryon who is better skilled, has better armor, and hits harder then Ser Ayll? yeah, it's good to have a variety of techniques at hand.... and allies.

[Shit yea your right ill just roll that now just.

Duelling at the pass: Aim + attack: 10d6k5-3 25

Yea dead lol.

Yea I had assumed even if I had got up I probably was going to get knocked down again that's why I just stopped after the first try. Thanks for the advice guys.]