25th day of the 8th moon, 269 B.C.
The Hour of the Rest (1 P.M.)
Ser Alaric Mormont, outskirts of Lannisport
Now that one of Luton's legs was destroyed, which reduced his dexterity to 9, he will have to deal with his problem alone.
As Kermit walked up to Luton, who was having difficulty standing with only one leg, he healed himself once more, bringing his HP to 32/40, and repeated the first spell of the day, the one of unknown support, once again.
To finish, when he was face-to-face with a Luton who had to keep himself upright on just one leg, his sword began to glow white.
The sword glowing white. Paladin. That can only be Divine Smite, which increases attack damage in exchange for a spell slot.
"My hundred dragons. Fuck!" Andrey screams in a desperate manner, sensing a possible defeat.
With 58 HP remaining, he still possessed a good margin of advantage, but it depended on how many spells Kermit still had prepared and how well Luton would adapt to fighting on only one leg.
"What are you doing, fight!" Maege shouts.
Luton, remaining focused on Kermit, did not look at her, but with so many other shouts, I doubt he would have heard her in the first place.
Kermit is the first to act. Just as he did when using the unknown support spell for the first time, he propels himself forward in a carefree manner.
Leaning with his good leg forward, Luton swings his mace toward Kermit's head. Even without being able to rotate his body anymore, there was enough force behind the blow to bend the helm and crack Kermit's skull.
But just like in his previous fight, Kermit ducks in time, almost taking the blow to the top of his helm, which has its peak grazed by the metal and slightly displaced, only to then extend his legs and strike with the sword he now wielded with two hands.
But unlike his previous fight, Kermit does not aim for the chin of the helm to knock him out. That would not work on someone of Luton's size. Instead, he thrusts into the unprotected part of the right armpit, which was left exposed during the mace swing.
As soon as the tip of the sword makes contact with the gambeson beneath the armor, it is penetrated as if it were made of butter while the white light of the Divine Smite dissolves into an explosion of particles.
The sword has no chance to go very deep. Thinking smartly for the first time since the beginning of the fight, Luton does not try to fight against inertia to bring his right arm back to finally strike him with the mace; that would take too long.
While the mace was still completing its path, Luton passed his left hand below his raised right one and struck Kermit's head with the shield, throwing the paladin away.
Struggling not to fall while staggering away, Kermit narrows his stance and assumes his posture again.
HP: 31/40. -1.
HP: 53/78. -5.
The numbers do not tell the true story. Despite still having much more HP than his opponent, the Norrey just had the movement of his right arm reduced. And since he is right-handed, his attack power, one of his only two positive points, had just been reduced.
But that was not the worst of it. Since the armpit is one of the most vascularized areas, the wound there began to leak so much blood that it turned the gambeson red. And because it had been penetrated, the blood leaked in a small red stream that trickled down over the armor.
HP: 52/78. -1.
Hemorrhage. He was now fighting against time.
Realizing what was happening, Luton drops his shield and presses his red gambeson against the wound.
The only positive point of this exchange was that now I believe I know what that unknown support spell does.
'Luton, this is Alaric Mormont. I am speaking to you through our minds to explain something to you: the spell he performs after placing his hand on his chest helps him execute dangerous movements.' I reveal my understanding to him. 'Whenever he casts it, prepare for an attack that is difficult to defend against. Either do not let him cast it, or attack only before it takes effect. Do not risk it. Attack now!'
I do not even know if he still has more of this spell prepared or if it is a cantrip, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
Not knowing that I could speak telepathically, Luton becomes visibly perturbed and starts to look around.
"What are you doing, you idiot!" Andrey screams while shaking his leg restlessly.
'Eyes on him. Do not take your eyes off him.'
He listens to me.
"That is it! Behind him!" Shouts Maege this time.
Anyway, this minor discovery is not enough to help him win. Turning toward the meadow section, I find Leyton and Culler sitting without Malora between them.
I focus my gaze on Leyton.
'Go, you or the Archmaester, to Malora and tell her to go around the gap in the stands until she can cast the spell on this knight.'
The Lord of the Citadel turns to me first before turning to Culler and saying something. Just like Leyton, Culler turns his gaze to me first, only to then stand up and leave the stands.
"My gold dragons!" I hear Andrey scream before I turn back to the field.
I turn around just in time to see another Divine Smite strike against the hand holding the mace, making particles leap from the steel of the sword just as the mace leaped from Luton's hand.
"Pick it back up!" Shouts Maege.
Luton tries, but Kermit reaches it first and extends another seven-pointed star. Luton stops. Uncertain.
Almost the entire northern stand, which before was shouting in support, fell silent for a moment.
In contrast, the Riverlands stood with hot fervor.
Luton remained stationary. His blood continued to drain from the armpit wound. The red stream had now become much thicker and longer, reaching his knee. But he was not the only one. The previous wound on his leg had finally bled enough to soak through the fabric, run down his leg, and paint the ground red.
His HP decreased to 50.
He had already lost more than I possessed before the war.
From what I discussed yesterday with the Hightowers regarding the changes brought by the comet and the return of magic, Luton would have already fainted from losing so much blood. But with vitality partially transformed into numbers, high-level people were much more resilient.
"AAHHHHH!" Losing his patience, Luton charges toward Kermit.
As expected, Kermit, taking two steps back, manages to cast another Word of Radiance before he is reached. Seconds before both were consumed by the light of the dome and stolen from our sight, it was possible to see Luton opening his arms to grab Kermit.
Waiting to see the result, my perception of time was so dilated that the duration for which the dome remained standing seemed to have tripled.
When the dome finally dissolved, Luton was empty-handed, and Kermit was on his knee next to his good leg.
HP: 44/78. -6.
As soon as Luton realized he did not have the Riverlands knight in his arms, he looked around to understand what had happened, but as soon as he found Kermit crouching by his side and understood that he must have rolled away, Kermit acted first.
Again, Kermit stabs the opening of the leg armor, crippling both legs.
"He will die if he continues," Jeor speaks harshly to Rickard, who was watching with clenched fists.
"One more victory, Mormont. One more victory and we can also take even more." He seemed to say.
"The king did not say that only victory would count, Stark. He said he would take into account how each kingdom emerged. Second place is not a failure. Even less so for a magic user."
Rickard does not reply. He clenches his fists even tighter as he watches Luton struggle to stay on his feet.
"Alaric!" Jeor calls out to me. Before speaking, he glances at Andrey, who was watching the fight, looking just as distressed as Rickard. "It is over. That is it."
With Andrey right here, he speaks vaguely, yet understandably.
Turning toward Luton, he had managed to pick his mace back up, but he simply did not seem to have the strength to even keep it raised. I cannot deny the command.
This is it. This is his end.
His only fully functional limb right now is his left arm, which is busy staunching the wound in his armpit.
I should not have compared the two of them to David and Goliath.
And since Malora did not interfere again, either she had no more Dissonant Whispers prepared, or she could not get within the required eighteen meters to hit him.
And since that Word of Radiance seemed to be a Cantrip, continuing was far too risky for his health. Someone as strong as Luton is too valuable to lose in a tournament.
'Lower the mace, Luton. You fought well. You have done enough.'
Luton takes a moment to obey, but eventually does. Dropping the mace, he drops to his knees to rest and surrenders.
Common Quest: The Northern Sweep.
Description: Make the North win the highest number of events.
Archery: Completed. [Reward: 500 XP]
Axe throwing: Completed. [Reward: 300 XP]
Turf: Completed. [Reward: 400 XP]
Duel: Failed. [Reward: 800 XP]
Melee: Ongoing. [Reward: 900 XP]
Mock Battle: Ongoing. [Reward: 1,000 XP]
Jousting: Ongoing. [Reward: 900 XP]
[Reward: +1,000 XP bonus if all events are cleared.]
Gaining his well-deserved victory, Kermit raises his sword arm in celebration amidst the ovation from the crowd.
"A hundred gold dragons..." Head down and buried between his knees, Andrey lamented in murmurs so low that only I could hear.
As if his hundred gold dragons were comparable to what I had wagered on his victory. If anyone should be desperate over losing gold dragons, it would be me.
But desperation and disbelief were not the only reactions caused by Luton's defeat. Rickard was fuming.
"What did you do?!" He shouts in my direction.
"The fight is over. Jeor is right. We are evaluated on performance, not victory. And in the king's eyes, Luton will have lost against a magic user without having any on his side. I doubt he would lower our points."
"That is my decision to make."
I do not reply. It truly was. But Jeor does not think the same.
"His life is his own, not yours to wager."
Before Rickard could hit back, Maege put an end to the argument.
"This is no place to discuss this!"
She was right. Everyone around us had stopped lamenting Luton's defeat to watch the argument. The only exceptions were Andrey, who kept mourning the loss of his hundred gold dragons, and Jorah, who was observing an interesting development on the field.
"The knight is doing something," he warns.
Turning back to the arena, Kermit seemed to be demonstrating honor by offering a hand to the kneeling Luton, who accepts it.
But instead of pulling the Northman up to help him back to his feet, white particles appear around Luton, who seems to try to pull his hand back and move away.
But either Kermit was holding his hand with too much force, or Luton had lost all of his own.
Watching the scene, it looked as though the muppet was trying to finish him off, which drew shouts of dissatisfaction from my section of the stands, especially from Maege.
"What the fuck is he doing? The fight is already over!"
She had already stood up and was pushing people aside to clear a path. She was ready to leap over the parapet and fight herself.
But before she could, the white particles vanished without anything bad happening to Luton. And as if by coincidence, Luton finally managed to pull his hand away and retreat.
And he did not limp. He did not struggle to keep his footing as before.
HP: 51/78. He was at 41 the last time I checked, and now he has recovered 10 points.
"He is fine!" I shout to calm everyone down. "He was not harmed. He was healed. Look, he can walk now."
I think I know the spell. The description given by the GM Eyes of the Paladin class makes mention of something like this.
Lay on Hands. That is the name of it. Another unique ability of paladins. It makes them capable of restoring the lost HP of others. But instead of the healing amount being based on the roll of an invisible die, the amount of healing can be chosen and has a maximum limit per day, or long rest, of five times the paladin's level.
In Kermit's case, that means he can heal up to 25 hit points. And since he healed 10, that means he has 15 more to be used on someone other than himself.
It is to be expected that he had discovered this ability, considering he already knew Divine Smite and several other spells. It must be a benefit of sharing the company of someone who learned their 'miracles' from the gods themselves.
Good for us that he took pity on his own handiwork, but since Luton is also scheduled to compete in the Melee later today, 51 might not be enough.
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