[OPEN] Peace Bore a Heavy Price

[lifeofendurance]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: Aleron and Nathaniel are hosting an BSG boxing match open sparring session to work out personal griefs within the Inquisition.
WHEN: Drakonis 30, All Day
WHERE: Just outside Camp Shady (aka, the Warden's Camp outside Skyhold)
NOTES: More information, including the rules, can be found here. You do not have to have signed up to participate. Non-combatants can come and just cheer for their favorites or appreciate fine bodies getting physical. Please note in your subject line if you're spectating, healing, or open for fighting.



Just outside the site where the Wardens have established themselves, a space has been cleared. Its boundaries are marked with some wooden posts driven into the ground with loose ropes stretched out between them. A copy of the rules has been nailed to one of the posts. It flaps in the wind, but seems to stay in place with but little fraying as the day wears on:

1. No magic.
2. A volunteer healer will determine whether someone is fit for a bout.
3. Conduct the fight honorably. If someone surrenders the fight, it ends immediately and without question.
4. Don't deliberately incapacitate someone to the point where they won't be able to perform their duties after the fight is over.
5. All weapons must be blunt, even blades.
6. Challenged chooses the method of competition.

At the end of the fight, participants are to consider their issue resolved and move forward.

Off to one side, a basic triage is set up for combatants who have taken their licks. Volunteer healers are present to offer treatment for injuries and to determine who remains fit to fight. Their decision is absolute.

For the spectators, there is ample room to stand around and watch. One of the merchants from the pilgrim's encampment has caught wind of the impromptu event and decided it's a grand time to turn a profit. He's got a cookpot set up and is hawking fine treats like fennec-on-a-stick, druffalo kebabs, and smoked nug legs. He's also selling wooden cups of ale for five coppers, but it's questionable if there's more water or ale. Let the buyer beware.

Comments

HEALING + REFEREEING...?

[amygdalae]

[AKA why are you people beating each other with pointy sticks. But then again, this is probably healthier than... certain other methods, so.

Either way Bruce is present, having sort of managed to set up a small corner for healing of the non-magical variety for those who doesn't want a mage near them. He's got salves and poultices and bandages at the ready, which he assumes won't be taken without his permission if he's asked to go and check on anybody elsewhere...

Not that he thinks he will be. There are probably people more qualified to do this compared to him.]

[unbrokenoath]

[ Kaisa doesn't have a problem with magic being used on her, but there are lines, she's impatient, and she doesn't like bothering mages over every little thing, anyway. But, more importantly, there's something about people who are tucked away in corners all by themselves that reaches Kaisa like a siren's call. So when she takes a break, she removes her armor and waltzes on over to Bruce, plopping next to him with an easy smile. ]

Man, isn't this a blast? Yanno, I know an Avvar fellow and he was telling me that they do something similar to this. When you have an issue with someone the two of you just beat each other senseless and consider the issue over. And I was like, shit, that's a smart idea. Why don't we do that?

[ Despite the fact that she's already a little roughed up around the edges by the combat that she's already seen, she chatters away a mile a minute, while rolling her sleeve up. ]

And now we are doing it! Sucks that some of the people I wanna bash in the face didn't sign up for this. Ain't that always the case? They probably knew I'd own their dumb asses. [ And finally, she thrusts her exposed arm at Bruce, revealing a long cut undoubtedly made by a weapon that was not approved for the fight. ]

Look at this! Some blighted nughumper pulled a dagger on me, not blunted or anything. Can you believe that? If you want to shank someone, just do it on any other ordinary day, why would you to go a fighting tournament just to break the rules? What sense does that make? [ She seems far more irate at the rule breaking than the actual wound. ]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce blinks at the... ah, sudden energy he's greeted with, looking clearly very surprised with the suddenness of it all, but he takes it in stride the best that he can and focuses on the wound that she's showing to him.]

...I hope you told the person in charge about that. [He says, voice mild before he gestures for her to move her arm so that he can look at it better.] Although I thought they checked everyone who joined to ensure that this wasn't going to happen.

Refereeing / Spectating / Open for Combat

[lifeofendurance]

[Perhaps this isn't as thrilling as the Tourney, but it's an excellent way to keep morale up, and resolve nattering problems that scratch away at the solidarity needed in the Inquisition as a whole. Let everyone get their frustrations out in a constructive, controlled fashion and then let them move on.

Aleron spends the day watching the arena, in full armor, to ensure fair play and abidance to the rules. He will step in and enforce a halt if someone concedes or the healers call enough... if he must. If he's rooting for anyone, it's impossible to tell since his perpetual stoic expression seems to be etched into his face like a stone sculpture.

((Combat info can be found here if anyone feels like trying him.]

[trouvaille]

( gwenaëlle, upon consideration, sets herself up to spectate nearby aleron; not so close as to be underfoot, but close enough that it's obviously intentional, that he need only step a little backward to join her easily. there is a second cushion, even, but she has no expectation of his actually using it. she keeps a parasol about her, though its purpose isn't immediately obvious as it seems served by the wide brimmed and lopsided hat she wears; she jerks it up when one of the fights skirts a little too close to her edges, however.

and then nearly spills her hat off her head when she surges to her feet in a tense moment of someone else's victory - only to sit back, laughing, pleased. )

Oh, very well done.

[universal_charm]

_{[ At some point during the bouts, Kirk ended up next to Aleron as he watched a pair fight with blunted blades. He glances at the man in his full armor, rather fascinated with it. ]}

Isn't it hot for you in all of that?

Spectating Only

[madame_de_fer]

[This sort of sport is far from Vivienne's personal speed, but it makes for an interesting enough diversion from the day to day goings on in Skyhold. Madame de Fer makes her way to the designated spot with a parasol in hand to keep the sun off her head and shoulders. A blanket is spread on the ground nearby for seating. On the blanket is the picnic lunch she brought for herself. Nothing too elaborate but several steps above the more common fare being hawked by a very noisy merchant.]

Spectating Only

[gatheringstorm]

[Korrin attends the event, though as a spectator rather than a participant. That might surprise some, but she has her reasons and doesn't plan on deviating from them. She'll cheer for her friends, though, and offer potions if they'd prefer them over a healer. When she catches wind of the merchant's cookpot, Korrin will head on over. Druffalo kebabs sound worth trying, but she turns up her nose at the cups of ale.]

There's no way that isn't watered down as shit. Pass. [Fortunately, she brought a flask with her, filled with decent liquor. If you're a friend, she might even share.]

[foxsays]

[Araceli is not so foolish as to think that the soiree would have been anything of a reassurance, if anything it served as a reminder of being out of practice; in the same way as she has reminded herself how to climb and leap after weeks and months kept from it with a broken bone or a shot from a pistol, this is only a sign to throw herself into her studies.

Poisons are uncommon in Castileos, hideously expensive, and though they can come from the sea they aren't something to be abused by them in such a way else they'd be given to them too. But the dagger she found had poison that was such a vital clue, and being a rifter isn't an excuse if she's to be a bard, if she's to help the Inquisition and so she's spent most of her days since throwing herself into studying it.

All in all, she's glad to get away, weaving through the crowd easily with her hair piled up on top of her head the way it always is. Hopefully no smudges of ink anywhere to be seen, surely she caught all of them when she changed into something a little more comfortable.]

Sirena. [One arm wraps around Korrin's waist from behind, the other reaching to pluck the flask from her fingers before she she leans around with a smile that curls like smoke.] Did I miss anything exciting?

[gatheringstorm]

[Araceli's sudden presence is very welcome, naturally, and Korrin leans in to brush her lips against that cheek. The arrival of her kadan always puts her in a better mood...not that she's in a terrible one now, but still. Moments like this make the world seem brighter, for someone to share them with.]

Not yet, Kadan. Though I'm waiting to see how many line up to take their issues out on the Grey Wardens. [Especially Anders.] It should be interesting, at least. Druffalo kebab?

Open for Combat / Spectating

[keeperofmagi]

Nerva is here less for resolving differences, and more for taking her frustration out on someone. She looks even angrier than usual, her eyes hooded and dark. She did not sleep well. She sits with her shield, and a blunted sword, and waits for anyone who would dare take her on.

When spectating, she is mostly silent - save when it is someone she knows, and then she barks 'advice' at them from the sidelines. Which, though always legitimate commentary, probably could be delivered without the whip crack.

abuses npcs

[trouvaille]

Could, but needn't be. Gwenaëlle is enjoying Nerva's commentary almost as much as the actual bouts she came to spectate, settled upon a large cushion nearby, a parasol not unlike the one Vivienne sports occasionally veering to the front in the face of threats of kicked dirt or bodily fluids. She tilts up from beneath a lopsided, wide brimmed hat in the same deep earth-tones and green of her dress and, amused -

"Are they fighting you, ser, as well?"

- as some poor nameless fellow amongst the Templar contigent breaks off his fight to glare back at Nerva and takes a blow to the back for his trouble.

"What an ingrate," so mildly.

Re: abuses npcs

[keeperofmagi]

"No. They would not dare to make such faces if they were," Nerva said, her voice flat, staring forward without looking at the woman who was speaking to her.

"Guard up, Sebetien, or you'll get worse next time!" She barked, arms stiff and crossed against her chest.

"He would do better if he bothered to listen. But then, if he ever did, I would not have to yell."

[unbrokenoath]

Nerva was a woman who looked dangerous. She looked well able to use those weapons, and she looked like she wanted to. Kaisa hones in on the woman like a tracking beacon, sliding on over to sit next to her, grinning like this was the greatest fun she could have imagined.

"I like your shield. I've never been good at using 'em, but I can respect being able to use them. I mean, they're basically a second weapon if you know how to use 'em right, and they keep you from getting hit. And I mean, I know you can duel wield swords but everyone I've ever seen always looked damn goofy, flailing around with two swords like a tit. I guess it's because if you can duel wield you're probably graceful enough to stick with daggers and go all rogue-like, you know?"

Proof that the Maker exists is in the miracle that Kaisa manages to chatter all of that in more or less one breath.

"Oh--I didn't just come here to talk about swords, though." She sticks a hand out, still all cheery smiles. "Kaisa Daesun."

[keeperofmagi]

She barely had time to register that she was being spoken to - the avalanche of words tumbling past her as she blinked, trying to catch up to the conversation she had not realised she was a part of. At least Kaisa finally came to a stop, and Nerva (completely out of trained reflex) reached out and took that hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Nerva Lecuyer. Dare I ask what you did come here to talk about?"

Because Maker knew she had no idea what they were talking about already.

Overly passionated combantant/spectator

[issala]

Kas is almost vibrating with excitement, having wanted to see a fighting tournament of any kind since he got to Skyhold. The fact that there was an unarmed brawl section of the contest made him even happier, because why not participate?

He had filled out a bit during the months he'd spent with the Inquisition, and was actually getting muscles! Kas might even have a chance against an elf... but he's not going to fight fair at all.

On the streets, you learned all kinds of nasty tricks to win a fight.

[unbrokenoath]

There were kids here. Geez, what were they doing? Well--have to learn somehow, Kaisa supposed. In fact, who was better at brawling than her? Practically no one! She was basically an expert at it. And who is the best for teaching? Experts! It's with this in mind that she strolls on over to Kas, grinning lazily at him, and plopping her hands on her hips.

"Hey, there. You got a lot of experience at going toe to toe, hand to hand? I can show you a few tricks if you wanna, but I need t' know how much you already know so I don't just teach you shit you already know or accidentally bash your face in."

Kaisa paused, taking a moment to take in being the same height as a qunari. Adorable. Then she sticks her hand out, still grinning. "Or I can just bash someone else's face in while you watch, if you'd rather not. Name's Kaisa."

[issala]

Geez, that was the woman who had been talking about safe words, wasn't it? He had been thinking about that stuff a lot, which was why the voice just seemed so familiar. The one telling him he was too young to know shit.

He crosses his arms and gives her a glare. "Yeah, I know how to fight. I grew up with mercenaries." See, he's not some complete newbie. "I've punched some people on the streets, too, and I'm a scout now." Lookit his proud little grin.

"...so I'm not gonna get my face bashed in. Especially not by a girl." Kas. Kas, please. That's just your grudge showing. "I'll take you on!"

SPECTATING

[wickedchase]

[Fighting for the sake of de-stressing isn't really his thing, but that doesn't mean he can't be a little entertained.

He's pulled up a chair, because that's going to be more comfortable than anything else anyone can offer him. As he leans back, Twisted Fate is pouring himself a glass of wine, his usual smirk displaying on his face as he prepares to watch.]

Spectating Only

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ Kirk had seen the notice and debated if he wanted to go watch or not, but it would be a break form the monotony his days were starting to settle into here, and the flyer did say grievances. Going to watch might give him a better idea of the Inquisition itself, or at least some of the members making it up. It was certainly an interesting way of settling disputes, but in the right circumstances he could see how it was effective.

He chose to go in one of the new tunics he'd acquired in a trade for work, though his black pants and boots might seem at odds, made of different and other worldly cloth. He kept his hand rightly wrapped with linen like a boxer to hide the shard still, though he knew it tended to seem somewhat obvious he was not from these parts. Still, it didn't seem wise to potentially antagonize anyone.

If he wasn't up close and watching the combatants, blue eyes critical as he takes in their movements, he was back getting himself food and drink. The alcohol was exactly like what he had been drinking the past week or more, so no fear of getting drunk there, but it was safer than the actual water, he was sure. As for the food.... well, beggars can't be choosers.

At some point he ends up with druffalo kebabs, popping the first bit into his mouth and blinking. ]</sub>

Holy shit, this is actually good.

_{[ Oops, did he say that aloud? ]}

Zevran - Challenge away

[ombranera]

[ Jumping from training to proper dueling for the sake of grievances isn't likely the wisest choice- but as a Crow the only way to learn is to do. And here? He means to do, do well, and come out ahead on whatever challenge might be issued him. He's in his leathers, retooled with a new insignia that is as much a reference to as it is a subversion of the Crow's eye mask.

Kestrels. Not exactly their first official public appearance but a good first attempt, he and his fledglings mind the side, awaiting those that might wish to take them to task. ]

[justice_is_blond]

[He weaves through the Kestrals, giving them nods as they shoot him watchful looks on his approach to Zevran.]

Found anything interesting yet?

Anders, OTA

[justice_is_blond]

[Challenges]

He knows that being here will bring angry people by. He knows that plenty will feel like he owes them a fight. They are, in his opinion and for the most part, wrong. All the same, there are a few who have a justified issue with him. And a few he has an issue with back. Those, he'll humor until he's tired. Anything else would be stupid in a way that he is not.

Anders sits on a barrel nearby, resting, watching, and waiting, expression more or less neutral.

[Healing]

When he's done for the day he makes it clear by joining the triage team and starting to check people out. Let those who are upset be upset; it's time to use his abilities in the way he likes.

"That was a nasty blow. Let me see where you were hit, please."

Challenge

[fleurdesel]

There is angry and then there is the low, rancid simmering of self loathing and frustration that coils around a single lie. This is not how she does things. She cuts away, she works. She buries herself in other things- she does not under any circumstances take a more violent root. But it festers, this frustration. This sense of betrayal she has no one to blame for other than herself (which isn't permitted due to Dorian's instructions on the matter) and Anders. But she must work with him. She must mind him. And she cannot, will not continue like this.

Public or no, she squares her shoulders and stands across from him, head held high. "We cannot keep on like this."

One moment fine, one moment sullen and snappish and angry- she cannot forgive him so easily and he cannot help but resent her for the swipes she takes- but it will not end well. "We must settle it. This is...definitive, yes? We fight and the matter is considered shut."

Fighting

[judgemewhole]

Let's face it, there were a lot of people who wanted to fight a templar. Even more who probably wanted to test the steel of a Knight Commander. James decided that to play it fair, and honorably, he would put himself on the lists with a blunted sword, a wooden shield, and leather armor.

To see who came to fight whatever matters they might have with him personally - or just with templars in general, naturally. He liked the idea of the fights being the end of the disagreement, once and for all, so he welcomed all comers. Better to settle debts now then when they had more battles to fare in the future.