25th day of the 8th moon, 269 B.C.
The Hour of the Throne (12 P.M.)
Ser Alaric Mormont, outskirts of Lannisport
Even though he had just been defeated, Brynden did not lose his chivalrous or sportsmanlike spirit and accepted Luton's helping hand.
Rising to their feet, both n shook hands to the applause of the crowd and retired from the field.
Andrey was not immune to getting excited after watching the fight.
"Damn! Whoever wins the next one is going to lose too."
"You bet, boy!"
Behind us, Maege raised her voice in agreent.
"Just one more," Jorah almost whispered to himself.
A minute after the fight, Kermit and Gwayne Gaunt walked side by side toward the center of the field.
I noticed that the young paladin's left arm was not as stiff as before. Using GM Eyes, I saw his HP at 36/40. Not full, but seven points higher than what he had at the end of his fight.
He was healed. The septon healed him. Or he healed himself; that was also a possibility.
Toot Toot!
The sound of the trumpets signaling the start of the fight echoed, drawing a sarcastic response from Andrey.
"And here begins the fight for second place."
The mont the trumpet blew, I can say that everyone watching expected them both to begin exchanging attacks. That even seed to be the goal of Gwayne, who started to slowly advance toward Kermit with his longsword between his hands.
But Kermit had a different idea of how to start the fight.
While his opponent slowly advanced, he remained stationary and raised his left hand to his chest, covering his torso with his shield.
"By the seven hells, what kind of stance is that?" Andrey wondered beside .
On my other side, Jorah, recognizing what that could be, had a different reaction.
"Oh, shit. Alaric, is that a somatic component?"
His face was turned almost completely toward as he asked, so he managed to see out of the corner of his eye his question being answered as white particles appeared around him.
Upon seeing the white particles erge, Gwayne quickly backed away, fearful of falling victim to the sa do of light that defeated his fellow Kingsguard.
But to his surprise and ours, nothing happened. The white particles were born and entered into him without any do or anything fantastic occurring.
"Did the magic fail?!" Andrey was perplexed.
Jorah, again understanding more than Andrey, whispered the answer, more to himself than to Andrey.
"It's not an offensive magic."
It wasn't.
The particles entered inside him, just like mine enter inside the target of my Enhance Ability. This appeared to be a support magic.
Just as the next one wasn't offensive either.
Extending and pointing the tip of his sword toward Gwayne, white particles erged around him once more.
Seeing nothing happen the first ti, Gwayne did not back away this ti. That was the wrong choice.
When the white particles moved, they didn't fly toward Kermit, but rather to his sword. And as soon as they entered inside it, arcs of lightning began to flow from its steel.
Realizing that the magic was not just a trick of the lights, Gwayne tried to move away, but Kermit was faster.
Thrusting himself forward, Kermit quickly closed the distance to Gwayne, who tried to ward him off with a swing of his sword.
Instead of defending himself with his shield, Kermit took a risk by ducking, letting the longsword pass scraping across the top of his helm.
While still driving himself forward, the young paladin extended his legs, rising rapidly at the sa ti he attacked the lower part of the helm with his lightning-coated sword.
With the force generated by the montum and the extension of his legs, the blow caused Gwayne's head to be thrown back so violently that it snapped back to the sa position in the next instant.
But that wasn't the worst part or what drew the most attention. What drew attention was the sound of thunder that echoed through the field and the stands.
In a way very similar to my Thunderclap, it was as if a lightning bolt had just struck right in front of us.
Being disoriented by the attack and by the shock that must have run through his head, Gwayne froze, giving Kermit ti to pull back his shield and then slam it against his face at full speed.
While Gwayne staggered backward and struggled to stay on his feet, Kermit once again did not waste the chance and brought him to the ground with a sweep.
Just as Kermit had done with Harlan as soon as he knocked him down yesterday, he tried to separate his opponent from his sword, but unlike Harlan, Gwayne was determined not to part with his, holding onto it as if his life depended on it.
From here on, the fight lost any glamour it previously possessed as it turned into a struggle over who could keep the sword.
Not wanting the Kingsguard to get up, Kermit pressed his foot against his chest, putting almost all of his weight onto him while trying to wrench the sword from his hand.
And Gwayne, having to resist the weight of his armor and Kermit's just to be able to get up, could do nothing more than lie there while trying to keep holding the sword and push the foot off his chest.
Having already thrown his own sword and shield to the ground to be able to pry the sword out of Gwayne's hands, but achieving no success, Kermit, becoming tired and frustrated, visible by his increasingly slow and sloppy movents, changed his plan.
Pinning Gwayne's right arm under his left and kneeling over him by placing his right knee on his chest, Kermit reached his right hand to his waist and pulled out a seven-pointed star, then pressed it against the visor of the man beneath him.
"Yield!" he shouted loudly enough to be heard even over all the noise coming from the crowd. "Yield! Or I will use the sa miracle I used yesterday!"
The sword trapped under his left arm, which had until then been moving and delivering light taps against the back of Kermit's helm, finally stopped moving.
In the next second, the hand holding it opened, finally letting it go.
'Do you need to attack him too?' Malora's voice echoed in my mind.
Did I?
***
The Hour of the Rest (1 P.M.)
Since the break before the next round would be the last, it was longer this ti, giving ti to think.
The answer was yes. There was no reason to risk it. And we had already been cheating for a good while; there was no reason to get cold feet now. They would ask for more magic, but that was a small price to pay.
"I won't lie, after that last fight… I was left with a bit of doubt," Andrey spoke, looking at the two n in the center of the field who were staring at each other, waiting for the sounding of the trumpet. "If the kid can do more of that, summon more thunder, he might win."
"He won't," Jorah stated.
"Just watch," our aunt chid in.
Despite his words saying one thing, the feeling they masked said another.
"I hope he wins, I bet a hundred dragons on him."
Toot Toot!
The trumpet marks the start of the final duel.
Just as I advised during the break, Luton wastes no ti and rushes toward Kermit, giving him no space to perform any magic.
As predicted, Kermit tried again to cast the spell from the previous round as soon as the trumpet blew. But before he could place his left hand on his chest, Luton closed the distance at a speed that defied his size.
Instead of placing his shield over his chest, he ends up having to raise it over his head to block the mace that was coming down toward his left shoulder.
This was another piece of advice: incapacitate at least one of his limbs so he couldn't perform any somatic components.
When the mace made contact, the sound of tal clashing against tal was so loud that it echoed all the way to the stands, prompting Andrey to comnt on it.
"Damn! If that shield were made of wood, it would have been destroyed."
Instead, the shield was only forced down until it almost flew out of the paladin's hands.
If Kermit hadn't also taken a step back while raising the shield, it would have crashed down onto his shoulder and possibly broken it.
Even though the attack didn't connect, it still seed to affect Kermit, who remained with his shield lowered while looking up at the giant towering over him.
The fight was almost a David versus Goliath.
It seems I won't need Malora's help.
Looking over to where she was previously sitting, I see she is gone. Already positioned where no one could see her using magic: beneath the stands.
Turning my attention back to the field, I catch the exact mont when Kermit, finding his shield useless or being desperate for breathing room, throws it toward Luton's head.
The projectile made Luton pause for a mont and raise his own shield to defend himself. Taking advantage of this small window of opportunity, Kermit reaches his left hand to his waist.
With the projectile blocked, Luton lowers his shield only to find Kermit holding the seven-pointed star between the fingers of his left hand.
As advised, Luton begins to retreat, trying to flee the area of effect, but before any particles of light can erge, Kermit screams in pain. He lets the seven-pointed star slip from his hands as he drops to his knees and clutches his head with his free hand.
That must have been Malora. Judging by the hand on his head, she must have used Dissonant Whispers, a spell known for its magical origin: Aberrant Mind.
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Dissonant Whispers
Casting Ti: 1 action
Range: 18 ters
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous
You whisper a discordant lody that only one creature of your choice within range can hear, wracking it with terrible pain. The target must make a Wisdom test. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must imdiately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you. The creature doesn't move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn't have to move away. A deafened creature automatically succeeds on the save.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
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A spell that has absolutely no right to be so powerful right at its base level 1 state.
Even with Kermit succeeding on the Wisdom test, he still lost 12 hit points, leaving him at 28/40 HP.
Or it is this magical origin that has absolutely no right to be so powerful.
Just as I suspected upon reading its description, it functions similarly to my system, granting instant learning of the spell provided at that level. Being at level 3, Malora has already learned five. Detect Thoughts, which she used on when we first t, being one of them.
And she still has 6 more spells to learn up to level 9, each one more powerful than the last, but all following this logic of psychic spells.
Seeing Kermit defeated on the ground, Luton advances to finish him off.
But as soon as he approaches, Kermit places his left hand over the seven-pointed star he dropped, causing particles to appear around him just as Luton already had his mace raised over him.
Luton had two choices: keep going and knock him out before he could finish the spell, or try to retreat out of the area of effect.
He chose to retreat. That was the wrong choice.
The do of light swallowed him before he could open up a gap, making him let out an audible cry.
When the do vanished, Luton was staggering.
HP: 66/78. Minus twelve hit points.
anwhile, Kermit was making circles with his index finger and was covered in white particles.
HP: 36/40
He healed himself. Plus 8 hit points. The right choice. Because right after, it dropped by 9 points as he fell victim to another Dissonant Whispers, leaving him at 27.
But this ti, Kermit did not let himself be stopped.
As he stood up, arcs of lightning began to dance on his blade once more.
While Kermit advanced toward Luton, Luton finally recovered and tried to strike him, but Kermit was already too close.
So, instead of striking the electric sword against the helm, as he did with Gwayne, he ducks and thrusts the tip of it between the gaps in the leg armor.
Unfortunately, the armor Luton wore was not custom-made, but rather a random set we bought in Lannisport that could fit him. The fact that we managed to find one large enough for him is already a miracle, but since it wasn't tailored, it had gaps. Weaknesses that Kermit exploited.
Once again, as soon as the blow connected, a thunderous sound echoed, but, unlike before, Kermit was thrown far away, in the opposite direction of where Malora was hiding, beyond the 18 ters that Dissonant Whispers is capable of reaching.
What are the fucking odds that this lightning sword spell is not only capable of pushing back, but he managed to pull it off right when he needed it most?
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